Please join the Creative Writing Program in welcoming Hannah Emerson for a Zoom poetry reading on Wednesday, November 29 at 7:30pm. As Hannah is nonspeaking, her work will be read by current and former Miami students and by Aviv Rosenzweig. A Q&A with Hannah will follow, hosted by faculty poet Cathy Wagner.
Hannah Emerson is a nonspeaking autistic poet whose work has been featured in Paris Review, Poetry, The Nation, BOMB, the Poetry Society of America, Literary Hub, and Brooklyn Rail. She is the author of the collection of poems The Kissing of Kissing (2022) from Milkweed’s Multiverse series. She lives in Lafayette, New York.
Hannah’s work will be performed by Aviv Rosenzweig and others. A Q&A with Hannah Emerson will follow, hosted by Professor Cathy Wagner.
UPDATE: Writer’s Harvest benefit reading and art auction raised over a thousand dollars and still coming in for TOPSS, Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS). It featured wonderful readings from Miami University MFA graduate students and was organized by the creative writing program students and faculty along with Western College. Creative writing director Brian Ascalon Roley hosted, with artist Billy Simms handling the art auction. While this event is held annually around Thanksgiving, TOPSS’s efforts are year round and it’s still not too late to donate on their website. Thanks to everyone.
Note: One of our Writers Harvest readers, Danton Remoto, is having a book launch here at Miami University (and also on Zoom) on Feb 22, 2024, so keep an eye out here and on our events list. More spring events will be added to the calendar soon. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Poets Isaac Pickell, an alumnus, and David Schloss, Miami Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing, read from their new books of poetry. They were wonderful readings and it was great to see these familiar faces.
I was surprised to hear that David retired in 2011 (though he taught until 2014), because it didn’t seem long ago. Covid distorts time. He was one of the professors who hired me twenty years back, and those first years occupy a much larger space in my memory, time wise, than the years since.
I was also surprised to hear that Isaac got his MFA in 2017, because that didn’t seem long ago either. It was interesting to hear them back to back, because their approaches to poetry are very different, yet both deeply engrossing. I recommend you order their books. The Q & A was interesting too, so much so that if host Cathy Wagner hadn’t kept track of time the discussion could have gone on for hours. Though I regrettably don’t have a transcript, this photo comes from that exchange.
Their bios are below the photo. Thanks to those who came out.
–BR
Isaac Pickell
A recent alum of Miami’s MFA program, Isaac Pickell is a Black & Jewish poet and PhD candidate at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he teaches and studies the borderlands of blackness and black literature. Isaac’s new book of poems It’s Not Over Once You Figure It Out is available for pre-order from Black Ocean. Joe Hall praises the book’s “jaw-dropping turns of thought…The poems defend against the brutal foreclosures of this historical moment”; Taylor Byas says “Pickell’s speaker collapses time as we know it.”
David Schloss
David Schloss was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944, and educated at Columbia University, The University of Southern California Cinema School, Brooklyn College (BA), and The Iowa Writers Workshop (MFA). After teaching at Miami for decades, he retired in 2014 from Miami as Emeritus Professor of English. His new book, Provocations—his sixth full-length poetry collection—is just out from Dos Madres Press. John Ashbery lauds him for “reinventing classical forms and meter to speak profound truths on vital issues of our day.” Lesley Hardy calls Provocations “a blistering “report” on disaster and war…a monumental and challenging work.”
UPDATE: We had a great event. Special thanks to all our alumni guests who shared their experiences and advice, and those of you who joined us. We had great feedback and questions in the chat. Current MFA student Ty Young was asked at the last minute to help with the technical aspects of the event and did a great job, Thanks!
In association with the exhibition, Poetry at Miami: 1827-Now, at King Library.
Even though the wonderful readings hosted by faculty poets Keith Tuma and Cathy Wagner are over, you can still see the excellent associated exhibit, Poetry at Miami: 1827-NOW, on the third floor of the King Library, Miami University. Organizer and Librarian Mark Dahlquist has been very supportive of Miami creative writers for which the library has many resources. Check out the helpful Creative Writing resources page on the library website.
On March 3rd, 2023, Creative Artist Agency Agent Alex Rice (and Miami alumna) joined the creative writing program’s Annual Publishing Symposium for a panel discussion on the publishing environment, and tips for students looking to get published or find a career in publishing. It was a fantastic event with many students turning out. I was lucky enough to be able to ask her questions on the panel, and she was generous in her answers and also in her willingness to do an interview.
Join us via Zoom as we welcome three successful publishing/writing professionals, two of them Miami alumni, who will discuss the publishing process in one of our most popular events of the year. Wednesday March 1st at 730pm, register via the QR code or this link: zoom registration
Visiting Professors Emily Spencer and Jen Sammons, a Miami alumna, gave a wonderful reading to a packed room from poetry and non fiction, which reached many more via live streaming.
A graduate of our MFA program, Jen Sammons returns as a Visiting Assistant Professor to teach creative non-fiction. Many of our students and alumni already know her as an excellent writer, performer and teacher, but you can get to know her through a reading on November 16, 2022 in the Bachelor Reading Room at 7:30pm.
