Department of Creative Writing
News & Accolades – September 2013:
Lavonne J. Adams was named one of twelve finalists for the Tampa Review Prize for
Poetry for her manuscript “Small Wishes for Grown Women.”
She also has two poems, "I Married Kit Carson's Ghost" and "Artifact: Ink Bottle," in the
current issue of The MacGuffin.
Congratulations, Lavonne!
Wendy Brenner's essay "Telegram" appears in the Fall issue of The
Oxford American. It features a conversation with MFA alum (’00)
Tully Beatty about a 26-foot telegram his father Jim Beatty
received in 1956, wishing him good luck at the Olympic track-andfield trials.
The magazine is available on newsstands and here:
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/issues/latest_issue/
Congratulations, Wendy!
Virginia Holman has a short story, “The Road to Mars,” in the Fall
issue of Brain, Child Magazine.
Congratulations, Virginia!
Robert Anthony Siegel talks about the orphan fictions of Japanese Nobel laureate
Kawabata Yasunari in the Fall 2013 issue of Ploughshares, at your newstand or on the
web: https://www.pshares.org/read/article-detail.cfm?intArticleID=9802.
Also, “Cats, Proust, Ulysses S. Grant”: Robert Anthony Siegel interviews Peter
Trachtenberg in Bookforum: http://bookforum.com/interview/12091
Congratulations, Robert!
MFA student Christine Hennessey’s flash nonfiction piece “Yes” appears in Prime
Number Magazine.
Congratulations, Chrissy!
MFA student Kathleen Jones’ poems "Gold Standard" and “Fractions” appear in the July
2013 Gesture literary journal.
Congratulations, Katie!
MFA student Rachel Richardson’s story "Carry My Bones Up From This Place" was
accepted for publication at Newfound journal.
Congratulations, Rachel!
MFA student Emily Wilson’s poem “Lonicera Japonica” appears on kenningjournal.com.
Listen to Emily read her poem at http://www.kenningjournal.com/2013/07/03/emilywilson-lonicera-japonica/.
Congratulations, Emily!
MFA student Joe Worthen’s final installment of his amazing Hamburger piece is now up
on hobartpulp.com. Read it here.
Congratulations, Joe!
BFA alum Steven Vineis (’10) started a publishing endeavor in Raleigh, Game 7 Press,
that just released his new book, “Meadowland Tilt.” (His first novel is being shopped
around by his agent.)
Congratulations, Steven!
MFA alum Emily Kruse Carr (’04) is the director of the low-residency MFA program at
Oregon State University Cascades.
Congratulations, Emily!
MFA alum Kate Cumiskey (’06) accepted a four-book contract with Silent E Publishing.
Her poetry book Yonder will be released in October 2013, with two nonfiction projects
and another project to follow.
Congratulations, Kate!
MFA alum William Flowers (’10) has two poems in Watershed Review. Read them at
http://www.csuchico.edu/watershed/2013-spring/poetry/flowers-two-poems.shtml
Congratulations, Will!
MFA alum Jason Frye ('05) has been hired as a food blogger for Our State magazine, and
he has a monthly column in Salt.
Congratulations, Jason!
MFA alum David Harris-Gershon (’09) was interviewed on SkyNews for the European
release of his memoir, What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill
Your Wife?, which will release September 9, 2013 in the United States. Watch the
interview here.
Congratulations, David!
Recent MFA graduate Ben Hoffman’s experimental recipe for an English class lesson
plan appears at http://theneweryork.com/notes-for-class-5-cupcake-day-ben-hoffman/.
Ben was also a finalist for the 2013 David Nathan Meyerson Fiction Prize with his piece
“"The Defenders of Burh Park,” and he was a finalist in the Green Mountain Review
Brattleboro Literary Festival Flash Fiction contest for his piece “How a Perfect Husband
Acts.”
Congratulations, Ben!
MFA alum Rochelle Hurt’s “Poem in Which I Play the Runaway” (previously published by
The Collagist) in this year's Best New Poets anthology.
Congratulations, Rochelle!
Recent MFA graduate John Mortara’s poetry collection some planet was selected for
publication by YesYes Books.
John has accepted a position as a “new digital communications coordinator at The Food
Bank of Western MA - website, design, marking, newsletters, social media, and a bunch
of other good stuff for a great community org woop woop.”
Also, Rhino Poetry posted audio on their blog of John reading his poem “beach party
castle bravo” from Rhino 2012, and Riff Pub posted audio of John’s poem “My Heart Is
an Alien Spacecraft” being read by former WHQR host Jeremy Loeb.
Congratulations, John!
Recent MFA graduate Kathryn Miller’s essay “Wide Open Spaces” is appearing in the
September 2013 issue of Brevity.
Congratulations, Kathryn!
Recent MFA graduate Eric Tran’s nonfiction piece “How We Killed Whitney Houston &
Ghost” is featured on hobartpulp.com.
Congratulations, Eric!
The September issue of Wilmington’s Salt magazine is chock full of Creative Writing
folks! Regular contributor and MFA alum Jason Frye (’05) has the cover story with a cool
photo essay. Also featured are columnists Clyde Edgerton, Philip Gerard, Virginia
Holman, MFA alumna Dana Sachs (’00), and MFA student Jamie Lynn Miller—in addition
to a poem, “September,” by Lavonne Adams.
A link to the digital magazine is here:
http://issuu.com/saltmagazinenc/docs/sept_2013_salt.
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 http://www.whqr.org/people/philip-gerard.
Philip Gerard is featured this month in Our State magazine with his next installment of
the series “The Civil War: Life in North Carolina.” This rich and complex story will
continue monthly through May 2015 and can be read at ourstate.com/civil-war. Listen
to an interview about the series here.
“The war magnified the best and the worst of the human spirit and bequeathed us a
legacy that, a century and a half later, we still ponder.”