Tag Archives: Marie Hannan-Mandel

by | June 1, 2017 · 6:33 am

Community News & Updates June 2017

UPCOMING READINGS

Lissa Kiernan (Poetry, S’11), founding director, Poetry Barn, is pleased to announce a reading of Stonecoast faculty and alumni Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Cait Johnson, and Elizabeth Searle, on August 18th at the Woodstock Public Library, Woodstock, NY.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Andrea Lani (Fiction, W’14), co-editor of the Literary Reflections department at Literary Mama, seeks essays by mother writers, both established and emerging, about the intersection of motherhood and literature. We’re looking for first-person reflections with an intellectual as well as personal focus. Potential topics include: how motherhood influences the creative process and vice versa; a close reading of a piece of literature through the motherhood lens; how reading with children builds connections; how literature can provide answers or solace during difficult times. Please see our submissions page for complete guidelines, as well as our recent “Tips from the Editors” blog post, which rounds up several of our favorite essays.

ALUMS

AJ Bauers’ (Popular Fiction, W’17) flash-fiction story “The Wrong One” can be found in the most recent issue of Chantwood Magazine. “The Wrong One” examines the grief of a self-editing protagonist as she walks her path toward closure. For AJ’s more lighthearted fiction, check out her weekly webcomic.

Michael Beeman (Fiction, S’09) was thrilled to publish his short story “A Unified Drone Theory” in the summer issue of The Indiana Review.

Karen Bovenmyer (Popular Fiction, S’13) had a fabulous time at the ConQuesT 48 Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City presenting on “Dark Fantasy vs. Horror,” “From Fan to Pro: Writing as a Career,” “Horror Fiction and Xenophobia,” “Where Do We Go from Here: Current Developments in Writing Speculative Fiction,” and “Why Write Short Stories” over Memorial Day Weekend. Her flash “Like a Soul” will be reprinted this month in Darkhouse Books’ Descansos anthology. Stonecoasters have supported her throughout the hardest challenges of her life and she is forever grateful! Viva Stonecoast!

Michael L. Joy (Popular Fiction, S’13) has been named the Co-Chair of SleuthFest, the annual educational mystery writers’ conference put on by the Florida chapter of the MWA.

Lissa Kiernan (Poetry, S’11) is pleased to announce that her book-length braided essay, Glass Needles & Goose Quills: Elementary Lessons in Atomic Properties, Nuclear Families, and Radical Poetics, is now available for pre-order. Also, Lissa, as founding director of Poetry Barn, is pleased to announce Poetry Barn’s 2017 programming celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Andrea Lani (Fiction, W’14) was thrilled that her humorous and hot short story, “Toy Story,” about a mom who finds herself in a sex-toy shop, found a home in the anthology If Mom’s Happy: Stories of Erotic Mothers, which was released by Cwtch Press on May 1.

Matthew Quinn Martin (Popular Fiction, S’10) is thrilled to report the feature-film script he co-wrote, Being, is now in pre-production. Directed by Doug C. Williams, it stars Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Near Dark, Millennium) and Robert John Burke (Stephen King’s Thinner, Law & Order: SVU), with more casting announcements forthcoming. The practical effects-heavy, science-fiction movie is slated to begin principal photography in mid-August.

Mary Heather Noble (Creative Nonfiction, W’14) is pleased to share that her essay “Things Seen in the Dark: A Triptych” will appear in the June 2017 issue of Hippocampus Magazine. Special thanks to Suzanne Strempek Shea, Melanie Brooks, and Penny Guisinger for their moral support with this publication.

Shannon Ratliff‘s (Creative Nonfiction, S’16) essay “The Collected Cathedrals of Mary Magdalene” appears in the Spring 2017 issue of Seneca Review, currently out. Her essay “The Man on the Moon” will appear in the new issue of Gulf Coast this month.

Lisa Romeo (Creative Nonfiction, S ’08) announces with great pleasure that the University of Nevada Press will publish her memoir, tentatively titled Every Loss Story is a Love Story: The Father Daughter Reunion, in June 2018.

Catherine Schmitt (Creative Nonfiction, W’12) was a finalist for the 2017 Iowa Review Awards. Her article on land-locked salmon and Arctic char, two native Maine fishes, is in Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine. Catherine has also been elected to a second term as a member of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance Board of Directors. Later this month she will be attending the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents as part of a project with Mount Desert Island Historical Society.

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam‘s (Popular Fiction, S’13) first published short story, “They Come In Through the Walls,” got its first audio version at Tales to Terrify. Her story “Secret Keeper,” a Phantom of the Opera retelling set in a high-school theater where the phantom is an outcast teenage girl, will be out from Nightmare in early June.

Lisa C. Taylor (Poetry, ‘04) has her first piece of nonfiction up on Gravel Literary Magazine’s web site. A short story, “Second Lives,” is forthcoming in Quail Bell.

Ashley Warren‘s (Fiction, S’12) poems “Alice and the Snake”, “Neighborhood”, and “To Those Who Meet Me After” appear in the current issue of Typehouse Literary Magazine.

CURRENT STUDENTS

Graduating student Brenda Cooper‘s (Fiction) next novel, Wilders, will be released by Prometheus Books on June 13th, 2017. Ramez Naam, award-winning author of the Nexus series, call it “A vivid picture of a world rebuilding from the edge of ecological ruin and the seeming conflicts between civilization and the nature it depends on.”

FACULTY

David Anthony Durham (Fiction, Popular Fiction) will be reading along with National Book Award Finalist/Bestseller Jayne Anne Phillips at Earfull, presented by the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA, on Tuesday, June 6th. The readings will be accompanied by the music of Jen Trynin and Aaron Perrino. If you’re near Boston please consider coming out! Tickets available here.

Aaron Hamburger (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) has been combining writing with activism this month. His piece “My Grandmother, the Undocumented Immigrant” appeared in Tablet Magazine. Also, he recently taught a sold-out course called “Writing as an Act of Resistance” at Politics & Prose Bookstore. The class was so successful that it’s going to be offered again this fall. Details will be posted on the store website.

Wonder Woman: The Official Movie Novelization, written by Nancy Holder (Popular Fiction), comes out on June 6th, to coincide with the worldwide release of the film starring Gal Gadot.

Stonecoast alumna Alexis Paige (Creative Nonfiction, S’14) will be among the featured authors at Bay Path University’s annual Booklovers event, June 4th, 2:00-4:00 p.m., in the dining commons at 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, MA. The author of Not a Place on Any Map, Alexis will be joined by Kate Clifford Larson (Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter), Ed Orzechowski (You’ll Like it Here), and Sophfronia Scott (A Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Being in a Secular World). Suzanne Strempek Shea (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction), Bay Path’s writer-in-residence and director of writing programs, will welcome the audience. The event is open to the public free of charge, and both book clubs and individual readers are welcome. Books will be sold and refreshments will be served.

A few winters back, faculty members Elizabeth Searle (Fiction, Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) and Suzanne Strempek Shea met in Elizabeth’s Harraseeket Inn room during lunch at January residency to press “send” on their proposal for a collection of essays on soap operas by writers and poets who have some fixation with the classic television and radio form of storytelling. The result, Soap Opera Confidential: Writers and Soap Insiders on Why We’ll Tune in Tomorrow as the World Turns Restlessly by the Guiding Light of Our Lives, was launched April 30th at Newtonville Books in Newton Center, MA. The co-editors and seven of their 33 contributors enjoyed a standing-room-only crowd at the bookstore owned by Stonecoast alumna Mary Cotton and her husband, author Jamie Clarke. Among the readers was Stonecoast alumna Brenda Sparks Prescott, who read from her essay “The Doctors and William Beaumont General Hospi-tale.” Other Stonecoast connections among the 35 contributors: student Erin Roberts; alums Marie Hannan-Mandel, Tigh Rickman, and Susan Lilley; faculty members Ted Deppe, Aaron Hamburger, and Nancy Holder; former faculty members Jamie Cat Callan, Ann Hood, Lesléa Newman, and Shara McCallum; and Nuala Ni Chonchuir, who’s read and lectured at Stonecoast Ireland. The book is dedicated to the late Elisabeth Wilkins Lombardo, an award-winning fiction writer who was a member of Stonecoast’s inaugural graduating class and who was to have contributed an essay on how soap operas helped her learn the culture of Japan when she moved there for what turned out to be ten years of work in radio and television broadcasting. Elizabeth and Suzanne send many thanks to Stonecoast students including Shellie Leger, who made the trip to help celebrate the book. Suzanne and Elizabeth continue to celebrate—most recently over the fact that, at a grocery or pharmacy checkout very near you, from coast to coast, readers can find CBS Soaps in Depth magazine and its two-page spread on Soap Opera Confidential. The May 29th issue dedicated two pages to the story “Fan Nonfiction: Soap Opera Confidential Examines Why We Always Have—and Always Will—Tune in Tomorrow.” The piece included photos of The Bold and the Beautiful star Thorsten Kaye, who contributed a poem to Soap Opera Confidential and is shown holding a book. Is it Soap Opera Confidential? Tune in tomorrow to find out… Soap Opera Confidential also is featured in a story by G. Michael Dobbs of The Reminder in East Longmeadow, MA. Join Elizabeth Searle and Suzanne as they celebrate Soap Opera Confidential June 7th, 7:00 p.m. at Broadside Bookshop, 247 Main St., Northampton, MA. The night will feature readings by contributors Lesléa Newman, Tommy Shea, and Sebastian Stuart.

Alumna Brenda Sparks Prescott reads from her essay “The Doctors and William Beaumont General Hospi-tale” at the April 30th launch of Soap Opera Confidential: Writers and soap Insiders on Why We’ll Tune in Tomorrow as the World Turns Restlessly by the Guiding Light of Our Lives at Newtonville Books.

Elizabeth Searle with Newtonville Books owner and Stonecoast alumna Mary Cotton.

Soap Opera Confidential featured in the national magazine Soap Opera Insider.

Yes, at a shop counter near you: Soap Opera Insider and its two-page feature on Soap Opera Confidential.

Contributors and co-editors at Newtonville Books’ launch of Soap Opera Confidential: Writers and Soap Insiders on Why We’ll Tune in Tomorrow as the World Turns Restlessly by the Guiding Light of Our Lives: (from left) alumna Brenda Sparks Prescott, Sebastian Stuart, Emily Franklin, Elizabeth Searle, Allan Hunter, Lisa Borders, Marianne Leone, Suzanne Strempek Shea, and Leigh Montville.

Soap Opera Confidential co-editors Suzanne Strempek Shea and Elizabeth Searle at the Newtonville Books launch.

 

 

 

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by | February 1, 2017 · 11:53 am

Community News & Updates February 2017

ALUMS

swift-for-the-sunKaren Bovenmyer’s (Popular Fiction, S’13) thrilled to announce her first novel, an LGBT romantic pirate adventure set in 1822 Caribbean, Swift for the Sun, now has a cover (by the amazing Anna Sikorska) and a release date: March 27, 2017, from Dreamspinner Press. Karen’s also sold a 300-word prose poem featuring marooned interstellar spies called “Save Our Souls” to Silver Blade Magazine for their February issue and created an audio recording of the poem as a companion piece. She’s excited to announce that her zombies vs robots 1500-word story “We Are Still Feeling” earned a Finalist for 4th Quarter 2016 in L Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest. Her 15,000-word Dickensien fairytale novella, “The Beaded Slipper,” will appear in Crimson Edge Press’s Maidens and Magic maidens-magicanthology, February 14, 2017; she’s thrilled that her character Sasha is on the cover (the blonde woman holding the red slipper). Karen is also chuffed her unrequited astronaut love poem “The Blind Elephants of Io” (which you can hear read by British actress Patsy Prince) has been nominated for a Rhysling award by members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Two other flash stories “Samuel Alexander’s Storm Angel” (Roane Publishing’s Flash Fiction Fridays) and a reprint “Like a Soul” (Creepy Campfire Quarterly: Science Fiction Issue) will be published in February. STONECOAST REPRESENT!

Two new stories by Julie C. Day (Popular Fiction, S’12) are out this month. “Everyone Gets a Happy Ending” concerns itself with female friendships, national fertility, and the desert Southwest; it’s available in the January/February issue of Interzone. Julie’s second story, “One Thousand Paper Cranes,” melds ideas about the neurobiology of memory, restricted-environmental-stimulation therapy, and part selves; you can find it online in the Winter 2017 issue of Kaleidotrope. On the podcasting front, both episode 135 of Far-Fetched Fables and episode 433 of Podcastle are now available. The first podcast features Julie’s narration of Sharon Shinn’s “The Double-Edged Sword.” The second contains Julie’s reading of Sandra O’Dell’s fabulous and fabulously funny “Telling Stories.” You can also find Julie—live and in person!—on various panels at Boskone 54, February 17-19 at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston, MA. Stop by and checkout her reading on Saturday, February 18th, at 1:30 p.m. in the Independence room.

juliecday_interzone

Alan King’s (Poetry, W’13) book Point Blank was named among the “Best New Poetry of the New Year 2017” by the Washington Independent Review of Books! Learn more here.

Paul Kirsch (Popular Fiction, W’11) is writing for Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming game—Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire—which has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign through Fig. You can learn more about the game and the campaign here. Fig is similar to Kickstarter in many respects, but also incorporates opportunities for financial investment in the game’s success. (Whether you’re a backer, an investor, or just an enthusiastic gamer with a taste for isometric D&D-esque PC games, I can’t recommend Deadfire enough. This is going to be a fun ride, and thanks for reading this deep into my ramblings. ~PK)

pillars2

Ellen Meeropol (Fiction, W’06) will be on a panel at AWP titled “Second Blooming: Women Authors Debuting after Fifty” on Friday, February 10, 10:30 a.m. She will also be reading from her third novel, Kinship of Clover, at Politics and Prose Bookstore on Friday, February 10, at 6:00 p.m.

red-hen-press

rowing-for-my-lifeBruce Pratt‘s (Fiction, S’04) short-story collection The Trash Detail has been selected for publication by New Rivers Press. His full-length play The King of France, which won the Meetinghouse Theatre Lab’s annual new play contest, received a staged reading on January 21 in Winter Harbor Main.

Kathleen Saville‘s (Creative Nonfiction, W’13) memoir Rowing for My Life: Two Oceans, Two Lives, One Journey has recently been published by Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing; read about it here. She teaches creative writing at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

incendiary-artPatricia Smith‘s (Poetry, S’08) 8th book of poetry, Incendiary Art, will be released on February 17 from Northwestern University Press. Her last two books were Gotta Go, Gotta Flow (City Files Press, 2015), a collaboration with award-winning Chicago photographer Michael Abramson, and Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the best U.S. poetry book of 2012. Patricia has also been chosen as a 2018 Civitella Rainieri fellow—this summer, she will be in residence for six weeks in a 15th-century castle in rural Umbria, Italy.

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam‘s (Popular Fiction, S’13) short story “The Maneaters” appears in the January issue of Black Static. This was the first story Bonnie brought to Stonecoast workshop.

FACULTY

On Friday, February 3, 2017, Jeanne Marie Beaumont (Poetry) will be visiting Syracuse to read in the Visiting Author Reading Series at the Downtown Writers Center at the YMCA, 340 Montgomery St., Syracuse, NY. The reading starts at 7:00 p.m. and is free. Later in the month, Jeanne Marie will be traveling to the AWP Conference in Washington, DC. If you are there, please stop by the CavanKerry Press Bookfair booth #330 on Friday, February 10th from 11:00-11:30 a.m., where she will be signing copies of Letters from Limbo.

David Anthony Durham (Fiction, Popular Fiction) is going to be the Genre Fiction Keynote speaker at this year’s Writing the Rockies Conference at Western Colorado University. He’ll be flying out there right after the Stonecoast summer residency to deliver an address he’s calling “The Virtues of the Multi-Genre Toolbox.”

Aaron Hamburger‘s (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Popular Fiction) flash fiction “The House Husband” was a runner-up for DC’s City Paper‘s fiction issue. It’s his first foray into Washington, DC-themed fiction, and given the current political situation, he’s expecting to write quite a bit more!

fireFire, a collection of interviews, essays, and short fiction by Elizabeth Hand (Fiction, Popular Fiction), has just been published by PM Press. In January, she was the subject of a profile at Literary Hub by Adrian Van Young, and her 2014 Salon essay on the Affordable Care Act was picked up by the Dept. of Health and Human Services as part of the effort to encourage people to enroll in the ACA. Recent reviews include Simon Reynolds’ Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy and Al Ridenour’s Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas for The Los Angeles Times, and Anne Rice’s Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis for The Washington Post.

Elizabeth Searle (Fiction, Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) hopes to see fellow Stonecoasters at AWP February 8-11 in DC! She has had two events accepted at AWP 2017: she will read in the event “Written on a (Woman’s) Body: A Cross Genre Reading of Bold Writings about Women and Their Bodies”—which also features Dolen Perkins-Valdez—and Elizabeth will moderate “Adaptation in Three Acts: Adventures in Adapting Material for Scripts” (featuring Suzanne Strempek Shea as well as Danny Eaton and David Shields). Elizabeth will also give a brief reading at a New Rivers Press/Fairfield University party at Mandu restaurant February 9th at 6:00 p.m. Back home in Boston, on March 3rd at 7:00 p.m., Elizabeth will read from her novel We Got Him at the Dire Reading Series in Cambridge, MA, at The Out of the Blue Gallery. At 7:00 p.m. on March 24th, Elizabeth will read at Falmouth Public Library on Cape Cod. Finally, check out this new piece on Elizabeth and We Got Him by bestselling author Caroline Leavitt.

soap-opera-confidentialElizabeth Searle and Suzanne Strempek Shea (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) soon will be reading proofs of Soap Opera Confidential: Writers and Soap Insiders on Why We’ll Tune in Tomorrow as the World Turns Restlessly to the Guiding Light of Our Lives (McFarland). The life-long soap fans are delighted to have so many Stonecoast voices—current and past—in this collection of essays. In order of appearance in the book, past and present contributors from our community include Aaron Hamburger, Brenda Sparks Prescott, Ann Hood, Lesléa Newman, Shara McCallum, Nancy Holder, Ted Deppe, Marie Hannan-Mandel, Tigh Rickman, Erin Roberts, Susan Lilley, and Jamie Cat Callan. Stay tuned for the exact publication date and a schedule of readings… Suzanne is looking forward to being on two panels at AWP in DC this month, and thanks the hosts for including her. On Thursday, February 9, find her on Washington Convention Center Level 2, Room 209 ABC, from 10:30-11:45 a.m. as a panelist on Elizabeth Searle’s “Adaptation in Three Acts: Adventures in Adapting Material for Scripts.” Other panelists will include Danny Eaton, who wrote the one-woman play Mags: A Conversation With an Audience, based on Suzanne’s book This Is Paradise: An Irish Mother’s Grief, an African Village’s Plight and the Medical Clinic That Brought Fresh Hope to Both (PFP). From 4:30 to 5:45 p.m., find her again on Level Two, this time in Room 203 AB, for Helen Peppe’s panel “Juggling from Within: The Art of Voice,” also featuring Sue William Silverman, Alice Cohen, and Melanie Brooks. Speaking of Melanie Brooks, Suzanne is looking forward to the launch of Melanie’s first book, Writing Hard Stories (Beacon), at AWP, and also to introducing her when Melanie reads from her book Wed., February 15, at 7:00 p.m. at Broadside Bookshop, 247 Main St., Northampton, MA. Any Stonecoasters in the Western New England area are invited to meet up at the Broadside and cheer Melanie on as she begins to get this vital title into the world.

 

 

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by | August 1, 2015 · 3:33 am

Community News & Updates August 2015

ANNOUNCEMENT:
THREE ALUMNI OPPORTUNITIES

TEACHING APPRENTICESHIPS
Alums with a special interest in creative writing pedagogy may apply for a teaching apprenticeship. Apprentices will work closely with a workshop leader, contact students with workshop updates, assign readings, and review student reading responses and evaluations. Apprentices must also teach one seminar on teaching/pedagogy and are asked to read during the Faculty Flash Reading.

Apprentices will receive a travel stipend ($300.00 maximum) and lodging with lunches during summer residencies.

Qualifications:

  • Graduate of the Stonecoast MFA program.
  • Demonstrate a strong commitment to excellence in teaching.
  • Demonstrate good communication skills and ability to works with diverse groups

How to Apply: Interested alums must submit the following by DECEMBER 15, 2015:

  • Cover Letter
  • Current curriculum vitae
  • One letter of support
  • One-page statement of teaching philosophy.
  • Seminar proposal

Decisions will be made in consultation with faculty advisory board and based in part on the applicant’s teaching strategies and presentation proposal. Applications materials are due by December 15, 2015. Materials received on or after that date will be considered at the discretion of the Associate Director. Interested Stonecoast alums should submit hard-copy materials packets to:

Robin Talbot
University of Southern Maine
Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing
98 Bedford Street
Portland, Maine 04103

PLUS-RESIDENCY OPTION
Alumni who would like to return to Maine or Ireland for an additional residency experience can participate in the residency, which will include two workshops, attending seminars and interacting with mentors. Approximate Cost: $900.00 – $1125.00 plus lodging

FIFTH-SEMESTER OPTION
The fifth semester option allows alums to opt for an additional semester of mentorship with a Stonecoast faculty member to further polish a book manuscript or collection of poems. This option starts with a full residency followed by enrollment in a six month semester. Cost: Current Tuition Rate

ALUMNI

Eric M. Bosarge (Popular Fiction, W’12) recently sold his second novel, Sky Is Over, to Medallion Press. He worked on the novel extensively during his time at Stonecoast, eventually using a version of the novel for his thesis. Eric would like to thank all his fellow students and former instructors, especially Michael Kimball, for their help with the novel. Sky Is Over will be released in June of 2017.

Karen Bovenmyer’s (Popular Fiction, S’13) short story “What the Dollhouse Said” will be reprinted in a forthcoming edition of Evil Girlfriend Media Shorts, and a new micro fiction titled “Left Behind,” which is a twist on a werewolf tale, will appear in the Quick Shivers in the Midwest from the DailyNightmare.com: Volume Four anthology.

Linda Buckmaster (Creative Nonfiction, S’11) was awarded a scholarship from Upstreet. A Literary Magazine to the 20th Annual Postgraduate Writers’ Conference at Vermont College of Fine Arts. The scholarship is awarded to current or past contributors to the magazine. Linda’s essay “Becoming Memory” appeared in Upstreet 8 in 2012. It was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2013. FYI: She pretty much boiled her Stonecoast thesis down to this one essay. This fall, her essay “Space Heart” will appear in Solstice Literary Magazine. Over this past year, Linda has had residencies at Landfall Trust in Brigus, Newfoundland; Vermont Center Studios in Johnson, Vermont; and Obras Foundation in Portugal. She is currently working on a collection of flash fiction about boomer women.

Marie Hannan-Mandel’s (Popular Fiction, ’07) short story “The Perfect Pitch” was chosen for the Malice Domestic anthology 11 Murder Most Conventional. It will be published to coincide with the Malice Domestic Conference in April 2016. Her short story “Sisters, Sisters” will appear in the anthology Adirondack Mysteries 3, which will be published in 2016.

Paul Kirsch (Popular Fiction, W’11) is joining Obsidian Entertainment as a full-time Narrative Designer. Obsidian’s past projects include Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas. He’ll be writing branching dialogue, character arcs, and story/world content for video games in development. You can learn more about Obsidian’s current and upcoming projects at https://www.obsidian.net/

obsidian

HurricaneCVREllen Meeropol (Fiction, W’06) and civil liberties attorney Bill Newman will present a reading and conversation, “Disappeared in America: Imagination and Fact,” at the Wellfleet Public Library on Wednesday, August 26 at 7:30 p.m. After Meeropol reads from On Hurricane Island, her novel set at a fictional domestic detention center in Maine, Newman will discuss the realities of domestic interrogation and detention.

Alexandra Oliver (Poetry, W’11) will be performing in Toronto’s International Festival of Authors this October, in support of her inclusion in the anthology Best Canadian Poetry 2015. Her next book, Let the Empire Down, is slated for Spring 2016 release from Biblioasis.

A new piece by Lisa Romeo (Creative Nonfiction, S’08), “Must Love Horses, Must Love Dogs,” appeared on the essay site Full Grown People. In August, Lisa will be presenting at HippoCamp15: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction Writers in Lancaster, PA.

coverCatherine Schmitt (Creative Nonfiction, W’12) is pleased to announce the release of The President’s Salmon: Restoring the King of Fish and its Home Waters from Down East Books.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz (Fiction, S’09) is thrilled to announce the September 8th release of her novel, In the Context of Love, published by Buddhapuss Ink, LLC, a manuscript written in first person/second person address that she worked on while at Stonecoast. Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award Finalist, author of American Salvage and Once Upon a River, says: “Linda K. Sienkiewicz’s powerful and richly detailed debut novel is at once at love story, a cautionary tale, and anContext-of-Love-Cover-high-res inspirational journey. In the Context of Love should be required reading for all wayward teenage girls—and their mothers, too.” You can view the trailer Linda created herself at here. You can preorder/purchase the book on Amazon. Linda’s website is http://lindaksienkiewicz.com/

Kevin St. Jarre (Popular Fiction, S’10) is pleased to announce that he has signed with literary agent Victoria Sanders of Victoria Sanders & Associates.

FACULTY

Theodora Goss‘s (Popular Fiction) essay “The Fin-de-Siècle Monster” was published in the second issue of Story, which focuses on the monster in all its manifestations. A letter of hers appeared in Letters to Tiptree, a compilation of letters to James Tiptree, Jr., from female fantasy and science fiction writers published by Twelfth Planet Press.  Her story “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology” was reprinted in two year’s best anthologies: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Nine, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris), and The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2015, edited by Rich Horton (Prime Books).

Elizabeth Hand (Fiction, Popular Fiction) has sold The Book of Lamps and Banners, the fourth Cass Neary novel, to St. Martin’s Press.  Her recent reviews include Crooked and Sisters of the Revolution for the Los Angeles Times.

unnamedNancy Holder (Popular Fiction) is signing her story “Another Little Piece of My Heart” in Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed at Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Burbank, California, on August 1 at 2:00 p.m. She is also signing the following day, August 2, at 2:00 p.m. at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego.

Mike Kimball‘s (Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) multi-award-winning play Duck and Cover will be staged at The Players’ Ring (Portsmouth, NH) Sept 4-20 (Fri, Sat, Sun). The theater has intimate, three-quarter round seating for 70, so please book tickets in advance if you plan to attend. http://playersring.org/2015/05/duck-and-cover/

duck and cover--0222bEléna Rivera (Poetry) is reading at Unnamable Books (600 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | 718-789-1534) with Linda Russo and E. J. MacAdams on August 15, 2015, at  7:00 p.m.

Elizabeth Searle‘s (Fiction, Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera had a sold-out extended run at the New York Musical Festival in July 2015, drawing national and international media, including a feature interview with Elizabeth on People.com, the online People magazine. An AFP news service feature on the show appeared in over 200 countries in Europe and Asia and was a “trending story” in France. The rock opera drew enthusiastic NYC reviews. Broadway World spotlighted it as a PhotoFlash feature. Ken Davenport’s Producer’s Perspective blog listed the show as one of five “that stand out” at NYMF and Playbill and Backstage both cited it as one of the “Top Ten Shows to See.” Tonya & Nancy’s Liz McCartney won Outstanding Featured Actress at NYMF 2015. Best of Off Broadway listed it as a Best of Fest. Elizabeth thanks Stonecoasters for their online and offline support! Check out the website for news on future productions.

Tracy McDowell as 'Tonya' and Jenna Leigh Green as 'Nancy' in Elizabeth Searle's 'sold out' New York Musical Festival run of Tonya & Nancy, the Rock Opera (music by Michael Teoli)

Tracy McDowell as ‘Tonya’ and Jenna Leigh Green as ‘Nancy’ in Elizabeth Searle’s ‘sold out’ New York Musical Festival run of Tonya & Nancy: the Rock Opera (music by Michael Teoli)

 

 

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by | September 1, 2014 · 6:00 am

Community News & Updates September 2014

ALUMNI

Patricia Barletta (Popular Fiction, W’12) has just signed a contract with Lachesis Publishing for her Stonecoast thesis, Moon Dark, a paranormal historical romance. The novel will be released in 2015.

Eric M. Bosarge (Popular Fiction, W’12) is pleased to announce his short story Adytum appeared in volume two of The Darkness Internal published by Voluted Tales.

Crimson PactKaren Bovenmyer (Popular Fiction, S’13) is thrilled to announce her space zombies story “Failsafe” (The Crimson Pact Volume 5, Iron Dragon Press, July 2013) earned enough votes to appear on the Hugo ballot for best short story. Though it did not receive enough votes to be nominated for this prestigious award, she’s extremely honored to have been on the list. This was the story she read from for her graduate reading.

Jennifer Marie Brissett (Popular Fiction, S’11) will be reading from Elysium, her debut science fiction/science fantasy novel (also her Stonecoast thesis!), at the Franklin Park Reading Series in Brooklyn, Sept 8th, 8:00-10:00 p.m.—FREE ADMISSION, plus $4 drafts and a book raffle! Here’s the Facebook Invite.

Libby Cudmore (Popular Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, S’10) has joined the staff of Something Awful‘s Current Releases as a film critic, covering Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Let’s Be Cops, Get On Up, and others. Additionally, her ekphrastic poem “Out There” was selected for issue six of Paper Darts. And finally, a panel she curated with Matthew Quinn Martin, “You’ve Been Telling Me You Were a Genius Since You Were 17: Five Writers Reel in Their Earliest (and often Embarrassing) Efforts,” has rowanfairybeen accepted for the 2015 AWP conference in St Paul, MN. The panel will also include Stonecoast faculty Suzanne Strempek Shea and Elizabeth Searle, as well as author Donna Minkowtz.

Julie Day‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) story “Faerie Medicine,” part of the Summer 2014 issue of Flapperhouse, is now available for free on their website alongside some very pretty artwork (seen at right).

ZombifiedThe sequel to Adam Gallardo‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) Zomburbia, Zombified, has been accepted by his publisher, Kensington, and is now in the hands of the copy editor. Zombified will be published on January 27, 2015. More information about both books may be found at Adam’s website, www.adamgallardo.com.

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez’s (Poetry) poetry collection, the small claim of bones, was published by Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe (Arizona State University). The book is based on Cindy’s MFA thesis at Stonecoast. Copies are available through Amazon and directly from the publisher.

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Marie Hannan-Mandel (Popular Fiction, ’07) was longlisted for the 2014 RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition.

Tamie Fields Harkins (Creative Nonfiction, S’12) has one poem and one short essay published in Connotations, the journal published by The Island Institute in Sitka, AK, where she was a writer-in-residence this past April. She’ll also be spending September and October in Sitka for a private writing residency.

NIGHTLIFE worm 4AMatthew Quinn Martin‘s (Popular Fiction, S’10) second novel, Nightlife: As the Worm Turns (Simon & Schuster/PocketStar), has been given an official release date of July 1, 2015. He will also be participating in a reading/panel with other thriller and mystery writers at The Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA, on November 1, 2014.

Alison McMahan‘s (Popular Fiction, W ’10) first (non-fiction) book, Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema, has finally come out in e-book form after eleven years as print only. The rights to this book were sold in July to the Pic Agency, who are producing a theatrical documentary entitled Be Natural; Robert Redford is executive producing and Jodie Foster will narrate. Alison sold her first AGBCoversmnovel, the prize-winning young adult historical mystery entitled The Saffron Crocus, to Black Opal Books. The tagline: “Murder, Mayhem and Romance in 17th-Century Venice.” The book will come out in December 2014.

Lisa Romeo (Creative Nonfiction, S’08) is excited to be teaching in Bay Path University’s new online creative nonfiction MFA program (among faculty with various Stonecoast ties). Lisa’s essay, “Mom, Me, and the Shirley Temple Room,” appeared in the June 2014 issue of Inside Jersey Magazine.

Robert E. Stutts‘s (Popular Fiction, S’10) short story “Hungry” (one of his Stonecoast thesis stories and published originally in 2013 in Daily Science Fiction) was reprinted in Heiresses of Russ 2014: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, edited by Melissa Scott and Steve Berman (Lethe Press). Another of his thesis stories, “With His Head in His Hand,” was published this month in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

Lisa C. Taylor’s (Poetry, ’04) short story, “Visible Wounds” (which is an excerpt from a novel in progress) is forthcoming in Map Literary. Her short story “Immersion” appeared in the summer edition of Crannog. Lisa will also be hosting writers in September and October. On September 17, Krista Bremer (associate publisher of The Sun magazine and well-known speaker on NPR and essayist) will read at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in the Science Building, Room 104.  Krista is the author of the memoir My Accidental Jihad: A Love Story. That night Krista will read at the University of Connecticut Co-op in Storrs Center at 6:00. Lisa will host Irish writer Martin Dyar in October.  There are planned readings in Connecticut and New Hampshire. Check out Lisa’s web site www.lisactaylor.com or Facebook Events for details. Both Martin and Lisa are scheduled to read at the University of Connecticut Co-op in Storrs Center at 7:00 p.m. on October 14th. Martin is the author of Maiden Names, which won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Strokestown International Poetry Award. Contact Lisa for more details of Martin’s tour in New England. This tour will include a literary salon at her house on October 12 from 3:00-5:00 pm. If you are in the area, email for details. And Lisa will be conducting a writing workshop called Death Riding Shotgun: How Our Mortality Shapes Our Writing, sponsored by the Riverwood Poetry Series and held at the Mark Twain House 351 Farmington Avenue in Hartford on November 15 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Registration is required.

Julie L. Vandekreke‘s (formerly Julie L. Scharf; Creative Nonfiction, S’10) short Creative nonfiction piece “Off The Line” is forthcoming in the anthology Pranked: Women Unfriending Women.

The-CHARLES-W.-MORGAN-sails-on-Block-Island-Sound-en-route-to-Newport-on-June-15-2014.

The Charles W. Morgan sails on Block Island Sound en route to Newport on June 15, 2014. Photo by Dennis Murphy/Mystic Seaport. Click to embiggen.

Since 2012, Anne Witty (Poetry W‘12) has worked freelance with a Mystic Seaport team of exhibition designers and educators to develop a major exhibition on the cultural and economic impact of the American whaling industry. In August, Anne sailed aboard the newly restored 1841 square-rigged whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the last sailing whaleship in the world. This experiential research informs her writing for “Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers.” Within the highly disciplined word counts specified by design, she is trying to slip in as many whaling-inspired poems and songs as possible. The exhibition is scheduled to open in 2015.

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STUDENTS

Danielle Rose (Popular Fiction, W’15) joins the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s English faculty as their newest adjunct professor. She will be teaching Fundamentals of English and Composition and Reading, as well as other composition and editing courses.

FACULTY

Acácia - A União SagradaThe fifth installment in the Portuguese editions of David Anthony Durham‘s (Fiction, Popular Fiction) epic fantasy series comes out this month in Portugal. It’s called Acácia – A União Sagrada. For comparison to the English version, it’s the first half of The Sacred Band.

Nancy Holder (Popular Fiction) will make three Southern California appearances during September:

September 20: Shades and Shadows Birthday Party: Reading and partying at the California Institute for the Abnormal Arts.

September 27: H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Con, San Pedro, California: Beginning at 1 PM, Lovecraft reading, panel, and autographing, also judging the film competition.

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September 28: Long Beach Comic-Con, Long Beach, California: On a panel entitled “What is Modern Horror” at noon and signing in the Horror Writers Association booth.

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Jim Kelly (Popular Fiction) has a new story in the October/November issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Of note to the Stonecoast community: this is a (slight) expansion of the story he wrote for his Flash Fiction Challenge at the Summer 2013 residency. It is now called “Uncanny”; he thanks the workshop for their helpful comments. Also appearing in that issue is an essay Jim wrote on the history and future or space stations.

Three of Mike Kimball’s (Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) 10-minute comedies will be staged in September.

Plumbing the Depths at the King of Crows Show, September 25-27, 7:30 p.m., Mayo St. Arts, Portland, ME.

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Houston and Disagreement at Dead Boot Saloon, at the Grade A Group Show, September 12-14, Friday & Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m., The Actors Studio of Newburyport, 50 Water Street, Mill #1, Suite #5, Newburyport, MA 01950

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MAW final front cover updateSuzanne Strempek Shea (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) had a fabulous time teaching alongside Barbara Hurd and Cambridge poet Charles Coe in late August at Iota: the Conference of Short Prose, a project created and run by Stonecoast grad Penny Guisinger. The four-day event took place on New Brunswick’s beautiful and historic Campobello Island, included several Stonecoast alums, and drew participants from as far away as Chicago and the Carolinas; The Bangor Daily News also ran an article on the conference. Suzanne is headed to Ireland this month for several readings of This Is Paradise, the story of Kerrywoman Mags Riordan and the medical clinic she founded in Malawi in memory of a son who died there. Her September 26th reading at Charlie Byrne’s in Galway will be shared with Stonecoast Ireland’s Ted Deppe and Annie Deppe. Ted and Suzanne also will be reading that week at the Clifden Arts Festival. Mags Riordan will be in New England in late October to do a series of promotional events with Suzanne. Some open dates remain; anyone interested in having Mags speak in their city or town should contact Suzanne at sess7@comcast.net. Suzanne’s return will be just before the October 5th publication of her eleventh book, Make a Wish But Not For Money, a novel about a palm reader in a dead mall.

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by | June 1, 2013 · 12:01 am

Community News & Updates June 2013

ALUMNI

Cal Armistead (Fiction, W’o7) will be a panelist at the sixth annual “Are You a Bookie?” book club gathering June 2nd from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA. Cal will read from and sign copies of her first novel, the critically acclaimed (most recently by The Boston Globe) Being Henry David, during this event, which is open to the public free of charge and will be headlined by bestselling novelist, memoirist, and columnist Joan Wickersham. Suzanne Strempek Shea, the college’s writer-in-residence, will emcee. Details are here.

Nancy Brown‘s (Fiction, S’08) story “Hay Day” will appear in the book Summer Stories being published later this year. Summer Stories is the result of a collaboration between the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (MWPA) and Shanti Arts Publishing. They invited Mainers to write short stories inspired by a series FINAL_cover_EV26of summer-themed paintings by Leslie Anderson. Award-winning Maine author Ron Currie, Jr., selected twelve stories to be published alongside Anderson’s paintings in the book.

Julie Day‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) story “Paradigm Shift” was published in Electric Velocipede 26. The story was originally created as part of Bonnie Stufflebeam‘s annual Arts & Words Show. A second story by Julie, “The Death of Love Project,” came out in the May issue of Swamp Biscuits and Tea.

The Mourning HoursPaula Treick DeBoard (Fiction, S’10) is excited to announce that her novel The Mourning Hours (Harlequin MIRA) will be released on June 25th. She’d especially like to thank the people who worked with her and saw this novel in its various stages of life, including her fellow workshoppers and her mentors Aaron Hamburger, Ted Deppe, Suzanne Strempek Shea, and Boman Desai. More information about the book can be found on her website or on Facebook.

SPM cover 96dpiJohn Florio (Fiction/Popular Fiction, S’07) has two books being released this summer. His novel, Sugar Pop Moon, is being released by Prometheus/ Seventh Street Books on July 9th, the first in a series of crime novels featuring Jersey Leo, an albino bartender working in a Hell’s Kitchen speakeasy during Prohibition. John will read from Sugar Pop Moon in Boston and in New York throughout July and August. Event dates will be posted on the novel’s Facebook page. John’s nonfiction book (with Ouisie Shapiro), One Punch from the Promised Land, will be released by Globe Pequot/Lyons Press on September 3rd. One Punch tells the story of boxer-brothers Leon and Michael Spinks and questions the myth surrounding the sport’s heavyweight One Punch Coverchampions in 20th-century America. Information on readings of One Punch will be posted on that book’s Facebook page. Find out more at John’s website.

Marie Hannan-Mandel (Popular Fiction, ’07) has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (UK) Debut Dagger Award for a mystery set in a Brooklyn high school. She worked on this novel during her time at Stonecoast. The winner will be announced in London on July 15th.

“Sexy Robot Mom,” a story about gender and the apocalypse by Sandra McDonald (Popular Fiction, W’05), won the Asimov‘s Readers’ Award for Best Short Story (tie) along with a cash prize. Visit her here.

Cabildo Quarterly, a poetry broadside, has solicited poems from Bruce Pratt (Fiction, ’04) and will publish “A Friend Speaks” in the fall print issue and “Clapping” and “Getting the Mail” on its website next week. His play Memories of Paradise will be featured in a reading at the 2013 Sport Literature Association Conference in Monmouth, NJ, on June 27th.

Christopher Watkins‘ (Poetry, W’08) poem “Ballyvaughan” has just appeared in the new issue of Hayden’s Ferry Review. His wine blog, 4488: A Ridge Blog, is a two-category finalist in the 2013 Wine Blog Awards.

A story by Tamra Wilson (Fiction, S’11) appears in the inaugural issue of South Florida Arts Journal. She is also pleased to have her story, “The Bird Watcher,” appear in the 2013 issue of Penumbra, published by the English department at California State University-Stanislaus.

STUDENTS

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam‘s (Popular Fiction) story “An Exodus of Wings” appeared in Daily Science Fiction on Friday, May 24th.

FACULTY

Aaron Hamburger‘s (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Popular Fiction) short story “No More Wild Orchids” appears in the spring issue of The Carolina Quarterly.

James Patrick Kelly (Popular Fiction) recently sold three new stories. “Sing, Pilgrim,” the first draft of which was written at Stonecoast as one of his flash-fiction challenges, went to The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. “Someday” will be forthcoming from Asimov’s Science Fiction. And in the fastest turnaround in his career, “Soulcatcher,” which he sold to Clarkesworld in late April, was published online on May 1st.

Knitting YarnElizabeth Searle (Fiction, Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) and Suzanne Strempek Shea (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) are thrilled to have seen the cover of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, an anthology edited by Ann Hood that will be published by Norton in November and will include essays by each of them.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Via Bruce Pratt: All Stonecoast Fiction Writers are reminded that the deadline for submissions to the Annual American Fiction Prize are due by June 15. All genres of fiction are welcomed. This series, whose first six issues were published by Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing Group, was called “a must-read collection for all short-fiction enthusiasts” by Booklist. The series moved to New Rivers Press in 1997; editors Alan Davis and Michael White chose previously unpublished stories for inclusion in the first ten volumes. Volumes 11 (2010) and 12 (2012) were edited by Kristen Tsetsi, Bayard Godsave, and Bruce Pratt. Volume 13–set for publication in 2014–is being edited by Bruce Pratt. A well-known writer serves as guest judge, chooses three prizewinners who receive a cash award, and writes the introduction. This year’s judge is Michael White. In 1998, Writer’s Digest chose the series as one of the top fifteen fiction magazines in the United States.

First Prize: $1,000
Second Prize: $500
Third Prize: $250
Entry Fee: $16/story

Previous finalist  judges include Charles Baxter, Ann Beattie, Robert Boswell, Ray Carver, Louise Erdrich, Clint McCown, Antonya Nelson, Josip Novakovich, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O’Brien, Wallace Stegner, Anne Tyler, and Tobias Wolff.

Contest Guidelines: New Rivers Press will publish approximately twenty short stories in each American Fiction volume, subtitled The Best Unpublished Stories by Emerging Writers. We seek well crafted, character driven literary fiction in any genre with a maximum of 10,000 words per story. Each of the selected story authors will receive national publication and distribution, author discount, and two complimentary copies. $1,750 in prizes will be awarded. ($1,000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd place, and $250 for 3rd place). The finalist judge for Volume 13 is Michael White. There is a reading fee of $16 for each online submission from Feb. 1 through June 15 at the Submittable website. Submit electronically.

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