2024年是具有里程碑意义的一年，是30周年th anniversary of 最靠谱的网赌软件’s MFA Creative Writing Program. 它的起源可以说要追溯到1978年4月, 任英语系名誉教授(现为名誉教授), Phil Raisor组织了第一届“诗歌果酱”,，与普利策奖得主、诗人W.D. 斯诺德格拉斯(当时是ODU的访问诗人). Raisor将这一时期描述为“令人兴奋的时光.“从1978年到1994年，没有多少人意识到这一点, ODU was also the home of AWP (the Association of 作家 和 Writing 项目) until it moved to George Mason University in Fairfax, 维吉尼亚州.
The two-day celebration that was “Poetry Jam” has evolved into the annual ODU 文学节, a week-long affair at the beginning of October bringing writers of local, 国家, 并给校园带来国际声誉. The ODU 文学节 is among the longest continuously running literary festivals nationwide. 丽塔·达夫(Rita Dove)担任主角, 汤婷婷, 苏珊·桑塔格, 爱德华艾碧, John McPhee, 蒂姆·奥布莱恩, 她快乐, 多萝西埃里森, 比利柯林斯, Naomi Shihab Nye, 萨拜娜莫里, 简Hirshfield, 布莱恩•特纳, S.A. 考斯比, 妮可·希里, 弗兰妮崔, 罗斯同性恋, Adrian Matejka, 艾梅Nezhukumatathil, Ilya Kaminsky, 马塞洛·埃尔南德斯·卡斯蒂略, 何塞Olivarez, 和汪洋洋, 在其他名人名单中. MFA alumni who have gone on to publish books have also regularly been invited to read.
From an initial cohort of 12 students 和 three creative writing professors, ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program has grown to anywhere between 25 to 33 talented students per year. 目前，他们与五名核心教员(Kent Wascom)合作, 约翰·麦克马纳斯, 和 Jane Alberdeston in fiction; 和 路易莎一个. 伊格洛里亚和玛丽安·L. 诗中的禅). Award-winning writers who made up part of original teaching faculty along with Raisor (but are now also either retired or relocated) are legends in their own right—Toi Derricotte, 托尼Ardizzone, 珍妮特Peery, 斯科特·凯恩斯, 谢里•雷诺兹, 蒂姆由, 迈克尔·皮尔森. Other faculty that ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program was privileged to briefly have in its ranks include Molly McCully Brown 和 Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley.
"What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively 和 supportive cohort, 以及超越在这里度过的时光的友谊."
——路易莎. 伊格洛里亚，路易一世. 杰夫教授 & University Professor of English 和 Creative Writing at 最靠谱的网赌软件
Our student body is diverse — from all over the country as well as from closer by. 在过去的十年里, we’ve also seen an increase in the number of inter国家 students who are drawn to what our program has to offer: an exciting three-year curriculum of workshops, 文学, 文学出版, 和 critical studies; as well as opportunities to teach in the classroom, 大学写作中心的导师, coordinate the student reading series 和 the 作家 in 社区 outreach program, 制作学生主导的文学杂志 南方评论. The third year gives our students more time to immerse themselves in the completion of a book-ready creative thesis. 我们的学生取得了令人惊叹的成就. They’ve published with some of the best (many while still in the program), 获得重要奖项, 进入终身学术职位, 并以全球语言出版. What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively 和 supportive cohort, 以及超越在这里度过的时光的友谊.
Our themed studio workshops are now offered as hybrid/cross genre experiences. 我的同事们在恐怖的研讨会上授课, 投机和实验小说, 地方诗歌, poetry 和 the archive — these give our students so many more options for honing their skills. And we continue to explore ways to collaborate with other programs 和 units of the university. 这是我20岁时最重要的项目之一th Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth was the creation of a 维吉尼亚州 诗人 Database, which is not only supported by the University through the Perry Library’s Digital Commons, but also by the MFA Program in the form of an assistantship for one of our students. With the awareness of ODU’s new integration with Eastern 维吉尼亚州 Medical School (EVMS) 和 its impact on other programs, I was inspired to design 和 pilot a new 700-level seminar on “Writing the Body Fantastic: Exploring Metaphors of Human Corporeality.2024年秋天, I look forward to a themed graduate workshop on “Writing (in) the Anthropocene,” where my students 和 I will explore the subject of climate precarity 和 how we can respond in our own work.
Even as the University 和 wider community go through shifts 和 change through time, 艺术硕士项目的发展充满了韧性和优雅. 一次, 在我指导MFA项目的六年中(2009- 2015), a State Council of Higher Education for 维吉尼亚州 (SCHEV) university-wide review amended the guidelines for what kind of graduate student would be allowed to teach classes (only those who had 已经 获得18个或更多研究生学分). 因此, two of our first-year MFA students at that time had to be given another assignment for their 教学 Assistantships. 我想到 AWP是一个有效的MFA项目的标志, which lists the provision of editorial 和 publishing experience to its students through an affiliated magazine or press — 和 immediately sought department 和 upper administration support for creating a literary journal. 这就是为什么我们创办了这个两年一度的杂志 南方评论 in 2009.
In 2010, 赫芬顿邮报 和 诗人 & 作家 将我们列入"25个被低估的创意写作MFA项目(被低估总比被高估好，对吧?) — 和 while our MFA Creative Writing Program might be smaller than others, 我们确实在这里培养出了优秀的作家. When I joined the faculty in 1998, I was excited by the high caliber of both faculty 和 students. 25年后, 我仍然像没有更激动似的, 和 look forward to all the that awaits us in our continued growth.
This essay was originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of 南方评论这是俄勒冈大学学生主导的文学期刊. 大学的发展 创意写作硕士 connects students with a seven-member creative writing faculty in fiction, poetry, 和 nonfiction.