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The ECCW

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The majority of MFA classes and workshops, special events, social gatherings, and author Q & A’s are held in our beautiful home, The Efroymson Center for Creative Writing (ECCW). Located at 530 West Hampton Drive, the ECCW opened its doors on December 15, 2011. Purchased and beautifully remodeled with a $1 million donation from the Efroymson Family Fund, the ECCW is a site for graduate-level workshops and public readings. It is also a work space for visiting writers, visiting students, faculty, and alumni. The Efroymson Family Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, also sponsors the Efroymson Scholarships in Creative Writing.

“When Butler initiated its MFA in Creative Writing in 2008, we did so because Indianapolis was the largest American city that did not have such a program,” said English Professor Andy Levy, past director of the MFA in Creative Writing program. “And when we asked our students what they wanted, here’s what they said more than anything: We want a home, a place to call our own. We will call this building a center, but make no mistake: It’s a home.”

Levy says the center is a place where students, faculty, visiting writers and the community feel welcome, encouraged, inspired, to write, and to join with others in writing, in reading, in publishing, in service. They find a home for those words and thoughts they can’t say anywhere else.

 

Indianapolis

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Indianapolis, the 10th largest US city, provides the perfect setting for creative writers. A unique blend of nature and urban, Indianapolis is affordable and has an active cultural, food, and brewery scene. Read why students, visitors, and residents call Indianapolis a great place to live.

Summer Class Profile: Alix’s Film Intensive

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alix_bio_500 In addition to the highly published faculty, The Butler MFA provides one of a kind opportunities to work with additional teachers and professionals. This past year, Emmy award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker Alix Lambert has taught several courses as the 2014-2015 Writer-in-Residence.

Butler MFA student Kirk Young has grown greatly as a screenwriter as a result of Lambert’s courses. He says, “Personally, the workshops with Alix have really helped me figure out which aspects of my writing method I can build upon to positively contribute to my development, as well as having helped me identify the aspects which I need to view as opportunities for trying new things to see what could work better. For me, this has been as equally important and significant to the crafting of my voice as an artist as our workshopping of mechanics and story.”

Her final course will be a three week summer intensive: Make a Movie in Three Weeks. Using available technology, students will work independently, yet supportively, on a complete film.

Lambert has designed the course to encourage creativity and breakthroughs. “People are so intimidated by filmmaking, I want them to be free, to think creatively,” Lambert says. Because of modern technology, anyone and everyone are making films. It’s so easy, that the focus has to shift away from the technical “how-to’s” and into a creative expression. Lambert says, “The quality of a film is in the vision.”

Although students will be working on their own individual film, Lambert expects students to work collaboratively and problem solve together. Supporting each other with individual strengths will leave students free to focus on the creativity of their project.

Young says, “Alix’s teaching style is unique in that, first and foremost, she really wants you to dive into finding your voice as an artist. She provides guidance along the way as to any aspects you find important to your learning experience, whether it be related to industry norms and expectations or even more detailed questions around common formatting standards. She puts clear effort toward figuring out what your expectations and hopes are as a student for a course, and works to integrate that into the semester’s work to ensure a more holistic experience for each student.”

Young has taken both of Lambert’s screenwriting courses the past year and encourages students to take the summer intensive. He says, “For anyone interested in writing screenplays or nonfiction, Alix is a great resource within the program. She has real experience navigating the waters of both genres and their industries, so her comments, suggestions, and questions always offer a very helpful window into ways you can improve as an artist.”

Course Details

EN 501/502. Intensive Screenwriting: Make a Movie in Three Weeks. This course will count as a  workshop for screenwriters and elective for writers in other genres. The class will be an intensive three week course, meeting MTWR May 18th– June 5th 6-9pm.

“This intensive will NOT teach you how to use equipment. This intensive will push you off the edge of the cliff into creative free-fall, and ask you to complete a film before you hit the ground. This is what it usually feels like to make a movie – so why not start now? We will work on your individual films while assisting on the films of your classmates and we will learn the importance of collaboration in the art of filmmaking.  This course will also allow you to understand the perspective of different roles that filmmakers often fill: writer, director, story-teller, actor and producer. Finally, the intensive nature of this course mirrors the experience of making a professional film.”

Butler MFA Student Writes 100 Things

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11110767_10100254415406492_5212057135453806535_nCongratulations to Butler MFA student, Ashley Petry, newly published author of 100 Things to Do in Indianapolis before You Die, an Indy guidebook featuring the best of the Circle City.

While there’s something for everyone in the book, Ashley does mention a fun spot writers would especially enjoy: “The best picnic spot in Indy is Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley’s monument in Crown Hill Cemetery. It’s at the top of Indy’s highest hill, with a great view of the city skyline — especially at sunset. It would also make a peaceful writing spot.”

The book release party will be Friday May 22nd 7-9:00 PM at Indy Reads Books (another spot in the book!), 911 Mass Ave. The party will include book signing and an Indy trivia contest — with prizes straight from the 100 Things list.

 

Advice from Butler’s MFA Class of 2015

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Successful Butler MFA graduates look forward to exciting futures and encourage new and current students to fully experience the many valuable opportunities offered by the program.

10906356_1577764212436414_9121016278610724129_nSome graduating students, like Emma Faesi Hudelson, are looking forward to teaching at the college level. She is in the interview process at several major Universities in Indiana. In addition to teaching creative writing, Emma will continue instructing yoga and writing her blog, thebuddhiblog.com. She and her thesis advisor are discussing plans for publishing her thesis, a recovery memoir that moved her audience to tears at her public reading. While a student at the Butler MFA program, Emma was a Teaching Fellow, a writing mentor for WITS, and the poetry editor for Booth.

Emma’s advice to new students: “Take your time to explore and find what you are meant to do. I came in thinking I didn’t want to teach, but I fell in love with it. Take advantage of all the opportunities the program offers: read for BOOTH, come to conversations@efryo, go to a poetry lunch hour, take Writing in the Schools… just get involved.”

authorOther graduating students will continue their creative writing education by pursuing PhD degrees. Kaveh Akbar will work on his PhD in poetry at Florida State University. To the delight of all poetry fans, he will continue to write Divedapper, his highly touted blog where he shares conversations with his poetic heroes. He is also attending the Bread Loaf writing conference this August.

Kaveh’s advice to new students: “Just say yes to everything. Go to every visiting writer event, whether or not it’s in your genre. Work with BOOTH, work with Bridge. Just say yes. You’ll get so much more out of the program than you would by just going to classes. The MFA is what you make of it.”

10519640_2433966606251_6368351870366197216_nLuke Wortley was recently hired as a high school teacher at a school serving Indianapolis’ under privileged students. Teaching is his calling, and teaching this population is Luke’s passion. He says, “I chose the Butler MFA because of its mission to make itself an integral part of not only the (Butler) campus community but also Indianapolis as a whole; I came, in short, because of Writing in the Schools. The WITS program informed me as a writer, served as a foundation for my identity as a teacher, and made me a better version of myself.” Luke will continue to write and seek publication. He’s already been printed in several journals and magazines including:  Inch in Durham, NC; Pea River Journal in Midland, MI; Milkfist in Sacramento, CA; Limestone at the University of Kentucky; and his interview with Karen Russell was published in BOOTH.

Luke’s advice to new students: “Say ‘yes’ to everything – whether it is for pay or not. Eventually, if you’re present, and if you follow through, people will notice. Go to the extra Q&A, do the optional revision for workshop, run that errand for the English Department. Take advantage of WITS, the teaching assistantships, BOOTH, whatever. Do it all, do it well.”