Currently on an international tour, Thomas and Jones have given readings at the New York Public Library, Wellesley College, City College of New York, The National Arts Club of Manhattan, Northern Michigan University, Chicago Poetry Society, as well as other locations. ]]> 2008-04-22T16:32:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/workshop_authors_named_2008_guggenheim_fellows/ Samantha ChangWorkshop alumni Michael Paul Burkard, Lan Samantha Chang, Robin Hemley, Richard Panek, and Reginald Shepherd, were all named 2008 Guggenheim Fellows in an announcement this month by Edward Hirsch, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Read more about this selection on the Iowa Writers' Workshop website. Fiction, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Poetry 2008-04-18T19:48:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/iwp_alum_wins_poetry_award/ CliftonThe 2008 Irish Times Poetry Now Award was presented to Harry Clifton, a former fellow of the International Writing Program, at the DLR Poetry Now International Poetry Festival in Ireland this month. The judges described Clifton's winning collection, Secular Eden: Paris Notebooks 1994-2004, as "the achievement of several years' work . . . with great profundity to the poems in how they explored ideas". Clifton participated as a fellow in the International Writing Program at The University of Iowa in 1985, and has lived in Africa, Asia, Italy and France. He has published several collections of poems, including The Liberal Cage, The Desert Route: Selected Poems 1973-1988 and Night Train Through the Brenner. Read more... International Writing Program, Poetry 2008-04-16T16:28:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/the_patient_voice_project_awarded_major_project_grant/ The University of Iowa Arts Share program's Patient Voice Project recently received a 2008 grant from the Johnson & Johnson/Society for the Arts in Healthcare partnership. The Patient Voice Project, which offers creative writing classes to chronically-ill hospital patients, is one of eight initiatives in the United States and Canada to be honored by the society. They plan to use the $40,000 grant to support the expansion of the project. Read more... Fiction, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Nonfiction, Poetry 2008-04-11T15:08:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/hass_and_schultz_win_pulitzer_prizes_for_poetry/ Hass The 2008 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday, April 7, and two of the winning authors, Robert Hass and Philip Schultz (both awarded with the Pulitzer for poetry), have affiliation with the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Robert Hass, professor at UC Berkeley and visiting professor at The University of Iowa, received the prize for his National Book Award winning collection of poetry, Time and Materials (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2007). Iowa Writers' Workshop alumnus Philip Schultz won for his volume of poetry, Failure (Harcourt, 2007). Other workshop-affiliated authors were nominated as well, including workshop alumnus and former faculty member Denis Johnson for Tree of Smoke in the fiction category; and poet Ellen Bryant Voight, who received a Master of Fine Arts from the workshop, as the third poetry finalist. RELATED ARTICLESHass and Schultz Win Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize >> 2008 Winners Announced The Iowa Writers' Workshop >> Robert Hass and Philip Schultz Win 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The University of Iowa >> UI poets Hass and Schultz, and composer Lang win 2008 Pulitzer Prizes The New York Times >> 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters, Drama and Music Mercury News >> UC Berkeley English professor wins Pulitzer for poetry 2008-04-07T20:53:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/ui_press_announces_winners_of_2008_iowa_short_fiction_awards/ The University of Iowa Press has announced the latest winners of the Iowa Short Fiction Awards. Glen Pourciau from Texas received the 2008 Iowa Short Fiction Award for his collection "Invite"; and Illinois writer Molly McNett's "One Dog Happy" won the 2008 John Simmons Short Fiction Award. The recipients were selected for the UI press by final judge Charles D'Ambrosio, author of "The Dead Fish Museum" and "Orphans." Read More... Fiction, UI Press 2008-03-31T18:21:01-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/kate_christensen_wins_2008_pen_faulkner_award/ ChristensenWriters' Workshop alumna Kate Christensen (MFA 1989) has been selected as the winner of the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for her fourth novel, The Great Man. Judges Molly Giles, Victor LaValle, and Richard Bausch selected The Great Man from a pool of almost 350 novels and short story collections by American authors published in the US during the 2007 calendar year. Submissions came from more than 70 publishing houses, including small and academic presses. Read more... Full article: Kate Christensen Wins 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award (Iowa Writers' Workshop website) Fiction, Iowa Writers' Workshop 2008-03-26T18:51:00-06:00 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/ui_interim_provost_lopes_issues_statement_on_mfa_theses_submissions/ Lopes, UI interim provostLola Lopes, University of Iowa interim provost, issued a statement on Monday, March 17, about the university's policies regarding the submission and publication of Master of Fine Arts theses: "Statement from the Provost Concerning MFA Theses: "In recent days a number of people have been upset about what they believed was a plan by our library to publish the creative thesis work of students in our writing programs on the Internet without their permission. Let me say as simply and clearly as I can, there is no such plan nor will there be. I regret sincerely that we did not convey this message when students and faculty first voiced their concerns. "For some time now our library, like most major academic research libraries, has been exploring ways to make its collections more accessible by digitizing some materials. As part of that process, there has been discussion about the possibility of making graduate student dissertations and theses available in electronic format. But any such process must be preceded by developing policies and procedures that allow authors to decide whether and when to allow distribution. "On Monday, March 17, I will begin pulling together a working group with representatives from the Graduate College, University Libraries, our several writing programs, and all other constituencies who wish to be part of the process. Under the leadership of Carl Seashore in 1922, Iowa became the first university in the United States to award MFA degrees based on creative projects. Although this has been a rocky start, I like to think that Iowa will again lead the way by developing policies and procedures that safeguard intellectual property rights while preserving materials for the use of scholars in generations to come." 2008-03-17T18:20:00-06:00