Two Roosevelt MFA events that will take the panic out of "post-graduation-panic"

One of the nasty bits of information which MFA students like to ignore is that MFA programs end.  Yes, there will be years and years of life after you cast off from the friendly shores of MFA-island, and what you do with that voyage can be a daunting task.  Especially, because, looking at the map, there are dragons out there.  

...Figurative dragons, of course.

 

Luckily, there  are two MFA-related events happening at Roosevelt next week designed to help make the terrifying post-grad school period ever-so-slightly-less terrifying.  First, on Monday, Roosevelt MFA Non-fiction fanatic Tovah Burstein (seriously folks, she’s so devoted non-fiction she looses every hand of poker she plays) will be leading a cover letter writing workshop. 

Cover letter fears?  Tovah's got your back!

 

The workshop will teach you how to wow prospective employers with both rhetorical flourishes and no-nonsense straight talk.   It will take place at noon this coming Monday, in the Roosevelt Writing Center Annex (Auditorium Building room 648).

Without publishers, these people would all be holding grapefruits or rubik's cubes.

But let’s say you’re not interested in cover letters.  You refuse to be bound by the shackles of “regular paychecks” and “health insurance”  and “gainful employment.”   For the uncompromising writers among us, we have, next Wednesday, a panel featuring a wide variety of publishing industry vets.   The panel will feature literary agent Ethan Bassoff, Random House editor Tim O'Connell, and Red Hen editor and publisher Kate Gale.  Bring your questions, your (publishing-related) dreams, your writerly nightmares, and hear from people who do this for a living how it is done.  That panel will take place next Wednesday, February 29^th in Auditorium Building room 232.  If you plan to attend that one, you should e-mail Scott Blackwood at sblackwood (at) roosevelt (dot) edu. 

Come to one, come to both, and be able to strut into the AWP conference with the confidence that you, good sir or madam, now know the tricks of the post-mfa-life trade.  

James Orbesen Published in Helix Magazine.

A Double Helix-

Choosing good writers must be in their DNA!

Roosevelt MFA Student, creator of both textual and visual wonders, and all around bang-up guy James Orbesen has a story featured in the new issue of Helix Magazine. James' piece is entitled “Proper Assembly,” and, unfortunately, it is not available (yet!) for viewing on Helix's colorful website.

What's that on the horizon, James?  A future National Book Award?

The magazine is distributed nationally, so go down to your local book store and pick up a copy. In fact, pick up 7, and distribute them to your seven best friends. As the old saying goes, “There's nothing better for the holiday blues than James Orbesen.”

Congrats James!

Kolak Published in Latest Inertia

Marynia Kolak's non-fiction piece, "El Zopilote", is published and live at Inertia! Marynia, a recent MFA Graduate in Non-Fiction, and former (legendary) Graduate Assistant, says that she's excited to have her second piece of creative writing published! What was her first creative writing published you may ask? In OVS Magazine! You can read more about that publication here!

Inertia is based out of New York! Their ultimate goal is to publish the best materials, and "to seek out, discover, and encourage new talent." Check out this online literary journal right here! And submit something! Ask Marynia for advice! But first, say, "Congratulations, Marynia!" She'll know what you're talking about!

Cox Published in Midwestern Gothic

Heather "Million Dollar Smiles Machine" Cox

Roosevelt MFA Candidate, Poet, and Ghost Ocean Magazine Founding Editor, Heather Cox, can now be read in the latest Midwestern Gothic fall publication! Her poem, "This town is a photograph", lies in the coveted final slot in the journal and can be purchased here today!

The Midwest Done Right

Midwestern Gothic is a quarterly literary journal based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, seeking work about or inspired by the midwest! They've published, along with Heather, the likes of Molly Gaudry, Aaron Burch, Roxane Gay, J.A. Tyler, and many more!

Red Lightbulbs: Online and Dangerous

Heather is coming off a string of big news! She has recently been published in Red Lightbulbs! Her poems, "Fire When Ready" and "What She Told Me From The Brigg" can be viewed here! Her literary magazine, Ghost Ocean Magazine, recently announced the winners for it's first Chapbook contest! And she is currently, probably at this very moment, hard at work on her thesis, and will be reading a selection at the Gage Gallery, with other Graduates, next Thursday! But more details on that later! For now, congratulate Heather on her publications! And give her a hug! She loves hugs!

Kolak Published in OVS Magazine

Marynia "Experimental Writing is the Best Writing" Kolak

Recent Roosevelt MFA Graduate, former Graduate Assistant, and awesome non-fiction writing Gal Pal, Marynia Kolak, has been published in OVS Magazine! Her two poems, "En Leon" and "sensing the perfume of your fresh kill" are in their Summer 2011 issue, which you can order here!

OVS Summer 2011 Issue!

OVS was started in 2009 to give new and established artists and writers a place to publish their work in a respectable peer-critiqued journal. OVS is based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and publishes the very best in poetry and artwork! Marynia joins the ranks of writers like Sherman Alexie and Killarney Clary - who have poetry published in the very same issue (SERIOUSLY, order it here)!

Forthcoming for Marynia is another publication (What!), this time from Inertia Magazine. Her poem, "El Zopilote", will be published in the New York based online literary journal. They hope to seek out the best new talent! That is why her work will be included! Look for it soon!

Marynia is excited to have these major publications, and doubly excited because two of the poems came out of a story in her thesis. She could be triply excited if you congratulate her, and if subsequently asked about the story these poems sprang from, maybe she'll be quadruple enough excited to tell you about it! Who knows!

Stachniak Poem Published in Word Riot

Zander Stachniak, current MFA candidate in poetry, not only has the honor of having the second best name starting with "Z" (after Zoilo), but now has a poem published in Word Riot! Appropriately titled, "How to Survive a Hangover: Jeff Goldblum Describes How He Knows that Today is Going to be Worse than Yesterday", the poem uses intense literary language in the most concise space imaginable. Check it out here. See what people are talking about!

Word Riot is sort of a big deal. It's been around since 2002 and has published up-and-coming writers. They like edgy! They like challenging! They like unique voices! Luckily for them, Zander has been described as all of those things, in many different contexts. So it's a perfect fit! Zander is a co-assistant editor and copyeditor at Ghost Ocean Magazine. He also has work published in Future Cycle Poetry, The Driftwood Review, and The Medulla Review.

Nelson Published in Latest Burner Magazine

Arielle Nelson, current poetry candidate in Roosevelt University's MFA program, is burning things up with her poetry! Don't worry, no one was harmed in the publication of her poem, "Robot Nanny", in the latest issue of Burner Magazine...YET. You can read it right here (It's issue 4, on page 92).

Arielle has had work previously published in Ghost Ocean Magazine and Pyrta. She was the Editor-in-Chief of Roosevelt's Oyez Review just this past year. She loves rats and creepy things. Her work could be a perfect fit with Burner Magazine, which states that Burner is about science, art, truth, conspiracies, naturalism, cyborgs, music, beauty, sex and everything in between. READ WITH CAUTION.

Markussen Poem Published in Painted Bride Quarterly

Prairie Markussen, 2007 Roosevelt MFA Alum, has been keeping herself busy! Her poem, "From Blackstone Ave." is in the latest Painted Bride Quarterly! And another poem, "Even Means" is forthcoming in a Accents Publishing anthology! She already has publications in The Fiddlehead, Louisiana Literature, Epicenter, Rattle, and Painted Bride Quarterly. And she's doing this all while living and writing in Daegu, South Korea, where she teaches English to high school students! 

Congratulate Prairie through electronic communication or if you happen to be in a Daegu market on a Sunday morning! And you can find "From Blackstone Ave." right here!

Hooray for Kyle Beachy!

Congratulations to Kyle Beachy, who has been awarded the new tenure track position at Roosevelt's MFA program.  Beachy has been a great addition to the fiction team this past year, and we are so excited to see him stay on.  It's like we've borrowed a book from the library, and then Harold Washington himself tells us just to keep it!

To read some of Beachy's work, check out PANK magazine, which has recently published his short story "Everett Pike, Nearly." You can also let Beachy read this story to you at PANK's website.  Hooray for Beachy, for this publication, and for the many wonderful ways you will enhance the MFA program in the years to come!

Villarruel's Short Story Published in Pyrta

Cecilia Villarruel's short story, 50 Cent Accomplishments, has been published in the spring issue of Pyrta.  Pyrta is an online literary journal that aims to be a vibrant multicultural space.  They are based in Meghalaya, India.  Meghalaya means The Abode of Clouds.  

Cecilla has had work published in our very own Oyez Review, as well as CAF Review and Gallery 37's anthologies, Alchemy and Paper Atrium, but this is the first online magazine she's submitted to and her work has already been accepted!  Amazing!  Appropriately enough, she will be travelling through India this summer and working there in the fall, and could very well find herself in Meghalaya, walking in the clouds.

Check out her story, today, now, here: http://www.pyrtajournal.com/