News
New local literary events calendar launches
In an effort to compile an up-to-the-minute listing of local literary events — many of which feature Creative Writing Program students and faculty — the new CWP website now features a "Houston Area Literary Events" calendar powered by Google that aims to keep tabs on the local literary scene. See the full page calendar on the new Calendar page.
Latest issue of newsletter is available
The CWP is pleased to debut the 2008-2009 Newsletter online as part of the ever-improving website. See previous issues in the newsletter archive.
CWP welcomes new professor Martha Serpas
The Creative Writing Program is pleased to welcome Martha Serpas back to the University of Houston. Professor Serpas, a Ph.D. graduate of the Creative Writing Program, has been Poet-in-Residence at Gustavus Adolphus College, Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and, for the last ten years, an Associate Professor of English and Writing at the University of Tampa where she also served as poetry editor of the Tampa Review. In the fall of 2008 she was a visiting associate professor in creative writing in the Department of English at the University of Houston. For more info, please see her faculty page.
Eric Ekstrand wins Ruth LIlly Poetry Fellowship
Eric Ekstrand has won a 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship awarded by the Poetry Foundation. Established in 1989 by the Indianapolis philanthropist Ruth Lilly, the fellowships are intended to encourage the further study and writing of poetry. The fellowship winners will be announced in the October 2009 Issue of Poetry Magazine. Eric is a third-year MFA candidate in Poetry at the University of Houston. He would like to thank his friends, teachers, students and colleagues at the University for all of their insight and encouragement over the past two years.
Samuel Amadon wins the Iowa Poetry Prize
Samuel Amadon won the Iowa Poetry Prize for his manuscript LIKE A SEA. Sam is a Ph.D. candidate in poetry who entered the program in 2008.
Janine Joseph talks about poetry on local radio segment
Graduate student and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship winner Janine Joseph reads from her poem and discusses what inspires her during KUHF's UH Moment. See the original news article "UH Poet Earns Soros Fellowship," published on May 5 on uh.edu.
CWP Welcomes New Class
The Creating Writing Program at the University of Houston would like to welcome the following members of the incoming class:
Fiction
Jason Daniels, MFA Candidate - BA, Ohio State Univ.
Andrew Dimond, MFA Candidate - BA, Rice Univ.
Ashleigh Eisinger, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Univ. of Central Florida and MFA, Georgia College and State Univ.
Lauren Genovesi, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, College of the Holy Cross and MFA, New Mexico State Univ.
Eric Howerton, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Univ. of New Mexico and MFA, Pennsylvania State Univ.
Corey Noll, MFA Candidate - BA, Hampshire College
Adam Peterson, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Drake Univ. and MA, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dylan Walsh, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, New England College and MA, Univ. of New Mexico
Poetry
Karie Buss, MFA Candidate - BA, Univ. of Iowa
Melinda Capps, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Queens Univ. of Charlotte and MA, Ohio Univ. and MFA, Univ. of Iowa
Adam Day, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Eckerd College and MFA, New York Univ.
Joshua Gottlieb-Miller, MFA Candidate - BA, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Margaret Monahan, MFA Candidate - BA, Catholic Univ. of America
Caitlin Plunkett, MFA Candidate - BA, Virginia Tech
Analicia Sotelo, MFA Candidate - BA, Trinity Univ.
Rebecca Wadlinger, Ph.D. Candidate - BA, Bucknell Univ. and MFA, Univ. of Texas-Austin
Lauren Berry wins the Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellowship
Lauren Berry has received the Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which offers fellowships to poets and writers who have completed an MFA or Ph.D. but who have not yet published a book. For one academic year, she will teach creative writing workshops at the university and work on her manuscript, "Mosquito Fever Speeches," which explores ideas about girlhood in the South.
Hayan Charara Receives an NEA Fellowship
Hayan Charara received a Literature Fellowship (Poetry), in the amount of $25,000, given by the National Endowment for the Arts. According to the NEA: "The goal of the fellowships program is to encourage the production of new work and allow writers the time and means to write."
Farnoosh Fathi wins a Fulbright Scholarship
Farnoosh Fathi received a U.S. Student Fulbright Fellowship in Creative Writing to Brazil, a nine month grant to complete a book of poems. The work she will do there will engage the literary, natural and cultural landscape in Brazil, and will include working with Brazilian writer, Elizabeth Bishop scholar and translator, Paulo Britto.
Matthew Siegel is awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship
Matthew Siegel has been awarded the Wallace Stegner Fellowship, a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University. Fellows are regarded as working artists, intent upon practicing and perfecting their craft. There are no curricular requirements other than workshop attendance and writing. As a fellow, Matthew will be living in San Francisco and working on his first book of poetry.