Good News

"Good News" has moved from the creative writing website to this blog. Please send us any news you want to share from publications to new puppies, from fabulous fellowships to amazing tattoos.

We start this edition of Good News with congratulations to Professor Lorrie Moore (above) whose powerful new novel A Gate at the Stairs has received enthusiastic reviews from...well, pretty much everyone. Here are the reviews from the daily New York Times, the Sunday NY Times Book Review, and the Washington Post.

What happens if you spend a month sending your Tweets by snail mail? Brian Hall (MFA) has a fascinating article about his "Project Gone Postal" in Exquisite Corpse.

Current fiction MFAs Alyssa Knickerbocker and Jake Wolff both have stories forthcoming in Sou'wester.

Emma Straub, former MFA and Halls Emerging Artist Fellow, was launched by Flatmancrooked.com. What does that mean? This!

Seth Abramson (PhD/Creative Writing minor) recently published his first collection of poetry, The Suburban Ecstasies (Ghost Road Press, 2009). In 2008 he was awarded the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize from Poetry. We are thrilled that Seth has been named creative writing's project assistant this year; in one week's time he has proven himself invaluable.

Erika Meitner (2002 Middlebrook Poetry Fellow) recently learned her third poetry manuscript, Ideal Cities, is a National Poetry Series winner and will be published by HarperCollins.

Former undergrad creative writer Patrick Sommerville's latest novel, The Cradle, has been optioned by Courtney Hunt, writer/director of Frozen River, to be adapted into a feature-length film.

Welcome back to Madison, Rita Mae Reese (MFA). After leaving us for California where she was a Stegner fellow, Rita Mae returns to teach creative writing in UW's Department of Liberal Studies.

And finally, congratulations to recent newlyweds, Kevin Gonzalez (MFA and 2007 Smith Fiction Fellow) and Lauren Shapiro, and Lee Auter and Lisa Marie Brodsky-Auter (MFA). We wish you all the happiness in the world.