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MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING     ✦     ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Connection Through Creation

The Ashland University MFA program allows people with different backgrounds, experiences, and values to unite over one common factor: writing. From fulfilling workshops to compelling craft talks, it's easy to form bonds over life and creativity with fellow students. But what happens after graduation? How do we maintain connections and celebrate the progress of fellow students?

Our alumni spotlight aims to do just that: to keep tabs on MFA graduates and exemplify their incredible feats. While this is the first edition of such a newsletter, we hope to do this every year to show the amazing work happening in our community. From budding families to published poems and new positions: we are thankful for our alumni and the gifts they continue to share with the world!

Alumni Publications Post-Residency

2009

J.R. Simons
Poetry; http://www.jrsimons.mysite.com/
  • "Streetlight Sonata" (2011; to be re-issued 2021)
  • "The Naked Truth" (Chapbook, Simple Simon Press, upcoming 2021)
  • Featured in Buzzkill: Apocalypse, An End of the World Anthology (Night Ballet Press, 2012)
  • Featured in Common Threads, the annual anthology of the Ohio Poetry Association, in 2019, 2020, and 2021
  • "The Naked Truth" (Poem, The Voices of Real 5, 2021)

2010

Ashley Bethard
Creative Nonfiction; www.ashleybethard.com
  • "Grief Work" (VIDA Review)
  • "#TheMidwessay: The Cycle of History (and What We Leave Out)" (Essay Daily)
  • "Red is the color of August" (The Dayton Anthology)
  • Essay, "#93: The Why,"(The Isolation Journals)
  • "Roadmap to a Fire" (Pigeon Pages)

2011

Jon Kerstetter
Creative Nonfiction; jonkerstetter.com
  • Crossings: A Doctor Soldier Story (Crown Publishing, 2017)

2012

Karen Donley-Hayes
Creative Nonfiction
  • "Under Cover" (The Quotable, 2013)
  • "Road Trip (The Healing Muse, 2013)
  • "Buying the Farm, Part B" (2013)
  • "The End and Forever After" (Stethos, 2018)
  • Falling off Horses (MilSpeak Books, upcoming 2023)

Vana J. Plaisance
Creative Nonfiction
  • Recalling My Beginnings: The Kentucky Years (Xulon Press, 2014)
 
2013

Sarah Freligh
Poetry; www.sarahfreligh.com
  • Sad Math (Moon City Press, 2015)
  • We (Harbor Editions, 2021)
 
Sandra McWhorter (Sand Wickersham-McWhorter)
Creative Nonfiction; pending website sandywick.com
  • "Skeletal Remains" (Twisted Vine Literary Arts Journal)
  • "The Stars Are Our Home" (Ball State University)
  • The Sci-Fi Dreams of a Little Girl (Bloodstone Press; poems to be published one monthly in Alcyone Magazine)
  • The Cat's Meow 2016: A Poetry Anthology
  • A drawing of Pavonia West Road and 3 photos of the Black Fork River area were published in the inaugural issue of The Black Fork Review Literary Magazine of Ashland University.

2014

Kristin Distel
Poetry, https://kristindistel.weebly.com
  • "Heritage", "Salt", "Candle", "Evensong", "Lost in the Graveyard" and "Siate Immortale" (The Stockholm Review of Literature, 2015)
  • “Still" (The Broken Plate, 2015)
  • "The Price of Skin and Blood," “Unmarked Grave,” “First Lessons,” “Another Man’s Treasure,” and “Did Not Happen in Kentucky” (Lehigh Valley Vanguard, 2015)
  • “‘The Meaning of Charity’: Misconduct and Altruism in Arrested Development.” (McFarland, 2015)
  • “‘Teach the Paints to Speak’: Mythology and the Muse in the Ekphrastic Poems of Mather Byles and Phillis Wheatley." (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015)
  • “Restoring Broken Bodies: The Ekphrastic Poetry of Larry Levis and Natasha Trethewey.” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015)
  • "Beulah Beach Tabernacle” and “Heirloom” (Rag Queen Periodical, 2016)
  • "Small Oracle” and “Fata Morgana” (The Game Show, 2016). These were featured in a multimedia art installation at the EASE Gallery (Columbus, Ohio).
  • “‘Are You Sure She Was Your Sister?’: Sororal Love And Maternal Failure In Toni Morrison’s Paradise.” (Demeter Press, 2017)
  • “Inside My Father’s Stopped Heart" (Glass: A Journal of Poetry, 2016)
  • “Ephemeral Descant” (JuxtaProse Magazine, 2018)
  • “‘Free! Body And Soul Free!’: The Docile Female Body in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story Of An Hour.’” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018)
  • “‘Nothing Ever Dies’: Rememory, Trauma, and Place in Morrison’s Beloved and Paradise.” (MidAmerica, 2019)
  • “Scalding My Face in My Father’s Apartment” (Trampset Literary Journal, 2021)
  • “Out, Father" (Complete Sentence Literary Journal, 2021)
  • “‘Beneath an Undivided Sky’: Environmental Disorder and Human Passivity in Theodore Roethke’s ‘Interlude.’” (Swallow Press, 2021)
  • ‘Never, Most Certainly Never, Can I Perform in Public’: Juliet and the Shame of Visibility in Burney’s The Wanderer.” (The Burney Journal, 2021.
  • “The Red Death and Romeo: Poe’s ‘Magnificent Revels’ as a Re-Vision of the Capulet Masquerade.” (McFarland, upcoming 2021)
  • “'I will not be thus constrained': Domestic Power, Shame, and Agency in Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa." (Routledge, upcoming 2021)
  • “‘The Shame Would Be Wholly Hers’: Gendered Guilt and Shame in Haywood’s Love in Excess and The Masqueraders; or, Fatal Curiosity.” (Cambridge University Press, upcoming 2021)

Aimee Ross
Creative Nonfiction; https://theaimeeross.com/
  • Permanent Marker (KiCam Projects, 2018)

2015

Joseph M. Hess
Poetry
  • Trauma Decor (Finishing Line Press, upcoming 2022)

Kerri Vinson Snell
Poetry; www.ahsweetrejection.com
  • Featured in Foothill: A Journal of Poetry, Mikrokosmos, Relief Journal, Ruminate, Oklahoma Review, Broad River Review, Christian Century, and others.

Sarah Wells
Creative Nonfiction; sarahmariewells.com
  • The Family Devotional Bible (Our Daily Bread, 2018)
  • Between the Heron and the Moss (Cascadia, 2020)
  • The Family Devotional Bible, Volume 2 (Our Daily Bread, upcoming 2022)

Denise Wilkinson
Creative Nonfiction
  • "A Beautiful Thing" (River Teeth)
  • Featured in Apart, an upcoming pandemic anthology

2016

Kathleen English Cadmus
Creative Nonfiction; pending website www.kathleenenglishcadmus.com
  • "The Novice" (Kent State University Press, 2018)
  • "Intertwined, a Mother's Memoir" (KiCamProjects Press, 2019)
  • Featured in The Columbus Dispatch and Fewerthan500.com

Joy Gaines-Friedler
Poetry; www.Joygainesfriedler.com
  • Capture Theory (Kelsay Press, 2018)
  • "Deportation" (Ashland University Press)

Matthew Robb Brown
Poetry; matthewrobbbrown.blog
  • "The Givenness of the Oak Leaves" (Image Journal, 2019)
  • Again with the Light (Wipf and Stock, 2020)

2017

Michael Clark (Carnegie Euclid)
Fiction; https://www.carnegieeuclid.com/
  • "The Best Most Excellent Farm" (In Where the Ride Ends, 2019)
  • Devil Strip Musketeers 
  • "Little Jimmy" (Upcoming in Outcasts: An Anthology, 2021)

Kristin Ryan
Poetry; @kristinwrites
  • Featured in Survivor Lit, Black Fork Review, Serotonin Lit, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Milk & Beans, and SWWIM

2018

Judith Camann
Poetry; www.judithcamann.com
  • Featured in Floating Bridge Press/Pontoon Poetry, So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Adanna Literary Journal and others.

Robynne Feavearyear (Robynne Miller)
Fiction; www.robynnemiller.com
  • Finding Common Ground: One Octogenarian's Quest to Help our Nation Heal 

Sophie Rhem
Fiction
  • "Am I Mother I Am" (Mom Egg Review)

Amanda Irene Rush
Creative Nonfiction; thegatheringgirl.wordpress.com
  • "Shut Up and Listen: A Recent MFA Grad's Thesis Journey" (Brevity blog, 2018)
  • "A Girl Seen" (Peatsmoke, 2021)
  • "Jack Nobody" (Black Fork Review, 2021)

2019

Sarah Battilana
Creative Nonfiction
  • "chelsea biondolillo's 'the skinned bird'" (TRUE, 2019)
  • "Writing the Body: Katherine E. Standefer's Lightning Flowers" (Gulf Coast, 2021)

Eileen O'Leary
Fiction
  • Ancestry (2020)
2020

Onita Morgan-Edwards
Fiction; https://www.writesofpassagegroup.org
  • Featured in Mom Egg Review
  • Featured in Facing Gun Violence: It's Always Close to Home for Someone (The Facing Project Press, 2020)

Amy Zaranek
Creative Nonfiction; www.amyzaranek.com
  • Featured in Our Best War Stories (Line of Advance), Stymie magazine, and Bad Bride
  • Featured in Tales from Six Feet Apart (IO Literary Journal, 2021), and the Under Review (2021; another piece upcoming later 2021)

Other Announcements

Some of our alumni accomplishments cannot be encompassed through publications alone. This section is dedicated to some of the other fun and fascinating things that our community has been up to over the years!

 
Trish Stack (Creative Nonfiction, 2009) continues to teach literature to high school juniors and seniors. She's written two screenplays and is working on a third.

J.R. Simons placed third or honorable mention in 3 competitions in the year of its publication. He was also a Haiku Death Match participant for Heights Arts Association at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights in 2019. Additionally, his poem, "The Naked Truth," was chosen to be performed at the 2020 Cleveland Arts Festival. 

Jeff Darren Muse (Creative Nonfiction, 2012) has lived in Charleston, South Carolina, the past five years, but will soon settle in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a park ranger and historical interpreter by profession. He recently finished his first book, Dear Park Ranger: Essays on Manhood, Restlessness, and the Geography of Hope. Learn more, including where his writing has been published, at www.jeffdarrenmuse.com.

Jon Kerstetter's book was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and the Annals of Emergency Medicine. In Nov of 2019, he was invited to give a presentation about the book at the Annual Conference of the American Association of Medical Colleges. He is currently working on a book about his Native American grandfather who attended the Carlisle Industrial Indian School in 1885. Carlisle was the first U.S. Indian School that took Indian children and young adults from their families and tried to assimilate them into "white" culture. Additionally, he originally attended the Ashland MFA program as an experiment by the Veterans Administration for brain injury/stroke recovery. His stroke recovery team has subsequently determined that writing and the MFA experience was one of the key factors in his cognitive recovery.

Karen Donley-Hayes' poem "Under Cover" was nominated for the 2013 Pushcart Prize.

Vana J. Plaisance used her master's degree to teach college English 101 and 102 in the dual enrollment program at the public high school where she was teaching.

Sarah Freligh's "Wondrous," a poem from Sad Math, will be sent to the Moon via microchip in November 2021. 

Sandra McWhorter taught a recurring eight-week memoir writing class, Do You Have a Memoir in You? in the Madison Adult Career Center in Mansfield, Ohio, in their adult enrichment department. She's been an adjunct English instructor for AU since 2018, both on-campus and for the Correctional Education program. She is currently revising a full-length manuscript titled WATER, STARS, HOME, AND WISDOM: A MEMOIR IN VERSE.

Kristin Distel coedited a reissue of Sherwood Anderson’s 1921 short story cycle, The Triumph of the Egg, published with Hastings College Press. Since graduating from the MFA program, Kristin has also served as a contributing editor for Oxford University’s The Year’s Work in English Studies and Harvard Divinity School’s Cosmologics Magazine, in addition to serving as a poetry editor for Quarter After Eight and The Critical Pass Review and editor-in-chief of Parlour: A Journal of Literary Criticism and Analysis. She has earned multiple research fellowships, as well as first prize in the Ohio University Literary Festival’s Poetry Competition for her poem, “Fortune Teller” and a Best of the Net Nomination for her poem, “Salt.” Since graduating from Ashland, Kristin has presented her scholarly work at the Sorbonne and across the United States.

Casey Rusinowski Wheeler (Poetry, 2013)  is currently writing a chapbook of poems. He is also editing and doing other work for fiction novels being published through a startup with his two best friends, called Morpheus Key Publishing. The first book, The Power of Ten I: Day One - Part One, just released June 13, 2021 on Amazon Kindle. He credits the Ashland MFA as a positive impact on his ability to edit precisely and maintain the tone in other types of literature. 

Kerri Vinson Snell has received a Pushcart nomination and has been a finalist for the prize. In 2015, she accepted a part-time faculty position in the English Department at McPherson College, McPherson, KS. She teaches Composition courses, Native American Literature, and Creative Writing.

Sarah Wells is now a full-time freelance writer for an online news media site as well as other projects.

Denise Wilkinson is piloting a new Creative Writing Curriculum. She has an intern and continues to teach a dual credit grade 12/ENGL 100 class. Her son Jack graduated three years ago, and her other son Charlie graduates this year.

Kathleen Cadmus English was a breakout session speaker at HippoCamp, 2021. The topic was "Writing about Mental Health with Empathy and Accuracy." In the fall of 2021, she will be facilitating Therapeutic Writing Workshops near Columbus, OH. These will be accomplished with her daughter, Laura Kathleen English, 2019 graduate of the Ashland University MFA program.

Joy Gaines-Friedler was a Finalist for the Forward Review Indie Press "Book of The Year" award. Her book Capture Theory, which was essentially her MFA thesis, also won a cover art award (artwork by Susan Levin). 8 of her poems in Deportation won awards in various contests, including "Road To Marcellus" which won First Place in the Margo Lagattuto Poetry Prize. She has been a presenter and guest instructor in Literary Arts programs and university classrooms. She was also the 2020 poetry judge for the Third Wednesday Poetry Contest. Joy has been teaching Creative Writing for non-profits in Detroit and teaching Creative Writing privately for two groups for 6 years. She's had 30 poems published in Lit Mags since graduation. She has done readings and Received a Pushcart nomination from A&U Magazine, for which she was also interviewed. Her favorite work was with refugees from western Africa at Freedom House Detroit.

Matthew Robb Brown was able to retire from his day job to focus on Church, family, and writing. He also praises his time with the first Paris residency, hoping for similar experiences to open up for the MFA post-coronavirus.

Michael Clark was a 2019 Short Story Finalist for Owl Canyon Press Hackathon for "The Best Most Excellent Farm." He was also a finalist for The Great Novel Contest in 2020 for his novel, Devil Strip Musketeers, which was part of his MFA thesis.

Kristin Ryan's full length poetry manuscript, Morning, With Bandages was a finalist for Riot In Your Throat's open poetry competition in 2021. Her essay, "Like a Mother Would" about secrets, abuse, and meeting her favorite musician and best-selling author Amanda Palmer, was nominated for The Pushcart Prize by Moonchild Magazine. Amanda shared the beginning of the essay in an email to 15,000 of her patrons, and listed her as an artist to support. Her poem, "Case Study: Family" was nominated for Best of the Net by Anti-Heroin Chic, and her poem, "Morning, With Bandages" won the Nancy D. Hargrove Editor's Prize in Poetry from Jabberwock Review. She was a finalist for Write Bloody Publishing's open competition in 2017. She is currently a Master of Education candidate through Lindsey Wilson's Counseling and Human Development program, focusing on Clinical Mental Health Counseling, with certificate in Addictions Counseling. She works in the mental health field and plans to become certified in Expressive Arts Therapy and use creative writing to help her clients heal.

Judith Camann is currently part of an artist & poet exhibition at Studio 103 in Seattle WA. She was a semifinalist for the 2021 Press 53 Award for Poetry. She was also a featured reader for Cobalt Poets in Cobalt California in May 2021. In 2020, Judith was awarded an Allied Arts Foundation Grant for poetry. Additionally, she was invited to read for So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, where she is featured as a writer.

Robynne Feavearyear has been named director of a west coast writing conference, Inspire Christian Writers Conference at Mount Hermon, and remains the president of Inspire Christian Writers. She also has a new book due out in fall 2021, an investigative biography of the real person/persons behind a favorite Little House on the Prairie character. After graduating, her writing and accompanying career kicked into high gear and she is now fully immersed in the writing community in numerous capacities, such as writing and publishing coach, speaker, teacher, and director of a writing conference.

Sophie Rhem had twin girls in 2019 and is continuing work on a novel about adoption.

Amanda Irene Rush was runner runner-up in the Saturday Evening Post's Great American Fiction Contest 2020 for the short story "Fifty Million Cents." She has also completed her thesis-turned-memoir!

George Gladden (Fiction, 2019) has completed writing his first novel, Michael in his Fallen Series. He's currently working on the second installment, Desiree. Once he has completed book 3, Solomon, he'll be pursuing publication with the goal of world wide distribution. He's currently living in Brooklyn, Ohio with his son and daughter working as a treasure hunter for the Ohio Division of Unclaimed Funds.

Sarah Battilana had a baby in October of 2019, just a few months after graduation!

Eileen O'Leary performed a monologue for a Dramatist Guild group over zoom. She also Zoomed into a New Jersey book group meeting that read her short story collection, Ancestry.

Onita Morgan-Edwards started Thirteen2Nineteen: A Literary Magazine for Black Girls & Teens. She also started freelance writing for a local newspaper in Dayton, Ohio.

John Rhodes (Fiction, 2020) is rewriting his novel currently.

Amy Zaranek is the managing editor of the Black Fork Review. After her graduation, she won a Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Award for prose my a military family member from Line of Advance Journal. She is pitching her military essay collection, Countdowns, and revising her thesis memoir, To Thrive in Harsh Lands.
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