Salisbury University creative writing graduate and all around amazing person, Caroline Chavatel, has won the first annual October Prize for Poetry from the Cossack Review. The winning poem, "The Given, These Bodies," will appear in issue 7. She will be bringing her talents to New Mexico State University's MFA program this fall. I'm sure she will do amazing things there. Grats, Caroline!!!
Hola Folkarinos,
I have never been very good at navigating the odd space between simultaneous joy and sadness. I have heard the word "bittersweet" used. For my money, taste is the wrong sense here. Instead, it is more like hearing a really great anthemic heartbreaker, learning the words, being both stoked to sing it and hit by its meaning. But figurative language aside, I find my self both saddened and overjoyed now. I am deeply sad that my partner in crime and contemporary compatriot here, Susan McCarty, is taking her remarkable talents to Michigan to be closer to her husband, a writer I also deeply admire, Matthew Kirkpatrick. I am also happy there will no longer be distance between them. They rock. On a personal note, I will miss you two. Actively.
I am also supermegacrazy excited to announce my new fiction counterpart at SU will be Katherine Zlabek. I do not believe it would be any kind of overstatement to call her a badass. She is an AWP Intro Journal Prize winner for fiction, she has a haunting chapbook out from Ricochet Editions. She has a PhD from Cincy (U of Cincinnati) and an MFA from Kalamazoo (WMU). She has worked on Cincinnati Review and Third Coast. She has taught a wide range of fiction and creative writing courses. Her intellect is sharp. Her pen is subtle and spiky, Her personality is welcoming and engaging. I know our students will be lucky to have her in their corner and will learn tons from her! So, welcome Katherine. I'm beyond stoked you are joining me. I know we will do great things. I can't wait until fall semester.
Katherine will have a feature reading at SU on October 5th at 8:00pm in the Worcester Room in the Commons. It will be free and open to the public. Come check her out!
More Soon,
John
Hi All!,
It is a wet and wild spring so far. I want to thank everyone who I got to see/hangout with at AWP LA, it was a blast. I also want to thank these amazing magazines whose new issues my work appears in: Cincinnati Review, Pleiades, Missouri Review Online, Passages North, Harpur Palate, Hunger Mountain, Quiddity and Milk Journal. I am so honored to share pages with so many fine authors I know and admire. Enough about me, time for everyone's favorite section: students news!
First a huge shout out to Jordan Durham, the remarkable poet and editor-in-chief of Fugue, who I was l lucky enough to teach at U of Missouri for graduating from U of Idaho's badass program with her MFA! You go, JD! Big things in her future for sure (I also got to be in the new Harpur Palate--led by the amazing Sri and Carolyn--with Jordan, and my friends Chelsea Dingman and Laura Donnelly)!
So let's do MFA news first (all starting fall 16), then pubs:
Caroline Chavatel (poetry) will be joining the fine folks at New Mexico State University, home of Puerto del Sol and Noemi Press, for her MFA studies.
Charlotte Covey (poetry) will attend University of Missouri-St. Louis (so close to my Alma Mater!) where she will have the opportunity to work on Natural Bridge.
Emmanuel Flores (poetry) is heading to the great white north to do his MFA at Northern Michigan University in the UP and work on Passages North.
Kathryn Merwin (poetry) will be working on her MFA at Western Washington University in beautiful Bellingham. There she will be working on Bellingham Review.
Caitlin Palmer (fiction) and Lauren Yarnall (poetry) will be joining the amazing MFA crew at University of Idaho and will dedicate themselves to Fugue in the near future.
On the MA front, Miranda Ardis (poetry and fiction) will be pursuing her graduate career here at Salisbury University in Rhetoric and Composition.
Now publications since January (chronological):
Riley Ward had poems accepted by burntdistrict and Slipstream (we will have, by total chance, six Salisbury students in their new issue)!
Charlotte Covey had poems accepted by The Normal School, SLAB, Slipstream, Red Earth Review, Cactus Heart, Route 7 Review, Polaris, 30N and Runestone.
Alex Thomas has a poem forth coming in Slipstream and a new book review up on Pank!
Darby Joyce had a story accepted by Polaris and an essay taken by Germ Magazine.
Melinda Ruth had a book review in the new issue of Pleiades.
Danielle Green had a poem taken by Door Is a Jar.
Shelby Vane had two poems taken by Columbia: a Journal of Literature and Art!!
Jesse W. McDaniel had a poem accepted by Sun and Sandstone.
Kathryn Merwin had poems taken by Emerson Review, Sugar House Review, Hawai'i Pacific Review and So to Speak.
Taylor Fedorchak had poems accepted by decomP and Polaris.
Shekinah Hollingsworth had a story accepted by Allegheny Review.
Molly Likovich had a poem taken by Germ Magazine.
Renae Tucker had a story accepted by Sun and Sandstone.
Grace McCarver had a story accepted by Allegheny Review.
Miranda Ardis had a story taken by Sun and Sandstone.
Lauren Yarnall had two poems taken by Slipstream.
Tyler Tennant had a creative nonfiction essay taken by The Quaker.
I am so proud of all of your accomplishments. I can't wait to see what happens next. I am also really glad it is farmers' market season again. Winter and fall are my favorite seasons, but summer makes the best produce. Stoked to do some real cooking and serious writing. Until next post, have a rockin' one everyone! There will be a short addendum to this post in a few weeks when certain newsy tidbits become public. Stay tuned:).
UPDATE #1: My longtime friend and one of my favorite writers, Chelsea Dingman, has won the Southeast Review Poetry Prize for her amazing poem, "The Girl in the River"! Attaway to be, Chels! You rock.
UPDATE #2: My dear friend, EG Cunningham's chapbook Apologetics has been accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press. It is gorgeous. Please pick it up as soon as it drops. Grats, EG. Well deserved.
Hi All,
I feel like I missed winter (a feeling I hope does not become even more common, ugh), but spring is popping forth now. With spring comes events! I am so happy to be moderating and participating in a really exciting panel at AWP Los Angeles this year: F259 Serial Killers: How to Survive the Series Poem featuring Nicky Beer, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Kathryn Nuernberger & Alexandra Teague. The event will be Friday, April 1st, 3-4:15pm in room 510 of the Los Angeles Convention Center. I am deeply honored to be working with such a remarkable and talented group. Please come out if you can! Oh and I am super proud to announce that one of my students, Charlotte Covey, has an off-site reading for Cactus Heart at Barrel Down Beer Hall in Los Angeles at 7pm April 1st. I will be there for sure to toast her success. Come check out her new work!
Also, I will be reading at the Harpur Palate launch party 6:30-8pm, Friday, May 13th at RiverRead Books in Binghamton, New York. I am so stoked to be in the new issue with my good friends Chelsea Dingman and Jordan Durham. I will also be reading in the Broadkill Review reading series June 29th at the Irish Eyes Restaurant in Milton, Delaware. It will be a blast. I hope many of you can make it out to say hi and hear some new work.
Speaking of new work, my new collegue, Dr. Trisha N. Campbell, has an awesome new article, "I am Josephine Miles: A Digital Reprocessing" up in an e-book called, Provocations: Reconstructing the Archive. You can read it here.
I am looking forward to seeing many of my friends in LA. Safe travels all. I hope your March kicks butt.
Best,
John
Hi All! Happy fall, or psuedo-fall, as it is unseasonably balmy here. It has been a very exciting six months. I want to start this post with some props to Crazyhorse. I just got the new issue (88) in the mail today and the new layout is gorgeous. It is sleek, accessible and memorable. I'm honored to be a part of the issue (3 poems) with so many incredible writers (Jane Satterfield, Wayne Miller, Eric Pankey, John Gallaher, Jon Pineda, Sarah Gambito, Georg Trakl and many others). This issue is a must-read. You can get one here. UPDATE! My poem "Door of Birds" originally published in Southern Humanities Review is on Verse Daily today!! And my poem "Garage Door" originally published in Valparaiso Poetry Review was Verse Daily's weekly web feature December 7th, 2015!
I have also been lucky enough to have audio of my work put up recently by Drunken Boat, Superstition Review, Word Riot and Sugarhouse Review. Use the links to listen! I hope you enjoy them. I also was lucky enough to have my new manuscript, Nothing like a Ghost, named a finalist for Four Way Books' Larry Levis Prize. Hopefully that is a precursor of good things to come.
I have also been reading and/or teaching some amazing new books by Susan McCarty, Alexandra Teague, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Nicky Beer, Susannah Nevison, Ansel Elkins, Abigail Cloud and Sara Eliza Johnson. I am so stoked for new books coming out soon by Kathryn Nuernberger, Kimberley Grey, Patrick Rosal and Gabrielle Calvocoressi.
Now for my favorite part of every post. Here is what my Salisbury University students have been up to lately:
Kathryn (Katie) Merwin was accepted to, and received scholarship from, the VQR conference. She also had poems accepted by minnesota review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Notre Dame Review, Permafrost, Folio, apt, Blue Earth Review, Slipstream, Booth, Cheat River Review, Blueshift, Dogwood and Sandy River Review. Katie was also the featured artist on Blueshift's website here! UPDATE! Katie's poem, "Heirloom Centenary," (published earlier this year in Jabberwock Review) has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize! Grats, Katie!
Charlotte Covey had poems accepted by Salamander, The MacGuffin, Summerset Review & Mochila Review.
Erin Traylor had poems accepted by Cheat River Review, Cactus Heart & Firefly Magazine.
Katie, Charlotte and Erin also started a new magazine that I am honored to be in the forthcoming inaugural issue of: Milk Journal. I am so proud of them. Please send some of your best work their way.
Idara Idemeko had three poems accepted by Best New African Poets.
Caroline Chavatel had poems accepted by So to Speak & Slipstream.
Lauren Yarnall had a poem accepted by Superstition Review that will also be made into an audio feature.
Caylie Herrmann had two poems accepted by burntdistrict.
Emmanuel Flores had a poem accepted by Fifth Wednesday Journal.
Kyle Shaw had a story accepted by Santa Clara Review.
UPDATE! Jamie Shrewsbury had a story accepted by apt!
UPDATE! Shelby Vane (now at Chatham MFA) is a finalist for Sycamore Review's Wabash Prize in Poetry! Good luck, Shelby!
UPDATE! Alex Thomas had a poem accepted by Red Paint Hill.
Many of our fine students will be applying to MFA programs this year, so if you see Salisbury University, please think quality and give these students full consideration. They will make any programs they end up in very proud. I will likely have more updates soon. Have a great end of 2015, all. You rock.