The Newport MFA presents readings, craft talks with best-selling authors
Best-selling authors and award-winning writers will present guest readings and craft talks during a week-long winter workshop being hosted Sunday, Jan. 8, through Wednesday, Jan. 11. These events are being hosted by the Newport MFA, Salve Regina ’s master of fine arts in creative writing program.
All events are free and open to the Salve Regina community as well as the general public, and anyone interested is encouraged to attend.
To register for any of the events listed below, go here.
Magazine Publishing Panel with Bruce Handy and Tracey Minkin
Sunday, Jan. 8, at 1:30 p.m.
Ochre Court
Bruce Handy is the author of “Wild Things” and is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair. He has also been a writer and senior editor for Times. Some of his works have appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vogue, and The New Yorker. In 1993 he was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on Saturday Night Live. He also received a GLAAD Award in 1998 for his Time cover on Ellen DeGeneres titled “Yep I’m Gay.”
Tracey Minkin is a travel editor and writer at Coastal Living Magazine. She is also a freelance writer who has written for over forty publications including Travel + Leisure, Southern Living, Outside, Food & Wine, and VERANDA. Minkin is a three-time award winner for the SATW Lowell Thomas Gold Award for General Excellence.
A Reading with Helen Schulman
Sunday, Jan. 8, at 7:00 p.m.
A Craft Talk with Helen Schulman
Monday, Jan. 9, 2:00 p.m.
Helen Schulman is the author of “Come With Me,” “This Beautiful Life,” “A Day At The Beach,” “The Revisionist,” “Out Of Time,” and “P.S.,” which was later turned into a film starring Laura Linney, Topher Grace and Paul Rudd. Some of her other works have appeared in Vanity Fair, Time, Vogue, The New York Times Book Review and The Paris Review. She is also the fiction chair of the creative writing program at New School and is the executive director for WriteOn NYC, which is a free creative writing program for children in New York City who would likely not have the opportunity otherwise.
A Reading with Diana Goetsch
Monday, Jan. 9, 7:00 p.m.
A Craft Talk with Diana Goetsch
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2:00 p.m.
Diana Goetsch has published eight collections of poetry and wrote the memoir “This Body I Wore.” In her inspiring memoir, she explains her long journey to discovering she was a trans-woman. Her memoir was listed as A Best Book of the Year at Cosmopolitan. Her other works have appeared in The New Yorker, The American Scholar, The LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize. She also provides classes in her program Actually Writing, which provides exercises for those who are struggling to find the motivation to write.
Small Press Panel Discussion with Wyn Cooper and Stona Fitch
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 4:00 p.m.
Wyn Cooper has published five works of poetry and wrote the novel “Way Out West.” His works of poetry and his essays have appeared in over a hundred magazines such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Slate and The Southern Review. Cooper has experience in songwriting as well and some of his works of poetry have inspired other songwriters, such as Sheryl Crow’s Grammy-winning song “All I Wanna Do.” He also has experience as an editor, helping beginning writers publish their work.
Stona Fitch is the author of the novels Third Rail, Dark Horse, Give + Take, Printer’s Devil, Senseless, and Strategies for Success. He is also a community activist and is the founder of Concord Free Press, which publishes books and asks that readers make voluntary donations to a charity. Through these efforts over $1.3 million has been raised. He received the Creative Writing Program’s Lannan Award for Fiction while he was at Princeton University and used to be the chairman of The Daily Princetonian.
Readings by Wyn Cooper and Edgar Kunz
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 7:00 p.m.
Edgar Kunz is the author of a poetry collection called “Tap Out,” which was selected as a New York Times “New & Noteworthy” pick. His other works of poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, New England Review, Sewanee Review and Los Angeles Review of Books. Edgar Kunz has received fellowships and awards from National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council and Vanderbilt University, where he also earned his MFA. He currently teaches at Goucher College and is a faculty member of The Newport MFA in Creative Writing.
Wyn Cooper has published five works of poetry and wrote the novel “Way Out West.” His works of poetry and his essays have appeared in over a hundred magazines such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Slate and The Southern Review. Cooper has experience in songwriting as well and some of his works of poetry have inspired other songwriters, such as Sheryl Crow’s Grammy-winning song “All I Wanna Do.” He also has experience as an editor, helping beginning writers publish their work.
To register for any of the events listed above, go here.
About the Newport MFA
Salve Regina’s low-residency Newport MFA program immerses students in the creative life through residencies, mentorships, publishing and editing panels, and craft talks. The two-year program guides aspiring writers to the terminal degree in their field through eight-day residencies held in Newport twice a year and a residency option in Cuba, where they focus on their preferred genre of fiction, poetry, nonfiction or historical fiction. Students, who also gain insights into the business of publishing and editing, spend the months between residencies writing and reflecting in an individualized mentorship with eminent writers. The program culminates with each student completing a polished manuscript.
