CWW News

If you're a member of the CWW, keep your eye on this page for deadlines and upcoming events. If you have news, click on "Send us your CWW News" in the left hand column of this page. If you're a prospective student, we think this page will give you a feel for what it's like to be a member of the CWW. Snoop around. Enjoy.

Have a look at The Completely Unofficial, Nearly Unabridged Guide to the CWW.

Heads Up, Y'all

Woot!

2008 fiction graduate, Barb Johnson, is the winner of the $50,000 Gift of Freedom award from A Room of Her Own Foundation. The two-year grant is awarded bi-annually to support a creative project. Barb will be working on a novel. The ship doesn't set sail until January, 2010, but drinks are on Barb the first Monday after. More details here.

CWW alumnus and Writer-in-Residence Joseph Boyden was awarded the 15th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel Through Black Spruce. The largest annual prize for fiction awarded in Canada, the Giller Prize presents $50,000 to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. Looks like the beverages are on Joseph when he gets back. Click here for more information on the Giller Prize and Joseph's fancy evening.

UNO playwrighting students, Bradley Troll and Whitney Buss, have had their respective works, Sabine and Whatever's There Inside You Will Fester, selected to represent region VI in the 2009 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Troll and Buss are among only six selected out of 100 entries to represent a five-state region. Troll has the additional distinction of having his one-act play, The Dinner Guest, selected for a reading at the regional festival.

BOOK NEWS

Alumna Jen Violi (Fiction 2008) has sold her book, Putting Makeup on Dead People, to Hyperion. It is slated for release in 2011.

Alumna Lish McBride (Fiction 2008) just got a two-book deal with Holt, a division of Macmillan Publishers. She's pretty excited to be making a contribution to the moral decay of young America.

Alumna Barb Johnson's (Fiction 2008) collection of short stories entitled More of This World or Maybe Another will be released by Harper Collins October 20, 2009. Here's Barb on the web: http://www.harpercollins.com/barbjohnson

Bill Loehfelm won amazon. com's Breakthrough Novel Contest with his novel, Fresh Kills. His brand new novel, Bloodroot, (Putnam) will be released September 3, 2009. Preorder or buy it locally at Garden District Books. For more info about Bill's future readings, take a look at his website: BillLoehfelm.com

Pecan Grove Press has released Robin Kemp's first book of poetry, This Pagan Heaven.

Gina Ferrarra's second book, Ethereal Avalanche, will be released by Trembling Pillow Press this fall.

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Congratulations to CWW students who won creative writing awards at the 2009 English Department Awards Ceremony. They are:

• Andrea Saunders Gereighty/Academy of American Poets Award: Carol McCarthy, for her poem, “Still Life,Wustuff in Hand” (Honorable Mention: Kari Shisler)
• Vassar Miller Poetry Award, Honorable Mentions: Erin Gendron and Ann Plicque
• Ellipsis Award for Nonfiction: Missy Bowen, for her essay, “Night Owl.”

The latest issue of Bayou Magazine is hot. Pick one up at the bookstore. If you'd like to read manuscripts for Bayou, UNO's national literary magazine, talk to Joanna Leake. Or, on your way here or there, pull associate editor, Jamie Larson, aside or email her at bayou@uno.edu. Check out the website. All the kids are doing it!

Current CWW fiction student, Carolyn Mikulencak and recent CWW fiction graduation, Dave Parker,both have stories in Gravity Fiction, an anthology of writing from MFA programs. So now, in addition to being fabulous writers, they're even taught in school. You can buy your copy here.

Recent Awards and Publications

 

Current Students

• Nick Mainieri has a story,"This Game Do That to You," in Southern Review's Spring 2010 issue.
• "I'm Talking About You," a short story by Nick Mainieri, will be in the fall issue of Sou'wester.
• Jamie Larson received honorable mention in Glimmer Train's May 2009 Best New Writer competition.
• Erin Gendron's poem, "A Soldier Says We are Stubborn," appears in Issue 34.2 of the New Orleans Review.
• Carolyn Mikulencak's "Phantasmagoria" has been selected for publication in Gravity Fiction, a new anthology of short stories by college writers. The book will be available in January 2009.
• THE DARK END OF DAY, by playwriting student, Whitney Buss, will be produced as part of the FTCA's theatre season. See calender for dates, or go to http://ftca.uno.edu/
• Carol McCarthy has been selected to represent herself, the Creative Writing Workshop, and The University of New Orleans at the annual SAMLA conference on November 7-9, in Louisville, KY. She is one of six people who will be presenting their work on a panel entitled Graduate Student Poetry. Way to represent, Carol!
• Danny Goodman's short story, "Superman Comes to Dinner," is in issue 20 of Ducts.
• Zach George has a regular gig with faiyo, the online journal. Take a look at his current story, "Cracked Open."
• Look for Carol McCarthy's poems in upcoming issues of Diagram and Weave Magazine. NewPagesdid a review of the literary magazine, Natural Bridge, and gave Carol's poem an enthusiastic nod.
• Carolyn Mikulencak's short story, "Swallow" is in the online journal, Rougarou
• Carol McCarthy has been busy, y'all. She has poems in the most recent issues of Red Clay Review and Clemson Poetry Review. She has a book review in a forthcoming issue of Rattle. She gave a paper at LSU's WGS Graduate Conference and presented a paper on Marianne Moore at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.
• Katrina's Path, an original stage play by University of New Orleans MFA student Rob Florence, was a regional finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and will be performed at the 2008 Region VI Theatre Festival in Hunstville, Texas
• Poetry student, Carol McCarthy, has work forthcoming in issues of Natural Bridge, Houston Literary Review, Marginalia, eratio postmodern, and Pebble Lake Review. Wowie!
• Jesse Manley's poem, A Quick Guide to Refugee Gift Giving" is available for viewing in the current issue of The Extrovert.

Alumni

• Gina Ferrara has two poems in the Winter 2009 issue of Ginosko Literary Journal "Wrought and Replicating" and "Clean Lucid Streaks."
  
• Casey Lefante's short story, "Evolution of a Smart Girl," will appear in the fall issue of Zone 3.
• Oxford American has accepted Barb Johnson's story, "The Invitation," for their Southern Writers issue. An interview with Barb appears in the online content of that magazine.
• Putnam recently released Bill Loehfelm's second book, Bloodroot.
• Gina Ferrara's second book of poetry, Ethereal Avalanche will be released in fall 2009.
• Pecan Grove Press has released Robin Kemp's first book of poetry, entitled This Pagan Heaven
• "Keeping Her Difficult Balance" by Barb Johnson appears in Guernica.
• An excerpt from Rebeca Antoine's story, “New Haven Line,” has been accepted by Upstreet.
• Barb Johnson's short story, "St. Luis of Palmyra," appears as a bonus story in the recently released collection of Fyodor Dostoyevsky stories entitled A Disgraceful Affair.
• Matt Peters has a short story, "Protocols," in the most recent issue of 580 Split.
• Barb Johnson won Honorable Mention in Fiction and a cash award from the Astraea Foundation's 2009 fiction contest.
• Gina Ferrara's poems have been accepted for publication in upcoming issues of Poetry Ireland Review, Glass: a Journal of Poetry, and Perigee.
• Rob Florence's play Katrina's Path, a Kennedy Center regional finalist in 2008, will be published by Original Works Publications.
• A MAN CALLED TROUBLE, Jason Buch's Action/Comedy short film, premiered at The Fine Arts Center in New Orleans.
• David Parker's "Art of the Egg" has been selected for publication in Gravity Fiction, a new anthology of short stories by college writers. Fellow alum, Casey Lefante, was short-listed for this publication. The book will be available in January 2009.
• Barb Johnson's short story, "St. Luis of Palmyra," is in the spring 2009 issue of The Greensboro Review.
• Nason Smith has a story in the fall issue of The Pinch.
• The latest issue of the Oxford American has a New Orleans/Gulf Coast theme and features lots of great local writers and artists--including our very own Ginny Kaczmarek. It's on newsstands now. Go get yourself a copy.
• Barb Johnson's short story, "Turn It Up," was a top ten finalist in Narrative Magazine's first-person contest.
• Anyone looking for a little undead? Matt Peters has a piece of zombie flash fiction entitled "Harold," in the recently released anthology, Bits of the Dead. Scare up some coin, and buy a copy.
• Look for Gina Ferrara's work in two publications this spring: Coe Review and muse & stone.
• Arin Black has a regular column in Nolaphile.com
• Barb Johnson's story, "Emerald City" is in the summer/fall issue of Washington Square
• West Virginia Writers, Inc. chose David Parker's story, "Pale Hand, Rock Steady," for first place in its Emerging Writers Contest.
• Nicole McClelland has recently had work in Mother Jones, The Nation, and Hustler. She has an essay in the upcoming anthology, Are We Feeling Better Yet?: Women's Encounters With Health Care in America, which is due out in the fall.
• Barb Johnson's story, Killer Heart, is in the Summer 2008 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.
• David Parker's short story, "Boogie Music," is in Exquisite Corpse.
• Casey Lefante's "Plastic Parts" is in the Spring 2008 issue of Third Coast.
• Read Ginny Kaczmarek's review of Eleonor Stanford's The Book of Sleep on literarymama.com
• Barb Johnson has an essay in Glimmertrain's Bulletin. It's about writing and our very own CWW.
• Rebeca Antoine edited Voices Rising: Stories from the Katrina Narrative Project, which was released in spring 2008.
• Pick up the Winter/Spring 2008 Passages North and you'll find A. C. Lambeth's short story, "The Bishop's Cake."
• "Jar of Teeth," by Mr. David Parker, was runner-up in Playboy's annual College Fiction Contest.
• Barb Johnson's short story, "Emerald City," won the Washington Square fiction contest, which includes a cash award and publication in an upcoming issue of Washington Square.
  
• A.C. Lambeth was a finalist in the 2007 Indiana Review Fiction competition.
• Amy Ferrara's short story, "Small Town Screaming," won first place in ByLine Magazine's Fiction Contest.
• "Putting Makeup on Dead People," a short story by Jen Violi, has been accepted for publication at The Baltimore Review.
• Todd Schrenk's essay, "Indian Red," has been published in The Extrovert.
• Check out Nicole McLelland's essay in Mother Jones. "University of New Orleans: Broke but Unbroken" tells the tale of the plucky and the stylish who know what it means to dance in New Orleans.
• Robin Kemp's poem, "New Breast," will appear in the upcoming Red Hen Press anthology, Letters to the World.

Faculty

LA 279

Joanna Leake's New Office Number

Randy Bates has a new essay, "Reserve," in the Fall issue of The Pinch.

Miles Harvey's second book, Painter in a Savage Land: The Strange Saga of the First European Artist in North America (Random House) was published in June. He was interviewed for an article in The New York Times. Read it here.

Amanda Boyden's second novel, Babylon Rolling, will be released on August 5, 2008. Random House/Pantheon (hardcover) has made the novel one of their two lead titles. Preorder your copy or get a signed edition at one of Amanda's readings. Here's her book tour schedule.

Joseph Boyden's novel, Three Day Road, has tied for first place for The Prix Litteraire. His new novel, Through Black Spruce, is slated for publication in fall 2008 and can be pre-ordered from Penguin Canada. While you're waiting for Through Black Spruce, check out his essay, "Bush Country," in the recently released, Me Sexy. Here's Joseph's book tour schedule.

John Gery's collection of poetry, A Gallery of Ghosts, was released in March. Read an excerpt or a review and get yourself a copy here.