Western New England University graduate students will have the unique opportunity to take part in a winter residency January 8-13 as part of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. The residency will be held at The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA. Located in the picturesque Berkshires, The Red Lion Inn is one of the few New England inns operating continuously since the 18th century.
Western New England University’s low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing offers in-depth study of how fiction is made without the time commitment of a traditional, full-time graduate program. This two-year program is broken down into four components, each comprised of an intense 5-day residency, followed by individualized, mentored study designed to deepen students understanding of craft through canonic literature read from a creator’s perspective.
Pearl Abraham and Stephen Amidon will serve as visiting writers for the Winter 2017 Residency which will include the Craft of Fiction Class and the Fiction Workshop.
The Craft of Fiction Class is offered under the direction of Pearl Abraham, author of the novels The Romance Reader, Giving Up America, The Seventh Beggar, and American Taliban. The Seventh Beggar was a semi-finalist for the Koret International Award in Fiction. It was also excerpted in Harold Bloom’s Jesus and Yahweh. The Romance Reader was a best-seller and finalist for Barnes & Noble’s “Discover Great New Writers” Award and a Literary Guild featured book. It was also longlisted for the UK’s Orange Prize. Abraham’s short stories and essays have appeared in newspapers, literary quarterlies, and anthologies.
A graduate of New York University’s MFA program in Fiction, Abraham has taught at NYU and in the MFA Writing Programs at Sarah Lawrence College and The University of Houston. She is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing and Director of the MFA Program at Western New England University.
Stephen Amidon will direct the Fiction Workshop. Steven is the author of a book of short stories and seven novels, including The New City and Human Capital, which was selected by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post as one of the five best novels of 2004. Paolo Virzì's Italian film version of Human Capital, Il Capitale Umano, won best film at the 2014 David Di Donatello, Nastri d'Argento, and Globi D'Oro Awards and was selected to represent Italy as best foreign language film at the 2015 Oscars. Amidon has also written two non-fiction books, reviewed films for The Sunday Times and The Financial Times, and contributed to various newspapers and magazines in the United States and Great Britain. His serial drama 6Bianca debuted at Teatro Stabile di Torino in February 2015. The Real Justine, Amidon's seventh novel, has recently been released in the United States.
To learn more about the MFA in Creative Writing visit: wne.edu/mfa15.
