On the evening of June 1st, with other members of the Melanated Writers Collective, Peauxdunquian Maurice Carlos Ruffin will read from recent work at the New Orleans Museum of Art’s “Where Y’Art” series. On June 1st at 7 p.m., Where Y’Art will feature A MelaNated Summer, hosted by Kalamu Ya Salaam and including readings by several Melanated Collective members, including Maurice. The Melanated Summer Reading Series will continue with readings at Cafe Treme on July 14 and JuJu Bag on August 2.
Peauxdunquians continue to make their mark in various writing competitions, as well as with publications and participation in MFA programs.
Terri Shrum Stoor’s essay, “Bird Dog,” has been named the winner of the 2012 Writers@Work essay competition, and will be published in Quarterly West. Contest judge Steve Almond had this to say about Terri’s work:
The prose is lyric, graceful, and fearless. And the evocation of place and character is astonishing. The events in question happened years ago, and the author brings her wisdom to bear, but never sentimentalizes herself or her father. (I held off on choosing this as the winner for a long time, simply because it’s only 1000 words, and I felt like I could have spent another 5000 with this author.)
“Bird Dog” was also named an “entry of note” in the 2012 Tiny Lights Essay Contest. Terri was also recently named a finalist in the fiction category of the 2012 SLS Unified Literary Contest.
Further on the publications front, Tom Carson continues to add to the feast of his publications on books, movies, television, music, politics, and culture at GQ and The American Prospect.
In MFA program news, Dana Glass has learned that she will be joining Peauxdunqians Tad Bartlett and Maurice Ruffin this fall in the fiction program at the Creative Writing Workshop at UNO; while Kimberly Clouse will be graduating this month from the poetry program at the Creative Writing Workshop. Congratulations to both!
Peauxdunque’s April meeting was hosted by Terri and myself at Krewe du Brew, a new coffee shop on St. Charles. The lovely owners were kind enough to stay open late for us and we enjoyed KdB’s mixed berry juice, peach tea and delicious scones, tea breads and pecan bars. The folks at Krewe du Brew are some of the nicest you’ll meet, so you should definitely check them out.
James Nolan graced us with his presence, not only reading from his novel Higher Ground, but sharing one of the craft lessons from the writing course that he teaches. The lesson synched particularly well with the work that was being critiqued and is sure to help many of us with our projects.
It was a very successful meeting all around and our thanks to the crew at Krewe du Brew and to James Nolan for enriching the experience! Check out a few pictures from the meeting below.
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Another month, another set of publications and other writing recognition for the fine folks of Peauxdunque and their good friends …
Terri Stoor and Maurice Ruffin have had work selected for the upcoming New Orleans By New Orleans book project, which should come out at the end of this month. Joselyn Takacs, currently in Baltimore working on her MFA at Johns Hopkins, has the Story of the Week at Narrative, “Flares of Little Warning.” Also, Arion Berger and Tom Carson both have stories in the latest issue of Black Clock. Tad Bartlett has been admitted to the MFA program in fiction at UNO’s Creative Writing Workshop, where he will begin this fall.
Friend of Peauxdunque L. Kasimu Harris has launched a new column, Parish Chic, at The Oxford American’s online site, using fashion as a lens to illuminate the human condition.
Peauxdunquian Maurice Ruffin’s short story “The Winter Lion” was selected as one of the top ten finalists in the 2012 Tennessee Williams Festival fiction contest. Many congratulations to Maurice!
Also, friend-of-Peauxdunque Susan Vallee has published an essay in VIE magazine entitled “A Writing Conference to Ruin the Rest,” (starts on page 64) about the Oxford American Summit for Ambitious Writers. An excellent essay, with great photos, including one of Susan along with friend-of-Peauxdunque Tom Franklin and Peauxdunquians Emily Choate, Terri Stoor, J.Ed. Marston, and Tad Bartlett.
More news on Peauxdunquians in the world: Foremost, another Peauxdunque publication, as Kimberly Clouse’s short story, “Hector Gets Taken,” is in Volume 1, Issue 9 of Fortyouncebachelors. Kimberly joined Peauxdunque in 2011, and is currently working on a collection of short stories for her thesis project in the UNO Creative Writing Workshop MFA program.
In readings news, TODAY, February 3, Peauxdunqian Helen Krieger will be reading at the Artfully Aware event at the New Orleans Museum of Art, which takes place from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Also reading at the event are friend-of-Peauxdunque and fellow Oxford American Summit alum Benjamin Morris, as well as New Orleans literary renaissance man extraordinaire, John Biguenet; Moira Crone; and M’Bilia Meekers. A number of other musical and visual art components will take place in conjunction with the readings.
In a final bit of Peauxdunqian-in-the-world programming news, beginning February 26, 2012, Hatchery Media‘s (and Peauxdunque’s) Helen Krieger and Joseph Meissner will conduct an eight-week master class in acting and directing actors for the screen, bringing together actors, writers, and directors to develop and hone their material in a hands-on workshop. The class will meet Sundays from 1-4 p.m., until April 22. Contact Joseph at Hatchery Media for information or registration.
Nine of the 2011 members of Peauxdunque convened in Hopedale for the annual Writers’ Camp. Two drinks were invented. Writing was read and challenged. Stars were counted. Pelicans, too. Goals and process discussed. Food cooked and consumed. Hangovers created and cured. And now, after that, let it be a new year. Peauxdunquian Bryan Block captured much of it in the following video and photo montage:
Untitled from Bryan Block on Vimeo.
