Vibrant Nation

Our goal at Spalding University is really to help students improve their writing. Publication is something that's controlled by the marketplace, and we really don't have any control in that area. We can write letters that help students get a better reading in that world, but commercial values enter into the picture a great deal at that point. So we cannot guarantee anybody who comes to the program that he or she will become a published writer.

I think we can say confidently, though, that they will come out having learned a lot. What I like to inculcate is a love of the art with the hope of publication, and I think we do that very well. Also, at Spalding, student numbers are small - we have five students now - so there is a kind of intimacy there that allows each teacher to find out from the students he or she is teaching what the student needs.

Here are 3 things that a good low-residency MFA program can offer writers.

1. Discover what's unique about your writing.
   I know in general that what all writers need is for the unique quality of their work to be recognized. And I always ask the teachers to spend the first part of the workshop talking about what is best in a person’s writing. It’s harder to find the language for that than it is for the negative or failed aspects of writing. But when you recognize what's wonderful about a piece of writing it opens the ears of the author who’s listening to you, and there’s a kind of receptiveness and a trust formed there. I’m not talking about merely complimenting people; I’m talking about establishing some rapport.


2. Learn how to make it better.
   After we talk about what's best in a piece, the next order of business is to talk about what's worst in the piece, and how the whole work would be lifted up if the student improved this facet of the writing. Then, we go to what's next best, what's next worst, etc.
   
   We try to be both intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive. Both are very important to the successful teaching situation.
   
   Many of our students at Spalding do go on to publish. This is a program that started accepting students in 2001 and it takes two years to complete the program. And over 100 books have been published out of this program.


3. Get a taste of the publishing world
   Publication is something that we try to familiarize the students with. All of them work as readers for our literary magazine, The Louisville Review, to get a taste of what it’s like to be on the other side. You can learn a lot about what not to do in your own writing by occupying an editorial position for a while. We also have guests come in, sometimes from very large publishing houses in New York, other times from regional publishers. Our faculty shares their experiences, their pathway to publication, with the students on a regular basis every semester. So we try to help the student approach the publishing world through a whole range of things that we do in the program.