Awards
- Mariah Perkins has been awarded the Stephen C. Barr Endowed Fellowship in Creative Writing for Fall 2018.
- Jessica Parke has been awarded the Bruce Cutler Fellowship in Creative Writing for Fall 2018.
- Josh McKnight, a 2016 MA graduate, has been accepted with full funding to the PhD program at KU.
MFA Students Teach in Community this Summer
Four of the department’s MFA students will teach creative writing this summer in the community thanks to research assistant money from the Graduate School. Becca Yenser will teach seniors on Friday mornings at the Park City Senior Center. Also in June, Sydney Martin, Jessica Parke, Mariah Perkins, and Becca Yenser will teach third and fourth graders how to write stories and poems through a literacy organization here in Wichita called Storytime Village. They will help the children write stories that will also be illustrated and printed so that each of the 50-some children become the author of a book, which they learn to market—and sell to family and friends. Sydney, Jessica, Mariah, and Becca will do this teaching in June for an hour a day Mondays through Thursdays at Urban Preparatory Academy on East 24th Street, close to campus.
Creative Work “In Cahoots”
- “In Cahoots” is a collaboration between the theater and creative writing program at Wichita State, in which creative writing written by the department’s students are read by student actors in the theater department. The stories are available on it podcast here. has seven stories written by our students and read by student actors in the theater department available on its podcast here.
- The stories included are: “Lovers Lane” by Michael Cole; “Ant Lifeboat” by Annmarie Woods; “The Staring Man” by Jake Eskridge; “Molly” by Jay Youngers; “Flashlight” and “Heritage,” both by Matthew Garner, and “Doves” by Chance Swaim.
MFA Class of 2018 Presents their Work
On Sunday, April 29th, the graduating MFA students read from their Final Projects. The names and project titles of the students who will be graduating later this month are listed below. Congratulations to all!
- Katherine Amundsen
An Archivist’s Guide to Floating
Poetry; Directed by Kristina Marie Darling
- Nicole Byrne
Angiogenesis
Poetry; Directed by Sam Taylor
- Matthew Garner
Provenance
Fiction; Directed by Margaret Dawe
- Toni Loeffler
Mouth to Mouth
Poetry; Directed by Kristina Marie Darling
- Shannon Nakai
Where You Were Carried
Poetry; Directed by Sam Taylor
- Chance Swaim
Midcontinent
Fiction; Directed by Margaret Dawe
- Joshua A. Zimmerer
House of New Millenia: A Novel
Fiction; Directed by Margaret Dawe
Conference News
- Zach Parker was accepted to present at the MMLA conference in the fall of 2018. The paper is titled “Voice and Disruption: Cycles of Power in James Baldwin’s ‘Going to Meet the Man'”.
- Sigma Tau Delta’s fall tri-regional conference is now open to submissions. You can follow the link here to learn more about the conference, to submit work, or to volunteer as a reader.
- Remember to contact the blog as you are accepted to conferences, publications, and other exciting opportunities.
Job Opportunity
- If any MA or MFA candidate would like to grade placement exams over the summer and into the future, please contact Victoria Stewart. This is a paid position.
Looking for Panel Moderators
- Have you ever wanted to host your own panel? To assemble academics from across three regions to hold the best breakout session? Always wanted to see a niche topic discussed but have never found it at a conference? You can take care of all these things by volunteering to moderate a panel. Open to both graduate students and undergraduate students, you can create your own call for papers, organize your panel, and present it at this fall’s “Looking Forward” conference held by Sigma Tau Delta: Alpha Theta Omicron.
EGSA Elections
- During the last English Graduate Student Association meeting, members voted on the incoming officers for the 2018-2019 term. There are still positions that need to be filled.
- Aaron Rodriguez has been appointed President for the 2018-2019 year.
- Dan Arndt has been appointed Vice President for the 2018-2019 year.
- Zach Parker has been appointed Faculty Liaison for the 2018-2019 year.
- Positions still available:
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Student Relations Liaison
Sigma Tau Delta Elections
- Sigma Tau Delta will be holding officer elections in August. All four positions are up for election. If you are interested, please contact one of the Sigma Tau Delta officers for more information. The positions are as follows:
- President
- Vice President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Sigma Tau Delta’s fall tri-regional conference is now open to submissions. You can follow the link here to learn more about the conference, to submit work, or to volunteer as a reader.
Upcoming Events
- Sigma Tau Delta will hold its final meting of the year this Friday, May 4th.
- There will not be an EGSA meeting for the rest of this semester.
The Wichita English Blog is signing off for the year, and will return after the summer. Thank you for a great year and have a fun, relaxing, and productive three months of break!
Sincerely,
Your Blog Editors:
Sydney Martin
Zach Parker
John Darr
The weekly digest is published online on the blog every Wednesday. We’d love to hear from you! If you have any news at all to share, please send it to wichitaenglish@gmail.com or use the “Submit Blog News” form located on the rightmost corner on the blog.
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