New work by Warren Wilson faculty member Kevin McIlvoy appears in The Collagist: Online Literature from Dzanc Books.

When will we speak of Jesus?

So you’re The New Silence.       You’re going to like the job: the band kids, those kids are great, you’re going to love them       and how they love you no matter what, and the fans, you’re going to like them, and if all goes well they’re going to laugh at you –       it’s real cruel and real       connecting.           You’re going to like all of the really, really good nothing that comes with this job.  As the retiring Silence I’m glad to offer some thoughts.  It used to be that I didn’t manage transition, I was transition-averse, and at a time like this in which I’d lost the best job I ever had I would lose some reception, kind of like a TV set.       I’m just not that way anymore, I don’t lose reception, I’m on day and night, I’ve got volume.       It’s why I lost the job as The Silence – well, you know that.              The band director asked me to keep this email orientation short.  I said I would meet with you in person.  He said NOT.           I get that.      I get that.  I do.             (Continue reading…)

Set your alarm clocks!  Warren Wilson faculty member and poet Alan Shapiro will appear on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” this Sunday, February 19th.

Alan’s most recent works are Night of the Republic (2012, Harcourt) and Broadway Baby (2012, Algonquin)

Warren Wilson faculty member and poet Tony Hoagland reads his poem “Romantic Moment” on PBS’ “News Hour.”

Tony is the author of three poetry collections, including What Narcissism Means to Me, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Donkey Gospel, winner of the James Laughlin Award.

Warren Wilson faculty member Laura Kasischke has been named the winner of the  University of North Texas’ Creative Writing Program‘s first Rilke Poetry Prize.  The prize, named for poet Ranier Maria Rilke, is a $10,000 prize recognizing a book written by a mid-career poet who demonstrates exceptional artistry and vision.

Kasischke was awarded the prize for her collection Space, In Chains, a New York Times Notable Book for 2011 and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The judges had this to say:

“In this collection that explores imaginative freedom in the face of personal loss, Kasischke reveals a penetrating insight into what makes people work and not work through her characteristic emotional range, wit, surprising and uncanny imagery, and an intensity created through spare and radiant language. We see ourselves as “space, in chains,” bound and free, challenged by the book’s transfigurations of anxiety and grief into tribute and play.”

Kasischke will read at University of North Texas on Thursday, April 19 and at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture on Friday, April 20.

The trailer for Warren Wilson MFA Fiction Faculty Debra Spark’s new book, The Pretty Girl: Novella and Stories.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/34646067 w=400&h=225]

The Pretty Girl from Debra Spark on Vimeo

The Pretty Girl is available in 2012 from Four Way Books.