We will update this page every semester. Watch your e-mail for reminders. If you would like to be added to the Creative Writing Department alumni listserv, please e-mail Lisa Bertini at bertinil@uncw.edu, with your full name, degree, and year of graduation.

 

A-H     I-P    Q-Z

 

Xhenet Aliu (MFA 2007)

I'm back in New York, living in Red Hook, aka "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and "future home of IKEA."  Glimmer Train recently accepted a short story I wrote, though they told me it won't be published until 2009 or so.  I've also semi-recently appeared in The Barcelona Review.  Currently I'm working as a private investigator like in the Hall & Oates song.  Seriously. 

 

Anne Barnhill (MFA 2001)

My second book, WHAT YOU LONG FOR, (Main Street Rag, 2009) is a collection of short stories, containing one which was nominated for a GRAMMY in 1997 and one which was first runner-up in the Thomas Wolf Fiction Contest in 2009.  The first book, AT HOME IN THE LAND OF OZ: AUTISM, MY SISTER and ME (Jessica Kingsley, 2007) continues to receive good reviews.  I have just sent a novel set in Tudor England off to an interested agent--keeping fingers crossed!  I'll be teaching fiction writing at Central Carolina Community College this fall.  Have several workshops, signings, readings lined up and will be signing at the SIBA festival in Greenville, SC at the end of this month.

 

Pamela Benbow (MFA 2001), pbenbow@post.harvard.edu

I've done a couple of non-traditional projects recently. 1) As a classical archaeologist with a specialty in a weird ancient Greek pottery shape belonging to women's goddess worship, I published a review article of the book Epinetron. Storia di una forma ceramica fra archeologia e cultura, by Chiara Mercati, in the American Journal of Archaeology, April 2006. 2) As an advocate for animals mostly in Greece and Israel-Palestine, I write (at the request of Best Friends Animal Society www.bestfriends.org ) pieces featuring amazing people who help animals in horrid situations in Israel and Serbia. Here are a few: link 1   link 2   link 3

 

Peter Biello (MFA 2008), psb4055@uncw.edu

I write news stories for the local public radio station, WHQR-FM. My work has appeared on National Public Radio. My essays and criticism have appeared on bustedhalo.com and compulsivereader.com. I am currently working on a novel about friendship.

 

George ("Beau") Bishop, Jr. (MFA 2001)

An exciting summer here in Baton Rouge. While finishing up my thesis for a second (and certainly inferior) masters in Teaching English as a Second Language from the School for International Training in Vermont, I sold my first novel to Random House. It's actually my fifth novel, but the first one that's publishable. Called To My Daughter On Her Fifteenth Birthday, it's in the form of a long letter from a mother to her runaway daughter. Due out early 2010. Meantime, I'll be teaching English in Japan with a University of Montana program at Toyo University in Tokyo. Hai!

 

Emma Bolden (MFA 2005)

I've published three chapbooks: How to Recognize a Lady, published as part of Edge by Edge, the third in Toadlily Press' Quartet Series; The Mariner's Wife, with Finishing Line Press; and The Sad Epistles, which is forthcoming with Dancing Girl Press.  I received a Tennessee Williams Scholarship for the Sewanee Writers' Conference and am a finalist for a Ruth Lily Poetry Fellowship. My work is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Feminist Studies, Linebreak, and other journals. I am currently a visiting assistant professor of English in Creative Writing at Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY, and the poetry editor of the Georgetown Review.

 

Erin Bond (MFA 2008)

I am currently freelancing and continuing to work on the book that was once my MFA thesis. In March 2009, I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo with a team of filmmakers who were working on a documentary. I hope to pursue a project related to what I saw and experienced there once I finish my current project. I keep a blog at www.erinseaboltbond.com.

Douglass Bourne (MFA 2009)

I was out walking the other day.  The afternoon sun slanted into that small area between my sunglasses and eyebrow.  I came across a man walking a dog.  It had a bobbed tail and short white fur with large brown spots down its back and sides.  Before long, I was sitting on the sidewalk, scratching the dogs ears and chest, and the dog was attempting to lick my cheek.  It was a grand experience.  I didn't realize until the man tugged the dog away with the leash that the only words I said to him were, "Do you mind if I pet your dog?"

 

Beth Cagle Burt (MFA 2007)

I am the Co-editor of the Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets and the Chair of the Charlotte Writers’ Club Fiction Contest. My poem “On the Homefront” was published in Slipstream. Publications: Poetry chapbook, "The Fearless Tattoo." Individual poems have appeared in Slipstream, Tulane Review, Blue Collar Review, New York Quarterly, and numerous other journals across the US, the UK, and Australia. My photography has appeared in dozens of journals including The GSU Review, Sanskrit, Maelstrom, and Main Street Rag. I have taught Creative Writing and English courses at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Cape Fear Community College. www.kakalak.net BA: Psychology and English, UNC Charlotte. MA: English, UNC Charlotte.

 

Bill Carty (MFA 2007)

I am finishing up my thesis, tentatively titled Nuh-uh, and have poems forthcoming in the New Orleans Review and Blue Mesa Review.

 

Claudette Cohen (MFA 2000)

“The Lightning Rod Salesman,” a new poem of mine, will appear in the next (Spring 2010) issue of storySouth (http://www.storysouth.com/) under the pen name of Claude Limoges. In addition, the novel titled The Seasoning of Rebecca is now available. Four of my poems have been published in ditch, which features Canadian poetry, alternative, avant garde, abstract, surreal, non-linear, experimental work. More at http://www.ditchpoetry.com/claudettecohen.htm.In addition to poetry, I write novels, screenplays, and short fiction. My work has appeared in:Lyric Poetry Review, Mississippi Review, Oklahoma Review, Squaw Valley Review, The Southern Anthology, Owen Wister Review, Fireweed, Mainstreet Rag, Earth's Daughters, UWYO Magazine, and Aurora. I hold degrees from Agnes Scott College (BA, English/Creative Writing, 1987), University of Wyoming (MA, English, 1991), and University of North Carolina-Wilmington (MFA, Creative Writing, 2000). I attended the Squaw Valley Poetry Workshop in Summer of 2000 and the Ucross Foundation’s Artist Residency Program in Spring of 2002. For more on my work, please visit http://claudelimogeswhat.blogspot.com/

 

Patrick Culliton (MFA 2006)

I'm still a Lecturer in the English Department at University of Illinois-Chicago. Recent poems have appeared, or will soon, in Beeswax, Coconut, Conduit, ReaPoetik and the blog Starting Today: Poems for the First 100 Days, which will come out as an anthology from University of Iowa Press March 2010 or earlier. The Illinois Arts Council awarded me a 2009 Individual Artist Fellowship which was like spending Christmas Day on Candy Cane Island with Pat Sajak and Vanna White. I also have a chapbook forthcoming from Octopus Books sometime in 2010.

 

Kate Cumiskey (MFA 2006)

I am currently teaching at the University of Central Florida; and traveling when I can. I was given an honorable mention in the 2009 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards for my poem 1971, and will read in the Distinguished Poets Series at Passaic County Community College this fall. My book, Surfing in New Smyrna Beach, will be released in March 2010.

Daren Dean (MFA 2003)

I am an Editorial Assistant/Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief at the University of Missouri Press. I've been published in The Chattahoochee Review, Image, Poetry Southeast, and storySouth.

 

Nina DeGramont (MFA 2006)

My first novel, Gossip of the Starlings, will be published by Algonquin books in 2008.  I'm also the co-editor (along with Karen E. Bender) of an anthology, Choice, which will be published in the Fall of 2007 by MacAdam Cage and includes essays by several of our UNCW cohorts -- Stephanie Andersen, Janet Ellerby, Kimi Faxon, Sarah Messer, and Ashley Talley.  My short story, “The Provision Tree,” will appear in the Fall issue of Isotope. The essay I wrote in Charles Siebert's class, "Water Children," will appear in the fall issue of The Harvard Review.

 

Brian DeVido (MFA 2001)

My wife and I moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida, in 2006. I recently had a short story published on fivechapters.com and am currently working on a screenplay.

 

Renée Dixon (MFA 2007)

I spent six months crewing on a sailboat in the South Pacific. The yacht departed from New Zealand and sailed through Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga.

 

Jason Frye (MFA 2005)

My poem “Ubehebe Crater to Teakettle Junction” appeared in the Spring 2006 issue of Ellipsis.  Kate Cumiskey (MFA 2006) and I published an excerpt from our interview with the late Robert Creeley in Crazyhorse.  Two poems, “Beltline Lights,” and “Buffalo Creek,” appear in the anthology Coal: A Poetry Anthology from Blair Mountain Press.  On October 20, 2006, Lauren Dzubak (MFA 2004) and I were married in Southport, North Carolina.

 

Paul Gasbarra (MFA 2003)

I landed a job here in New York, one that pays a livable wage. I'm doing research and writing for a non-partisan public opinion and civic engagement non-profit organization called Public Agenda.  I've been here since January and I'm enjoying it. I'm working on a higher education survey right now, polling folks about their thoughts on colleges and running the organization's weblog.  Here are a couple of links: link 1   link 2

 

Chrysa Gumbs (BFA 2007) chrysa.gumbs@us.army.mil

I am currently stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma working as a Platoon Leader and Fire Direction Officer. I will deploy to Iraq in November 2009 for a year and expect to have lots of time to write, shoot rocketsand fight the sandstorms! Congratulations to my fellow Creative Writers on their wonderful personal and professional accomplishments.

 

Alison Louise Harney (MFA 2007)

I have poems forthcoming in The Iowa Review, Poetry East and Epicenter. She was finalist in the Southeast Review poetry contest, and will be published in their Spring 2010 issue.

Kianoosh (Kelly) Hashemzadeh (BFA 2006)

I have recently relocated to Montreal to attend McGill University's Institue of Islamic Studies where I am pursing my MA. 

 

Kirsten Holmstedt (MFA 2006), kaholmstedt@yahoo.com, www.bandofsistersbook.com 

My book, Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq is being published by Stackpole Books and will be on sale July 4.  In January, I was involved in a book forum with a dozen other authors who have written about the war in Iraq.  The forum was held in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C. , and was open to congress members and the public.  On the first weekend in June, I am going to participate in BookExpo America in New York City.  I can’t wait!! Springtime in the Big Apple. 

 

Ashley Hudson (MFA 2008)

I was recently a finalist in the Third Coast Poetry Contest and will begin teaching a poetry course in the Graduate Liberal Studies department at UNCW in spring.

Shawna Kenney (MFA 2007)

I am serving as the new music columnist for Currents/The Wilmington Star News, and will be reading from my thesis (Girl in the Pit: Punk Rock Essays & Interviews '86 - '06) at the San Francisco Public Library on May 7 as part of their Radar Reading Series.

 

Gwendolyn Knapp (MFA 2006)

Finishing up a collection of vulgar short stories and rewriting my novel. I have a story out in Crazyhorse Vol. 70 and another coming out in Quarterly West. I also have an essay forthcoming in the 20th Anniversary Issue of Hayden's Ferry Review.  Going to surf Costa Rica this July.

 

John F. Loonam, Jr. (BFA 2007)

Summer of Chaos. I went on a Caribbean cruise after graduation where I won the first contest I've ever entered. Afterwards, I moved back to Bettie, NC from Wilmington. Moved again, 500 feet away from my mobile home into another one. I had to demolish the previous one. Shot my whole summer. I also had a summer photography gig shooting passengers' portraits for a harbor cruise line. My car just recently got rear-ended while entering my driveway, like a similar wreck three years ago. Serious cosmetic damage. What's the limit for total-loss insurance claims on one vehicle? Add in a stolen vehicle, jury duty, and... A new edition of a fabulous 1958 nonfiction book with illustrations to be published by UNCW's publishing laboratory (title still under confidential status) , which I was project editor for in a pub lab internship (spring 2007), will be listed in John F. Blair's spring 2008 catalog. I continue working as a freelance copyeditor with enough of a workload to make a living while I write. My first completed story "Big Iron Lawman" **is in the mail** to L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest.

Robert Lurie (MFA 2005)

My book "No Certainty Attached" (which began as my CRW thesis under David Gessner) was published by Verse Chorus Press in June 2009. It has gotten some fine reviews, including an especially generous one from Publishers Weekly. This month (August), it goes into its second printing! I have also had work appear over the past few years in Goldmine, Bootleg, Chronicles, and--lest we forget--a Canadian _Doctor Who_ zine called Enlightenment. In May 2008 I married longtime Wilmingtonian Harper Piver. Life is good!

 

Pamela Manasco (MFA 2008)

I got married in December of 2005, in the same month my poem, "Prometheus," was published in Half-Drunk Muse, and was an honorable mention in their 2005 Penny Jar Prize. Currently, I'm an assistant poetry editor at 42opus.

 

Michelle Manning (MFA 1997) is a full-time lecturer in UNCW’s English Department.

 

Catherine McCall (MFA 2005), catherine.mccall@yahoo.com, www.catherinemccall.com

—author of Lifeguarding: A Memoir of Secrets, Swimming and the South

I've had an essay accepted by The Village Rambler to appear...sometime. And I'll be giving a presentation at the National Wellness Conference on Finding Your Voice: Exploring Memoir, Culture and the Creative Self--which proves, I guess, that writing is good for your health as well as your soul!

 

Agnes McDonald (MFA 2004)

In 2004, I released a 51 poem collection, Eight Cranes on Tuesday.  Since 2003, I was a staff writer for Carolina Civic Voice. a monthly progressive magazine that came out once a month,  but which is now online four times a year. My contributions to this magazine were frequent and diverse. Too many to mention singly.

 

Janie Miller (MFA 2007)

Having graduated in May 2008 with my MFA from UNCW, I have tried various acts of time-using, including sitting on my hands, rocking back and forth in my chair, and moving my house furniture a quarter inch at a time; subconsciously intending to shift it back later in the day as the light changes. I've recently been published in Columbia Poetry Review and the Kakalak anthology, and have accepted a winter fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center.

 

Amelia Morris (MFA, 2010)

McSweeney's is using a piece I wrote for their website in an upcoming humor anthology entitled The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes. My small business, www.istomachla.com, got a write up in a glossy Los Angeles mag rightly called Angeleno Magazine for the t-shirts (though it should be noted that my self-published coffee-table/humor book can also be purchased there!). And in somewhat related writing news, one of my fiance's scripts is currently a semi-finalist in the Nicholl fellowships and I'm very proud and hopeful that something will come of us living thousands of miles apart.

Derek Nikitas (MFA 2000)

My novel Pyres will be published by St. Martin's Minotaur in October 2007 as part of a two-book deal, and now I have to write another one.  St. Martin's is also publishing a short story of mine called "Runaway" in an anthology in early 2008.  The anthology showcases members of Killer Year, a group of "crime" writers whose debut novels are coming out in 2007.  See www.killeryear.com.  In the past couple years my stories have been published in The Ontario Review (thrice), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (twice), Chelsea, and Traffic East.  My story "Wonder" was an honorable mention in last year's Pushcart anthology. I taught writing full time at SUNY Brockport for five years, but for elusive reasons decided this year to go back to school and get my PhD.  So here I am at Georgia State University working on a PhD in Fiction with a secondary concentration in Poetry. 

 

Allison Parker (MFA 2001)

I begin graduate study in the Master of Science in Geoscience program, an online degree for college instructors, at Mississippi State this fall. In addition, my poem Villanelle was recently published in the summer edition of Astropoetica. Visit http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/villanelle.html                                                                                                                                     

Miriam Parker (MFA 2008)

My story "The Made-for-TV Movie of My Life" was published in 14 Hills and the first chapter of the novel I am working on (tentatively titled Life Imitiates TV) was published in Wilma! I've also been writing essays about being Jewish, appropriately enough, for a Catholic website called BustedHalo.com. I’m living in Blacksburg, Virginia, working remotely as the Associate Director of Online Marketing for the Hachette Book Group. My story “Pardon My Doll” was published in the Spring 2008 issue of The Florida Review.

 

Lesley Parker Richardson (MFA 2003), frostedleaves@hotmail.com 

I tied the knot on July 1, 2006, in Wilmington, and my husband and I now own a home in Hampstead. I am presently working on a novel and am a little over halfway through; I hope to complete it next summer.  A few of my poems are floating around on editors’ desks now, so I am waiting for an acceptance letter or two with crossed fingers. My poems have recently been published in Flint Hills Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Coal City Review, and Main Street Rag. My poem "Stilettos" came out June 2007 in California Quarterly Volume 33, Number 2

This is my fourth year teaching writing and literature full-time at Coastal Carolina Community College and I am also dabbling in photography, so please visit my website at www.lesleyrichardsonphotography.com.

 

Sumanth Prabhaker (MFA 2007)

I'm starting a small non-profit publishing company called Madras Press, selling individually bound short stories and novellas and donating the proceeds to a growing list of charitable organizations chosen by our authors. Titles include stories by Aimee Bender, Trinie Dalton, Rebecca Lee, Yoko Ogawa, Joy Williams, and myself. Each book costs about as much as a greeting card and comes w/ your name inscribed on the inside front cover. More information at www.madraspress.com.

I also have a story forthcoming here -- http://www.ero-guro-sensu.com.

 

Cindy Horrell Ramsey (MFA 2006)

I'm still living and working in the North Carolina foothills, but it seems farther and farther away from my beautiful granddaughter, Kamryn, who recently celebrated her first birthday. I will appear on UNC-TV's Bookwatch with D.G. Martin on Friday, October 10, 2008, at 9:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, October 12 at 5 p.m. discussing my nonfiction book Boys of the Battleship North Carolina (2007 John F. Blair, Publisher). The first weekend of May, 2007, I witnessed history with the commissioning of the submarine North Carolina and participated in a legacy luncheon where the crewmembers of the battleship and the submarine ate together and toasted each other. As with many events surrounding my book, it was a tearjerker. I've completed a suspense novel and am currently agent shopping while working on my next book--600 Letters Home--based on letters I found in the ship's archives while researching the nonfiction book. It will be research intensive fiction. I've also been named to the North Carolina Humanities Council Road Scholars Speakers Bureau for 2009–2010.

 

Carrah Lee Royal (BFA 2002)

(As a UNCW student, I was known as Carrah Faircloth) I have been busy since my exit with a B.F.A in Creative Writing in May 2002. I graduated from Boston's Emerson College in May 2005 with a M.F.A. in Creative Writing. I have moved back to Fayetteville, NC, married, and now I am even published. I have a small article in the November issue of OurState magazine entitled "A Dickens of A Holiday". You can find the article under the by-line of Lee Royal (my middle and married name).

Anne Russell (MFA 1999)

My Wilmington play "The Porch" was performed at London Terrace Gardens in New York City in September 2006.  Making Waves Films in Hawaii is utilizing my biography of Senator Patsy Takemoto Mink in its production of the documentary "Ahead of the Majority" for national public television.  The Bill Moyers program is making use of my 1898 commemorative drama "No More Sorrow to Arise" in production of a new documentary for national public television.  I am teaching courses in creativity and 20th century family drama in UNC-Wilmington's master of liberal studies program. I have co-authored the book Life and Times of the Fort Fisher Hermit, Through the Lens of Fred Pickler published Spring 2007.

 

Dana Sachs (MFA 2000)

I’ve just finished a new book. It’s called The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam. It’s a nonfiction narrative history of Operation Babylift, the evacuation, and subsequent overseas adoption, of several thousand children from Vietnam at the very end of the war there in 1975. Beacon Press will publish it next spring. I’m also the author of two other books, The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam (Algonquin Books and, for the paperback, Seal Press) and If You Lived Here, a novel (William Morrow.)

 

Bryan Sandala (MFA 2006), bryansandala@yahoo.com

My wife Heather and I moved from Wilmington to Philadelphia, PA this past May. She'll be attending the masters' program at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania starting this fall. I began service with Teach for America (www.teachforamerica.org) this summer (taught summer school--11th grade English--at William Penn High School in Northern Philadelphia).  My fall placement, and teaching assignment for the next two years, is at the Camden Academy Charter High School in Camden, NJ. I'm teaching 10th grade classes in American Literature (honors and regular), in addition to a remediation Literature and Composition class in order to prepare senior students for the NJ High School Proficiency Assessment.

Kim Shable (MFA 2004)

Four of my humor columns, including one I wrote for the late, great ConvincingJohn.com, have been published in the Columbus (OH) Dispatch over the last few months, thus beginning my dramatic climb to total domination of the humor columnist circuit. In other news, I am now engaged to Ben Oja, a super-fine chemist with a heart of gold and flecks of chrome covering all his clothes and, sometimes, his hair. He does not read my blog, but you should: http://www.unwillingadult.blogspot.com (it's not as porny as it sounds).

 

Ashley Shivar (MFA, 2010)

I have continued on as co-coordinator for the Writers In Action Program. I have had poems in The Lettered Olive of the University of South Carolina, as an undergraduate. Three poems appeared in the Spring/Summer issue of SNReview, which can be viewed on their website. My poem "Keramikos" was published/posted above the ceramics exhibit in Randall Library. My poem "Vanity" was published in the fall/September issue of Main Channel Voices.   I also have a poem, "Night Life," forthcoming from To The Bone.

 

Jarvis Slacks (MFA 2008), www.jayslacks.blogspot.com

I am in the wonderful Washington DC suburbs, where I am teaching English at Montgomery Community College in Rockville, Maryland. I just ended my 15-month run writing the Nightlife Column, Good Evening, for the Star-News. My short story "Like Marriage" was published in Riffing with Strings: A Collection of Writing on String Theory by Scribelus Press. I am currently working hard on my next novel, which involves Divorce, Murder, Creativity, the Internet, and those naps you used to take in kindergarten.  

Sally Smits (MFA 2006)

I'm currently teaching composition, literature, and creative writing at Indiana University South Bend. It's very flat and gray here, but the students are terrific. This past year, I have had poems published in The Georgia Review and The Laurel Review, and the editors of Smartish Pace nominated a poem of mine for Best New Poets 2007.  My cat, Clementine, gets fatter and more beautiful by the day.

 

Faydra Stratton (MFA 2003)

In December 2006 a story from my thesis appeared in the premier edition of The Ankeny Briefcase in February 2007 another story will appear in Relief.  In July of 2005 Kevin and I adopted a 16-month-old from Volgograd, Russia.  I blogged the experience start to finalization and self-published the blog through iuniverse as a family keepsake.  These days I’m settling into Texas life. (We moved so Kevin can pursue missionary aviation at LeTourneau University in Longview, TX.)  Anything writing related for me is updated at faydrastratton.com.

 

Mallory Tarses (MFA 2007)

I won last year's (2006) Washington Square Review fiction competition, judged by Sam Lipsyte, and had the story published in their Summer 2006 issue. My story, "The Tennis Lesson," appeared in Wilma! in July, and another story, "Details," placed fifth in the W.P. Kinsella Baseball Fiction contest and will appear in the upcoming issue of 108. I recommend that others enter this contest, as the people at Sandlot Media are great and their monetary rewards are substantial.

 

Daniel Nathan Terry (MFA 2010)

I am a former landscaper and current "national disaster into poetry" enthusiast. My work has appeared in Oberon, Busted Halo, The River, and The Albion Review. My first collection of poetry, Days of Dark Miracles, which dealt with the events surrounding hurricane Katrina, was a finalist in two national book competitions: The Stevens Manuscript Contest and Elixir. I am currently working on a collection of poems about the photographers of the American Civil War tentatively titled Capturing the Dead.

 

Brian Tucker (BFA 2004) www.bootlegmag.com

In 2005 I began publishing Avenue magazine which morphed into Bootleg magazine in 2006. The publication runs features and articles about art, music, culture, photography, film, fiction, and stories otherwise overlooked from Wilmington to anywhere in the world. I have put together music showcases over the last five years at local venues and for the yearly W.E. fest. In 2007 I started Helping Hands, a music project resulting in two cd's of local music raising money for local kids' charities. I also write freelance for a musician's publication called Performer. In early 2009 I completed the script for a graphic novel (Century 242) to be illustrated by a local artist and in the spring of 2009 I wrote and directed a short film (Would You Like To Go To Winter Kills?). Currently I am working with UNCW interns for the fourth semester as writers for Bootleg and working to finish two new screenplays.

 

Matt Tullis (MFA 2005), mtullis@dispatch.com

I had a panel accepted for the 2010 AWP conference in Denver. The panel, The MFA in Academia, is composed of first year faculty members who hold MFAs. We will discuss everything from how we got our jobs to the general attitude of colleges and universities to the MFA degree. UNCW alum Emma Bolden (2005) is on the panel. She is on faculty at Georgetown College). The rest of the panel consists of Joe Oestreich (Coastal Carolina University), Kyle Minor (University of Toledo) and Miroslav Penkov (University of North Texas).

 

Eric Vrooman (MFA 2000)

My short fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Minnesota Monthly, The Cream City Review, Passages North, and Ninth Letter. Most recently, I had stories published online by Hobart and Monkeybicycle. Since getting my MFA, I've taught creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus College and Tulane University. I'm currently freelancing in Minneapolis and teaching at Macalester College. Oh, and eating a lot of bacon.

 

Jesse Waters (MFA 2002)  

I am currently a visiting lecturer in the English Dept. at UNCW. I'm finishing a memoir, CALL ME KIKE: A Memoir-ish. A chapter from the book will appear in the next issue of The Southeast Review.

 

Jennifer Weathers (MFA 2009)

My super short story “The Triplets” (written for one of Wendy’s classes where she challenged us with brevity) has been given the 2nd place prize in the Prick of the Spindle fiction open which will be in print soon. My poem “On the Deer Carcass That Hung in the Garage” will be forthcoming in the fall 2009 issue of Cimarron Review. I’m currently working on a short story collection and other endeavors, including blogging at poethussy.blogspot.com.

 

Bambi Weavil (BFA 2004)

Since 2004, I've been a regular wrestling columnist for PulseWresting.com.  Since April 2006, I've been working for the largest lesbian publication, Curve Magazine link as their Marketing/PR Manager as well as the War on Apathy's (http://www.thewaronapathy.org) Campaign Manager.  Since January 2007, I've been a music columnist for MachineGunFunk.com.  Between all of my work, I still make time to write poetry and blog at artsy-goddess.com.  Cheers!

 

Hillary Wentworth (MFA 2007)

Hello!  My essay “Lies Are Easy to Recognize” was chosen as a finalist in the 2006 First Person Arts memoir competition.  “The Extra” was published in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Black Warrior Review.  I’m currently working on art for the Red Wheelbarrow, an experimental MFA showcase of word and image.

 

Allison Wilkins (BFA 2002)
 
My poems have appeared in Tiger's Eye, Broken Bridge Review, Sin City Review and others. I am currently an assistant professor of English at Lynchburg College.

 

Rebecca Whitman (BFA 2004)

After graduation, I developed a career in photography. I am currently the manager of a portrait studio in Winston-Salem, NC. In this new world of rolling green hills, I am finding new inspiration for my writing. Currently, I am pursuing publication of past and present work as well as exploring my own creativity in its vast arrays of forms.

 

Cheryl Wilder (BFA 2005)

I am in my second semester at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I am obtaining my MFA in poetry. Currently I am writing a book for a local architect about his architectural philosophies and their importance to contemporary architecture.

 

Snezana Zabic (MFA 2005)

I am a winner of a fellowship awarded by The Brauner Endowment, "established to assist students who have experienced economic hardships and have demonstrated excellence in their field." My poem "Translation Manual" appears in Coconut, Issue 14 (http://www.coconutpoetry.org/).

 

Luba Zakharov (MFA 2006), luba.zakharov@alumni.duke.edu

Funded by a grant from the American Theological Library Association, I traveled to Moscow, Russia in April 2008 to participate in the conference, Library Support for Educational Programs in Theological Schools. The Russian newspaper The Protestant published my translated article, “Theological Librarians Meet in Moscow” in their July 2008 edition. A follow up article, “International Collaboration and Storytelling,” was published in the August 2008 edition of the ATLA Newsletter, vol. 55, no. 4. Stories of my travels can be found at http://lubasmoscow.blogspot.com.  

 

 

UNCW