Faculty

Winters Reads to a Packed House

Posted by MS

PicMonkey Collage

Former Butler professor, Ben H. Winters, returned to Indianapolis to read from his new novel, Underground Airlines. Indy Reads Books was standing-room only as Ben enthusiastically discussed his book, briefly read from the novel, and answered dozens of questions. Always a passionate speaker, Winters demonstrated why he was such a popular professor. He cares deeply for his craft, the subject of his novel, and wants to share his experience with others.

A New York Times bestseller, Underground Airlines is a mystery-thriller set in an alternate United States in which slavery still exists. While writing, Winters had to closely examine his own actions as a white man in America. He said, “I realized it was not enough to walk around not doing racist things.” Winters explained he knows his book will not change the world, but he hopes readers can feel just a fraction of the impact it had on him.

As always, Winters’ audience was engaged and inspired. While the Butler MFA celebrates Winters’ success in Los Angeles as a screenwriter, we miss his magnanimous presence and will always welcome him for a reading or discussion.

From the Page to the Screen

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Congratulations to Ben H. Winters, one of Butler MFA’s favorite adjunct professors. He moved to Los Angeles after teaching his final fiction workshop with the Butler MFA last spring to pursue screenwriting. He has already brokered a deal with NBC to bring his Edgar Award-winning The Last Policeman series to television. Deadline reports, “In a competitive situation, NBC has landed The Last Policeman, an adaptation of Ben H. Winters’ sci-fi mystery novel, with a put pilot commitment.” Even better news: Winters will write the script. He will return October 22nd to Indianapolis for a reading of his new, best-selling novel, Underground Airlines. The reading is at Indy Reads at 6:00 PM.

 

lili-wrightAnother Butler MFA adjunct professor is celebrating a screenplay deal. Lili Wright has sold the feature rights to her novel Dancing with the Tiger to The Mark Gordon Company. We expect the movie to be as thrilling as the novel. Lili will return to Butler’s campus on November 30th for a conversations@efroymson book party. The event begins at 7:00 PM in the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing.

 

Party Celebrates Professor’s Memoir

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA event series, conversations@efroymson, celebrated MFA professor Chris Forhan’s new book, My Father Before Me, with a book party. The evening including a reading, Q & A, a dessert and coffee bar, and excellent conversation. In her introduction of Forhan, Mindy Dunn said, “With compassion and age-earned sympathy, Forhan discovers there may not be a dramatic answer to the twin riddles of suicide and identity, but that poetry—or writing a memoir—can allow him to turn the reticence he inherited into a most deliberate communication.”

forhan

Before Forhan read selections of his memoir he addressed the audience of writers. He discussed his motives and challenges of moving genres. When he first began the memoir, the poet thought writing prose was easy. He quickly realized the obstacles he faced. Thanking his colleagues for their help and advice, Forhan said he learned to write in a whole new way. “I had to think on the page,” he said.

Although his memoir is largely about his father and the aftermath of his suicide, Forhan read selections on writing. The audience found it humorous, laughing along with Forhan’s depiction of himself as a high school student dreaming of being a poet.

The next conversations@efroymson event will be Poetry Lunch Hour this Friday at 12:30. Email Mindy to RSVP.

Party Celebrates Professor’s Memoir

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA event series, conversations@efroymson, celebrated MFA professor Chris Forhan’s new book, My Father Before Me, with a book party. The evening including a reading, Q & A, a dessert and coffee bar, and excellent conversation. In her introduction of Forhan, Mindy Dunn said, “With compassion and age-earned sympathy, Forhan discovers there may not be a dramatic answer to the twin riddles of suicide and identity, but that poetry—or writing a memoir—can allow him to turn the reticence he inherited into a most deliberate communication.”

forhan

Before Forhan read selections of his memoir he addressed the audience of writers. He discussed his motives and challenges of moving genres. When he first began the memoir, the poet thought writing prose was easy. He quickly realized the obstacles he faced. Thanking his colleagues for their help and advice, Forhan said he learned to write in a whole new way. “I had to think on the page,” he said.

Although his memoir is largely about his father and the aftermath of his suicide, Forhan read selections on writing. The audience found it humorous, laughing along with Forhan’s depiction of himself as a high school student dreaming of being a poet.

The next conversations@efroymson event will be Poetry Lunch Hour this Friday at 12:30. Email Mindy to RSVP.

Summer 2016 Recap

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA doesn’t slow down during the summer months. Beyond summer classes, exciting happenings kept our writing community thriving and our writers engaged.

Divedapper Poetry Carnival

Mindy Dunn, Dan Barden, Kaveh Akbar and a team of MFA students and alumni transformed the ECCW into a carnival to present poetry to the Indianapolis community like never before. In addition to three amazing poetry headliners, many local poets, workshops for adults and kids, and tons of free food, the carnival provided Alessandra Lynch’s poetry machine, poetry fortunes, a photo booth, face painting, and many make your own poetry stations. The event showed Indianapolis how fun and beautiful poetry is.

divedapper

 

Faculty Publishing

Three (yes, three!) of our MFA faculty published books this summer.

Chris Forhan, professor of poetry: My Father Before Me

An award-winning poet offers a multi-generational portrait of an American family—weaving together the lives of his ancestors, his parents, and his own coming of age in the 60s and 70s in the wake of his father’s suicide, in this superbly written, “fiercely honest” (Nick Flynn) memoir.

 

61RCN4DEbuL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_Lili Wright, adjunct professor: Dancing with the Tiger

When 30-year-old Anna Ramsey learns that a meth-addicted looter has dug up what might be the funerary mask of Montezuma, she books the next flight to Oaxaca. Determined to redeem her father, a discredited art collector, and to one-up her unfaithful fiancé, a museum curator, Anna hurls herself headlong into Mexico’s underground art world. But others are chasing the treasure as well.

 

41kRJbaNy7L._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_Ben Winters, adjunct professor: Underground Airlines

Underground Airlines debuted on the NYT Hardcover Fiction bestseller list at #20. It also enters the Indie Bestsellers List (compiled by the American Booksellers Association) at #11.  On the NPR program “Fresh Air,” Maureen Corrigan says it’s “an extraordinary new novel of alternate history” that “jolts readers to a heightened awareness, making us see just how much of the nightmare of what could have been is part of the all-too-familiar reality of what is.”

Writing for Wellness Initiative

IMG_2951Under the guidance of Hilene Flanzbaum, Butler MFA students held writing for wellness workshops throughout the city all summer. The locations included Eskenazi hospital, Gigi’s Playhouse, Butler University Health Services, and American Village Senior Community. This initiative is an ongoing project with the goal of bringing the therapeutic powers of creative writing into the Indianapolis Community. The workshops will continue in the fall at repeat sites and new ones including Indiana Women’s Prison and Indiana Youth Group. To get involved in this outreach, contact Hilene.

Butler Creative Writing Summer Camp

Many Butler MFA students acted as mentors and teachers for hundreds of students during the Butler University’s Creative Writing Camps. Creative Writing Camp offers an intensive and entertaining week of workshops to help young writers develop their talent and passion for writing. Mentors prepared and conducted writing lessons and workshops and planned inspirational field trips to places like the Indianapolis Art Museum.

 

 

Summer 2016 Recap

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA doesn’t slow down during the summer months. Beyond summer classes, exciting happenings kept our writing community thriving and our writers engaged.

Divedapper Poetry Carnival

Mindy Dunn, Dan Barden, Kaveh Akbar and a team of MFA students and alumni transformed the ECCW into a carnival to present poetry to the Indianapolis community like never before. In addition to three amazing poetry headliners, many local poets, workshops for adults and kids, and tons of free food, the carnival provided Alessandra Lynch’s poetry machine, poetry fortunes, a photo booth, face painting, and many make your own poetry stations. The event showed Indianapolis how fun and beautiful poetry is.

divedapper

 

Faculty Publishing

Three (yes, three!) of our MFA faculty published books this summer.

Chris Forhan, professor of poetry: My Father Before Me

An award-winning poet offers a multi-generational portrait of an American family—weaving together the lives of his ancestors, his parents, and his own coming of age in the 60s and 70s in the wake of his father’s suicide, in this superbly written, “fiercely honest” (Nick Flynn) memoir.

 

61RCN4DEbuL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_Lili Wright, adjunct professor: Dancing with the Tiger

When 30-year-old Anna Ramsey learns that a meth-addicted looter has dug up what might be the funerary mask of Montezuma, she books the next flight to Oaxaca. Determined to redeem her father, a discredited art collector, and to one-up her unfaithful fiancé, a museum curator, Anna hurls herself headlong into Mexico’s underground art world. But others are chasing the treasure as well.

 

41kRJbaNy7L._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_Ben Winters, adjunct professor: Underground Airlines

Underground Airlines debuted on the NYT Hardcover Fiction bestseller list at #20. It also enters the Indie Bestsellers List (compiled by the American Booksellers Association) at #11.  On the NPR program “Fresh Air,” Maureen Corrigan says it’s “an extraordinary new novel of alternate history” that “jolts readers to a heightened awareness, making us see just how much of the nightmare of what could have been is part of the all-too-familiar reality of what is.”

Writing for Wellness Initiative

IMG_2951Under the guidance of Hilene Flanzbaum, Butler MFA students held writing for wellness workshops throughout the city all summer. The locations included Eskenazi hospital, Gigi’s Playhouse, Butler University Health Services, and American Village Senior Community. This initiative is an ongoing project with the goal of bringing the therapeutic powers of creative writing into the Indianapolis Community. The workshops will continue in the fall at repeat sites and new ones including Indiana Women’s Prison and Indiana Youth Group. To get involved in this outreach, contact Hilene.

Butler Creative Writing Summer Camp

Many Butler MFA students acted as mentors and teachers for hundreds of students during the Butler University’s Creative Writing Camps. Creative Writing Camp offers an intensive and entertaining week of workshops to help young writers develop their talent and passion for writing. Mentors prepared and conducted writing lessons and workshops and planned inspirational field trips to places like the Indianapolis Art Museum.