UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN THE HOPWOOD NEWSLETTER
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 V O L . L X X X I I S S U E 1
Greetings from the 2019-2020 Hopwood Table of Contents Program Manager, Rebecca Manery
Dear Hopwood Alumni, News & Notes I’m feeling grateful as I write to you on that rarest of occasions—a sunny winter day in Ann Arbor. First and foremost, I’m grateful to Avery Books & Chapbooks Hopwood, the founder of our literary feast, whose bequest—magnified by his mother, Jule Hopwood—has funded the Hopwood Program since 1931. I’m also Fiction Publications grateful to Roy W. Cowden, Hopwood Director from 1934 to 1952. Under Dr. Cowden’s leadership, the Hopwood Program became more than a contest—it became a community of writers. That community has attracted new donors who have set up Poetry Publications additional prizes to reward and encourage student writers at the University of Michigan. I am grateful for the largesse of Hopwood Program donors, new and Reviews established, who have continued the tradition of the Hopwoods’ generosity.
Awards & Honors I’m grateful to Meg Sweeney, who stepped into the role of Hopwood Director in September and has already proven herself to be a passionate advocate for the program. I am confident that the Hopwood Program will greatly Vitalities benefit from Meg’s leadership and vision during her five-year appointment.
I’m grateful to you, the Hopwood alumni, for sharing your news, dropping by the Hopwood Room, donating your books to the Hopwood library, and supporting the program with your contributions. Special thanks go to Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, who donated the entire Burning Deck Press backlist to the Hopwood Room;
The Hopwood Newsletter is published I am thrilled to add this impressive collection to the Hopwood library. electronically twice a year. It lists the publications and activities of past Finally, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as Hopwood Program Manager winners of the Hopwood Awards and during this academic year and to celebrate the successes of Hopwood winners, past and other creative writing prizes present. Best wishes to all for a productive and celebratory 2020! administered by the Hopwood Program. --Rebecca Hopwood Alumni Updates
News & Notes
John U. Bacon (1988) appeared at a Literati Bookstore-sponsored event at Hill Auditorium, September 3rd, 2019: "Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football." Donald Beagle (1977) Two poetry collections were among the first 100 poetry titles selected for the shared academic e-book collection contributed by libraries at Duke University, Wake Forest University, and UNC-Chapel Hill. The collections are What Must Arise (2017), featuring Don's own poetry, and Don's edited collection Radcliffe Squires: Selected Poems (1950-1985). Carmen Bugan (1993, 1995) participated in a podcast hosted by Robby Griswold at the U of M Residential College, about her lectures on poetry, the language of oppression, and life in general. Gabrielle Civil (1992) served as the lead artist in Wild Beauty, a black movement ritual for MLK Day 2019 at the Velocity Dance Center in Seattle. Susan Jane Gilman (1992, 1993) "'Down the Rabbit Hole of America': Katha Pollitt talks with Susan Jane Gilman," in Public Books October 10, 2019 issue. Joseph Fletcher (1998, 1999) won the Bateau Press's Boom Chapbook Competition with his entry, Kola Superdeep Borehole. Joe Horton (2010, 2011) followed his adopted beloved Oakland Athletics for the summer in a series for Hobart, "Dispatches from the Treehouse." Eric Jager (1987) The Last Duel, a novel published in 2004, has been announced as a December 2020 film directed by Ridley Scott. XJ (Joe) Kennedy (1959) will be a featured poet in the annual literary festival of Newburyport, Massachusetts in April of 2020. Danielle Lazarin (2007) was interviewed by Jeremiah Chamberlin in "Interview with Danielle Lazarin", Glimmer Train, Fall 2019 Issue 106. Megan Levad (2008) was interviewed in "Sappho Eating Hear Heart Out: An Interview with Megan Levad" in The Paris Review, 2018 about her book, What Have I to Say to You. Her song cycle, When There Are Nine, has been reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle. Graham Mason (2005) directed a feature film, Inspector Ike, which will be released in the spring of 2020. Chris McCormick (2013, 2014) returned to Ann Arbor on January 10th, 2020 for a reading of his debut novel, The Gimmicks. Marge Piercy (1954, 1956, 1957) "At Home with Marge Piercy: The 'Radical Rogue' is as Relevant as Ever", an interview by Amy E. Schwartz in Moments Magazine, Summer 2019. Bart Plantenga (1977) was featured in a podcast, "S02E10 - bart plantenga" in conversation with Bernard Meisler for Sensitive Skin Magazine, 2019. Sarah Sala (2008) had her first full length poetry collection, Devil's Lake, accepted for publication with Tolsun Books. It's forthcoming June 2020. Barbara Seiden (1965) is converting her Hopwood script, "A Study in Red" into a stage play to be performed by the Sun City Theatre Guild. Brian Spitulnik (2005) can currently be seen dancing eight shows a week in the Broadway production of Chicago. Harry Thomas (1979) judged the poetry contest for Literary Matters in May, 2019. Laurence W. Thomas (1956) is 93 and celebrated the publication of his book, The Cottage. He has additional books in the works. Malcolm Tariq (2015) was featured in an interview by Cassius Adiar, "The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Malcom Tariq," in The Rumpus (November 2019); an additional interview by Martha Stuit, "Malcolm Tariq's Poetry Book, 'Heed the Hollow', Examines Blackness, Queerness, and the South" in AADL's Pulp publication (November 2019); and a third interview, "Ten Questions for Malcolm Tariq" in Poets & Writers (November 2019). Matthew Thorburn (1994, 1995, 1996) and Mary Biddinger (1996) gave a joint reading at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor on January 24th, 2020. Jia Tolentino (2013) appeared at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor on August 26th, 2019 in conversation with Aisha Sabatini Sloan about Tolentino's Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion (Random House, 2019). Keith Waldrop (1958) had his collages shown at Peaceable Kingdom in Providence. Joyce Winslow (1968) is readying her short stories for a collection.
Books and Chapbooks
Mary Biddinger (1996) Partial Genius (Black Lawrence Press, August 2019). Carmen Bugan (1993, 1995) Lilies from America: New and Selected Poems (Shearsman Books, September 2019). Susan Jane Gilman (1992, 1993) Donna Has Left the Building (Hachette/GCP, June 2019) is forthcoming in paperback. Jack Fishstrom (1994) Technical Communications for College and Career (Apex Persuasion, 2019). Joseph Fletcher (1998, 1999) Kola Superdeep Borehole (Bateau Press, April 2019). Megan Levad (2008) What I Have to Say to You (Tavern Books, 2018). Gregory Loselle (1989) The Very Rich Hours (The Poetry Box, 2019). Leo Rockas (1956) Catharine or the Bower by Jane Austen, completed as she would have by Leo Rockas, Sunbury Press. Malcolm Tariq (2015) Heed the Hollow (Graywolf Press, November 2019). Harry Thomas (1979) with Marco Sonzogni, translated Primo Levi's The Occasional Demon: Thirty-Six Poems (The Cuba Press, New Zealand). He also edited Poems about Trees (Everyman's Library/Pocket Poets). Matthew Thorburn (1994, 1995, 1996) The Grace of Distance (Louisiana State University Press, 2019) Rosemarie Waldrop (1963) The Hanky of Pippin's Daughter was reprinted by Dorothy, a Publishing Project. Rehearsing the Symptoms, Minneapolis, MN: Rain Taxi, 2019; In Anyone's Language, Again, Dublin: hardPressed Dual Poets Reader 4, 2019.
Fiction Publications
Oluwapemi Aguda (2018) "Contributions" in American Short Fiction; "Manifest", which won a Hopwood prize, in Granta; "24, Alhaji Williams Street", which won a Henfield Prize, in Zoetrope: All-Story. Michael Byers (1996) "Sibling Rivarly" in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, No. 40, October 2019. Thea Chacamaty (2018) "Earthquake Weather," in the Missouri Review, forthcoming Winter 2020. This is Thea's first publication. , , Gerardo Samano Cordova (2018) "Pencil Werewolf," which won a Hopwood Award, was published in the 25th Anniversary edition of the Chicago Quarterly Review. Ceren Ege (2018, 2019) "Salad or Fries" and "Grieving at 19" in Cafe, Shapiro Anthology 2020, both to be read at the 23rd Annual Cafe, Shapiro Anthology event. Rosmary Harp (1993) "1000 Years" in the September 2019 volume of Fiction Magazine. Bart Plantenga (1977) "Elastic Man, Mark E. Smith & Charles Mingus," in Perfect Sound Forever Magazine, December 2019; "The Kingdom of Busby Berkeley," in Gargoyle issue 70; "Radio Activity Kills", in Public Illumination Magazine, October 2019; "Radio Activity Kills #3" in Sensitive Skin Selected Writings 2016-2018, an anthology, December 2019.
Poetry Publications
Donald Beagle (1977) "Blue Ridge Vision" and "On Driving to the Solar Eclipse with My Granddaughter", in KAKALAK (2019), an annual anthology of southern poets. Mary Biddinger (1996) "Personal Statement", "Heaven and Its Atmosphere", and "Bell in a Box" in Black Fork Review, Issue 2. Franny Choi (2017, 2018) "The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On", "We Used Our Words We Used What Words We Had", and "Hangul Abecedarian" in Poetry December 2019 (Vol. 215, No. 3). Phillip Crymble (2002) "So Far Away" was selected by Diane Seuss as the winner of the Penny-Farthing Prize for Lyric Poetry earlier this year. The poem will be published in Guesthouse in 2019. Laura Kasischke (1981) "The Odyssey" in Rattle 65 (Fall 2019) Benjamin Landry (2012) "Neighborly" in Tin House (May 2019); "A Birthday Cake and Music" in Ploughshares (Winter 2018-2019); "Atmospheres," "Reconciliation," "Vespers," and "Exile" in Conjunctions online (December 2018); "Space It Turns Out," "Where Once," "That Eats the Fly," "Shaft of Light," "Old Marble Vast," and "It Walked Through the Clearing" in Posit (September 2019). Megan Levad (2008) "Gate," in Tin House, 2019; "Reader, When I bite it's true" in San Francisco Chronicle, 2018; "Foundling," in Poem-A-Day, 2017; Selections from What Have I to Say to You in Poetry Northwest, 2017. Kevin Phan (2013) Closing Waves, a chapbook, was featured in Black Warrior Review (Fall/Winter 2019, volume 46.1).
Marge Piercy (1954, 1956, 1957) "Brother, sister, osprey" and "Goldilocks Online" in LIPS, 50th Edition, 2019; "Burning leaves" in The Pinch, Spring 2012; "tinywords" in The Pinch online, Summer 2019; "Calling to my parsnips without an answer" and "Not the economy this time" in The Artful Dodge, 54 & 55, 2019; "French Lessons" in Visions International Century #100, 2019; "No good to him" in Paterson Literary Review #47, 2019; "Illegal with only hope" and "Way late December 2016" in What Saves Us, edited by Martin Espada (Curbstone Books, Northwestern University Press). Sarah Sala (2008) "American Ammunition" and "nature vs. Nature" in BOMB, December 2019; "Blake" in The Los Angeles Review. Harry Thomas (1979) "Lovework" in Literary Matters; "50 Haiku" in Literary Imagination, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2019. Laurence W. Thomas (1956) "Play" and "The Zoo" in Third Wednesday. Keith Waldrop (1958) "Underline" was published in The Volta online. Rosmarie Waldrop (1963) "Place for a Sentence to Go On" in La Vague Journal online (September 2019); "A pair of socks..." Siglio Ephemera 13: for John Cage (2019). Richard Widerkehr (1967) "Snow At Twilight" and "This Dream I don't Tell My Sister" in Chiron Review (Summer, 2019); "In The Synergy Room" in Naugatuck River Review (Summer/Fall 2019); "The Way Home" and "Pear Trees on Irving Street" in A Walk With Nature.
Nonfiction
Susan Jane Gilman (1992, 1993) "His Honor: Losing His Prestigious Job Likely Saved His Life" in Salon (June 2019); "4 Hacks for Working Mom Guilt That Are So Hilarious They Just Might Work" in Working Mother (July 2019); and "Rosh Hashanah in a Refugee Camp" in Jewish Week (September 2019). Megan Levad (2008) "Let me let me let me" in American Book Review, 2017; "On 'Auto-Tune'" in In Their Own Words, Poetry Society of America, 2016. Paige Pfleger (2015) "Drug Charges Fuel Ohio's Rapidly Growing Female Prison Population," WOSU Public Media website. Bart Plantenga (1977) "Boatspotting," Amsterdam Quarterly Annual Anthology, December 2019; "Charlie Morrow, Sonic Nomad," Musicworks, September 2019; "Mike Golden: The Unbearable Beatnik of Lit -- & Dark," Sensitive Skin, July 2019; "Mike Johnson: Black Yodelin' Trucker & Country-Singin' Pamphleteer," Big Mag #1; "Wandering the Forbidden & Forgotten," Manhattan Linear, July 2019. Sherman Silber (1965) co-authored a research article on women's reproduction, which was published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, March 2019. Jia Tolentino (2013) "The Meme Factory" in The New Yorker, September 30, 2019. Keith Waldrop (1958) was included in Critical Survey of Poetry: Contemporary Poets, edited by D. Alan Dean, Salem Press, 2019. Rosmarie Waldrop (1963) "I worried about the gap between expression and intent" in A Cast-iron Aeroplane that Can Actually Fly: Commentaries from 80 American Poets on their Prose Poetry, edited by Peter Johnson, Mad Hat Press, 2019. Howard Wolf (1967) "Getting Ready for Thanksgiving," in the "My View" column of The Buffalo News, the 25th "My View" piece by Wolf in the past two decades; "Images of Home" forthcoming from Commonwealth Review, Delhi, India.
Reviews
Jeremiah Chamberlin (1996) "Interview with Danielle Lazarin", Glimmer Train, Fall 2019 Issue 106 (final issue). Richard Widerkehr (1967) reviewed Gerry McFarland's The Making in Crab Creek Review.
Awards and Honors
Gabrielle Civil (1992) won the 2019 Gold Line Press Chapbook Contest in Nonfiction for "(ghost gestures) performance writing", to be published in late 2020 or early 2021. Ceren Ege (2018, 2019) won the "Names" themed StorySLAM of The Moth, on December 17th, 2019, and qualifies for the Grand Slam in April 2020. Matthew Hittinger (2004) received the Muhlenberg College Alumni Achievement Award in September 2019 for his contributions to the arts.
Graham Mason (2005) produced a short film, "Whenever," for Adult Swim and a web series called "The Astronauts," both of which received Vimeo Staff Picks. Sherman Silber (1965) won an award for his short documentary film, "Polar Bears: Documenting their Warming World," in the Best Shorts Competition. Malcom Tariq (2015) won the 2018 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for Heed the Hollow. Keith Waldrop (1958) was chosen for Big Other's inaugural "5 Over 55 Award," 2019. Edmund White (1961, 1962) won the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in November, 2019 (see the article in this issue).
Vitalities
Frances Angeline Gray Strait (1941) passed away on September 7th, 2019, in Peru, Indiana. She was ninety-eight years old. As an undergraduate, Mrs. Strait won the Hopwood Minor Poetry for the poem "Snow Upon the Desert." She attended the University of Michigan and earned both a B.A. and a Masters in English Language and Literature, and was a teacher in both Pontiac and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Our sympathies go out to her family.
Articles
The Book Fund behind the Hopwood Room Written by Gina Savastano
When Roy W. Cowden became the Hopwood Director in 1934, he insisted that the Hopwood Program required a Hopwood Room. Initially located on the third floor of Angell Hall and moved to its present location in 1953, the Hopwood Room has been a gathering place for students interested in reading and writing literature. Dr. Cowden filled the room with Avery Hopwood memorabilia, books by Hopwood alumni, and books from his own library. Over the years, other Hopwood Directors and Program Managers have added to the collection of 20th and 21st century literature as well as purchasing a sizable collection of literary journals. Since 1985, the majority of the books and journal acquisitions for the Hopwood Room have been paid for by Some recent additions to the Hopwood Library the Miriam Baron Zerman Book Fund. Photo credit: Gina Savastano
Miriam Baron was an English major in Ann Arbor from January of 1949 to January of 1952. She had a passion for books, writers, and writing. In 1952 she left the University of Michigan and married Melvyn Zerman, a fellow undergraduate. When Miriam died in 1985, Melvyn set up the fund with the help of their friend, Dan Greenberg. Since 1985, the fund has continued to receive many contributions, including consistent support from Dan Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg remembers Miriam as "a very kind and thoughtful person." The Miriam Baron Zerman Book Fund continues to honor her memory as it provides contemporary literature and other books and journals of interest to the community of writers served by the Hopwood Room.
The Excellence of Edmund White Written by Gina Savastano
Edmund White received the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award for his Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in November of 2019. In his acceptance speech, White noted that he found it difficult to find publishers for his early work because of his forthright treatment of gay subject matter. "To go from being the most maligned to a highly lauded writer in a mere half-century is astonishing indeed," he quipped. The award celebrates White's many written works, from his popular novel A Boy's Own Story (1982) to A Saint from Texas (forthcoming, August 2020).
We're delighted by the recognition White's received, and proud that he's a Hopwood alumnus. In 1961, Edmund White won a Edmund White giving his acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation's Hopwood for a collection of short stories (about Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo credit: National Book Foundation "the usual," the shorthand his conservative father used for a gay theme), and in 1962 he won a Hopwood for his play, The Blueboy in Black. His writing isn't the only thing he's contributed to the world. White's taught at various institutions of higher education, and has therefore contributed to the growth of other writers. He's also a cultural critic and activist, and a foundational voice of gay literature. White was present at the Stonewall uprisings and is a co-founder of the non-profit Gay Men's Health Crisis. His contributions are wide-reaching, and we are happy to join the National Book Foundation in recognizing his achievements.
Add a little bit of body text 2020 First-and Second-Year Hopwood Awards Ceremony featured reading by Raquel Salas Rivera
This year's First-and Second-Year Hopwood Awards Ceremony took place on January 22nd in the Rackham Amphitheatre. Twenty-seven prizes totaling $31,990 were awarded to twenty-five student writers. Raquel Salas Rivera, a Puerto Rican poet, translator, and literary critic, read new work as well as selections from their book, lo terciario/the tertiary, which won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry. The awards ceremony program with the complete list of winners is on the website, https://lsa.umich.edu/hopwood.
Stay in touch! Let us know your news! We'll continue to celebrate your publications, your awards, your writing life, and/or other pursuits. You can email us with news at [email protected]. Please use the subject line, "Hopwood Newsletter." You can let us know of any errors and omissions in the same way (and we apologize in advance).