Spot the FIU MFA Program at the Miami Book Fair This Weekend

FIU’s MFA program will be well-represented at Miami Book Fair International this weekend, Nov. 17 & 18th.  To find when any of those listed below are presenting, check the Author List. You can see the full Book Fair schedule here.


Faculty who'll be representing their latest books: Lynne Barrett (Magpies), Debra Dean (The Mirrored World),  Campbell McGrath (In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys), and Les Standiford (Desperate Sons: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Bands of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War). In addition, our long-time writer-in-residence Dan Wakefield returns to Miami with Kurt Vonnegut: Letters. And James W. Hall (retired, but teaching this Spring) discusses Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers.

Alumni authors you can hear at the Fair: Richard Blanco Looking for the Gulf Motel, J.J. Colagrande (Decò), M.J. Fievre So Spoke the Earth: A Haiti Anthology, Yousi Mazpule (Jinetera: Story of a Cuban Prostitute), Jesse Millner (Dispatches from the Department of Supernatural Explanation), Melanie Neale (Boat Girl:  A Memoir of Youth, Love, & Fiberglass), and Neil Plakcy (Dog Helps Those). 

Perhaps the best opportunity of seeing lots of MFA people together will be the Sweat Broadside Collaboration reading and panel in Centre Gallery, Sat. at 2:30. Lynne Barrett, John Dufresne, Denise Duhamel, Campbell McGrath, Yaddyra Peralta and Nick Vagnoni will be among those reading from their contributions to this artist-writer collaborative project. Others who participated are David Beaty, Pete Borrebach, David Gonzalez who may be in the audience and joining in the discussion, and the show of 50+ broadsheets is up in the gallery now through early December.

Behind the scenes at the Book Fair, making this huge event happen, MFA alumna Lissette Mendez is Program Coordinator at the Center @ MDC (the organization that runs the Fair as well as workshops all year and the Miami Writers Institute), and alumnus Nick  Garnett is Copywriter and Editor.  Current MFA student Jennifer McCauley is an intern with the Fair this fall. All week, MFA students and alumni will be participating in The Florida Book Review annual live-blog of the Book Fair, led by FBR Editor Lynne Barrett.  Those far from Miami can keep up with the Fair by reading the coverage which has already begun.

So Spoke the Earth, Edited by M.J. Fievre, Debuts

M.F.A. alumna M.J. Fievre has edited So Spoke the Earth, a Haiti anthology, published by Women Writers of Haitian Descent, Inc.  The collection of essays, stories, and poems includes work in English, French, and Creole, and is organized into three sections ("Death Was Lurking," "And the Danger Came Rushing In," and "And the Truth Shall Make you Mad") in which contributors explore Haiti's "past, present and future as experienced by its diverse inhabitants—both native and non-native—over the past four decades." 


Fievre will be moderating a panel featuring contributor Edwige Danticat at Miami Book Fair International. Among the contributors is current MFA student Fabienne Sylvia Josaphat. Women Writers of Haitian Descent, Inc., is a literary organization founded in 2002 to encourage the development of Haitian women writers and to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of their work. Their website is www.wwohd.org.  For more on M.J. Fievre, see her website.

Dan Wakefield Has Edited Kurt Vonnegut: The Letters

FIU's long-time Writer-in-Residence Dan Wakefield has "splendidly assembled and edited" (New York Times) the letters of Kurt Vonnegut. The book is just out from Delacorte Press. A starred review in Publishers Weekly says of Kurt Vonnegut: The Letters,  “Fans will find the collection as spellbinding as Vonnegut’s best novels, and casual readers will discover letters as splendid in their own way as those of Keats.”
 

Dan's many fans in South Florida will be welcoming him back to Miami in November when he'll appear at Miami Book Fair International.  Dan was Writer-in-Residence in the FIU Creative Writing Program from 1994-2010, and received the university's Excellence in Graduate Mentorship Award. He teaches in the Low Residency MFA in Writing Program at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C.  and leads workshops  in "Spiritual Autobiography" and "Creating from the Spirit" all around the U.S.  Readers can learn more about Dan's novels, books of nonfiction, and many other projects and achievements on his website.

Jesse Millner's Dispatches from the Department of Supernatural Explanation

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Jesse Millner’s second poetry collection, Dispatches from the Department of Supernatural Explanation, has been published by Kitsune Books. His poems and prose have appeared in River Styx, Pearl, The Prose Poem Project, Tinge, The New Poet, Cider Press Review, and numerous other literary magazines. He has published six poetry chapbooks and his previous full-length collection, The Neighborhoods of My Past Sorrow, won the bronze medal in Poetry in the 2010 Florida Book Awards.

 

Millner, who teaches writing courses at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, FL, will be reading from at Books & Books, Coral Gables, at 8 PM Friday, November 2nd.

Boat Girl, Melanie Neal's Memoir, Sets Sail

Boat Girl: A Memoir of Youth, Love, and Fiberglass details the coming-of-age-experiences of Melanie Neale, a 2006 FIU MFA Creative Writing program graduate. The memoir began, in part, as her MFA thesis, based on her experiences when her family lived on a boat sailing along the U.S. east coast and the Bahamas in the 1980s and 1990s.

As those who were her classmates know, Neale lived aboard her own 28' sailboat while she was in the MFA program. Boat Girl is published by Orlando-based Beating Windward Press, which specializes in literary fiction and nonfiction.

 At Neale's website, you can learn more about the book as well as the many literary journals and magazines where her work has been published.  She'll be appearing at Miami Book Fair International in November.

Dennis Lehane's 10th Novel Published

FIU MFA program alumnus Dennis Lehane's tenth novel and eleventh book, Live By Night, has just been published.  A follow-up to Lehane's first historical novel The Given Day, Live By Night is set in the Prohibition era in locations ranging from Boston to Tampa.

In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin calls it "Crime Noir 101, as taught by the best of its current practitioners," and Tampa Times book critic Colette Bancroft says, "Live by Night takes on big subjects — race, class, money, religion, friendship, family, violence — by embedding them in irresistible storytelling about a compelling, conflicted and mordantly funny man."

More on the book and Lehane's book tour appearances can be found at his website.

The 2012 FIU Writer's Conference Approaches

The Biltmore Hotel & Resort in Coral Gables, Florida

This October, FIU's 2012 Writers Conference, put on in partnership with Books & Books, will be held at the Biltmore Hotel and Spa in Coral Gables, FL.

From October 25-27, writers, teachers, editors and agents will be on hand, bringing their expertise to conference attendees.  Here's a quick look at who'll be there and the topics covered:

● novel, Scott Spencer (Endless Love) ● non-fiction/memoir, Ann Hood (Comfort) ● food and fiction writer, Steven Raichlen (Island Apart, The Barbecue Bible) ● fiction, John Dufresne (Requiem, Mass.) ● poetry, Denise Duhamel (Ka-Ching!) ● revision process, Lynne Barrett (Magpies) ● novel, Debra Dean (The Madonnas Of Leningrad) ● screenwriting & structure, Les Standiford (Bringing Adam Home) ● the book concept, Ellen Sussman (DirtyWords, French Lessons) ● memoir, Julie Wade (Small Fires) ● Richard Pine, Inkwell Management Literary Agency ● Jill Bialosky, Editor (W.W. Norton)

Conference director Les Standiford says, "Of course we hope that everyone will want to join us at the legendary Biltmore, with its many amenities, but as always, the heart of the matter is writing. Our program offers intensive, hands-on workshops and discussions intended to help writers at all stages of development."

For more information, the schedule, availability of manuscript conferences, and registration details, visit the conference page at the FIU Creative Writing program website here.

A look back in history.

Alumni Reading at Books & Books

Four recent graduates of FIU's MFA Creative Writing Program read vibrant and thought-provoking works Sept. 9 at our annual alumni Writers on the Bay reading at Books & Books in Coral Gables. Yaddyra Peralta's birthplace, Honduras, came alive in her verse. Ex-military men confronted horrors in a Nazi research facility in postwar Germany in James Elens' novel. A failed psychic set-up shop in Anjanette Delgado's novel to help jilted women navigate divorce court. Poet Guillermo Cancio-Bello tackled the old human mysteries, love and nature. A wonderful Sunday afternoon to celebrate literature!  Many thanks to Fabienne Merritt for photographing the event.

Guests socialize before the reading.

Professor Deborah Dean welcomes the audience.

MFA Program Director, Les Standiford, introduces the readers.

Guillermo Cancio-Bello

Anjanette Delgado

James Elens

Yaddyra Peralta

Professor Lynne Barrett congratulates her former student.

Professor John Dufresne and members of the MFA community catch up.

Debra Dean's The Mirrored World Published

Debra Dean’s second novel, The Mirrored World, has just been published by Harper Collins.  In the book Dean reimagines the life of Russia's Saint Xenia, whose journey from a life of privilege to  tending the poor in St. Petersburg's slums is told from the point of view of her younger cousin and friend, Dasha. Learn more about the book by going to Debra Dean's Facebook Author page.

On Thursday, Sept. 6th, at 8 PM, everyone's invited to Dean's launch reading at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables.  Readers can learn here where else her book tour is taking her.

The MFA Program Welcomes Julie Marie Wade

Julie Marie Wade is the newest addition to the faculty of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. Wade, who will be teaching memoir/nonfiction, completed her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities with creative dissertation at the University of Louisville in 2012, after having received a Master of Arts in English at Western Washington University and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at the University of Pittsburgh.

She has received the Chicago Literary Award in Poetry, the Gulf Coast Nonfiction Prize, the Oscar Wilde Poetry Prize, the Literal Latte Nonfiction Award, two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes, the AWP Intro Journals Award, the American Literary Review Nonfiction Prize (read her prize-winning piece here), the Arts & Letters Nonfiction Prize, an Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, the Thomas J. Hruska Nonfiction Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir.  She is the author of two collections of lyric nonfiction, Wishbone:A Memoir in Fractures (Colgate University Press, 2010) and Small Fires (Sarabande Books, 2011), and two collections of poetry, Without (Finishing Line Press, 2010) and Postage Due (White Pine Press, forthcoming in 2013). Learn more at www.juliemariewade.com

John Dufresne Named a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow

John Dufresne, Professor of Creative Writing at FIU, recently received one of Guggenheim's prestigious fellowships for 2012.  In an interview with FIU News, Dufresne said, "It’s quite a thrill to have been given this fellowship and recognition [...] It feels like a validation of the work I’ve been doing over the years. It’s a surprise and a great feeling. I still consider myself an apprentice. I’m still trying to get better at what I do." Read the complete article here. 

FIU Student Literary Award Winners Announced

Congratulations to all the winners of the FIU Student Literary Awards!

POETRY (Judge: John Hodgen)
Graduate Winner: Julio Machado, "Maid Hour"
Graduate Runner-up: Patrick Norris, "Luciferge", "Ohio's Finest", "I Like Fish"
Undergraduate Winner: Valeria Manavallo, "Franz"
Undergraduate Runner-up: Melanie Martinez, "Boondocks"

NONFICTION (Judge: Kat Meads)
Graduate Winners (a tie)
Justin Bendell, "Kurt Cobain Avengers"
Jennifer Maritza McCauley, "New Britain Ghosts"
Graduate Runner-up" Fabienne Josaphat, "When Looking in the Mirror"

FICTION (Judge: M. Evelina Galang)
Graduate Winner: James Elens, "Brothers After the Storm"
Graduate Runner-up: Alexandra Handwerger, "Girl Scouts"
Undergraduate Winner: Brett Kaplan, "Monty"

Academy of American Poets Prize (Judge: Michael Hettich)
Winner: Marci Calabretta
First Runner-up: Parker Phillips
Second Runner-up: Amy Hughes

Les Standiford Receives FIU Torch Award

Professor Les Standiford, Director of the Creative Writing Program, has been honored with the 2012 FIU Faculty Torch Award, which was given to him at the Torch Award Gala on March 3rd.  The awards are given to distinguished alumni and to one faculty member, each year.  The faculty award honors "an outstanding member of the Faculty whose achievements have brought distinction to the faculty member and our University. Selection is made from candidates who have distinguished themselves by obtaining a high level of accomplishment and who possess high standards of integrity and character." 

Campbell McGrath Reads from His New Book on April 13 at 8:00pm

Friday, April 13, at 8 pm, Campbell McGrath will be reading from his new book of poetry, In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys (Ecco Press/HarperCollins), at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, FL.

Come early for wine and cheese beforehand!



Learn more about Campbell McGrath

Isabel Allende Receives Lawrence Sanders Award at FIU

Isabel Allende received the Lawrence Sanders Award, given by the Creative Writing Program, on the evening of March 5th.  After the award presentation, a standing room only audience enjoyed listening  to a warm, witty, and moving conversation between Allende and Professor Debra Dean.

The award, established in 2010, is given to an author whose work demonstrates the highest literary merit and has gained popular appeal.  Previous recipients are Scott Turow and Pat Conroy. With 19 books that have sold more than 57 million copies in 35 languages, Allende epitomizes the spirit of the award. The Chilean author began her writing career as a journalist and has since collected an array of literary awards from around the world. She has addressed the question of popular appeal and literary merit, writing in the UK’s Observer, “The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership.”

Writers on the Bay Reading Series: Luis Alberto Urrea, February 16

 Please join us for our next Writers on the Bay Reading!

 Luis Alberto Urrea

Thursday, February 16, 2012

8:00 p.m.

F.I.U Biscayne Bay Bookstore

Wolfe University Center, First Floor

3000 N.E. 151st Street
North Miami, Florida 33181

Luis Alberto Urrea, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is the best-selling author of 14 books, most recently Queen of America. The sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter, The Queen of America continues the spellbinding saga of his distant relation, Teresita Urrea, also known as the Saint of Cabora. 

Winner of numerous awards, Urrea is a novelist, poet and essayist known for his lyrical and sometimes brutal reflections on life along the US-Mexico border. He is Distinguished Professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

This reading is free and open to the public. A reception and book-sigining will follow.

For further information, please email Marta Lee at leem @ fiu.edu

Writer in Residence Madeleine Blais on WLRN's Under the Sun

Madeleine Blais

 WLRN's Under the Sun features "Loyalty Oath," an essay by our Spring 2011 & Spring 2012 Writer in Residence Madeleine Blais about what Florida required of her before she returned here to teach years after she'd left and why Miami is "not so easy to ditch." Listen live.