Free Ashland Poetry Workshops December 1-2, 2012

Stephen Haven, the Director of the MFA Program, Deborah Fleming, a faculty member in the English Department, and Sarah M. Wells, the Administrative Director of the MFA Program, will be leading workshops for the first Ashland Poetry Workshop weekend December 1-2, 2012 at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. The weekend features guest presenter Lynn Powell, author of two collections of poetry, Old and New Testaments and The Zones of Paradise. Lynn will also serve as one of the workshop instructors during the weekend.

Workshop sessions are near capacity, so register as soon as possible to hold a spot by emailing swells@ashland.edu. All readings and seminars are free and open to the public even if you are unable to register for the workshops.

A participant open-mic will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. in Schar 138, and Lynn Powell will read in the same location at 7 p.m. that evening. Lynn will teach a seminar on the poetry of Elton Glaser and Mary Oliver, two Ohio natives, on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Schar 138. A social hour and book signing will be held in the Student Center following the seminar. The weekend will come to a close with a reading by the other workshop instructors at 4 p.m. in Schar 138.

The complete weekend schedule and other details are available at http://ashlandpoetryworkshop.blogspot.com.

Alum Publishes Chapbook with Finishing Line Press

Jen Kindbom, Ashland University MFA class of 2009, has had her chapbook, A Note on the Door , accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press. It will be published in the spring of 2011. Advance sale copies may be purchased on Finishing Line Press's website. About A Note on the Door , Kathryn Winograd has the following to say: " A Note on the Door sparkles in the best tradition of American poetry: the ordinary world made new through the simple vernacular and cadences of American speech. Jen Kindbom is the fay spirit sprinkling our dirty porches, crying babies, and noxious beetles with her magic dust. These are the poems I'll pin to my neighbors' doors."

Interview with Kyle Winkler

After talking to Lisa Nik, it only seemed right to keep the good juju going and interview one of our newest fiction faculty members, Kyle Winkler. You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about Kyle from this interview and from his website . Thanks to our lovely and talented intern, Angela Manasieva for preparing this interview. 1. Where are you from and how do you use your surroundings to write? I'm from southwest Indiana originally. Rolling hills, farmland, corn, wheat. LOTS of corn and wheat. My landscapes have affected me heavily in my writing. All that tall crop and the sometimes isolating farmland in the autumn during sunset can do a lot to make one feel...creeped out? Hah. I've tried to use my small town upbringing to good effect, as well. I grew up most of life in a working class to middle-class home in the rust belt. So I'm often trying to evoke the experiences and attitudes of the sorts of folks I grew up around and with. And those experiences were, to so...

Alum Valerie Due Wins Strayed/VIDA Memoir Scholarship

Valerie Due, graduate of the Ashland University MFA Program in 2009, is the winner of the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat Cheryl Strayed/VIDA Memoir Scholarship. Valerie was one of 95 scholarship applicants considered for the full scholarship to attend the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat March 13-15. Congratulations, Valerie! Full press release is available here .

Ashland University MFA Program

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