Call for entries: Epiphany Journal

This comes from Writers Studio News and might be of interest to those of you entering this year's WAC fellowships judged by Brian Turner:

CALL FOR SUBMISSION FROM THE LITERARY JOURNAL EPIPHANY. Epiphany's upcoming fall issue will be devoted to the subject of war and edited by poet Brian Turner, author of the remarkable Here Bullet. The magazine is still in need of nonfiction -- both memoir and essay. Enter by August 15th. www.epiphanyzine.com

"On the road" with Nebraska writer Poe Ballantine

Attend a presentation by Nebraska writer Poe Ballantine on Monday, April 9, 7-9 p.m., at Recover Wyoming, 512 E. Lincolnway, Cheyenne. It's free and open to the public with refreshments provided. Poe will be at LCCC's Conferences and Institutes Building on Tuesday, April 10, for a writing workshop at 2 p.m. and a reading at 7 p.m. These events also are free and open to the public.

Share in the insights of Poe Ballantine, his writing life and the experiences he draws from decades of tramping about the country, taking odd jobs, living on $400 a month and failing spectacularly. Poe has been called “The Voice of the People” and the “The King of the Personal Essay.” You are invited to view into his writing life, how he got here, how he sustains, the imperative of virgins in volcanoes and the ghosts who watch over us, matters of process, magic, mechanics, flambéing with banana liqueur and whatever else you want to know.

UW Eminent Writer in Residence John D'Agata reads from his work March 7 at Second Story Books in Laramie

From a UW press release:

The MFA program in Creative Writing welcomes its first 2012 Eminent Writer in Residence, John D’Agata, to campus this February. The acclaimed author of About a Mountain (W.W. Norton 2010) and Halls of Fame (Graywolf 2003), D’Agata has also edited The Next American Essay (Graywolf 2002) and The Lost Origins of the Essay(Graywolf 2009). During his two-week residency at Wyoming, he will visit university classes, consult on manuscripts with graduate students in creative writing, and discuss the writing life with a wide range of campus members.

D’Agata’s latest project is The Lifespan of a Fact (W.W. Norton 2012), which reproduces the extensive correspondence between D’Agata and Jim Fingal, a fact-checker for The Believer. Publishers Weekly describes the book as “very apropos in our era of spruced-up autobiography and fabricated reporting,” adding that “this is a whip-smart, mordantly funny, thought-provoking rumination on journalistic responsibility and literary license.” The Kirkus Reviews suggests that “[The Lifespan of a Fact] will be eagerly devoured and loudly discussed by creative-nonfiction writers and readers who thrive on books about books.”

On Wednesday, March 7, 7 p.m, D’Agata will give a reading from The Lifespan of a Fact at Second Story Books, located at 105 Ivinson Avenue. This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a book-signing.

For more information about D’Agata and Wyoming’s Eminent Writer in Residence program, please visit the MFA website at www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting or contact Gwynn Lemler at cw@uwyo.edu or 766-6453.

Essayist and fiction writer Poe Ballantine featured in "A Writer's Life" at LCCC April 10

“A Writer’s Life” -- Writer's Workshop

Featuring Poe Ballantine

Tuesday, April 10, at LCCC Center for Conferences and Institutes, Room 129/130, Cheyenne

Writer’s Workshop – 1-3 p.m.
Public Presentation and Book Signing – 7 p.m.

Free and open to the public

Share in the insights of Poe Ballantine, his writing life and the experiences he draws from decades of tramping about the country, taking odd jobs, living on $400 a month and failing spectacularly. Poe has been called “The Voice of the People,” and “The King of the Personal Essay.” Take a view into his writing life, how he got here, how he sustains, the imperative of virgins in volcanoes and the ghosts who watch over us, matters of process, magic, mechanics, flambéing with banana liqueur and whatever else you want to know.

Presented by the Bill and Marietta Dinneen Writers Series

Susan J. Tweit named judge for 2012 WAC Blanchan & Doubleday writing awards

The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce that Susan J. Tweit will serve as the judge for the 2012 Neltje Blanchan and Frank Nelson Doubleday memorial writing awards.

These awards are designed to bring attention to writers in Wyoming who have not yet received wide recognition for their work, and to support emerging writers at crucial times in their careers. Poets, fiction writers, essayists, and script writers who have published no more than one book in each genre and who are not students or faculty members are invited to apply by submitting manuscripts and an entry form by the Oct. 31, 2011, deadline.

The Neltje Blanchan Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script which is informed by a relationship with the natural world.

The Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script written by a woman author.

POSTMARK DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 31, 2011

Printable applications will be available on the WAC web site by Aug. 26. Applications will be sent next week to those on the WAC literary mailing list. 

FMI: Michael Shay, 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov

Blanchan/Doubleday judge Susan J. Tweit

Susan J. Tweit was trained as a field ecologist. But over the years, while she mapped grizzly bear habitat, wildfire patterns and sagebrush communities, she had a revelation: “I loved telling the stories behind the data more than collecting the data.”

Susan is the author of twelve books that explore the interrelationships that form what Aldo Leopold called the "community of the land." Barry Lopez had this to say about Susan’s 2009 book, Walking Nature Home: A life’s Journey: “It's a lovely, brave, inspiring book.... Sometimes I think the highest praise you can give a book is to say that it helped. This book does that.”

Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers from Audubon and Popular Mechanics to High Country News and the Los Angeles Times -- and has been heard on the Martha Stewart Living Radio Network. 

Susan has taught workshops at colleges, universities, and writing festivals from University of California-Riverside and Miami University of Ohio to Wofford College in South Carolina, as well as at home and online. Audiences as diverse as the International Xeriscape Conference, Collegiate Peaks Forum, Monte Vista Crane Festival, and the Walking Words Writing Festival have called her talks "inspiring" and "insightful." She coaches individual writers, reviews manuscripts for university presses, and contributes to “The Perch” blog of Audubon magazine and Story Circle Network's “Her Stories.” Her own blog is at http://susanjtweit.typepad.com/walkingnaturehome.

She belongs to an informal network of writers and artists who speak for the land, and to Story Circle Network, Women Writing the West and Colorado Author’s League.

She is a passionate gardener who grows her own vegetables, fruits and herbs, and also enjoys the challenge of native plant restoration and "wildscape" design. She lives with her husband, sculptor Richard Cabe, in a house heated and powered by the sun, on a reclaimed industrial parcel in a high-desert valley tucked in the shadow of the tallest stretch of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Award-winning "Kicked Out" features foreword by Casper's Judy Shepard

Casper's Judy Shepard wrote the foreword to the new anthology edited by Sassafras Lowrey, "Kicked Out." Last night, the book received a major literary award. Here's info from Lowrey's web site:

Last night Kicked Out received a HUGE honor and was not only included in the American Library Association’s Over the Rainbow booklist for 2011, but was also included in their Top 11 books of 2011!    Being included is a tremendous honor, and one which will help get Kicked Out into even more libraries across the country, and thus the hands of folks who need its messages the most. You can see all the books included in the top 11 as well as the full Over the Rainbow book list here

I’m so grateful to the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and its Jurors  for honoring Kicked Out.

Here's a description from the book jacket:

In the U.S., 40% of homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). Kicked Out brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth and tells the forgotten stories of some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Diverse contributors share stories of survival and abuse with poignant accounts of the sanctuary of community and the power of creating chosen families. Kicked Out highlights the nuanced perspectives of national organizations such as The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and The National Alliance Against Homelessness and regional agencies, including Sylvia’s Place, The Circus Project and Family Builders. This anthology, introduced by Judy Shepard, gives voice to the voiceless and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness. To learn more, visit us online at KickedOutAnthology.com

Writer and Pinedale native Kate Meadows sends greetings to Wyoming

A very talented group of Gen Y Wyomingites are finding their way in the world. Many of them are artists and writers and performers, weaned on visiting poets in the schools or Wyoming Shakespeare Company summer performances in the park or stints at the annual High School Arts Symposium. Many of them live in other states or other countries because, well, Wyoming doesn't have jobs for them. Now now, anyway.

Because the Wyoming Arts Council had a hand in some of the nurturing arts events noted above, we get many inquiries about our grants, fellowships and related programs. If you're over 18, and you live in the state, we can assist you. If you are an artist plying your trade in some remote enclave such as San Diego or Cape Cod or London, you can't apply for a WAC fellowship. But we still like to hear from you. We can also promote your work with the hope that one day you shall return to The Equality and/or Cowboy State to live and work. You may not have heard but Wyoming is an up-and-coming arts state. Skeptics may want to read the recently commissioned Wyoming Creative Vitality Index (CVI) on our web site.

So, until you come to your senses and return to your home stomping grounds of Torrington or Meeteetse, you can contact your trusty blog editors with news about your life as an artist. We had one such call today from a young woman who grew up in Pinedale. She had the benefit of growing up attending the myriad events sponsored by one of the oldest arts organizations in the state -- the Pinedale Fine Arts Council.

We'll let Kate Meadows tell her own story:

Kate Meadows is a Pinedale native and nonfiction writer specializing in journalism and personal essays. She was born in Jackson Hole and became the third generation of her family to call Sublette County home. She lived in Pinedale for 18 years, attending the same high school as her father and graduating Salutatorian of her class in 2002. She started her writing career at her two hometown newspapers, The Pinedale Roundup and The Sublette Examiner, where she launched profile sections that regularly featured true local characters. Her work has also appeared in national, regional and specialty publications, including Listen magazine, China Daily newspaper, No Body’s Perfect: Stories by Teens About Body Image, Self-Acceptance, and the Search for Identity and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks, Mom. She earned her MFA in Creative and Professional Writing through Western Connecticut State University in 2010. She lives in the Kansas City area with her husband and one-year-old son.

Meadows is the author of Tough Love: A Wyoming Childhood, a collection of personal essays that recounts her experience as an only child growing up in rural Wyoming. The essays explore how Meadows was influenced, both by the rugged and remote landscape and by the raw and gnarly characters that call Sublette County home. The collection probes what it means to be tough, especially in the sparse and lonely environment that is the true modern West. She is currently seeking a publisher.

Kate also said that she received her first writing award from Wyoming Writers, Inc., earning first place in the organization's annual statewide writing competition for her children’s poem, “The Winterland Fairy.”

She is obviously a talented writer. If you're a publisher and want to publish Kate's book -- or are an old Sublette County friend and want to say hi -- drop us a line at mshay@state.wy.us or lcoatn@state.wy.us and we'll make sure Kate gets the message.

Photo of the week: Russell Schnitzer

"Dusk: Pronghorn," Russell Schnitzer

Wyoming photographer Russell Schnitzer shoots fantastic photos and writes essays to accompany them. In his Sept. 25 blog post, he anticipates the hunting season:

...In addition to its well-regarded palette of colors, autumn brings salmon up the rivers of their origin, calls elk and deer down from the high country, beckons homeowners out to split and stack firewood for the months ahead, and compels gardeners to put up harvest's fruits.

For many, though, the shortening of days shifts attention wholly to hunting. It has been this way for me since my youth. Then, as now, I savored long weekend walks through golden aspens awaiting the heart-stopping clamor of ruffed grouse taking flight, and spent sleepless nights in advance of the opening of deer season. That particular light, the woody scents and that special feeling that accompanies a meal of game after a long day afield... The reasons for sentiment have only sharpened over the years.

Read the rest (and view more of Russell's photos) at http://schnitzerphoto.blogspot.com/

Julianne Couch essay in New West

Laramie's Julianne Couch teaches at UW, works as a free-lance writer, is a member of the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster and is a Wyoming Writers, Inc., board member planning the group's 2011 conference. She's also working on a new book. Whew! She notifies wyomingarts that she just published her first "official" piece in New West. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Shaded under a cluster of evergreens in the Medicine Bow National Forest, I watch the family of our friend Mark deliver part of him back to Wyoming from where he lived in Missouri, a few months after his death.

About 50 friends and family gathered to witness Mark’s wife and daughter scatter his ashes into a swift and shallow mountain stream. His dust the color of bentonite disappears like fiber powder into the waters of Douglas Creek. Part of Mark is bound for the Platte River, then will leave Wyoming for the Missouri River, then the Mississippi, then finally, the Gulf of Mexico and the ocean beyond.

You will want to read the entire essay at http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/a_western_sense_of_place_knowing_who_we_are_by_where_we_are/C39/L39/

Peter Anderson talks about "personal maps & topographies" March 5 at WWCC

From a press release:

What makes a place important to you? Stories? Knowledge? Family? Adventure? A sense of home? If you were to map out the most important places in your life, what would you include?

When Colorado writer Peter Anderson asked these questions of himself, he was led to write about mountains. His essays and poems are invitations to consider our own personal maps and topographies and how they affect our lives.

Anderson will read from his work on Friday, March 5 at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs. The event will take place in Room 1302 at 7:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Peter Anderson is author of First Church of the Higher Elevations: Mountains, Prayer, and Presence. An editor, journalist, children’s book writer, and teacher at Adams State College, he lives with his wife and two daughters on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

The event is made possible by the support of the Arlene and Louise Wesswick Foundation. Following the reading, a reception will be held in honor of Louise Wesswick, a recipient of the 2009 Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award.

Anderson’s reading is the third in Western Wyoming Community College’s spring reading series, which will conclude on March 26 with fiction writer Vicki Lindner, formerly of Laramie and now from Denver.

These writers will also be offering workshops prior to their reading, in which they facilitate writing exercises, share writing experiences and tips, and answers student-generated questions.

Anderson’s workshop is scheduled from 2-5 p.m. on Friday, March 5 in Room 1408. For more information, contact WWCC Associate Professor of English Rick Kempa at rkempa@wwcc.wy.edu or 307-382-1731.

Essayist John D'Agata will read from his work March 4 at UW Art Museum

John D'Agata, described as "a young writer of rare intelligence and artistry... redefining the modern American essay," will read and sign his books Thursday, March, at 7 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie.

This free event, sponsored by the MFA Program in Creative Writing, will feature D'Agata's new book, "About A Mountain."

He has been an editor at the Seneca Review and "The Next American Essay" and received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. D'Agata taught writing and literature courses at Colgate College, UW, California Institute of the Arts and the University of Iowa, where he now serves as a permanent faculty member of the nonfiction program.

D'Agata received his B.A. from Hobart College and his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop in both nonfiction and poetry.

For more information, visit the MFA Web site at www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting or e-mail Beth Loffreda at loffreda@uwyo.edu.

Call for entries: Non-fiction childbirth stories

Writer Jeffe Kennedy (formerly of Laramie, now in Santa Fe) sent this announcement from writer Kerri Nelson:

I'm writing a non-fiction book! Inspired by my current (and last of 3) pregnancies, I've submitted a project proposal to a publisher who has subsequently commissioned me to compile a book of real childbirth stories. For those of you who don't know, I was once upon a time a Certified Childbirth Educator (educated at Wake Forest University School of Medicine). So, I have both personal and professional experience in the field.

So, now I'm looking for stories to fill the pages of my first non-fiction project. Here's the deal:

1. Stories must be 10,000 words or less;
2. You can submit more than one story;
3. If your story is chosen for the book, you'll receive a flat rate compensation from the publisher (amount to be determined) but no royalties;
4. You may choose to use a pen name or pseudonym for your story if you don't want your "personal" details published;
5. All types of birth stories are welcome including c-sections, multiple births, etc...;
6. Deadline for birth story submissions is February 26, 2010;
7. The publisher is looking for real birth stories (non-fiction) so please keep that in mind although...the fact that some of you are fiction writers will definitely make your stories highly entertaining...I'm sure; and 8. Please submit your story directly to me with your real name, pen name (or name that you want to use on the story), contact e-mail address, final word count in the body of the e-mail (subject line: Birth Story Submission) and your story attached as a Word.doc. You will be contacted if your story is chosen and further details will follow.

If you have any questions, please contact me directly at kerribookwriter@yahoo.com

Call for blogging entries: CNF Mag

From Creative Nonfiction magazine:

Creative Nonfiction is seeking narrative blog posts to reprint in an upcoming issue of CNF.

We’re looking for: Vibrant new voices with interesting, true stories to tell. Narrative, narrative, narrative. Posts that can stand alone, 2000 words max, from 2009. Something from your own blog, from a friend’s blog, from a stranger’s blog.

The small print: We will contact individual bloggers before publication and pay a flat fee for one-time reprint rights. Deadline for nominations: August 31.

Submit: http://www.creativenonfiction.org/blog_nomination_open.html

Mark Spragg leads Yellowstone writing course

Wyoming novelist Mark Spragg will lead a Yellowstone Association field course, "Writing Inspired by Landscape," August 31-Sept. 3, at Lamar Buffalo Ranch in YNP. Rates: $325 (member's fee $315).

Description from web site:

Immerse your writing in the inspiration of Yellowstone’s mountains and valleys. Explore how this wild landscape can determine pacing, dialogue, tone and action. You’ll pay special attention to maintaining a balance between description and narrative pacing. Develop these effects through outdoor writing exercises and sharing your writing with other participants. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you’ll come away with an understanding of the landscape of character.

Lodging at the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch is recommended for this course. You can book your cabin when you register.

Start: August 31 at 7 p.m. End: September 3 at 4 p.m.

FMI: http://www.yellowstoneassociation.org/institute/

On the front lines in the Wyoming beetle battle

"Four summers ago, I enlisted in the war against the pine bark beetle raging on Wyoming's Togwotee Pass."

This is the lede for Vicki Lindner's article, "We battled the beetles by burning our trees," in today's Wyoming Tribune Eagle. It chronicles the semi-successful beetle battle waged by her and her neighbors outside Dubois. You can read the entire article by going to http://www.wyomingnews.com.

Vicki is a two-time recipient of a Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship. She recently retired as professor in the University of Wyoming creative writing program and now lives in Denver.

First Person Arts deadline extended

Call for entries: Creative Nonfiction Magazine

Call for Submissions: "When Doctors and Lawyers Connect—and Collide."

For a collection to be published by Southern Methodist University Press, Creative Nonfiction is seeking new essays written by or about doctors and lawyers, exploring the two professions’ similarities as well as their divisions and points of conflict. What intrigues, interests, or annoys doctors and lawyers—and, potentially, others—about each other? The objective of this project is to capture the complex relationship between these two professions. Essays must be vivid and dramatic; they should combine a strong and compelling narrative with a significant element of research or information. We’re looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice. Creative Nonfiction editors will award $2,500 for best essay.

Guidelines: Essays must be: unpublished, 5,000 words or less, postmarked by March 15, 2009, and clearly marked “Doctors and Lawyers” on both the essay and the outside of the envelope.

There is a $20 reading fee; $25 includes a 4-issue CNF subscription. Multiple entries are welcome ($20/essay) as are entries from outside the U.S. (though additional subscription postage costs do apply; email information@creativenonfiction.org for rates).

Please send manuscript, accompanied by a cover letter with complete contact information, SASE and payment to: Creative Nonfiction, Attn: Doctors and Lawyers, 5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. Please email any questions to information@creativenonfiction.org.

Information can also be found at http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/submittocnf.htm.

"Going Green" tells tales of Dumpster Divers

Jeffe Kennedy in Laramie sends this news via her blog, Love, Power and Fairytale Endings:

Earth Day 2009 will see the release of the new anthology, Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers. Edited by Laura Pritchett. I'm a contributor, with my essay on "Home Recycling," as are my good friends, the writers Julianne Couch and Chavawn Kelley [also from Laramie]. Here's what the University of Oklahoma Press has to say about it: "Never mind the Ph.D. and middle-class trappings -- Laura Pritchett is a 'Dumpster Diver' and proud of it. Ever since she was old enough to navigate the contents of a metal bin, she has reveled in the treasures found in other people’s cast-offs."

Laura Pritchett of Fort Collins, Colo., was the judge for this year's creative writing fellowships in fiction. She read with the three fellowship winners at the Equality State Book Festival in Casper last September.

Jeffe K. joins the arts blogosphere

Laramie writer (and WAC roster artist) Jeffe Kennedy debuts her new blog on New Year's Day. The blog's title is Love Power and Fairy Tale Endings. Find it at http://lovepowerandfairytaleendings.blogspot.com

Jeffe requests that all wyomingarts readers check it out and tell her what you think.

Make it so.

Julene Bair is "Out in the cold"

During the years she lived in Laramie, writer Julene Bair won a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship, a Willa Award from Women Writing the West, a Mid-List Press First Series Award, the Wyoming Arts Council’s Blanchan Award, the Adler Short Story Award and an Individual Artist Professional Development grant. She also served as a mentor to other writers, and helped found Laramie’s Silver Sage writers group.

Alas, Julene moved south to Colorado. She’s as busy as ever. Her essay, “Out in the Cold: Selling the family farm severs connection with place and past,” is featured in the Dec. 8 issue of High Country News. Julene says that her original title was "Selling Out, Buying In." That's the way it goes sometimes. Her essay focuses on her decision to sell the family farm in western Kansas.

Here’s an excerpt:

Several inches of month-old snow sheathed the fields, and there'd been a fresh dusting the night before. Ground blizzards swirled across the interstate. I dialed in my hometown radio station. The man who'd owned it for as long as I could remember listed the closings caused by ice and near-zero March cold: livestock auctions, a senior get-together, even I-70. Had I left my home in Longmont, Colo., 10 minutes later, I would not have gotten through.

"But once again, folks," continued the voice from my childhood, "if you're looking for some good farm equipment, drive on out to the Harold Bair farm sale. We had a call from the manager out there and the roads are not bad."

There I was in one of the most anonymous places on earth, inside a car driving down the interstate, and I'd been accosted by the public announcement of an intimate betrayal. My betrayal, of my father. I imagined him bolting upright in his grave. If strangers traveling to places like New York and Chicago had heard that announcement, surely he had too.

Read the entire article at www.hcn.org/issues/40.22/out-in-the-cold

Julene’s web site is at www.julenebair.com/

Photo: Sale day at the Bair family farm in Kansas. Photo by Julene Bair.