The MAWP is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for graduate students in both fiction and creative nonfiction to work with visiting writer Eileen Pollack. In addition to her reading on the evening of April 12, Pollack has agreed to conduct a Master Class, in which she will discuss the work of three graduate students in the MAWP.  Anyone may attend the actual class, but the work of only three graduate students will be discussed.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 12, 2012:

Master Class with Eileen Pollack
3:30-5:00
Location (on Lincoln Park campus) TBA

Reading by Eileen Pollack
6:00 p.m.
Location (on Lincoln Park campus) TBA
Free & open to the public

Eileen Pollack is the author of the new novel, Breaking and Entering, which was awarded the 2012 Grub Street National Book Prize and named a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection. In addition to writing novels and short stories, Pollack is a gifted nonfiction author whose textbook, innovative textbook and anthology, Creative Nonfiction: A Guide to Form, Content, and Style, with Readings, was published in 2009 by Wadsworth/Cengage.

If you would like to submit work for consideration for this Master Class, please email an essay or single piece of short fiction to Miles Harvey (mharvey7@depaul.edu) by Friday, April 6th.  And even if you don’t submit, mark your calendars!  Everyone will benefit from hearing the response of a successful author to these drafts.

Eileen Pollack is the author of a collection of short fiction, The Rabbi in the Attic And Other Stories, a novel, Paradise, New York, and a work of creative nonfiction called Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull, which won a 2003 WILLA finalist award. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michener Foundation, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She teaches creative writing at the University of Michigan.

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Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile, the Poet Laureate of South Africa, will be in Chicago on Tuesday, April 10th.  All are invited to a poetry reading and poetry workshop that Professor Kgositsile will conduct at the UIC Daley Library. The Poetry Reading is at 4pm and the Poetry Workshop is at 6pm.

Creative writing students who would like the opportunity to have Professor Kgositsile workshop a poem of theirs must submit a one–page poem along with your name, email address, university affiliation and phone number to eopadmin@uic.edu by April 6th. For complete instructions, click to view the flyer on the left.

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Story Club, Chicago’s open mic for stories, will have their next show on April 5th at Uncommon Ground in Wrigleyville.

The show, which will center around the theme, “Fire,” is featuring stories by director/actor/writer Kelly Anchors, and actor/writer Andy Marikis. In addition, five open mic participants will get a chance to burn it up by sharing their own 1st person stories. Open mic sign up starts at 8pm, names are drawn from the hat, participants are given 5-8 minutes.

Also – new this show – everyone who attends will have the opportunity to put their name in the hat for our Story Challenge.  The audience picks the theme, chance picks the performer, and that lucky person has a month to create their story and present it at May’s Story Club. Challenge accepted.

The show is free but dinner reservations in Uncommon Ground’s music room guarantee seating – call 773-929-3680. The seats go fast so reservations are highly recommended.

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SouthWest Writers is seeking entries for their annual writing contest. First through third place winners will be awarded in twelve categories of fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature, screenplays, and poetry. All first place winners will automatically compete for the grand prize, the Storyteller Award. The entries must be original, unpublished and in English. You do not have to be a member of SouthWest Writers (SWW) to enter.

Entries must be submitted by mail and must be postmarked by May 1st, 2012. To see a complete list of categories and submission instructions, and to download application materials, please visit southwestwriters.com/contestRules.