Marianne Murphy Zarzana
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"If I Should Have a Daughter..."

5/1/2011

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You may know about TED.com, the website that posts short videos of inspiring people in many different fields with "Ideas Worth Spreading," as their tagline goes. 

Writer Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, has a moving and memorable TED talk on "Nurturing Creativity."

Sarah Kay, a spoken word poet, gave a TED talk in March titled "If I Should Have a Daughter....". In it, Kay "tells the story of her metamorphosis -- from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. -- and gives two breathtaking performances of 'B' and 'Hiroshima,'" as noted on the website. 

Poets and writers may have a wide range of views on spoken word poetry, but it's a form that's both old and brand-new. In my creative writing classes, I show clips of today's best spoken word performers so my students can get a sense of the spectrum of poetry being presented today. 

At the SMSU Marshall Festival 2010 last fall, writer and spoken word poet Ed Bok Lee gave an electrifying performance. Here's what's been written about Lee:
 
"If there was a Minnesota spoken word performer who embodied Rockstardom...it’s Ed Bok Lee. His performance sparked some of the unconscious verbal feedback that spoken word elicits from its audiences, the sort of sighs and shouts that would be heard throughout the evening." 
-- MN Microphone


"A potent voice for young immigrants and their second- and third-generation peers, poet Ed Bok Lee’s...galloping imagination…describes what it's like to be part of a global generation." 
--Minneapolis Star Tribune 


What do you think of spoken word poetry? Who are your favorite performance poets? As writers and poets who perform our work, what can we learn from the best spoken word poets?

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Young Writers Converge at SMSU

4/17/2011

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Today I attended one of my favorite SMSU events of the year: the 7th Annual Creative Writing Contest Award Ceremony and Reception, sponsored by SMSU and the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative. 

Young Adult writer Rebecca Fjelland Davis, author of Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged and her new YA novel Chasing AllieCat, gave an inspiring, energizing keynote talk about our need for stories and about how to grow as a writer.

The top 3 winners from grades 3-12 in each category--Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry--received a medal and a copy of the Creating Spaces anthology with their published work. The top writers in 11-12th grade received $2,000 scholarships to SMSU. Parents, grandparents, siblings and teachers all applauded the young writers. SMSU creative writing students served as first-tier judges, and SMSU English Department faculty serve as the final judges.

Each year the quantity and quality of the writing grows, and the turnout at the award ceremony increases. In a culture where we often lament that reading by children and teens is declining, this event speaks volumes otherwise. These young writers have much to say, and they're not holding back.
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Judy Blume Meets Stieg Larsson

2/18/2011

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Rebecca Fjelland Davis will be the keynote speaker at the 7th Annual Creative Writing Contest Awards Ceremony for 3rd - 12th grade winners. The contest is a partnership sponsored by Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative and Southwest Minnesota State University. 

Davis is a novelist and Young Adult and children's book author who lives in Good Thunder, Minnesota. She is a serious cyclist and loves to write about her passions: bicycling, dogs, farms, family and friendship. 

Her new novel, Chasing AllieCat, came out this February. One reader wrote: "A good read for any age. Judy Blume meets Stieg Larsson." High praise. Click on the book title to view a YouTube video about the book. Then buy your copy.


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Young Writers as Rock Stars

2/16/2011

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How old were you when you started to write poems and stories? Did you ever enter a writing contest? Did you win? Did you get published? How did publication of your writing make you feel?

For the past six years, students in southwest Minnesota from 3rd to 12th grade have submitted their best poems, stories and essays to the Creating Spaces Writing Contest coordinated by the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative and the English Department at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Tonight I'm part of this year's marathon judging session with a group of SMSU creative writing majors. Fueled by free pizza, the SMSU students pore through thick stacks of writing critiquing the originality, creativity, and quality of this year's entries. Once the folders are narrowed down in this first-tier judging, they'll be passed on to the SMSU creative writing faculty judges. 

Each April we host an awards ceremony and reception at SMSU, one of my favorite annual events. A day when young writers become rock stars to their siblings, extended family and friends. They receive medals, shake hands with the published writer who is our keynote speaker. And they go home with a Creating Spaces anthology--their poem, story or essay now in print, their words, their voice moving out into the world.
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    I love to play with words. To capture moments on the page. To explore the physical and spiritual geography of what I call "fly-over country." I write from imagination, observation and my own experience of wandering in fly-over country--the literal, physical spaces of my life on the Minnesota prairie and the inner territory of the soul. 

    I teach writing at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. I enjoy cooking and traveling with my husband Jim, reading, practicing yoga, playing tennis, biking, hiking and gardening.

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