Expertise & Excellence » literary arts

Poetry professor wins NEA grant for creative writing

Emily — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:41:40 +0000

Mary Szybist, assistant professor of English, received a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowship in creative writing this month. The highly competitive fellowships of $25,000 each are given to published creative writers of exceptional talent, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write. One of the foremost awards in the literary field, the NEA grant will support Szybist’s work on her second book of poems, tentatively titled Incarnadine.

“A grant like this is a boost of adrenaline to the writing process,” said Szybist. “As I’ve worked on my current manuscript for the last few years, I have cycled through periods of faith and doubt, both about the poems and the project as a whole. To have the NEA select my work for this distinction is a great gift of validation, and I am eager to return to my manuscript with a renewed sense of vigor and excitement.”

Szybist’s poetry has appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, Tin House, and Best American Poetry 2008. Her first book, Granted, was named one of the top ten books of poetry in 2003 by Library Journal. Also that year, Szybist was a finalist for the National Book Circle Critic’s Award in Poetry.

Listen to Szybist read her work at the Poetry website.

Director of the Northwest Writing Institute Kim Stafford wins regional art fellowship

tspeel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:00:20 +0000

In September, Kim Stafford, associate professor and director of the Northwest Writing Institute, won a $20,000 fellowship from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, an honor awarded once a year to a local artist. Stafford plans to use this fellowship on his project Pilgrim at Home: Local Encounters Beyond the Epoch of the Car, a compilation of essays written about the walking life of Portland. Stafford is writer in residence at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, in addition to serving as the literary executor for William Stafford’s estate.

The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Stafford wins $20,000 fellowship

Oregon Public Broadcasting (Portland, Ore.) Poet Stafford honored with $20,000 award

Mary Stuart Rogers Professor of Education Ruth Shagoury publishes book on young writers

Emily — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:53:45 +0000

Ruth Shagoury, Mary Stuart Rogers professor of education:

Shagoury published a book about educating young writers. “Raising Writers: Understanding and Nurturing Young Children’s Writing Development” (Allyn & Bacon, 2008) explores how primary educators can nurture young learners through the transition from spoken to written language.

Assistant Professor Pauls Toutonghi reviews novel about a Soviet crime

tspeel — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:36:07 +0000

Pauls Toutonghi, assistant professor of English:

In May, Toutonghi reviewed Tom Rob Smith’s novel “Child 44,” a brutal story about a serial killer preying on children in the former Soviet Union. In the St. Petersburg Times, Toutonghi writes that Smith is “clearly a writer in process; he’s still learning how to tell a story on the printed page.”

Assistant Professor Kimberly Campbell discusses how to engage adolescent readers

tspeel — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:22:57 +0000

Kimberly Campbell, assistant professor of language arts:

In April, Campbell served as a keynote speaker at the the Kansas Reading Association conference in Junction City, Kansas. Campbell’s presentation was titled “Less is More: Using Short Texts in Support of Adolescent Readers.”

In May, Campbell presented “Less is More: The Power of Essays to Engage Adolescent Readers” with Janet Allen and three YA authors at the International Reading Conference.

Undergraduate’s comic book on display

tspeel — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:03:48 +0000

Emily Block, a sophomore art major, participated in Cosmic Monkey Comics 24-hour comic-drawing marathon, the Drawpocalyspe, on April 5. Block’s comic, a childhood-inspired story about a girl who obtains her father’s magical flying sweater, will be on display at the Stumptown Comics Fest at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel on April 26 and 27.

Portland Tribune (Portland, Ore.) At event, every ‘toon tells a tale

Kim Stafford appointed PNCA’s first Writer-In-Residence

Anne — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:44:21 +0000

Kim Stafford, associate professor and director of the Northwest Writing Institute:

This spring, Stafford was appointed Pacific Northwest College of Art’s (PNCA) first Writer-In-Residence.

Visiting Professor of English Jerry Harp discusses possible decline in reading

Anne — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:22:51 +0000

In an article examining recent reports about the decline in reading, Visiting Professor of English Jerry Harp explains that the perceived movement away from reading “posits a golden age of reading that never existed” and “seems to be related to the mentality that things are not as good as they used to be.”

The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Book Report

John Callahan and Adam Bradley co-edit Ellison novel

tspeel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:26:24 +0000

Co-editors of the forthcoming Ellison novel, Three Days Before the Shooting, Morgan S. Odell Professor of Humanities John Callahan and Adam Bradley ’96 describe the course of their significant, though painstaking, work.