Accomplishments
Recent Accomplishments
New Books
Hostile Takeovers by Michael Black, MFA alum, Dorchester Publishing, August 2009
Cherry Bomb by J.A. Konrath, Hyperion, July 2009
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert, MTV Books, July 2009
Forthcoming Books
I Am Not a Psychic by Richard Belzer with Michael Black [MFA alum], Simon and Schuster Adult Publishing Group, October 6, 2009
Muddy as a Duck Puddle by Laurie Lawlor, adjunct faculty, spring 2010.
Thirsty, by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe, MFA alumna, Swallow Press, October 2, 2009
Awards
Laurie Lawlor, adjunct faculty, Illinois Reading Council Prairie State Award for Excellence in Children's Writing, to be presented March 18, 2010 in Springfield, Illinois
Kirk Barrett, [FW alum and student of Mort Castle], First Prize honors in Short-Short Story, in the second annual Press 53 Open Awards Writing Contest, for his story "Sarajevo Roses"
Deb R. Lewis [MFA alumna and adjunct faculty], story "Blown at the Pride Parade" (bitsy club version) won Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement Prose Prize; Hades' Son, a top-three finalist in Project Queer Lit competition
Jon Gugala, runner-up Playboy College Fiction Contest, "South Florida," May 4, 2009
Work in Anthologies
Felicia Schneiderhan, MFA alumna, work in From the Pews in the Back, Liturgical Press, July 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], short stories "Curandera," published in Criminal Class Review (forthcoming Sept. 2009, Criminal Class Press) and "Karena," to be published in Sex anthology (forthcoming fall, 2009, Avendia Publishing).
Mort Castle, [adjunct faculty], "Write Like Poe," Writer's Digest, February 2009; reprinted as "Write Like Your Heroes," July 2009, in Yearbook of Writer's Digest: Novelists; "Tone: Your Voice in the Reader's Mind," reprinted in Readings for Writers, 13th Edition, August 2009, edited by Winkler and McCuen, Thompson Learning Corp; "New Fiction Blend: History + Horror," reprinted in Writer's Workshop of Horror, August 2009, edited by Michael Knots, Woodland Publishing, LLC; "If You Take My Hand, My Son," reprint translated into German, August 2009, Necrophobia 3: Zart wie Babyhaut (anthology), edited by Frank Festa, Festa Verlag; "Upstairs, Downstairs, All About Vampires," reprint translated into French, late 2009, for Borderlines, edited by Lionel Bernard; Mighty Unclean Presents Gary Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Cody Goodfellow, and Gemma Files, edited by Bill Breedlove, (20,000 words) of this four author collection, the stories: "Music on the Michigan Avenue Bridge," "Bird's Dead," "Moon on the Water," "I Am Your Need," "Dreaming Robot Monster," June 2009, DarkArts Publishing
"The Descent," Leah Tallon, Bath Spa Anthology, July 2009
Fiction Published
"I Am Your Need," short story translated into Polish, along with "Interview with Mort Castle by Bartek Paszylk," September 2009, Nowa Fantastyka
"So Much for the Universe," flash fiction by Katie Ziolkowski [FW undergrad] in Boston Literary Magazine
"Blown at the Pride Parade (Bitsy Club Version)" by Deb R. Lewis [MFA alum and adjunct faculty], First Place Prose Winner in Windy City Times' Sixth Annual Pride Literary Supplement: Stonewall 40: Looking Out, June 2009
"Pistol Pete," novel excerpt by Bill Hillmann [FW grad student], foggedclarity.com, May 1, 2009
"Cow Hands in the Big City" by Lucy Froemmling, short story in Pith, October 15, 2009
"All Falls Down" by Jessa Marsh, story in Storyglossia, July 2009; "What We Can't Do," in Monkeybicycle, July 2009; "A Review of How I Pick Songs While Driving in My Car," Knee-Jerk, August 2009; "My Motel Week," in decomp, June 2009; "Nightswimming," in Emprise Review, September 2009; "Fix Us," in Pank, October 2009
Nonfiction Published
Lisa Schlesinger (faculty), PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, volume 31, no.3, September 2009 (PAJ 93), in "The Legacy of María Irene Fornés: A Collection of Impressions and Exercises," "Notes from IOWA 1993-94"
Lisa Schlesinger (faculty), Theater, volume 39, no.3, "American Playwrights on Language and War in Iraq: A Virtual Roundtable"
Patricia Ann McNair and Philip Hartigan, "Ways of Seeing," Writing in Education, Issue Number 48, Summer 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], two articles published in Time Out Chicago magazine (June and Sept. 2009) and two articles published in/on Metromix/Red Eye (July and Sept. 2009).
Brian Costello [MFA alum], "Better Read Than Dead," Newcity, July 30, 2009
Christina Katz [MFA alumna], "Build Your Power Platform," Writer's Digest, May/June 2009
Alexis Thomas, "Rebel, Rebel," cover story for Newcity, April 23, 2009
Jon Gugala [FW student], book review of John Schultz's No One Was Killed, in Chicago Life, June 2009
Poetry Published
"I Was Born to Die" by David R. Hughes [undergrad], New York Times website, June 2009
Editing
Kathie Bergquist [MFA alumna], along with Owen Keehnen, edited this year's Windy City Times' Sixth Annual Pride Literary Supplement: Stonewall 40: Looking Out, June 2009
Residencies
Patricia Ann McNair [FW faculty], "Workshop - Interlochen Adult Programs," Writers' Retreat faculty, June 15-18, 2009
Presentations and Appearances
John Schultz, emeritus faculty, interviewed on Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan on WGN radio, August 16, 2009. Talked about The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and No One Was Killed
Mort Castle, adjunct faculty, leading creative writing workshop at World Horror Convention 2010, March 25-28, 2010, Brighton, UK; HWA Bram Stoker Awards Weekend Writing Workshop Leader, Burbank, California, June 2009; Celebrity Panelist/Judge, Wildclaw Theater Deathscribe Audio competition, October 2009
Deb R. Lewis [MFA alumna and adjunct faculty], panelist on "Queer as Words" and moderator on "Stain the Sheets" (sex writing) panel at Pilcrow Lit Fest
Reviews and Media Attention
J. Adams Oaks: The Subtext Interview, MFA alum, on his book Why I Fight and other topics, at www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-subtext/2009/09/j-adams-oaks-why-i-fight-subtext
Marcus Sakey, alum, "Chasing the American Nightmare," by Tom Lynch, Newcity, August 20, 2009; "Robbery Goes Bad in Marcus Sakey's The Amateurs," review online Associated Press, August 6, 2009; "Marcus Sakey: the reigning "prince" of crime fiction returns, Chicago, August 2009
Mort Castle, adjunct faculty, featured on cover of Nowa Fantastycka magazine, September 2009. Also, new Polish reviews of Moon on the Water and Strangers
Stephanie Kuehnert, interviewed by Tom Lynch in Newcity, July 16, 2009, "American Beauties" on her book Ballads of Suburbia
Newcity's Lit 50 honored Randy Albers [FW chair], Gina Frangello [FW adjunct faculty], Bill "The Butcher" Hillman [MFA candidate] in June 2009
Nami Mun, Miles from Nowhere, in "New in Paperback" section of People, September 14, 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct] co-founder of Reading Under the Influence reading series, voted "Best Reading Series of 2009" by Chicago Reader; recommended in American Airlines American Way in-flight magazine, Sept. 1, 2009 issue
Mort Castle, praised in reader mail ("How I envy those who enroll in Mort Castle's writing classes at Columbia...") in May/June 2009 Writer's Digest, "The Benefits of Pastiche"
Joe Meno, "Back in the Big Time," interviewed by Kevin Nance, Poets & Writers, May June 2009
Readings
Windy City Story Slam, July 25, 2009, with Nicolette Kittinger [MFA student], Grant Mahoney, Jose Rivera, and Alexis Thomas [FW undergrad] at Simone's
Brian Costello [MFA alum and adjunct] and Nicole Chakalis [MFA alumna and Columbia College staff] hosting Second City/Third Person reading, September 12, at the Book Cellar with readers Zack Dodson, Alexis Thomas [UG student], and Kyle Beachy
Nami Mun [FW faculty], at Women and Children First, September 9, 2009
Julia Borcherts [MFA alumna and adjunct], featured reader at Literary Gangs of Chicago (March 2009), 2nd Story Festival (April 2009), Orange Alert Reading Series (July 2009), and Victory Gardens' "Fresh Squeezed" series (forthcoming Oct. 2009).
Steve Simoncic [alum], staged reading of his play Broken Fences in New York, July 20, 2009
Jonathan Messinger [adjunct faculty], Jesse Jordan [MFA alum] and Rob Duffer [adjunct faculty and MFA alum], RUI: Reading Under the Influence, July 1, 2009, along with Chicago Public Library 2009 21st Century Award-winner Patrick Somerville (The Cradle) including readings by and about Honest Abe
"War and Peace," theme at Windy City Story Slam at Simone's Bar, featuring John Schultz [professor emeritus] and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Crime), with Nick Kawahara [alum] and Justin Dickman [alum], June 6, 2009
Performances
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], co-curator, Windy City Story Slam (selection of and story development for non-professional storytellers), (March and October 2009).
Deb R. Lewis [alumna and adjunct faculty], one of nine featured storytellers in Solo Homo 7, also collaborating with J. Adams Oaks [MFA alum, author of Why I Fight] on "Two Blue Pegs, Two Pink Pegs," at 2nd Story Pride at @mosphere; performed stories for Homolatte and several Serendipity Theatre Collective special 2nd Story events: Erotica Night at G-Boutique for the Goodman Theatre's Strong Women, Strong Voices Taking the Stage series; Theater 7's Diversey Harbor curtain-teaser series; Pilcrow Lit Fest presents Straw Dog Late Night
April Newman [MFA alumna], featured storyteller at 2nd Story: Pride, June 21, 2009, at @mosphere
Bill Hillman [grad student], essays "Running with the Bulls in Pamplona" (July 2009) and "An Audio Essay from an Everyday Laborer," (September 2009) Chicago Public Radio WBEZ, Eight Forty-Eight
Screening
Beau Jest, James Sherman's [FW adjunct] writer and director of movie starring Lainie Kazan, running at Wilmette Theatre October 1-8.
Musical
The Boy Detective Fails by writer Joe Meno [FW faculty] and composer Adam Gwon, directed by Joe Calarco, 21/24 Signature Lab, an initiative for the creation of musical theater works by emerging young composers, July 23 and 24, 2009, Arlington, VA
Book Illustration
Sara Michaels, former Fiction Writing I student of Lila Jokanovic, has illustrated A Day in the Park, written by Jeff Jablonski.
Online Lit Journals
Knee-Jerk Magazine, founded by FW grad students C. James Bye, Jonathan Fullmer, and Stephen Tartaglione, July 2009
Reprintings
Bath Massacre by Arnie Bernstein, University of Michigan Press, now in its 4th printing.
Career News
Annie Kennedy [FW alumna], currently Literacy Coordinator at the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, running a creative writing and literacy program for low-income, ELL, and refugee students; also a Literacy Intern with Open Books, a nonprofit promotion literacy in Chicago
New Books
Hostile Takeovers by Michael Black, MFA alum, Dorchester Publishing, August 2009
Cherry Bomb by J.A. Konrath, Hyperion, July 2009
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert, MTV Books, July 2009
Forthcoming Books
I Am Not a Psychic by Richard Belzer with Michael Black [MFA alum], Simon and Schuster Adult Publishing Group, October 6, 2009
Muddy as a Duck Puddle by Laurie Lawlor, adjunct faculty, spring 2010.
Thirsty, by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe, MFA alumna, Swallow Press, October 2, 2009
Awards
Laurie Lawlor, adjunct faculty, Illinois Reading Council Prairie State Award for Excellence in Children's Writing, to be presented March 18, 2010 in Springfield, Illinois
Kirk Barrett, [FW alum and student of Mort Castle], First Prize honors in Short-Short Story, in the second annual Press 53 Open Awards Writing Contest, for his story "Sarajevo Roses"
Deb R. Lewis [MFA alumna and adjunct faculty], story "Blown at the Pride Parade" (bitsy club version) won Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement Prose Prize; Hades' Son, a top-three finalist in Project Queer Lit competition
Jon Gugala, runner-up Playboy College Fiction Contest, "South Florida," May 4, 2009
Work in Anthologies
Felicia Schneiderhan, MFA alumna, work in From the Pews in the Back, Liturgical Press, July 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], short stories "Curandera," published in Criminal Class Review (forthcoming Sept. 2009, Criminal Class Press) and "Karena," to be published in Sex anthology (forthcoming fall, 2009, Avendia Publishing).
Mort Castle, [adjunct faculty], "Write Like Poe," Writer's Digest, February 2009; reprinted as "Write Like Your Heroes," July 2009, in Yearbook of Writer's Digest: Novelists; "Tone: Your Voice in the Reader's Mind," reprinted in Readings for Writers, 13th Edition, August 2009, edited by Winkler and McCuen, Thompson Learning Corp; "New Fiction Blend: History + Horror," reprinted in Writer's Workshop of Horror, August 2009, edited by Michael Knots, Woodland Publishing, LLC; "If You Take My Hand, My Son," reprint translated into German, August 2009, Necrophobia 3: Zart wie Babyhaut (anthology), edited by Frank Festa, Festa Verlag; "Upstairs, Downstairs, All About Vampires," reprint translated into French, late 2009, for Borderlines, edited by Lionel Bernard; Mighty Unclean Presents Gary Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Cody Goodfellow, and Gemma Files, edited by Bill Breedlove, (20,000 words) of this four author collection, the stories: "Music on the Michigan Avenue Bridge," "Bird's Dead," "Moon on the Water," "I Am Your Need," "Dreaming Robot Monster," June 2009, DarkArts Publishing
"The Descent," Leah Tallon, Bath Spa Anthology, July 2009
Fiction Published
"I Am Your Need," short story translated into Polish, along with "Interview with Mort Castle by Bartek Paszylk," September 2009, Nowa Fantastyka
"So Much for the Universe," flash fiction by Katie Ziolkowski [FW undergrad] in Boston Literary Magazine
"Blown at the Pride Parade (Bitsy Club Version)" by Deb R. Lewis [MFA alum and adjunct faculty], First Place Prose Winner in Windy City Times' Sixth Annual Pride Literary Supplement: Stonewall 40: Looking Out, June 2009
"Pistol Pete," novel excerpt by Bill Hillmann [FW grad student], foggedclarity.com, May 1, 2009
"Cow Hands in the Big City" by Lucy Froemmling, short story in Pith, October 15, 2009
"All Falls Down" by Jessa Marsh, story in Storyglossia, July 2009; "What We Can't Do," in Monkeybicycle, July 2009; "A Review of How I Pick Songs While Driving in My Car," Knee-Jerk, August 2009; "My Motel Week," in decomp, June 2009; "Nightswimming," in Emprise Review, September 2009; "Fix Us," in Pank, October 2009
Nonfiction Published
Lisa Schlesinger (faculty), PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, volume 31, no.3, September 2009 (PAJ 93), in "The Legacy of María Irene Fornés: A Collection of Impressions and Exercises," "Notes from IOWA 1993-94"
Lisa Schlesinger (faculty), Theater, volume 39, no.3, "American Playwrights on Language and War in Iraq: A Virtual Roundtable"
Patricia Ann McNair and Philip Hartigan, "Ways of Seeing," Writing in Education, Issue Number 48, Summer 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], two articles published in Time Out Chicago magazine (June and Sept. 2009) and two articles published in/on Metromix/Red Eye (July and Sept. 2009).
Brian Costello [MFA alum], "Better Read Than Dead," Newcity, July 30, 2009
Christina Katz [MFA alumna], "Build Your Power Platform," Writer's Digest, May/June 2009
Alexis Thomas, "Rebel, Rebel," cover story for Newcity, April 23, 2009
Jon Gugala [FW student], book review of John Schultz's No One Was Killed, in Chicago Life, June 2009
Poetry Published
"I Was Born to Die" by David R. Hughes [undergrad], New York Times website, June 2009
Editing
Kathie Bergquist [MFA alumna], along with Owen Keehnen, edited this year's Windy City Times' Sixth Annual Pride Literary Supplement: Stonewall 40: Looking Out, June 2009
Residencies
Patricia Ann McNair [FW faculty], "Workshop - Interlochen Adult Programs," Writers' Retreat faculty, June 15-18, 2009
Presentations and Appearances
John Schultz, emeritus faculty, interviewed on Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan on WGN radio, August 16, 2009. Talked about The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and No One Was Killed
Mort Castle, adjunct faculty, leading creative writing workshop at World Horror Convention 2010, March 25-28, 2010, Brighton, UK; HWA Bram Stoker Awards Weekend Writing Workshop Leader, Burbank, California, June 2009; Celebrity Panelist/Judge, Wildclaw Theater Deathscribe Audio competition, October 2009
Deb R. Lewis [MFA alumna and adjunct faculty], panelist on "Queer as Words" and moderator on "Stain the Sheets" (sex writing) panel at Pilcrow Lit Fest
Reviews and Media Attention
J. Adams Oaks: The Subtext Interview, MFA alum, on his book Why I Fight and other topics, at www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-subtext/2009/09/j-adams-oaks-why-i-fight-subtext
Marcus Sakey, alum, "Chasing the American Nightmare," by Tom Lynch, Newcity, August 20, 2009; "Robbery Goes Bad in Marcus Sakey's The Amateurs," review online Associated Press, August 6, 2009; "Marcus Sakey: the reigning "prince" of crime fiction returns, Chicago, August 2009
Mort Castle, adjunct faculty, featured on cover of Nowa Fantastycka magazine, September 2009. Also, new Polish reviews of Moon on the Water and Strangers
Stephanie Kuehnert, interviewed by Tom Lynch in Newcity, July 16, 2009, "American Beauties" on her book Ballads of Suburbia
Newcity's Lit 50 honored Randy Albers [FW chair], Gina Frangello [FW adjunct faculty], Bill "The Butcher" Hillman [MFA candidate] in June 2009
Nami Mun, Miles from Nowhere, in "New in Paperback" section of People, September 14, 2009
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct] co-founder of Reading Under the Influence reading series, voted "Best Reading Series of 2009" by Chicago Reader; recommended in American Airlines American Way in-flight magazine, Sept. 1, 2009 issue
Mort Castle, praised in reader mail ("How I envy those who enroll in Mort Castle's writing classes at Columbia...") in May/June 2009 Writer's Digest, "The Benefits of Pastiche"
Joe Meno, "Back in the Big Time," interviewed by Kevin Nance, Poets & Writers, May June 2009
Readings
Windy City Story Slam, July 25, 2009, with Nicolette Kittinger [MFA student], Grant Mahoney, Jose Rivera, and Alexis Thomas [FW undergrad] at Simone's
Brian Costello [MFA alum and adjunct] and Nicole Chakalis [MFA alumna and Columbia College staff] hosting Second City/Third Person reading, September 12, at the Book Cellar with readers Zack Dodson, Alexis Thomas [UG student], and Kyle Beachy
Nami Mun [FW faculty], at Women and Children First, September 9, 2009
Julia Borcherts [MFA alumna and adjunct], featured reader at Literary Gangs of Chicago (March 2009), 2nd Story Festival (April 2009), Orange Alert Reading Series (July 2009), and Victory Gardens' "Fresh Squeezed" series (forthcoming Oct. 2009).
Steve Simoncic [alum], staged reading of his play Broken Fences in New York, July 20, 2009
Jonathan Messinger [adjunct faculty], Jesse Jordan [MFA alum] and Rob Duffer [adjunct faculty and MFA alum], RUI: Reading Under the Influence, July 1, 2009, along with Chicago Public Library 2009 21st Century Award-winner Patrick Somerville (The Cradle) including readings by and about Honest Abe
"War and Peace," theme at Windy City Story Slam at Simone's Bar, featuring John Schultz [professor emeritus] and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Crime), with Nick Kawahara [alum] and Justin Dickman [alum], June 6, 2009
Performances
Julia Borcherts, [MFA alumna and adjunct], co-curator, Windy City Story Slam (selection of and story development for non-professional storytellers), (March and October 2009).
Deb R. Lewis [alumna and adjunct faculty], one of nine featured storytellers in Solo Homo 7, also collaborating with J. Adams Oaks [MFA alum, author of Why I Fight] on "Two Blue Pegs, Two Pink Pegs," at 2nd Story Pride at @mosphere; performed stories for Homolatte and several Serendipity Theatre Collective special 2nd Story events: Erotica Night at G-Boutique for the Goodman Theatre's Strong Women, Strong Voices Taking the Stage series; Theater 7's Diversey Harbor curtain-teaser series; Pilcrow Lit Fest presents Straw Dog Late Night
April Newman [MFA alumna], featured storyteller at 2nd Story: Pride, June 21, 2009, at @mosphere
Bill Hillman [grad student], essays "Running with the Bulls in Pamplona" (July 2009) and "An Audio Essay from an Everyday Laborer," (September 2009) Chicago Public Radio WBEZ, Eight Forty-Eight
Screening
Beau Jest, James Sherman's [FW adjunct] writer and director of movie starring Lainie Kazan, running at Wilmette Theatre October 1-8.
Musical
The Boy Detective Fails by writer Joe Meno [FW faculty] and composer Adam Gwon, directed by Joe Calarco, 21/24 Signature Lab, an initiative for the creation of musical theater works by emerging young composers, July 23 and 24, 2009, Arlington, VA
Book Illustration
Sara Michaels, former Fiction Writing I student of Lila Jokanovic, has illustrated A Day in the Park, written by Jeff Jablonski.
Online Lit Journals
Knee-Jerk Magazine, founded by FW grad students C. James Bye, Jonathan Fullmer, and Stephen Tartaglione, July 2009
Reprintings
Bath Massacre by Arnie Bernstein, University of Michigan Press, now in its 4th printing.
Career News
Annie Kennedy [FW alumna], currently Literacy Coordinator at the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, running a creative writing and literacy program for low-income, ELL, and refugee students; also a Literacy Intern with Open Books, a nonprofit promotion literacy in Chicago