Three UAA-MFA students have been recognized in F Magazine's first, Alaska statewide writing contest. Congratulations to:  Jonna Laster for her nonfiction piece, "X Marks the Tale"; Mary Kudenov whose essay, "Hard Walkin' Mark" was excerpted in F Magazine; and to John McKay for taking honors in the poetry category.

Jason Eisert (MFA candidate, nonfiction) published his poem, "Big Lake," in Cirque's Winter Solstice edition, December 2010.  (Cirque is a new Pacific Northwest literary journal, founded and edited by Michael Burwell.)  Eisert has two poems forthcoming in Cirque's June 2011 issue.

Fiction writer, Justin Herrmann, has stories appearing in the following publications: Green Mountains Review--"My Last Name is Hitler" and in Tattoo Highway (issue 19): "How Dolly Parton Ruined My Life."  Justin's stories are also forthcomining in the literary journals, Natural Bridge and Watershed.  Justin has studied under Josip Novakovich and Richard Chiappone.

Tara Ballard's poems appear in the poetry journal, Two Review (June 2011).

Samantha Davis'(MFA candidate, fiction) story, "Disorder," will appear in the fortchoming anthology by Persea Books, Sudden Flash Youth: 65 Short-Short Stories.

Congratulations to graduating MFA fiction student, Heather Lende, whose second nonfiction book, Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs:  Family, Friends, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska was recently published by Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.   (Heather is presently an MFA candidate in FICTION.)  Heather is on a whirlwind book tour of the western states.  She also writes a weekly column for Alaska Dispatch, an online-news magazine, and continues to write obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines, AK.  She has recently written an ice skating essay for County Living's December issue, and an "Escape" feature photo cut-line on cruising in the Inside Passage for National Geographic Traveler Magazine.

Shane Castle's (MFA Fiction, 2004) satirical short story, "DNA Smackdown," appeared in the Sept/Oct issue of The Humanist.  His work has also been recently accepted by Iron Horse Literary Review and Black Warrior Review. 

Megan Nix, won Fourth Genre's national Editor's Prize in 2009, for her essay, ""Swim, Memory." Megan's essay was chosen by Jocelyn Bartkevicius and the award comes with a $1,000.00 prize. In addition, Fourth Genre published her essay in the Spring 2010 issue. (Megan's advisor is Professor Sherry Simpson, core faculty member, nonfiction.)  

Here's what the judge had to say about Nix's essay:  "This lovely and moving essay depicts fragmentation in the prelude to and aftermath of Katrina.  The segmented form takes readers all over the map, from close-up to historical views of New Orleans, and as far north as Nashville, all the while producing a compelling forward narrative motion.  Never sentimental, the essayist nevertheless creates scenes about animals, people, and place with a sensitivity tempered by subtle irony.  This writer has an original voice, an eye for crackling detail and surprising juxtapositions, and a remarkable way of working reflection and fact into a story about the chaos and confusion of fleeing and returning to tragedy."

Zack Rogow published an essay on the Spanish poet, Frederico Garcia Lorca.  "Lorca's Local Modernism," appears on the web site of Poetry Flash.  (Note: please scroll down a bit on Poetry Flash's web page to find Zack's essay.) Rogow was also invited to Seoul, Korea recently as the sole North American writer to present at the Seoul International Forum on Literature, along with two Nobel Laureates and a Poet Laureate from the U.K.

Professor Jo-Ann Mapson’s newest novel, Solomon's Oak, was recently honored by the American Library Association as one of 2011's best new books in women's fiction.

Ernestine Hayes participated in a panel at the Native American Indigenous Studies Association conference in Tucson.  Ernestine's lecture was titled "Old Stories, Modern Lives."  The NAISA conference was co-hosted by the American Indian Studies of the University of Arizona and held in the homelands of teh Tohono O' odham nation.

 
The Best American Poetry Blog http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/ recently featured Professor Anne Caston's poetry book, Judah's Lion, published by Toad Hall Press. They also mentioned UAA's Low-Residency MFA Program. Caston was also a recent guest blogger for Best American Poetry.

Associate Faculty member, Eva Saulitis, will publish her first collection of poetry, Many Ways to Say It, with Red Hen Press in 2011.

Zack Rogow was accepted as a Brown Fellow at the Dora Maar House in Menerbes, France for the month of September 2010.  He stayed in a home in rural Provence previously owned by the photographer, Dora Maar, purchased for her by Pablo Picasso.  His project while in residence in France was to translate prose by the French writer Colette. 

Nancy Lord, former Alaska Writer Laureate (2008-10), and associate faculty member, has a new book, Early Warming:  Crisis and Response in the Climate-Challenged North, published by Counterpoint Press, January 2011. 

Derick Burleson's poetry collection, Never Night, was recently listed as a Notable Book 2007-2008 in Poetry International. He also appeared on Detroit Today and gave a reading from Never Night.

Anne Caston, UAA Associate Professor of Creative Writing/Poetry and core faculty member was recently interviewed in a special poetry program featured by the Library of Congress.

Caston and fellow poet, Laura Orem (Pennsylvania), were interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for the weekly radio broadcast and Web podcasts of "The Poet and The Poem." Anne read selections from her forthcoming poetry collection, The Empress of Longing, and talked with Cavalieri about writing, UAA's MFA Program, the students who study here, and the artist's life and work.

Many national poets are featured in "The Poet and the Poem" interview series, including such notables as Louise Gluck, Robert Pinsky, Billy Collins, W.S. Merwin, and the late W.D. Snodgrass. The Web podcasts, in alphabetical order, are available at the Library of Congress Poet and Poem Web site.

David Stevenson, Director of UAA's Low-Residency MFA Program, published his essay, "Byron Glacier, June 24, 2009" in Alpinist, Issue #29.  Another of his essays, "Ascent and Desire, Eros and Gravity" appears in the spring 2010 issue of The Cimarron Review.