Introducing The Container, plus a little of this and some of that
MFA NEWSLETTER
March 2021, VOL. 16
Introducing The Container
Welcome to The Container, the March 2021 installment of The Newport MFA Newsletter!
Leah and Raquel have passed the baton on to new editors — Jen, Helena and Aggie — and we hope to use this newsletter as a way to connect and create community between residencies. Like our writing, it’s a work in progress — please us know what you think, and how this newsletter can best serve you as student and writer.
A bit about us Jen is in her third semester and comes from Oklahoma, though she now lives in Newport and teaches writing at the U.S. Naval War College. She is writing a memoir about her experiences living in Japan.
Helena is in her second semester, also focusing on nonfiction creative writing. She grew up on Aquidneck Island and has called Newport home for the past ten years. Helena worked in the newsroom of the Newport Daily News for seven years and now works as freelance writer, editor and journalist.
Aggie is in her third semester and writing a memoir of growing up in the shadow of a dark family secret amidst intergenerational trauma. A born and bred Chicagoan who’s called Rhode Island home for more than 20 years, Aggie loves to exercise and steep herself in nature when she’s not reading and writing.
SAVE THE DATE!
The winter residency left us with such a strong sense of community, and we don’t want to wait until June for more. So we’re setting up an informal zoom hangout for Wednesday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m., to check-in and talk writing.
On craft
We know it can be hard to find readings on craft that seem relevant or relatable, so we figured we’d share a few essays and a book that have inspired us and may help inspire you (and, you can even annotate these for your next packet! We love a win-win :-)
Lacy Johnson’s essay, "On Likability," is adapted from a workshop talk she gave in summer 2018.
Another essay to consider is Claire Vaye Watkins’s "On Pandering" published in Tin House in November 2015 and adapted from a workshop talk the previous summer.
Roxane Gay recently published an essay in Scribd about writing trauma narratives, "Writing into the Wound." The essay is based on her experience in the wake of publishing her memoir, Hunger, and teaching a course at Yale on the writing of trauma narratives, both fiction and nonfiction. You need to be a Scribd member to access the essay. Free 30-day trials are available.
Also of interest is this conversation on craftbetween Matthew Salesses and Brandon Taylor. They talk about the need for diverse perspectives when considering craft and the ways craft shapes form and narrative. McNally Jackson Books hosted the event on the day Salesses’s new book, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping,came out. (P.S. McNally Jackson is hosting some great — free! — literary events. You can sign up for their emails here.) Also! Check out this essay that Salesses wrote for Literary Hub:"25 Essential Notes on Craft."
If you don't know about Jane Alison'sMeander, Spiral, Explode(2019),have a look. Alison describes alternative structures to the traditional dramatic arc modeled on forms found in nature. It will inspire you to think differently about the choices you make to structure your work. Although she focuses on fiction, the models she describes could easily apply to nonfiction.
Some shout-outs
Have you read the great profile of recent grad Leah DeCesare in Salve Today? Have a gander here!
Katie Hughes-Pucci touched back into her theater roots to write and direct Spayed and Neutered.And she was accepted to the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop Online this coming June. She'll be working with T. Kira Madden.
Have good news you want the community to know?
Be in touch via WhatsApp or email!
Upcoming deadlines
The Steinberg Memorial Essay Prizefrom Fourth Genre offers the winning essayist $1,000 plus publication. Deadline: March 15
NYC Midnight's Screenwriting Challenge kicks off March 19, and registration is now open! Register for a competition that challenges writers around the world to create short screenplays in as little as 24 hours. Deadline: March 18
Tin House is also accepting applications for its Summer Workshop from July 11-17. Deadline: March 22
The Community of Writers is offering summer writing workshops. This year, due to the pandemic, these workshops will be held entirely online in the Virtual Valley.
Poetry: June 19-26
Fiction: July 11-17
Narrative Nonfiction & Memoir: August 1-6
Click here to apply. Financial aid is available. Deadline: March 28
RISCA's Project Grants for individuals provide $500-$3,000 grants to artist-instigated and organized arts projects with a strong public component. Deadline: April 1
The Spoon River Poetry Review Editors’ Prize Contest awards one winning poem $1,000 + publication, and two runner-ups, $500 each. Click here for full details and guidelines. Deadline: April 15
Submit to Prairie Schooner — general submissions welcome through May 1. Prairie Schooner publishes short stories, poems, imaginative essays of general interest, and reviews of current books of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Read more here.
BOMB Magazinerecently published its list of fellowships + residencies to apply to this spring — definitely check it out!
Submit to AGNI — general submissions welcome through May 31. AGNI seeks writing that catches experience before the crusts of habit form — poetry and prose that resist ideas about what a certain kind of writing “should do” — and writers who tell their truths in their own words. Read more here.
The Poet’s Billow The Bermuda Triangle Prize is given to three poems on a theme from up to three different poets. The current theme is change. The Poet's Billow is open to interpretations, including person change, spiritual change, chemical change, morphing into a giant planet-eating robot. Send your interpretation however literal or liberal. Each winning poem will receive $50. The poems will be published and displayed in the Poet’s Billow Literary Art Gallery. They nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net Anthology, and The Best New Poets Anthology. Click here to view the submission guidelines. Deadline: March 15
The Red Hen Press Nonfiction Award gives winners $1000 and book publication. Click here for the full guidelines and entry. Deadline: March 31
The 2021 Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction offers a first prize of €1500, a week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and a consultation with a literary agent from Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Click here for full submission guidelines. Deadline: April 15 (Midnight GMT +1, Madrid)
The winner of the Pigeon Pages Fiction Contest receives $250 and publication in Pigeon Pages. Honorable mentions receive $50 and publication. Submission Guidelines: The contest is open to submissions via Submittable between March 1 and April 15.
The Irene Adler Prize is a $1,000 USD scholarship for women pursuing degrees in journalism, creative writing, or literature. This annual essay competition opens Jan. 30. Click here for details. Deadline: April 30
The winner of the 2021 Cave Canem Poetry Prize receives $1,000, publication by Graywolf Press in fall 2022, 15 copies of the book, and a feature reading. Both the winner and runner-up will be invited to individual critique sessions with the final judge. Click here for full eligibility and submission guidelines. Deadline: April 30
The Millions recently published its list of the most anticipated books of 2021. There’s a lot to read — 152 titles to be exact. In the words of The Millions, it’s the longest, most indulgent list yet — and it only goes through June.
Have you joined the WhatsApp Newport MFA group?
It's open to all students and alum!
Download WhatsApp on your phone and send Helena an email with your cell#.
Last words (for now)
From Tom Cowan I just finished George Saunders' A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (2021) and learned an enormous amount. Culled from twenty years of teaching Russian short story in the Syracuse MFA program, Saunders passes on key lessons including: how to edit line, paragraph, and page at a time; how to build energy; characterization through specification; and identifying when a story becomes a story.
From Sara Dunham I'm reading and loving Kiley Reid's Such A Fun Age (2019), a satirical novel of manners. The author spent six years caring for wealthy Manhattan children and writes from both the perspective of a babysitter and her employer. It’s both empathetic and sardonic while examining white privilege and racial divide. Reid’s fast-paced plot begins on the night a young black Philadelphia student is falsely accused of kidnapping her white employer’s child. The novel nails the zeitgeist of our times.
From Raquel Levitt I’ve just finished reading Valentine (2020) by debut novelist Elizabeth Wetmore. It deals with race and gender issues set in the mid-seventies in West Texas and has several female POVs whose stories are threaded together by one tragic event. It’s ending is depressing but realistic. Next up for me: Kristen Hannah’s The Great Alone.
I’ve been writing like mad since the June residency, working on revising the draft of my novel. Months of work ahead of me on that!
Let us know....
What you're reading, listening to, and watching that's lighting you up!
Alums, tell us what your writing life is like post graduation. What keeps you inspired and engaged in your work?
Faculty, what events, publications, and workshops do you have coming up?
