From the MFA Program Archives - Page 22 of 29

First Annual Spring Gala Video

For those who would like to take a look at some of the high spirited happenings at last May’s First Annual Spring Gala, presented by Friends of Writers to endow the Carol Houck Smith Scholarship, follow this link to watch the wonderful video.

Created by Frank Wing, the video features faculty and students from Warren Wilson, as well as new friends, who gathered to support the fundraising effort and to celebrate the MFA program by way of toasting Ellen Bryant Voigt’s birthday. Click the link to see friends and mentors enjoying the festivities. Listen to a reading by Meryl Streep and Bill Irwin of selected Ellen Bryant Voigt poems, as well as the Streep/Irwin comedic review of the contemporary poetry scene. (WARNING: any resemblance to the classic “Who’s on First” is entirely intentional!)

FOW was proud to have been able to fully endow the CHS scholarship by hosting such an enjoyable evening and looks forward to another successful fundraising event on behalf of the MFA Program in the spring of 2014.

September 16, 2013/by friendsofwritersblog

“Lost in the kudzu” with Reed Turchi

From the MFA Program

The MFA Program’s Reed Turchi spoke with The Oxford American Magazine:

As a college student at the University of North Carolina, Reed Turchi was a folklore student and an occasional musician, but the driving, rhythmic propulsion of the Hill Country blues grabbed ahold of him like no other music had before. He got a guitar for Christmas his sophomore year and he began to imitate the Fred McDowell licks his professor, renowned blues scholar Bill Ferris, introduced him to. He schooled himself on famous Hill Country blues players, mythic figures who were long gone.

“All I knew was that Fat Possum had stopped putting out records in that genre for the most part,” Reed says now. “R. L. Burnside was dead and his juke joint had burned down. Junior Kimbrough was dead and his juke joint had burned down. Otha Turner was dead. All of the main icons were gone, and the physical places where this music had been played were gone. I wanted to know what was going on other than the North Mississippi All-Stars.” He drove to Mississippi on his spare weekends in college, recording what he could but mostly “using folklore as an excuse to see what the hell was going on down there.”

Read the rest of the article online here.

August 5, 2013/by friendsofwritersblog

Assistant to the Director Position Announcement

From the MFA Program

Over the past fifteen years, Amy Grimm, as Assistant to the Director, has seen over 450 Warren Wilson MFA students from application request to walking stick. She’s tended to faculty travel and dorm assignments and graduation buffet menus; she’s kept our budget, sent out reminder emails, and provided an ever-ready wit and a sympathetic shoulder.

At the July residency, Amy announced her decision to leave her position in September.

While Amy will be deeply missed, we’re excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for her. and we’re looking forward to the new energy and perspectives her successor will bring to the important work we do year-round in the MFA Office.

We encourage faculty and alumni to pass along the job announcement below to qualified candidates. Please note that there is no relocation assistance for this position. Review of applications will begin on August 1^st.

Assistant to the Director, MFA

The MFA Program for Writers located at Warren Wilson College seeks candidates for the Assistant to the Director position. The person in this full-time twelve-month position is responsible for organizing and running the MFA Office, anticipating and responding to the needs of graduate students, faculty, prospective students, and alumni, as well as recognizing those needs that require the attention of the Program Director. The Assistant works in close consultation with the Program Director, the MFA Academic Board Chair, and the Project Manager/Web Manager, and is ultimately responsible for coordinating the work of all office staff. The complete position description may be seen online at: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~humres/MFA_Assistant_to_the_Director_REV_June_2013-1.pdf.

The successful candidate will possess at least a B.A. degree, preferably in English; excellent communication and computer skills; fluency with Microsoft Word and spreadsheet and database software, and social media; office management experience; exemplary organizational skills; maturity and discretion; flexibility, and even temper and a sense of humor; and experience or proven ability in bookkeeping. Some knowledge of and interest in contemporary writers and writing is strongly preferred. A driver’s license and good driving record is required.

The MFA Program has two 10-day residencies each year, in January and July. The successful candidate must be available to work 14- to 18- hour consecutive days throughout the two residencies. The summer residency typically includes July 4. Winter residency preparation involves working on New Year’s Day.

Warren Wilson College is an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of its community. Please send cover letter, résumé, and contact information for three professional references by email to [email protected]. Electronic submissions are required.

July 29, 2013/by friendsofwritersblog

Friends of Writers Honors Amy Grimm

From the MFA Program

FRIENDS OF WRITERS HONORS AMY GRIMM

Over the past fifteen years, Amy Grimm, as Assistant to the Director, has seen over 450 Warren Wilson MFA students from application request to walking stick. She’s tended to faculty travel and dorm assignments and buddy pairings and graduation buffet menus; she’s kept our budget, sent out cheerful reminder emails, and has shared in our celebrations and trials with compassion, wit, and a sympathetic shoulder. For a decade and a half, Amy has been, as Debra Allbery said in her final residency introduction of her, our compass and calendar and counselor.

When Amy announced this month that she would be concluding her remarkable tenure as the Warren Wilson MFA Program’s Assistant to the Director in September, the question which loomed as large as “How will we ever replace her?” was “How might we adequately honor her?”

At the banquet following our graduation ceremony, each constituency of our Warren Wilson family presented tokens of their affection and gratitude to Amy for her decade and a half of dedication to this program. Students offered a donation in Amy’s name to one of her favorite local charities. Former MFA director Pete Turchi and current director Debra Allbery presented a rhododendron walking stick adorned with scores of messages and mementos from faculty past and present. And Program founder Ellen Bryant Voigt, Board Chair of Friends of Writers, Inc., announced that FOW’s student emergency fund would be renamed the Amy Grimm Student Emergency Fund.

Attaching Amy’s name to a fund which supports students in times of dire necessity provided us with an enduring way to honor the generous care and selfless attention she’s given generations of students: through financial assistance that continues such care. Alumni and faculty who wish to express their appreciation to Amy may direct donations to this fund by designating it on the memo line on checks mailed to Friends of Writers at PO Box 128, Marshfield, VT 05658, or by appending a note to secure credit card donations made at www.friendsofwriters.org.

We’ll feature a full profile of Amy Grimm on our website in August.