Meet the Grad: Judi Marcin

July 19, 2015, on the final day of the upcoming residency, the MFAC program will have a Graduate Recognition ceremony to honor the men and women who have just completed their studies and will receive an MFA from Hamline University. Between now and residency we'll be posting interviews with the grads. Judi Marcin is today's grad; she lives in Chicago, Illinois, and can be found on Twitter @MFACPride.

Judi and her amazingly supportive spouse.

What do you do when you’re not working on packets?
For now, my day job is as a family physician. I teach family medicine residents, but what I really want to do is teach and support young people on their own writing journeys. My long-term goal is to support myself by writing. I like to dream big! And thanks to Hamline, I feel well prepared to do whatever it takes. I am also a foodie who loves to eat, cook and travel with my amazingly supportive spouse. 

How did you hear about the Hamline MFAC Program?
I learned about the MFAC program at a booth at an AWP conference. This interesting and enthusiastic student had nothing but great things to say about Hamline. I did some research on my own and realized it sounded like the perfect place for me.

What was your writing experience prior to entering the program?
Before Hamline, I wrote only for myself, too intimidated to share anything with anyone else. But then I took the plunge and signed up for all the creative writing classes I could in Chicago. The more I wrote, the younger my protagonists became. Then a light bulb came on. Why should I write for grownups when what I want to do is write for young people? So I found my courage again and applied to Hamline—the best decision I have ever, ever made for my creative self.

What do you especially remember about your first residency?

I was so excited to find a bunch of people just like me who didn’t think books about magical talking cats in ancient Egypt were frivolous or silly. The program was filled with individuals who loved reading, writing and talking about books as much as I did, with brilliant faculty who shared their knowledge and lent their support. I remember how committed other writers and faculty were to their craft, and I soon realized how challenging this journey would be— so much harder than medical school ever was.

I embraced the fact that young people deserve stories written by authors who take their jobs seriously. What we do changes people lives. We provide our readers with escape and encouragement, mirrors and windows, and lots of wonderful ways of exploring the world. Writing for children and young adults is way too important to not do well.

Have you focused on any one form (PB, novel, nonfiction; graphic novel) or age group in your writing? Tried a form you never thought you’d try?
I came to Hamline thinking I would write contemporary YA, scared to explore my talking cat idea. Then I discovered that middle grade is my true love and historical fantasy my destiny; however, picture books are an extremely close second. And thanks to Claire Rudolf Murphy, I have three nonfiction Works in Progress competing for my attention. Nonfiction blends my love of history, research and storytelling.

Original, real-world Onyx

Tell us about your Creative Thesis.
My creative thesis is historical fantasy that is part of a series. Set in ancient Egypt, the pharaoh’s daughter rescues a magical black cat, Onyx, who possesses powers that will not only save her and family but an ancient library as well. In future books, Onyx learns the price and pain of immortality as she lives out her remaining eight lives. She travels throughout the world, learning how to protect the library from its enemies and becoming the warrior she was meant to be. These stories celebrate the lives of females, inspired by real girls and women who changed the trajectory of history.

What changes have you seen in your writing during your studies?

I am more confident and willing to take risks. I am less afraid to try something new and more accepting if the idea never quite comes to fruition. Writing is an art and a craft and something that deserves my attention. If I want to become better, I have to put in the time, and that is lifelong. It doesn’t end with one book or one story. Writing is lots of trial and error and rejection and I am still learning to embrace those things. I have discovered the joy of editing and working and reworking the story until the words are right.

Any thoughts for entering students or for people considering the program?

In this program, we celebrate one another as artists who want to make the world a better place. Find the things and people that inspire you and surround yourself with them. The MFAC program will change your life and demand your time and attention. Embrace that. The faculty and students will support you along the way and long after you graduate. Finally, run towards the things that scare you the most.

*

The public is welcome to attend the graduate recognition ceremony on Sunday, July19, 3:30pm, (Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University). Tim Federle is the speaker.

MFAC Pride: Claire Rudolf Murphy talks with Judi Marcin

During the last two residencies at Hamline discussions and presentations have taken place about the need for more diversity in children’s and YA literature and what we writers can do about it. This interview with student leader Judi Marcin reveals details about an innovative Hamline MFAC program that has evolved out of those discussions.

Tell us about this new diversity PRIDE program at Hamline. How would you define members of the group?
First of all, thanks for putting the spotlight on MFAC Pride. Our group is very much a collaborative effort. MFAC pride is all-inclusive. It is not simply about raising awareness of the issues facing writers of color, queer writers and the diverse community at large, but also issues of diversity within children's literature. We want to bring our allies from these communities into the discussion as well, so that as a team of concerned individuals we are pushing for literature that reflects all our experiences, not simply a select few. We have received tremendous support from the faculty of the MFAC program, MFAC alumni, and the Hamline Creative Writing Program.

How did it get started?
It started with an email from a fellow classmate about how to improve diversity. That grew to a Facebook page and a Twitter feed and later a website. But we knew we needed a purpose, not to just raise awareness, but to do something to impact our community directly. Thanks to faculty and students, our visibility continues to increase. I would be remiss if I did not mention the national We Need Diverse Books Campaign, a grassroots’ group interested in bringing attention to the lack of diversity in children’s literature. By experiencing the stories of others, often different from our own, we can foster empathy and compassion for the struggles so many face due to ignorance and bigotry. It is something I believe any writer of conscience should follow.

How will your efforts help address the lack of diversity in kids and YA books today?
We hope to encourage readers and writers to explore books and topics that they may have never considered before. Our monthly recommended reading list encourages people to read a picture book, middle grade and young adult book written by writers of diversity. This not only increases awareness of these authors and works, but hopefully encourages individuals to raise their voice by raising a dollar towards MFAC pride. When anyone from the Hamline community posts a selfie or picture on social media with one of our recommended reads, $1 will donated on their behalf to MFAC Pride for each book shared. All three books in one month = $5. How easy is that? And by buying the book or requesting it from your local library, we are sending a message to the publishing community, bookstores and libraries that people do read diverse books and that there is an essential place for these books in our schools and in our communities.

Selected title
January 2014

During every Hamline residency we will continue to sponsor a book program. Ten copies of a chosen title will be given away to students of the MFAC program each January and July to spread the word about diverse writers and their books with hopes that those books will then be shared with others. Buttons and other fundraisers, such as a used book sale of donated books from the Hamline reading list and other children’s/YA books, are ways we hope to fund our efforts. 

One of the group’s current projects is getting LGBTQ books out to new readers. How is this going?
We have established a partnership with the St. Paul Public Library, working with librarians and staff to figure out where our funds can best be used. Right now we have raised over $600 and are happy to accept donations of any amount. Some of the ways we are looking to partner with the library include purchasing diverse books for book-give-a-ways and contests, sponsoring author events, and participating in diversity-centered events such as African American History Month, Women's History Month and Gay Pride Month. More than anything, we want to raise awareness about the diverse kid/YA lit books already published and get those books into the hands of teens and young readers. We also want kids from all backgrounds to meet real authors and learn that being a writer can be a viable and important career.

How do you see Hamline Pride growing in the future as current student leaders like yourself graduate?
I hope that MFAC pride is an ongoing group that becomes integrated into the MFAC program. I would hope that alumni, students and faculty continue to sustain this and that once some of us graduate that new current students will take on the lead as student members and alumni like myself will continue to participate in residencies and local Twin City events. It is also important that we continue to work towards making an impact in places like the AWP conference, literary journals and social media. Facebook, Twitter and Squarespace make it possible to maintain contact within our Hamline community. Following and participating in discussions on social media is critical in maintaining visibility and progress of both children's literature and issues of diversity.

Hamine Pride’s recommended reads for October: 

• Picture Book—Firebird by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
• Middle Grade: Drama by Raina Telgemeier
• Young Adult: Pointe by Brandy Colbert

Judi also suggests these sites that focus on diversity in children’s/YA books:

* http://www.leewind.org

* www.malindalo.com 

* www.thebrownbookshelf  - our very own Eleanora Tate is featured on their October    12, 2014 post.  

* Judi also lists other favorite diversity links on the www.mfacsquarespace.com website.

*

Claire Rudolf Murphy asks her questions from Spokane, Washington. Judi Marcin (MFAC 2015) answers from Illinois.

Faculty Voices: Claire Rudolf Murphy

Writing Conferences - What's in It for You?
AWP April 2015 Minneapolis

It's always a tug, isn't it, dear writers? Writing or out in the world, promoting, going to conferences, working to pay the bills, sharing one's writing, responding to other writers, teaching . . . The list is endless and it's easy to come up with ways to avoid BIC - butt in chair. But there are times when it is an excellent idea to attend a conference - to get filled up, stretch one's boundaries, listen to those in your chosen genre talk about their craft, suss out an agent or attend a session on a topic way far from your own work.

All of you reading have attended one conference or another, most likely an SCBWI one, a great resource for children's writers. I have another one to suggest - affordable, packed full of intriguing sessions and, for some of you, right in your back yard:

2015 AWP Conference 

Minneapolis Convention Center
Hilton Minneapolis Hotel
April 8 - 11, 2015

AWP stands for Associated Writing Programs and next year our esteemed leader Mary Rockcastle will be one of the co-chairs and Hamline University one of the co-sponsors. The conference offers a discount for current MFA students and alums. More will come out on that in the months to come. But put this date down on your calendar.

Two weeks ago Emily Jenkins posted on this blog about her adventures at the Seattle AWP. Check it out if you haven't read it yet. Emily and her cohorts were terrific, just what you want a panel to be - vibrant, knowledgeable, funny, and each offering a different perspective. Current MFAC student Judi Marcin was also there and it was great to share notes and talk about our hopes for a Hamline presence next year in Minneapolis.

Come one, come all. Not only am I encouraging you to attend, but to consider putting in a proposal to present if you are ready for that. In Seattle there were 15,000 hungry writers in attendance from all genres and all levels of experience, and hundreds of presentations over three days. This was my first AWP conference, but I've been told that the children's and YA panels are growing in number every year. The ones in Seattle were packed. So the interest is there.

I am hoping to see even more next year, especially on illustrated books, graphic literature, fantasy, YA LGBTQ literature, the structure of an MFAC program, and life after getting one. The panels I most appreciated had excellent, varying content and strong presenters across the board. They didn't always agree, but rather each took a different approach to the topic. Presenters often came from different programs, different parts of the country and for some topics - different genres.

Here are some of the intriguing session titles:

•  Pushing Boundaries in YA Literature: Civil Disobedience, Violence and War
•  Never Grow Up: Building a Life in Children's and Young Adult Fiction (one of Emily's panels)
•  What We Talk About When We Talk about Subtext
•  Building a Space for Literary Comics in MFA programs ( I was happy to raise my hand and mention Gene Yang and the growing interest at Hamline.)
•  Crafting Heartbreak – Handling Grief and Loss in YA/MG Novels
•  Not What I was Looking For, But What I Found: Deploying Research in Creative Writing
• Getting Your Foot in the Door: Alternatives to Traditional Children’s Book Contracts –A
• This is Not Your Country: Creating Characters Outside the Landscape of Our Lives
• Lives Not our Own: The Ethics and Practice of Assuming the Voices of Others 

Check out the 2014 schedule and more information on the presentations at the Seattle conference.

To propose a panel for 2015, check out the guidelines. Writers of all sorts gave presentations, long published ones, faculty on MFA programs, current students, alums, writers publishing online and in many publishing forums. Think about it, and remember these key dates:

• ·        March 19, 2014: event proposal submissions open
• ·        May 1, 2014: deadline for #AWP15 Minneapolis event proposals

 I bought Ron Koertge's new poetry book at the Red Hen Press booth and met his lovely wife. He attends every year. Let's join him in Minneapolis and bring Hamline MFAC to 2015 AWP conference in a big way. Ricki Thompson, Emily Jenkins and several of our faculty have presented at AWP before. Talk to them or get in touch with me if you want to bat ideas around. I know that Mary Rockcastle will be sending out info, too. It will be an exciting time indeed.

Now back to writing.

Faculty Voices: Emily Jenkins

I just returned from Seattle, where I went to the AWP (Association of Writing Programs) conference, along with Hamline MFAC folks Mary Rockcastle, Judi Marcin and Claire Rudolph Murphy. I thought I'd just write and give a look at how I got to the conference and how I used my time once I got on the plane. In other words, here is a glimpse of what a travel weekend looks like for a writer, and the practical stuff of how this particular one came together. When I was just starting out I really had no idea how any of this part of the job worked, so I figure maybe you don't either. Yet. 

My writer friend Robin Wasserman and I got the idea to explore the AWP Conference because we both teach at low-residency programs and because we usually attend conferences that are just for writers of children's literature. We were curious about a more academic-type conference and what we could learn there. By the way, next year's AWP Conference is in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area!

Robin and I got in touch with two other writers who are also published by Penguin Random House–Sarah Mlynowski and Adele Griffin. Then the four of us decided what two panels we would propose for the conference–and Robin and Adele wrote up the pitches according to the specifications on the AWP website. Once our panels were accepted, we inquired whether Penguin Random would be willing to support our trip. They covered it in part, though for the rest we were out of pocket. 

Before the conference, we planned our panels. This was a luxury, because often you are on a panel and you don't know much of what will be asked, nor much about your fellow panelists unless you do some research–which you should! It's manners. But anyway–in this case we all knew each other and we all knew one another's work, so we just brainstormed what questions the moderator should ask. Sarah was moderating a panel on having a long-term career in children's literature, and I moderated a panel on sexuality in YA literature. 

l-r: Sarah Mlynowski, Emily Jenkins, Robin Wasserman,
Adele Griffin (photo courtesy Josefina Ávila Andino)

Then we set to work figuring out how to maximize our time in Seattle. We contacted the head YA librarian at Seattle Public Library and arranged to do an event there one night. We wanted it to be more than just a standard reading, because it can be hard to draw a crowd for that. Robin had the idea to read sneak peaks from books that are not out yet, plus embarrassing juvenilia. This gave us a fun little hook to tweet about, and helped Seattle PL in its marketing of the event. The library arranged for a local bookseller to sell books at the event, and that was great because we all got to meet the bookseller, too. 

Friday, Sarah and I did elementary school visits, partnering with a second independent bookseller. This is the kind of thing that is tough to organize on your own–and also the kind of thing most writers usually get paid for. A typical set-up is that a school will book me by inquiring through my website–but in this case, we were looking for visits and willing to do single presentations with book sales for free, because Sarah had a new book out for 3rd - 5th grade readers. We used Sarah's outside-the-publishing house publicist to book and organize the events, and spent a great morning sharing books with kids. Later we drove over to to a third indie store to say hello to the buyer and sign what stock they had - the kind of event called a "meet and greet" or a "stock signing." Robin joined us there, and then Sarah and I went to a fourth indie store for an after-school event. 

It was a gorgeous day. Seattle never has gorgeous days! It always rains. So:

almost no one came. 

This happens all the time! And the fact that you might be reading to only three kids is one reason I like to do events with other people. Because Sarah was with me, we were lively and fun even though the crowd was so small. And we were able to chat happily and make connections with some great booksellers. We signed loads of stock which they are excited to hand-sell. 

Notice we managed to connect with four independent booksellers in 24 hours? That was the meat of this plan. The events were lovely and fun to do, but to my way of thinking, connecting with the people who will hand-sell your books for the next several years is more valuable than anything else.

That night we had a party–nothing fancy, just meeting for drinks. It took some work, but we thought that what we'd really like to do at AWP is meet writers we might never meet otherwise. We invited all the Seattle children's book people we could find, and all the writers who had panels on related topics–finding them on Facebook or through their websites. Everyone met at a bar and I met loads of new and interesting writers. This is another kind of event that might seem trivial but in the long run can be very useful. How do I know three other writers (Adele, Robin and Sarah) who fit well with me on a panel and who are published by my same publisher? From going to events like these. 

The last day we all attended the conference (Adele and Robin had been there on Friday, too)–and did our two panels, looked at the exhibits, went to hear other people speak and so on. 

Then I was really tired and came home. Now I feel like a zombie–but I think it was worth it. 

Hope you find this useful and that you think about investigating AWP when it's in Minnesota next year.