News from the School of IAS

Category: Creative Writing and Poetics

Margaret Chiavetta publishes her first book and discusses why kids need more fictional characters with special needs

Margaret Chiavetta (MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics ’14) has published her first book, The Alchemist’s Theorem: Sir Duffy’s Promise, which is the first book in a planned five-part series. The series features a middle grade hero who registers on the autism spectrum. Recently ParentMap.com conducted an interview with Chiavetta to find out why kids need more fictional characters with special needs. In the interview Chiavetta says:

October 14, 2016

Amaranth Borsuk performs and speaks in New York and Colorado

IAS faculty member Amaranth Borsuk was recently in New York to take part in an event at legendary art nonprofit The Kitchen: "Electronic Literature Organization: We Have Always Been Digital." The afternoon of new media writing included established and emerging artists whose born-digital work spans apps, augmented reality, bots, generative poetry, live writing, video, and even work for the Amazon Echo. Hosted and curated by artist Illya Szilak, the event included Abraham Avnisan, John Cayley, David Clark, Caitlin Fisher, Ian Hatcher, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Flourish Klink, Tan Lin, Nick Montfort, Kia Miakka Natisse, and Allison Parrish. Borsuk also ...

September 28, 2016

Natalie Singer-Velush selected as finalist for Autumn House Press nonfiction prize

MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics alum Natalie Singer-Velush (’16) has been chosen as a finalist for Autumn House Press’s nonfiction prize. Selected from more than 1,000 manuscript entries, her memoir, California Calling, traces Singer-Velulsh’s relocation from Canada to California at age sixteen and explores moments of being silenced before finding her voice. Her manuscript was largely written as she was completing her MFA program and seeking small press publishers. Singer-Velush was enticed by ...

August 15, 2016

Amaranth Borsuk exhibits student work in Discovery Hall

Visitors to Discovery Hall this summer can see chapbooks created by students in IAS faculty member Amaranth Borsuk's Spring 2016 "Advanced Interdisciplinary Arts workshop: Chapbooks and Artists' Books." The class asks what poets might learn from book artists about placing form and content in dialogue. Students learn a new binding each week, read a contemporary chapbook, and create one of their own. As a culmination to the quarter, each participant creates an editioned work to trade with their peers, and the class collaborates on a chapbook consisting of their strongest writing from the quarter.

July 25, 2016

Local writers share at “MFA Careers and Writing Futures”

A panel of local writers met with MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics students and alumni to share their career trajectories and advice for the road. They discussed how their MFA degrees have enhanced their writing, ways they’ve sustained their practices creatively and financially, and what professional opportunities they see for emerging writers. Panelists included MFA alumni Margaret Chiavetta (’14) and Travis Sharp (’15), and Priscilla Long, and Sarah Mangold.

June 3, 2016

IAS Faculty Present Work at Annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference

IAS faculty members Amaranth Borsuk, Sarah Dowling, and micha cárdenas attended the annual AWP conference in Los Angeles this April, where they presented work on panels and took part in off-site readings. cárdenas presented on a panel "Necessary Hybridity: The Politics & Performance of Making Multigenre, Multimedia, Multiethnic Literature Visible." The panel addressed ...

May 17, 2016

Amaranth Borsuk Publishes Two New Books of Poems

This spring sees the publication of two new books of poems by IAS faculty member Amaranth Borsuk. Pomegranate Eater was just released by Kore, a feminist press based in Tucson whose mission is "to publish and promote excellent works of stunning literary value and innovation by a diversity of women, including those traditionally underrepresented in the cultural mainstream and to educate young people about the power of voice and effecting change through literary activism."

May 17, 2016