Nasty Women Poetry Reading – 10/15/17

Sunday October 15, 2017 – 2pm

Moonstone Poetry @ Fergie’s Pub presents 

Nasty Women Poets:

An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse

1214 Sansom Street

Philadelphia, PA 

 

An anthology of poems from women who proudly celebrate their own nastiness and that of other women who have served as nasty role models; poems by and about women defying limitations and lady-like expectations; women refusing to be “nice girls;” women embracing their inner bitch when the situation demands it; women being formidable and funny; women speaking to power and singing for the good of their souls; women being strong, sexy, strident, super-smart, and stupendous; women who want to encourage little girls to keep dreaming.

This timely collection of poems speaks not just to the current political climate and the man who is responsible for its title, but to the stereotypes and expectations women have faced dating back to Eve, and to the long history of women resisting those limitations. The nasty women poets included here talk back to the men who created those limitations, honor foremothers who offered models of resistance and survival, rewrite myths, celebrate their own sexuality and bodies, and the girlhoods they survived. They sing, swear, swagger, and celebrate, and stake claim to life and art on their own terms.

With Grace Bauer, Kim Bridgeford, Emari DiGiorgio, Corie Feiner, Ona Gritz, Harriet Levin, Lynn Levin, Carolina Morales & Nancy Reddy.

Each participant will read her own poem and at least one poem by another contributor not in attendance. Books will be available for purchase.

GRACE BAUER‘s history of resistance began when a nun told her that the greatest thing a girl could grow up to be was a virgin. Having failed at that particular life goal, she became a poet instead. She hates being called Miss, Ma’am, or Little Lady, but these days, takes nasty as a compliment. The idea for this anthology came to her in the shower. Her books include MEAN/TIME, The Women at the Well, Nowhere All At Once, Retreats & Recognitions. Her work has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Arts & Letters, the Colorado Review, Poetry, Rattle, and the Southern Poetry Review. Her awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, Individual Artist’s Grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Nebraska Arts Council, and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. Bauer is currently a senior book prize reader for Prairie Schooner and teaches at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

KIM BRIDGFORD is an award-winning poet, editor, college professor, fiction writer, and critic. She writes primarily in traditional forms, of which the sonnet is her form of choice. She is the director of Poetry by the Sea: A Global Conference. She is editor-in-chief at Mezzo Cammin, a journal of poetry by women and was formerly the editor of Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose. She received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry and a poetry fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her book In the Extreme: Sonnets about World Records received the 2007 Donald Justice Poetry Award.

EMARI DIGIORGIO is the author of Girl Torpedo (Agape, 2018), the winner of the 2017 Numinous Orison, Luminous Origin Literary Award, and The Things a Body Might Become (Five Oaks Press, 2017). She’s the recipient of the Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize, the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize, and a poetry fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She’s received residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy of the Arts, and Rivendell Writers’ Colony. She teaches at Stockton University, is a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Poet, and hosts World Above, a monthly reading series in Atlantic City, NJ.

ONA GRITZ is the author of the poetry collections, Geode, (Main Street Rag 2014), and Left Standing, (Finishing Line Press, 2005). Together with her husband Daniel Simpson, she is co-author of Border Songs: A Conversation in Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2017), and co-editor of More Challenges For the Delusional: Prompts, Poetry, and Prose Celebrating 25 Years of Murphy Writing Workshops (forthcoming, Diode Editions). She is also an essayist, memoirist and children’s author. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Ploughshares, and elsewhere.

COROE FEINER is an award-winning poet, performer, and educator. Called, “wonderful” by The New York Times, and “stunning,” by Backstage Magazine, she is the author of the poetry collection, Radishes into Roses, and the children’s book, Who Was Born at Home? Corie is the former poetry editor of The Washington Square Review, and the esteemed Bellevue Literary Review. She was the 2011 Poet Laureate of Bucks County, PA.

HARRIET LEVIN is the author of Girl in Cap and Gown, which was a National Poetry Series finalist, and The Christmas Show, which was chosen for the Barnard New Women Poets Prize. She is coeditor of Creativity and Writing Pedagogy: Linking Creative Writers, Researchers and Teachers. Levin’s honors include the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay di Catagnola Award, the Ellen La Forge Memorial Poetry Prize, the Pablo Neruda Prize, and a PEW Fellowship in the. She currently teaches and directs the Certificate Program in Writing and Publishing at Drexel University. Her debut novel, How Fast Can You Run is an IPPY and Living Now Awards winner.

LYNN LEVIN is a poet, writer, translator, and the author of six books. Her most recent collection of poems is Miss Plastique, a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in poetry. She is the co-author of Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, a Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist in education/academic. Levin has received 13 Pushcart Prize nominations, two grants from the Leeway Foundation, and is a Bucks County, Pennsylvania poet laureate. She teaches at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.

CAROLINA MORALES is the author of four chapbooks of poetry, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman (2015), Dear Monster (2012), In Nancy Drew’s Shadow (2010), Bride of Frankenstein and other poems (2008) each published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in the Journal of New Jersey Poets, Nimrod, Paterson Literary Review, Poet Lore, Presence, Spoon River Poetry Review and other journals. Awards include scholarships from the summer program at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA along with honorable mentions for an Allen Ginsberg Award and a Mill Wills Fellowship. Her one-act plays have been produced/staged in California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

NANCY REDDY is the author of Double Jinx, selected by Alex Lemon for the National Poetry Series and her chapbook Acadiana won the Black River Chapbook. Her poems have appeared in Linebreak, Memorious, Best New Poets, Poetry DailySmartish Pace, and elsewhere. She has been awarded a Promise Award from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, a Walter E Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a New Jersey Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship. She is Assistant Professor of Writing and First Year Studies at Stockton University in southern New Jersey.

Writing Studies Library

Greetings, Writers: we just wanted to let you know that SJU Writing Studies has subscribed to several publications about writing! We have placed them in suite #110 in Merion Hall, so stop by whenever you have a minute (or an hour), and enjoy. All we ask is that you keep the copies in the suite so everyone can use them. Thanks! Here are some examples of what we have to offer, in no particular order:

Kenyon Review

Bomb

Ecotone

A Public Space

Freedom

POETRY

The Sun

Tin House

Poets & Writers

Writer’s Chronicle (AWP) – we often have extras of this magazine. If you want a copy, just shoot me an email at hfoster@sju.edu and I will check for you.

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Part-time Teaching Opportunities

Part-time teaching opportunities are available during the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters at The University of the Arts.

The First-Year Writing Program at the University of the Arts offers foundational courses designed to help undergraduate students in creative fields develop important writing, reading, and critical thinking skills. These courses also introduce students to research fundamentals and the art of effective argumentation. To learn more about specific classes, view current course offerings here.

Applicants must have at least a Master’s degree and recent experience teaching composition courses. Experience developing developmental composition curriculum or working in writing program administration a plus.

If interested, please forward digital copies of your CV, most recent writing course evaluation(s), and a sample assignment prompt you developed for a composition class to Dr. Emily Mattingly (emattingly@uarts.edu).

Parting Words by Krisann Janowitz

Krisann Janowitz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have any parting words or shout-outs to share with current students and faculty?

I have loved every minute of my grad school experience in the Writing Studies program. Experiencing genuine camaraderie from my very first semester of the program was more than I could have ever asked for. Then to make (hopefully!) lasting friendships with so many amazing professors and talented classmates truly spoiled me. Now that I have graduated from the program, I know that nothing will ever compare

Which Writing Studies course or course reading was most interesting or useful to you? Why?

Gosh, this is a tough one because I truly feel that every course I took has benefited and matured me in one way or another. I guess if I had to choose, I’d say I’m pretty darn thankful for Maureen Saraco’s Grant Writing course because without that I would not have gained the experience necessary for my internship last year and (fingers-crossed) a career in development.

But, of course I have to say that both April’s and Ellie’s poetry courses have proved useful to me. I often tell people that I got a degree in Writing Studies with an unofficial minor in poetry and I say that because I do feel that I received an MA and MFA experience all rolled into one. I know my poetry would not be nearly as strong as it is without the guidance of those two remarkable women.

How do you plan to use your Master’s Degree in your career? 

Currently, I’m primarily applying for editing, development, and communication jobs; all of which I would not have felt confident doing before this program. My dream is still to eventually get my PhD (before 40) and teach at the University level– and in that way the program is a great stepping stone for me.

Do you have any tips for future students about choosing classes, juggling the workload, or writing a thesis?

Pick the courses that excite you the most– have fun with it.

Understand that your professors are also juggling a very large workload and a certain amount of grace should be extended to them as you take their courses.

Try not to skimp on the readings; they were chosen for a reason by some very wise people.

Krisann just graduated from the program in May of 2017. Currently, she is working on getting her thesis published, a collection of poems that explore the interconnections between home and homelessness. You can also see her perform her poetry at Fergie’s Pub on July 26th at 7 pm.

SJU Writing Studies Summer 2017 Courses

Summer I – May 22, 2017 – July 1, 2017

Dr. Jenny Spinner

ENG 683 – The Art of Editing (Area III) Hybrid Course CRN 20075

Wednesdays in person from 6:30 pm to 9:45 pm, Merion Hall #172

This course will offer an introduction to the multi-faceted profession of editing, focusing primarily on editing for print publications but also including video editing and tools/platforms for electronic editing. Through in-person and Skype interviews, you will learn firsthand from a variety of editors the professional requirements and skills needed to complete an array of editorial tasks and jobs. You will also learn standard copyediting marks and practice copyediting tasks. Additionally, you will practice following style sheets (and style guides) for class assignments and review grammar principles in order better to identify and fix errors in what you are editing (and in your own writing).


Summer II – July 3, 2017 – August 12, 2017

Maureen Saraco

 ENG 680 – Writing the Grant Proposal (Area III) Hybrid Course CRN 20180

Wednesdays in person from 6:30 pm to 9:45 pm, Merion Hall #172

Writing the Grant Proposal is a hybrid course that will meet once a week on campus; the second weekly meeting will take place online. ENG 680 will introduce students to the fundamentals of grant writing, a critical part of working in the nonprofit sector (as well as in academia, the arts, and research). Successful nonprofit grant writers raise the money to allow an organization’s programs and specific projects to move forward, to facilitate growth and the achievement of key objectives, and, in many cases, to quite literally keep the doors open. Functioning primarily as a workshop, the course will pair each student with a local nonprofit organization, for which the student will serve as a “consultant.” By the end of the course, each student will have written a full grant proposal for his or her organization. The course will primarily emphasize developing convincing and compelling language for each piece of the grant proposal, but students can also expect to learn about a typical grant-making process and about how to conduct research to generate a strong proposal and to find appropriate funders. This course fulfills Area III, Professional Writing.

Questions? Email Director Tenaya Darlington at tdarling@sju.edu or Heather Foster at hfoster@sju.edu.