A day in George Saundersland
Yesterday Pittsburgh became George Saundersland, with a lunch, a Q&A session, a (rumored) dinner with faculty, and a reading (pictured) at the Frick Fine Arts auditorium. Trust me, that figure…
Category Archives: codename:MFA
New teacher as dork
I’m teaching for the first time — Composition — and I’ve reached the post-terror stage where everything seems like it could be a lesson. Errol Morris on war photographs? I’m…
Imaginary syllabus
At Pitt’s Fuel & Fuddle reading series, which I cohost with Adri Ramirez, we asked attendees to write down the name of their favorite writer. (On nametags, which they wore,…
Falling into grad school like a well
And so it begins. 19 undergrad papers to grade, and I finally see that grading papers isn’t simple. Commenting on an MFA manuscript is one thing — there’s a shared…
Pitt MFAs rocking the house
The Pitt MFA reading series got off to a smashing start last night with readings by poets Chris Miller (pictured, reading poems inspired by the movie Godzilla; more pics here),…
Meet your new teacher
Yesterday I taught my first class ever. The students seem really terrific, and I hope they thought I was appropriately dressed. And now I’m very interested in papers like this….
75 is more than 56
In other words, more Americans read a book last year than did five years ago. 3 out of 4 Americans read a book last year; in 2002, that figure was…
After the MFA
I recently had dinner with one of the most promising writers who has finished my MFA program. This writer is completing a post-degree job search, which, with any luck, will…
Finally, some good news
I am now only 2 papers away from being halfway done with my MFA. Since I was 3 papers away this morning, this is an excellent development.
Pittsburgh, city of asylum
Salvadoran Horacio Castellanos Moya has been selected for the two-year City of Asylum residency in Pittsburgh. From the (pdf) press release: Born in 1957, Castellanos Moya is the author of…
