Katie Bartlett, Author

A recent graduate of the VCFA MFA program recommended that I read something by each of the faculty members prior to arriving on campus.  Since each student becomes paired with a faculty mentor for a semester, and as a new student, your aren’t familiar with any of the faculty on a personal level, it’s a good idea if you research each faculty member’s style before arriving.  In this way, you have a head start on creating the partnership which will be the best fit for your style.  Truth is, I’d been planning on executing this self-inflicted homework before she mentioned it to me.  But it’s always helpful to get a kick in the pants.

As a result – I have a new suggested reading list to share with everyone!  Below are all the faculty and visiting authors slated to attend next semester, and the books I hope to read by them.  As always, I love company!  Take a look at the titles and let me know your thoughts.  As I read them, I’ll be posting my responses as well.  Happy reading!

New Visiting Faculty

Garret Freymann-Weyr – My Heartbeat

A.S. (Amy) King – Ask The Passengers, Everybody Sees the Ants

Returning Faculty

Kathi Appelt – the Underneath, Keeper

Margaret Bechard – My Mom Married the Principal, If It Doesn’t Kill You, Hanging on to Max

Tom Birdseye – Storm Mountain

Coe Booth – Tyrell, Kendra

Bonnie Christensen – Woodie Guthrie: Poet of the People

Alan Cumyn – Tilt, the Secret Life of Owen Skye

Sharon Darrow  – Trash, The Painters of Lexieville

Sarah Ellis – The Several Lives of Orphan Jack

Susan Fletcher – Dargon’s Milk

Louise Hawes – Waiting for Christopher, Black Pearls

Amanda Jenkins – Breaking Boxes, Damage, Repossessed, Night Road

Mark Karlins – Music Over Manhattan

Uma Krishnaswami – Monsoon, Waking Maya

Martine Leavitt  – Keturah and Lord Death

Betsy Partridge – Dogtag Summer

Mary Quattlebaum – Grover G. Graham & Me

Shelley Tanaka – I Was There

Rita Williams-Garcia – One Crazy Summer

Tim Wynne-Jones – Rex Zero, Some of the Kinder Planets, The Maestro

Visiting Writers and Author / Illustrators

Leonard Marcus – Dear Genius: Minders of Make Believe

Don Tate  – It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Taylor Started to Draw

Graham Salisbury – Night of the Howling Dogs, Lord of the Deep