Preston L. Allen's Every Boy Should Have a Man Published

Akashic Books has just published Every Boy Should Have a Man, by FIU MFA alumnus Preston L. Allen.  Publishers Weekly says "In a future where primitive 'mans' are considered pets or food by the dominant, giant humanoi 'oafs,' one female man and her daughter become the cherished possessions, then friends, of a young oaf who learns to see them as more than just creatures."  Booklist calls it "Imaginative, versatile, and daring...Allen sharpens our perceptions of class divides, racism, enslavement, and abrupt and devastating climate change to create a delectably adventurous, wily, funny, and wise cautionary parable."

Allen is a professor at Miami-Dade College. His previous widely-praised novels from Akashic are Jesus Boy and All or Nothing, and his story collection (and thesis) Churchboys and Other Sinners won the Sonya H. Stone Prize in Fiction and was published by Carolina Wren Press. He will be reading from his new novel at 7 this evening, May 8, at Books & Books on Miami Beach.

Pain & Gain by Pete Collins, Now a Paramount Film

Pete Collins on the red carpet

Opening this Friday, April 26th, the Paramount Pictures film Pain & Gain is based on the writing of Pete Collins, part of his MFA thesis of creative nonfiction crime stories about South Florida con men. Pain & Gain is drawn from what the Miami Herald calls Collins' "an epic three-part story" that was published by the Miami New Times. Other pieces by Collins (which he refers to as "jailhouse yarns") in his thesis were published in the Herald's Tropic Magazine and then picked up by Sixty Minutes and Dateline.

Director Michael Bay (Transformers) describes Pain & Gain as "a mixture of Fargo and PulpFiction. It's a dark comedy, and it's all true."  Shot entirely in South Florida, Pain & Gain stars  Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie as members of the Sun Gym gang, bodybuilders who turned, ineptly, to kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder. Tony Shalhoub plays a victim who survived attempted murder and Ed Harris the detective he turned to for help. Playboy says, "An early candidate for the guy flick of 2013, Pain & Gain is violent, deeply nasty and insanely funny."  The original series can be found online at the New Times, where you can also read Pete Collins' recent (wry and hilarious) essay about his journey from being "broke, jobless, and near bottom" to the red carpet and seeing his name in the movie ads.  More about Pete Collins and his current projects on his website.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/20/3353317/pain-gain-revisits-a-horrific.html#storylink=cp

Marci Calabretta's Debut Chapbook Published by Finishing Line Press

Finishing Line Press has published  Last Train to the Midnight Market by Marci Calabretta.  Of this debut chapbook, Jim Daniels (former Visiting Writer at FIU) says, "This tightly coiled collection has the feel of a novel; her characters are real enough to break your heart."


Calabretta is a second year graduate student and Knight Fellow in the MFA program at Florida International University.

Richard Ford to Receive Sanders Award at FIU April 4th

On April 4th, Richard Ford will receive the 4th annual Lawrence A. Sanders Award for Fiction. Ford is the author of seven novels, including his latest Canada, the Bascombe novels (The Sportswriter, Independence Day—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN Faulkner Award—, and The Lay of the Land), as well as four collections of short stories, among them Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins. The presentation program will take place at 8 PM on April 4th, on the Biscayne Bay Campus of FIU in the Academic One auditorium, AC I-194, and is open to the public.  This event is part of the FIU Creative Writing Program's Writers on the Bay Series, which gives students and the community access to world-renowned authors.

The Sanders Award is given annually to a writer of fiction, identified by the FIU Creative Writing Program, whose work combines literary excellence with popular appeal. The award is supported by a grant from the Lawrence A. Sanders Foundation of Boca Raton. Sanders, who died in 1998, was the author of well-regarded popular novels, including The First Deadly Sin. The Creative Writing Program also wishes to extend its thanks to The Betsy Hotel and Barnes & Nobles Booksellers for their support of Writers on the Bay.

White Pine Press Issues Postage Due by Julie Marie Wade

Julie Marie Wade's first full-length poetry collection, Postage Due, has been published by White Pine Press.  Selected for the press's Marie Alexander Poetry Series, Postage Due  "is a scrapbook of poetic artifacts documenting an odd girl's coming of age. Interspersed with postcards to a lost past, fan letters to childhood heroes, and inhabited voices as varied as Hester Prynne, Mr. Clean, and Vanna White, this collection pulses with kitsch and candor."

Julie Marie Wade is also the author of the poetry chapbook Without (Finishing Line Press, 2010) and two collections of lyric nonfiction, Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures (Colgate University Press, 2010) and Small Fires (Sarabande Books, 2011).  A new nonfiction chapbook, Tremolo, is forthcoming from Bloom Press in Spring 2013.  Wade is the newest member of the creative writing faculty at Florida International University.
 
On Sunday, April 7th at 4 PM, FIU's Julie Marie Wade and Denise Duhamel, along with Maureen Seaton of the U. of Miami, will be reading from their new books at Books & Books in Coral Gables More info. on this trio, their books, and this festive occasion, here. Mark you calendars.

Christine Kling's A Circle of Bones Published

Christine Kling's A Circle of Bones, her fifth novel, has been published by Thomas & Mercer.  Circle of Bones, a Caribbean thriller about the race to recover secrets found in the wreck of a World War II submarine, is the first in a three-book series.




Kling's previous novels, the Seychelle Sullivan series, are Surface Tension, Cross Current, Bitter End, and Wrecker's Key. Kling reports that she has retired from teaching at Broward College and is "living the dream of full-time cruising on board my 33-foot Caliber sailboat Talespinner." More about her writing and the nautical life on her website.

Campbell McGrath & Dennis Lehane Win Gold Medals in the Florida Book Awards

Prof. Campbell McGrath and MFA program alumnus Dennis Lehane have each won gold medals in the Florida Book Awards for books published in 2012. The awards are coordinated by the Florida State Libraries and co-sponsored by a number of Florida literary and cultural institutions. The medals will be presented at the Florida Heritage Awards ceremonies in Tallahassee on March 20, 2013.

McGrath's In The Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys won the Gold Medal in Poetry. This is McGrath's third win in the Florida Book Awards.  Shannon won the 2009 Poetry Gold Medal, and Seven Notebooks the 2008 Silver in Poetry.  “It feels great, it’s an honor,” McGrath said. “I love the idea of the Florida Book Awards, they bring attention to Floridian literature, the arts and culture. This is an award unique to our home state, so it’s important.”

The Gold Medal for General Fiction went to Live By Night, Lehane's eleventh book, tenth novel and the second in his historical series that follows Joe Coughlin, the son of a Boston police captain turned mobster during the prohibition era of the 1920s.

Other FIU Creative Writing winners in past years are: Lynne Barrett, Gold Medal, General Fiction 2011, for Magpies; alumna Patricia Engel, Silver Medal, General Fiction 2010, for Vida; Denise Duhamel, Silver Medal, Poetry 2009, for Ka-Ching!; alumnus Jesse Millner, Bronze Medal, Poetry 2009, for Neighborhoods of My Past Sorrow;  John Dufresne, Gold Medal, General Fiction 2008, for Requiem, Mass; James W. Hall, Silver Medal, Genre Fiction 2007 for Magic City; and alumnus Leonard Nash, Silver Medal, General Fiction 2007, for You Can't Get There From Here. The Florida Book Awards were established in 2006 to recognize, honor, and celebrate the best Florida literature published each year.