EXCITING UPDATES FROM SPALDING MFA STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY, AND STAFF ON PUBLISHING, PRODUCING, AND OTHER DOINGS – ENJOY!
STUDENTS
Holly Baldwin (PW/SW/CNF) will be serving as the Creative Nonfiction Editor and Dramatic Writing Editor for the Santa Fe Literary Review for the 2018 issue. This will mark her third year as an editor of this publication. Holly’s television pilot, Insatiable, written during her first semester at Spalding, was recently selected as a Quarter Finalist for the Big Break Screenwriting Contest.
Lastly, her CNF essay, “To All the Daughters”, will be published in Amuse-Bouche series, A La Carte, on December 11th. Amuse-Bouche: À La Carte is a curated occasional series featuring short pieces by writers from underrepresented or historically misrepresented communities, and/or writing that engages with issues of social, economic, and environmental justice, and is produced by Antioch University’s Lunch Ticket.
Theresa Anne Carey’s (SW) first-semester screenplay, THE LADY PIRATES, is a Quarter-Finalist (top 6% of submissions) in the 2017 Shore Script Screenwriting Contest, is an Official Selection and Finalist for the Best Screenplay Award at the 2017 Birmingham (UK) Film Festival, and has made it past the first tier for the 2018 Athena List. In addition, an excerpt of her screenplay THE LADY PIRATES (aka Boundless as the Sea), will be published as a Dramatic Arts selection in the upcoming Fall 2017 edition of The Louisville Review.
Elizabeth Felicetti (CNF), a second-semester stretch student, had the piece “The Funeral that Changed My Mind about Weddings” posted in Modern Loss last month. She received exactly fifty rejections for various essays and poems (including this one) before it was accepted, and she cut 2,800 words from it to get it into the Modern Loss format. She tweets at @bizfel.
Joy Neighbors’s (CNF) first book, The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide, was released nationwide this month and is also available online at Amazon and ShopFamilyTree.com. Joy is speaking and doing a book signing on October 28 at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Louisville. Other signings are being scheduled across the Midwest. For more information, visit Joy Neighbors Amazon Author Page.
Kim Shaver (P) has two poems forthcoming in Hummingbird: magazine of the short poem. “Small Poem” will appear in the November issue, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, 2017 and “Thirty Minute Backyard Rensaku” will appear in the May issue, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, 2018. This paragraph is probably longer than the two poems put together.
Heidi Taylor (P) performed at the Open 24 Hours reading and release party on October 17th (Owensboro, Ky) and is scheduled to perform at the Flying Out Loud reading during Fall Residency on November 13th (Louisville, Ky). Additionally, she was a recent caller on-air for the October 10th edition of On Point on NPR and discussed the future of coal in America. Heidi also made chicken salad recently and it was the fire. Her other musings and rantings can be found on Twitter @HideyThePoet or on her blog http://hideythepoet.wordpress.com
Troy (T. E.) Wilde
rson’s (F) short story “420 Friendly” will be published by The Louisville Review in the Fall 2017 Issue. Troy’s story will be included in her work-in-progress short story collection Telling Stories. Her full credits can be viewed on her website: tewilderson.com. She is @MizGolightly on Twitter.
Elizabeth Wilks’ (W4C&YA) poem, “Pushing Daisies” was published in issue 12 of 50 Haikus! You can follow her on twitter@elizabethkwilks
ALUMNI
Katie Boyer (F ’16) is the new director of the Red Mountain Reading Series and editor of the literary and arts magazine Wingspan at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama. The Red Mountain Reading Series hosts three to four dynamic writers each academic year for public readings and workshops. Past guests have included Rick Bragg, Natasha Trethewey, Crystal Wilkinson, Frank X. Walker, and Sena Jeter Naslund. Wingspan publishes poetry, fiction, personal essays, journalism, and memoir, as well as photography and other visual arts. For more information, contact Katie, kboyer@jeffersonstate.edu.
Brooke Bullman’s (F ’15) short story “The Gray Horse” was published in the Autumn 2017 issue of The Southern Review.
Shawna Casey (PW ’12) and her new two-act play “blue blue moon” have been invited to Tangent Theatre’s NEW17 New Plays Festival, in New York’s Hudson Valley this November. Her play will be the featured reading on Saturday night of the festival, November 11. https://pwcenter.org/profile/shawna-casey
Nancy Chen Long (P ’13) is pleased to report that her work was featured on public radio WFIU’s Poet’s Weave on June 18, July 23, and August 27. As part of her reading tour for
her book Light into Bodies, she read at St. Ignace, Michigan, Public Library, Nicola’s Books (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Indy Reads Books (Indianapolis), Art-Haus (Atlanta), Desert Island Supply Company (Birmingham), Alabama State University, Java Cavana (Memphis), and the Sundress STL Salon (St. Louis.) In addition, Nancy read with alum Karen George at Chase Public (Cincinnati) and was a featured author at the reading/Q&A session “Second Acts” sponsored by the Monroe County (Indiana) Public Library. She was a featured poet on the Indiana Poet Laureate’s website Through the Sycamores. (Search for Nancy Chen to find Nancy’s entry.) And lastly, her poem “CommonWealth, Cash and Carry” was featured on Verse Daily and “A Fine Meal” was featured on Poetry Daily.
Joan Donaldson (CNF ’08) signed on with Terrie Wolfe of AKA Literary Management, who will represent Joan’s middle-grade novel manuscript, Mooey Bien.
Darlyn Finch Kuhn (CNF ’09) served on the faculty of the 16th Annual Florida Writers Conference October 19-22 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Her talks included Weird
Characters, Strange Places and Tough Times: Writing NEW Southern Gothic; Ekphrastic Poetry: Artists Inspiring Artists; and Bookstores & Beyond: Marketing in the Age of Amazon (with husband Brad Kuhn.) She also moderated the panel Life of an Acquisition Editor and read from her novel, Sewing Holes, at the faculty reading.
Karen George (F ’09) was honored to read poetry with Nancy Chen Long at Chase Public Reading Series on July 8. A found poem was published in Heron Tree and another one in Sliver of Stone. Her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/karenlgeo. Her Twitter handle is @karenlgeo. Her website is at http://karenlgeorge.snack.ws/.
Chris Helvey (F ’06), was a finalist in the 2017 New Millennium Writings Fiction Contest for his short story “A Portage.”
Alice-Catherine Jennings (P ’14) is pleased to announce that her newest poetry book, Notations: The Imagined Diary of Julian of Norwich, is now available from Red Bird Chapbooks. In addition, her poem “Early Cascade” was published in the autumn/winter 2017 issue of Banshee, a print journal of contemporary writing from Ireland and around the world, and one of her poetry fragments is included in the Freedom Patchwork poem, woven from fragments by Federation of Writers Scotland members. The premiere of this work was performed on September 28 at The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art [GoMA].
Carla Kirchner’s (F, P ’09) The Physics of Love, winner of the 2016 Concrete Wolf Press Poetry Chapbook Contest, has just been published and is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Concrete Wolf. You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/carla.kirchner.
Mary Knight (W4CYA ’13) will be traveling to Washington D.C. November 7-9 for an author visit to the Sidwell Friends school and to attend a celebration/reception sponsored by The Nature Generation, where she’ll accept the Green Earth Book Award
for her debut novel, Saving Wonder. Also in November, Mary will speak at a writers’ conference in Morehead, Kentucky; a young authors conference in Etowah, Tennessee; and as part of a panel for SenaFest at Spalding University, where she and other panelists will discuss Sena’s advice to “leave the competition in the library” and what it has meant to them. Visit Mary at her website: www.MaryKnightBooks.com or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mary-Knight-655452304591423/
Aimee Mackovic (P ‘05) is thrilled to announce the November release of her book ofpoetry, Love Junky, available at Lit City Press or contact Aimee directly. In 2016, she also published a chapbook of poems about Prince called Dearly Beloved: the Prince poems, which is available on Amazon.
Rick Neumayer‘s (F ’14) short story, “Our Own Private Walden Pond,” has been selected for publication in Los Angeles-based Falling Star Magazine’s upcoming issue. The story is an excerpt from his unpublished novel, JOURNEYMAN, which is set in the 1970s—an era saddled with the horrors of American racism, assassinations, and the Vietnam War. In the novel, which was Rick’s creative thesis, a nonconformist Louisvillian puts out his thumb, at the invitation of his friend Stan, and they take to the open road, headed west.
Deanna Northrup‘s (F ’06) short story “Remembering Hugo” found its way into issue #18 of Cahoodaloodaling, even though it was rejected by email.
Diana Raab (CNF ’03) has a regular column on Psychology Today called “The Empowerment Diary,” which merges writing, psychology, and creativity. She also has a monthly newsletter of musings, published works, information about readings, and book
reviews. Click here to subscribe. She blogs for Thrive Global, Medium, Boomer Café and Elephant Journal. Her book Writing for Bliss: A Seven- Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life was released on September 1 and received stellar reviews from Publishers Weekly, Foreword Reviews, and Kirkus Reviews. The book is available on Amazon or wherever books are sold. Please contact Diana if you’re interested in a review copy (diana@dianaraab.com) or if you would like to schedule a book signing or writing workshop in your town. For more information, check out her website, dianaraab.com.
Jeffrey Fischer-Smith’s (PW ’17) short play “A Dog Dreams” will be performed as part of a mini-production of The Grief Dialogues on November 1 for Peoples Memorial Association in Seattle, during their annual fundraiser and celebration of the Day of the Dead. More information about him can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jfischersmith).
Kathleen Thompson (F/P ’03) signed her poetry/prose chapbook, Time & Distance, at Golden Temple Health Foods and Cafe, Five Points, Birmingham, on October 14. She is also pleased to be among the contemporary Alabama women whose stories are included in Belles’ Letters 2, from Livingston Press. (One of the best known belles is Spalding’s very own Sena Jeter Naslund!) Kathleen will be reading/signing from her story “Envenomation” at the Hale County Library in Greensboro, Alabama, on November 5. This story was workshopped at Spalding.
Nicholas Siegel’s (F ’13) story “A Rebirth” was published in the October 2017 issue of
Ghost Parachute. His story “Stay a Little While” was published in the September 2017 issue of Jersey Devil Press. You can follow Nicholas on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lionsagechisel, on Twitter at @nicholassiegel, or on his website, www.nswriter.com.
Lori Tucker-Sullivan (CNF ‘11) recently had her essay on the problems of being a widow at a wedding published in the Solo-ish section of The Washington Post. In addition, her essay on growing up in the Warrendale neighborhood of Detroit was included in the anthology The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, published by Rust Belt Press in July. Lori blogs about widowhood at www.widowsapprenticeship.blogspot.com.
FACULTY
Dianne Aprile was a featured reader in south Seattle on Sept. 26 at the Columbia City Gallery. She read two poems recently published in The Raven Chronicles.
Gabriel Jason Dean is excited to announce the upcoming Off-Broadway premiere of his
play Terminus, presented by Monk Parrots as part of New York Theatre Workshop’s inaugural NEXT DOOR series in February 2018. Terminus will be directed by Lucie Tiberghien and star Obie-winner Didi O’Connell in the lead. It will be a limited run, but you can get priority access tickets by donating at https://www.gabrieljasondean.com/terminus-donations. Terminus will be published by Dramatic Publishing in 2018. Following that, his play Heartland will receive its world premiere at Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh.
This summer, Gabriel’s musical Mario and the Comet, co-written with David Dabbon, was presented at Seattle Children’s Theatre.
Just recently, his TV pilot We Belong, co-written with Jessie Dean, was a second rounder at the upcoming Austin Film Festival, and his short screenplay Pigskin was a semi-finalist for Screencraft’s Short contest.
Associate Program Director Kathleen Driskell presented a reading at Murray State for the Department of English and Philosophy on September 21. The following day she was a visiting writer in Professor Carrie Jerrell’s undergraduate literature course and answered questions about her work for students discussing and preparing to write papers on Kathleen’s poetry collection Blue Etiquette. On October 4, she presented her punctuation class to members of the Author’s Academy at The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington. Kathleen led the workshop “Exploring the Short Braided Narrative” for the Writer’s Block Conference on October 21. She also participated in the panel “Who Tells Your Story” and presented a reading to Writer’s Block conference attendees. On October 28, she presented to Athena’s Sisters during the program “Creating Sisterhood Art Workshop.” Athena’s Sisters was founded by MFA poetry alum Lindsay Gargotto. Kathleen’s appointment to the position of Faculty Representative on the Spalding Board of Trustees was extended for one year by the Spalding University Faculty Senate; she was also elected by her colleagues to serve as 2017-18 Member at Large on the Steering Committee of the Faculty Senate.
Lesléa Newman is thrilled to announce that her newest poetry collection (for adults), Lovely, will be published by Headmistress Press in January. “In this book, innocence yields to awakening, cruelty softens into compassion, and ever-present delight tussles
with ever-looming death. Lovely offers tender requiems, taut memories, hot pink love letters, and odes to the edible. Poet Lesléa Newman writes with rhythm, humor, sensuality and care. Lovely is just that!” — Lenelle Moïse, author of Haiti Glass. Copies of Lovely can be pre-ordered now, and for every pre-ordered book, Lesléa will donate $1.00 to the Matthew Shepard Foundation so that they can continue to erase hate and replace it with respect, acceptance, and love. More information at http://www.lesleanewman.com/newbks.htm. Her blog post “The Gender Dance” can be found at Nerdy Book Club.
Katy Yocom’s (F ’03) novel manuscript has been named a finalist in the Disquiet Open Borders Book Prize, awarded by Dzanc Books. It was also one of 15 finalists for the UNO PRESS Publishing Lab prize, out of 577 entries. In November, she is set to appear on a SenaFest panel about integrating the Spalding MFA ethos into your life after graduation. She spent four writing-focused weeks in September and October at the PLAYA retreat center near Summer Lake, Oregon, and she’d love to tell you about it. The residency was part of the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature, awarded by Ashland Creek Press. While there, she led an artist talk through PLAYAPresents, a discussion series offered for the local community. In July, her essay on the elegance of horse racing was published in the Track issue of Saratoga Living.
Sam Zalutsky was recently awarded a three-week residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, to take place in November/December 2017. Follow his new feature, @seasidemovie, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.