The new "Arnie"

Attention all alumni/ae: Others may have the "Oscar," the "Hugo," etc., but we are inaugurating the "Arnie." The Arnie Johnston One Act Play Award is named in honor of the recent retirement of WMU English Department Chair and distinguished playwright Arnie Johnston, who began teaching graduate playwriting at WMU in 1975. For full information, please go HERE.

Darren DeFrain, PhD

Darren DeFrain's new collection of stories, Inside & Out, was just published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company and can be had via the web at http://www.mainstreetrag.com/store/MSRFiction.php . One of the stories in that collection, “Why Oshkosh,” was just nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
After directing the MFA program at Wichita State University last year he's back as Director of the Writing Program. He submitted his tenure file in October and is anxiously awaiting the verdict. "I do hope you and everyone in Kalamazoo are doing well. Please give my best to anyone who might remember me."

Tim Wheeler, creative writing and Playwriting alumnus

Central Michigan University's radio broadcasting network airs Obstructed View, Tim Wheeler's weekly take on the world of Pop-Tarts, five-bladed razors, nefarious condiments and an overwhelming array of life's underwhelming distractions. Catch him on Kalamazoo's airwaves Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m. on WGVU and you can learn more about such exciting topics as pickled eggs, Boo-Berry and Little Toe Day. For more information: obstructedviewstudios.com
He's in print:
Mondays, The Grand Haven Tribune
Monthly - Brought to you by Riversedge Photography
Women's Lifestyle - Northshore Edition

Kristin Berger

For the Willing is the first chapbook of poetry by Portland poet and essayist, Kristin Berger. In the 26-poem collection, Berger maps the arc of motherhood into childhood, from the outer world of lunar eclipses and seasonal migrations to the inner world of sleepless nights and caring for children. From the simple pleasures of digging in spring soil and cooking for a family to the complexities of global warming and life's unexpected turns, these poems are strung on a steady and sure thread.

Kristin Berger lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two young children. A Creative Writing graduate of Western Michigan University, her poems and non-fiction have been published in numerous journals and reviews, including CALYX, Hip Mama, New Letters, The Rockhurst Review and Sea Stories. She received First Place in the Oregon State Poetry Association's New Poets category in 2006. To sample more of her writing, visit her weblog at www.kristinberger.wordpress.com.

Published by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Kentucky, this handcrafted, soft-bound, 6' x 9' chapbook also features original cover-art by Michigan artist, Cindy Mom.

more news about Darrin Doyle

Our PhD alumnus (fiction) Darrin Doyle had his first novel taken by LSU Press. Revenge of the Teacher's Pet: A Love Story will appear in March 2009. He has been a visiting assistant professor at the University of Louisville, and next year will be teaching in the creative writing program at Kansas State.

Ron Riekki

Our recent PhD graduate Ron Riekki has just published a novel: U.P., a novel by R.A. Riekki. Order from Ghost Road Press, 5303 E. Evans Ave., #309, Denver, CO 80222, ISBN 0-9796255-5-6, $19.95, ghostroadpress.com. Says Christopher Tilghman, "Ron Riekki takes us to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and shows us a world that is at once banal and horrific. Part Celine, part Henry Miller, Part Cormac McCarthy, Riekki delivers his vision with high intelligence and relentlessly powerful prose."

Kristen Tracy, MFA 2005

Kristen Tracy's first teen novel, Lost It, was published last year by Simon & Schuster. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, was selected by the New York Public Library as one of their "Books for the Teen Age," and is already in its third printing. Her second teen novel, Crimes of the Sarahs, was also published by Simon & Schuster and came out this spring (It's set in Kalamazoo). Her first middle-grade novel, Camille Mcphee Fell Under the Bus, will be published next year by Random House with a second novel to follow in 2010. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly, New York Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, and AGNI. She recently found out that Ted Kooser has selected her poem "Rain at the Zoo" to be reprinted in American Life in Poetry. She lives and writes in San Francisco, where she is very very happy.

Roy Seeger Publishes Poetry

Charlotte, NC October 21, 2008—Main Street Rag Publishing Company to release Roy Seeger’s The Boy Whose Hands were Birds, the winner of their 2008 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Contest. The book will be available through Main Street Rag’s online bookstore and through select bookstores nationwide with a suggested cover price of $14. Roy Seeger is a. English Instructor at the University of South Carolina Aiken and the winner of the 2007 Gribble Press Chapbook Contest forThe Garden of Improbable Birds. He received his Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry from Western Michigan University in 2005 and his Masters of Arts in Poetry from Ohio University. He was also co-winner of the 2008 Society for the study of Midwestern Literature’s Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, a finalist for the 2007 Chicago Poetry Center Juried Reading, and his work has been featured on Verse Daily as well as in numerous poetry journals such as Gulf Coast, The Laurel Review, Versand The Mississippi Review. Bob Hicok, award winning author of This Clumsy Living, says of the collection that, “There is a quiet optimism to these poems, a product of Seeger’s awareness that ‘between the clay/& the syllable that breathes/what we make/alive’ we are, as he points out, ‘little gods.’ Where others see language as limiting, he understands language as that which allows a level of ontological choice...This is an engaging first book.” William Olsen, poetry editor of New Issues Press, says of Seeger’s collection that, “These poems instruct not so much by example as by mishap, jerry-rigged allegory, domestic fluke. The result: a poetry that is itself a credible way to live, uniquely.” Roy Seeger was a Kalamazoo resident for over a decade. He received his Bachelors Degree in English at Western Michigan University, and then returned to receive his Masters of Fine Arts. He is a former poetry editor of the award winning literary journal, Third Coast. The Boy Whose Hands Were Birds is scheduled for release onOctober 20, 2008 through Main Street Rag Publishing Company for $14. For orders contact M. Scott Douglass through www.mainstreetrag.com or by phone at 704-573-2516. You may contact Roy Seeger for autographed copies, readings, book signings, and workshops at 803-226-0245 or by email at roydseeger@hotmail.com.

Ashley Dempsky with AmeriCorps

Here is recent news from Ashley Dempsky (class of '08):

"Americorps, which is often called the 'domestic Peace Corps,' is a multi-faceted government volunteer program wherein members can serve in different ways. I work in the education area of AmeriCorps for a program called KernCorps AmeriCorps, named after Kern County in California. Due to the socio-economic challenges many people in the poorer areas of Kern County face (gang activity, poverty, unstable family life, etc) their education often suffers. I work at what is called a 'community high school' where students who have been expelled from the public school system attend until their expulsion period is over. The two areas in which these students struggle the most with are Reading and Math; many of them are below fourth-grade standards. I work with about 20 students a week, tutoring them and helping them prepare for their high school exit exams which they need to pass in order to receive a diploma. AmeriCorps state and local programs require a one year commitment, so I will be busy with this until next summer! It's challenging but rewarding at the same time."

Robert Bradley 2008/2009 Distinguished Alumnus

Robert Bradley was recently honored with the Department's Distinguished Scholar Award at the College of Arts and Sciences Reception. On Friday morning, he had an opportunity to visit Beth Bradburn's British Literature I class and witnessed a discussion of Chaucer's "Miller's Tale." In the picture, he is standing in front of Sprau Tower, an appropriate location considering that he was the Department's second recipient, in 1951 (!), of the prestigious George Sprau Student Award.

Elizabeth Kerlikowske

Elizabeth Kerlikowske, who completed her PhD here in lit/Creative Writing a year or two back, has had her dissertation The Laying on of Maples (a collection of poetry) accepted for publication by Wayne State University for its Made in Michigan Series. Elizabeth teaches full-time at Kellogg Community College.

Bill Bradley at VanityFair.com

Bill Bradley, '07--creative writing, moved to Harlem this January after completing an internship at Esquire. He now writes about music (mostly) for VanityFair.com. He just recently took part in creating a video about an Obama4Harlem debate party which you will soon be able to find at: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/10/harlem- awaits-the-second-black-president.html

Michael Gray Interviewed on 'Well Deserved'

Michael Gray is doing a monthlong interview with the publisher of his novel, Well Deserved. The interview is accessible at: http://www.solbooks.com/blog

Donald Verkow

Former student Donald Verkow recently credited Beth Amidon with his success in writing and publishing. Verkow, author of two stories in the best-selling "Chicken Soup" book series, was a student in Beth's 1996 "Writing in the Elementary School" class, and she encouraged him to hone his skills and think about publishing. For more information, see Kurt Anthony Krug's article on p. D8 in the Kalamazoo Gazette, May 18, 2008.

Amanda Warren

Amanda Warren, a recent PhD graduate, is a finalist in The Poetry Center of Chicago's 14th Annual Juried Reading Competition, judged by Literary activist and award-winning poet E. Ethelbert Miller. All eight finalists will be published in a chapbook by Dancing Girl Press as well as on The Poetry Center website. Winners will be announced at the 14th Annual Juried Reading Award Ceremony on Saturday, April 26, at 3:30 pm in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium at the Harold Washington Library Center. The cermony will be held as part of the Chicago Public Library's Ninth Annual Poetry Fest.

Michael Gray

Michael Gray's novel Well Deserved was awarded the 2007 Sol Books Prose Series Prize (http://www.solbooks.com).
Michael Loyd Gray (MFA 1996) now lives in Champaign, Illinois; he is the winner of the 2005 Alligator Juniper Fiction Prize, the 2005 The Writers Place Award for Fiction, and has written three novels and a screenplay based on one of the novels. His novel Not Famous Anymore was awarded a grant by the Elizabeth George Foundation. His novel December’s Children was a finalist for the 2006 Sol Books Prose Series Prize, and as mentioned above, his novel Well Deserved was awarded the 2007 Sol Books Prose Series Prize. He recently completed a new novel, Blue Sparta. A lifelong Chicago Bears and Rolling Stones fan, he lives with two insolent cats, EH and Moonpie.

David James

David James' ('77) fourth chapbook has been published by March Street Press, Trembling in Someone's Palm. He has poems and essays forthcoming in Rattle, Quercus Review, Lalitamba, Poet Lore, Poetry East, Driftwood Review, poetryREpairs.com and others. He teaches and is the English department chair at Oakland Community College.

Darrin Doyle

Darrin Doyle's (MFA from WMU, 1999; PhD in Comparative Literature, U of Cincinnati, 2006) first novel, Revenge of the Teacher's Pet: A Love Story, will be published by LSU Press in March of 2009. His short stories are forthcoming in The Long Story and Puerto del Sol and have appeared in Cottonwood, Night Train, Alaska Quarterly Review, Laurel Review, Harpur Palate and other journals. He is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville. He and his wife Courtney live in Louisville with their two young sons, Simon and Charlie.

Amy McInnis

Amy McInnis' first book of poetry, River, won the 2007 Holland Prize from Logan House Press. McInnis' poems have appeared in The MacGuffin, Yemassee, Cimarron Review, and others. An Upper Peninsula native, she earned her M.F.A. at Western Michigan University. She's reading at the Kalamazoo Public Library on January 22nd at 7 p.m.

David James

Just published by March Street Press, David James' Trembling in Someone's Palm. The book consists of 36 prose poems by our alumnus, a Michigan author, whose most recent chapbooks include I Dance Back, and I Will Peel This Mask Off. Peter Stine, editor of Witness, writes, "These wise and humorous prose poems stun us with their illuminations of family, love, marriage, loneliness, sex, and creativity. James is a master of metamorphosis, literalizing his metaphors to recover the wondrous in the quotidian. Read this original book."
Books available for $9.00 through March Street Press, 3413 Wilshire, Greensboro, NC 27408, www.marchstreetpress.com, or rbixby@earthlink.net.