From Ben in Afghanistan

Thanks for the box. It got here yesterday. As if you read our minds, the gatorade drink mix is already a hit. All we had was this gross tang stuff. The guys say thank you.


thanks again- see you soon,
Ben

We've Moved!

The dust will be settling for a while, but the offices of the MFA in Creative and Professional Writing have moved down the hall a bit to Higgins 205EFG (first door to the left of the Writing Dept. office) -- a brand new space all our own.

I have a phone number now: 203-837-3252 -- all other MFA numbers remain the same.

If you're on campus, stop by our new home and say hello!

Holly Azevedo

I Dream My Brother Plays Baseball makes it into a university class

So I just got the coolest news. A friend teaches at Eastern Illinois University. He proposed a new class called "War Stories" and included my book, I Dream My Brother Plays Baseball, in the required reading. The class was approved. He will be teaching my book in unit 8. Hot damn! I have to thank Mary Ann Campbell for starting this...the high school where she teaches bought a class set and taught my book last school year (Love you MAC). Mary Ann invited me and had me to come in and give two readings and sit in on a class. I feel pretty darn happy abut this.

Press Pause Moments Ready for Launch!

Hi everyone! Press Pause Moments is about ready to launch! Pre-orders are being taken until the end of the month...with free shipping as the bonus for early action! For more info click here.

I also invite you to visit the book's website and/or blog. Take a glance at the "Meet the Writers" section - you'll recognize some names! WestConn's own Irene Sherlock and MFA alumns Kirsten Genthner and Jennifer Bouchard are among the talented writers whose works about their life transitions appear in the anthology.

Most important, please become a fan/friend of the Press Pause Moments fan page on Facebook! When we reach 100 fans I'll be drawing a name to receive a signed copy of the book. We're also planning a fantastic virtual book launch in September! If you are thinking of doing a virtual book launch for your own book in the near future why not join us and see how it all works.

The process of creating and publishing an anthology has been a tremendous learning experience. One thing I found was that uber-editing other people's work taught me a lot and helped my own writing as I move forward. I highly suggest integrating editorial experience in with your writing efforts as part of the process for building your skill set.

Cheers!

Syllabi were due Monday, August 23rd

REMINDER: Syllabi were due for each of your courses yesterday, Monday, August 23rd, sent from your faculty mentors. Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, remember that if this is your thesis semester, you need to develop a syllabus with each of your thesis advisors.

I am currently reviewing everything I've received through this evening; you should hear from me by Wednesday, August 25th.

Thanks,

Holly Azevedo

Holly Azevedo, MFA Coordinator

Just a quick note here to remind everyone that Holly is in the house now; your MFA questions, concerns, etc. should be addressed to her and Laurel for the rest of this academic year. I'll see you next summer! (If not briefly at the January residency...)

Internships

Internship/Practicum students, please be sure to ask your on-site mentor (not your faculty mentor) to send a letter or email message to Holly confirming the nature and timing of your internship or practicum this semester. Please let them know also that we will need them to write a brief narrative evaluation of your performance at the end of the semester. If your practicum involves being a GA on campus here, you do not need to do the above.

New Email Policy

If you were not at the residency you probably haven't heard yet about the new email policy. Starting immediately, all MFA email communication (including your syllabus approvals/change requests) will be directed to your WestConn email account.

FACULTY: Laurel will be sending out instructions on how to activate your WestConn email account, if you haven't already. You will use the same login ID and password for your email account and to log in to Banner to enter grades. Laurel WILL NOT be entering grades for you any more, so you will need to keep your account active. The password expires every 60 days, but you can reset it online. Laurel will send instructions for that.

STUDENTS: We will no longer keep track of non-WestConn email addresses, so all email from Laurel, from me, and from Holly will go to your WestConn email account. If you do not have a WestConn email account, contact Laurel and she will help you get set up. If you email us from a non-WCSU email address and we receive it, our response will go to your WCSU email address.

As always, we will use the blog for public information. But in cases where we need to contact individuals directly, we will be using your WestConn email address; so please get it up and running soon, and check it periodically.

Creative Nonfiction's MFA Program-Off

I recently stumbled across a contest that current students (especially Creative Nonfiction students) may be interested in:

CONTEST: Creative Nonfiction's MFA Program-Off

postmark deadline November 5, 2010

Win publication and bragging rights for your program!

Creative Nonfiction is looking for new work by MFA students for publication in an upcoming issue. The winner and four finalists will be invited to read during the 2011 AWP Conference in Washington, DC (February 2-5, 2011).

Submission Guidelines:

• All submissions must be typed, double-spaced, 3,000 words or fewer, and unpublished
• This is a blind read; author's name should appear on cover letter only; title must appear on every page
• No exerpts will be accepted--submission must be a single and complete piece
• Essays must be written by a student who is currently enrolled in an MFA program (in any genre)
• We will consider only one submission per person

Please send submissions, along with a cover letter that includes your name, university, total word count, and complete contact information (including email and phone number) to:

Creative Nonfiction
Attn: AWP Program-Off
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

The first chapter of Rudolf Okonkwo's...

...memoir, I Am my Grandfather, is one of three finalists for this year’s John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Prize Competition. It will appear in the Winter/Spring 2011 CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW. Congrats Rudolf!

Weed story out in new anthology

Got a story out in a new anthology: The Storyteller Speaks: Rare and Different Fictions of the Grateful Dead, from Kearney Street Books. There are some great pieces in here, a must-read if you were ever interested in the Grateful Dead and the scene surrounding it.

Reviews It turns out that it wasn’t only the musicians who were inspired by the phenomenon of the Grateful Dead. In this incredible pile of stories are flesh-eating zombie Jerrys, the brilliantly resurrected ghost of Neal Cassady, skeletons, drugs, life on tour, initiations, archetypal Grateful Dead folk tales, the supernatural, the science-fictional, time travel and magic, lots of magic. Not to be missed. —Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. You can’t imagine how many ways the Dead have become the Undead—unless you read this book. What an array of material! —John Shelton Lawrence, The Myth of the American Superhero, and The Crusade against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism A remarkable addition to the Grateful Dead canon. A unique literary collection. —Ken Dvorak, PhD, Southwest Texas PCA/ACA This collection probes the infinite dimensions of happenstance, character and incident that the Dead's body of work touched upon and hinted at. It's a fitting tribute to a band that continues to reveal its mysteries long after many of the original players have packed up and gone. —Christian Crumlish, Enterzone, Kind Veggie T-Shirt, Designing Social Interfaces I'll advise you to engage this anthology the same way you engage Grateful Dead music: open your mind, expect the unexpected, and prepare to be both entertained and enlightened. —David Gans, author, musician, producer: The Grateful Dead Hour

Smart New Venture

Dear writers,

I’m writing to announce that One by One Press is officially up and running and that we are now accepting submissions through September 30th.

One by One is a new poetry journal inspired by the spirit of stolen moments and our undying love of tactile imprints. It’s quite different from most journals in that it’s unbound and spread out over time - subscribers will receive a single letterpressed poem in the mail, every other week or so throughout the year. We’re moved to make the walk back from the mailbox to be the best part of our readers’ days, and to help create deeper and more meaningful reception for standalone poems. (Those whose poems we print will also be the subject of features on our press blog in which they can speak to their process, sources of inspiration, and other issues of significance to the sustaining of their work: we aim to make that conversation as visible as the finished work itself.)

We’ll be reading from August 1 – September 30, 2010 for a first batch of poems that will go into production later this fall and start finding mailboxes on 1/1/11. We’re looking for poems that will thrill and awaken our readers as singular pieces. Submission information is available on our website, http://www.onebyonepress.com/.

This project has been long in the making, and we’re incredibly excited to open the gates and welcome the poems that want to find us. If you like the sound of what we’re doing, please give us a hand by spreading the word to other poets and friends of poetry you know. Everyone’s invited!


All best
Rae Gouirand
Editor, One by One
onebyonepress@gmail.com
http://www.onebyonepress.com/

(on Facebook: One by One Press)

Featured Reader at Labyrinth Bookstore in New Haven

Hey all, I got a phone call from the editor of Calyx Literary journal. She is going to be in New Haven next week and is organizing a poetry reading at Labyrinth Bookstore, 290 York St, New Haven. She asked if I would be a reader. Nat, I said yes. The reading is from 5:30 to 6:30. Me and two other poets will be dazzling the crowds with our poetry. So if you are in the area and want to partake of the audience, love to see a familiar face. Its Thursday, August 19. Lisa

Friskey on the Web

Yes, your worst fears have come true. My (humble) website and blog are now up and running for your viewing pleasure. While the site was created as my enrichment project for the program, I hope to actually use it to promote myself and my writing. Following Karen Romano Young's advice, my blog, "The Edge," is dedicated to edgy, trendsetting YA fiction that pushes the envelope and to combating those who attempt to ban books from high schools and libraries, a cause that was already near and dear to my heart. I hope you'll all check out the site, especially the blog. If any of you also have a blog, let me know. I'll follow you if you follow me! The site is www.williamfriskey.com, and the blog site is www.williamfriskey.blogspot.com (though you can link to the blog straight from my site). Also, if anyone hears of any controversies over books and banning books in the news, please let me know. Thanks.

New Anthology Work

I seem to have found myself included in a couple forthcoming anthologies...

First...

hell strung and crooked

The new anthology from Uphook Press is published September, 2010.

Rhythm, risk, reach...

A sensitivity to words that sparkle on the page and in performance spark off it...

Uphook Press specializes in work by poets and spoken words artists who love both the ink and the mike. hell strung and crooked is their second anthology, taken from open submission, with the aim to promote a nationwide community of performing poets.

Featuring forty-one poets—from San Francisco, Atlanta, Green Bay, Boston, Seattle, Nashville, elsewhere, and New York—hell strung and crooked also includes interviews with Mark Doty and Claus Ankersen.

Featuring: Lenore Balliro, Samantha Barrow, Paul M. L. Belanger, Alex O. Bleecker, Meredith Devney, Malaika Favorite, Joseph Fritsch, Christian Georgescu, Robert Gibbons, Thomas Gibney, Deborah Hauser, Suzanne Heagy, Aimee Herman, R. Nemo Hill, Vicki Iorio, Kit Kennedy, Stephen Kopel, David Lawton, Richard Loranger, E. K. Mortenson, Nancy Carol Moody, Puma Perl, John Marcus Powell, Bob Quatrone, Seraphime Rhyianir, Lynn Samsel, Jackie Sheeler, Mary McLaughlin Slechta, Elliot D. Smith, Laura L. Snyder, Francesca Sphynx, Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino, Charles F. Thielman, Andrew Topel, John J. Trause, Geoffrey Kagan Trenchard, Stephanie Valente, Jacob Victorine, Ocean Vuong, Bruce Weber, and Laura Madeline Wiseman.

ISBN: 978-0-9799792-2-4

Published September 1, 2010

$15.00

Connected with this little number, I'll be appearing with other anthologists at a reading at the venerable KGB Bar in NYC, Wednesday, Sept 8, at 7PM. If you find yourself in the City, stop on by...


And after I got home from the Residency, I received word that a piece of mine is forthcoming in Native West Press's, What's Nature Got to Do With It?: Staying Wildly Sane in a Mad World. This is scheduled for publication in October 2011. Keep an eye out for a reminder...


Keep/start submitting your work. Find quirky venues for that story or poem. Here were the submission guidelines for the latter anthology.

Native West Press seeks poetry, short creative nonfiction, and essays (under 1,000 words) for a collection of direct, unexpected experiences with wild creatures (yes, including insects, arachnids, fish, etc.) who had the effect of restoring or enhancing the writers' sense of psychological well-being. The editors are particularly interested in reading unique accounts of an authentic, personal encounter with a wild animal who created a positive effect on the writer’s mental (and physical) health, such as restoring the author’s faith and joy, evoking respect for the unexplainable, helping the author heal from illness or trauma, reducing stress, and/or moving the author to a state of enhanced sense of connection to the living, natural world.

You can find things like this! You have pieces that fit descriptions like this! Do it!

Internship or Enrichment Project Opportunity

Hello Students! I am a grad of the MFA Program. My focuses were Poetry and Copywriting/Marketing.

I am looking for one or more students who are interested in working with me virtually. This would be ideal for someone who would rather not travel for an internship or enrichment project. This can be done from the comfort of your own home or office.

Here's the deal:

I work with poets to help them promote their new books and publicize their readings, workshops and events. This entails creating and updating websites and Facebook profiles and pages, hosting online book launch parties, coordinating reading dates and schedules with bookstores and other venues and being in touch with publishers to make sure books are in stock for readings and events.

I need help! I would tailor your internship or project to your interests, talents and needs as best as I can. E-mail me if you have questions or want to sign on: carmencpalmer@gmail.com

I also work with a small poetry press and we need some help there too. Also a virtual opportunity.

Cheers!

Carmen

P.S. These are "volunteer" opportunities. No stipend will be allotted, but you will learn a lot, "meet" (virtually) interesting poets and publishing folks and hopefully have some fun along the way.