Department of Creative Writing
News & Accolades – October 2015:
Ecotone Magazine celebrates 10 years while its sister book imprint, Lookout Books,
published its first novel, Honey from the Lion by Matthew Neil Null, in September.
Listen to Emily Louise Smith, founder and publisher of Lookout Books, and Anna Lena
Phillips Bell, editor of both publications, discuss Ecotone and Lookout here.
Anna Lena Phillips Bell has two poems, “Sprout Wings and Fly” and “Girl at the State
Line,” published on District Lit, an online journal of writing and art.
Congratulations, Anna Lena!
David Gessner has sold his newest book to Riverhead Books. It blends a memoir of his
experience as an Ultimate Frisbee player along with the history of the sport, and is
tentatively titled Ultimate Glory.
Congratulations, David!
MFA student Jonathan Russell Clark has published his first piece in LA Review of Books,
on Andrew DeGraff's "Plotted: A Literary Atlas" and cartography in literature. Read it at
lareviewofbooks.org/review/here-be-dragons-on-literary-cartography.
Congratulations, Jonathan!
MFA student Pernille Larsen has a poem, “St. Kaylee Sits Through Abstinence-Only
Education,” forthcoming in The Asheville Poetry Review and another poem, “Playing
Dead,” forthcoming in The Lost Country.
Her poem, “Rubble,” won the 2nd Prize Streetlight Magazine’s poetry contest and was
published in their fall issue.
Finally, Pernille’s “Poem in Which I Attempt to Write L’histoire centrale by Rene
Magritte,” has been nominated for the Independent Best American Poetry Anthology by
Crab Creek Review.
Congratulations, Pernille!
MFA student Katie O’Reilly has an essay titled “Superdonor” about attending an insider
egg donation conference published in Vela Magazine.
Congratulations, Katie!
MFA student Beth Roddy has been awarded a fellowship, her second, at Virginia Center
for the Creative Arts. She will be a resident there in December and January.
She also appears in Poets & Writers September/October 2015 Issue in the Recent
Winners section for the prize she won last December: the 2014 Gabriele Rico Challenge
for Creative Nonfiction for her essay "Single Worst Book." She received $1,333 and
publication of her essay in Reed Magazine. The annual award is given for an essay.
Congratulations, Beth!
MFA student Stephanie Trott has an interview up at the Rumpus with author Lauren
Groff, who is a National Book Awards finalist for her novel Fates and
Furies (http://therumpus.net/2015/10/the-rumpus-interview-with-lauren-groff-2/).
Congratulations, Stephanie!
MFA student Emily Paige Wilson’s poem, “Learning to Speak in Czech,” was a semifinalist in Tinderbox Poetry Journal’s first-ever poetry contest. The poem will be
published in their December issue.
Congratulations, Emily!
MFA alum Hannah Dela Cruz Abram’s (’07) poem, “Choreography for Brief Flight,”
received a Best of the Net nomination from storySouth.
Congratulations, Hannah!
MFA alum Dina Greenberg (’15) has a flash fiction piece called “Radio Silence” in Vine
Leaves Literary Journal’s October issue.
Dina has also been awarded a residency at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and
Humanities.
Congratulations, Dina!
MFA alum Rochelle Hurt (’11) was a finalist in Black Warrior Review’s Nonfiction
contest, and her essay will be published in their spring issue, 41.2.
Congratulations, Rochelle!
One of MFA alum Shawna Kenney’s (’07) Tiny Truth Twitter stories will be featured in
Creative Nonfiction magazine’s newsletter, and another will be printed in issue #57.
Congratulations, Shawna!
MFA alum Veronica Lupinacci’s (’15) poem, “Sanity’s Song: How to Un-love” was named
a finalist in the Gigantic Sequins Poetry Contest.
Congratulations, Veronica!
MFA alum Catey Miller’s (’15) short story, “In the Middle of the Night,” received an
honorable mention in the Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children’s
Writing through Hunger Mountain and Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Congratulations, Catey!
MFA alum Jason Newport’s (’12) satirical short fiction "Protect and Serve" appears in
Issue #16 of Vine Leaves, which can be read for free here by scrolling down to click on
the issue: vineleavesliteraryjournal.com/issue-16-oct-2015.
Congratulations, Jason!
MFA alum Derek Nikitas’s (’00) new novel, Extra Life, is out
this month from Polis Books. It is Derek’s first Young Adult
novel.
Congratulations, Derek!
MFA alum Paul Pastorini (’14) was among the nine finalists for the North Carolina
Literary Review’s first Alex Albright Creative Nonfiction Prize competition this year for
his essay, “The Underwater Ride of After.”
Congratulations, Paul!
MFA alum Jessica Smith (’08) published an article about recent improvements in cancer
diagnoses in Wilmington Magazine.
Congratulations, Jessica!
MFA alum Anna Sutton (’13) was selected as a finalist for the Crab Orchard Review
Poetry Series First Book Award and was also a finalist for the Southern Writers
Symposium Emerging Writer Award.
In addition, Anna’s poem “Egg” appeared in Fjords Review Women’s Edition, and her
poem “Gemini” appeared in Copper Nickel Issue 21.
Congratulations, Anna!
The October issue of Wilmington’s Salt magazine features a wealth
of Creative Writing folks, including a feature by Emily Louise Smith.
Regular columnists include faculty members Clyde Edgerton and
Virginia Holman, and MFA alums Lavonne Adams (’99), Anne
Barnhill (’01), Jason Frye (’05), Dana Sachs (’00), and Barbara
Sullivan (’11).
A link to the digital magazine is here: saltmagazinenc.com.
Phil Furia hosts the daily segment ‘The Great American Songbook’ on WHQR 1:302:00pm, and during the Morning Edition on Fridays at 6:00am.
Philip Gerard is a regular commentator on WHQR—listen to his broadcast segments
every other Thursday at 7:35a, 8:50a, or 5:45p, or online in the WHQR Thursday
Commentaries at whqr.org/people/philip-gerard.