A Celebration of Emerging Talent from the Fiction Writing Program, Columbia College Chicago
I have the incredible honor to serve as this year’s faculty advisor to Hair Trigger, Columbia College Chicago’s Fiction Writing student literary journal. I step into this spot and am blinded by the light of the journal’s former advisor, Chris Maul-Rice, who has been at the helm of this remarkable publication for the past 13 […]
Yeah. Small Miracles. ~ View From the Keyboard of Christine Rice
CHRISTINE RICE is the founder of HyperText, an on-line literary journal that kicks some serious butt. Really. Check it out. More than that, though, (and that, those of you who know about these sorts of things can attest, is pretty huge in itself) Christine Rice is one helluva a writer and a teacher of writing. For many […]
What I’m Seeing In The Mind ~ A View From the Keyboard of Shawn Shiflett
Back when I started taking writing classes in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago, Shawn Shiflett was one of my first teachers. To this day I think of things he taught me, perhaps the most important thing of all: “Just tell it.” Shawn is one of those writers who works incredibly hard at trying […]
A Room of One’s Own, Swedish Meatballs, and a Love Letter ~ View From the Keyboard of Jessie Morrison
Today we get a glimpse of the writing space of Jessie Morrison, a recent MFA graduate from Columbia College Chicago’s Fiction Writing Department. This woman can write. Her stories are filled with Chicago–her hometown–and the things that make us ache and want. She has had quite a bit of success already in her writing life, […]
A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends ~ Another Wonderful Book by a CCC Fiction Department Alum
It’s Tuesday night, AWP starts tomorrow, and the literary happenings are starting to happen in Chicagoland. We just got back from a fabulous release party for the brand new book by Stacy Bierlein, A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends. There were beers and wine and goodies and books and t-shirts and people. Lots of folks gathered […]
Something Besides Latte-Making ~ Chris L. Terry’s View From the Keyboard
Each year, The Chicago Reader publishes a fiction issue of its weekly newspaper. The editors get hundreds of fiction submissions, and have to choose a very small numbers of stories to publish. This year, Chris L. Terry’s evocative and tasty story, “Red Velvet,” is among those editors’ picks. Chris also happens to be another of Columbia […]
On Being a Colum Alum
Today starts Columbia College Chicago’s Alumni Weekend, and I am delighted to be part of the event. Tomorrow, Saturday, September 24, artist and adjunct faculty member Philip Hartigan and I will be teaching a workshop (Story and Sketchbook) based on a class we teach in the Fiction Writing Department, Journal and Sketchbook. But that’s not what […]
Beating Back Writer’s Block ~ Jack London’s View From the Keyboard
Last week the new students in the Fiction Writing Department of Columbia College Chicago gathered for their orientations and welcoming events. So many bright faces, so many eager new writers. I am excited to get the chance to work with them this next year. A question came up more than once: “How do you get […]
Breaking News: “The Book is The Highest Delight,” says Ralph Waldo Emerson
A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. Morgan Unbelievable. The Fiction […]
Bath Spa and Tessa Hadley
In the fall term of 2008, I had the remarkable opportunity to be a visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University in their very impressive Creative Writing program. This was part of our on-going exchange between Columbia College Chicago, where I direct the undergraduate programs in Fiction Writing, and Bath Spa University. It is a good […]