Vishwas Gaitonde
Writers Workshops Participant, '14Vishwas Gaitonde’s essay “An Ecological Movement Sprouts From Literature” was published in The Mantle on September 6, 2016.
Omnium Gatherum: Alumni & Teaching Staff News
Welcome to the Community of Writers Omnium Gatherum & Alumni News. We invite you to find out what our community has been up to recently. You may view by date or by program (see left sidebar). Sign up for monthly updates here.
We also invite alumni and staff to submit your news here. Please note that news must be less than 12 months old, brief and to the point, and may be edited for brevity and/or clarity.
David Hagerty
Writers Workshop Participant, '03The second book in David Hagerty’s series of murder mysteries, They Tell Me You Are Crooked, will be released on Sept. 26 by Evolved Publishing. It follows Gov. Duncan Cochrane as he attempts to catch a sniper in Chicago’s most notorious housing project while maintaining the secret of his daughter’s killing.
David owes much of his success and persistence as a writer to Louis B. Jones, who taught him what it takes to make it in this trade.
Jami Macarty
Poetry Participant, '10, '14Jami Macarty’s 16-line poem, “The Minuses,” was selected by Kiki Petrosino as the First Prize winner of Rabbit Catastrophe Press’ Real Good Poetry Prize, which comes with the award of $2,000.00, 25 broadsides of the winning poem, and publication in Rabbit Catastrophe Review.
Valerie Wallace
Poetry Participant, '10Valerie Wallace’s first book-length manuscript has been selected by the poet Vievee Francis for the 2016 Four Way Books Intro Prize. House of McQueen is scheduled to be published in March 2018.
Jennifer Givhan
Poetry Participant, '15Jennifer Givhan’s debut poetry collection, Landscape with Headless Mama, is now available from Pleiades Press, and is included in a list of Must-Read Poetry Collections by Poets of Color.
Natalie Baszile
Writers Workshop Participant, '01Natalie Baszile’s 2014 novel, Queen Sugar, has been made into a television drama on the Oprah Winfrey Channel. The series is created, directed and executive produced by Ava DuVernay, who also directed Selma. Oprah Winfrey also serves as an executive producer. Queen Sugar premiered on September 6th, 2016, and has already been renewed for a second season.
David Corbett
Writers Workshops, '88,'89,'91,'99; Screenwriting,'01David Corbett’s newest work is a selection of short stories, Thirteen Confessions, published in May, 2016 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road. In addition, David will be teaching several workshops and seminars in the Bay Area this fall. More information here.
Sharon Olds
Poetry Workshop, StaffSharon Olds, a longtime Poetry Workshop staff member, has been awarded the Wallace Steven’s Award for “proven mastery in the art of poetry.” The award comes with a $100,000 cash prize.
Regina Louise
Writers Workshops Participant,'01,'14, Screenwriters Workshop, '02, StaffRegina Louise’s essay, “I was Adopted at–41,” was recently published by Narratively, and was then picked up by the BBC World News and the interview aired on Outlook “30 Years Looking For Mum.” Her essay, “Milk Vat,” was recently published in Black Clock Journal. Regina is currently working on the first release of the nonprofit publishing company she’s founded: Someone Has Led This Child to Believe: A Case History of Love, Luck & Self-Determination. It is the followup to her ’03 memoir, Somebody’s Someone.
Janyce Stefan-Cole
Writers Workshop Participant, '04Janyce Stefan-Cole’s second novel, The Detective’s Garden: A Love Story and Meditation on Murder, will be published September 13; Unbridled Books. www.janycestefan-cole.com
Christopher DeWan
Screenwriting Participant, '14Christopher DeWan’s short story collection, Hoopty Time Machines, was announced as one of the “most anticipated books of 2016” by John Madera of Big Other. The book will launch on September 21 at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, with other events to follow later in the fall. It is currently available for preorder from Atticus Books.
M. Nzadi Keita
Writers Workshop Participant, '95; Poetry Participant, '97.M. Nzadi Keita’s Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems From The Life of Anna Murray Douglass (Whirlwind Press), was published in 2015. Keita’s persona poems imagine how free-born, illiterate Anna Murray Douglass saw the world as an independent woman, mother, abolitionist in her own right, and first wife to Frederick Douglass. It was a finalist for the 2015 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Prize from Quarterly Black Books Review. See spdbooks.org for purchase.
Vishwas Gaitonde
Writers Workshops Participant, '14Vishwas Gaitonde’s multi-media essay “The Birth, Death, and Reincarnation of the Harmonium” was published in The Mantle on July 14, 2016. The essay contains representative video-clips of harmonium music to accompany the text.
Sholeh Wolpé
Poetry Participant, '04Poet and translator Sholeh Wolpé has translated and published The Conference of the Birds, by Attar. Considered by Rumi to be “the master” of Sufi mystic poetry, Attar is best known for his epic poem “The Conference of the Birds,” an allegorical tale about the soul’s search for meaning.
Frederick R. Andresen
Writer's Workshop Participant, '00, '01, '02, '03Fred Andresen’s historical fiction novel, The Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan, The Story of the Yusupov Rembrandts, was a Finalist for The Montaigne Medal of The Eric Hoffer Book Award. This is a historical novel about the power of love wielded by a descendent line of courageous women to protect the famous Yusupov Rembrandts from the threat of European and Russian revolutions, obsessive men, and American law — until the portraits find security in an American museum. “Home, we know, is not a place; it is where we belong to each other.”
Aleta George
Writers Workshop Participant, '05,'10Aleta George’s book, Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of California’s First Poet Laureate (Shifting Plates Press), was awarded the Bronze medal in the Biography category in the 20th Annual, 2016 Independent Publisher Book Award contest.
Meg Waite Clayton
Writers Workshops Participant, '00Meg Waite Clayton’s fifth novel, the Langum Prize-honored national bestseller The Race for Paris, is just out in paperback. It’s the Sacramento Cap Radio Reads for September, as well as an IndieNext Great Read bookseller choice, a Historical Novel Reviews Editors’ Choice, a Bookreporter.com Bets On Selection, and recommended reading by Glamour and the BBC.
Celeste Leon
Writers Workshop Participant, '13Celeste León’s novel, Luck is Just the Beginning, earned a Mariposa Award for Best First Book in the 2016 National Latino Book Awards and Finalist in Multicultural Fiction in the 2016 International Book Awards. The novel, inspired by a true story, was also selected as Book of the Month in August 2016 for the Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club. Celeste was interviewed in Las Comadres’ monthly teleconference series; the interview is now a podcast. To download, visit their website: http://lascomadres.com/latinolit/latino-book-club/portfolio/2016-teleconference/
Kazim Ali
Teaching Staff, Poetry Participant '98Kazim Ali’s book of stories, Uncle Sharif’s Life in Music, will be published in November 2016 by Sibling Rivalry Press. It is available for pre-order now.
Luke Tennis
Writers Workshops Participant, '95,'97,'05Luke Tennis’s short story won the Phoebe Short Story Contest judged by novelist Joshua Ferris. This past spring he was awarded a fiction writing grant from the Maryland Arts Council. He has new stories currently up on Phoebe, the Forge, and Pedestal.
