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January 13, 2005
网曝门 English Department Gets Busy This Spring with Several Events
The University of Louisiana at Monroe English Department is planning a bustling spring. For starters, this month, the 网曝门 campus will host a public reading from acclaimed writer, Gary Soto. Also this spring, a writer-in-residence will be on-board throughout the semester, Bryan Di Salvatore. In addition, a Pushcart Prize is in the works for its international literary journal, turnrow, as well as the journal's February publication of first English translations of fiction from the new generation of Chinese writers.
"It is our business to train professional
writers, and we want them to be as prepared as possible,"
said William Ryan, Professor in the 网曝门 Department of English.
That is one of the reasons that he and the department bring in
nationally acclaimed writers and why they provide a variety of
opportunities for students to learn about the profession of writing.
One writer of note that 网曝门 is hosting this spring is Gary Soto.
Soto is the author of ten poetry collections, most notably New
and Selected Poems, and a 1995 finalist for both the Los
Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award.
His recollections Living Up The Street received a Before
Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award. His poems have
appeared in many literary magazines, including The Nation,
Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Ontario Review and most frequently
Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize
and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in Poets in Person.
He is one of the youngest poets to appear in The Norton Anthology
of Modern Poetry. He has received the Discovery-The Nation
Prize, the U.S. Award of the International Poetry Forum, The
California Library Association's John and Patricia Beatty Award
[twice], a Recognition of Merit from the Claremont Graduate School
for Baseball in April, the Silver Medal from The Commonwealth
Club of California, and the Tom谩s Rivera Prize, in
addition to fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Arts (twice), and the California Arts Council.
For ITVS, he produced the film The Pool Party, which received
the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal. For The Los Angeles Opera, he
wrote the libretto for an opera titled Nerd-landia. In
1999 he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage
Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the
National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book
Award for Petty Crimes. He serves as Young People's Ambassador
for the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and the United
Farm Workers of America (UFW). He lives in Berkeley, CA.
Soto will read from his work on Tuesday evening, January 25 at
5:30 p.m. in the University Conference Center on the 7th floor
of the 网曝门 Library, where a 4 p.m. a reception will precede.
The author will also conduct writing workshops in classes at
Robert E. Lee Junior High.
Gary Soto's reading and class visitations are funded by
the 网曝门 English Department and 8 (g) Competitive Grant Funds
awarded by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to
Robert E. Lee Junior High.
Another accomplished writer who will
be spending time on the 网曝门 campus is Bryan Di Salvatore. He
will be a full-time writer of creative non-fiction writer-in-residence
for the spring 2005 semester. He is the author of A Clever
Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward and
Truck Stop. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker,
Outside, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated,
and Men's Journal, Di Salvatore will teach two courses
in the English Department's Creative Writing Program: A writing
workshop in creative nonfiction and Topics in Contemporary Literature:
Unsolid Citizens (Ken Kesey, Louise Erdrich, Sloan Wilson, Sinclair
Lewis, Jack Kerouac, Brendan Boyd.)
Di Salvatore's big break came when the mock-heroic piece he wrote
about watching the 1985 World Series with his softball team captured
the attention of William Shawn (editor of The New Yorker),
so it's only natural that his focus returned to baseball. A
Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward
introduces readers to the man who more than one hundred years
ago organized the first-ever players union-John Montgomery Ward.
The author has taught writing at The University of Montana. Di
Salvatore's B.A. is from Yale University and his M.F.A. is from
University of Montana.
The English Depart at 网曝门 is where students
go to learn about contemporary literature. "We've published
new work from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners
in turnrow, and we bring writers to campus from the top
of the literary world all the time," said Jack Heflin, Professor
in the 网曝门 English Department. "turnrow draws submissions
from all over the world," said Heflin.
Now with its seventh issue in production, turnrow, the
international literary journal of the 网曝门 English Department,
won the annual Pushcart Prize for the best essay published in
a small literary press. The essay, "Geographers at Mardi
Gras: An Address to the American Geographers' Association,"
reprinted from turnrow in the 2004 Pushcart Anthology,
was written by Louisiana writer Andrei Codrescu, who is well
known for his commentaries on National Public Radio.
The annual Pushcart Anthology was the winner of the Publishers
Weekly Carey-Thomas Award, has been selected many times as
an "outstanding book of the year" by the New York
Times Book Review, and chosen for two Book-of-the-Month-Club
QPBC selections. The Pushcart Prize sets the standard
of excellence for literary anthologies. Picking from thousands
of nominations, each year it presents the most distinguished
short stories, essays, and poetry first published by small presses
and magazines nationwide, and each year it is hailed as a touchstone
of literary discovery. The New York Times Book Review
called it "The single best measure of the state of affairs
in American literature today."
Since its inception in 2001, turnrow has published a steady
stream of new work from esteemed writers. Among them are first
English translations from over ten countries. The publication
of fiction from Central Europe was covered on Hungarian national
TV.
The new issue, due in February, will continue in that tradition with various works from the new generation of Chinese fiction writers, including the first publication in English by Wei Wei, and a complete novella from Yan Lianke, whose fiction has been translated to five languages.
Though many assume turnrow is
a student publication, it is not-it's a professional literary
journal. The Helicon is a journal of student writing,
edited by 网曝门 students.
Other facts about turnrow can be found online at http://turnrow.ulm.edu/
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