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News ReleasesUSM Writer’s Conference Offers Free Public Readings June 27, 2006The University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast Writers' Conference, now in its 27th year, will again offer the public an opportunity to hear writers of national distinction at evening readings held at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Stonecoast is a residence conference running from Friday, July 21, through Sunday, July 30, with workshops for registered students held in USM's Stone House in Freeport and housing provided at Bowdoin College. Perhaps Stonecoast's most renowned alumna is Carolyn Chute, who attended the conference prior to the publication of "The Beans of Egypt Maine." Among this year’s faculty are poet Brian Turner, author of “Here, Bullet,” who served in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson, cultural critic at The New York Times. Peaks Island resident Anne Sibley O’Brien will read her play about racism “White Lies.” For more information on applying to Stonecoast, or for more information about the public readings (see schedule below), contact Ray Dumont at 780-5892, or see http://www.usm.maine.edu/summer/stonecoastwc/. USM 2006 Stonecoast Writer's Conference Readers' Schedule All Stonecoast readings are free and open to the public. Readings take place in Brunswick in Bowdoin College’s Moulton Union. Question and answer sessions will follow the readings. Friday, July 21 Dianne Benedict, a professor of creative writing at USM, is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Maine Arts Commission Fellowship for fiction. Her stories have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, and have been anthologized in “Best American Short Stories,” and “Fiction from the Atlantic Monthly.” Laima Sruoginis, a USM professor of creative writing, is the recipient of two Fulbright Lectureships in Creative Writing, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and a PEN Translation Fund grant. Her poems, essays, stories, and literary translations have appeared in The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Drunkenboat, and Poetry Daily. Saturday, July 22 Brian Turner, author of the highly acclaimed collection of poetry, “Here, Bullet,” was an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division beginning in November 2003. Prior to that, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. His poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals, and in the “Voices in Wartime Anthology” published in conjunction with the feature-length documentary film of the same name. Christian Barter's first collection of poetry, “The Singers I Prefer,” was published by CavanKerry Press. His poems have appeared in North American Review and The Literary Review, and his work has been featured in The Writers Almanac, Poetry Daily, and Poets and Writers. He has taught British literature and writing at the College of the Atlantic, and currently works as a trail crew supervisor at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. Sunday, July 23 Clint McCown was born in Fayetteville, Tenn., and spent most of his youth in Birmingham, Ala., during the racial conflicts of the early 1960s. Before turning to fiction, he worked as a journalist in Montgomery, Ala., earning an Associated Press Award for Documentary Excellence for his investigations of organized crime and corruption in Alabama politics. He has twice won the American Fiction Prize. His novel, “The Member-Guest,” received the Society of Midland Authors Award, and his novel, “War Memorials,” was designated for Outstanding Achievement in Literature by the Wisconsin Library Association. He teaches in the creative writing program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Elise Juska's short stories have appeared in Harvard Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, and Seattle Review. She is the author of the novels “The Hazards of Sleeping Alone” and “Getting Over Jack Wagner,” a Critic's Choice in People Magazine. She teaches fiction writing workshops at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the New School in New York City. Her new novel, “One for Sorrow, Two for Joy,” is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster. Monday, July 24 Tuesday, July 25 Elizabeth Kendall is a critic and author of three books, “Where She Danced: The Birth of American Art-Dance,” “The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the l930's,” and “American Daughter: A Memoir.” Her articles have appeared in publications ranging from The New Yorker to The New York Times, and she has worked on several public television documentaries. Margo Jefferson is a cultural critic on staff at The New York Times. She has been a daily book reviewer, the Sunday theater critic, and a Sunday Book Review columnist. In 1995, she received a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Her book, “On Michael Jackson,” was published by Pantheon in 2006. She currently teaches at Columbia University and Eugene Lang College. Thursday, July 27 Michael Kimball is the author of the comic novel “Firewater Pond” (Putnam's Sons, 1985), and the best-selling suspense novel, “Undone” (Avon 1995), which received the Fresh Talent Award in the U.K. He has written several original screenplays and adaptations for motion picture companies, including three episodes for the TV show “Monsters,” and an award-winning adaptation of his novel-in-progress “Trap Line.” Among his stage plays are “Submit!” (2002, co-written with Jennifer Saunders), and “Ghosts of Ocean House” (2005), which won the 2005 F. Gary Newton Memorial Playwriting Competition at the Players Ring in Portsmouth, N.H. Kathryn Kulpa is presently teaching English and creative writing as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Rhode Island. She also leads independent writing workshops and serves as assistant fiction editor of 4x4/The Newport Review, a small literary journal of poetry and flash fiction. Her 2005 short story collection, “Pleasant Drugs,” received the Mid-List Press First Series Award for Short Fiction. She is also a recipient of the Florida Review Editor's Award in Fiction, and a supplementary award in the Bridgeport Prize International Writing Competition. Friday, July 28 Anne Sibley O'Brien, who was raised in South Korea, studies racism in this play by asking how it affects white people -- how are they coerced into a system that is so damaging to others? A Peaks Island resident, O'Brien is also an illustrator and author of children's books. In 1997 she won the National Education Association's Author-Illustrator Human & Civil Rights Award. She is a member and trainer with the Maine chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute, a diversity leadership training organization. Saturday, July 29 Chun Yu was born in China at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. She started writing poetry and stories in verse during her postdoctoral fellowship in biomedical engineering in a Harvard-MIT joint program. Her first book “Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution” was published by Simon and Schuster. Leslie Ullman is the author of three poetry collections: “Natural Histories,” which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award in 1979, “Dreams by No One's Daughter” (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987), and “Slow Work Through Sand,” which won the Iowa Poetry Prize in 1998. She was awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in creative writing, and has written poetry reviews for Kenyon Review, Poetry Magazine, and The Denver Quarterly. |
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