Posted by David Sabol, GD Poetry Reader for 5.1
As we all know, starting a career as a writer is pretty difficult. You’re a young writer who’s practiced your craft for years, writing page after page of work, until finally, you’ve written something that you feel the literary world needs to see… Now what? Most people don’t know where to go from here, whether they’re in high school or college. Continue reading
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Posted by Rachel Colomban, Gandy Dancer Poetry Reader for 5.1
With this semester coming to an end and spring semester just around the corner, seniors are faced with a lot of questions and options post-graduation. What are you going to do for work? Are you going to grad school? For creative writing majors, there’s also the question of “how will you keep writing after school?” I’ve been looking into options, as I’m a tad bit nervous about graduating—meaning I usually get a deer-in-the-headlights look when cornered at a family gathering and asked about post-grad. I usually stutter through a plan that comes down to “hope for the best but prepare for the worst.” But aside from the normal fears, I’ve been trying to find ways to keep writing any way I can after that BA is in my possession. Some options focus more on creative writing, while others are more research or article based.
The most obvious choice for some people is to go for a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts)in creative writing. Often pricey, some people choose to put off getting their MFA for a few years. Another approach is to try to find programs that provide full funding. MFAs take two to three years, and often require graduate students to teach undergraduate courses as part of the funding package.
Writers’ retreats are a less permanent option. This is a simple(ish) option—you apply, get accepted (hopefully), and get to stay somewhere for a few weeks or months to write. Some places require that you do some work while visiting, whether it is community work or farm work that benefits the provider. Like graduate school, writers’ retreats are pricey, so these may not be ideal for people directly out of school. Most of the shorter retreats cost over $1,000, and several month-long retreats can be priced similarly to a semester of college.
And, of course, there are writing jobs to consider, as I’ve been insisting at every family gathering I’ve attended since I declared my major. Publishing and editing careers are the most obvious choice. Advertising and public relations are both writing-intensive jobs that often people don’t think of. There’s also always writing for online newspapers, magazines, and other publications. I will admit, it may be hard to find these jobs, but they’re out there, and you may need to network to find them. So talk to your alumni friends about options.
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Posted by Robbie Held, GD Poetry Section Head for 5.1
After months upon months of sleepless and harrowing nights of editing, with only our immutable and eternal love for literature keeping us going, Gandy Dancer issue 5.1 has been sent to the presses packed full of art and literature with broad appeal. In the mood for fiction about a thrilling night of skinny dipping? Rachel Britton’s “Bare” will do the trick. Malcolm Flanigan’s “All Roads,” a personal tour of Rome, NY, will delight if urban decay is more your speed. Either way, the launch party is on the 20th of December, and we hope to see you there. I, for one, will be there wearing my finest oversized, pink IZOD sweatshirt. Continue reading
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Posted by Juliana Schicho, GD Fiction Reader for 5.1
Issue 5.1 of Gandy Dancer marks the transition into our fifth year of publication for our magazine, out since 2012. Our covers may have changed over the years, but our core literary mission remains the same: to connect students SUNY-wide through literature and art. Published twice yearly, we receive submissions from schools all over the SUNY school system. We publish one accepted alumni submission per issue in our postscript section. Our magazine has grown since our first publication to include all sorts of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and art. The writing in Gandy Dancer is varied in terms of style and theme and it reveals the diversity of SUNY students. Continue reading
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Posted by Sarah Steil, GD Fiction Section Head for 5.1
My oldest sister, Dani, leans over me, brushes her hair behind her ear as she hands me her laptop. “It’s not very good,” she blushes, “I wrote it in a day.” Dani has been telling me for weeks about her summer writing class, in which she has begun to place her childhood memories on paper. I have spent my weekend-long college break in her city apartment, waiting for the moment when she’d cave and allow me to read her stories about our lives. Continue reading
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Posted by Isabel Owen, GD Creative Nonfiction Reader for 5.1
On Thursday, November 10, the Geneseo Literary Forum had the honor of hosting Inupiaq poet Joan Naviyuk Kane who made her way to Geneseo from her home in Anchorage, Alaska. A faculty member of the MFA Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Kane’s recent accolades include the 2013 Arts and Cultures Foundation Literature Fellowship and the Whiting Writer’s award for her poetry collection, The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife. Her poetry, rich with the scenery of her Arctic home, exposes convergences of family and isolation, of geographic and spiritual, and of the translatable and the intrinsic. Most of all, her poetry asks us to question those labels and the fragmented reality they imply. Continue reading
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Posted by Nicole Pero, GD Creative Nonfiction Reader for 5.1
This fall I had the pleasure of visiting the annual Visual Studies Workshop Pub Fair and Litsplosion event in Rochester, NY. I was immediately entranced by the work of Greg Climer, whose art is featured on the cover of ImageOutWrite’s most recent issue. He uses different textile media, specifically quilts and knitted fabrics, to embody portraits and even to create animations. The above image, titled “Portrait of Timo” after the subject, seems both serene and contemplative, both dreamy and tactile. Similarly, the issues of ImageOutWrite, which I picked up contained pieces whose subject matter seemed both close to home and just out of reach. ImageOutWrite publishes the works of LGBT+ writers, many of whom are established and lauded writers. In short, ImageOutWrite collects the best LGBT+ writing all in one place. Continue reading
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Posted by Cassidy Brighton, GD Creative Nonfiction Reader for 5.1
After intense publicity, and posters tacked to every corkboard on campus, emails sent to every English department across every SUNY, and personal texts, emails, tweets and more to promote the journal, you’d think the submissions would be flowing into Gandy Dancer. This is the first semester that I’ve worked behind the scenes on the creation of Gandy Dancer, but it’s obviously not the first time I’ve heard of the journal. For years now, I’ve been seeing and hearing the promotions for Gandy Dancer, but why haven’t I ever found myself drawn to the Submittable page before? Now that I have a new relationship with the magazine, I wonder what stopped me from submitting my work in the past and if the same thing is stopping other writers. Continue reading
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Posted by Emily Warnken, GD Creative Nonfiction Reader for 5.1
It’s no secret that the writing community is much different from other professional realms; our work is endless, unsure, and often, thankless. There’s truly nothing to be done for these faults, every one of us signs up for possible rejection and feelings of failure when we decide to share our work with the world. One thing about the community of writers, readers, and editors that I have come to truly appreciate is the sense of literary citizenship. In a world that values competition over collaboration, the idea of literary citizenship offers a sense of warmth and comfort and, in my personal opinion, should be shared with as many members of the community as possible. Continue reading
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Posted By Brenda Bota, GD Poetry Reader for 5.1
Meghan Pipe, a SUNY Geneseo alumna, is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction at Colorado State University. As part of her program, she interns for the Colorado Review where she is an Associate Editor. She is currently in her second year of her 3- year MFA program. After she graduates, she wants to work with a non-profit organization that helps writers. She plans to continue her own writing and to eventually become a published novelist. She believes whatever she is learning at school now and through her internship will help her with her career goal as a writer.
Brenda Bota: Can you tell us about your program of study at Colorado State? Continue reading
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