The Contraband
McNeese State University English Professor Amy Fleury has won the 2016 inaugural Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry for her 2013 volume of poetry titled “Sympathetic Magic.” The award was given for the best book of poems published by a Kansan in 2013/14/15.
The prize, which will alternate yearly with fiction and non-fiction genres, is sponsored by the Center for Kansas Studies, the Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection in the Mabee Library of Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., and the Friends of Mabee Library.
Fleury received a $1,000 prize. A native of Nemaha County in rural northeast Kansas, Fleury received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from McNeese. She also taught creative writing for 10 years at Washburn University.
Eric McHenry, poet laureate of Kansas and associate professor of English at Washburn University, selected the winner. “ ‘Sympathetic Magic’ is a spellbinder of a book. Its pain is real, its wisdom is hard-won and its lyricism is both delicate and durable. There’s no self-conscious bid for originality here. Amy Fleury wagers everything on truth and beauty, and it’s a winning wager, again and again," said McHenry.
Keagan LeJeune, professor of English at McNeese, was selected as a finalist in the poetry contest at the 2016 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. He was among 12 national finalists for the award that is given to an emerging poet.
LeJeune was also a guest lecturer for a series titled “Bayou State Book Talks,” a monthly discussion series led by authors from Louisiana who have written books that are of interest to Louisianans. He discussed his book, “Legendary Louisiana Outlaws: The Villains and Heroes of Folk Justice” for the series co-sponsored by the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Lafayette Public Library System.
Chris Lowe, a McNeese assistant professor of English, has had a chapbook of essays, “You’re the Tower,” published in the Yellow Flag Press.
An essay by Lowe titled “Snake” also recently appeared as part of the New South Journal’s micro-prose series.
Jessica Frank Leichsenring, a MFA graduate student at McNeese, had her poem, “Marshall Fields, December 1988,” published online by Silver Birch Press.
She also wrote the cover story - “Happy to Hear From Mr. Lee” - for the January 2016 Louisiana Super Lawyers magazine.
Baerbel Czennia, associate professor of literature at McNeese, presented a paper titled “Accommodating the Orient: English Country Seats, Landscape Gardens and Sun Worship” at the annual meeting of the South-Central Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Hillary Joubert, McNeese English instructor, had three poems - “Preoccupation of the Lower Jaw,” “Erasure” and “His Shaving Tree” - accepted for publication by Mocking Heart Review.
McNeese Professor Emeritus Stella Nesanovich has had a poem included in a new anthology: “The Untamable City: Poems on the Nature of Houston.”
McNeese student Emily Smith, Sulphur, won a second place award for her paper, “The Feminine Frontier,” in the Critical Essay, American category at the recent Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, annual convention in Minneapolis, Minn.
Other members of the McNeese chapter of Sigma Tau Delta that attended were Jessie Cortez, Westlake, Kathyrn Hile, Lake Charles, Thomas Len Holland, Kinder, Andrew Maust, Ragley, Michelle Romero, Lake Charles, and Dr. Elizabeth Hait, faculty adviser.
Several McNeese students, faculty and staff recently attended the French-American Chamber of Commerce – Gulf Coast chapter annual dinner meeting in New Orleans. Speakers included
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, French Consul General Grégor Trumel and Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States. Those attending were Melanie Dees, visiting lecturer at McNeese, Rachel Hebert and Ashlee Stockwell, students enrolled in French studies, and Preble Girard, director of international programs who is vice president of the FACC-Southwest Louisiana chapter.
The prize, which will alternate yearly with fiction and non-fiction genres, is sponsored by the Center for Kansas Studies, the Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection in the Mabee Library of Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., and the Friends of Mabee Library.
Fleury received a $1,000 prize. A native of Nemaha County in rural northeast Kansas, Fleury received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from McNeese. She also taught creative writing for 10 years at Washburn University.
Eric McHenry, poet laureate of Kansas and associate professor of English at Washburn University, selected the winner. “ ‘Sympathetic Magic’ is a spellbinder of a book. Its pain is real, its wisdom is hard-won and its lyricism is both delicate and durable. There’s no self-conscious bid for originality here. Amy Fleury wagers everything on truth and beauty, and it’s a winning wager, again and again," said McHenry.
Keagan LeJeune, professor of English at McNeese, was selected as a finalist in the poetry contest at the 2016 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. He was among 12 national finalists for the award that is given to an emerging poet.
LeJeune was also a guest lecturer for a series titled “Bayou State Book Talks,” a monthly discussion series led by authors from Louisiana who have written books that are of interest to Louisianans. He discussed his book, “Legendary Louisiana Outlaws: The Villains and Heroes of Folk Justice” for the series co-sponsored by the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Lafayette Public Library System.
Chris Lowe, a McNeese assistant professor of English, has had a chapbook of essays, “You’re the Tower,” published in the Yellow Flag Press.
An essay by Lowe titled “Snake” also recently appeared as part of the New South Journal’s micro-prose series.
Jessica Frank Leichsenring, a MFA graduate student at McNeese, had her poem, “Marshall Fields, December 1988,” published online by Silver Birch Press.
She also wrote the cover story - “Happy to Hear From Mr. Lee” - for the January 2016 Louisiana Super Lawyers magazine.
Baerbel Czennia, associate professor of literature at McNeese, presented a paper titled “Accommodating the Orient: English Country Seats, Landscape Gardens and Sun Worship” at the annual meeting of the South-Central Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Hillary Joubert, McNeese English instructor, had three poems - “Preoccupation of the Lower Jaw,” “Erasure” and “His Shaving Tree” - accepted for publication by Mocking Heart Review.
McNeese Professor Emeritus Stella Nesanovich has had a poem included in a new anthology: “The Untamable City: Poems on the Nature of Houston.”
McNeese student Emily Smith, Sulphur, won a second place award for her paper, “The Feminine Frontier,” in the Critical Essay, American category at the recent Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, annual convention in Minneapolis, Minn.
Other members of the McNeese chapter of Sigma Tau Delta that attended were Jessie Cortez, Westlake, Kathyrn Hile, Lake Charles, Thomas Len Holland, Kinder, Andrew Maust, Ragley, Michelle Romero, Lake Charles, and Dr. Elizabeth Hait, faculty adviser.
Several McNeese students, faculty and staff recently attended the French-American Chamber of Commerce – Gulf Coast chapter annual dinner meeting in New Orleans. Speakers included
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, French Consul General Grégor Trumel and Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States. Those attending were Melanie Dees, visiting lecturer at McNeese, Rachel Hebert and Ashlee Stockwell, students enrolled in French studies, and Preble Girard, director of international programs who is vice president of the FACC-Southwest Louisiana chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments, concerns, complaints? Put 'em here!