Spring Break in Indy

While some of our MFA students spent spring break in Canada and Portland, many stayed in Indy and were gifted with beautiful, sunny days in 70’s and even hotter evenings of exciting literary readings.

On Tuesday, Pressgang celebrated the release of Flashed: Sudden Stories in Comics and Prose, edited by Josh Neufeld & Sari Wilson. Butler MFA students read selections from the book before a conversational Q & A session with Neufeld and Pressgang’s Editor & Publisher, Robert Stapleton.

Flashed is a collection of flash fiction stories in comics and prose, pressed up against one another. In dialogue. In concert. In conversation. The stories are arranged in “triplets”—each grouping a kind of call-and-response among the respective contributors. So Flashed is more than an anthology; it’s a conversation among some of today’s most exciting prose writers and cartoonists, and between the forms of prose and comics.
flashed

On Wednesday, the Akbar III drew a crowd to the Brewpub. Emceed by Mindy Dunn and punctuated with impossible trivia by John Eckerd, the hotly-criticized and officially disavowed reading series packed the Brewpub’s sun porch once again.

The audience was treated to the debut reading from Ben Winter’s soon to be released novel, Underground Airlines. The Butler MFA professor and Edgar-winning author confessed he was nervous to read from his new novel, but the crowd was thrilled.  Butler MFA candidate Kyler Moor read his hilarious personal essay in the form of yelp reviews, and community poet Bree Jo’Ann entertained with poetry effectively funny and poignant at once.

Best lines from Akbar III:

Winters: I looked pathetic.

Kyler: Everyday has its asshole.

Bree: There was a time it was okay to be in a boy band.

John: Read a book people!

akbarIII

 

The sunny spring weather sparked interest among current MFA students in forming a hiking/outdoor writing group. With diverse natural landscape across Indiana – dunes to the north, caves to the south, rock formations to the west, and forests and hills all around us – there are many outdoor places near Indianapolis to explore and inspire. Look for details coming soon.

indiana

Get Back to MFA Life with These Events Happening This Week

Wednesday: Writing Club, 11:00, ECCW

Thursday: Visiting Writer Robin Coste Lewis Poetry Reading, 7:30 PM, Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall

Friday: Poetry Lunch Hour, 12:30, ECCW (RSVP to Mindy Dunn)

Friday: Sunset Story Hour storytelling slam, 7:00 PM, ECCW