- Home >
- Top Stories
MFA students earn top honors
March 30, 2007
The honors keep rolling in for PLU’s Rainier Writing Workshop, the three-year old master of fine arts in creative writing program, as two current students recently had their work honored by national associations.
The American Library Association named Kathleen Flenniken’s first book, “Famous,” as one of three “notable books of the year” in poetry. Flenniken’s poems were published last year after she won the Prairie Schooner Prize in Poetry in 2005, an honor that included publication of her manuscript.
Her poetry collection focuses on a woman’s domestic life and how she finds meaning and significance. The collection will be going into a second printing in the near future, which is a rare feat. Poetry tends to lose money for publishers, and they print it simply for “humanitarian reasons,” she explained.
“The fact that it’s going into a second printing is a big deal,” Flenniken said.
Kelli Agodon (pictured) is the other MFA student who recently received top honors when her poem, “How Killer Blue Irises Spread,” placed first in the Atlantic Monthly’s national poetry-writing contest for student writers. It will be published in the journal’s summer issue.
“It’s one of the top five journals you want to get into,” Agodon said.
Agodon didn’t expect to win. After all, her track record isn’t stellar, she said. Two years ago, she missed the contest’s submission deadline, and last year, she submitted a poem that the magazine rejected. She learned of her first place finish this year in a letter.
“When I got the letter, it was on really nice stationary, and I thought, ‘It’s so high class of them to reject me with such nice stationary,’” she said.
After realizing she’d placed first, Agodon said she was both shocked and honored. She said the best part is that her poem will actually be published in the journal, which winning the contest doesn’t necessarily guarantee.
Agodon began her writing career at the University of Washington and planned to write fiction. However, after a class with poet Linda Bierds, she switched her attention to poetry.
“I think, for me, I was just really impressed with what poetry could do in such a small space,” she said. “You take a bigger thought and make it smaller and more precise. It’s a lot more challenging than fiction because you use fewer words.”
The inspiration for the contest-winning poem came while Agodon was listening to National Public Radio and misheard the host read a teaser for an upcoming story. Agodon heard the title as, “How Killer Blue Irises Spread,” and immediately panicked.
“I’m a gardener and have a daughter. I thought, ‘Are they dangerous?” Agodon said.
When the radio show returned, she quickly realized her mistake: the actual title of the story was “How Killer Flu Viruses Spread.” Relieved and feeling slightly silly, she nevertheless jotted the title as she misheard it down and filed it away.
“I wrote down the title and wrote the poem from that, with characters of blue irises that haunt the garden,” she said.
Both Flenniken and Agodon are part of the pilot class of the Rainier Writing Workshop and will graduate this August. The MFA curriculum includes mentorships with nationally known writers and editors, and both women have spent the last year working with their mentors on a creative thesis.
“It’s made a huge difference to have one person for the year devoted to you, to my interests and my projects,” Agodon said. “By working closely with one person, they understand your projects and your writing, so their comments tend to be better for your work.”
Agodon is working with Alaskan poet Peggy Shumaker during her final year. She is writing a collection of poetry, and plans to submit the completed manuscript to publishers in hopes of getting published. She is also working on a children’s book.
Poet Sharon Bryan is helping guide Flenniken in her last year in the program. Flenniken is a former engineer at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and her thesis project is a collection of poems about living and working at Hanford.
To learn more about Flenniken’s Prairie Schooner Prize in Poetry, visit news.plu.edu/node/1063 or www.kathleenflenniken.com. Learn more about Agodon at www.agodon.com.
For more information about the Rainier Writing Workshop, visit www.plu.edu/~mfa.
Her poetry collection focuses on a woman’s domestic life and how she finds meaning and significance. The collection will be going into a second printing in the near future, which is a rare feat. Poetry tends to lose money for publishers, and they print it simply for “humanitarian reasons,” she explained.
“The fact that it’s going into a second printing is a big deal,” Flenniken said.
Kelli Agodon (pictured) is the other MFA student who recently received top honors when her poem, “How Killer Blue Irises Spread,” placed first in the Atlantic Monthly’s national poetry-writing contest for student writers. It will be published in the journal’s summer issue.
“It’s one of the top five journals you want to get into,” Agodon said.
Agodon didn’t expect to win. After all, her track record isn’t stellar, she said. Two years ago, she missed the contest’s submission deadline, and last year, she submitted a poem that the magazine rejected. She learned of her first place finish this year in a letter.
“When I got the letter, it was on really nice stationary, and I thought, ‘It’s so high class of them to reject me with such nice stationary,’” she said.
After realizing she’d placed first, Agodon said she was both shocked and honored. She said the best part is that her poem will actually be published in the journal, which winning the contest doesn’t necessarily guarantee.
Agodon began her writing career at the University of Washington and planned to write fiction. However, after a class with poet Linda Bierds, she switched her attention to poetry.
“I think, for me, I was just really impressed with what poetry could do in such a small space,” she said. “You take a bigger thought and make it smaller and more precise. It’s a lot more challenging than fiction because you use fewer words.”
The inspiration for the contest-winning poem came while Agodon was listening to National Public Radio and misheard the host read a teaser for an upcoming story. Agodon heard the title as, “How Killer Blue Irises Spread,” and immediately panicked.
“I’m a gardener and have a daughter. I thought, ‘Are they dangerous?” Agodon said.
When the radio show returned, she quickly realized her mistake: the actual title of the story was “How Killer Flu Viruses Spread.” Relieved and feeling slightly silly, she nevertheless jotted the title as she misheard it down and filed it away.
“I wrote down the title and wrote the poem from that, with characters of blue irises that haunt the garden,” she said.
Both Flenniken and Agodon are part of the pilot class of the Rainier Writing Workshop and will graduate this August. The MFA curriculum includes mentorships with nationally known writers and editors, and both women have spent the last year working with their mentors on a creative thesis.
“It’s made a huge difference to have one person for the year devoted to you, to my interests and my projects,” Agodon said. “By working closely with one person, they understand your projects and your writing, so their comments tend to be better for your work.”
Agodon is working with Alaskan poet Peggy Shumaker during her final year. She is writing a collection of poetry, and plans to submit the completed manuscript to publishers in hopes of getting published. She is also working on a children’s book.
Poet Sharon Bryan is helping guide Flenniken in her last year in the program. Flenniken is a former engineer at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and her thesis project is a collection of poems about living and working at Hanford.
To learn more about Flenniken’s Prairie Schooner Prize in Poetry, visit news.plu.edu/node/1063 or www.kathleenflenniken.com. Learn more about Agodon at www.agodon.com.
For more information about the Rainier Writing Workshop, visit www.plu.edu/~mfa.