I wanted to open the valise of what could not make the trip into English. I wanted to hear Cortázar’s voice, the author speaking the language in which he wrote.
Author: MFA Writing
Goddard MFA Faculty Member Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s Novel to be Filmed
Goddard MFA faculty member Micheline Aharonian Marcom‘s novel Three Apples Fell from Heaven will be adapted by Motorcycle Diaries writer José Rivera and directed by Shekhar Kapur. This will be the first film from Disruptive Narrative, a new social justice storytelling production which launched at Cannes as part of the Refugee Voices in Film day. Marcom says, “A… Continue reading Goddard MFA Faculty Member Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s Novel to be Filmed
Goddard MFA Alumna Julia Bouwsma Wins Poets Out Loud Prize
Goddard MFA alumna Julia Bouwsma‘s Midden, her second book of poems, was selected by Afaa Michael Weaver, for the Poets Out Loud Prize. Midden will be published by Fordham University Press in Fall 2018. In Midden, Bouwsma writes about the forcible eviction of an interracial community that until 1912 live on a small island off the coast… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alumna Julia Bouwsma Wins Poets Out Loud Prize
The Word World
I didn’t know how obsessed I was with the world – with the actual word “world” – until I went through my second book of poems and saw that I used the word at least 30 times. Actually, another poet told me I used it 30 times but of course I went back and counted the words myself (because they were my words) to see if this was true. I’d never done anything like that – count how many times a word got used. I wonder if other poets do this?
Writing the Other Side of the Story: Researching the Pacific War in Japan
I have an irrational fear of falling into a Japanese toilet—not an everyday worry, but one that poses itself as I pack for a weeklong research trip to a small town in Japan. I had knee surgery a few years ago and my squat technique is not what it used to be. My friend Reiko tells me it’s highly unlikely. I don’t tell her that I am the Queen of Unlikely. I tell her she’s right, and prepare for the worst.
A Walking Political Statement
Gay, disabled and Jewish: “An ex calls it the Nazi Trifecta, three marks under Nazism,” Kenny Fries explains – only to segue into another dark joke about the lack of accessibility in concentration camps.
Tips for the Resistance Fatigued
If you are like me, you’ve probably spent hours over the last few months writing letters and making phone calls to your Senators and Congressman to voice your opposition to the political firestorm taking place in Washington DC. If you are like me, you are also probably experiencing some Resistance Fatigue, and frustration, due to busy signals, message machines that are full, staffers who are tired of hearing your voice, or hand cramps from writing so many letters.
An Anniversary Gift to Yourself
Registration is still open for the 2017 Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat. This is CWC’s 20th Anniversary! Read on and consider joining the celebration. As always, this year’s Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat will open with a Plenary Panel featuring essay presentations and discussion on a theme chosen by consensus the previous year. For this… Continue reading An Anniversary Gift to Yourself
Writing and Running
MFAW faculty Keenan Norris: …my father, was less a reader than a storage chest of historical anecdote and information, come upon by means academic and experiential. He was also a runner, my father, a collegiate national record holder for twenty four hours at one point in time, so while my writings are much less the result of natural talent than dedicated labor, the running is in my blood.
Come Celebrate CWC’s 20th Anniversary!
Registration is still open for the 2017 Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat. Wondering what to expect if you decide to attend? Read on! As always, this year’s Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat will open with a Plenary Panel featuring essay presentations and discussion on a theme chosen by consensus the previous year. For this CWC… Continue reading Come Celebrate CWC’s 20th Anniversary!
Goddard MFA Faculty Member Richard Panek wins Polish Wise Award for Popular Science Writing
Goddard MFA faculty member Richard Panek‘s collaboration with Temple Grandin, The Autistic Brain, has received a Wise Award for popular science writing published in Poland in 2016. Originally published in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2013, The Autistic Brain was published by Copernicus Center Press in Poland. The book was described as weaving Grandin’s own… Continue reading Goddard MFA Faculty Member Richard Panek wins Polish Wise Award for Popular Science Writing
No Talking
Goddard MFAW faculty Rogelio Martinez: The play was now a straight arrow. I had talked the play right out of me.
Rogelio Martinez, Goddard MFA Faculty Member, Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Rogelio Martinez, Goddard MFA Faculty Member, received a 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship. Rogelio was born in Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba and arrived in the United States on the Mariel boatlift in 1980. As a Guggenheim Fellow, Martinez plans to return to Cuba for the first time since 1980 to research his newest play. Directly affected by the Cold… Continue reading Rogelio Martinez, Goddard MFA Faculty Member, Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Goodman Theatre To Premiere MFA Faculty Rogelio Martinez’s “Blind Date”
Goddard MFA faculty member Rogelio Martinez‘s new play Blind Date will have its world premiere next season at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Rogelio Martinez’s Blind Date, a compulsively fascinating backstage glimpse of one of the 20th century’s landmark historical events, is infused with sly humor and unexpected wisdom. In an era before Twitter and eHarmony, two of… Continue reading Goodman Theatre To Premiere MFA Faculty Rogelio Martinez’s “Blind Date”
Goddard MFA Faculty Jan Clausen’s “Against Literary Nationalism”
Goddard MFA faculty member Jan Clausen‘s essay “Against Literary Nationalism” has been published in Jacobin Magazine. In the essay, based on thoughts from a post on the Goddard MFA blog The Writer in the World , Clausen writes, “Writers in the U.S. must embrace traditions of radical dissent — not American exceptionalism — if they want to resist… Continue reading Goddard MFA Faculty Jan Clausen’s “Against Literary Nationalism”
The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman
Goddard MFAW faculty Susan Kim: My psychic reserves are low. And so I find myself reading the so-called “strange stories” of Robert Aickman.
Pay Attention
Pay attention: how many times I have written in the margins of a student’s work: what is the purpose here? What is your reason for writing this? Where does this connect to the human spirit, to the human experience? To you? To your readers?
Goddard MFA Alumna Cara Hoffman’s New Novel in the New York Times
Goddard MFA alumna Cara Hoffman‘s latest novel, Running, is reviewed in the New York Times Book Review. In the review, Justin Torres writes, “”Hoffman impressively evokes the combination of nihilism, idealism, rootlessness, psychic and economic necessity, lust and love that might set a young person adrift. Unlike the runaway heroes of many queer narratives these characters are… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alumna Cara Hoffman’s New Novel in the New York Times
As I write these words I am hurtling through a tunnel
Goddard MFAW alumna Theresa Barker: As I write these words I am hurtling (hurtling!) through a tunnel below ground under the hills of Seattle, in a plastic and metal carriage in a chamber that a thousand thousand thousand inventions of humans have created. Such a thing is unthinkable if you really pay attention to it, as unthinkable as time travel, yet here I am.
Goddard MFA student Ni’ja Whitson Named One of “100 Culture Influencers”
MFAW-VT student Ni’Ja Whitson has been named one of Brooklyn magazine’s “100 Culture Influencers.” Ni’ja says, “I’m furiously, fiercely committed to a creative practice that is unabashed and uncompromising, that is a contribution to liberation, that is an unapologetic offering of all of the Black Queer magic I can manifest.” In addition to touring… Continue reading Goddard MFA student Ni’ja Whitson Named One of “100 Culture Influencers”