UNM Creative Writing Blog Getting Noticed

And some other good things about the UNM Creative Writing Program.

From UNM Today:

Soon after first year M.F.A. student Tanaya Winder came to UNM this semester, she told Julie Shigekuni, new director of the creative writing program, about a Stanford program called the Levinthal Tutorials that helped her prepare for graduate school. Winder’s suggestion led to the creation of the Russo Tutorials, an independent study pairing creative writing graduate students with seniors who are developing a portfolio and graduate school application.

M.F.A. student Valerie Santillanes will participate in the tutorials next semester. In her final year, Santillanes said she wants to pass on the mentorship she received. “Having someone that believed I could do it made me believe I could do it,” she said. “It’s exciting to think I could be that for somebody.”

She’s also excited about a new retreat for graduate students that will be held at Ghost Ranch during intercession so they can work intensively on their dissertations. Santillanes said it will be great to go somewhere without distractions and concentrate on writing.

While acknowledging the UNM creative writing program has had a controversial year with serious issues to be resolved, these students are bringing new ideas and energy to help the program live and grow.

CONTINUE READING –>

Luci Tapahonso reads from her new book, A Radiant Curve, at Bookworks

Thursday, December 11, 7 pm

Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW

Luci  Tapahanso will be reading from her new book, A Radiant Curve.

In this sixth collection of stories and verse, award-winning writer Luci Tapahonso finds sacredness in everyday life. Viewing a sunset in a desert sky, listening to her granddaughter recount how she spent her day, or visiting her mother after her father’s passing, she finds traces of her own memories, along with echoes of the voices of her Navajo ancestors. The collection also includes an audio CD of the author reading aloud and her voice is warm and inviting, like the “simmering soup and blue corn meal” of her childhood.

Two-Time Grammy Winner Robert Mirabal at the SUB December 11

UNM Presents Reading By

Two-time Grammy Award winner Robert Mirabal will read from his first novel, “Running Alone in Photographs,” at the University of New Mexico, Student Union Building Lobo room, on Thursday, Dec. 11, noon-1:30 p.m. The reading will be followed by a reception and book signing at American Indian Student Services, 1119 Mesa Vista Hall, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

For the past 10 years, Mirabal has dominated the Native American music category like no one else. In that time he has created more than a dozen traditional flute, rock and spoken word CDs that have earned him almost every honor awarded in the genre, including two Grammy Awards for best Native American Albums of the Year (2006 and 2008). His 2001 PBS special, “Music from a Painted Cave,” remains one of public television’s most popular fundraisers of all time.

But using music to connect with his audience is only one of Mirabal’s gifts, and his new novel, “Running Alone in Photographs,” promises to open a window onto contemporary American Indian life not seen before.

Written in a style that blends memoir and historical fiction, Mirabal’s tale is set in Saint Teresa Pueblo in northern New Mexico. It is the coming-of-age story of Reyes Wind, a young musician who returns to her ancestral home for her grandmother’s funeral.

Dealing with themes of personal responsibility and empowerment, the novel focuses on worlds in transition – the struggle between tribal identity and life in modern society – and the courage and grace required to live fully in each.

For more information, contact American Indian Student Services at (505) 277-6343.

Marketing Your Book: The World We Live In

Many of you may have seen this already, but clearly it’s worth sharing, especially with my fellow MFA students, who I am SURE will be publishing a book. Soon. Very very soon.  

The fantastic video clearly illustrates the importance of understanding today’s technology, online marketing and social media.  And hang on kids, it changes almost daily…  but you can start here, participating (which means sharing news, commenting, linking in and out) on this blog.

BMR Interview with Nonfiction Intern, Brett Elwell

What year are you, and how would you describe yourself as a writer? 

I’m a first semester senior right now.  Most people are doing whatever they can to graduate from college; I’m doing just about anything to stay in.  Myself as a writer?  I’d say I’m just like David Foster Wallace – except for not nearly as intelligent (I actually just misspelled “intelligent” right there, and my computer autocorrected it), our prose styles are completely opposite, I don’t use footnotes, and have never written anything over eighteen pages.  But other than those little things, we’re practically the same dude. 

What prompted you to join up with Blue Mesa Review? 

I want to say it’s because Jack Trujillo told me, “Brett, you’d be the biggest idiot if you didn’t,” though I can’t be sure.  But it was probably because everyone was so friendly, encouraging, welcoming and supportive.  It was the perfect environment to grow in every direction. 

Why ever have you returned? 

Because Chris Wrenn promised me that, if I returned as an intern, he’d show me how to smoke cigarettes and drink whisky straight from the bottle like a poet.  At this point, I’m up to chewing on toothpicks and drinking warm milk from a flask.  It’s a work in progress, but I’m getting there.  I really just want an excuse to carry a Zippo. 

What do you like about interning? 

Monet pretty much hit the nail on the head with the paperclips.  
 

Does Blue Mesa really help you as a writer? 

Wow, yes.  Yes yes.  At this point in college, I wonder where I’ve actually learned more: my workshops or Blue Mesa.  But I can honestly say it’s the combination of the two that have really made me a better reader/writer. 

What do you think of Kyle Churney, Poetry Editor?  I mean, really.  Be honest. 

Well, I’ll let you decide: Kyle and I are releasing our first album next year.  It’s a hip-hop concept album about minimalism and the short story, tentatively called, “Churn-Dog & B-Wise: Spare Rhymes About Prose Lines.”  The first single off the album is called, “Carver’s Cathedral, Air-Tight Like a Ziplock Bag.

Thanks Brett, you are the sand in the sandias.

______

BMR holds slush pile readings on Tuesdays 2pm and Fridays 3pm in the English Department lounge.  Snacks from the Flying Star will be provided this Friday!  Everyone is welcome to attend!

Works In Progress November 21 Audio

Disk Error. Can’t explain it. My equipment was working fine. The disk was new. And expensive I might add. And yet, the hour of awesome audio (should that be AWE-DIO?) is inaccessible. And unpublishable on this blog. I hope to re-record the incredible writers that participated in the November 21 Works in Progress Event, so in the meantime, entertain yourselves with this word pool game that I play when I attend open mics and such. I jot down words that strike my fancy as I listen, taking care to write them on different parts of the page so they are not in the order in which I hear them…. And later, I use these words to spark my own imagination. So give it a try:

Words from Samantha Tetangco:

graze, cry, pencil, talk, pour, skin, thing,
intervention, pudgy, tangle, moan,
exhale, bodies, expand

 

Words from Erika Sanchez:

animals, hoop, corn, furnace, punished, slicing,
heat, flutter, rapture, fruit, atlas, stare,
chorizo, carry, smell

 

Words from Dan Mueller:

tilted, smirk, quiver, secluded, scotch,
transformed, comment, voting, cyborgs,
untangle, granite, victory, mosaic, everything

 

The great thing about this game is that in allows me to engage in listening on a different level, and really listen for words. Sometimes we get stuck using the same words all the time in our own writing, so it’s good to find new words to play with.

Robert Hass to visit January 15, 2009

Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate, author most recently of Time & Materials, and U.C. Berkeley Professor, will host a poetry workshop on Thursday, January 15th, 2009, at 10:00, in Humanities 108. Graduate students and undergrad cw majors interested in attending should contact Julie at jshig@unm.edu to reserve a spot.