Welcome Back!

The 2011-2012 school year begins today for all of our wonderful MFAers! There are some exciting new additions to Roosevelt this year, so get excited for the coming Fall and Spring!

Kyle Beachy: Tenure Tracked Skateboarding Machine

Last year's Writer-in-Residence, Kyle Beachy has returned, fully secured in a tenure tracked position! He will be teaching Fiction I this Fall! If you haven't been in one of Kyle's classes yet, you are in for a treat! Besides many published short stories and essays, you can find his acclaimed novel, The Slide, at your bookstore today! And tomorrow too! 

Kathleen Rooney: Non-Fiction Poet Writer-in-Residence Machine

Speaking of Writer-in-Residence, Roosevelt welcomes Kathleen Rooney to that very position! Kathleen participates in many Chicago literary events, has her own press, and has books in both poetry and non-fiction! She will be teaching a non-fiction class this fall and a poetry class in the spring!

Christine Sneed: Fiction Writing Grace Paley Prize Winning Machine

Teaching Fiction III/IV this year is award-winning writer Christine Sneed! Her novel, Portraits of a Few People I've Made Cry was awarded the Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction at AWP in 2009! She also teaches at Depaul! And has a wonderful blog here!

Dominic Smith: Visiting Writer Gage Gallery Reading Machine

Mark your calenders! This September 19th, novelist Dominic Smith, will be our visiting writer at the Gage Gallery! You can read all about him on his website and welcome him as he reads some of his work and visits class! More details forthcoming!

More news and events to come! Keep up with this blog for updates! And send in your good news and publications! Get excited!

Christine Sneed to Teach Fiction this Fall

Fresh off of the release of her highly acclaimed short story collection, Portraits of the Few People I've Made Cry, Christine Sneed will be teaching Fiction III/IV in the upcoming fall semester at Roosevelt's MFA program.

Portraits of a Few People I've Made Cry has won numerous awards, including The Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction (an AWP Award Series) in 2009 and has been nominated by the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the first fiction category. Christine has had fiction, essays, and poetry published in such journals as New England Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Other Voices, among many others, and has even had a short story published in Best American Short Stories. 

She currently teaches courses at DePaul University and University of New Orleans' low residency MFA program. She blogs about the hardships and joy of writing at Ploughshares Literary Magazine's website, which you can read here!