AWP: bookfair, guests, low-res MFA panel

2012 Annual Conference & Bookfair

February 29-March 3, 2012

With such a whacky winter, it’s no wonder it feels like AWP snuck up on us. If you’re like me, it still feels weeks (months?) away. But, behold, this wonderful annual conference is upon us – next week! I hope to see many of you at Chicago’s 2012 AWP Conference and Bookfair. 

I’m happy to again be leading a panel discussion on low-residency MFAs (details below) and have a table space provided for me, courtesy of my fantastic publisher Continuum Books/ Bloomsbury. I’ll be in the bookfair Thurs-Sat to meet, greet, and promote The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students. I’ll have a few handfuls of copies on hand if you’re looking to pick one up at the conference. Last year I sold out by Friday afternoon, so be sure to stop by Table A5 and say hi early on this year!

***

I’m also super excited to have a few special guests join me at the bookfair:

Patricia Florio
Thursday 1:00-3:30pm
Friday 11:30-1:30pm
Author Patricia Florio will join me at the bookfair table to promote her recent book My Two Mothers, as well as the East Meets West, American Writers Review.

Sandee Umbach
Thursday 9:00-10:30am
Friday 2:30-4:30pm
Saturday 9:00-11:00am
Poet, memoir, and fiction writer Sandee Umbach will join me at the table, Thursday-Saturday. Sandee will have on hand a few copies of her new full-length collection of poetry, The Pattern Maker’s Daughter.

***

Also, if you’re interested in low-res MFAs, I hope to see you at the panel I’m moderating:

R184. Low-Residency Approaches to Pedagogical Training and Preparation
(Lori A. May, Danita Berg, Clark Knowles, Jim Warner)
Lake Ontario, Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor
Thursday 1:30-2:45

Description: Program directors and faculty will discuss innovative approaches to providing pedagogical training for low-residency students. Discussion will include the unique challenges and opportunities presented via distance and limited on-campus study, and how low-residency programs are incorporating student-teacher training. Panelists will share personal experiences, speak to how programs provide pedagogical training for current students, and discuss what program services are available to alumni.

Bios:

Danita Berg is the Red Earth MFA Director at Oklahoma City University. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and a PhD in English from the University of South Florida. She has published creative work in Redivider, Southern Women’s Review, and the Press Pause Now Anthology for Women, among other publications.

Clark Knowles teaches writing at the University of New Hampshire. His fiction has appeared in Pank, Glimmertrain Stories, Inkwell, and others. The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts awarded him an Individual Artist’s Fellowship for the year 2009. He received his MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College.

Jim Warner is the Assistant Program Director in the Wilkes University low-residency MA/MFA program. His poetry has appeared in journals including Drunken Boat, Word Riot, and the anthology In The Arms of Words, Poetry for Disaster Relief. He is the author of a poetry collection, Too Bad It’s Poetry. In 2006, Jim was the recipient of the Norris Church Mailer Award.

***

Here’s hoping we have some decent weather next week. See you in Chicago!

Opportunity: FREE table space – AWP Chicago

This is a freebie opportunity open to A) writers, B) indie lit journals and small presses wanting an additional way to flag down passers-by, and C) low-res MFA students, alumni, or program reps who’d like the opportunity to talk up your institution. 

The Fact:
Chicago’s 2012 AWP is fast approaching and I have an opportunity to share.

The Setting: 

Thanks to my publisher, Continuum Books, I have a table exclusively to myself, for The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students (link). Last year, I invited writers and low-res program reps (directors, faculty, students) to hang with me and talk to folks about their programs and their interviews in The Handbook and it was a HUGE success. It was also successful for some author pals who were able to brag about and sell their books. (As you can see from these candid shots, my table’s a good time.) I want to share my space again by opening up my second chair throughout the conference.

If you’ve ever attended AWP, you know the Bookfair is a wonderful chance to meet and mingle with just about everyone (or, 9,000+ attendees if you want to get particular). The Bookfair runs Thurs-Sat from 8:30am – 5:30pm. 

The Opportunity:

I’m currently scheduling for the Bookfair and will freely offer my second chair and half of my table space to any low-res related person, author with a need to promote, or indie journal/small press rep who needs an opportunity to reach new people. I’d like to divide the schedule into 2-3 hour chunks, so have a look at the Conference Schedule to see when you might be able to devote some time to promoting your books/program/self/press and let me know when you’d like to sign up. If you want to sign up for more than one block of time, that’s fine. If you want a friend/colleague to tag along, that’s fine. Let me know your avails.

You’re invited to bring along your books/lit journals, program brochures, biz cards, appropriate signage, and your stellar personality. My table this year is located at A5, which looks pretty good on the map (close to restrooms and coffee carts!). Once you confirm a time with me, I’ll even help promote your presence via social media, word of real-life mouth, etc.

Oh, sure, you think there’s a catch. Not really. Well, yeah, sometimes I’d like a break to grab a coffee or a bite to eat, maybe walk around the Bookfair to stretch my legs and say hi to folks, and I do have two sessions I am participating in, so – yes - it matters to me that I have some break relief here and there. But, really, I’m giving up a free chair and half a table’s worth of space while you’re in that chair. It seems fair to cover for me while I re-caffeinate, right?

How-To:
Email me and we’ll chat. Soon. The conference is right around the corner and the sooner my table schedule is solid, the sooner I can start bragging about your presence and location in the Bookfair. 

Disclaimer:
While I’d love to say yes to everyone, this is a limited time offer since this is a limited space kind of situation. So, what are you waiting for? Email me now: lori@loriamay.com

PMC: grad-level CW classes open for audit

PINE MANOR COLLEGE INVITES LOCAL WRITERS
TO AUDIT GRADUATE-LEVEL CREATIVE WRITING CLASSES

For Immediate Release
Contact: Tanya Whiton, Assistant Director
whitontanya@pmc.edu (617) 731-7697 

[Chestnut Hill, MA, November 2011] Pine Manor College is pleased to announce that a select number of graduate-level creative writing courses will be open to the public for auditing during the winter residency of its Solstice MFA Program, scheduled from December 30, 2011 to January 8, 2012. Classes are open to serious writers working at all levels; auditors are encouraged to complete the advance preparation requirements for any MFA class they wish to attend. The registration fee is $30 per course for Solstice graduates/$40 per course for the general public; the deadline for enrolling as an auditor for winter 2011 Residency is Friday, December 23, 2011.

For course descriptions, our audit policy, and a downloadable registration form, go to: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa-classes-for-audit.

Winter 2012 MFA classes that are open to the public include:

Prose (fiction and nonfiction):
· Looking Back In Fiction
· Seeing Anew: What Prose Writers Can Discover From Graphic Novelists About Crafting Stories
· Everything Matters: The Sentence

Creative Nonfiction: 
· The Fundamentals Of Food Writing: An Introduction
· Sentimentality In Memoir

Writing for Young People:
· Inspiring Young Readers & Writers
· Picture Book Techniques

Poetry: 
· Talking Back, Taking Back: Moments Of Re-appropriation In Native Poetry
· Saying The Poem: Bringing The Fictionist’s Art Of Dialogue Into Poetry

Inspiration, Outreach, and Social Media:
· Higher Ground: How To Enrich Your Community And Make A Difference Through Your Art
· The Demons That Keep You From Writing
· Best Practices For Writers Using Social Media

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

###

MFA Clinic @ Politics & Prose

The Fiction MFA Clinic:
An Insider’s Insights on Applying, Getting in, and Making the Most of Your Time in Graduate School
Facilitated by Nicole Idar 

If you’re in the midst of researching MFA programs and need a little insider know-how, you may want to check out this upcoming workshop hosted at Politics & Prose Bookshop in DC. The two-hour lunchtime class will cover the application process, how to decide on a program right for you (or if, indeed, the MFA is right for you), tips on writing strong letters, and will also cover how to succeed in and after the program, etc. Questions are welcome in a supportive setting. Everyone is welcome regardless of publication history. 

The Details
Info and sign-up here, on the Politics & Prose website
Price: $30 ($25 members)
Monday, November 14, 12 – 2 p.m.

Suggested Book
The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students, by Tom Kealey

Also Recommended
The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students, by Lori A. May (!)

Writer's Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction, ed. Alan Cheuse & Lisa Alvarez 

Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer, by Bret Anthony Johnston

About The Instructor
Nicole Idar left a career in financial journalism to pursue an MFA in fiction from George Mason University, enrolling 10 years after she earned a BA in English & American Literature from Harvard University. She was the 2010-2011 Thesis Fellow in Fiction at GMU, and won the Mary Roberts Rinehart and Dan Rudy awards for her stories. Her work has appeared in the New Ohio Review and World Literature Today, and is forthcoming in Rattapallax. She remembers feeling anxious about whether or not to apply to MFA programs when she was still a journalist, and wishes this class had been available at the time!

latest publication: accents poetry anthology

I’m very pleased to share my latest publication, Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems (edited by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer). In this anthology of 250 poems, you’ll find my poem “Hindsight” in good company, alongside authors like Barry George, Joy Gaines-Friedler, Thom Ward, and many, many more. 

Visit the Accents Publishing website for more info and to order.

The Official Info
Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems is a 316-page volume of poems of up to 50 words, including titles. Whether poignant, funny, tragic, or inspirational, each poem is always complete and memorable, representing a world larger than the space it takes on the page. This book features work by 192 contemporary masters of the short free-form poem. 

What Others Say About Bigger Than They Appear

"There are sharp flashes of light, moments when the miraculous world reveals itself to us swiftly, fully. And, because the mind is also a miracle, the lucky words sometimes arrive to capture that revelation and through it witness what it means to be alive. That is the gift of this gorgeous collection."

– Mary Ann Taylor-Hall

Details and Ordering
Publication Date: December 1, 2011
Format: Softcover, 5" x 7"
Pages: 316
ISBN: 978-1-936628-07-0
Price: $15.00
Shipping begins Nov 21/11

Sections in the Anthology
The 250 poems in the anthology have been organized into the following nine sections:

• A Field Remembers 
• Open Season 
• Perfect Dwelling 
• Portrait of the Artist as an Anagram 
• Miscellaneous Merchandise 
• Directly Across from Me 
• Ritual 
• The Meaning of Need 
• When You Become a Body

Visit the Accents Publishing website for more info and to order.

Reviewer to Student: Low-Res MFA Handbook

Back in January of this year, Rhonda Browning White shared a review of The Low-Residency MFA Handbook on amazon. In her review, as a prospective student, Rhonda shared this sentiment: 

May's discussions on teaching philosophy, format, residency community, pedagogy (or lack thereof), and even life after the MFA held priceless information that helped to direct me to programs that will best fit what I need and desire…. Highly and strongly recommended to anyone considering a low-residency MFA program. Kudos to Lori May for putting together such an informative, concise piece of work! 

Recently, on her Inspiration for Writers blog, Rhonda shared her experience as a first-timer in a low-res program. From her research, Rhonda selected – and was selected by – Converse College. I was so pleased to hear about Rhonda’s program acceptance and her entrance into Converse, I simply have to share her excellent blog post about what it’s like to take the big step.

Without further ado, here is a repost of Rhonda Browning White’s account, originally posted on her blog here:

My First Semester in an MFA Writing Program 
by Rhonda Browning White 

I had no idea what to expect when I arrived on the idyllic campus of Converse College for my first semester in their MFA in Creative Writing Program. I was nervous about meeting my dorm-mate (Me? Staying in a dorm? With a total stranger? At my age?), who turned out to be a spectacular poet, mother and now my sweet friend. I wondered if I’d be accepted among a group of sixty students, forty-five of whom already had a history together, or if the professors and visiting authors would look down from their lofty positions as they berate my writing. After all, these people were real writers—authors whose names I recognized, whose novels and poetry collections sit on my bookshelves even now. 

I needn’t have worried.

These same instructors and brilliant students are now my friends: we touch base via email, follow each other’s daily lives on Facebook, share links to interesting blog links and sometimes chat on the phone about everything from a class assignment to a great novel we’ve read to a recipe you’ve just got to try! 

But what is a low-residency program, and what do you do in it, I’m often asked. Well I can’t speak for all of them, but I can tell you about mine. Here’s a typical day in the life of a Converse low-res student:

Breakfast in the dining hall (surprisingly yummy food), begins at seven and lasts until nine, and you are welcome at a table with your cohorts, or you might want to sit with a professor or a visiting author to chat about, oh, anything. 

Before the first session of the day begins following breakfast, students can attend one-on-one meetings with their faculty mentor to discuss the semester syllabus, to brainstorm about a current project, or to chat about suggestions for their reading list. On some days, student group meetings are held in this time frame, as well. If students don’t have a scheduled meeting, they’ll often use this for a leisurely chat over coffee, free writing time, strolling the campus grounds (beautiful gardens, impressive statuary and quiet nooks for settling in with a good book). 

The day’s first craft lecture follows. Doesn’t this sound boring? I mean, come on, a craft lecture? Let me tell you, these things are amazing! This semester, Dan Wakefield taught us using his late friend Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction, authors Leslie Pietrzyk (my mentor this semester—Yay!) and Marlin Barton gave inspiring lectures on story beginnings and using violence in fiction, and national bestselling author Robert Olmstead lectured on how characters’ thoughts can change the whole direction of a story. Powerful stuff, and these were only a few of the fiction lectures! “But wait,” you say, “do you mean you studied things other than fiction in a fiction program?” Absolutely! One of the reasons I chose Converse is that students are encouraged to attend lectures by professors outside their primary genre. Not only does this present inspiration in directions you might not have considered, but it provides a broader scope should you decide to teach in the future. Hence, I enjoyed seminars by phenomenal poets Denise Duhamel, Suzanne Cleary and Albert Goldbarth. I also benefited from seminars, lectures and readings by guest faculty and speakers, including Brock Clarke and Marshall Jon Fisher and faculty Susan Tekulve and our amazing program director Rick Mulkey. 

A leisurely two-hour lunch followed each day’s first seminar, when you’d hear chatter and laughter throughout the dining hall and across the campus as new relationships budded and old friendships grew fonder. Of course, some of this two-hour period was usually spent writing or reading, digesting not only dessert but the instruction and information we’d received in our day’s first lecture. 

A walk in the sun across the campus green led us to our afternoon workshop. Workshops are broken into genre—fiction, non-fiction and poetry—and each workshop includes only five to ten students and one or two professors in a roundtable setting. It’s here where the real work occurs, where students watch their skills grow like magic and their writing improve before their eyes. No kidding. I’m still amazed at how much better my writing was on the last day as compared to the first day. Not only were we instructed in methods to improve our work, but we applied those things to our writing and discussed what worked and what didn’t. Workshops were very “hands on,” and over the course of the residency, each student had an hour’s discussion and constructive critique of their own work by the workshop instructors and fellow students. Instructors welcomed our questions and encouraged each student to offer feedback and share their opinions of the selections we read and the writing exercises we completed. 

A second stimulating lecture period followed our craft workshop. Some days, these periods consisted of events like a panel discussion of authors or even a sit-down Q & A with Algonquin Publishing’s Executive Editor Chuck Adams. Receiving this kind of insight into the world of publishing is critically advantageous to a developing author’s success and, as students, we were ever aware that we were being provided a “secret map” that will guide us through the tangled jungle of submission and publication. 

Dinner (and more laughter) follows this last lecture of the day, then we’re treated to an hour of guest speaker, faculty or student readings. The readings are casual and comfortable, and some of the stories and poems shared take us from hilarity to tears and back again. The night’s readings end with a social hour, which tends to morph into social hours. As our ten-day residency progressed, these social gatherings grew longer as our conversations grew deeper and our friendships became stronger. A few at a time, students and faculty disbursed to grab a snack, study, write, or do a load of laundry. The common areas of the dorm (usually the veranda) always remained a social meeting place, however, even into the wee hours. Get an idea you need to bounce off someone? Head to the veranda. Can’t think of a word you need to complete a rhyme in your sestina? Head to the veranda. Can’t finish your bag of popcorn? Don’t worry, your friends on the veranda will devour it for you. Eventually—sometimes as the sky begins to brighten again—the rocking chairs slow, and the last few upright writers head to their beds and dream of new stories before time to rise and do it all again.  

Too soon, our residency ended, but the flame of passion for writing still burns strong as each of us work from home to complete our semester assignments. We study the novels and books on our individualized reading lists. We write critical theory papers about what we’ve read, discerning what works and what doesn’t in those stories, and deciding what we’ve learned that we can apply to our own writing. We also write our own stories or essays or poems—creating packets that we’ll send to our mentor every three or four weeks. We stay in touch with our mentors and our cohorts, and always, we look forward to the next semester, when we’ll be together with our like-minded, creative family at Converse. 

***

Thanks to Rhonda Browning White for the permission to repost this excellent description of a first-timer’s experience in a low-res program! 

Visit Rhonda’s blog here. 
Learn more about the Converse College MFA program here. 
Buy a copy of The Low-Residency MFA Handbook on amazon.

If you have a low-res experience you'd like to share, email lori@loriamay.com.

MCEA – Conference & Reading

This Friday, October 14, I’ll be reading poetry and nonfiction at the annual Michigan College English Association (MCEA) conference. The full day of events begins at 9:30, with my reading taking place 11am-12:15pm. A full schedule and registration forms are available online here. 

Conference Theme
The theme for the 2011 Michigan College English Association Conference is “Taking Risks” and will be held the campus of University of Michigan – Dearborn on October 14, 2011. The conference is at the Fairlane Center Campus, 19000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn, Michigan 48126. Registration begins at 8:30. Sessions run from 9:30 to 3:15.

Keynote Speaker
This year’s keynote address, entitled “The King James Bible in Contemporary American Works”, will given by Professor James Vanden Bosch. Vanden Bosch has taught English at Calvin College for over twenty-five years, with a special interest in English grammar, grammar for ESL teachers, corpus linguistics, and Cormac McCarthy’s fiction and drama. He regularly teaches short courses in Moscow, directed a semester-abroad program in Budapest, and recently taught in Lintong, China.

Vanden Bosch has degrees from Calvin College, Ohio University, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. At Calvin, he has been named the Professor of the Year (2001) and has won the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching (2010). 

This 400th anniversary of the King James Bible has prompted Vanden Bosch to explore the influence of the King James Bible on several contemporary American writers. 

About MCEA
The Michigan College English Association is an organization dedicated to the following mission:

•Providing opportunities for the discussion of the preparation and professional improvement of college teachers of English through annual meetings, publications, and conferences with representatives of other professional organizations;


•Encouraging the humane as well as the immediate practical study of language and literature;


•Maintaining and developing the functions of English studies as a major element in American higher education;


•Promoting fruitful interrelationships among English and other disciplines; and


•Interpreting the relationships of the study and teaching of English to society at large

MCEA is a state affiliate of the College English Association and sponsors an annual conference dedicated to promoting the above goals.

For more info, visit http://www.michcea.com/.