{"id":209085,"date":"2023-11-02T14:36:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T18:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/?p=209085"},"modified":"2023-11-02T14:36:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T18:36:02","slug":"how-montclairs-creative-writing-program-nurtures-aspiring-authors-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/2023\/11\/02\/how-montclairs-creative-writing-program-nurtures-aspiring-authors-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"How Montclair\u2019s Creative Writing Program Nurtures Aspiring Authors\u2019 Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somewhere in Crystal Castro\u2019s mother\u2019s attic is the first book Castro ever wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s written in crayon and stapled together,\u201d says Castro, a junior editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, one of the Big Five publishers based in New York City.<\/p>\n

Castro graduated Montclair State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Creative Writing in May 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first day at the office was three weeks after my graduation date,\u201d says Castro, who credits the Creative Writing program with helping her land her dream job. \u201cI love it. This is probably what I\u2019ll do for the rest of my career \u2013 happily so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until she entered the program, Castro says, she thought of writing as something she did alone in her bedroom. Then she was introduced to a writing workshop with visiting English Professor Rachel Carter. \u201cShe fostered such an incredible workshop environment, where I was reading other people\u2019s work, they were reading my work, and we were giving each other feedback,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was this incredibly collaborative experience, and I \u2013 all at once \u2013 fell in love with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montclair\u2019s current Creative Writing program<\/a> was restarted in 2008 by director and English Professor David Galef<\/a>, a prolific writer, author and champion of his students, both present and former.<\/p>\n

Galef notes that many of the students at Montclair are second-generation immigrants, often the first in their families to attend college, and English isn\u2019t always their native language. Additionally, \u201cThey\u2019re often holding down one or even two jobs and that\u2019s tough,\u201d he says. \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re competing head-to-head with schools with higher profiles and they\u2019ve done this well \u2013 I think it\u2019s amazing, and they should be recognized for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He would love to see the University\u2019s writers embraced by Montclair Township, home to many creative types, and perhaps expand the program\u2019s writing prizes. Currently, there are four creative writing awards<\/a>, one each for fiction, flash fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, that come with prize money.<\/p>\n

\""A
A student asks a question in a writing workshop while holding Professor David Galef\u2019s book about writing flash fiction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 411 on Creative Writing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The creative writing workshops and a Creative Writing minor<\/a> are open to all undergraduate students, regardless of discipline; however, only English majors may pursue a creative writing concentration. Galef is proud of the program and how it benefits students. \u201cI\u2019m often asked that age-old question, \u2018Can you really teach creative writing?\u2019\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cPeople who ask that question have probably never been to a workshop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program<\/a> covers 200-, 300- and 400-level courses. Students in the 200-level courses are often given writing prompts, but not in the advanced courses, Galef says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a semester to give us 40 pages, do what you want. We give more structure than that, but we don\u2019t tell you what to do. You produce stories or sections from a longer work, and we workshop it,\u201d he says, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s pretty similar to what a student will encounter in an MFA program. In fact, a project in the advanced fiction workshop makes a very suitable writing sample, should you want to apply for an MFA program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""A
Taking it all down in a writing workshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Through the Creative Writing program, students can take a variety of classes. \u201cYou may think you\u2019re God\u2019s gift to poetry but have you tried a fiction class? How about screenwriting? How about Young Adult? We\u2019ve got a lot of different electives,\u201d Galef says.<\/p>\n

Professor Mark Rotella<\/a>, director of the Joseph and Elda Coccia Institute for the Italian Experience in America, teaches a mix of classes, including food, memoir and sports writing. Author and former senior editor for Publishers Weekly<\/em>, Rotella loves teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of lucky in that the students who take my class are those who are very interested in writing,\u201d Rotella says. \u201cThey attend all the classes, and they do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his food-writing class, that may include tasting food and writing about it or penning a restaurant review. Rotella takes a Proustian approach to food writing. \u201cI take them into writing about food as memory and how food \u2013 like Marcel Proust\u2019s madeleine \u2013 once you bite into something, will spark a whole barrage of memories,\u201d he says. \u201cI talk about food as culture; a lot of students at Montclair State come from so many different backgrounds, that food becomes a lingua franca for discussing culture.\u201d Meanwhile, his memoir writing \u201callows students to really<\/em> get to know each other, feel comfortable with writing about themselves and sharing it,\u201d he says. Lastly, sports writing is not about scores reportage but long, narrative-form writing.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, his classes provide students \u201cthe opportunity to write something that they won\u2019t in almost every other class at a university level,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat I want them to have, at the end of the semester, is that one piece of writing that they are really proud of that they can say they accomplished. They could show their family, they could show their kids in the future but also that maybe when they apply to grad school or for a job, there\u2019s a writing sample there. They can say, \u2018I wrote this, and I\u2019m proud of this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Rotella helped formalize a partnership between the Montclair Literary Festival and Montclair State University.<\/p>\n

Nurturing Dreams of Being a Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\""Davon
Author, English teacher and online editor Davon Loeb \u201911 has received literary praise for his recently published book The In-Betweens, a Lyrical Memoir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creative Writing alumnus Davon Loeb \u201911 has been getting rave reviews for The In-Betweens, a Lyrical Memoir<\/em> (West Virginia University Press), a coming-of-age story about his Southern Black and Long Island-Jewish heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngagingly delivered, candid reflections on heritage and identity,\u201d praises Kirkus Reviews. Chicago Review of Books writes: \u201cUtterly captivating and resonant, The In-Betweens<\/em> deserves a top spot on your bookshelf.\u201d<\/p>\n

After earning a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing, Loeb graduated with an MFA from Rutgers University-Camden in 2015, where he started his memoir. However, the New Jersey author, English teacher and online editor at The Rumpus, Loeb credits the creative writing program with making him a better writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough I did not write any of The In-Betweens<\/em> while studying at Montclair State University, in many ways, the writer I eventually became, the writer I am now, has everything to do with my experiences in Montclair,\u201d Loeb says. \u201cTaking creative writing classes, specifically, poetry and fiction, at Montclair was really about expanding my exposure to literature, craft and workshops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loeb recalls doing readings for Montclair\u2019s literary magazine, The Normal Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> \u201cI remember the first time I ever had a piece published, that it was there, and that I celebrated with my classmates. It felt very special,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In addition, Loeb, who is currently working on a collection of essays about parenthood and being a father, looks back fondly on learning from Montclair professors: \u201cI remember taking poetry with Dr. Johnny Lorenz and fiction with Dr. David Galef and feeling like I learned so much about how to become a better writer \u2013 that my poetry could absolutely influence my prose, consequently, my prose could influence my poetry \u2013 that the two could equally exist in my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""David
Students listen to English professor David Galef during a creative writing workshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alyssa DiPalma \u201923, who earned a BA in Film and Television, won the 2023 Johnny Muller Memorial Scholarship in Fiction with \u201cPassaic,\u201d a story she wrote as part of a class while working on her Creative Writing minor. She credits Galef with creating \u201ca safe environment for other writers to share their work, to critique each other\u2019s work, to give each other positive feedback or critical feedback but in a way where no one ever felt like it was too harsh or too critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro says she went into the Creative Writing program, thinking that she was just going to become a better writer. \u201cI definitely did, but I came out with my career and so much more,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Both she and Loeb strongly urge ambitious undergrads to enter the Creative Writing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend students take creative writing classes in different genres, especially genres they do not regularly write in,\u201d says Loeb.<\/p>\n

Castro encourages anyone \u201cwho is interested in reading and writing\u201d to participate. The program, she says, isn\u2019t \u201cjust for people who want to be authors someday. It\u2019s for anyone who feels like they have a story, and I\u2019m of the opinion that that\u2019s everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Priyanka
Priyanka Taslim \u201914 holds her book The Love Match (courtesy photo), which Publishers Weekly described as \u201cJane Austen meets Bengali cinema in Taslim\u2019s joyful debut.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez<\/a><\/strong>. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters<\/a><\/strong> (except as noted).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workshops in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and memoir bring out the best in students, giving them the \u201cwrite stuff\u201d for future literary success<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":209087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-57_english-department","category-7_homepage-news-and-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209095,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209085\/revisions\/209095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}