Draft of, On A Weekend Night, from a future project tentatively titled, “Dampness”

On A Weekend Night

A lighter clicks

once,
twice,
three times.

Snapping overworked fingers,
it does not spark.

A man sits on a wooden bench
on a weekend night,
places a lighter in his pocket
and does not remove his hands.

His legs are not crossed, but his
feet are, and the strings from his boots
scrape the pavement like an old branch
that survived another unforgiving season.

He waits above ground outside a subway station
shadowed by a bus every 15 minutes,
or so.

The evening is late for him, but early
for others bundled in wool jackets and cashmere scarfs
that cover parts and accessories
necessary to remember sips and laughs my mid-week.


A lighter is removed
from the man’s pocket. He stares
at it.

Once,
twice,
three times.

He does not attempt to light it again
because he has realized
that no life remains inside.

Writing Exercise

Scenario:
You are an up and coming recording artist who was recently signed by an independent record label. Before the record company can invest time and money in your CD, they need to know you can deliver a project that it going to generate record sales. They know that you have talent, but they also need to know that they can present your sound, style, and message to consumers.

Your Objective:
The record label needs an idea of how you envision your first CD. Since you are a new artist, you have some creative control, but the record label also has a say on how your CD is going to look and sound.
This is what they need from you:
• Your CD is going to have 15 songs on it. The record label wants to see your creativity. What are the names of your 15 songs going to be?
• After you give the record label your 15 songs, they now want you to pitch a name for your CD. The name of your CD must have a theme that fits with most of your song titles.
• It would help the record label tremendously if you could draw a sketch or give some details on what your album cover what look like. What image is going to sit on store shelves?
• The record label is interested in the song titles that you have provided them. Now they want two to three samples of your song lyrics. Choose two to three song titles and begin to create poems from these titles. The record label wants to know if you have a hit song inside of you.
Requirements From The Label:
Since the record label knows what is going to sell records, you must include song titles that include these themes:
• “Where I’m From Song”
• “Something You Would Like To Change About Yourself Song”
• “A Social Commentary Song” (Something that angers you about society that you believe should not exist)
• “ I Made It Song” (You are a successful musician now and have sold millions of records, what has changed about your life?)

Supplies For The Artist:
• Empty CD cases
• Blank CD inserts for artwork and song track list
• Blank CD’s for you to bring to studio to begin recording

Solstice MFA Newsletter, October 2011

SOLSTICE MFA PROGRAM of PINE MANOR COLLEGE
FACULTY, STAFF, GRADUATE, & STUDENT NEWS FOR OCTOBER 2011



Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Contact: Tanya Whiton
For Release: Monday, October 3, 2011
whitontanya@pmc.edu


ANNOUNCEMENTS


Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are pleased to be able to offer four winter residency/spring semester fellowships for first-semester students:

• 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
• The Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry

Fellowship recipients will receive a $1,000 award toward their first semester’s tuition; awards must be applied toward the winter residency/spring semester directly following acceptance. Fellowship applications are due October 14, 2011 (not a postmark date; materials must be received in our offices before or on October 14). The general application deadline is Tuesday, November 15 (not a postmark date).

For more information, go to: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa-financial-aid

We are proud to announce a new partnership with The Foundation for Children’s Books (FCB), a nonprofit organization that cultivates children’s curiosity, creativity, and academic achievement by igniting in them a love of good books. The FCB and Solstice MFA Program will co-host the first in a series of biannual events, “What’s New in Children’s Books” —a half-day conference featuring authors, illustrators, and library and bookstore professionals— Saturday, November 5th from 8 a.m.–noon on the Pine Manor College campus, 400 Heath Street in Chestnut Hill.

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

We would like to welcome our new MFA Program Intern, Hareem Shafi, who is majoring in English and creative writing in Pine Manor College’s undergraduate program.

This month’s alumni guest column is by Cindy Zelman, who writes about attending a writers conference post graduation.

To read Cindy’s column, scroll down or click here.

READINGS & EVENTS


INDIANA

Poet and fiction writer Mark Turcotte will read as part of the Kellogg Writers Series, Thursday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m., Good Hall, University of Indianapolis, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis, IN.

For more information, go to: http://english.uindy.edu/kellogg/kellogg.html

MICHIGAN

Multi-genre writer Anne-Marie Oomen will be giving the keynote for the Women's History Project of Northwest Michigan, Saturday, October 22 at 12:00 p.m. in Traverse City, Michigan. She will also be reading from her piece in the anthology Ghost Writers: Us Haunting Them, Friday, October 28 at 5:00 p.m. at Brilliant Books, 305 Saint Joseph Street, Suttons Bay, MI.

For more information, go to: http://www.brilliant-books.net/

Mark Turcotte will present as part of "Poets & Editors: A Reading and Conversation," Thursday, October 27 at 3:30 p.m., 3222 Angell Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

For more information, go to: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/grad/mfa/eventsCalendar.asp?offset=10

NEW YORK

MFA graduate Alison Stone will host a reading, “Strong Words: Readings by Rockland Poets,” Sunday, October 1 from 2–4:30 p.m. at the Nyack Library, 59 South Broadway, Nyack NY.

For more information, go to: http://nyacklibrary.org/


PUBLICATIONS


MFA graduate Kerry Beckford’s opinion piece on the movie The Help recently appeared in the Hartford Courant.

To read the piece, go to: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-beckford-the-help-blacks-0823-20110823,0,1972753.story

Multi-genre writer Jaime Manrique’s novel Cervantes Street will be published in English by Akashic Books in 2012.

MFA graduate Mike Miner’s piece “The Revenge Game” will be appearing on the Flash Fiction Offensive in October.

For more information, go to: http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/

Poet Dzvinia Orlowsky’s fifth poetry collection, Silvertone, is forthcoming from Carnegie Mellon University Press in 2013.

Writer-in-Residence Michael Steinberg’s craft essay, “The Person To Whom Things Happened: Finding the Inner Story in Personal Narratives,” was recently reprinted in Prime Number, #11. Also, the sixth edition of The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction, (co-edited by Mike Steinberg and Robert Root) was recently published by Pearson Longman.

For more information, go to: http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/About.html and/or http://www.longmanhomeusa.com/

MFA graduate Alison Stone’s poems “Pleather” and “For Any Occasion” appear in the current Sex/Food/Death issue of Slipstream: http://www.slipstreampress.org/.

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, & SEMINARS


MFA graduate Suzanne Deshchidn was recently accepted into Cornelius Eady’s year-long poetry thesis workshop at the 92nd Street YMCA in New York City, and she has been hired as an adjunct instructor at Passaic Community College in Paterson, NJ, where she will be teaching developmental reading and writing.

Poet and MFA Program Director Meg Kearney will be conducting a workshop and giving a reading at the New York State English Council Conference at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York on Thursday, October 20. Her workshop, "Portrait Poems," is scheduled from 9:30-10:30 a.m.; her reading is at 8 p.m.

For more information, visit http://www.nysecteach.org

MFA graduate Alison McGrath recently attended the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Rocky Mountain chapter conference in Lakewood, Colorado.

Mike Steinberg was a guest writer at the Ashland University Low-Residency MFA Program in July, 2011.

OTHER NEWS


Kathleen Aguero’s poem “Fastenings,” —published in The Cincinnati Review— won first Honorable Mention for the New England Poetry Club's Gretchen Warren Award for best published poem.

MFA graduate Kimberly Kreines (nee Wisneski) has contributed as a script supervisor to the following projects:

• the feature Taco Shop— https://www.facebook.com/TacoShopMovie
• the short My Left Hand Man
• the web series Awkward Black Girl— http://awkwardblackgirl.com/
• the soon-to-be web series Lost Heroes— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhhoumQ_l9g http://martinleiber.tumblr.com/
• the soon-to-be web series Exposure —http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1256603696/exposure-webseries/posts

Also, her spec script for the show Community, entitled "Marketing 101", made it to the top 10% of entries for the Austin Film Festival.

For more information, go to: http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/new/

GUEST COLUMN


Workshops, Retreats, and Pitch Sessions, Oh My!
—By Cindy Zelman

This past August, I attended a writing workshop — the inaugural Wet Mountain Valley Writers’ Workshop in Westcliffe, Colorado— that featured two nationally known writers and teachers: memoirist Abigail Thomas and fiction writer Dorothy Allison. A year after earning my MFA, I was looking for a way to connect with other writers and move my writing forward. I also wanted a chance to work with Dorothy Allison (whom I’d met at a Solstice residency) and on whom I focused my critical thesis for the MFA Program.

When I arrived in Colorado, I found myself among good, strong writers: published writers, genre writers, fiction writers, and essayists. I spent six days with my peers, and the mood at the workshop felt very similar to a Solstice residency: intense, exciting, supportive, emotional, and fun. The workshop’s organizer made it clear this workshop was designed to be a safe place for writers, and much like Solstice, a place to take chances. The workshop helped me reaffirm myself as a writer —my work held up alongside a group of random (yet very talented) writers. I gathered admirers outside of our wonderfully supportive Solstice family. I read aloud and heard those same cheers — from a group of strangers! People wanted my critique of their writing. They wanted to read more of my work. We’re still exchanging manuscripts, even though the conference has been over for weeks. This is the kind of affirmation I’ve missed since graduation.

Yet as the workshop progressed, I heard the other writers saying things like, “This has been a transformative experience,” or “This has been a game-changer in my life.” Their eyes were wide, their souls on fire. They were radioactive, as Solstice Program Director Meg Kearney would say. Yet I did not feel transformed or…radioactive. My transformative experience had occurred as an MFA student at Solstice. Most of the attendees at Wet Mountain did not have an MFA, so for some, the workshop marked the first time they’d experienced a great community of supportive writers. Their lives had begun to change in a way mine already had changed. As an MFA graduate, I found that the workshop critique structured around ten or twenty pages of a work-in-progress is no longer as helpful as when I was a student; I have a whole book for which I need feedback, and hopefully, a second book over the next year. I am now looking for writing time and for a few trusted readers, and access to professionals on the business side of the publishing industry.

With that realization, I’m not sure I need to experience another workshop of this type next year. So what do I need instead to maintain momentum and connect with other writers? Discussions with other Solstice grads helped me to consider, for example, a writing retreat, where I could hole up in a cabin for several hours to write, and then commune with fellow writers for meals and evening readings. Another choice would be to attend a conference where I have an opportunity to pitch directly to editors and agents. (A woman I met at the writers’ workshop, who has published several books of a business nature, suggested that I find such a conference. “There’s nothing like the face to face contact with an agent,” she said.) Although others have suggested that doing research and sending a proposal is more effective than five minutes in front of an agent, I still think a pitch conference might be worth a try. And there are many choices for those on limited budgets and with limited time: most cities provide day-long classes on a host of writing related topics, from craft to writing a book proposal to face to face time with agents and editors. Grub Street does such classes in the Boston area, and I’ve seen similar opportunities around the country advertised in writing magazines.

I encourage my fellow graduates to explore ways to get (and stay) involved with other writers, whether they be Solstice alums or new acquaintances. It will do wonders for your work and for your writer’s soul. And if you’d like to read a book-length manuscript by yours truly…

CONNECTIONS

Esquire announces its short short fiction contest with a deadline of October 7, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://www.esquire.com/promotions/contestandsweeps/fiction-contest

Chautauqua announces its annual poetry contest, with a deadline of November 1, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://writers.ciweb/org/literary-journal

Hot Metal Bridge seeks fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submissions for its next issue, with a deadline of November 1, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://hotmetalbridge.org

The Minnesota Review seeks submissions of fiction and poetry, with a deadline of November 1, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://www.theminnesotareview.org/index.shtml

Southeast Missouri State University Press announces the Nilsen Literary Prize for First Novel, with a deadline of November 1, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/nilsennovel.htm

Lumina seeks submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with a deadline of November 15, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://slclumina.wordpress.com/

Two Review announces its annual poetry contest, with a deadline of November 30, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://tworeview.weebly.com/2011-poetry-contest.html

The Star Mill Review seeks submissions in short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and visual art. Open submissions run from October 3–December 31, 2011.

For more information, go to: http://www.starmillreview.com/

The Writers’ Room of Boston is now accepting applications for four fellowships for 2012, with a deadline of December 31, 2011. The fellowships award use of the Writers’ Room to Boston Area residents at no cost for one year.

For more information, go to: http://www.writersroomofboston.org/fellowship_app_letter12.htm

Belletrist Coterie seeks poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, interviews, photography, and web-friendly artwork for its inaugural issue of Belletrist Coterie. Open submissions run through January 4, 2012.

For more information, go to: http://belletristcoterie.com/pages/home

The Horn Book Magazine, a bimonthly publication dedicated to children’s and young adult books, is seeking article submissions.

For more information, go to: http://www.hbook.com/aboutus/publications/submissions.asp

The Review Review, an online journal dedicated to reviewing and discussing literary journals, has issued a call for writers.

For more information, go to: http://thereviewreview.net/

South 85 Journal seeks submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reviews, and criticism by new, emerging, and established writers.

For more information, go to: www.south85journal.com

Toad seeks poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and visual art.

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

ABOUT SOLSTICE & 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.

Lexington Park Family Tree Project

For the purpose of history, I am going to be working on a project researching a Lexington Park Family Tree. Lexington Park was built back in 1981 and we will be covering 30 years of people who called Lexington Park home.

We will be researching certain crews that ran together at different time periods and seeing how certain individuals intertwine and connect with different eras.

What sports were popular during different time periods? Who dominated athletically? Fights, neighbors, and vivid charters will all be represented in this project.

Lexington Park was home to me for a good deal of my life, a place I could always go and be myself, and I know many of you feel the same way. There are no other memories and bonds like those which sprung from park life. I look forward to going on this journey with all of my brothers and sisters who have touched my life throughout the years at LP.

Please get @ me for further details and see how you can be involved in the project.

NAIBA: Watch the Transformation

The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, which hosted the 2011 New Atlantic Booksellers Association annual conference (Sept.19-22), could serve as a metaphor for bookselling as a whole. With an exterior wrapped in vinyl and an interior filled with hard-hatted workers, the former Trump Marina Hotel is in the midst of both a figurative and literal makeover to regain lost business. A sign in the casino proclaims: “Out with the old... in with the gold. Watch the transformation.” That a similar transition is taking place in the book business was evident throughout the show.

As NAIBA president Lucy Kogler of Talking Leaves...Books in Buffalo, N.Y., noted at the Awards Banquet, “the book business is under construction, re-construction. The changes [in bookselling] are myriad: some obvious, some occult. The outcome uncertain. But what is certain is that independent bookstores are an essential component of the plan.”

And it’s not just educational sessions like one on alternate business models that pointed up the change or the dialogue that evolved between YA authors and booksellers at a panel on how to host successful YA events. The show itself was de-constructed to make it more useful. For instance, the annual meeting was shortened and the region’s first Town Hall was held to find out what NAIBA could do better. “Bookselling is becoming increasingly difficult,” noted board member Pat Kutz, co-owner of Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport, N.Y. “So we want to do everything we can to help you so you’ll be here next year.”

The show days, too, were flopped to encourage booksellers to dive into the exhibits, lunch with reps and get a look at, or be re-reminded about, top books for fall and winter. The educational sessions were relegated to the second day, which also included a Moveable Feast of both adult and children’s author. In their keynote session, Arielle Ekstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Published (Workman), reminded booksellers that a well-curated bookstore is important, but it’s not enough, and encouraged booksellers to “embrace your inner entrepreneur.”

It’s not clear how much the changes contributed to the upbeat mood of the show, which drew 400 people, roughly the same number of stores as in years past. Or it could have been stand-out author events, ranging from the moving—Doron Weber speaking about his son who died far too young, Immortal Bird (Simon & Schuster, Feb. ‘12), or YA author Lauren Oliver on how grief fueled her first middle-grade novel, Liesel & Po (HarperCollins, Oct.)—to laugh-out-loud funny—Jack Gantz (Dead End in Norvelt, FSG) describing his childhood or Colson Whitehead (Zone One, Doubleday, Oct.) talking about his approach to becoming a writer.

By swapping the exhibit day with the day of education and tweaking rep picks and making them more personal by rotating reps from table to table at lunch, the emphasis of the show moved back to books. In fact the day was dubbed, Bookcentric, and included an editor’s buzz panel, modeled after one at BEA, with Carl Lennertz, the newly appointed head of World Book Night and this year’s Legacy Award winner, as well as speed-dating with children’s authors. Talk about the books. Children’s author Peter Brown, winner of a NAIBA Book of the Year Award for Children Make Terrible Pets (Little, Brown) had such a long line for signed copies of his new book, You Will Be My Friend (Little, Brown) after his breakfast talk that he was still signing 15 minutes into the next session.

The changes were welcomed by most reps despite a very long day. They had to set up their exhibit booths early in the morning, because the preceding evening the hotel needed the space for its weekly Bingo Bonanza. NAIBA executive director Eileen Dengler also rearranged the hall to make sure booksellers stopped at all the booths. “I like the way it flowed,” she said. “I was very pleased with the show. Everyone who was there had a great time.” Macmillan sales representative Mike Cutforth agreed. He also gave a thumbs up to sitting with booksellers to give the rep picks rather than at the front of the room from a podium. “I think you connect [with booksellers] a lot better. I’d probably bring more of the list books,” he added. “I gave them away in the first half hour the exhibit hall opened.”

The show drew lapsed NAIBA members like Judy and Jerry Heaton, owners of 25-year-old The Bookworm in East Aurora, N.Y., who had been energized by a NAIBAhood gathering earlier in the spring and decided to come, and long-time members like Rob Dougherty, manager of Clinton Book Shop in Clinton. “I think it was a great show,” said Dougherty. “I liked the bookseller interaction. I really come to hang out with people. I enjoy this more than BEA. We’ve scaled down our BEA visits.” He also uses it to get signed books and galleys to give to his best customers.




For many booksellers the chance to be with “their peeps,” as Susanna Hermann’s, co-owner and manager of Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, N.Y., referred to it in a tweet, seemed to be the biggest draw. The book pitches did have their intended effect. Stephanie Anderson, manager of WORD Books in Brookline grabbed a galley for William Landry’s Defending Jacob (Delacorte, Jan.), which was presented by Kate Miciak of Random House at the Editor Buzz, and said that she should be able to sell a lot. On the children’s side, WORD owner Christine Onorati said that author Kenneth Oppel “really sold it” at a breakfast presentation; she’ll now be pushing his This Dark Endeavor (Simon & Schuster), which just pubbed. As for the biggest book for the holiday season, no one cared to venture a guess.

eNews from the Boston Public Library

Latino Life

Latino Life, a list of recent books concerning the Latino experience, is published each year as part of the Boston Public Library's observance of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15). This year’s booklist features 53 titles, includes selections suitable for teens, and identifies books available in English and Spanish.



Latino Life is available at all Boston Public Library locations and via the Boston Public Library website and catalog. Librarians from Grove Hall, South Boston, Connolly, Lower Mills, and the Central Library in Copley Square created the 2011 list.


Authors Galore


Throughout the fall, authors will visit the Central Library in Copley Square and several Boston Public Library branches to talk about their writing. Book topics range from economics to environmentalism and from personal tales to local history. The complete schedule of upcoming author talks at the Boston Public Library is available on the library’s calendar and on www.bpl.org/authors. Upcoming appearances include:

Johnny Diaz, author of Take the Lead
Frances Moore Lappé , author of EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want
Steve Inskeep , author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi
Julie Klam, author of Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself

Riffs & Raps

Riffs & Raps: Jazzin' the Generations is a series of free concerts at Boston Public Library locations. Offered in partnership with JazzBoston, Riffs & Raps invites people of all ages to travel together on a live, musical tour through time. Many will recognize favorite songs as three musical guides – Arni Cheatham, Bill Lowe, and Kevin Harris – use jazz standards and originals to bridge the generations. This musical tour stops at eight neighborhood branches this fall. View the full schedule.

Weekend Hours

Saturday hours returned to the neighborhood branches of the Boston Public Library system earlier this month, and Sunday hours at the Central Library in Copley Square return on October 2. For detailed information, visit our hours page.

Did you know? Calendar of Events
You can pick up a free copy of the Boston Book Festival’s “One City One Story” selection from any Boston Public Library location. The Boston Book Festival will take place in Copley Square on October 15.



A draft of the library's strategic plan is posted for community review at www.bpl.org/compass.



The Boston Public Library's Never Too Late Group is one of the country's oldest, continuously running groups for seniors.


The BPL calendar lets you search for events, download to your calendar, sign up for email or text reminders, and more.

Youth

The Homework Assistance Program is back in session. Free, drop-in homework help, academic support, and mentoring is available in all subject areas to students in grades K – 8.

SOLSTICE MFA in CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM of PINE MANOR COLLEGE

SOLSTICE MFA in CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM of PINE MANOR COLLEGE
ANNOUNCES ALUMNI READING



For Release: IMMEDIATELY
Contact: Tanya Whiton, Assistant Director
whitontanya@pmc.edu

[Chestnut Hill, MA, September, 2011] Pine Manor College is pleased to announce that Solstice MFA Program graduate and Alumni Coordinator Faye Snider will be facilitating a reading featuring fellow alums, Wednesday, September 14 from 7:15–8:45 p.m. at the Luckart Gallery, 438 Lexington Street, Auburndale, MA. Readers include nonfiction writer and poet Faye Snider, fiction writer Ann McArdle, nonfiction and YA writer Jim Kennedy, and poet Melissa Varnavas; the gallery is currently showing works by event co-coordinator Marcia Cooper and the painter Maria Aguilar.

• Retired family therapist and inveterate gardener Faye Snider (January, 2009) recently published a short memoir, “Goldie’s Gold,” in Alimentum: The Literature of Food. She will read from an essay entitled “Mother’s Tears.”

• Interior design writer and teacher Ann McArdle (July, 2010) recently published a short story, “Tomorrow” in the journal Pear Noir! She will read from her interconnected short fiction collection, Works of Mercy.

• Accountant and distance walker Jim Kennedy (July, 2011) has published fiction and memoir in Prism International and Creative Nonfiction; he will be reading from his recently completed young adult novel, Salamander in the Weeds.

• Journalist and poet Melissa J. Varnavas (January, 2010) is a recipient of awards from the New England Press Association and Suburban Newspapers of America, and her poetry has recently appeared in the journals Oberon and Margie.

• Landscape/portrait artist Marcia Cooper has shown her work at the Danforth Museum, Arnold Arboretum, and the Newton Art Association.

• Maria Aguilar, an acclaimed artist in her native Guatemala, interprets the impact of and tensions surrounding Mayan ancestry in Latin American culture.

ABOUT SOLSTICE & 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.

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.
###


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