Goddard MFA alumna Patty Flaherty (Pagan) announces a cash prize flash fiction contest from Spider Road Press. It’s their second annual contest. Spider Road Press publishes and promotes fiction by and/or about strong women. We believe that all brave, intelligent writing is literary, no matter what the subject matter. Writers, we invite you to embrace precision. Readers, we encourage you to stretch your imagination. Full details on our cash prize in this press release.
Category: Alumni News
Mark Doty talks with Elena Georgiou on WGDR
Praised by the New York Times for his “dazzling, tactile grasp of the world,” award-winning poet, Goddard alumnus (MFA ’80) and former faculty member Mark Doty read from his work in the Haybarn Theater on January 6, 2016. (Presented by Goddard’s MFA in Creative Writing Program’s Visiting Writers Series). The next morning, he spoke with Program Director… Continue reading Mark Doty talks with Elena Georgiou on WGDR
What Keeps You Up At Night?
What comes to you when you think of Goddard? At the Goddard MFAW graduation in Vermont, graduate Laura Cyphers mused about “radical imagination” means. And we ask you: What does it require of us to be a writer in the world? If we said to you, “Write for the World,” would that imply a social consciousness, a personal urgency, or an exhortation (along with the skills you will need) to reach the greatest audience possible?
Poetry as a Tool for Educational Equity
By Simone John Who gets permission to be a poet? Which kids are told to aspire to be artists, and which kids are told to seek menial work? How can educators teach in a way that is liberatory? How can we interrupt thought processes born from the seeds of internalized oppression? I teach poetry out… Continue reading Poetry as a Tool for Educational Equity
“Never Forget” by Emily Stern
As yet another anniversary of September 11th passes, and as we continue to face heartbreak and trauma as a nation from unfathomable acts of violence, we invite you to read this recent article, Never Forget, published on Entropy, by Goddard alumna Emily Stern. Emily says, “At the close of a creative writing course at an… Continue reading “Never Forget” by Emily Stern
Sustainable Scholarship
There is something rotten in Denmark: transforming life, scholarship, and writing toward a more sustainable paradigm —or —you’ve got the craft skills, now what are you going to do with it? By Karen Walasek Anyone alive who is paying attention knows that we are on a crash course toward climate destruction and that the burning… Continue reading Sustainable Scholarship
And have you read… The Cryptogram?
When The Writer was a student in the RUP Program at Goddard College, she got a part in Paul Zindel’s play, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. It was her favorite play: she’d seen Eve Arden in it in Chicago at the old Ivanho Theatre, on a day when her mother “forgot” to… Continue reading And have you read… The Cryptogram?
And have you read… Erebus?
Jane Summer is pictured here on the left. Q: How did you get the idea for your book? A: I actually didn’t get the idea. The idea got me—in a leg-hold trap. I grew tired of writing poems about how sad I was. After futzing around writing poems about the civil rights era and the… Continue reading And have you read… Erebus?
And have you read… The State of Kansas?
In simple, rhythmic, nail-sharp prose, the cast of unnamed characters in The State of Kansas survive a flood, brush their teeth, drink, attend a sinister dinner party, try to love others, think a lot about death (animal and human), and weigh the confusion of trying to and a place—decent or otherwise—in a big, beautiful, and often… Continue reading And have you read… The State of Kansas?
And have you read… Slab?
Slab is Goddard alumna Selah Saterstrom’s new book out from Coffeehouse Press, a place you can rely on for fascinating, timely and inventive work. “On a slab that’s all Katrina left of her Mississippi home, Tiger tells a story full of wickedness and incantation…” Excerpt from the book: “SCENE IN A HOUSE: The filthy kitchenette,… Continue reading And have you read… Slab?
And have you read… Devil in a Blue Dress?
Goddard College alum Walter Mosley has written more than 4 dozen books in his incredible career. In particular, he invented the character of Easy Rawlins, an African-American detective living in Watts, solving crimes, and reflecting on life in an America few get to know. The Writer has cobbled together excerpts from interviews Walter has given… Continue reading And have you read… Devil in a Blue Dress?
And have you read… Be Safe I Love You?
Goddard College alum Cara Hoffman’s latest book, Be Safe I Love You is a breathtaking thriller about a returning female veteran, set in upstate New York. The Sunday Telegraph (UK) called it: “One of the Five Best Modern War Novels.” When Lauren Clay arrives home from her tour of duty in Iraq, it is clear to many… Continue reading And have you read… Be Safe I Love You?
The Original World Wide Web
By Lucas M. Peters My polyglot wife is fond of telling me that as you are learning a new language, you are learning a new culture. Language, she says, is an extension of the culture of a place and its people. It is an unwieldy thing that has many strange branches and rules. It simultaneously… Continue reading The Original World Wide Web
Trapped in the Iron Maiden
For the last year, my body’s felt like it’s been trapped inside its own iron maiden. You know, one of those medieval torture devices the size of the human body with spikes in the interior. I read that the device was entirely made up, and that it wasn’t. I read that the first one, in… Continue reading Trapped in the Iron Maiden
The X-men and Women in Us All
JC Sevcik on the writer in the world, the hero in us all… All my life, I’ve been a loner. As far back as I can remember, I’ve felt like an outcast. I did not have what anyone could possibly mistake for a happy childhood, but I always had stories. My father died when I… Continue reading The X-men and Women in Us All
Rejection Makes You Stronger
Minneapolis AWP — Check! I write this sitting cross-legged on the nubby zebra-print carpet of Seattle’s SeaTac airport. A friend dropped me off an hour early and I couldn’t be happier with the extra time to just chill. At the risk of sounding cheerleader-ish, what I want to say to all the beautiful passersby is… Continue reading Rejection Makes You Stronger
Pitch Madness! How I Got My Agent
By Mia Siegert Recently, I participated in a Twitter and Blog Competition called Pitch Madness hosted by Brenda Drake. With increasing use of e-readers and social media marketing, writers are able to connect with agents and editors, sometimes having only 140-characters to pitch one’s book. If an agent’s attention is caught from just 140-characters, that… Continue reading Pitch Madness! How I Got My Agent
Science Fiction as Social Activism
by Chana Porter There is a TV show called Orphan Black which follows a woman as she discovers that she has many identical clones all over the world, the intentional orphans of a top secret genetics project. I’m most interested in Orphan Black as an exercise in empathy. The main character sees the person she… Continue reading Science Fiction as Social Activism
The Confidence Code: Joining the Party
As long as I can remember, I have had my nose to the grindstone, learning early in life how to tune out the noise of the rest of the world around me. I developed such a keen muscle for exclusion that when I had children, I actually had to train myself to pay attention to… Continue reading The Confidence Code: Joining the Party
Christine Kalafus: Storyteller
MFAW-VT student Christine Kalafus has been participating in storytelling events, like The Moth, broadcast on NPR and The MOuTH through the Mark Twain House in Hartford. In part because of her participation in these activities, she was recently selected to be a featured (one of eight) storytellers set to appear in 8 Objects/8 Stories at… Continue reading Christine Kalafus: Storyteller