SOLSTICE MFA PROGRAM OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE

SOLSTICE MFA PROGRAM OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE
FACULTY, STAFF, & STUDENT NEWS FOR FEBRUARY 2010



Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Contact: Tanya Whiton
whitontanya@pmc.edu
For Release: Tuesday, February 2, 2010




ANNOUNCEMENTS


The application deadline for the fall 2010 semester of the Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program is May 10, 2010 (not a postmark date; materials must be received by our offices before or on May 10).

The fall 2010 semester begins with our summer residency, July 9 through July 18.

For detailed program information and a downloadable application form, go to: www.pmc.edu/mfa

We are pleased to announce four new $1,000 fellowships for first-semester students beginning with the winter residency/spring semester of 2011: The Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction; the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction; the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent; and the Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry.

Beginning with the March, 2010 edition, the Solstice MFA Program e-Newsletter will be adding the following features: a “blog of the month,” highlighting general interest blogs for writers, MFA students, and/or genre-specific offerings; a short guest column by a Solstice graduate; and a writing exercise submitted by one of our faculty members or alumni.




READINGS & EVENTS


MASSACHUSETTS

MFA Director and poet Meg Kearney will be reading on on Thursday, February 4 at 7 p.m. for The Collected Poets Series, held at Mocha Maya's, 47 Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls, MA; on Sunday, February 7 at 3 p.m. at the Concord Poetry Center, Emerson Umbrella for the Arts, 40 Stow Street in Concord, MA, and on Saturday, February 20 at 3:30 p.m. as part of the Brockton Library Poetry Series, 304 Main Street, Brockton, MA.

For more information, go to: www.megkearney.com

Poet Dzvinia Orlowsky will be reading on Thursday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m. as part of The Laureate Series in the Curley Room at Boston City Hall, One City Hall Square (Congress Street entrance), Boston, MA.

For more information, go to: http://www.cityofboston.gov/arts/poet_laureate.asp

Poet Kathleen Aguero will be reading on Sunday, February 28 at 3 p.m. at the West Falmouth Public Library, 575 West Falmouth Highway (Route 28A), West Falmouth, MA.

For more information, go to: www.westfalmouthlibrary.org


NEW HAMPSHIRE

Meg Kearney will be reading on Thursday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Hyla Brook Reading Series (affiliated with The Robert Frost Farm in Derry, NH) at the BeanTowne Coffee House and Café, 201 Rte 111, Hampstead, NH.

For more information, go to: www.beantownecoffee.com

NEW YORK

Poet and fiction writer Steve Huff will read with Ralph Black on Tuesday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Genesee Reading Series at Writers & Books, 740 University Avenue, Rochester, NY.

For more information, go to: http://www.wab.org/


PUBLICATIONS


MFA graduate Faye Rapoport DesPres’ interview with MFA writer-in-residence Michael Steinberg has been accepted for publication by the Writer’s Chronicle.

Multi-genre writer Laban Carrick Hill’s book, America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s, has recently been released in paperback.

For more information, go to: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/kids_index.aspx

MFA writer-in-residence Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island has been adapted as a graphic novel by artist Christian De Metter, and the film version — directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kinglsey — will be in theaters this month.

For more information, go to: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061968570/Shutter_Island_Graphic_Novel/index.aspx; to see a trailer of the movie, go to: http://www.shutterisland.com/

MFA student Melissa Ford Lucken’s presentation "Fiction as a Springboard for Critical Thinking and Expository Writing" has been accepted for the LAND (Liberal Arts Network for Development) Conference in Port Huron, Michigan, scheduled for February 17-19, 2010.

Multi-genre writer Anne-Marie Oomen’s essay collection, An American Map, is forthcoming from Wayne State University press in April, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/1027/American-Map

MFA student Jina Ortiz’ poem “Nidhe Israel Synagogue in Barbados” will be included in Volume IV of Drash: Northwest Mosaic.

For more information, go to: http://www.templebetham.org/music/drash/




CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, & SEMINARS


Young adult and children’s writer Grace Lin joins Elise Broach, Lita Judge, and Sara Pennypacker to presenet at Overcoming Challenges: A Program for Authors and Illustrators, Saturday, March 13 from 10:00–3:30 p.m. at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA

For more information, go to www.nescbwi.org

MFA student Angela Foster will be teaching a series of beginning memoir workshops in March and April as part of Kitchigami Writes! (offered through the Kitchigami Regional Library system in northern Minnesota).

Meg Kearney and MFA Assistant Director Tanya Whiton will be at the 2010 Associated Writing Programs Conference in Denver, Colorado, from April 7–10 at the Colorado Convention Center. The Solstice MFA Program table will be located in the Bookfair, Exhibit Hall A, table F19. Stop by for a visit!

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 — date and time TBA.

For more information, go to: http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/index.php




CONNECTIONS


Memoir (And) announces its annual contest, with a deadline of February 15, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://memoirjournal.squarespace.com/contest/

Memoirs Ink announces its biannual contest, with a deadline of February 15, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://memoirsink.blogspot.com/2009/12/memoirs-inks-half-yearly-writing.html

RADAR Productions announces its first annual Eli Coppola Memorial Poetry Chapbook Contest. The deadline is February 15, 2010.

For more information, go to: info@radarproductions.org

The Vermont Studio Center announces a full fellowship/residency contest with a deadline of February 15, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://www.vermontstudiocenter.org/

Omnidawn announces its annual Poetry Chapbook Competition, with a deadline of February 28, 2010.

For more information, go to: www.omnidawn.com

CALYX, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women announces the ninth annual 2010 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize, with submission dates beginning March 1 and ending May 31, 2010.

For more information, go to: www.calyxpress.org.

The Norman Mailer Writers Colony invites writers to apply for residencies and workshop scholarships, with a deadline of March 13, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://www.nmwcolony.org/curriculumPrograms/overview

Prairie Schooner announces its Book Prize contest, with a deadline of March 15, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://prairieschooner.unl.edu

Four Way Books announces the 2010 Intro Prize in Poetry with a deadline of March 31, 2010.

For more information, go to: www.fourwaybooks.com

The ING Unsung Heroes Project announces grants for educators, with a deadline of April 30, 2010.

For more information, go to: http://www.ing-usa.com/us/aboutING/CorporateCitizenship/Education/INGUnsungHeroes/index.htm

Academic Careers Online is a resource for MFA graduates in search of employment; there is no charge for their services.

For more information, go to: www.academiccareers-job.com

Children’s Book Press is currently seeking manuscripts that reflect the diversity and experiences of minority and/or new immigrant communities in the United States.

For more information, go to: http://www.childrensbookpress.org/

ForeWord Magazine is seeking qualified book reviewers for its fee-for-review service.

Book critics, librarians, booksellers, teachers, and professors, send credentials to: whitney@forewordreviews.com

H.O.W (Helping Orphans Worldwide) Journal is currently seeking submissions in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art.

For more information, go to: www.HOWjournal.com

The Normal School Literary Magazine is now accepting submissions.

For more information, go to: www.thenormalschool.com

Writer & teacher Patricia Henley (a 2007 Solstice Conference faculty member) invites writers interested in reviewing books by women authors to submit short reviews to her blog.

To send a query, go to: http://womenwritersgettogether.squarespace.com/.

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.

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


















The Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing
of Pine Manor College

400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
www.pmc.edu/mfa • mfa@pmc.edu


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Copyright © 2009 Pine Manor College. All rights reserved.

Some More Art From "Fancy Girl"

Deanna's Frame

Deanna's 1979 Honda Prelude

Alex Foster Black and White Sketch Drawings from Upcoming "Fancy Girl" Novel

December Pics From "Digitalix" Taken By Alex Foster

December Pics From "Digitalix" Taken By Alex Foster

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

Boys With Bats-Poem

BOYS WITH BATS By Jasen Sousa


They don’t understand our obsession with bats.
We scavenge through city streets,
look for our weapons of choice.
We scour through garbage,
leave barrels lying on their sides,
high-five upon their demise.
We raid abandoned buildings
and throw rocks through small square panels
of muck covered glass for practice.

We find hockey sticks, lead pipes and tree limbs
to go along with brooms we swiped from our parents.
Grinning young craftsmen sawing down sticks to our liking.
We blow away dust and tape both ends,
leave plenty of room to choke up.
We bring spray paint
to make sure everyone knows their way home.

We enter the park,
cigarette smoke
and foul language follows us.
Sagging fences surround, we splash
through puddles and crush lonely grass
that grows from cracks in the concrete.
We dress in our specific street colors
and wait to see if any other neighborhood kids
are up for a challenge.

Maybe it’s true what everyone says about us
being hoodlums and thugs.
With our bats, backwards caps, socks up to our knees,
beaters showing off our tats and crucifixes
dangling around our skinny necks.
But today, we are baseball players.

Taken from the book Humming Eternity by Jasen Sousa

Message from the UFC

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see projecthybrid hypnotise a room full of music lovers .....if you don't bring a
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questions asked frequently by friends of starving underground artist....just show
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then buy a unitedfrontcompany.com tshirt from us to help fund our nationwide
tour...or come to 318 squire rd in revere ma.on the ground floor and buy a piece of
jewlry from danis box...lol or send some one here to record there music....do
something! Ha here is how u can find us elsewhere in cyberspace...
www.unitedfrontcompany.com www.myspace.com/unitedfrontco
www.twitter.com/oryntherebel www.soundclick.com/oryntherebel
www.youtube.com/unitedfrontcoboss www.myspace.com/vitamincoryn