SOLSTICE MFA PROGRAM OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE
SOLSTICE MFA PROGRAM OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE
FACULTY, STAFF, & STUDENT NEWS FOR DECEMBER 2009
Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA
For Release: Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Contact: Tanya Whiton
whitontanya@pmc.edu
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A select number of graduate-level courses are open to the public for auditing at our January MFA Residency, January 1–10 on the Pine Manor College campus. Auditors are encouraged to complete the advance preparation requirements for any MFA class they wish to attend; the deadline for enrolling as an auditor for the winter 2009 Residency is December 28, 2009.
Course descriptions, our auditor policy, and a downloadable registration form are available on our Web site: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa
READINGS & EVENTS
MASSACHUSETTS
Poet Kathleen Aguero will read with Helena Minton on Sunday, December 20 at 3 p.m. at the Concord Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord, MA.
For more information, go to: http://www.concordlibrary.org/index.html
The Solstice MFA Program Winter Reading Series takes place January 1–8 in the Founder’s Room of Pine Manor College, located at 400 Heath Street in Chestnut Hill. *All readings are at 7:30 p.m. in the Founder’s Room unless otherwise noted.
• Friday, January 1 at 7:30 p.m.: MFA Assistant Director and fiction writer Tanya Whiton & Dzvinia Orlowsky (author of four poetry collections, most recently Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones).
• *Saturday, January 2 at 8:00 p.m.: Venise Berry (author of four novels, including the forthcoming Pockets of Sanity); MFA Director and poet Meg Kearney (author of An Unkindness of Ravens & Home By Now); & Laban Carrick Hill (author of America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s).
• Sunday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m.: Memoirist and poet Anne-Marie Oomen (author of the forthcoming An American Map) & special guest poet (with musical accompaniment by Anthony Kaczynski) M.L. Liebler (author of 13 books, including Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream).
• *Monday, January 4 at 7:30 p.m.: Non-graduating Student Readings in the President’s Dining Room.
• Tuesday, January 5 at 7:30 p.m.: Melissa Stewart (author of numerous children’s books, including Under the Snow) & Steven Huff (author of two poetry collections and the short fiction collection A Pig in Paris).
• Wednesday, January 6 at 7:30 p.m.: Speculative fiction writer Laura Williams McCaffrey (author of the forthcoming Lyla’s Flight); Ray Gonzalez (author of Faith Run and Cool Auditor: Prose Poems); and Sandra Scofield (National Book Award Finalist for Beyond Deserving; author of seven novels, a memoir, and a craft book).
• *Thursday, January 7 from 4:30–6:15p.m.: Graduating Student Readings.
• Thursday, January 7 at 7:30 p.m.: Multi-genre writer Randall Kenan (author of several books of fiction and nonfiction, including Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and The Fire This Time) & special guest Dorothy Allison (author of National Book Award finalist Bastard Out of Carolina; Cavedweller; and the forthcoming She Who).
• Friday, January 8 at 7:30 p.m.: An Na (author of The Fold; Wait For Me; and A Step From Heaven); Amy Hoffman (author of the memoirs Hospital Time and An Army of Ex-Lovers); & special guest Ira Sadoff (author of seven collections of poetry, including the recent Barter and Grazing).
Directions to Pine Manor College, complete bios of our authors, and more information about the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program can be found at www.pmc.edu/mfa.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Meg Kearney will read (along with several other poets) on Thursday, December 10 at 7 p.m. at Gibson’s Bookstore, 27 S. Main Street, Concord, NH.
For more information, go to: www.gibsonsbookstore.com
NEW YORK
Meg Kearney will read on Wednesday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Caffè Lena,
47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY.
For more information, go to: www.caffelena.org
PUBLICATIONS
Multi-genre writer Joy Castro’s essay "An Angle of Vision" is the title essay for the collection An Angle of Vision: Women Writers on Their Poor and Working-Class Roots, now available from University of Michigan Press. Her creative nonfiction piece “Grip” and the process essay “Getting ‘Grip’” appear in the current issue of Fourth Genre.
For more information, go to: http://www.press.umich.edu/ and/or http://msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg/
Multi-genre writer Ray Gonzalez has published two new books: Cool Auditor: Prose Poems — now available from BOA Editions — and Faith Run (poems) from University of Arizona Press.
For more information, go to: http://boaeditions.org/bookstore/details.php?prodId=223 and/or http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid2136.htm
MFA student Alison Stone’s new chapbook, From the Fool to the World, was recently accepted by Parallel Press. She also made a recent appearance on the Joe Milford Poetry Show. (Ms. Stone will rejoin the MFA Program in January, 2010).
For more information, go to: http://joemilfordpoetryshow.com/upcoming-shows.php
Several faculty members, students, and friends of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program have published poems, stories, and essays in the inaugural issue of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. (Solstice is a sister publication of the MFA Program, not directly affiliated.)
For more information, go to: http://solsticelitmag.org/
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS
MFA graduate Sara Cameron’s paper, "Exploding Reality: Exploring the Use of First Person Present Tense in Narrative," has been accepted into the 2010 AWP Pedagogy Forum, taking place as part of the annual Associated Writing Programs Conference, April 7–10 in Denver, CO.
MFA student Melissa Ford Lucken’s paper, "Exclusionary Institutional Structure or Cultural Clash, Why do First and Second Generation Immigrants Dropout?" has been accepted for presentation at the Comparative and International Education Society's 54th Annual Conference, to be held March 1–5 at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, IL.
MFA graduate John Theo, Jr. was recently hired to teach screenwriting at Endicott College in Beverly, MA.
OTHER NEWS
Meg Kearney’s new book, Home By Now, received a review from Publishers Weekly, and is currently #8 on the bestseller list for poetry.
To read the Publishers Weekly review, go to: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6706874.html?q=Simko
Grace Lin’s new book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, is being featured on the Al Roker Book Club for Kids segment of the Today Show, on Friday, December 4.
For more information, go to: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18179145/
MFA Writer-in-Residence Michael Steinberg has been selected as the nonfiction judge for the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Book Awards, Spring 2010, and as the judge for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Donald Murray Prize, Winter, 2010. He has also been honored as a Founding Editor of Fourth Genre; the Fourth Genre Editor’s Prize has been renamed The Michael Steinberg Essay Prize.
For more information, go to: http://www.pen-ne.org/index.php?id=5; http://www.pw.org/content/donald_murray_prize and/or http://msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg
CONNECTIONS
Dzanc Books announces a short story competition with a deadline of December 31, 2009.
For more information, go to: http://www.dzancbooks.org/submissions.html
The Greater Brockton Society for Poetry & the Arts announces a poetry contest, with a deadline of February 1, 2010.
For more information, go to: www.gbspa.org
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices (a quarterly online journal founded by Lee Hope and Bill Betcher, friends and supporters of the Solstice Creative Writing Programs; not affiliated with the MFA) is now accepting submissions in all genres.
For more information, go to: http://solsticelitmag.org/submit/
Suss: Another Literary Journal is looking for submissions to its Learning Annex column, a pedagogy column written by contributing educators.
For more information, go to: www.sussitout.org
Symphony Space announces the 2010 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize, with a deadline of January 29, 2010. The winning story will be read on Selected Shorts in April, 2010.
For more information, go to: http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts/writing_contest
Washington Square Review announces the Exquisite Corpse Collaboration Award, with a deadline of January 1, 2010.
For more information, go to: http://www.washingtonsquarereview.com/washington_Square_Award.html
The Writers’ Room of Boston is now accepting applications for four fellowships for 2010. The fellowships award use of the Writers’ Room to Boston Area residents at no cost for one year. The submission deadline is December 31, 2009.
For more information, go to: www.writersroomofboston.org
ABOUT PINE MANOR COLLEGE
As an undergraduate institution consistently ranked among the most diverse in the country, Pine Manor College emphasizes an inclusive, community-building approach to liberal arts education. The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing reflects the College’s overall mission by creating a supportive, welcoming environment in which writers of all backgrounds are encouraged to take creative risks. We strive to instill in our students an appreciation for the value of community-building and community service, and see engagement with the literary arts not only as a means to personal fulfillment but also as an instrument for real cultural change.
For more information, visit www.pmc.edu/mfa