Looking for some reading this fine and hot summer day? Check out Justin Crawford’s (MFA Fiction ‘12) short story in the June 2012 issue of Inwood Indiana. His short story, “Converge” is on page 262 or page 273 in the digital file. Congratulations, Justin. We can’t wait to read more of your work!

Congratulations to MFA alumni Kelly Sundberg on her finalist status and on a fabulous essay! Kelly’s essay, “Snow. Angel. Ghost.” was a finalist in The Southeast Review’s 2012 Narrative Nonfiction contest, judged by the wonderful Jennine Capo Crucet. Kelly’s essay will appear February 2013 in The Southeast Review’s Winter/Spring issue, Volume 31.1. Read more about The Southeast Review, the contest, the winners, and the judges.

A belated congratulations goes out to recent MFA grads Matt London (MFA ‘12 Poetry) and Justin Crawford (MFA ‘12 Fiction). Matt’s poems, “Future Birthdays” and “Monday Afternoon, Frame-by-Frame,” will appear in an upcoming issue of New Delta Review. Justin’s short story, “Bone County Snake Oil” will appear in the June issue of Prick of the Spindle. Not too shabby for two newly defended men. Congratulations on the publications and receiving your MFAs, guys!

Looking for a fabulous (and quick!) read this fine Thursday afternoon? Check out Justin Anderson’s (MFA ‘12 Fiction) essay, “To the National Endowment for the Arts,” in Brevity.

The publications keep on rolling in here at WVU. Jessi Lewis has received her second acceptance in less than one month. Her short story, “Walnuts,” has been accepted in Ghost Town, a literary magazine out of Cal State San Bernardino. Congratulations, Jessi! Keep those acceptances coming, Mountaineers!

With the ever-echoing cry of “publish or perish” it’s easy to forget that there are other ways besides literary magazines to have our work reach an audience. Christina Seymour, MFA candidate in poetry, has reminded us all that the other ways can be extremely powerful. One of Christina’s poems, “Home is Dead When He Fights,” is on display in Speak Peace, a travelling exhibit that pairs poetry with art from Vietnamese children. In pairing the paintings with the poems, the exhibit’s website says that its goal is to “to promote healing and reconciliation.” Furthermore, the website says, “Speak Peace offers a timely testament to the emotional truth of war and peace.” This exhibit and Christina’s work reminds us as writers that writing can illuminate more than just space on a page, it can speak to larger issues of war and peace and the necessary healing that follows. Read Christina’s poem and see the accompanying painting here.

To listen to NPR’s segment about the exhibit, follow the link.

On this final day in March, we’re ending with a final piece of fantastic news. Our very own poetess, Lisa Beans, just found out that she will be awarded a Fulbright Fellowship. This fall Lisa will be moving to Poland to teach, study, and write. Read all about Lisa in our most recent student spotlight.

Not to brag or anything, but our MFA students are having a pretty good month. A plethora of acceptances have poured in, and now, right when thesis defense season is starting, we got word that our very own (and newly defended) Matt London won the AWP Intro Journals Prize. Matt’s poem, “National Acoustic Symphonic Academy,” will appear in Hayden’s Ferry Review. Congratulations, Matt!

by Rebecca Thomas

The 2011-2012 academic year has been kind to WVU’s MFA students and alumni. We’ve been able to celebrate book releases, awards, grants, a start up literary magazine, and publications. Here are a few of the highlights from this year:

Alumni

Sarah Harris’s short story, “The Kitchen,” won first place in Nano Fiction’s Third Annual Nano Prize. Sarah won $500, and her story will appear in the fall issue. Read more about the results on Nano’s website.

Ida Stewart’s first collection of poems, Gloss, won the 2011 Perugia Press Award (a national poetry award for a first or second book by a woman). She is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at University of Georgia. Read more about Ida Stewart here.

Ruka Press published Katie Fallon’s nonfiction book, Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird. Read more about Katie and cerulean warblers here.

Two MFA alumni, Kristin Abraham and Matt Vandermuelen, are the editors of the online magazine Spitoon. Spitoon describes itself as “a quarterly, independent literary zine dedicated to the publication of quality contemporary and experimental poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction. This online journal will feature work by poets and writers, both well known and up-and-coming.” MFA alumna, Lori D’Angelo, has her short story, “Provisions,” in the second issue of the magazine. Read Lori’s story and the entire second issue here.

Lori D’Angelo recently won the prestigious Elizabeth George Foundation grant. The generous grant is awarded to unpublished and emerging writers. Read more about Lori, her novel, and the grant.

Sarah Einstein’s essay, “Self-Portrait-in-Apologies,” originally published in Fringe Magazine was awarded “The Best of the Net.” Follow the links to read Self-Portrait-in-Apologies and to read more about The Best of the Net.

Current Students

Justin Anderson, MFA candidate in Fiction, wins the prize for publishing beast. Justin had a whopping eight stories accepted for publication since the fall: “Consultant,” Chocorua Review; “Plans for an Orchard,” matchbook; “So, They Are Not Wholly Defenseless,” Pank Magazine; “Bathtub” and “Appropriators,” BLIP Magazine; “Automatic Pilot,” The Fiction Desk; “Alone, in this House,” Grey Sparrow Journal; and “Gardeners,” Controlled Burn.

Justin Crawford, MFA candidate in Fiction, had two short stories accepted this year. His story, “Converge,” will appear in an upcoming issue of Inwood Indiana. His short story, “Death and Progeny” will appear in an upcoming issue of The Meadow.

Rachel King, MFA candidate in Fiction, had her short story “Elevator Girl” published in The Farallon Review’s Spring 2012 issue. Three of her poems were published in nibble, November 2011.

Jessi Lewis, MFA candidate in Fiction, will have her short story, “Lesions,” published in an upcoming issue of Flyway.

Matt London, MFA candidate in Poetry, won the 2012 AWP Intro Award with his poem, “National Acoustic Symphonic Academy His poem.” His poem will appear in an upcoming issue of Hayden’s Ferry Review. “Talkies,” is published in Issue #10 of Past Simple.

Connie Pan, MFA candidate in Fiction, will have two poems, “Black Sleep” and “Almost,” appear in a forthcoming issue of Hawaii Review.

Christina Seymour, MFA candidate in Poetry, had her poetry exhibited at the Bellefonte Art Museum’s Speak Peace exhibit in February of 2012.

Kelly Sundberg won first prize in Slice Magazine’s “Bridging the Gap Contest.” Her winning essay, “Like Mourners’ Bread,” will appear in the 2012 issue of the magazine. Her essay, “Demolition” is in the Spring 2011 issue of Flyway, and her essay, “Runaway,” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Reed Magazine. Her poem, “Approaching Monday,” is featured in the upcoming July 2012 issue of Literary Mama.

This certainly is not the only alumni and current student news out there. If you have any news, please send it to Rebecca Thomas.

by Jessi Kalvitis, Matt London, and Rebecca Thomas

WVU seems to be quite the literary hub this year. Authors have flooded Colson 130, the Mountainlair, the Robinson Reading Room, and even 123 Pleasant Street.

Katie Fallon and Ida Stewart
by Jessi Kalvitis
Back in the naïve, youthful days of the early semester, before we all reached the post-midterm tearing-out-our-hair stage, an overflowing crowd gathered in 130 Colson Hall to enjoy readings from poet Ida Stewart and creative nonfiction powerhouse Katie Fallon, both alumnae of WVU English programs and both with two new books out (Gloss and Cerulean Blues respectively). Both writers’ work evoked elements of nature that wouldn’t emerge from dormancy for months to come. Stewart spoke of “cohoshes black and blue,” of brambles, of fiddleheads and ginseng, asking us to “feel it pull you underground, elide you.” Fallon treated us to a bird-watching jaunt from the pages of her book Cerulean Blues, transporting us from the dim cold evening to a spring afternoon at Cooper’s Rock, including some delightfully straightfaced bird-call mimicry. Fallon also gave students a brief description of “Writing Appalachian Ecology,” the course she will be teaching during the second summer session. The readings were intertwined with introductions from Mark Brazaitis, who informed us that “when you’re as talented as Ida is, when you write a poem as clean and playful and inventive as Ida does, when you invoke the world as vividly as Ida does, your writing career goes from A to book publication a little faster than usual.” Regarding Katie Fallon’s presence in his fiction workshop some time ago, he remarked that he “let everyone into that class—my mailman, the dude over at Jay’s Daily Grind, my two year old daughter—but Katie belonged there.” The phrase seemed especially appropriate when applied to Katie Fallon, as she still very much belongs as a part of the writing community at WVU today.

To read more about Ida Stewart, Gloss, her work, read the recent alumni spotlight from our Fall 2011 newsletter.

To read more about Katie Fallon, read her alumni spotlight from our Spring 2011 newsletter and read Elissa Hoffman’s coverage about Katie’s book, Cereulean Blues.

Dagoberto Gilb
by Rebecca Thomas
Dagoberto Gilb brought some Southwestern heat to a chilly winter night with his reading. He filled the Moutainlair with a tale of a little boy who never speaks, his very hot mom, a boyfriend, and Pedro Guerrero (“Uncle Rock” from his short story collection Before the End, After the Beginning). For a brief while in February, the Mountainlair was transported to Chavez Ravine. We then journeyed to Iowa as Dagoberto read an essay about migrant workers and corn that both had us wishing for the summer’s crop and rethinking how we get corn in America (“Iowa” from State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America). Read more about Dagoberto’s work

Zachary Schomburg
by Matt London
Darkness. Beer. And a microphone. Zachary Schomburg’s reading at 123 Pleasant Street, sponsored by The Council of Writers, brought in a big crowd of students and poetry thrill seekers. Zach’s read from his new book Fjords Vol. 1 (Black Ocean 2012)—a book of prose poems. Ultimately, through crowd interaction and a remarkably comfortable stage presence, Zach’s poetry at once forced people to laugh to keep from crying. Or maybe they just laughed. And maybe when they though about what Zach just finished reading they thought No, wait. That wasn’t funny at all. That was sad. So sad. We were lucky to have Zachary Schomburg bring his comedy/tragedy masks to Morgantown and WVU. Read more about Zachary Schomburg.

James Harms
by Matt London
It was a family affair. James Harms read to a packed house in the Gold Ballroom, giving listeners many gracious moments of poetry read by one of the most enjoyable voices. His style was laid back and welcoming, like Jim and you were the only two people in the room, and it was natural to read poems to each other (as it should be). Jim read from his new book Comet Scar (Carnegie Mellon 2012) and his new collection of uncollected poems What to Borrow, What to Steal (Marick Press 2012). His ease at handing us his poems and the anecdotes that traced the poem’s beginning made the evening a type of panacea: the deep breath of fresh air that reminds us how the sap of life really flows.

And the readings aren’t done, yet. The Council of Writers was able to bring in two readers this year. Matthew Zapruder is coming to Morgantown. If you click on the podcasts below, his reading might even be posted by the time this is published.
Follow the link to hear podcasts of this year’s readings (with the exception of Zachary Schomburg’s). While you’re there, check out podcasts for past readers that we’ve had. You won’t be disappointed!