Maine Humanities Council

In the “flash reading” by Stonecoast MFA program faculty members, each writer gets three minutes in which to share his or her work before introducing the next writer in the queue. The flash reading from Stonecoast’s summer residency in July 2009 began with an introduction by director Annie Finch. Joan Connor started the reading with her “Three-Minute Love Story.” Aaron Hamburger read an excerpt from his story “Ludmilla in the New World,” published in the anthology Between Men 2. The next reader was Richard Hoffman, who read from his collection, Interference and Other Stories. Barbara Hurd shared the opening of a novel, Slow Dance on a Slanted Floor, then Michael Kimball read from his novel Mouth to Mouth. Debra Marquart read the essay “Whisker Meditations,” and finally, Suzanne Strempek Shea closed the reading with an excerpt from a story published in “Golf World” magazine.

This reading took place in Brunswick, Maine, on July 10, 2009. Stonecoast is the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at the University of Southern Maine. For more readings from faculty members, including other flash readings, click on the “Stonecoast” tag, below.

Flash Reading [ 37:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4086)

One of the highlights of each 10-day residency in the Stonecoast MFA program is the “flash reading” by faculty members. Each writer gets three minutes in which to share his or her work before introducing the next writer in the queue.

During the winter residency in January 2008, Joan Connor read her short short called “High Flyer” and Alan Davis read his short short “The Vanishing.” (To hear Joan read two other stories, visit Wired for Books. For more of Alan’s work, see his Minnesota State University faculty page.) Jim Kelly shared a selection of the six-word stories published in the November 2006 issue of Wired magazine. Kelly Link read an excerpt from her short story “Light,” which appeared in the “Fantastic Women” issue of Tin House. Michael White shared an excerpt from his forthcoming novel, Beautiful Assassin. Michael already has six published books, which are described at his website.

Joan Connor [ 5:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1602)

Alan Davis [ 5:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (189)

Jim Kelly [ 3:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (188)

Kelly Link [ 4:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (227)

Michael White [ 5:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (199)