Category Archives: CW Program info

Open Book Experimental Book Workshop (application deadline extended to May 25)

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For those looking for course credit (or just looking to expand your knowledge), consider the Open Book Experimental Book Workshop (http://openbookworkshop.com/).

When: July 27 through August 05, 2012
Location: EMU rural Parsons Center near Traverse City, Michigan

The cost of the workshop is now $425.00 (students who want credit pay tuition + $260.00).
The application deadline for the workshop has been extended to May 25th, 2012

The 10-day intensive workshop will be organized by Leslie Atzmon and Ryan Molloy, and led by Edwin Jager and Danielle Aubert. While the instructors will guide the direction of and lead discussions at the workshop, participants will be asked to contribute their particular knowledge and skill sets and contribute to the topic through presentations of their ideas and their creative work or research.

The workshop is open to students, educators, and professionals from all disciplines. This workshop is an offshoot of the “Open Book” experimental book exhibition that was held in Eastern Michigan University’s University Gallery from April 3 to June 15, 2010. http://openbookexhibit.com.

For more information, please contact Leslie Atzmon latzmon@emich.edu or Ryan Molloy mryan7@emich.edu.

Support for this workshop has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works grant, Eastern Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University’s Women in Philanthropy. This workshop is also being offered in partnership with AIGA Detroit and AIGA Toledo.

Community Outreach opportunity

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If you’re taking CRTW 550: Community Outreach for Creative Writers — a required course for the Creative Writing MA Program — in the Fall, consider getting started early with the outreach component of the course with the internship described below. EMU alumna Anya Cobler (BA in Creative Writing at EMU; MFA at UM) directs this internship and says that last year’s intern “had a great experience soliciting poetry from poets and helping to plan poetry events…among other things.”

If you are interested, contact Anya at: anyalcobler@gmail.com

Oaken Transformations Sculpture & Poetry Walk – Poetry Internship

Oaken Transformations Sculpture & Poetry Walk is an out-of-doors art tour, free to the public, dedicated to showcasing work by talented poets and artists with ties to the state of Michigan. Part nature walk, part meditative footpath, part art installation, the tour presents a unique physical space for poetry and a serene setting for sculptural work on consignment. Located in Brighton, Michigan, Oaken Transformations is invested in broadening an already growing arts community in Southeast Michigan.  Currently, it is directed by Anya L Cobler, Poet in Residence at Dr. Bonine Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.  The walk began in 2010 as a side project by Dr. Fredric L. Bonine, who has generously funded its efforts thus far.

Overview: The Oaken Transformations intern will gain hands-on experience in managing Oaken Transformations’ poetry matters as related to the art walk while continuing the efforts of building a public arts community.

Job Description: Ideally, the intern will spend 2-3 days per week of the summer working in conjunction with and as assistant to Anya L Cobler.  The intern will be able to work remotely, from home, on different aspects of the project, though some in-office/on-site work should be expected so intern should have dependable transportation.  The main work of the summer shall include continued poetry solicitation and communication with poets that will result in the acquisition of poetry for the art walk; coordinating, curating & hosting art events/poetry readings; increased marketing of the art walk via social media and grass roots methods; community outreach aimed at furthering a local and state-wide presence for Oaken Transformations in the poetry world.

The intern should be self-motivated, have an interest and investment in the poetry world, able to work as part of a team, creative, and community oriented.

New Graduate Literature Class for Winter 2012

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If anyone is still looking for a literature class this Winter, here’s an option (with only two seats left!): 

NEW GRADUATE COURSE – WINTER 2012

LITR 578: Classy Postcolonialisms

Prof. Natasa Kovacevic

Struggles against European colonialism are inextricably linked to a contestation and/or adaptation of capitalist class relations that the colonizers established in their former dominions to manage colonized labor and resources. We will look at the myriad ways in which social class enters postcolonial literature and theory, especially at the historical intersections of anti-colonial wars of national liberation, Cold War discourses, and the dissemination of socialist ideas worldwide.

Major themes:

  • Class stratification as a thematic concern in postcolonial literature and theory
  • Intersections of gender, class, and subalternity
  • Postcolonial socialist realism
  • Writing revolutionary violence
  • Postcolonial adaptations and renunciations of Marx
  • (Im)possibility of solidarity across anti-colonial lines
  • Theorizing neocolonialism
  • Global protests against neoliberal capitalism

Cognate possibility in Photography Department, Winter ’12

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Graduate Creative Writing Students, are you looking for cognate work for your program?  Do you have an interest in photography?  Consider taking a Photography Portfolio course (ARTS 421/422) this Winter 2012 with Professor Jason DeMarte.  Several CRTW grad students have completed cognate work in the Photography Department in the past, and Grad students are always welcome to inquire about joining a photography class.

Some previous photography experience is required.  Contact Professor DeMarte at: jdemarte<at symbol>emich.edu for more complete details and to begin the process of obtaining permission to register.  Be sure to touch base  with your Creative Writing advisor as well regarding your plans for cognate work.

Intro Students’ Installations in Pray-Harrold

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Here’s a quick alert to interesting installation work in Pray-Harrold from Sarah Smarch:

Check out the posting board installation on the main floor of PH!

Inspired by studying recent BathHouse series poet, Taylor Brady, and the work of Jenny Holtzer (http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/Jenny-Holzer.html), both of my intro classes completed installations on the posting boards by the main floor elevators in Pray Harrold.  From Peter Middleton’s essay published in Pores journal (http://www.pores.bbk.ac.uk/issues/issue5/poetry-and-public-language/middletonlanguagepublicandpoetry) on the text Poetry and Public Language (http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Public-Language-Tony-Lopez/dp/1905700644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322745496&sr=8-1), we derived two parameters for public language:
1) Work that is shared with the public (public=strangers)
2) Work that comments on the time it is produced within

Creative Writing cognate in Art Department this winter

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Looking for a cognate for the Creative Writing program?  This special five-week class looks like an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in interventionist practices and experimentation within urban environments. See course description below. If you have questions about the class, contact Jen Seibert in the Art Dept:  <jseiber2@emich.edu>

The Art Department is proud to announce Evan Roth as our 2011-2012 McAndless Scholar.  You can find more about Evan Roth at his website:
http://evan-roth.com/work/

Art & Hacking: ARTS 379, 479, 681
CRN 27569, 27570, 27571

A hack is a clever (often playful) small intervention to an existing system that alters its originally intended purpose and turns it into something new. In Art & Hacking we will study the various manifestations of a hack and experiment with how it can apply to the urban environment. We will create projects that exist both in the city and on the Internet and aim to engage with a large audience including (but not limited to) those in the arts. No prerequisites. Continue reading …

Student/Staff/Faculty Writers Circle

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Need somewhere to talk about writing, address issues that come up in your written work, and engage in some workshops or other exploration?  Consider dropping in on the EMU Writers Circle – Writing (first) for Ourselves.  This is a weekly gathering open to EMU students, staff, and faculty to talk about writing (personal or academic).

Room 300, Halle Library, 11:00-12:00 on Fridays

Contact Chelsea (clonsdal @ emich.edu) or stop by the University Writing Center (115 Halle) for more information.

Welcome to Fall Semester!

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Greetings to incoming students and welcome back to returning grads and undergrads.  Take note of the important information below as we head into Fall semester.

 All students: Effective for fall semester, the application to graduate will be online through the student’s emich account with fee payment to their student account.  Click here for details.

Graduate students: Take note of the following events to kick off the semester and orient newcomers:

Creative Writing Grad Student/Faculty Get-Together
Thursday, Sept 1st, 7-10 p.m.
Corner Brewery
720 Norris Street, Ypsilanti
Show up to welcome our seven new grad students! Feel free to bring partners, spouses, significant others etc.

Mandatory New Grad Student Orientation
(all grad students encouraged to come)
Friday, Sept. 9th from 4-6 pm.
Pray-Harrold building
The first hour will be in Pray-Harrold Rm. 421 and will be a Creative Writing specific orientation; the second hour will be a general English Dept orientation in Pray-Harrold Rm. 301. Later on that evening, all graduate students, faculty and lecturers are invited to Christine Neufeld’s home for a Back to School Party. See your e-mail for details.