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 [37:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (526)

Suzanne Strempek Shea is the author of five novels: Selling the Lite of Heaven, Hoopi Shoopi Donna, Lily of the Valley, Around Again, and Becoming Finola. She has also written three memoirs, Songs From a Lead-lined Room, Shelf Life, and Sundays in America. Winner of the 2000 New England Book Award, which recognizes a literary body of works’ contribution to the region, Strempek Shea began writing fiction in her spare time while working as reporter. Her freelance work has appeared in Yankee magazine, The Bark, Organic Style, and ESPN the Magazine. She lives in Bondsville, Massachusetts.

At the winter residency of the Stonecoast MFA program in January 2009, Strempek Shea read from a work-in-progress, Make a Wish, but Not for Money.

 

 Suzanne Strempek Shea [37:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (437)