Laura Madeline Wiseman » conference

early turkey-day thanks

laura madeline wiseman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:27:13 +0000

Things I’m thankful for:

I’ve just sent Arts & Letters the proof of my essay “Hunger.” I’m so excited to have my essay in their spring issue!
One of my advisers, Joy Castro, wrote about my capstone oral for my comprehensive exams, which took place at the end of October.
I’m officially ABD! Or, as Joy called it in her post, All but done. Yippee!!
As part of my residency this past summer is: My poem “Maternal Lineage” is up on the National Park Service’s Herbert Hoover Historic Site website (a residency which was mentioned in USA Today. Wow). There’s an audio file of it too:

Maternal Lineage
http://www.nps.gov/heho/supportyourpark/upload/002_matilda_007_madeline_maternal%20lineage_2009_10_11_maternal%20lineage.mp3

Split This Rock accepted the panel proposal I and two other fantastic poets submitted. We’re doing a panel on writing the activist body. It’s going to be super fun!
My wonderful adviser Carole Levin has motivated me to look into fellowships. Thanks Carole!
The amazing editors at Pudding House and Dancing Girl Press are publishing my chapbooks Ghost Girl and My Imaginary, respectfully.
A short story I wrote has been accepted for the Fall 2009 Relief Anthology, edited by J. K. Richard. Yeah!
And of course: my sweet A.

Matilda in South Dakota

laura madeline wiseman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:28:08 +0000

I’ve just returned from Spearfish, South Dakota where I presented in the 2009 Western Literature Association Conference, “Lecturers, Matriarchs, Writers, Outdoorswomen: Voices from the Placeless Women of the West.” Joining me in the panel were two great writers, a poet scholar on “The Yellow Wallpaper” and a prose writer on gender. I read poems on Matilda Fletcher, the 19th century lecturer and suffragist from Iowa. She too spoke in South Dakota, over a hundred years ago. It was a fantastic panel. Thank you all who attended and who stopped by to say hello after the talk!

Because the conference was in the beautiful Black Hills, I did spend some time site-seeing. I made it over to Devil’s Tower, to Mount Rushmore, to the Bad Lands, and a few other spots, here and there. Even driving through South Dakota I couldn’t help but to think, what an amazing country.

awp 2009 – chicago

laura madeline wiseman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:18:55 +0000

Now that I’ve had a chance to recover from my first ever AWP, I thought I’d post a few photos. I presented in “‘Memory of Wounds’: Memoirists Tell Truth, Lies, and Memory” with Joy Castro (The Truth Book), Karen McElmurry (The Motel of Stars), Kelly Gray Carlisle (former managing editor of Prairie Schooner), Lucy Ferriss, and Carrie Anne Tocci. We had a great turn out. Here’s a few:

Besides my panel, I heard Jeanne Leiby (of The Southern Review) and Jocelyn Bartkevicius (of The Florida Review) share their wisdom in creative nonfiction, both in writing and as publishers. Also in nonfiction, Carrie Pomeroy explained her process in writing an essay about her mother. Robin Becker (my favorite of her books is All-American Girl), Katharine Haake, and others discussed creative writing pedagogy. And, I heard many, many more excellent writers, teachers, and editors speak, read, and advise. A great time all around.

Of course, I also took advantage of Chicago’s beautiful waterfront walk, museums, buildings, Michigan Avenue, and other pleasures. A few more concluding images: