Recent UHCWP grad Melanie Brkich interviewed Selena about her work, her new teaching job, and what she’ll miss most about Houston.

Melanie Brkich: Congrats on successfully defending your dissertation! How does it feel to be a doctor?

Selena Anderson: Thank you, Melanie! It’s cool! I’ve been working towards it for a long time and it’s always nice to accomplish something that you’ve worked so hard for.

MB: What is your dissertation about? Where did you draw the inspiration for it?

SA: My dissertation is a collection of stories about people who want to win and who make a bad situation worse by trying to do something about it. The stories are set in Texas—but in my imagined Texas of the recent past. There are ghosts, tiny men, a slave ship, dolls, dudes who talk in third person, forest fires, and plenty of girls brooding in their apartments. I’m not sure what influenced me! When I started this project, I was listening to a lot of Sun Ra and David Axelrod, and I also got big into the painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye whose aesthetic just blows me away. She’s graceful, bold, and haunting all at the same time. Some of the authors I kept re-reading include Yoko Ogawa, Alice Carter, Clarice Lispector, Tatayana Tolstaya, among many, many others. I wrote all of the stories here in Houston. The collection is called There You Are.

MB: You were recently hired by San José State as an assistant professor of creative writing, which is amazing! What was that process of applying for jobs like?

SA: The program offered a lot of support that demystified the job process. Sally Conolly and Kevin Prufer put together a packet with advice on cover letters, CVs, statements of teaching philosophy, etc. and they also supported students through workshops and mock interviews. They recommended a book called Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt which I found to be super helpful. My advisor Mat Johnson gave a lot of good practical advice that was just not in that book, and Alex Parsons and Cedric Tolliver gave me tips on interviewing too. In the end, yes, I got the job! And I’m excited to teach the graduate fiction workshop in the fall.

I love Houston, un-ironically.

MB: How would you describe your teaching style? How might it have been informed by your time here at UH? 

SA: I really admire the way Chitra Divakaruni runs her workshop. In addition to submitting their own work and giving peer feedback, students give a presentation that on a story that somehow connects to a craft issue they are interested in. I think it’s a great way to engage students and expose them to different books. It also gives insight into what other students are into reading—which is kind of important to know when you give feedback on their work because you can sort of see where they’re coming from. Such a good idea! The presentation also allows students to think deeper about how a story is working and about how they can work out some craft difficulties in their own work. I ended up adapting the presentation I gave in Chitra’s workshop for in the craft talk I gave when I interviewed.

MB: What will you miss most about Houston?

SA: Hanging out nonstop with family and friends was the best part of living here. I’ll miss them a ton. I’ll also miss my neighborhood, even if it has changed a lot. I love Houston, un-ironically. I’m gonna miss the hell out of this place!

The post UHCWP Student Spotlight: Selena Anderson first appeared on An Open Book - The Inprint Blog.

Inprint is proud to be awarding $201,500 in direct support during the 2015-2016 academic year to some of the nation’s top emerging creative writers in Houston. The money is awarded as prizes and fellowships to University of Houston Creative Writing Program (UH CWP) graduate students and a prize for an undergraduate at Rice University.

This year marks Inprint’s highest single-year amount of support for these creative writing students. Since 1983, Inprint has provided more than $3 million dollars in direct support to more than 500 students. Recipients of these fellowships and prizes are changing the face of contemporary literature and have gone on to publish books, win literary awards, serve as educators, and enrich the cultural life of Houston and other communities nationwide. The collaboration between Inprint and the UH Creative Writing Program—a community-based literary arts nonprofit and a university-based creative writing program—is unique in the country, benefiting both the writers and the Houston community.

J. Kastely, director of the UH CWP, which ranks as one of the best creative writing programs in the country, says, “The Inprint awards not only provide important recognition of student achievement but they also further student achievement.  By providing financial support, the awards make available that precious time in which a writer can have the freedom to allow a work to emerge in the way that it should.  The awards open up a rare space that is essential to the creative process, and they have proved invaluable to students as they develop work that will help shape their future lives as writers.  Finally, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of validation for a writer, and the awards provide this needed validation, which is often crucial if a writer is to undertake the risks that are necessary for truly original work.  The Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston is deeply indebted to Inprint for these awards and the multitude of ways in which Inprint supports both students and faculty.”

Finally, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of validation for a writer, and the awards provide this needed validation, which is often crucial if a writer is to undertake the risks that are necessary for truly original work.  The Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston is deeply indebted to Inprint for these awards and the multitude of ways in which Inprint supports both students and faculty.

Inprint Executive Director Rich Levy says, “These talented writers infuse Houston with their energy and vision, giving readings, teaching workshops, working in schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, community centers, collaborating with other artists, and enriching this city in countless ways. We are honored and dedicated to support them.”

Funds for the fellowships and prizes come from both the Inprint Fellowship Endowment (which the organization created in 1991 and works hard to manage and augment) and Inprint’s annual operating budget (through revenues generated by specific gifts for named prizes and fundraising events such as the Inprint Poets and Writers Ball).

Winners of the 2015-2016 Inprint Prizes are:

• Selena Anderson, Inprint Joan and Stanford Alexander Prize in Fiction ($10,000)
• Matthew Salesses, Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing ($10,000)
• Meghan Martin, Inprint Paul Verlaine Prize in Poetry ($10,000)
• Carlos Hernandez and Michelle Nereim, Inprint Donald Barthelme Prizes in Fiction ($2,500)
• Luisa Muradyan and Martin Rock, Inprint Donald Barthelme Prizes in Poetry($2,500)
• Dana Kroos, Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Non-Fiction ($2,500)
• Carlos Hernandez, Inprint Marion BarthelmeGulf Coast Prize ($1,000)

The winners of these prizes were chosen in blind competition by outside judges (some of whom are UH CWP alumni and published writers). The Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing at Rice University was chosen by a visiting Rice scholar.

In addition to the prizes, in fall 2015, Inprint awarded recruiting fellowships (to help the UH CWP attract a great group of new students) and international fellowships. New this year: a recruiting fellowship established in memory of Edgar M. Larsen, former Inprint Board President and a devoted and beloved Inprint Board member for many years. These fellowship recipients include:

• Amanda Casolo and Daniel Chu, Inprint Brown Foundation Fellowships
• Lauren Espinoza, Wanjiku Ngugi, Aza Pace, Samantha Thilen, and Lani Yu, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellowships
• Thomas Cardomone, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/M. D. Anderson Foundation Fellowship
• Catherine Cleary, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/Brown Foundation Fellowship
• Corey Campbell, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/James A. and Isabel M. Elkins FoundationFellowship
• Carol Ann Madden, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/Fondren Foundation Fellowship
• Joshua Foster, Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/Michael and Nina Zilkha Fellowship
• Christopher Liek and Josephine Mitchell, Inprint Mary Gibbs and Jessie H. Jones Foundation Fellowships
• Alexandra Naumann, Inprint Edgar M. Larsen Fellowship
• Christopher Hutchinson, Wanjiku Ngugi, and Henk Rossouw, Inprint International Fellowships

Last year, former Inprint Fondren Foundation Fellowship recipient Lacy Johnson, author of The Other Side: A Memoir, was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award; former Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellowship recipient Tiphanie Yanique was listed in the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” and was named one of BookPage’s “14 Women to Watch in 2014”; and former Inprint Brown Foundation Fellowship and Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize recipient Nina McConigley won the 2014 PEN Open Book Award for her story collection Cowboys and East Indians.

Congratulations one and all, we look forward to seeing these writers in print!

The post Inprint awards more than $200,000 in prizes and fellowships to creative writing students in Houston first appeared on An Open Book - The Inprint Blog.