Tag Archives: mark doty

The Shapiro Creative Writing Center Exists

Email irode[at]wesleyan[dot]edu with a FABULOUS NAME for  animal-cracker-filled bear-- and like the Shapiro FB page-- and if your name is the best, you'll win a prize!

Like the Shapiro FB page and message us with a FABULOUS NAME for animal-cracker-filled bear and if your entry is the best, you’ll win a prize! [You can like the Shapiro Center on Facebook to stay updated here.] —Professor Bloom

In 2009, two alums, Shonni Silverberg ’76 and John Shapiro ’74 donated approximately one shit-ton (followed by another $3 million pledge last year march) to establish the Shapiro Creative Writing Center at Wesleyan. We should all send them a thank-you note, because even though a young entity on campus, the Shapiro Center is wonderful. In regard to the second gift:

“We were gratified that the university moved quickly and got this program launched and established,” Shapiro said. “I’ve had good feedback from people both at Wesleyan and elsewhere. It has generated a bit of a buzz.”

Bit of a buzz, yes. Enough of a buzz, no. More on what you can do at Shapiro after the jump!

Apply for Masters Class with Mark Doty

From Izzy Rode ’14:mark-doty

Since the publication of his first volume of verse, Turtle, Swan, in 1987, Mark Doty has been recognized as one of the most accomplished poets in America. Hailed for his elegant, intelligent verse, Doty has often been compared to James Merrill,Walt Whitman and C.P. Cavafy. His syntactically complex and aesthetically profound free verse poems, odes to urban gay life, and quietly brutal elegies to his lover, Wally Roberts, have been hailed as some of the most original and arresting poetry written today. The recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, Doty has also won a number of prestigious literary awards, including the Whiting Writer’s Award, the T. S. Eliot Prize, the National Poetry Series, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for first nonfiction, and the National Book Award for Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems (2008). –(excerpt from The Poetry Foundation)

Open to poetry-writing students who can commit to all 3 classes. Each class will last 2.5 hours and include dinner. This is an extraordinary chance to work closely with the prize-winning poet. No additional fee.