MFA Faculty Alyce Miller Wins The Mary McCarthy Prize in Short
Fiction from Sarabande Books
Alyce Miller's
collection of stories, WATER, was selected by novelist
Norman Rush (author of MATING) for this year's Mary McCarthy Prize, and
will be published at the end of 2007 with Sarabande Press.
Alyce Miller
Samrat Upadhyay's latest story collection, THE ROYAL GHOSTS
(Houghton Mifflin, 2006) selected as a finalist for Frank O'Connor
International Short Story Award
With a prize money of $35,000, the O'Connor Award is the
world's richest short story prize. The other
contenders this year are Haruki Murakami (Japan), Philip Ó Ceallaigh
(Ireland), Rachel Sherman (USA), Peter Stamm (Switzerland), and Rose
Tremain (England). The winner of the award will be announced in September
during the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival in Cork.
Last year's winner was Yiyun Li for her debut
collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Random House).
Samrat
Upadyay
MFA Faculty, Essayist, and Environmentalist Scott Russell
Sanders's newest book, A PRIVATE HISTORY OF AWE, published in
February 2006
Sanders, a sage of the Midwest, uses autobiography as a vehicle for
far-reaching reflections on nature and humankind. Here he considers awe,
that "rapturous, fearful, bewildering emotion." . . . Sanders' thoughtful
reflections on the cycles of life, the flashpoints of awe, and our quest
for meaning are quietly revelatory. (Donna Seaman, Booklist)
scottrussellsanders.com
Catherine Bowman's new poetry collection just out from Four Way
Books
The speakers in Notarikon seem to know that only an approximation
of the truth can make them whole again, that even in the negative
there is nobility. Catherine Bowman writes a poetry that troubles the
waters and heals simultaneously. Lyricism and crafted insinuation
prompt us to accept her poetic forthrightness: there’s a bravery here
that incorporates everything we humans do, know, and risk dreaming.
(Yusef Komunyakaa)
Catherine
Bowman
Activist, Attorney, and Fiction Writer Alyce Miller Directs
Forthcoming Kindred Spirits Conference
Kindred Spirits: The
Relationship Between Human and
NonHuman Animals - An Interdisciplinary Conference
Anthology of Short Stories Celebrates M.F.A. Program's 25th
Anniversary
Marking the 25th anniversary of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing program,
Indiana University Press published in Fall 2005 the anthology, THE
HABIT OF ART: BEST STORIES FROM THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY FICTION WORKSHOP.
The anthology is edited and introduced by Tony Ardizzone
and features twenty-one short stories written by past graduates of Indiana
University's graduate writing program. Nearly all of the stories in the
anthology have been previously published, appearing in a wide range of
magazines from small yet highly selective literary journals to more widely
distributed venues such as The New Yorker. Several stories have received
additional national awards and citations, among them inclusion in THE BEST
AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, THE PUSHCART PRIZE: BEST OF THE SMALL PRESSES,
SCRIBNER'S BEST OF THE FICTION WORKSHOPS, and THE YEAR'S BEST: NEW STORIES
FROM THE SOUTH. The stories included come from a variety of narrative
perspectives, including works written by first-, second-, and third-person
narrators, with a wide range of exploration within each of these narrative
positions. The anthology's title comes from Flannery O'Connor, who, in her
essay "The Nature and Aim of Fiction" observed, "The scientist has the
habit of science; the artist, the habit of art."
Creative Writing Student Wins 2003 Cave Canem Poetry Prize
Kyle Dargan, recipient of Indiana University's 2002-03
Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry, has been awarded the 2003 Cave
Canem Poetry Prize for his first collection of poetry, THE LISTENING,
which was recently published by the University of Georgia Press. The
judge for the competition was Quincy Troupe.
Established in 1999, the Cave Canem Poetry Prize supports the work
of African American poets with excellent manuscripts who have not yet
found a publisher for their first book. The winner receives $500 cash,
publication of their manuscript by a national press, and fifty copies of
the book. In each of the past two competitions, Cave Canem has featured
both winner and judge in a public reading. The participation of well-known
judges and publishing houses has made this a highly competitive first
book award.
More information about Dargan and his award-winning poetry can be found at
The
Listening.
Creative Writing Student Wins 2002 Hurston/Wright Award and 2005 Bush
Foundation Artist Fellowship
Marita Golden, founder of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation,
announced that Shannon Gibney is the recipient of the 2002
Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction. Shannon was awarded the $1,000 First Place
in the competition, which was judged by novelist Tananarive Due, for her short
story "When They Came to See the Castle."
The Hurston/Wright Award was established to continually commemorate the
work and spirit of Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, and to honor
excellence in fiction writing by college writers of African descent. Since
1990, the Hurston/Wright Foundation has presented to Hurston/Wright award to
thirty emerging Black college fiction writers.
Shannon graduated in May 2002 with an M.A. in English (area: 20th century
African American literature) and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing Fiction
(thesis: YELLOW GIRL, a novel). She was the recipient of a Chancellor's
University Fellowship in 1999, and has also been awarded the 2002 Guy Lemmon
Award in Public Writing (Creative Writing division) by the Department of
English. Shannon was also the editor of the Indiana Review, which in May
2002 released a special "Writers of Color" issue.
In April 2005 Shannon was awarded a $44,000 Bush Artist Fellowship in
Literature, awarded by the Archibald Bush Foundation, a private
philanthropic foundation based in St. Paul, Minnesota, whose fellowship
programs are designed for individuals are in leadership, arts, and
medicine.
Recent Graduates Win 2004 Juniper Prize for Poetry, 2003 Mary McCarthy
Award in Short Fiction, 2003 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, 2002 Bakeless
Prize in Poetry, 2002 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, and 2001 AWP Award in
Short Fiction
Rebecca Black was awarded the 2004 Juniper Prize for
Poetry for her collection, COTTONLANDIA, which will be published by the
University of Massachusetts Press in 2005. After completing work on her
Indiana University M.F.A., Rebecca received a Stegner Fellowship at
Stanford University. Currently, she is living and writing in Paris.
Brian Leung was named winner of the 2003 Mary
McCarthy Award in Short Fiction by Sarabande Books for his story
collection, WORLD FAMOUS LOVE ACTS. Brian served as Editor of the Indiana
Review in 1999-2000, and in Fall 2002 began a tenure-track assistant
professor position at California State University, Northridge, where he
teaches creative writing and literature in their consortium M.F.A.
Program.
Several other recent graduates also won major competitions for their
first books. Brian Teare was awarded the 2003
Brittingham Prize for Poetry for his collection, THE ROOM WHERE I WAS
BORN, which was published by the University of Wisconsin press in October
2003. Jennifer Grotz's collection of poems, CUSP, was
the winner of the 2002 Bakeless Prize in Poetry and was published in 2003
by Houghton-Mifflin Company. Anna George Meek's
collection, ACTS OF CONTORTION, was the winner of the 2002 Brittingham Prize
in Poetry and was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in September
2002.
Christie Hodgen won the 2001 Associated Writing Programs
Award in Short Fiction for her collection A JEWELER'S EYE FOR FLAW, which was
published by the University of Massachusetts Press. A JEWELER'S EYE FOR FLAW
was also named a finalist for the 2003 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, given
annually to the best first book of fiction published that year. Christie's
fiction has also won a 2004 Pushcart Prize and the 2001 Pirate's Alley
Faulkner Society Award for the Novella. Another of Christie's novellas won
the 2001 Quarterly West Novella Competition, judged by Rick Moody. In
addition, she received the 2000 Tobias Wolff Award in Fiction.
Workshop Stories Appear in Glimmer Train
A pair of recent graduates of our graduate fiction workshop have had
work accepted for publication in the widely distributed Glimmer Train:
Stories. Nathalie Arnold, who publishes under the
pseudonym N. S. Köenings, received an acceptance
for her story titled "The Accident, or The Embrace," which is also the
opening chapter of her novel-in-progress. Nathalie's story was published
in Glimmer Train Issue #47, Summer 2003. Danit Brown's
short story, "Descent," appears in a recent issue, #49, of Glimmer Train.
This marks the second appearance of Danit's work in the popular journal;
her short story, "Breathing," appeared in Glimmer Train's Spring 1993
issue.
Student Awarded Ledig House International Writers' Colony Residency
Fellowship
Emily Doak was awarded the Ledig House International
Writers' Colony Residency Fellowship for June 2006. The Ledig House
International Writers' Colony is located approximately two and a half
hours north of New York City in the hamlet of Omi, in the scenic Hudson
River Valley. Writers and translators from all fields live and write on
the stunning 300-acre grounds and sculpture park that overlook the
Catskill Mountains, where they meet with visiting literary agents and
prominent editors from New York publishing houses.
Creative Writing Students Honored at Awards Day
Several M.F.A. students were honored during the April 2006 Awards Day
Ceremonies, sponsored by the Department of English:
- Ross Lockridge, Jr. Award in Creative Writing: Roberta Kwok
- Bertolt Clever Literary Award: Robin Vogelzang
- Jean Shepherd Literary Award: Vanessa Mancinelli
- Honorable Mentions: Paula Carter and Monique Harris
- Guy Lemmon Award in Public Writing: Grady Jaynes
- Earle S. Ho Award for Outstanding Teaching in Creative Writing: Joanna Want
- Culbertson Teaching Award: Paula Carter
- Academy of American Poets Prize: Mary Austin Speaker
- Honorable Mentions: Joanna Want and
Ben Debus
National Society of Arts and Letters Literature Awards
M.F.A. in Creative Writing students made an impressive showing in the
2004 National Society of Arts and Letters Literature Awards competition
(Bloomington, Indiana, chapter):
- Chapter Career Award: Emily Doak
- Will Hays, Jr. Memorial Award: Misty Harper
- Roy Battenhouse Memorial Award: K Keener
Additional Honors and Awards
Angela Pneuman's short story, "All Saints Day," was
reprinted in THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2004, edited by Lorrie Moore.
Her short fiction also appears in a recent issue of Glimmer Train.
Misty Harper received a 2004 Summer Poetry Residency
sponsored by The Poetry Center of Chicago (a collaboration with the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago). The award included a $1,000 stipend, a
public reading in October, publication of a poem broadside, and free
housing for a month in downtown Chicago. Misty also was awarded the 2003
Swink Editors' Award for Emerging Writers in Poetry, for which she was
given $1,500 and publication in the Early 2004 issue of Swink. Kim
Addonizio was the judge.
Michelle Ross won the 2002 Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction,
which is sponsored by the University of Houston and which awards Michelle
$1,000 and publication of her winning story in Gulf Coast: a Journal of
Literature and Fine Arts.
Tanja Pajevic, who received the 1998-99 Ernest Hemingway
Fellowship in Fiction, was named a 2001-02 Fulbright Student Scholar to
Slovenia.
Tenaya Darlington won the 2001 New Writers Award in
Poetry, sponsored by the Great Lakes Colleges Association, for MADAME DELUXE
(Coffee House Press, 2000), which was also the recipient of the National
Poetry Award.
Christie Hodgen's short story "The Hero of Loneliness,"
was republished in NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE YEAR'S BEST, 2001
(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill), edited by Shannon Ravenel. "The Hero of
Loneliness" appeared originally in Meridian. D. Winston
Brown's short story "In the Doorway of Rhee's Jazz Joint" appeared
in NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE YEAR'S BEST, 2000 and was originally
published in Yemassee.
Christie Hodgen's short story "Three Parting Shots and a
Forecast" was selected by Sherman Alexie and series editors John Kulka and
Natalie Danford for publication in SCRIBNER'S BEST OF THE FICTION WORKSHOPS
1999. The previous year, Tenaya Darlington's short story
"Relevant Girl" was selected for publication in SCRIBNER'S BEST OF THE FICTION
WORKSHOPS 1998; the guest editor that year was Carol Shields. The twenty
prize-winning stories selected annually are culled from over two hundred
submissions made by over 120 creative writing programs in the U.S. and
Canada.
