Congratulations to the winners of this year's Halloween Writing Contest,

whose winning entries in poetry and short fiction will appear in the next issue of Scheherazade magazine!

Poetry winner: "From the Pumpkin Boy" by Ren Villaneda

Fiction winner: "Replantation" by Freyr Sloulin

ASSOCIATE in ARTS in CREATIVE WRITING

Students at Monterey Peninsula College can pursue an Associate Degree in Creative Writing. The program requires completion of the General Education requirements as well as 18 credits in program-specific coursework.

Classes taken in past semesters can be applied to the program requirements. Please consult an Academic Counselor with questions.

MPC continues to offer the Certificate in Creative Writing as well. The Certificate program requires that students complete 15 credits of coursework in Creative Writing (or 12 credits in Creative Writing and 3 credits in Literature). The Certificate program is not a degree program and therefore does not require completion of General Education requirements.

Congratulations to our

Associate in Arts in Creative Writing Graduates!

Jennifer Schmidt          Eduardo Espinoza-Larios

Mindy Robinson         Samantha Montalvo-Santoro

Analynn Patterson         Rachel Holmes          Jason Harrell

Yoshimi Ishii          Eli Smuts         Ambria Upham

 

MPC CREATIVE WRITING STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

    

NEW novel from Award-Winning MPC Creative Writing Program Alum Nicki Ehrlich!

Zephyr Trails continues the story of Ellis River Cady as she searches for her father across the post-Civil War American west.

Nicki Ehrlich received the MPC Certificate in Creative Writing in Spring, 2021. While tasking classes in the program, she was awarded the Ray Fabrizio Memorial Award in Creative Writing, and as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on lives and schedules, she stepped up to serve as Managing Editor of Scheherazade magazine and ensured that Issue 10 came to be. In our writing workshops, Nicki was a standout writer and an insightful, supportive and invaluable reader of her fellow writers' work.

On September 15, 2022, the novel she worked on in Creative Writing classes at MPC became available from Bay Feather Books via Barnes and Noble online, Amazon, Indiebound.org and Bookshop.org. It can be purchased locally at Pilgrim's Way in Carmel, River House Books at The Crossroads in Carmel, Bookworks in Pacific Grove, Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, and Downtown Book & Sound in Salinas.

Ellis River follows a young woman named Ellis River Cady from a Civil War- devastated homestead in Tennessee as she seeks the surviving members of her family across a traumatized and dangerous landscape.

And Zephyr Trails follows Ellis as her quest continues, leading her farther west and deeper into self-discovery in this second novel of the Ellis River trilogy. Learn more at nickiehrlich.com.

The Creative Writing Program congratulates Nicki Ehrlich and welcomes all writers interested in novel writing, short fiction writing, poetry, and creative nonfiction to join us in challenging, supportive writing workshop classes.

See the Creative Writing Program page and the MPC catalog for more information, and contact Program Coordinator Henry Marchand any time: hmarchand@mpc.edu.

In Caroline Coen's novel, The Angel Oak, Georgia Mae Clements and Grady O'Neal fall in love amid the turbulence of 1960s South Carolina. The prospect of the draft inspires them to join other rebellious youth in protesting the war in Vietnam, but when circumstances pull them apart, both Georgia Mae and Grady must learn to fight, albeit different kinds of battles.

Jeff McKown's novel, Solid Ground, introduces writer Conor McLeish, who is about to be 40 years old, is living the life he’s always wanted, and isn't happy. With a gift for self-sabotage and a drinking problem, Conor faces crises in his relationships with his longtime boyfriend, Will, with his parents and his force-of-nature grandmother, and with the man he sees in the mirror. The author is now writing on his second novel, which he worked on in MPC fiction writing classes.

 

Novelist B.A. Rios worked on Rain Shadow, a vividly imagined story of family, friendship, challenge and survival set in a forbidding, drought-stricken world, in creative writing classes at MPC. The novel is the first in a planned series.

 

Linda Jones' poem, "Life Turns," has been published in VoxPoetica. She has also published a book of narrative essays, Romancing the Sur: Reflections on Life in Big Sur.

"The Quarry," a short story by former Scheherazade Managing Editor Marc Ferris, has been selected to appear in Last Outpost, an anthology of military-themed science fiction from World Weaver Press.

"The Guaxineau," another of Marc's stories, appears in the horror anthology Creature Stew.

"The Dammit Man," yet another of Marc's stories, appears in the anthology, The Monsters We Forgot, Volume 2.

Tanya R. Fadem's poem, "Like Vines: A Response to The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo" appeared in Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing. She has since completed a chapbook of poems, working with Creative Writing faculty member Brandi Kary in an Independent Study.

"the dirt and the bone," a poem by Brittany Winland, appeared in a recent issue of Kestrel: A Journal of Literature and Art.

Ivan Garcia, former Scheherazade Managing Editor, transferred to San Francisco State University and writes for publications in the city. Ivan was a contributing writer for  The Monterey County Weekly's print and online editions before heading north; here you can read his "Confessions of a Car Week First-Timer."

Lawrence Harris' poem, "A Passing," appears in the online poetry journal, The Voices Project.

"Chaos Eternal," a short story by Sam Patchin, appears in the Sediments literary journal anthology, A Haunting.

"A Rabbit Named Justice," by former Creative Writing Club President Sarah Goodman, appears in Issue 6 of Petrichor Review. Ms. Goodman is now a graduate of Humboldt State University.

MPC CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

Brandi Kary's poems have appeared in Virga, The Homestead Review, The Voices Project, Flutter Poetry Journal, Calliope Magazine, and elsewhere. Brandi serves as a judge in the Tor House poetry contest conducted annually in memory of poet Robinson Jeffers, along with former MPC English faculty members Elliot Roberts and George Lober.

MPC Creative Writing instructor Henry Marchand's short stories have appeared in The Flexible Persona, Cleaver Magazine, Penduline Press, and other online and print publications. His nonfiction features, commentary, and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The International Herald-Tribune, The Boston Globe, Common Dreams News Center, The Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, The Toledo Blade Magazine, and elsewhere.

RESOURCES FOR CREATIVE WRITERS

The Creative Writing Program maintains a lending library of books, magazines and videos of interest to writers. Housed in the Humanities Division Conference Room (HSS104), the library is accessible when the room is not in use for other purposes (academic meetings, students taking make-up tests, meetings of The Great Books Club, etc.)

Available to borrow and return are books about writing as well as novels and books of poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction; writing-related magazines, including The Writer's Chronicle, Poets & Writers, and more, and recent editions of The Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

Also available for borrowing are books by writers who have come to MPC as Guest Authors,including Christopher Moore, Okey Ndibe, Ada Limon, Tami Haaland, Craig Johnson, Brenda Hillman, Jane Smiley, Benjamin Percy, Nick Taylor, and more.

DVDs of Guest Authors Series events featuring many of these writers are also available in HSS104 and at the campus library. (The library also has Guest Authors' books.)

If the room is not in use when you arrive but is locked, ask Michele Brock in the Humanities Division Office (HSS109) to let you in.

Please do not enter the room if a meeting or make-up test is in progress.

And finally, please look for links to writing resources on the Program's web pages. You'll find The Association of Writers & Writing Programs' (AWP) web site and more.

(The MPC Creative Writing Program is a member of AWP, the world's largest organization for creative writers, creative writing students, and creative writing instructors.)

The Creative Writing Club

meets on Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 in HU105.

Open to all MPC students.

 

Look for Scheherazade magazine at the MPC Library Reference desk, outside HSS 125, and at Lighthouse Books, Old Capitol Books, Pilgrim's Way Bookstore, Friends of Marina Library Community Bookstore, and at area libraries. The magazine is free and contains fiction, poetry and nonfiction written by MPC students.