From the Director
Even in the desert, summer is a season of change. Spring wildflowers have faded, but saguaros are blooming, and not far from my window an agave has sent up an 8-foot-high stalk. At the Piper Center, we’re in the midst of significant change; and while change always involves departure or loss, it also brings new opportunities.
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Upcoming Events
Poetry of the Law
ASU law professor David Kader and Phoenix public defender Michael Stanford’s book Poetry of the Law is the first serious anthology of law-related poetry ever published in the United States. From Chaucer to Dickinson to Dove, “the poems celebrate justice or decry the lack of it, range in tone from witty to wry, sad to celebratory, funny to infuriating.”
Learn more about the book from University of Iowa Press HERE.
Piper Partners
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Creative Writing Faculty Pens Story for O, The Oprah Magazine
MFA Creative Writing faculty member Melissa Pritchard recently traveled to Afghanistan to research and write a story about five women serving in a little known American military unit. Over time the focus of the story shifted to a young soldier from Indiana who lost her life too early. The story caught the attention of the editors at O, The Oprah Magazine and the publication featured Pritchard and her story in the May, 2010 issue.
“I feel called to do two things with my life,” Pritchard said in an interview with ASU News. “Continue writing fiction and serve the women and children of the world.”
Click HERE for the complete O, The Oprah Magazine article.
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Young Writers Program: Over 11,000 Take Part in 2010 Poetry Out Loud Competition
Arizona’s 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition was a huge success with over 11,000 Arizona high school students and their teachers participating in this year’s programs. ASU’s Young Writers Program and the Arizona Commission on the Arts have partnered once again to bring Poetry Out Loud to high school students and their teachers across Arizona.
YWP’s involvement in the competition begins at the classroom level and goes all the way through the finals’ stage. This fall, YWP sent teaching artists (often graduate students from ASU’s MFA program in Creative Writing) to Centennial High School, Nogales High School, Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix, Copper Canyon High School in Tolleson, and Tri-City College Prep High School in Prescott and others.
Click HERE for the complete retrospective.
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"Something I Can't Name"
Israeli writer and filmmaker Etgar Keret spoke about his life and work to a crowded Piper Writers House in April.
I think I write from my gut, from my kishkits as we say in Yiddish...It’s always those things you can’t communicate with other people, what I get that I think other people are not getting. I can come home and say to my wife, “There was this guy at the bus stop and he had this newspaper under his arm and a cup of coffee. And every time he wanted to take a sip from the coffee, the newspaper fell. And he did it again. And another sip, and it fell again. And it was so sad.” And my wife will say, “That’s not sad, that’s just stupid. Why wouldn’t he drink the coffee and put the newspaper just next to him? What would happen?” And I would say, “No, no, no. There was something sad about it.” Because I recognize something there that has to do with an emotion, or something that I know from my life, and there’s something about his action – it could be an action or a sentence or a picture or a thing – something I can’t name but something that I know for myself. And that’s just when I feel there’s some kind of a beginning or a starting point for a story.
Click HERE and scroll down to April to listen to the entire Q&A.
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ASU Faculty and Students Featured in Two Public Art Exhibits
ASU creative writing faculty and students are well represented in two public art exhibits that recently debuted in downtown Phoenix.
MFA alumna Catherine Hammond and current MFA candidates Kathleen Winter and Ryan Holden were selected to be part of the 7th Avenue Streetscape Series 6 project, which displays the work of local artists and writers on downtown display panels.
Another project, 26 Blocks, features the work of MFA faculty T.M. McNally and Sally Ball and alumni Andrea Avery, Steve Price and Scott Hermanson.
Have a Great Summer
The next edition of Marginalia is scheduled for August and will include information about our 2010-11 events and workshops.
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Alumni Update
LA VIDA LOCA: An Odyssey
by Carlos Manuel
As a writer, sitting down to develop a story, in any format, is an incredible experience. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is tough. Yet, I never stop writing. But I do believe the best satisfaction I find in my work, is when I see it produced on a stage, in front of an audience, in a theatre.
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Hayden's Ferry Review
Issue #46 is available now. Click here for subscription information.
Piper Friends
The Piper Center for Creative Writing is committed to supporting a vibrant and diverse literary community in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Through our giving program, you can ensure your financial support for our students and our community programs.
Looking for a Past Issue of Marginalia?
They are all on the Piper Center for Creative Writing website.
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Let us know what you think about the new online version of Marginalia. Send an email to editor Beth Staples.
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