mfa

Poet John Amen visits Chatham for reading

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On Wednesday, April 15, John Amen was a guest reader for the ongoing readings hosted by Chatham University’s MFA program. The event was in connection with the Words Without Walls program that is a creative venture of the MFA Creative Writing Program, Allegheny County Jail, State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, and Sojourner House–a rehabilitation house for mothers and their children.

The author was one of the many featured in “Words Without Walls: Writers on Addiction, Violence, and Incarceration” published in April 2015. The anthology was created to serve as inspiration for inmates participating in the Words Without Walls writing classes. The collection of short stories, poems, and essays deal with topics such as drug and alcohol rehabilitation, homelessness, violence, and incarceration. Each piece is meant to be brief so that it can easily be used as reference material in the classroom.

Amen’s poems were chosen for the anthology because of his style. In a review by Cheryl Lynn Bradley, his poetry has been described as, “powerful, wonderful, thought-provoking, raw, visceral, tender, and pure. Absolutely golden.”

Amen began the reading by singing gospel inspired a cappella, which led the audience into the theme of the first poem entitled “Hiding.”  The piece itself was an experiment by the poet because the theme was something he was deeply interested in writing about.

His poetry proved to move those in attendance. He chose to read several other poems from different published collections. “Everyman” and “Invisible,” as well as selections from a piece that spans 260 lines of poetry, were published in the collection “At the Threshold of Alchemy” in October 2009. The selections were from a larger work titled “Portraits of Mary.” The combination of music and poetry made for an extremely dynamic and engaging reading.

The MFA program has hosted three authors for the Words Without Walls reading series this semester: Judith Tannenbaum, Allison Joseph, and now John Amen. Long-time faculty member Dr. Sandra Sterner commented, “These events are really varied. The next one might have a totally different style.”

“We have two more events coming up,” said Dr. Sheryl St. Germain, director for the MFA program. “We received a grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation. It allows us to get authors here.”

The next author will be a premier poet in the United States who learned to read while incarcerated and became a poet.

The Words Without Walls program was co-founded by St. Germain and alumna of the MFA Creative Writing Program Sarah Shotland who is the Words Without Walls’ acting Program Coordinator. Each year the program sends over 25 students into jails to teach classes. Veteran teachers go in with first-time teachers to act as a mentor.

“The students are performing a service,” said St. Germain, “But in the process students also get inspired.”

Author Jesmyn Ward speaks about writing, Hurricane Katrina, and more

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On Monday, February 9, writer Jesmyn Ward visited Chatham to speak to students about her experiences in both fiction and creative nonfiction writing. Ward came to Chatham as part of the Words Without Walls reading series, which is provided by A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and Chatham University.

Ward received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. After college, she went to work at the University of New Orleans.

Ward is the author of two fiction novels—”Where the Line Bleeds,” and “Salvage the Bones”—and one memoir—”Men We Reaped.”

Her first novel, “Where the Line Bleeds,” which was published in 2008, received its fair share of acclaim. The novel received a Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Award and was picked by Essence Magazine as a Book Club Selection.

It follows the story of twin brothers Joshua and Christophe DeLisle, who recently graduated from high school. The book chronicles their choices during a transitional time in their lives.

Ward’s second novel, “Salvage the Bones,” looks again at the relationships between young black siblings growing up in the south. She received her most prestigious award to date with that novel: the 2011 National Book Award in the Fiction category. Ward also received an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association for the novel.

She says that “Salvage the Bones,” “was the book where [she] committed to telling the truth about where [she] came from.”

The book also looks into the lives of those affected by Hurricane Katrina, which Ward experienced first-hand. At her talk she shared her story of being in the hurricane, which included her grandmother’s house being flooded, taking shelter in a truck, and finally being shown kindness by complete strangers.

Ward published her memoir, “Men We Reaped,” in 2013. This was the topic of most of her Chatham talk and the question-and-answer portion.

The memoir looks at the lives of Ward’s brother and four other young men who lost their lives in the town in which she grew up. She spoke at length about her resistance when writing the book, saying, “I knew it was a story I was going to have to tell one day…but I didn’t want to.”

She went on to say that she feared her family would not accept the memoir should she write it, even saying that she was afraid her mother would disown her if she spoke honestly about what happened in her hometown.

Ward said, “Sometimes when you’re writing, someone needs to give you permission to write.” That permission came from her sisters, who encouraged her (and gave her the “permission” she needed) to write her story.

Even with the permission of her family, Ward had a hard time writing the memoir. During the question and answer portion, she said, “On every page, there was something where I would say…’I can’t believe I’m going to share that with the world.’”

The memoir made it onto the shortlist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography in 2013.

Ward currently teaches Creative Writing at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.