Spalding University’s Festival of Contemporary Writing – the state’s largest fall-spring reading series – will take place in a virtual format Tuesday, Nov. 10 through Friday, Nov. 20, featuring readings by faculty of the low-residency programs of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott will make a special appearance on Thursday, Nov. 19 to accept the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature.

All readings will take place virtually and are free and open to the public, but you must register separately for each event in order to receive the link to attend. The complete schedule of the festival, which is held in conjunction with the School of Writing’s fall residency, is listed below, and each session has a unique registration link.

The Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature was established to honor exceptional literary works that exemplify Spalding University’s mission. The $7,500 prize will be awarded to Willmott for his body of work in November during his virtual visit to the School of Writing, home of the nationally distinguished low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program.

Willmott, who in 2019 shared the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, is also Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Kansas and has spent his filmmaking career taking on the subject of racism in America. He is a frequent collaborator with Spike Lee, most recently on the critically acclaimed Vietnam film Da 5 Bloods. Willmott’s other films include the mockumentary CSA: The Confederate States of America (which he wrote and directed) and Chi-Raq, a retelling of Lysistrata in a violence-wracked neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side (which he co-wrote with Lee). The film critic Richard Brody called Willmott’s work “brilliantly imagined fictions.”

“Kevin Willmott is an extraordinary screenwriter and teacher,” said Kathleen Driskell, Chair of the School of Creative and Professional Writing. “BlacKkKlansman, which he wrote with Spike Lee and others, is the kind of work we aim to recognize with our Spalding Prize and bring to our students’ attention. BlacKkKlansman is courageous, unflinching, and beautifully written. Like his earlier work, it’s a relevant social commentary on our times.”

In 2019, the year Willmott won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay with co-writers Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, and Charlie Wachtel, the film was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The screenplay was adapted from Black Klansman, Ron Stallworth’s memoir detailing his work as the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department, during which he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan of Colorado Springs. BlacKkKlansman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. The American Film Institute named it one of the top films of 2018.

Willmott has visited the Spalding MFA program twice before, most recently to talk about Chi-Raq. Prior to Willmott’s visit, all School of Writing students and faculty will read and discuss the screenplay for BlacKkKlansman and will view that film as well as Da 5 Bloods, Destination Planet Negro!, and CSA: Confederate States of America.

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FALL 2020 SPALDING FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY WRITING (VIRTUAL READING SCHEDULE WITH REGISTRATION LINKS)

7:30 – 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, November 10. Faculty Reading. Register: https://forms.gle/rcNYgyVWbpwq3QcV8

Rachel Harper (fiction), This Side of Providence
Fenton Johnson (creative nonfiction, fiction), At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life, The Man Who Loved Birds
Lesléa Newman (writing for children and young adults), Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story
Douglas Manuel (poetry), Testify
Larry Brenner (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Growing Up Dead, Saving Throw Versus Love
Lynnell Edwards (poetry), This Great Green Valley

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Saturday, November 14. Faculty Reading. Register: https://forms.gle/a7A8eZYbhdfz5TUWA

Leslie Daniels (fiction), Cleaning Nabokov’s House
Greg Pape (poetry), Four Swans: Poems
Jacinda Townsend (fiction), Saint Monkey
Roy Hoffman (fiction, creative nonfiction), Come Landfall, Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations
Erin Keane (professional writing, poetry), Demolition of the Promised Land
Sam Zalutsky (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Seaside (Now streaming on Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, and elsewhere)

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, November 17. Faculty Reading. Register: https://forms.gle/WxGtjhYSQy2UTN1t8

Kirby Gann (fiction), Ghosting
Jeanie Thompson (poetry), The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller
Keith S. Wilson (poetry), Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love
Edie Hemingway (writing for children and young adults), Road to Tater Hill
Eric Schmiedl (playwriting), Browns Rules
Dianne Aprile (creative nonfiction), The Eye is Not Enough: On Seeing and Remembering

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, November 19. Faculty Reading. Register: https://forms.gle/gtUHgDJ4jB2uNuXe7

Nancy McCabe (creative nonfiction, fiction), Can This Marriage Be Saved?, Following Disasters
Jeremy Paden (translation), Under the Ocelot Sun
Gabriel Dean (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Terminus, Qualities of Starlight
Silas House (fiction), Southernmost
Beth Ann Bauman (writing for children & young adults), Jersey Angel

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, November 19. Spalding Prize winner Kevin Willmott. Register: https://forms.gle/C45gD6M1Qwvd3ZLb8

Kevin Willmott, Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Credits include BlacKkKlansman, Da 5 Bloods, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America. Willmott will be awarded the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature for his body of work.

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, Nov. 20. Faculty Reading. Registration: https://forms.gle/RGjoiR4f8ADcBxBg6

John Pipkin (fiction), The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter
Rebecca Walker (creative nonfiction, fiction), Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness, Adé: A Love Story
Robin Lippincott (fiction, creative nonfiction), Our Arcadia, Blue Territory
Kira Obolensky (playwriting), Hiding in the Open
Charlie Schulman (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Goldstein: A Musical About Family
Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Blue Etiquette

The reading schedule may change without notice. Check Facebook for updated information: Facebook.com/SpaldingSchoolofWriting. For more information, call 502-873-4400 or email [email protected]. ‘

Spalding University’s Festival of Contemporary Writing, the state’s largest fall-spring reading series, will take place Saturday, Nov. 16, through Friday, November 22, with faculty and alumni of the low-residency programs of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. Bestselling graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang headlines the festival as Distinguished Visiting Writer.

Yang is the author of the Printz Award-winning American Born Chinese and the National Book Award Finalist Boxers & Saints, a boxed set of graphic novels. Yang has served as a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.

Yang will deliver a public reading and discussion of Boxers & Saints at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, November 21, at the Egan Leadership Center’s Troutman Lectorium at Fourth and Breckenridge. A reception and book signing will follow. Students and teachers are particularly encouraged to attend this event.

Plenty of free parking is available for the campus readings. All readings and events are free, ticketless, and open to the public.

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16. (Egan Leadership Center, 901 S. Fourth St.) The Anne and William Axton Series, in conjunction with the Louisville Literary Arts Writer’s Block Festival, presents award-winning novelist Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You. Book signing will follow.

5 – 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17. Faculty Reading. (Egan Leadership Center, 901 S. Fourth St.) Greetings by Kathleen Driskell.

Dianne Aprile (creative nonfiction), The Eye is Not Enough: On Seeing and Remembering
Douglas Manuel (poetry), Testify
Beth Ann Bauman (writing for children & young adults), Jersey Angel
Charlie Schulman (dramatic writing), Goldstein: A Musical About Family
Lynnell Edwards (poetry), Covet

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18. Celebration of Recently Published Books. Book signing to follow. (Egan Leadership Center, 901 S. Fourth St.) Introduction by Kathleen Driskell. Books provided by Follett.

K.L. Cook (fiction; creative nonfiction; poetry), Marrying Kind; The Art of Disobedience: Essays on Form, Fiction, and Influence; Lost Soliloquies
Helena Kriel (screenwriting), The Year of Facing Fire (a memoir)
Keith Wilson (poetry), Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love
Katy Yocom (fiction), Three Ways to Disappear

5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20. Faculty Reading. (Egan Leadership Center, 901 S. Fourth St.) Greetings by Lynnell Edwards.

Erin Keane (professional writing; poetry), Demolition of the Promised Land
Roy Hoffman (creative nonfiction; fiction), Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations; Come Landfall
Jason Howard (professional writing; creative nonfiction), A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music
Maggie Smith (poetry), Good Bones
Silas House (fiction), Southernmost
Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Blue Etiquette

5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21. Distinguished Visiting Writer Gene Luen Yang discusses ‘Boxers & Saints.’ (Egan Leadership Center, 901 S. Fourth St.) Introduction by Kathleen Driskell. Book signing to follow. Books provided by Follett.

5:45 – 6:45 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22. Faculty Reading. (Citation Room, 1st fl., Brown Hotel, 335 W. Broadway)

John Pipkin (fiction), The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter
Kira Obolensky (playwriting), Hiding in the Open
Robin Lippincott (fiction; creative nonfiction), Unbroken Circle: Stories of Cultural Diversity in the South; Blue Territory
Rachel Harper (fiction), This Side of Providence
Bruce Romans (screenwriting), Executive Producer of Marvel’s The Punisher on Netflix and AMC’s Hell on Wheels

The reading schedule may change without notice. Check Facebook for updated information: Facebook.com/SpaldingSchoolofWriting. For more information, call 502-873-4400 or email [email protected].

About Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing: Spalding’s graduate creative writing school, Kentucky’s first school of writing, offers three low-residency programs, including the flagship 65-credit-hour MFA in Writing program; a 35-credit Master of Arts in Writing, offering tracks in creative writing and professional writing; and a 15-credit graduate certificate in writing, also with two tracks. The School of Writing offers concentrations in fiction; poetry; creative nonfiction; writing for children and young adults; writing for TV, screen, and stage; and professional writing. Students begin the semester in the spring, summer, or fall with a residency in Louisville or abroad, then return home for an independent study with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies. See spalding.edu/schoolofwriting for more information, or find us on Twitter @SpaldingWriting.

With Commencement approaching on June 1, Spalding is publishing a series of stories and Q&A’s that highlight students from a range of degree programs who are set to graduate. Next up is Allison Campbell, who is earning the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She is also a Student Media Ambassador and has contributed guest blogs for this site on her decision to transfer to Spalding, her thoughts on attending MFA in Writing lectures and her experience in the study-abroad trip to Ireland.

What is your favorite Spalding memory?
My favorite Spalding memory is taking a giant leap out of my comfort zone and studying abroad in Ireland with fellow Spalding students, faculty, and staff.

Which accomplishments are you most proud of during your time at Spalding?
During my time at Spalding, I am most proud of my completion of an internship with Louisville Literary Arts, pitching a novel to two literary agents whom I connected with through my internship, and writing stories that have helped me develop my writing craft.

What’s your favorite spot on campus?
My favorite spot on campus is the Mansion because it’s antique and creaky like out of an old movie.

At Spalding, we like to say that, “Today is a great day to change the world.” For many of our students, Commencement is a world changing experience. After graduation, how do you plan to change the world, big or small, and who inspires you to be a #spaldingworldchanger?
After graduation, I plan to change the world with my writing by telling stories that can help inspire people, make them laugh and make them feel like they aren’t alone. My brother, Sean Campbell, who works in financial aid at Spalding) inspires me to be a #spaldingworldchanger because he always does the right thing, loves to help other people and challenges me to be the best person I can be.

Literature has always held a special place in Taylor Riley’s psyche. Maybe she developed it from her mother, who read books to Taylor while she was still in the womb. Or maybe it was her grandmother, who told her she knew her granddaughter’s name would be in the paper someday. Whatever the cause, Taylor’s passion for reading and writing was evident from childhood, as she watched and reported on things she witnessed in her neighborhood.

On June 1, Taylor will graduate from Spalding University with her Master of Fine Arts in Writing degree. And in addition to serving as a 2019 class representative and receiving an Eileen Egan Graduate Award, she is already making changes in her community.

Taylor, who earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Kentucky, is currently using Spalding’s MFA education, along with her writing talent, as a voice for those living in small-town America. Working as the editor of the Henry County Local has given her the opportunity to shine a light on important local stories and issues that might otherwise go unheard and unnoticed.

“We need to be able to keep our government accountable for its actions,” she said. “Keeping the public informed, asking questions and always seeking the truth is the most effective way I know how to do that.”

While studying for her MFA at Spalding, Taylor’s desire to pursue narrative journalism became a need. She began working on a book of essays, Fearful Female, which is currently in the publishing process. The essays focus on her personal fears and how she’s overcome them, as well as broader fears she feels that many women can relate to. She hopes her book will help other women identify and overcome their own fears.

“The MFA program at Spalding really helped me sharpen and hone my writing,” Taylor said. “But it also helped me come out of my personal shell, make new connections and network with others in the industry.”

Spalding’s MFA program also left Taylor with a new passion. She will begin teaching monthly writing workshops at a local library and classes at Bellarmine University. Taylor believes today’s journalists need to begin thinking differently about their field. The internet and social media have revolutionized the news industry, and learning to adapt to new communication technologies is crucial. She wants to share her wealth of literary and journalistic knowledge with others eager to join the field.

“Spalding is the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said.

Nineteen years after launching the state’s first Master of Fine Arts in Writing program, Spalding University is announcing another first: the creation of a new School of Creative and Professional Writing, the first and only school of writing in Kentucky.

Building on the success of the university’s nationally distinguished MFA in Writing program, the newly formed School of Creative and Professional Writing incorporates Spalding’s two existing graduate writing programs—the MFA and a post-baccalaureate certificate in creative writing—as well as a newly created Master of Arts in Writing program, currently pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Kathleen Driskell, the current MFA program director and an award-winning poet, steps into the role of Chair of the School of Creative and Professional Writing.

Together, the three programs create a three-tiered offering for writers seeking graduate education in writing in one, two or four semesters, all offered in a low-residency format.

“With our existing programs in creative writing, Spalding is already one of the most innovative and affordable graduate writing programs in the U.S.,” Driskell said. “With the addition of the MAW and our new status as a school of writing, Spalding becomes one of the most innovative, comprehensive and affordable low-residency graduate writing schools in the country.”

EXPLORE SPALDING’S NEW SCHOOL OF WRITING

Here’s a summary of the three programs:

● One semester: The 15-credit-hour Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Creative Writing is earned in a single semester of creative writing study.

● Two semesters: The new Master of Arts in Writing program, pending SACSCOC approval, will be offered as a 35-credit degree with two tracks—creative writing and professional writing. The latter track focuses on topics such as editing and publishing, grant-writing, ghostwriting, speechwriting and business writing. The program includes a Capstone residency.

● Four semesters: The MFA will continue fulfilling its role as the university’s flagship graduate writing program, a 65-credit-hour terminal degree offering concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting, and playwriting. The program includes a graduation residency.

The new Master of Arts in Writing offering addresses the need for writing mastery, a key for advancement in nearly all workplaces. With completion possible in about a year, and total tuition of about $20,000, the MAW degree lowers barriers of cost and time for students for whom the MFA may be out of reach. Additionally, MAW students may opt to matriculate into the MFA program, allowing Spalding students to earn a master’s degree on the way to completing the terminal MFA, and for about the same costs as the MFA program alone.

The School of Creative and Professional Writing expects to admit its first MAW students for its Fall 2019 semester, which begins in November.

“The MAW meets the needs of writers who want advanced writing study but don’t necessarily need or want the terminal degree,” Driskell said. “At the same time, our MFA students will continue to receive the most rigorous and extensive terminal creative writing instruction possible while also gaining further opportunities to be enriched by Profession of Writing lectures and the option to participate in a Professional Writing workshop during their studies.”

Like the MFA, the Master of Arts in Writing and the post-baccalaureate certificate programs are offered in a low-residency format, in which each semester begins with a residency course conducted on campus or abroad, followed by an independent study course that the student completes from home while working one-on-one with a faculty mentor.

Students in the certificate and MAW programs meet the same admission standards as MFA students, and students in all three programs attend the same residencies and are taught by MFA faculty. This arrangement allows both certificate and MAW students to advance seamlessly into the MFA program if desired. Tuition in the 2019-20 academic year for programs in the School of Creative and Professional Writing is expected to be $585 per credit hour.

READ ABOUT SCHOOL OF WRITING’S ACCLAIMED FACULTY

For writers who have not been admitted to the MFA program, the School of Creative and Professional Writing also offers a standalone three-credit-hour course, ENG605: Advanced Creative Writing, in which the student works one-on-one with a faculty mentor. ENG605 is completed from home and does not include a residency component.

Alumni of the MFA in Writing program include a former poet laureate of Kentucky, nationally bestselling authors, feature film scriptwriters, and winners of prestigious awards in every area of writing that the program offers.

Application deadlines for programs in the School of Creative and Professional Writing are Aug. 1 for entry in the fall (November) semester and Feb. 1 for entrance in spring (May) and summer (July) semesters.

MORE INFORMATION | spalding.edu/schoolofwriting

One privilege of being a student in Spalding’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is that I can attend some of the lectures of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program during its residencies. During the MFA fall residency, which took place Nov. 10-18, I attended two lectures.

The first was titled, “1798: Poetry’s Punk Moment: Lyrical Ballads With A Few Other Poems,” and was given by MFA program director Kathleen Driskell, who is an award-winning poet. The lecture was very relevant to me at the time because I was taking a Romanticism class during which we studied many of the poems that were mentioned in Driskell’s lecture. It was exciting for me to hear the information I learned as a BFA creative writing student being applied in an MFA lecture. Attending the lecture made me appreciate my BFA class even more because I could see the value of what I was learning. The “punk” aspect of the lecture was taken from a quote by a Guardian book reviewer and referred to the influential and liberal language used by poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge during the age of Romanticism. Wordsworth and Coleridge were essentially hippies or punks because of the way they looked at the world differently.

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s BFA in Creative Writing program

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s MFA in Creative Writing program

The second lecture I attended was, “What Happened to My Essay? How to Survive Writing for Magazines,” by Cathy Medwick. Medwick is former senior editor at Vogue and Vanity Fair, so she really knew what she was talking about. This lecture was very informative — I took a full page of notes. Even though I am fairly new to creative nonfiction and have not written very many essays that could be published, I found it valuable to hear how to deal with editors and the process of submission.

ALSO FROM ALLISON CAMPBELL | Why transferring to Spalding was the right choice for me

Being able to participate in the MFA residency was a great way to learn new information while being exposed to what an MFA program is really like. The experience made me want to go to grad school even more to further my education. I am always looking for ways to improve my writing, so I really appreciated this awesome opportunity.

Allison Campbell is a senior in Spalding’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program.

For much of my sophomore year of college, I was very unhappy. There were many reasons for this, one of them being that I was feeling unsatisfied by my college experience.

At the time, I was attending a different school. Even though I was involved in many campus activities — choir, voice lessons, German club, film club, the literary magazine and the school newspaper — I still felt like I didn’t belong there anymore. Plus, I wasn’t working, and I was constantly aware of the fact that I had very little money. I questioned whether it was worth all the debt I was accumulating.

Over the summer, my parents gave me an ultimatum: Get a job to help pay for school or transfer somewhere less expensive. I was having trouble finding a job due to the chronic pain that I had in my hands, wrists, and arms that made doing certain kinds of work much harder, so this put a lot of stress on me. Even though I was going to be paying for college mostly by myself, I knew they were right. I wasn’t in a position to go to a school as expensive as the one where I was, especially with my lack of satisfaction.

Because my family lived in Louisville, my parents suggested Spalding University, which had a creative writing program that interested me and where I had applied and been admitted out of high school. I was reluctant at first because I had many friends at my first college whom I didn’t want to leave, but my parents and I ended up going to speak to Spalding’s admissions staff.

The people at Spalding helped put my mind at ease and made the process of transferring so much easier than I had anticipated. I also liked the idea of Spalding’s six-week sessions, in which you focus on one or two classes at a time; that was very different than anything I had done before.

My ideal college was a small one with a good creative writing program, and Spalding met those requirements. I also was interested in studying abroad, and Spalding had a study-abroad program to Ireland— where I had wanted to go for a very long time. It was too good to be true.

I spoke with the director of the creative writing program, Dr. Merle Bachman, who made me feel comfortable about the classes I would be taking. I also liked that I’d be required to do an internship. I had always wanted to do one, and I thought it would be a good transition to the real world.

I also would be living on campus in the Spalding Suites, which were much nicer than the dorms I was used to.

In the end, I said yes to Spalding.

One year later, I have gone on the study-abroad trip to Ireland for two weeks, started an internship at Louisville Literary Arts, and I live closer to my family and my fiancé.

I am very happy with the decision I made, and I’m excited for the rest of my senior year.

Allison Campbell is a Spalding University senior majoring in creative writing.