The School of Creative and Professional Writing at Spalding University is pleased to announce the hiring of four new faculty members to teach in the school’s low-residency graduate writing programs.
Jason Kyle Howard joins the faculty in the areas of creative nonfiction and professional writing. Howard is author of A Few Honest Words, an essay collection that explores how the land and culture of Kentucky have shaped American music through the work of musicians including Dwight Yoakam, Jim James, and Naomi Judd, among others. He is author of the essay and oral history collection Something’s Rising (co-written with Silas House). A widely acclaimed music writer, Howard has interviewed musicians spanning all genres including Yoko Ono, Carly Simon, Patty Griffin, and the legendary folksinger Jean Ritchie. His essays and commentary have appeared in the New York Times, Oxford American, Salon, The Nation, The Millions, Utne Reader, Paste and Sojourners and have been featured on C-SPAN’s Book TV and NPR. He previously served as senior editor for Equal Justice Magazine. Howard is currently editor of Appalachian Heritage, a literary quarterly based at Berea College, where he teaches and directs the creative writing program. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Joining the faculty in poetry and professional writing, Erin Keane is author of three full-length poetry collections—Demolition of the Promised Land, Death-Defying Acts, and The Gravity Soundtrack—and is deputy editor-in-chief at Salon. Her poems, plays, essays, and award-winning journalism have been published in Salon; How to Read a Poem; David Bowie: A Life; PANK; Forklift, Ohio; The Collagist; Redivider; Here & Now; All Things Considered; The Guardian; American Theatre; Poems & Plays; Sou’wester; Spoon River Poetry Review; and elsewhere. She co-produced and co-hosted the podcast These Miracles Work. A recipient of the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Marlene M. Helm Award for outstanding alumnus of the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, Keane serves on the board of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference and is a voting member of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award committee. A former host for The Moth StorySlam in Louisville, Keane co-founded the InKY Reading Series, now part of Louisville Literary Arts. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and holds an MFA from Spalding University.
Charles Maynard joins the School of Writing faculty in professional writing. He is the author of the Far Away Land Role-Playing Game (under the pseudonym Dirk Stanley) and several card games. His first novel, The Way Things End, is forthcoming. He is currently finishing a middle-grade novella and is working on a new novel. He directs the Writing Center at Spalding University, where he also serves as assistant professor of English in the School of Liberal Studies, teaching first-year writing. Maynard lives in Louisville with his wife. He spends his free time 3d printing, drawing, reading, making games, playing Tetris, and worrying incessantly about things out of his control. He hopes one day to release a progressive rock album about the creation and death of the universe. He holds an MFA from Spalding University.
Keith S. Wilson joins the faculty in poetry and professional writing. Author of the poetry collection Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love, Wilson is an Affrilachian Poet, Cave Canem fellow, and graduate of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. He serves as Assistant Poetry Editor at Four Way Review and Digital Media Editor at Obsidian Journal. His work in interactive fiction includes A Day in the Life, a narrative decision-making game, and Black Box, an educational roleplaying game. His writing has appeared in Poetry, Adroit Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Little A, Narrative, 32 Poems, Rhino, Muzzle, Blueshift Journal, and Vinyl. He has received an NEA Grant, a Kenyon Review Fellowship in Poetry, a Best of the Net Award, and a Redivider Blurred Genre prize, and his work has been anthologized in Best New Poets. He lives in Chicago and holds an MFA from Chicago State University.
The School of Creative and Professional Writing offers three graduate writing programs on the low-residency model:
a 65-credit-hour Master of Fine Arts in Writing (MFA), with concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting, and playwriting
a 35-credit-hour Master of Arts in Writing (MAW) offering the six creative writing concentrations as well as a professional writing track
a 15-credit-hour Graduate Certificate in Writing, offering creative and professional tracks
Students in the MAW program can matriculate into the MFA program, earning both degrees for about the same tuition cost as the MFA alone. Certificate students may matriculate into the MAW or MFA program.