Women in Literary Arts (WILA) Conference

August 7, 2009 at 14:32

BU Alumna, Erin Belieu, along with Cate Marvin are planning a Women in Literary Arts Conference, and there is a considerable amount of excitement about the proposed conference, and I think a lot of our grads, and current students may be interested in attending. It’s likely to be in the Boston area, either in late September, early October, or some time during May of 2010, so many of our readers may be able to get there on public transportation.

If you’re looking to help out, offer your services, make a donation, or if you would like to receive more information on the proposed conference, its potential panel members, and for updates on their progress, we recommend joining the WILA Facebook Group. Membership has blossomed from one member late on Wednesday morning, to nearly 2800 as of this moment.

By Matt | Posted in Alumni, Conferences, Events, Helpful, Info | Comments (0)

PEN/ O. Henry Prize Winners

August 5, 2009 at 16:05

9780307280350We’ve just learned that Ha Jin and BU alumna E.V. Slate have been named winners of the PEN/ O. Henry Prize. Their stories “The House behind a Weeping Cherry” (Ha Jin), and “Purple Bamboo Park” (E.V. Slate) both appear in the forthcoming PEN/ O. Henry Prize Anthology. Congratulations to both!

By Matt | Posted in Alumni, Awards, Publications, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

John Tormey

July 30, 2009 at 11:23

We’ve just learned that incoming MFA candidate, John Tormey, has published a story in an online journal called Fiction Circus. The story is called “Dashing Through the Snow”. Click on the title to read the story. Hit the jump for some artwork and an audio track of John reading from his piece.

Congratulations, John!

By Matt | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

H.M. Naqvi

July 20, 2009 at 13:05

41ayxhzhu5l_sl500_aa240_ Husain Naqvi’s book, Home Boy, was accepted for publication some time ago. At last we have a little cover art to look at. Even if Amazon isn’t providing us with searchable content within the novel itself just yet, at least we know what to look for when it hits the shelves on the 25th of August. Congats Husain!

By Matt | Posted in Alumni, New Work, Publications | Comments (0)

UPDATE: Some Useful Thesis Related Information

July 16, 2009 at 10:28

Supplement to the Graduate School’s
Guide for the Thesis Writer:

Formatting the Thesis: The Graduate School has provided a detailed and specific guide to assist you in formatting your thesis. Go pick one up at room 112 and study it. You will need to meet with Martha Khan to have your formatting checked and corrected. Before you meet with her, it is a good idea to have the following pages formatted:
1. your title page
2. the approval page
3. your table of contents
4. and two or three pages from the body of your thesis

This last item is simply to give Martha Khan an idea of what the finished body text of your thesis will look like. She is not at any point in this process interested in the content of the thesis, but only in making sure that you adhere to the strict formatting guidelines set forth by the Graduate School.

Likely you will be required to revise your formatting. Don’t worry, it’s almost impossible to get right on the first try. If you find that you are asked to make revisions, make sure you meet with Martha again, before you turn in your final draft.

Content of the Thesis: This has been mentioned already in the Studentguide, but it’s important enough that it bears mentioning again. Your thesis must consist of work you have written for your workshops at BU. Stories you’ve written while here, but which you have not been reviewed in class are not acceptable. You may continue to add new material to your novella, as long as the core structure of the whole remains the same.

Your thesis will consist of a Title Page, Copyright Page (optional), Approval Page, Acknowledgements (also optional), Table of Contents, and a number of stories, a novella, or part or all of a novel. You are not required to include an abstract in the thesis.

Length of the Thesis: Your thesis must be at least 90 pages long for fiction, 35 for poetry, and roughly 80 pages for playwriting.

The Approval Procedure: Both of your readers will need to sign your approval pages. It’s probably a good idea to print your thesis out on regular paper when handing it to your readers. Make sure you print out four copies of your approval page (just in case some get destroyed, rained on, or if you’d like to keep a few as souvenirs) on good paper for your readers to sign. Thesis review is a pass/fail process, i.e. if your readers are not willing to sign it, or if they demand significant revisions, you will need to revise and resubmit for the next available graduation date.

The Approval Page: Just to make sure everyone gets the names, academic titles, and degrees right, here’s the pertinent information for our main faculty members.

In Fiction:
Leslie Epstein, D.F.A.
Professor of English [not reading in 2009]

Ha Jin, Ph.D.
Professor of English

Allegra Goodman, Ph.D.
Visiting Associate Professor (of Creative Writing)← optional

Daphne Kalotay, Ph.D.
Lecturer (in Creative Writing)

In Poetry:
Robert Pinsky, Ph.D.
Professor of English

Louise Glück
Visiting Professor (of Creative Writing)← optional

Maggie Dietz, M.A.
Lecturer (in Creative Writing) ← optional

Rosanna Warren, M.A.
Emma MacLachlan Metcalf Professor of the Humanities,
University Professor and Professor of English and
Modern Foreign Languages [not reading in 2009]

In Playwriting:
Kate Snodgrass, M.A.
Artistic Director

Melinda Lopez, M.A.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (of Creative Writing)

Ronan Noone, M.A.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (of Creative Writing)

Richard Schotter
Lecturer (in Creative Writing)

NOTE: The punctuation of academic degrees follows the form set forth by The Chicago Manual of Style (14th Edition). Chicago Style notes that degrees may be listed without punctuation, (MFA, DFA, PhD etc.), however, no matter which form you use, make sure to be consistent.

By Matt | Posted in FYI, Grad Students, Helpful | Comments (0)

Summer Poetry Institute Readings

July 14, 2009 at 09:51

Readers Glück, Jackson, and Dietz

This summer, Boston University hosts the seventh annual Summer Poetry Institute for Educators led by Robert Pinsky. This program builds on the principles of the Favorite Poem Project which Pinsky founded during his tenure as Poet Laureate.

On Tuesday July 14th, Louise Glück — former Poet Laureate, and winner of the Wallace Stevens Award, among other honors — will give a reading. The public is invited to attend, from 3:45 PM to 4:30 in Room 102 of Boston University’s Sargent College, 635 Commonwealth Avenue.

On Wednesday July 15th, same time and place, the featured readers will be poets Maggie Dietz and Major Jackson.

By zakbos | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Schmuel Traum Prize

July 8, 2009 at 11:41

Katherine Hollander, GRS ‘06, was named first prize winner of this year’s Schmuel Traum Prize in Literary Translation, for her translations, from the German, of poems by Else Lasker-Schüler. Says Katherine,”I’m happy and humbled, since Traum himself seems to have been an extraordinary person who, like Lasker-Schüler, was a German Jew who loved European languages and culture, and who maintained that interest and affection even after fleeing Germany for Palestine.” The prize is sponsored by BU’s University Professor’s Program and the Kushner Family in honor of Schmuel Traum.

By Matt | Posted in Alumni, Awards, New Work | Comments (0)

Today’s Random Favorite Poem Video

July 7, 2009 at 15:09

By Matt | Posted in Readings, Video | Comments (0)

#7

July 6, 2009 at 17:14

We are now the 7th most active blog on the BU site. Thanks to all of our contributors who have been sending in stories and poems and reviews. We appreciate it!

By Matt | Posted in Info | Comments (0)

Caballo Chops

July 6, 2009 at 14:10

Caballo Chops
         (accompanied by guitar)

 

Caballo sat on the bus near me,
     Unmoving and self-contained as a cactus.
His moustache handlebarred over his lips,
     His potbelly pigged out over his nickel belt buckle.
Like a Navajo Coyote his heart was hidden deep away
     And he breathed in short, phlegmatic gasps—
     Still choking on the desert’s bloody sand.

If Caballo and his brothers had known they’d be so good at burying wives
     They might never have started
Instead, he watched his fourth set down in the clay,
     A tall and frail girl with the bones of a Spanish princess
And a flickering blue flame under her breast
     That was so easily snuffed out
     In his woodworked hands.

Keep on moving, Caballo. Keep on moving, Caballo.

Caballo did not sleep
     As the land swept from prairie to swamp.
His straw hat sat balanced on his lap,
     Its yellow tarred in spots from putting on and taking off.
At a rest stop I watched him remove his boots and wiggle his socks
     Then pour the brown liquid of a silver flask into the dead shrubbery.
     His drinking days were done; and no more wives.

Keep on moving, Caballo.
****
Chops hopped on the bus, all young and ugly
     From some place called Jackson, Tennessee.
He sat in the back and talked to no one in particular
     But at great length and impressive volume.
His teeth were bad but his words rapped like steel in velvet,
     Like his hero Muhammad Ali—
     But Ali should be every boy’s hero, if he’s got fire in his heart.

Chops told me that a woman would be the death of him,
     But not if he could help it.
His mother was a bitch, and his grandmother was a bitch–
     So what if they birthed him! What the hell had they done for him lately?
I nodded, being afraid not to.
     I looked like a man who would understand, he told me.
     New York City is the only place to live.

Chops don’t stop for nothing. Chops don’t stop for nothing.

At the next station Chops shoved his way past
     A slow-moving Mexican whose real name I didn’t know.
He said someone might be looking for him in this town,
     And when it was our time to leave he wasn’t in his seat.
Chops needs space, goddamn it! to float and to sting.
     To gloat and to sing.
     On a boat named “King.”

Chops don’t stop for nothing.

We the three of us thought them other people were the problem. Hell, how was we to know different?

William Fancher is an MFA candidate in the graduate Playwriting Program at Boston University. This poem was originally performed as  a song at the Boston Theatre Marathon in April of 2009.

By Matt | Posted in Grad Students, New Work, Publications, Uncategorized | Comments (0)