Russell Brakefield
MFA in Poetry, '11
Vermont Studio Center Fellow, 2010
Tupelo Press Intern, 2010
Managing Editor, Canarium Books, 2009-2011

I have worked as managing editor of Canarium Books for most of my two years here in the MFA Program. Canarium's ever-growing reliance on MFA students as editorial and managerial resources has allowed me to work on everything from the manuscript selection process to design and proofing. In addition, during the summer between my first and second year I interned for Tupelo Press, where I did design and editorial work. It was incredible to have the opportunity for consistent, hands-on experience with books by some of my favorite writers as they moved from manuscript to publication.

That summer I was also awarded a Zell Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center. My time in Vermont allowed me an incredible amount of time to write as well as an exciting opportunity to surround myself with a community of writers and visual artists that I could access readily for feedback and collaboration. Not only was I able to complete a great deal of work toward my thesis project, but I was in continual communication and collaboration with other poets, artists, and fiction writers.

Francine J. Harris
MFA in Poetry, '11
Thesis Grant, Summer 2010

My visit to Krakow, Poland was one of the strangest experiences of my life. Having never been overseas, I tried to avoid having a lot of expectations about the city, the region. But every place is very tiny in your head, isn't it? Very walled in. Until the taxowka pulls into a residential neighborhood near the Stare Miasto (Old Town) and nuns pass in their habits and the women in their summer dresses and the hot summer sun ekes quietly between the faces of cobble stone buildings awash with the stain of centuries of season change and smoke and war. And strangers watch you, because you're the strange American, and you watch them, because they're strange, too. And you open your mouth, for the first time to say: Przepraszam, Pani…and suddenly this place is a part of you.

Carlus Henderson
MFA in Fiction, '12
Civitas Fellow, 2010-2011

I think amidst the many opportunities that the MFA Program has given me, I cherish most of all the opportunity to teach for InsideOut Detroit through the Civitas Fellowship. I co-teach with Ali, and for that alone InsideOut is a pleasure. Students are encouraged to write! write! write! and explore their ideas through poetry.The students, in turn, force me to clarify my ideas about writing, which can be challenging when you are talking to a room full of fourth graders. It is all the more rewarding, though, when I get to see kids who are electrified by a metaphor, a rhyme, or onomatopoeia.

Ali Shapiro
MFA in Poetry, '12
Civitas Fellow, 2010-2011

Every week, Carlus and I use our own wacky, creative lesson plans to convince a rambunctious group of fourth graders that writing poetry is the coolest thing on earth! And in the process, we get to buff up our teaching skills, make inspiring connections outside the Ann Arbor bubble, and have a ton of fun. Teaching in Detroit definitely keeps me on my toes and provides a valuable complement to my experience in the MFA program.

Photo: One of Ali and Carlus's Inside/Out students reads his poem for the class.

Joe Horton
MFA in Fiction, '11
Farrar Memorial Playwriting Grant, 2010
Rackham International Research Award, 2010

During my first year in the MFA Program, I was able to complete a play I'd been struggling to write for years: a drama based on my experience growing up in Littleton, Colorado in the aftermath of the Columbine shooting. The play was accepted as the final show of the season for Savio(u)r Theatre Company in London, and with the support of a Rackham International Research Award and the Farrar Memorial Playwriting Grant, I was able to live in London during the midsummer of the MFA Program. I worked daily with Savio(u)r to cast, revise, stage and promote the play, and our multinational cast and crew--England, Wales, Scotland, Canada, France, Ireland and the US represented--gave me remarkable new insights into the play. Think: summerlong international workshop. In August 2010, At the Broken Places received its world premiere at Lost Theatre before transferring to the Edinburgh Festival. In March 2011, the play returned to London for a monthlong run at the Cock Tavern Theatre.

Photo: Promotional shot for At the Broken Places.

Kendra Langford Shaw
MFA in Fiction, '12
826michigan Intern, 2010-2011

Every Tuesday night, I gather with a group of twenty high schoolers to form the Michigan-based contingent of the Best American Nonrequired Reading Committee. We meet in the basement of 826michigan (aka The Robot Shop) to read stories and essays, argue over their merits and flaws, and ultimately send top picks to our California counterparts. This year, I've read more literary journals than I can count, joined the inky front lines of anthology compilation, and had the opportunity to lead a group of incredibly brainy and insightful high schoolers. 

Photo: Best American Nonrequired Reading Committee. Kendra is third from the left.

Ann Marie Thornburg
MFA in Poetry, '11
Thesis Grant, Summer 2010

In the summer of 2010 I received a thesis travel grant that I used to travel to Yellowstone National Park, the site of the reintroduction of the Grey Wolf to North America back in the mid-nineties. The opportunity to explore this mysterious, wild place under the ever-unfolding sky was a true gift, and influenced my thesis—which focuses on human-animal relations, the representation of animals as individuals, and broader ecological concerns—in innumerable ways.

Photo: Grey Wolf on the move, as photographed by Ann Marie.