University of North Carolina Wilmington

The Coast Line Creative Writing Newsletter of the Department of Creative Writing Winter 2010

“Accelerated Success”

Here is an excerpt from “Key Findings” UNCW Creative Writing Program Designated of the “Association of Writers & Writing One of the Top 25 M.F.A. Programs in the Programs (AWP) Assessment of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at UNCW,” Nation by Poets & Writers Magazine September 2009: The Master of Fine Arts in Creative “UNCW’s M.F.A. program in creative Writing program at the University of North writing was established in 1996. AWP last Carolina Wilmington is designated one conducted an assessment of the program of the top 25 M.F.A. programs in creative in 2002, when the young program showed writing in the nation in the Nov./Dec. great promise. That promise had compelled 2009 issue of Poets & Writers magazine. the university’s leadership to make extraor- One of the pre-eminent publications in the dinary investments in the program and to creative writing profession, Poets & Writers grant the program autonomy as its own de- ranks UNC Wilmington’s program fifth in partment of creative writing. We are happy creative nonfiction and ranks it at number to report that the promise of this program 22 in poetry and number 25 in fiction. has been worthy of UNCW’s investment. Maturing quickly, the department has es- “These rankings support and validate the Writing” in The Atlantic magazine’s tablished a strong level of national achieve- remarkable work that UNCW faculty and 2007 Fiction Issue. staff have done in developing and nurturing ment and recognition. We know of few “These rankings say something about our the M.F.A. in Creative Writing,” said Chan- young programs that have accomplished so program,” said Philip Gerard, chair of the cellor Rosemary DePaolo. “It is astounding Department of Creative Writing. “Clearly, ...continued on page 8 that a program created in 1996 has risen to we’re going in the right direction. When challenge some of the most highly regarded we created this program 15 years ago, we creative writing programs in the country.” Ecotone News...... 2 were very intentional and very conscious of Publishing Lab...... 3-4 Overall, the UNCW M.F.A. program what we were doing and why we were doing was ranked number 24, ahead of well- it. As faculty members, we created the kind From the BFA ...... 5 established and highly funded programs at of program we wished we had been part of Art Show...... 6 Arizona State University, Sarah Lawrence when we were students.” College, University of Houston, University Rebecca Lee...... 7 Alumni agree that UNCW’s program is of Arizona, Boston University, George Ma- student-centered and that faculty provide Writers Week...... 9-10 son, State, Florida State, Penn State, needed support and encouragement to help Visiting Writers ...... 10 the University of Virginia, Purdue and the students become successful writers. University of Maryland, among others. Student News...... 11 The UNCW M.F.A. program has steadily “What made this program stand out for CRW Awards...... 12 gained national recognition in recent me were the ,” said Kirsten Alumni News...... 12-13 years. It was named one of the “Five Top Holmstedt, 2006 M.F.A. graduate and Innovative/Unique Programs in Creative author of Band of Sisters and The Girls Faculty News...... 14 ...continued on page 2 ..continued from page 1 Come Marching Home. “I felt their commit- unique pieces that only UNCW can offer: ment when I entered the program in fall The Publishing Laboratory and Ecotone, 2002 until my book was finished in spring the nationally acclaimed literary journal 2006. They challenged me, and along the that focuses on place, both in the literal way, the belief that I could be published sense of honoring the environment and replaced self-doubt. In the end, it’s the the metaphorical sense of reckoning with combination of selfless professors and the aesthetic boundaries. high quality of students that has made the Eli Hastings, 2004 M.F.A. graduate program such a success.” and author of the award-winning memoir In addition to the program rankings, the Falling Room, added that the program magazine notes funding levels for each of is rigorous, and faculty have high expecta- the M.F.A. programs included in its top tions for students and their work. 50 list. UNC Wilmington ranked 41st “The M.F.A. program at UNCW is, first in overall funding and 42nd in annual of all, serious,” Hasting said. “The three funding. Sixteen of the programs ranked What’s new with ? years to complete it speaks to that, as does Ecotone above UNCW are able to give full funding the focus on producing a publishable Ecotone’s fall 2009 issue hit the stands in to their creative writing graduate students. thesis by the time one completes the November. This “Brutality” issue features Currently, UNCW is able to offer funding degree. It pushes students to become a full-length play by Denis Johnson, poet- support to about 40 percent of its students. professional, published writers and makes ry from Sherman Alexie and Marvin Bell, “The comparison between our sure the people coming into the program our first-ever comics from Eisner-nominee academic ranking and our funding have that as their aim. I wanted my butt Jamie Tanner, and much more. kicked, frankly, in terms of deadlines, ranking was pretty telling,” said It has been an exciting year for Ecotone. critiques and work. I wasn’t disappointed.” Gerard. “There’s a big disparity Katherine Miles’ essay “Dog Is Our there. As a program, we’re Gerard notes that social networking has Copilot” from our “Evolution” issue was performing about twice rapidly spread word of the many unique reprinted in Best American Essays, and as well as our funding level aspects of UNCW’s program to prospec- Cary Holladay’s story “Horse People” was says we should be.” tive M.F.A. students around the country. included in New Stories from the South Prospective students seek out current 2009: The Year’s Best. students through Facebook and Twit- Gerard’s goal, which he noted is shared In addition to these reprints, several other ter to ask them about their experience at by administrators at UNCW who are very essays and stories from the “Evolution” UNCW, and the responses they receive supportive of the M.F.A. program, is to issue received honorable mentions in influence their decision to apply. increase that funding in the future, the Best American Series. Daniel primarily through gifts and grants from “The best promotion for our program is Orozco’s story “Only Connect,” from private sources. In the meantime, Gerard the word of mouth of our current students the “Evolution” issue, will be listed as one said the faculty members intend to and alumni,” he said. of two “Recommended Stories” in the next continue doing the things they are doing UNCW M.F.A. program students and volume of the O. Henry Prize Stories, and right that have brought the program alumni have published more than 30 Daniel also will be featured on the Web site to its current prominence. books and dozens of shorter works; when the volume comes out next May. In addition to the intentional, student- core faculty have published more This is the first such honor forEcotone . oriented design of the program, Gerard than 50 books as well as hundreds We recently received the good news that points to other successful aspects such as of shorter pieces. the NEA has awarded Ecotone with a grant the program’s sense of community, the Article courtesy of UNCW Marketing for the second year in a row. Please keep consistency and longevity of program and Communications an eye out for new changes to our Web faculty and the support of university ad- site: http://www.ecotonejournal.com. ministration. There are also two

2 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 The Publishing Laboratory with Emily Smith Show & Tell: Writers on Writing

If you haven’t seen a copy of the depart- Unlike most publishers, The Publishing ment’s textbook Show & Tell: Writers on Laboratory had the advantage of study- Writing in a while, you may want to take ing its textbook in use, as well as getting another look. What began eight years ago access to valuable feedback from veteran as a handbook featuring the writing of instructors and TAs. At their behest, editors eleven faculty members is now a 432-page working with pub lab director Emily Smith anthology of award-winning published solicited and added essays on grammar, works and essays on how to create them. revision and the art of editing, as well as a Illuminating the fundamentals of writing glossary of essential terms. M.F.A. students fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry, the Tom Dunn, Corinne Manning, Erin Sroka sixth edition guides readers through practi- and Jennifer Weathers shepherded the book cal and inspiring conversations with faculty, through the copyediting, proofreading and visiting writers and alumni. design process. The sixth edition, published in August, Although Show & Tell has wide application has come a long way since its initial 2001 in the classroom, it will appeal to all readers In this edition of impression, published under the visionary of contemporary literature. The creative guidance of former visiting Stan- selections alone—more than thirty stories, Show & Tell: ley Colbert. Wrapped in a no-frills cover essays and groups of poems—provide an and produced on demand in the depart- excellent introduction to the department’s • Wendy Brenner reveals her ment’s then-fledgling Publishing Labora- growing and talented community of writers. sources for creating rich and tory, the first edition was sold exclusively Also new to the sixth edition, “After Words” eccentric detail in fiction. to UNC Wilmington students. With each reveal the authors’ fascinations and vulner- • Clyde Edgerton explains the incarnation, editors have added a handful abilities, offering rare glimpses into how relationship between narrator of new contributors, but this edition marks the selections came to fruition. Star-News and plot. a major overhaul and the first to add so reviewer Ben Steelman remarked, “You many new authors. might actually want to read this book, even • Philip Gerard clarifies: just what if it wasn’t assigned for credit.” is creative nonfiction, anyhow? Now featuring more than thirty contribu- tors, the sixth edition constitutes virtually Still the primary textbook for students in • Peter Trachtenberg stretches the a new book and reflects a thriving creative the popular introductory writing course, bars on the cage of nonfiction. community, collecting side-by-side the the book has been adopted by several • Michael White finds the inherent work of 18 faculty members, five visiting other universities and is available to general music in poetry. writers and five published alumni. Many readership in bookstores and on Amazon. of the book’s longtime contributors have To order a desk copy, contact Emily Smith • “Tools & Tips” offers advice on replaced previous selections with recent, in The Publishing Laboratory. To adopt the editing, revision and what to do award-winning work. New stories, essays textbook for your class, contact distributor with workshop feedback. and poems have been anthologized in the John F. Blair by calling 1-800-222-9796 Best American and Pushcart Prize series or visiting www.blairpub.com. Ask about and have garnered the prestigious National discounts for schools. Magazine Award. The Coast Line • Winter 2010 3 Announcing Lookout Books Established in 2009, Lookout Books will works by established writers that may have Ecotone and the Publishing Lab are two of operate as an imprint of the Publishing been overlooked by commercial houses. the reasons UNCW’s Master of Fine Arts Laboratory and in concert with the literary In a publishing environment increasingly program consistently ranks among the top journal Ecotone to publish books of fiction, indifferent to literary innovation, they hope 25 M.F.A. programs in the nation. Com- creative nonfiction and poetry. The new to provide a haven for books that matter, to bining literary and aesthetic concerns with venture expands the scope and possibilities develop lasting relationships with authors, commercial savvy, both provide excellent of both the Publishing Lab and Ecotone, to convey the intimacy between writer and training grounds for careers in publish- giving the journal a chance to highlight reader through well-made and attractive ing. Smith and George work with students its best authors and strengthen its relation- books and to set a standard of excellence in in the M.F.A. program to select, edit and ships with them, and The Publishing the world of independent publishing. design all Lookout titles. The first will be Laboratory an opportunity to reach Binocular Vision, new and selected stories Lookout is not interested in flash-in-the- beyond its regional-press roots to by Edith Pearlman, due out in early 2011. pan, but in enduring light. Comprised of become a boutique literary press. George, Smith, and students in the M.F.A. Writers should note that the best way to Lookout Books is not just a fancy title— program, the staff believes that books introduce work to the editors is through it’s a publishing philosophy. Founders matter, that they have the power to make submission to Ecotone. For the time being, Ben George, editor of Ecotone, and Emily a difference, decades after publication. The Lookout Books does not accept unsolicited Smith, director of The Publishing Labora- boutique press counts itself among those manuscripts. tory, pledge to be “on the lookout” for publishers who make a lasting impact by emerging literary voices, as well as for publishing that which demands to be in the world.

Edith Pearlman Over the past thirty years, Edith Pearlman has established herself as one of America’s finest short story writers. With Binocular Vision: New and Selected Works, Lookout Books hopes to introduce a new generation of readers to her fiction. Pearl- man’s sophisticated yet accessible stories have been published in more than 250 venues, including national magazines, literary journals and anthologies. Her work has appeared in Best Ameri- can Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Collection, News Stories from the South, and Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Her Ecotone gets a new first collection of stories, Vaquita, won the Drue Heinz Prize for logotype and cover design Literature, and her second, Love Among the Greats, won the Spokane Annual Fiction Prize. Her You may have noticed that the new issue of third, How to Fall, was published by Sarabande in February 2005 and won the Mary McCarthy Ecotone, its eighth, features an updated logo and Prize. Binocular Vision, a kind of portable Pearlman, will feature thirty-four of her most cover design to match the spiffy new interior dazzling stories, including thirteen new ones. layout, revamped last year with illustrated What happens when a little girl gets lost in Boston? When two cousins fall in love? When a spreads and full-bleed images for the special devoted father falls terminally ill? Edith Pearlman’s quietly powerful stories unveil complex “Evolution” issue. The feedback has been over- characters in a few sentences, rich and colorful portraits of men and women, young and old, whelmingly positive. Contributor and essayist from a Boston suburb to modern Jerusalem to an unnamed Latin American country. The Robert Vivian wrote, “I just got the issue, and, narrator of the title story, a child made powerful by her ability to observe her neighbors, my God, it’s the most beautiful journal I’ve ever unnoticed, through her father’s binoculars, embodies the precision and care with which the been a small part of: my deepest and awe-filled author observes the world. thanks.” And Antonya Nelson sent an e-mail With her subtle hand, Pearlman addresses the sweep of human experience, including saying, “Wow, it looks great. Thanks so much the Holocaust, phobias and love. Binding these stories together is the intricate individuality for inviting me in! I love the photos, and the of family. whole idea of including a play . . . it is just super impressive.” 4 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 From the B.F.A. Program

The Department of Creative Writing accepted 46 new students to the Creative Writing major in the Fall 2009 semester. The department has 160 undergraduate students and dozens of minors. _____ Fifteen students received the B.F.A. degree during graduation ceremonies in December 2009. _____ The 2009 N.C. Sorosis Award was presented to senior Laura Cowden during a ceremony November 8. Laura is pursuing the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction and a B.A. degree in English. She transferred to UNCW in 2007 after attending Chattanooga State Technical Community College. N.C. Sorosis presented the $500 scholarship to Cowden in honor of Kirsten Holmstedt, who received her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing (creative nonfiction) from UNCW in 2006. Holmstedt is the author of Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq, and The Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from the War in Iraq. _____ The 2009 Rice-Evans Scholarship was awarded to senior Jenica Jones. The $1,000 scholarship is reserved for a B.F.A. student who demonstrates a spirit of volunteerism and has a strong record of community/public service. Jones is a UNCW Honors Scholar, and she is pursuing a B.F.A. in fiction and a B.A. in psychology. Her writing has appeared in New River High Tide, Bootleg Magazine and the campus arts journal Atlantis. _____ Senior C.J. Williams received the undergraduate Bookstore Scholarship. _____ In the Fall 2009 semester, five B.F.A. students held internships in the Wilmington area. The internship agencies included the Chautauqua literary journal, Wrightsville Beach Magazine, Bootleg Magazine and Cape Fear River Watch. The spring 2010 internship agencies will include the Muscular Dystrophy Associa- tion, UNCW Marketing and Communications and the UNCW Writing Center. _____ Writers Week 2009 included a special panel discussion for undergraduate students: “What I Wish I’d Known—Pointers for Applying to M.F.A. Programs.” Presenters were M.F.A. students Kiki Johnson, Nick Miller, Rachel Richardson and Megan Simmons. _____ In addition to its usual lineup of classes for the fall semester, the B.F.A. Program offered three special courses in Fall 2009—CRW 315: Confessional Poetry, CRW 320: The Story Re-Visioned and CRW 320: Writing Short-Short Fiction. _____ longtime B.F.A. Coordinator Lavonne Adams became the M.F.A. coordinator in Fall 2009. Tim Bass, a lecturer in creative writing, took over as B.F.A. coordinator. He also handles internships and departmental outreach. _____ B.F.A. student Kevin Dublin was selected as a Student Poet to work with a Distinguished North Carolina poet as part of the N.C. Poetry Society’s Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. Kevin will work with Professor John Hoppenthaler.

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 5 On October 23, 2009, the M.F.A. program hosted its third Art Show—Re-Vision: A Change of Art—with an opening reception at Parallelogram gallery in Wilmington. The show, including 13 artists from the M.F.A. program, featured more than 50 student pieces in a wide range of styles and media. More than 70 people attended the opening, and three student pieces sold on opening night. Art show co-chairs Chris Guppy and Rochelle Hurt were com- mitted to making the show happen after a brief hiatus following the graduation of alumna Janie Miller. Janie, a 2008 graduate of the M.F.A. program, started the show in the 2006 – 07 school year. Both Guppy and Hurt are second-year students who felt that Co-chairs Chris Guppy a continued presence in and connection to the Wilmington area and Rochelle Hurt. were essential for the program. In addition to artists profiting from the sale of the their work and higher visibility for the program in town, voluntary donations were welcomed to benefit DREAMS of Wilmington, an organization committed to bringing arts education to underserved children in the area. High-profile publicity pieces in the Wilmington Star-News and Encore magazine, as well as a calendar blurb in Wrightsville Beach Magazine and airtime on WHQR, Wilmington’s local NPR station, all helped to boost the visibility of the show. Artists and non-artists alike joined to help support the show, providing design services, as well as refreshments and supplies for the opening. Funding from the Department of Creative Writing and the Graduate Student Association also helped make the opening reception a success. A new addition to the show this year was a selection of participating artist-writers reading from their recent work. Several of the artists included in the show also sat on a panel during Writers Week, November 2 – 6, 2009, discussing their artwork and how it related to and affected their writing life. The three-week show closed on November 13. Both Hurt and Guppy hope that future students will take on the challenge of heading up the M.F.A. art show for years to come.

6 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 Interview with Writers Week Coordinator

From November 2-6, 2009, UNCW’s Department of Creative Writing held its eighth annual Writers Week. Featuring more than fifteen writers giving a wide range of readings, lectures and workshops, the conference reached hundreds of undergraduates, graduate students and members of the Wilmington community.

Coast Line: First of all, congratulations writers visiting for a day or a week or a benefited enormously from the powerful on such a successful Writers Week. How month or a year that makes our program so and rich literary tradition around it. was this year’s conference different than continually interesting and different. previous ones? CL: How do you think the goals of CL: Why did you choose the theme “A UNCW’s M.F.A. program fit this year’s Rebecca Lee: Thank you. I would say this Southern Homecoming”? theme? year’s Writers Week, for me, was notably different in the sense that our funding was RL: Our three keynote speakers—Eliza- RL: One of the goals for our M.F.A. in jeopardy until the last moment, about beth Spencer, Allan Gurganus and James program is that writers here find or refine two weeks before Writers Week, so it was Applewhite—are members of The Fel- a voice that is truly their own, and has pulled together rapidly. Luckily, we had lowship of Southern Writers, as is faculty a privacy and urgency to it, but it’s also great luck in getting some of the most for- member Clyde Edgerton. I think for a long pretty important that the writer find midable writers in the South to come here time we’d been kicking around the idea themselves inside a tradition or a com- for the week. It was very heartening to just of doing a Writers Week that was exclu- munity of fellow-writers. One of the goals ask and receive. Some people came with sively “southern” as a way to pay homage we have for writers in the program is that literally a few days’ advance notice. to the environment this particular M.F.A. they be able to come in contact with many Obviously it’s the students themselves program is enveloped in. In some ways, the different voices and approaches to writing, and their work that make the M.F.A. M.F.A. program can seem region-free at and Writers Week is one way of addressing program what it is, but it’s also the times, since it’s such a blending of people that hope. constant revolving door of incredible from all over the country, but it’s also

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 7 CL: There was a great variety in CL: What sort of feedback did you the conference speakers’ genres, receive from this year’s writers? backgrounds, ages and personalities. RL: So many of the writers said really Was it difficult to get so much diversity “Accelerated Success” wonderful things. I just received a note while working within the boundaries of ...continued from page 1 from one of our visitors, James Apple- “A Southern Homecoming?” white, which says, “The students in the much so quickly in shaping an RL: We had to stretch the theme a little bit program were bright, interested and deeply excellent education for the benefit of its to include Peter (Trachtenberg), who we literate. It is clear to me that the UNCW creative writing students, at both the wanted to bring back to deliver his brilliant writing program is remarkably fine—and undergraduate and graduate levels. lecture. He only fit into the category of also singularly committed to real literary “The accelerated success of this program is “homecoming,” not “southern.” We did values. Authentic things—persons, places, due to four factors: (1) the bold decision try to plumb his background for anything programs—are rare these days. You are all of the university leadership’s to give the southern, but there was nothing. Except part of something to be cherished.” program autonomy as its own department; love! He loves it here. CL: What was the best surprise about (2) the expertise and perseverance of the CL: This year’s keynote address by Allan this year’s conference? department chairs, Mark Cox, Phil Furia, Gurganus explored the complexities of and Philip Gerard; (3) the dedication of the RL: The best surprise was that we were combining history and faculty as a whole in building the program; able to persuade one of the true living fiction. How do you and (4) the university’s allocation of special legends, Elizabeth Spencer, to come give a think these two topics resources in facilities and financial support. reading right as the Modern Library was relate to the current ‘Talent perceives differences; genius, unity,’ putting out her collection of stories. She’s state of fiction? said William Butler Yeats. UNCW has a true gem of the south—her stories are exercised the rare genius of unified purpose RL: Allan Gurganus is so formal and polite, but sneakily brilliant in forging this program so quickly and somebody who, in his and explosive too. so well. own fiction, seems to smuggle in so many passions and concerns. His fiction contains CL: How will the success of “A Southern “Many of the components of the program multitudes. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear Homecoming” affect how you plan the are exemplary, and they may serve as him discussing how to fit history inside next Writers Week? models to other programs. UNCW’s fiction. He’s spent his life fitting everything RL: I think we’re going to have another dedicated faculty, administration, student inside fiction. That should be the goal, it themed Writers Week! Possibly Nature handbook, Web site, publishing lab, seems, of every fiction writer. How to get Writing or Politics and Writing. Maybe seminars, facilities, publications, service- what matters in there... something sillier. It’d be fun to have a learning programs and philosophy are whole week to seriously ponder Comical among the most effectively assembled and Writing. It’s still inchoate, though, next unified components that we have seen.” year’s theme. It’s to be announced. uncw 8 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 Writers Week 2009

James Applewhite has of North Carolina once known for its Clyde Edgerton is the written numerous books suspicion of outsiders and subsistence living author of nine novels, a of poetry, including the along the Waccamaw River. Because of the memoir, short stories, award-winning Daytime centuries-old isolation of this community, and essays. He has and Starlight and A the residents developed their own unique been a Guggenheim Diary of Altered Light. lifestyle and (nearly intelligible) dialect— Fellow, and five of his He is the recipient of quite a similar situation as one would find novels have been New the Ragan-Rubin Award from the North in the “hollers” of mountainous regions of York Times Notable Books. He is a member Carolina English Teachers Association, the the eastern part of the . Her of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and 1998 Brockman-Campbell Award from film screened at the Cucalorus Film Festival teaches creative writing at UNCW. He the North Carolina Poetry Society, and in Wilmington, N.C., in November 2007, lives in Wilmington, N.C., with his wife, the North Carolina Award in Literature. and at the Trade & Row Film Festival in Kristina, and their children. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and received Los Angeles, Calif., in October 2008. It the American Academy of Arts and Letters received the award for Best Documentary Allan Gurganus, a Jean Stein Award in Poetry. Applewhite was Short at The Great Lakes Film Festival in native of Rocky Mount, inducted into the North Carolina Liter- Erie, Pa., in September 2009. N.C., is the author ary Hall of Fame in 2008. He is professor of novels, essays and emeritus at Duke University. A North Carolina short stories. His novels native, Mike Craver include Oldest Living Todd Berliner is graduated from the Confederate Widow Tells Associate Professor of University of North All and Plays Well with Others. His short fic- Film Studies at UNCW. Carolina and was a tion includes White People and The Practical He is the author of member of the Red Heart: Four Novellas. Gurganus’s stories Hollywood Incoherent: Clay Ramblers for 12 have been honored with the O. Henry Prize Narration in Seventies years, appearing in Diamond Studs and and included in Best American Stories and Cinema (forthcoming Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, recording The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. He 2010). His articles have appeared in Film nine albums, and touring the U.S., Canada, also served as first writer-editor of Best New Quarterly, Cinema Journal, Journal of Film Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and the Middle Stories of the South. He was awarded the and Video, Style, Quarterly Review of Film East. After leaving the Ramblers, Mike got Sue Kaufman Award from the American and Video, Film International and Martin involved in more theatre, both as a writer Academy for Best First Work of American Scorsese’s ‘Raging Bull’: A Cambridge Film and performer. Off-Broadway credits also Fiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Handbook. He was a Fulbright Senior include The Oil City Symphony (co-author for Fiction for White People, the Lambda Scholar and founding chair of the Film and original cast member, Drama Desk Literary Award and the National Magazine Studies Department at UNCW. award), Smoke on the Mountain, Radio Prize for The Practical Heart. His books Gals (co-author and original cast member, have been translated into 16 languages. Lisa Bertini directed LA Ovation award), Wilder (co-author and produced the and original cast), Lunch at the Piccadilly Brad Land studied documentary short film (co-writer and original cast), Smoke on the creative writing at the The Lost Colony (2007, Mountain Homecoming (arranger and UNCW and at Western 11:06) for her capstone additional music and lyrics). He has Michigan University. project of the Masters in worked in theatres across the country, He has twice been a Liberal Studies program including the Pasadena Playhouse, Actors fellow at the MacDow- at UNCW. The documentary-short reveals Theatre of Louisville and the Cape ell Colony. A memoir, the life of a family in Crusoe Island, a Playhouse in Dennis, Mass. Goat, and a novel, Pilgrims Upon the Earth, secluded community in the Green Swamp were published by Random House. Killer

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 9 Films is producing a screen adaptation of Jason Mott is a gradu- John Jeremiah Goat, written by David Gordon Green and ate of both the B.F.A. Sullivan is a writer- to be directed by Jeff Nichols. His work (fiction) and M.F.A. at-large for GQ and a has appeared in the anthology When I Was (poetry) programs at contributing editor at a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving UNCW. His debut Harper’s Magazine. High School, edited by John McNally and poetry collection, We He is the author of the published by Free Press, in Gentleman’s Call This Thing Between book Blood Horses. He Quarterly, the Oxford American, the South- Us Love, was published by Main Street Rag is a PEN Literary Award finalist. east Review, Third Coast and Ecotone. in December 2009. His fiction and poetry have appeared in journals such as Prick of Peter Trachtenberg Sarah Messer is an the Spindle, Kakalak Anthology of Carolina is a writer based in associate professor of Poets, Measure and Chautauqua. upstate New York and poetry and creative the author of the mem- nonfiction at UNCW. Elizabeth Spencer, oir 7 Tattoos and The She has published a acclaimed author of Book of Calamities: Five book of poetry, Bandit numerous books of Questions About Suffer- Letters (New Issues, fiction and a memoir, ing and Its Meaning, a book that combines 2001), and a hybrid history/memoir, Red is a five-time recipient of reportage, memoir and moral philosophy House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of the O. Henry Award for to explore suffering and its narratives. His New England’s Oldest Continuously Lived-in short fiction. Her books essays, journalism and short fiction have House (Viking, 2004), which was a Barnes include The Night Travellers, The Light in the been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s, & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick Piazza, Jack of Diamonds and The Southern BOMB, TriQuarterly, O, The New York for fall 2004. She was a 2008–09 Radcliffe Woman: New and Selected Fiction. Her no- Times Travel Magazine and A Public Space. Institute Fellow. vella, The Light in the Piazza, was adapted His commentaries have been broadcast for Broadway in 2005 and garnered six on NPR’S . He was a Tony Awards. Spencer is a founding mem- visiting writer at UNCW in 2008-09. ber of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Department of Creative Ben Fountain earned a Michael Thomas Writing is committed to B.A. in English at the received his B.A. bringing the best authors in University of North from Hunter Col- all genres to be a part of our Carolina Chapel Hill lege in New York writing community. Visiting and a law degree from City and his M.F.A. writers spend a month or a Duke University. His from Warren Wilson semester living and teaching fiction has appeared in College in Asheville, among our own students and Harper’s, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: N.C. Man Gone All Story, and he has been awarded an Down, his first novel, faculty. Their workshops, O. Henry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and was one of The New critiques, informal discussions the PEN/Hemingway Award. He lives York Times Book Photo by Ben Russell and public readings richly with his wife and their two children in Review’s Ten Best Books of the Year and complement our curriculum. Dallas, Texas. winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for 2009. He teaches at Hunter College and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

10 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 Student News

Kirk Barrett (B.F.A.) won first-place in a semester-long creative writing class traveled to Catawba College in Salisbury, Press 53’s Open Awards for his story called “Teens Out Loud” to nine HIV- N.C., to do a public reading of her poem “Sarajevo Roses.” positive students. The class culminated “Under the Sun.” Afterwards, McCoy in the publication of a book, received a cash prize and attended a re- Michelle Bliss recently completed a Teens Out , filled ception where she spoke with Mr. Abbott professional news internship with WHQR, Loud: Positive Voices Speak Out with the students’ writing and art, and a and the other finalists. Wilmington’s Public Radio station. Her book release party on campus. One of feature “Baghdad Shooting Victim Coun- Erika Moya’s poetry has appeared or is the students also was featured on The seled Soldiers” aired on NPR’s All Things forthcoming in The Best American Poetry Huffington Post. More recently, Guppy Considered in June. Since then, her essay blog run by David Lehman, Unsaid Maga- met with social workers in Durham to tell “Fiction” was published in River Teeth zine, and Holly Rose Review. Moya has a them about the class, and reported that 11:1, and her short story “Driving Home” review forthcoming in Le Pink Elephant they all want to replicate it in their areas. was a finalist for The NC State 2009 Press. The department is currently looking into Brenda L. Smart Fiction Prize contest in further funding, through grants and/or Ariana Nash’s poems “The Orange” and November. other university support. “Over Breakfast” were published in The Kevin Dublin (B.F.A.) was selected as a 2River View. Nash’s poems, and a clip of Keith Kopka has won a Vermont Studio Student Poet to work with a Distinguished her reading them, can be found at http:// Center fellowship for a four-week resi- North Carolina poet as part of the N.C. www.2river.org/2RView/14_1/poems/ dency in July 2010. Poetry Society’s Gilbert-Chappell Distin- nash.html. This summer, Nash’s poem guished Poet Series. He will work with Kris Lockridge’s story “I Know Your “Instructions for Preparing Your Skin” was Professor John Hoppenthaler. Dublin was Face” is in the fall issue of You Must Be published in the online journal Xenith. published in the fall edition of the online , an online quarterly, and This Tall to Ride Rachel Richardson’s story “Circulation” literary journal Word Salad Poetry Maga- can be found at http://youmustbethistall- is in the latest issue of Brink Magazine, . In September, he was chosen to toride.net. zine an online quarterly (www.brinklit.com). read at the Poetry SparkCON sponsored Josh MacIvor-Andersen was first by the N.C .Writer’s Network in Raleigh, Tony Sams has had a poem accepted runner-up for the Fourth Genre Edi- N.C. In October, he read at the West End for the upcoming issue (#7) of The Los tor’s Prize and will be published in the Poetry Festival in Carrboro, N.C. Dublin Angeles Review, scheduled for release in Fall 2010 issue. He also won the Arts also has started making more contribu- March 2010. He also received an Honor- & Letters Susan Atefat Prize in Creative tions to poetry around Wilmington and able Mention for his piece “Ich Bin Ein” Nonfiction and will be published in the bringing it to the internet with a YouTube in the NC State 2009 Brenda L. Smart Spring 2010 issue of the Arts & Letters poetry channel titled “Port City Poetry.” Fiction Prize contest. Journal of Contemporary Culture. This The channel features readings around summer, MacIvor-Andersen’s piece “Arbor Megan Starks’ short story “Harvest Wilmington and visual poetry projects that awe” was published in the online journal Hulls” was a semi-finalist in the recent fuse poetry and short film. Catapult Magazine and his Geez Maga- NC State 2009 Brenda L. Smart Fiction Tom Dunn’s story “Dogs and Demons” zine article “Searching for a good trade on Prize contest. was published in the Winter 2009 issue the coast of Carolina” was featured by the Daniel Nathan Terry’s poem “Coroner’s of Blue Earth Review. Wilmington Star News. Aubade” was published in The MacGuffin Will Flowers’ poem “Gifts” (which ap- Rod McClain’s interview with the band and his first chapbook of poetry,Wax - peared in the Spring 2009 issue of Apple Herds was featured in the June issue of wings, was a finalist for the Robin Becker Valley Review) has been nominated for a Maximum Rocknroll, a newsprint music Prize. Also, his book Capturing the Dead 2009 Pushcart Prize. magazine with worldwide distribution. was nominated for the SIBA award. Chris Guppy, with the help of Corinne Kiah McCoy (B.F.A.) was one of six Jessica Thummel was a finalist for her Manning (Writers in Action) and Linda finalists for the annual Anthony Abbott story “The Replacement” in the NC State Connor (Duke Medical Center), taught Poetry Competition. As a part of this, she 2009 Brenda L. Smart Fiction Prize.

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 11 08-09 CRW Awards Alumni News

The following departmental honors were Anne Barnhill’s short story collection What You Long For was awarded in Spring 2009: published in June 2009, by Main Street Rag and recently received a positive review from the Winston-Salem Journal. One Lavonne Adams Award: Kate Sweeney of the stories in the collection, “Dickhead,” was first runner-up To a graduating M.F.A. student who, throughout his or her in the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Contest this year. Also, one of the enrollment in the program, has shown an all-around dedication to chapters from Barnhill’s memoir, At Home in the Land of Oz, the M.F.A. program, his or her work, and the creative writing will be included in a forthcoming book from Jessica Kingsley community, and has contributed to the academic and social health Publishers (London) about siblings and autism. In addition to a of the program, as well as the writing community at large. number of readings in North and South Carolina to promote Voted on by M.F.A. students. What You Long For, Barnhill recently taught a fiction workshop in the new creative writing program at Central Carolina Robert H. Byington Award: Carmen Rodriguez Community College. She recently signed with an agent for To honor the outstanding leadership and pioneering work her Tudor-era novel. of Dr. Robert H. Byington in establishing the Creative Writing Aubyn Burnside is currently working as a Documentation Program, to a second-year M.F.A. student of outstanding creative Specialist, writing training documents for The Walt Disney achievement who has demonstrated unusual generosity of spirit World Resort in Florida. toward faculty, staff and peers and has contributed significantly to the morale, community spirit, and excellence Simona Chitescu won first place in The Adirondack Review’s of the M.F.A. program. 46ers Prize Contest for her poem “Story in the Late Style of the City,” which was published in the review’s winter issue. Philip Furia Award: David Harris-Gershon Kate Cumiskey’s poem “1971” was awarded Honorable To a graduating M.F.A. student who has shown superior Mention in the 2009 Allen Ginsberg Awards and will appear in knowledge of the historic development of his or her literary genre. the Paterson Literary Review. Her book Surfing in New Smyrna is in press with Arcadia Publishing and is due out in early Margaret Shannon Morton Fellowship: Jeremy Hawkins Beach spring. A portion of the profits go to the Scholarship Fund of To an M.F.A. student at the end of the first year, for outstanding creative achievement. the Smyrna Surfari Club. Cumiskey currently teaches at the University of Central Florida. Outstanding M.F.A. Thesis Award: Nina de Gramont’s book Gossip of the Starlings was Fiction – Tim Conrad spotlighted this summer under the “Great Reads” feature in Creative Nonfiction – Kate Sweeney People Magazine: “Last year’s spellbinding gem of a novel Poetry – Jen Shepard about prep school girls living dangerously. Don’t miss it.” Outstanding B.F.A. Thesis Award: Alison Harney was a finalist for theSoutheast Review Poetry Fiction – Lindsey Johnson Contest and will be published in Vol. 28, 2010. Creative Nonfiction – Zachary Dixon Kianoosh Hashemzadeh (B.F.A.) had a creative nonfiction Poetry – Tyler Sparks piece, “Summer is Over,” published by Brevity this summer. Outstanding Faculty Award: Peter Trachtenberg Kirsten Holmstedt’s second book The Girls Come Marching Voted on by M.F.A. students. Home was recently published by Stackpole Books. Shawna Kenney’s essay “Seven Minutes” appeared in the UNCW Graduate Teaching Award 2009: anthology Hos, Hookers, Callgirls and Rent Boys: Professionals Lukis Kauffman, Tim Conrad Writing on Life, Love, Money and Sex (Soft Skull Press). The book has already sold out its first printing, received positive UNCW Bookstore Award 2009: reviews, and was featured on the cover of the New York Corinne Manning (M.F.A.), Carl James Williams (B.F.A.) Times Sunday Book Review. UNCW Writing Place Tutoring Awards: Rachel Schmidt, Hope Bordeaux, Michelle Bliss

12 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 Alumni News

Robert Lurie’s book No Certainty Attached, which began as his Cyra Sherburn (B.F.A.) recently received Honorable Mention M.F.A. thesis under David Gessner, was released this summer for her short story “The Inside” in the NCSU Short-Short in Australia and the US from Verse Chorus Press. The book, Fiction Contest. which Lurie worked on for seven years, has now been released Kate Sweeney’s essay “Memory Maker” was recently on three continents. accepted for the spring issue of the New South journal. Jason Mott’s collection of poems, We Call This Thing Between Mallory Tarses was a finalist for her story “Tennis Lesson” , was first runner-up in the Main Street Rag Poetry Us Love in the NC State 2009 Brenda L. Smart Fiction Prize. Mallory Book Award Contest and was recently published by Main Street was also a finalist for “How Was Your Weekend?” in the 2009 Rag. Mott performed a reading at this year’s Writers Week. Brenda L. Smart Award for Short Fiction. This summer, two of his poems, “Issue #100: Death in the Family!” and “Thinly Veiled, Young Man Comes to Me Seeking Jamie Trost is now partner-captain of The Pride of Baltimore a Friendly Face (The Joker),” appeared in Chautauqua #6, II and brought the ship to Wilmington in May. UNCW’s Philip “The Story and Storytelling Issue.” Gerard sailed with him down to Jacksonville, Fla., and wrote an article, “Master and Commander: a Creative Writer at Sea,” Derek Nikitas’s new novel The Long Division earned a very for UNCW Magazine. positive review from Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times Sunday Book Review (11/15/09). Matt Tullis has published several pieces in Cleveland Magazine over the last six months, including his essay Rebecca Petruck has written several articles for Our State “Sweating Out This Indians’ Summer,” which was published : “Full Moon Tours at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse” Magazine in September. He also had two pieces in the December (Jan. 2010), “Tar Heel People: Explosive Ordnance Disposal issue: a profile of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and a story Technician Michelle Barefield” (Mar. 2010), and a feature on what it’s like to be Santa Clause in a mall over the holidays. piece, “Vintage Vacations: Beaches” (May 2010). Petruck’s In September, Tullis read a portion of his still-unpublished Web site is http://www.rebeccapetruck.com. memoir, Sick Cookie, at the Childhood Cancer Survivor’s Sumanth Prabhaker recently started a small non-profit Conference in Akron, Ohio, and took part in a panel discussion. company called Madras Press, publishing individually bound He also has had a panel accepted for the 2010 AWP in Denver, short stories and novellas and donating the proceeds to a which will focus on teaching with the M.F.A. in academia. growing list of charitable causes chosen by its authors. Jay Varner’s essay “Sport for Our Neighbors” will be in The first series of titles includes stories by Aimee Bender, Trinie the upcoming issue The Southeast Review (28:1). Dalton, UNCW’s Rebecca Lee and Prabhaker, and benefits a number of very deserving organizations. Information about Eric Vithalani will have two poems published in the Madras’s books, submission guidelines, and online ordering upcoming issue of Blood Orange Review. He now lives, can be found at www.madraspress.com. works, plays music and writes in Wilmington, N.C., and, in June 2010, will set out to bicycle across the United States and Dr. Anne Russell’s American Studies doctoral dissertation, overseas; follow him at http://ericvithalani.wordpress.com/ . Patsy Takemoto Mink: Political Woman, a biography of Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink of Hawaii, has been Jennifer Weather’s poem “On the Deer Carcass that Hung extensively utilized as a source for the television in the Garage” was published in the Fall 2009 issue of the documentary Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority, which Cimarron Review. has been presented on PBS and has won numerous best Audrey Weis will be getting married on April 25, 2010, at feature awards in film festivals. Orton Plantation, N.C., to Shawn Johnson, ICU nurse Dana Sach’s new nonfiction book The Life We Were Given: extraordinaire and love of her life. Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam will be published by Beacon Press in April. Jen Shepard’s poem “Conversations About Making A Movie and It’s Harder Than We Thought” recently appeared in the Denver Quarterly. Shepard was also a finalist for the Gerald Stern Poetry prize sponsored by The Dirty Napkin, an independent journal.

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 13 Faculty News

Lavonne Adams Mark Cox has poems Philip Gerard’s “This recently had poetry appearing or forthcom- is the Story I Want to published in Southern ing in New Ohio Review Tell,” which originally Humanities Review and Aspects of Robinson: was published in the and the online journal Homage to Weldon Kees. 2008 Water~Stone r.kv.r.y. This past sum- He has recently read at Review, was cited in mer, she completed a Dartmouth College, the Special Mention in the six-week residency at the Helene Wurlitzer UT-Chattanooga Summer Writers’ Confer- most recent Pushcart anthology: Pushcart Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, ence and at the Vermont College Literary Prize XXXIII: Best of the Small Presses. followed by a month at the Vermont Residency in Slovenia. Gerard also chaired the N.C. Governor’s Studio Center. Adams also gave a reading Review Committee to select our state at Café Muse (Word Works Press), Chevy Clyde Edgerton’s poet laureate. Chase, Md., in August. This fall, she took story “Debra’s Flap and over as UNCW’s M.F.A. Coordinator in Snap” appeared in Im- Robert Siegel has the Creative Department after 14 years age Journal’s new book, been honored as the coordinating the B.F.A. program. Bearing the Mystery. Also, recipient of the 2008- Edgerton’s newest novel, 2009 NCAC Artists Wendy Brenner’s first The Bible Salesman, was Fellowship. book Large Animals in chosen by O: The Oprah Magazine as one Everyday Life (1996) of the 20 Great Books of Summer 2009. has been re-issued in a Michael White has Phil Furia published an new paperback edition two poems, “Out Back” essay on in by University of Geor- and “Vermeer: Woman Harvard’s New Liter- gia Press. This summer, in a Red Hat,” appear- ary History of America, Brenner was featured as a guest blogger on ing this spring in the wrote and emceed a Penguin Books’ Web site. Her story, “The Kenyon Review. He also centenary “Big Band” Night I Lost My Innocence,” can be found gave a reading recently tribute to at http://us.penguingroup.com/static/ in Lynchburg, VA. html/blogs/night-i-lost-my-innocence- in Atlanta in November of 2009, and was wendy-brenner. Brenner also was featured interviewed about Mercer by the BBC and this summer on The Daily Beast blog. In other radio stations as well as several reviewing the short-story collection Love is newspapers, including The Wall Street a Four-Letter Word, John Douglas Marshall Journal. His next book, The Songs of called her essay, “I Love You in Twelve Lan- Hollywood, with co-author and wife Laurie guages,” the “collection’s strongest...raw, Patterson, will be published by Oxford intense, heart-rending.” Brenner’s essay University Press in March. In July, Furia was also highlighted in the New York Times was featured in the New York Times Theater blog, Paper Cuts. “I Love You in Twelve section. He was quoted about the early Languages” also appeared in this days of on a spread summer’s Oxford American, “Best of the showcasing a new Broadway musical South 2009”. about Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin.

14 The Coast Line • Winter 2010 The Coast Line

Creative Writing University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Creative Writing Kenan Hall 1202 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-5938

Web: www.uncw.edu/writers E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 910.962.7063 Fax: 910.962.7461

Winter 2010 Editor: Nathan Johnson

UNC Wilmington is committed to and will provide equality of educational and employment opportunity. Questions regarding program access may be directed to the Compliance Officer, UNCW Chancellor’s Office, 910.962.3000, Fax 910.962.3483.

The Coast Line • Winter 2010 15