EMU Creative Writing Blog

 

Mark your calendar for the next installment of the BathHouse Reading Series.  This session takes place Monday, March 15, 6:30 pm at the Student Center Auditorium and features Montréal writer Gail Scott.

Scott is one of most prominent innovative prose writers in North America. She is the author of six books including the novel, My Paris, about a sad diarist in conversation with Gertrude Stein and Walter Benjamin in contemporary Paris, [Dalkey Archive 2003]; the story collection Spare Parts Plus Two [Coach House, 2002]; and the essay collections Spaces Like Stairs. Her translation of Michael Delisle’s Le Déasarroi du matelot was shortlisted for the Governor General’s award in translation [Women’s Press, 2001].  She is co-editor of the anthology Biting The Error  (Coach House, 2004), shortlisted for a Lambda award. She is co-founder of the critical journal Spirale (Montréal) and Tessera (new writing by women) and teaches Creative Writing at Université de Montréal.

U.S. Poets in Mexico has announced its 2nd annual Mérida Fellowship Award. This award is given annually to one American poet (over 18 years of age) to participate in U.S. Poets in Mexico workshops with tuition and registration fees paid, a hotel room for the week, two day trips, and optional Spanish lessons.

To enter the contest, send 4-6 poems, no more than 6 pages in total, 12 pt. Times New Roman type. Do not put your name or address on submitted poems.  Previously published poems will be accepted. Contest submissions will not be returned. Enclose your poems, a check for $25 (entry fee) and the Application. If you are only entering the Mérida Fellowship Award contest and not attending workshops, please check the appropriate box on the Application so that you will not receive email asking for registration and tuition fees.

Mail to:
U.S. Poets in Mexico
P.O. Box 4150
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163

Deadline: October 15, 2010
Winner annouced: November 1, 2010
Judge: Maureen Owen

E-mail questions to: uspoetsinmexico@verizon.net

More details available at: http://www.uspoetsinmexico.org/33.html

The Gatewood Prize is Switchback Books‘ annual competition for a first or second full-length (48-80 pp.) collection of poems by a woman writing in the English language. It is named after Emma Gatewood, the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

Reading period is March 1 - June 1, 2010.  Entry fee is $15.  Poet must be a woman (definition includes transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, and female-identified individuals).

View the full submission requirements at:
http://www.switchbackbooks.com/contest.html

CRTW Grad Students, while you’re enjoying mid-semester break, start digging through your work to find something spectacular — because you’ll want to submit it for publication in a forthcoming Creative Writing Graduate Student anthology!

There is no fee to submit to the (as yet untitled) anthology, and you can submit multiple pieces.  Submissions may include poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and mixed/hybrid works.  The success of this publication will be based on the collective participation of our grad student body, so please make the effort to submit.

If you’d like to take a look at past grad student anthologies, the 50/50 and the 51/49 are available at the Halle Library, and there might be copies kicking around the BathHouse office as well.

Send your submissions and questions to Bill Barr (wbarr@emich.edu).

(For our non-EMU followers of this blog, sorry, but you must be an EMU grad student in the Creative Writing program to submit.)

Looking for additional reading events in the area (besides EMU’s fantastic BathHouse Reading Series, of course!), then check out U-M’s Zell Visiting Writers Series.  All events are free and open to the public and sometimes include both reading and lecture components.  Past readers have included Marjorie Sandor, Steven Stern, Dean Young, Scott Lasser, and Carol Ann Duffy.

Click here for the full ‘09/’10 schedule for the Zell Visiting Writers Series (plus links to the Mark Webster Reading Series and the J. Edgar Edwards Reading Series).

Interested parties are invited to attend a live webcast of a chat with Lawrence Lessig on fair use and politics in online video on February 25, 2010, 6:00-7:00 pm.  The “Wireside Chat” will last 45 minutes, and will be followed by a 30-minute online interactive Q & A session, with time for local discussion. The web event will be moderated by Elizabeth Stark of the Open Video Alliance.

This is a talk about copyright in the digital age, and the role (and importance) of a doctrine like “fair use.” Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, and is essential for commentary, criticism, news reporting, remix, research, teaching and scholarship with video.

As a medium, online video will be most powerful when it is fluid, like a conversation. Like the rest of the internet, online video must be designed to encourage participation, not just passive consumption.

Lawrence Lessig is director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

For more information: http://openvideoalliance.org/event/lessig/

This event is co-sponsored by the Open Video Alliance, the University Library, and the Faculty Development Center. Refreshments will be served.

RSVP to: rbaier@emich.edu or this web link: http://bit.ly/b0vwLd

Screenwriter and producer Sterling Anderson will speak at the Sponberg Theater on February 24, 4:30-6:30 pm.  He will share his experiences of writing for television and movies, as well as discuss how to write and sell a screenplay.  This presentation is free and open to all EMU students, regardless of major.

Anderson’s recent credits include NBC’s Medium and CBS’s The Unit.  He is also an adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles.

For more information, contact Professor Douglas Baker (douglas.baker@emich.edu) or Professor Keith Damron (kdamron@emich.edu).  This event is jointly hosted by the Communication, Media & Theatre Arts, English Language & Literature, and African American Studies departments.

Here’s a recent job opportunity from Coffee House Press for a  Development Manager position.  Application deadline is Feb. 28, 2010.

Here is their official annoucement:

Coffee House Press Seeking Development Manager

Position to start May 1, 2010
Application deadline February 28, 2010

Coffee House Press is one of the leading nonprofit literary publishers in the United States. We publish books that push cultural and formal boundaries, hallenging readers to new points of view.

Coffee House Press seeks a full-time Development Manager, to begin on May 1.

Duties: This person will, under direction of the Publisher, assist with the creation of the development plan and goals; manage and administer the writing, submission, tracking, and reporting of grants; coordinate the individual giving program; maintain all development records and files; work with board
fundraising committees; implement other related fundraising duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications: Three years in development experience, familiarity with donor databases, B.A. or equivalent; excellent writing and public speaking skills.

Preferred Qualifications: Development work in the arts or publishing.

Salary: Dependent on qualifications, $34,000 to $38,000 per year.

To Apply: Please send cover letter, resume, and contact information (phone numbers and e-mail addresses) of at least two references to: Teri Hageman (teri@coffeehousepress.org). Or send to Teri Hageman, Coffee House Press, 79 Thirteenth Ave. NE #119, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Applications will be accepted until February 28. Coffee House Press is an equal opportunity employer.

The mission of Coffee House Press is to publish exciting, vital, and enduring authors of our time; to delight and inspire readers; to contribute to the cultural life of our community; and to enrich our literary heritage. By building on the best traditions of publishing and the book arts, we produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience. We publish books of fiction, poetry, and some nonfiction.

Vision:

Literature. We will promote literature as a vital art form, helping to redefine its role in contemporary life. We will publish authors whose groundbreaking work helps shape the direction of 21st-century literature.

Writers. We will foster the careers of our writers by making long-term commitments to their work, allowing them to take risks in form and content.

Readers. Readers of books we publish will experience new perspectives and an expanding intellectual landscape.

Publishing. We will be leaders in developing a sustainable 21st-century model of independent literary publishing, pushing the boundaries of content, form, editing, audience development, and book technologies.

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Don’t miss Stephanie Rowden and Steve Benson, reading at the EMU Student Center this Tuesday, February 16, at 12:30 pm.  This is the first Winter ‘10 BathHouse reading.  This is a free reading and open to the public.

For more than 20 years, Stephanie Rowden has used her creative work to explore the expressive dimension of sound and its relation to human experience. Her audio installations and sculptures have been exhibited in such diverse settings as a portrait gallery in the Brooklyn Museum, the vaults under the Brooklyn Bridge, a public library outside of Chicago, and galleries in New York and Chicago.

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Poet and performer Steve Benson formerly of the San Francisco Bay area, has lived in Downeast Maine since 1996. His innovative readings and word improvisations have inspired and challenged audiences through the “unblinking honesty” and “balance between the off-the-cuff remark & a high philosophical treatise” that he brings to live events as well as the page.Visit the BathHouse web site for additional details about this reading series and for links related to the readers.

The Creative Writing Blog hasn’t plugged Poetry Radio in awhile, so let’s do that.

Tune in to Poetry Radio (online at Eagle Radio, WQBR), Sundays at 8 p.m. EST to catch  livestreaming contemporary and historical sound art, performance art, sound poetry, collaborations between writers and musicians, student work, and audio stories.

Hosted by EMU Creative Writing professor Christine Hume.