Voices

Chamonix Memorixs: Part I

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA program is growing faster than ever, and in the early summer that growth paid dividends to a handful of students who got to spend three weeks in writerly nirvana, attending intensive workshops in Chamonix, France. Part graduate workshop, part scenic vacation, part mad-science experiment, the first Chamonix Summer Writing Program was a resounding success– so much so that it is being offered again, now a permanent offering to Butler students.

Butler University ChamonixBut you absolutely shouldn’t take my word for it. You should, however, take Jim Hanna‘s word for it. Because he went. And despite this glamorous head shot, he is most assuredly not a paid actor. He was kind enough to answer a few questions and share a near-death experience with me. Continue reading →

Chamonix Memorixs: Part I

Posted by MS

The Butler MFA program is growing faster than ever, and in the early summer that growth paid dividends to a handful of students who got to spend three weeks in writerly nirvana, attending intensive workshops in Chamonix, France. Part graduate workshop, part scenic vacation, part mad-science experiment, the first Chamonix Summer Writing Program was a resounding success– so much so that it is being offered again, now a permanent offering to Butler students.

Butler University ChamonixBut you absolutely shouldn’t take my word for it. You should, however, take Jim Hanna‘s word for it. Because he went. And despite this glamorous head shot, he is most assuredly not a paid actor. He was kind enough to answer a few questions and share a near-death experience with me. Continue reading →

Lerner interviews poet Aaron Belz

Posted by MS

MFA nonfiction student Susan Lerner‘s interview with Aaron Belz “Cartographer of Word Galaxies” is up on The Believer‘s (a McSweeney‘s affiliate) online presence, The Believer Logger. Lerner and Belz touch upon the absurdity of words, the inherent ironies of consumer product marketing, Belz’s balance (or lack thereof) of poetry and comedy, and his complete and total disinterest in writing fiction. Belz writes, “I don’t see why fiction is necessary when we have real life.” Despite that smackdown, the interview is recommended reading for poets and prosers alike. Continue reading →

Luckie’s genre-bender featured in lit mag’s debut

Posted by MS

Atlas and Alice literary magazine brendan todt science large hadron colliderYou can find second-year MFA fictioneer Tom Luckie among the e-pages of the debut issue of online lit mag Atlas & Alice. His hybrid flash piece “Works Cited from Our Family Vacation to Colonial Williamsburg” is published alongside the likes of Sam Martone and Robert Vivian. Luckie does a lot of work with form, and this particular piece is a charming, funny, slightly violent glimpse into the classic American family roadtrip– condensed into a properly-formatted Works Cited page. Read it here.

Atlas & Alice is a gently experimental lit mag that takes its name from two Large Hadron Collider experiments. Its editors are especially friendly to science-y work, prose poems, flash fiction, or any kind of literature that exists at an intersection: “that kind of intersection–in the case of our title, between literature and science–that interests us.  We like things that meet, conjoin, dance, rebound, explode. Bring two things together; see what happens.”

On a personal note, I’d just like to share how hard it is to not write the headline, “Luckie gets lucky,” because that not only has unfortunate connotations, but also implies rather rudely that Tom’s piece isn’t fantastic, just lucky. His name invites all sorts of puns, but it really is just a well-concealed trap where wordplay goes to die. Anyway, give Tom’s hand a shake if you happen upon him around town.

New MFA student to share stage with Indiana poet laureate

Posted by MS

First-year MFA poet Claire McGuinness will be giving a reading this Thursday, September 19 at her alma mater, Earlham College, as part of The Borderlands Project. Personally curated by Indiana poet laureate Karen Kovacik, The Borderlands Project will bring together Hoosiers and poets from states sharing Indiana’s north, east, south and west borders to “share poems about immigration, migration, borders or home.”Butler MFA Indiana Poet Laureate poetry reading Earlham College The Borderlands Project

The eastern reading will feature Hoosiers and Ohioans. Claire will be reading alongside a long list of great writers, including David Baker, Don Bogen, Michael Brockley, Jayel Kato,  Jim Cummins, Mary Fell, Shari Wagner, and Karen Kovacik herself.

As many of us know, between graduation and Dialogue readings, giving a public reading among friends is nerve-wracking enough. For many writers and poets, the craft is a private, solitary activity. Now take that formerly private poem or piece of prose, place yourself in an unfamiliar crowd in the middle of a set list that includes the Indiana poet laureate, and tell me your palms aren’t already getting a little sweaty.

Speaking of poems, Claire was nice enough to furnish the poem she will be reading at the event, called “Indiana, at Night.”

I got lost.
Nothing but damn cornfields
outside this city,
and then, still lost,
I get stuck behind
a colossal John Deere
and my last slip
of patience
flits out the open window.
Then I see the hay bales
casting plump shadows
and I remember what it means
to be from here,
to tease the tourist,
yeah, you always say,
it just grows that way.

If you see Claire between today and Thursday, be sure to wish her well, and if you are oh-so-very inclined to show your support, the eastern reading will be held at Earlham College’s Meetinghouse on Thursday, September 19, at 7. No pressure.

New MFA student to share stage with Indiana poet laureate

Posted by MS

First-year MFA poet Claire McGuinness will be giving a reading this Thursday, September 19 at her alma mater, Earlham College, as part of The Borderlands Project. Personally curated by Indiana poet laureate Karen Kovacik, The Borderlands Project will bring together Hoosiers and poets from states sharing Indiana’s north, east, south and west borders to “share poems about immigration, migration, borders or home.”Butler MFA Indiana Poet Laureate poetry reading Earlham College The Borderlands Project

The eastern reading will feature Hoosiers and Ohioans. Claire will be reading alongside a long list of great writers, including David Baker, Don Bogen, Michael Brockley, Jayel Kato,  Jim Cummins, Mary Fell, Shari Wagner, and Karen Kovacik herself.

As many of us know, between graduation and Dialogue readings, giving a public reading among friends is nerve-wracking enough. For many writers and poets, the craft is a private, solitary activity. Now take that formerly private poem or piece of prose, place yourself in an unfamiliar crowd in the middle of a set list that includes the Indiana poet laureate, and tell me your palms aren’t already getting a little sweaty.

Speaking of poems, Claire was nice enough to furnish the poem she will be reading at the event, called “Indiana, at Night.”

I got lost.
Nothing but damn cornfields
outside this city,
and then, still lost,
I get stuck behind
a colossal John Deere
and my last slip
of patience
flits out the open window.
Then I see the hay bales
casting plump shadows
and I remember what it means
to be from here,
to tease the tourist,
yeah, you always say,
it just grows that way.

If you see Claire between today and Thursday, be sure to wish her well, and if you are oh-so-very inclined to show your support, the eastern reading will be held at Earlham College’s Meetinghouse on Thursday, September 19, at 7. No pressure.