Vermont College of Fine Arts

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty member Cynthia Leitich Smith's novel Eternal is on this week's New York Times Bestseller List. The paperback version of this young adult paranormal romance novel was just released last month.

Two Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Alumna have work in the new anthology Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum. The book includes alumna Maggie Kast's piece called "No Pity," and a Carolyn Walker essay titled "Evolution of a Fairy."

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing alumna Pamela Gemin has a new book of poetry published by The University of Arkansas Press. The book, Another Creature, was a finalist in this year's Inaugural Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize.

Meg Wiviott, a current student in Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program, announces the release of her picture titled Benno and th

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing For Children & Young Adults alumna Zu Vincent recently released a new young adult book entitled Catherine the Great: Empress of Russia as part of the Wicked History Series from Franklin Watts.

Click here for more information on the book.

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty member Rita Williams-Garcia's new book, One Crazy Summer, was a New York Times Editor's Choice book this week. The reviewer called the young adult novel a "a powerful and affecting story of sisterhood and motherhood."

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Visual Art faculty member and UCLA faculty lecturer on Contemporary Art History Miwon Kwon talks to Los Angeles based artist, writer and fellow VCFA Faculty Member Michael Minelli about his current studio practice and recent show at WPA Gallery.

http://www.guidedvd.com/michael_miwon.html

Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty member, Uma Krishnaswami will see her picture book, Chachaji's Cup, brought to life this month in New York and California.

Vermont College of Fine Arts Board of Trustees member and renowed children's writer Katherine Paterson was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in a ceremony at the Library of Congress this morning.

Vermont Public Radio interviews Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program director Louise Crowley about the largest incoming group of writing students since the program's inception, 28 years ago.

VCFA MFA in Writing alumna Lisha Garcia announced that she has a new poetry book entitled Blood Rivers: Poems of Texture From The Border. It is published by Blue Light Press of San Francisco with Diane Frank as editor. The book was also a finalist for the Andres Montoya Prize at the University of Notre Dame.

VCFA MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults alumna Debby Dahl Edwardson's book Blessing's Bead, (which came out on November 10 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux) has been selected by the Junior Library Guild as a March book selection and has earned a starred review from Booklist.

 VCFA MFA in Writing alumna Eugenie Doyle, author of Stray Voltage, has published a second novel for young adults (and readers of all ages), According to Kit (Frontstreet/ Boyds Mills Press). It tells the story of 15 yr-old Kit Snow trying to reconcile her life as part of a struggling, stressed dairy farm family with her passion for dancing.

VCFA MFA in Writing faculty member Domenic Stansberry's novel, The Ancient Rain--the third book in his quartet of San Francisco crime novels---was named as a finalist for the 2009 Shamus Award for Best Crime Novel. 

 Jan Groft (MFA Writing '92) will have a new book, AS WE GRIEVE: DISCOVERIES OF GRACE IN SORROW, released January 1, 2010, by Graham House Books.

Based on the profound experiences of everyday people who, in the process of grieving, found hope, AS WE GRIEVE unveils nine healing gifts of grace that can be discovered amidst the darkness.

The editor for The Best of Mormonism: Writing By and About Mormons, 2007-08, has asked to use VCFA faculty member Phyllis Barber's essay, "Writing as an Act of Responsibility" (which was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought in 2008 and was based on a lecture given at Vermont College of Fine Arts), as the introduction to the volume.

It was announced today that Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty member Tim Wynne Jones' novel The Uninvited is a finalist for Canada's prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award for Children's Literature.

VCFA MFA in Visual Art alumnus Patrick Johnson has a new exhibit entitled "I See It Differently" that will be running through October 31st at the Brinson Fine Art Gallery in Magnolia, Arkansas. Click here for more information.

Congratulations to MFA in Writing alumnus James Pounds whose short story "Two Shoes" just won first place in the Houston Writers' Guild 2009 Writing Contest in short story.

There is still time to apply for the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults and MFA in Visual Art Programs winter semesters. Contact VCFA Admissions for more information or call (802) 828-8829.

If you think the literary world is a circus, take a walk in MFA in Writing alumnus Rick Wallenda’s shoes. (Although that walk might end up being on a high wire…literally!) We have so many fascinating alumni/ae at VCFA and we are proud to include among them Rick Wallenda, a writer and member of the World Famous Wallendas.

VCFA is now on Twitter! Follow tweets from College Hall. @vcfa

Current VCFA visual art student L. Mylott Manning was featured in an AP photo which ran in the Boston Globe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and The Charlotte Observer this week, among other newspapers. See caption below.

Dawn E. Langley, a 1996 MFA in Writing alumna, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to research at the University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, Pakistan during the 2009 academic year. Langley will conduct research on creative women in educational leadership positions in Islamabad during her two months’ stay in the city.

Vermont College of Fine Arts invites area residents to a  series of readings by visiting writers, June 30-July 6. The readings, which coincide with the MFA in Writing residency, will take place in the Chapel and Noble Lounge at 36 College Street. The events are open to the public and free of charge. A reception follows each reading.

 Vermont College of Fine Arts will be hosting an outdoor film series this summer: “Movies on the Hill.” Eight free films will be shown on Friday evenings throughout the summer on the campus green, from July 10 to August 28.

 Liz Gallagher, MFA WC&YA (01/06) graduate, worked on the book, The Opposite of Invisible, all four semesters at Vermont from 2004-2006, with Lisa Jahn-Clough, Ron Koertge, MT Anderson, and Cynthia Leitich-Smith. Liz states, "honestly, this book would not exist without Vermont." This book was published in January 2008 by Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), as part of a two-book deal -- the second one is in the works!

Many of the poems in Norbert's first book, Cracked River (Slow Dancer Press, 1999) were written or begun during the time he was earning his MFA at Vermont College. Norbert worked successively with Lyn Emmanuel, Syd Leay, Jonathan Holden, and David Wojahn.

Pam Lewis's book, Speak Softly, She Can Hear, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2005. Some of the material in the book came from stories that she worked on with Gladys Swan while she was an MFA student in 1981.

Patricia Spear Jones's book, The Weather that Kills, grew out of her MFA thesis. Several of the poems, most notably "The Usual Suspect", "Joss Sticks", and "The Birth of the Rhythm and Blues" were developed under the guidance of Lynda Hull, Mark Doty and David Rivard. Rivard's sharp eye really helped her arrange the collection.

Venus Rising, published by Hagios Press in 2004 is a collection of poetry that  alumna Laura Burkhart worked on with Natasha Saje and David Jauss while she was earning her MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Louise Hawes is part of an exciting new graphic novel project. She is joining Holly Black and three other writers in the collaborative GN, Fallen Angels. Lushly, painstakingly illustrated by Rebecca Guay (who did the internal sketches for Louise's Black Pearls, a Faerie Strand), the book will be published by Vertigo, DC Comics, and will be out for Christmas 1010. Hobs and fairies and angels, oh my!

 M.T. Anderson, Chris Graff, Governor Madeleine Kunin and Bill Schubart also join board

A long-held, seasonal tradition is revived by VCFA 

Acclaimed writer is first to speak on newly independent campus

Montpelier, Vt. - June 25, 2008 - Vermont College of Fine Arts announced today that nationally celebrated writer James McBride will speak at the Montpelier campus this Saturday, June 28. McBride’s classic memoir, The Color of Water, has sold almost two million copies worldwide and spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list.