MFA Creative Writing Faculty Bookshelf

A gallery of books by faculty in the MFA Creative Writing Program, English Department, College of Arts & Letters, Old Dominion University.

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Dreaming of Columbus: A Boyhood in the Bronx
1999
Michael Pearson

In this memoir, Pearson renders time and place vividly through lyrical narrative and generous spirit towards his characters, juxtaposing descriptions of adolescent escapades with the grim discipline of parochial schools. In this Bronx, dreams of escape fuse with bittersweet memories. [Amazon.com]
Hammerlock
1999
Tim Seibles

"Tim Seibles' version of our changing and growing American speech range widely, from anguish to comedy, from transcendence to earthly bewilderment. The joy of reading these poems is like overhearing a very smart, crazy neighbor's thoughts as they move between philosophical inquiry and praise for the everyday"--Li-Young Lee. [Amazon.com]
Blood Sacrifice
1997
Luisa A. Igloria

“Written in an English of singular resonance, of lyric richness informed by history, by legend, by political awareness, and everywhere by a deep perception, the poems of this and her other books bring her background of Philippine culture, its past and present, into the larger world of late twentieth-century concerns. This is a poetry outside of schools, of fads and fashion, highly accomplished and deserving of wide, enthusiastic readership.”— Ralph J. Mills Jr., American poet and recipient of the Carl Sandburg Award for Poetry
John McPhee
1997
Michael Pearson

In this first full-length study of McPhee, Michael Pearson argues that the writer successfully employs the techniques of fiction writing in his journalistic art while honoring his obligation to fact. In exceptionally lucid and entertaining prose, Pearson approaches his subject thematically, examining McPhee's lifework in the realms of personal profiles, sense of place, science and technology, and nature. In a comprehensive biographical chapter, Pearson traces the chief influences shaping McPhee's works, including his virtually lifelong residence in Princeton, New Jersey, his 30-plus years as a staff writer for the New Yorker, and his experiences as camper and later counselor at Keewaydin, a boys' camp in Vermont. Separate chapters examine the development of literary nonfiction as a genre and the techniques that distinguish McPhee's writing from other journalists'. Informing the discussions throughout are quotations from personal interviews Pearson conducted with the writer; of special interest is "The Shape of the Future, " a concluding chapter in which Pearson synthesizes the comments of other literary journalists interviewed for their insights into McPhee's works. [Amazon.com]
A Gracious Plenty
1997
Sheri Reynolds

After sustaining terrible burns from a household accident as a young girl, Finch Nobles refuses the pity of her hometown. The brave and feisty loner finds comfort in visiting her father’s cemetery, where she soon discovers that she can hear the voices of those buried underground. When she begins to speak to them, their answers echo around her in a remarkable chorus of regrets, explanations, and insights. A wonderfully wrought amalgam of Steinbeck, Faulkner, Spoon River Anthology, and Our Town, A Gracious Plenty is a masterful tale not soon forgotten. [Amazon.com]
Bitterroot Landing
1997
Sheri Reynolds

Bitterroot Landing introduces Jael, born into a hard life, but a survivor. She will survive even River Bill. The almost impersonal kindness of strangers will rescue her; a priest with a good heart will shelter and teach her; a careful man will take his time and love her back into the world. Voices have always spoken to Jael in her mind, and some of what they have told her to do has been frightening. But the voices she hears now speak of comfort and courage, teaching her to master the ways other people manage to live. Jael has a job now, cleaning in a church, and a room of her own in the church's basement. As she dusts the statue of the Virgin Mary, the Virgin speaks peace to her. "There's definitely too much hurt around here, " she says. "In flaws, you find the truth, " says the small, dark figure of a woman Jael sculpts out of wax. "Come and look at the moon, " says the homeless woman she meets at the laundromat. "Hello, I'm an incest survivor, " say the women in the recovery group that meets every week the church, just the other side of Jael's room. Voices both real and imagined make Jael stronger every day, until she finds she no longer needs them. Until she finds that at last she has a voice of her own. [Amazon.com]
The River Beyond the World
1996
Janet Peery

Luisa Cantu is a girl from a Sierra Madre mountain village. After being impregnated in a fertility ritual of ancient origin, she leaves Mexico to work in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a housemaid for Mrs. Eddie Hatch, a woman with a strong will and a narrow worldview. Their complex relationship-turns mystical and pragmatic, serious and comic-reveals the many ways human beings can wound one another, the nature of love and sacrifice, and the possibility of forgiveness. [Amazon.com]
The Rapture of Canaan
1995
Sheri Reynolds

At the Church of Fire and Brimstone and Gods Almighty Baptizing Wind, Grandpa Herman makes the rules for everyone, and everyone obeys, or else. Try as she might, Ninah hasn't succeeded in resisting temptation her prayer partner, James and finds herself pregnant. She fears the wrath of Grandpa Herman, the congregation and of God Himself. But the events that follow show Ninah that Gods ways are more mysterious than even Grandpa Herman understands. [Amazon.com]
Kerosene
1995
Tim Seibles

The first poetry chapbook written by Virginia's former Poet Laureate (2016-2018), Tim Seibles.
In the Garden of the Three Islands: Poems
1994
Luisa A. Igloria

The poems in this collection explore the past, present and future of the city of Baguio in the Philippines. As the author writes in her preface, "The older generation ... speak(s) of the rich heritage of folklore and tradition, of the pains of dislocation, and of their uniquely individual memories. All this and the desire to pass on to my children some of these memories (including my own) have occasioned the writing of these poems."
A Place That's Known: Essays
1994
Michael Pearson

Following Imagined Places, Pearson continues exploring place and writing as he mentally revisits locations that have influenced him through his life—childhood home, family vacations, the various places he’s taught, etc. [Amazon.com]
Alligator Dance: Stories
1993
Janet Peery

With the same piercing vision that distinguishes her novel The River Beyond the World, Janet Peery unveils a stunning collection of stories. Settled mostly in the American Southwest, her characters-men and women caught between two places, literal and figurative-try to understand the mysteries that overarch or undergird their lives. [Amazon.com]
Hurdy-Gurdy
1992
Tim Seibles

Poetry. African American Studies. "From the 'sweet scat' and 'jump rope hymns' of wonder and wistfulness to the transformational, lithe, sexually charged energy of jazz, Hurdy-Gurdy earnestly explores the differences between what we want, what we get, and what we must be willing to pursue at any cost. This is an exciting book—at once fluid, shapely, and steady as stone—whose tensions lead us to an authentic meditative wholeness."—Mark Cox [Amazon.com]
Imagined Places: Journeys into Literary America
1991
Michael Pearson

Michael Pearson writes about his travels to places of literary import: Frost's Vermont, Faulkner's Mississippi, Flannery O'Connor's Georgia, Hemingway's Key West, Steinbeck's California, and Twain's Missouri. [Amazon.com]
Cordillera Tales
1990
Luisa A. Igloria

This is a collection of stories about the different tribes in Cordillera and the myths of the indigenous people of the Mountain Provinces. [From the publisher]