ANNOUNCEMENTS BARON WORMSER, 1948-2025 Baron Wormser, former Poetry faculty member at Stonecoast, passed away on October 7th. He had an extraordinary impact on his students at Stonecoast (even those of us who weren’t his students!). Some of the online obituaries and remembrances can be found at Vox Populi, Seven Days, and the Poetry Society of …
CURRENT STUDENTS Miles Meth (Fiction) published an op-ed in The Boston Globe about their friend Cata "Xóchitl" Santiago, an amazing person and powerful community organizer who was detained by ICE with no warrant/cause while traveling domestically for work. Her case is significant, because Xóchitl is a DACA recipient/legal resident, meaning this is yet another awful escalation in …
ANNOUNCEMENTS STONECOAST ALUMNI SEMINAR SERIES BEGINS! Conventional Creativity: Tropes as a Generative Tool Tuesday, August 12, 2025 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET / 4:00-5:30 p.m. PT Led by Beth Anderson (Popular Fiction, Summer '23) Sign Up Here Is it possible to incorporate tropes into your work without cheating the writing process, your imagination, or your readers? Absolutely. …
ANNOUNCEMENTS IOTA SHORT FORMS BEGINS SUNDAY WRITING SESSIONS Penny Guisinger (Creative Nonfiction, S’13) and Suzanne Strempek Shea (Faculty 2003-2021) are offering free monthly online writing sessions through Iota Short Forms. Led alternately by these two Iota Co-Directors, plus some special guests here and there, the sessions will consist of writing time with or without prompts. You’ll …
ANNOUNCEMENTS MESA VERDE WRITERS CONFERENCEMesa Verde Writers Conference is getting ready for its third year. They hope to add a one-day literary festival featuring up to 30 writers offering pop-up workshops and readings. Anyone interested can contact Lisa C. Taylor (Poetry, S’04). They are still looking for next year's poet so please send Lisa an …
ALUMS Peter Adrian Behravesh (Popular Fiction, W'18) narrated E. M. Linden's story "The Projectionists" for the September 28 episode of Cast of Wonders, as part of their Banned Books Week. You can listen to it here. Libby Cudmore’s (Popular Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, S'10) novel Negative Girl (Datura 2024) was released in paperback, ebook, and audiobook on September 10, …
ALUMS Sarah Baldwin (Creative Nonfiction, S'15) had an article about a scholar's research on young Jewish refugees in the U.S. during WWII published by Colgate Research. Her flash essay titled "Twelve Weeks" appeared in the inaugural issue of In Short. Shannon Bowring (Fiction, W'22) has been remiss in reporting several good pieces of book-related news: Her debut novel, The Road …
ANNOUNCEMENTS STONECOAST SUMMER 2024 RESIDENCY PRESENTATION SUBMISSIONS We are thrilled to announce that Stonecoast is now accepting presentation submissions for the Summer 2024 residency. If you are interested in teaching a 60-minute presentation from 8:15 am to 9:15 am, please provide a detailed description of your class or panel to Robin Talbot (robin.talbot@maine.edu) no later …
ANNOUNCEMENTS In response to the Lewiston-Auburn mass shooting that rocked the Maine community in October, Rogue Owl Press---helmed by Stonecoast alums Frank Ard, Popular Fiction (S’14); Joseph Carro, Popular Fiction (W’15); and Rebecca McKenna, Fiction (S’14)---is publishing a charity collection with 100% of proceeds benefiting Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control …
ALUMS A film Jillian Abbott (Popular Fiction, S’04) worked on, Cost of Living, about the impact of gentrification on the lives of ordinary families in New York City, is premiering at The Flushing Town Hall next week. Jillian is excited; it’s her first formal film credit outside pf screenwriting. Frank Ard (Popular Fiction, S’14) is …
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