molly sutton kiefer

2010-01-20T17:01:00.001-08:00

Some good news: I will be spending some time at Hedgebrook in March!

2009-08-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say hello from Bread Loaf! I started a new blog a bit ago, and you can read what I have to say about workshops, craft classes, and various sundry bits at independent study, where I will continue to muse on about thoughts on reading and writing. Oh, and I'm in Ellen Bryant Voigt's workshop.

2009-07-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Karen Rigby and the folks over at Cerise Press, which launched today!

You can read my review of Maxine Kumin's Still to Mow here: Tilting Fields. You can also see a shot I took of Thomas Lux reading at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, which was used in an interview here: Love it Hard.

Another shot I took from the festival (of Martin Espada this time) also appears on the examiner.com.

2009-06-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've had another review published. This one is called "Fearless Falling," and you can read it at ColdFront Magazine.

2009-05-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend I took my first letterpress class and fell in love. Above is my poem "On Returning," a part of the grandfather series.

You can read more about my letterpress adventures here: Paper Tattoo Press.

2009-05-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Attended a lecture by Michael Pollan--I loved his Omnivore's Dilemma, which we read in my non-fiction seminar. His writing is so crisp and balanced.

2009-05-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Thesis defense week is upon us. This will be me in two years. Creating a summer reading list.

2009-05-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the 2009-2010 Dislocate staff:

Editor-in-Chief: Colleen Coyne
Managing Editor: Josh Morsell
Design/Layout Editor: Brian Laidlaw
Web Editor: Wilson Peden
Development Coordinator: Sheena Fallon
Publicity/Outreach Editor: Shantha Susman
Fiction Editor: Brian Gebhart
Poetry Editor: Molly Sutton Kiefer
Nonfiction Editor: David LeGault
Assistant Fiction Editor: Jonah Charney-Sirott
Assistant Poetry Editor: Kevin O'Rourke
Assistant Nonfiction Editor: Holly Vanderhaar

2009-05-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

Last night of poetry seminar. (Please note the second image: Allen Ginsberg wearing a scarf our professor, Maria Damon, knit for him.)

2009-04-14T01:13:00.000-07:00

Dislocate reading, 14 April 2009, 150 Lind Hall.

Michelle Livingston: (CNF)
Laura Owen: (F)
Brian Laidlaw: (P)
Wang Ping: featured writer

2009-03-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

Magers + Quinn: Dislocate Reading.

Creative Nonfiction: Morgan Sherburne.
Poetry: Amy Mae Schimpf.
Fiction: Shantha Susman.
Featured Reader: Laura Flynn, Swallow the Ocean.

2009-03-04T00:50:00.000-08:00

2009-02-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

19 February 2009
7:00 pm
Molly Sutton Kiefer + Greg Watson
Barnes and Noble Har Mar

A special thanks to everyone who came to support me: my husband, my best friend and her son, Emily, Chris, Lane + Angie, Mike, Amanda, Colleen, Eireann, ZCLC, David + Michelle, Jenny, Hannah, and others. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And Greg, thank you for asking me. I so admire your work.

xo

2009-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

Issue eleven of This Joy + Ride is featuring three of my poems from the Alzheimer's / grandfather series (I need to name this collection soon) as well as a photograph I took of the lake where my grandmother still lives.

2009-02-14T00:27:00.000-08:00

AWP: Chicago, 2009. More images here.

2009-01-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

I returned to Palm Beach this winter, and it was well worth it: I've wanted to work with Kimiko Hahn for a long while now, and I can fully recommend her as an instructor: she will challenge you, she will push you.

More photos here.

2008-12-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Wicked Alice has published my poem "Beekeeping" for its winter '09 issue. This is a persona poem adapted from a friend's experiences; I have a few other entomological poems inspired by this woman I admire so much.

2008-12-10T23:48:00.000-08:00

Poetry Workshop: Fall 2008.

2008-12-08T23:40:00.000-08:00

So through the snow, through the late evening, the first years met at Trish's home, in St Paul, just down the street from the place where Fitzgerald was born (and I did an inquiry project as part of my M.Ed).

2008-11-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

Intermedia Arts: fall events intern. (That's me!)

2008-10-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Junot Diaz reads from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for the Edelstein Keller lectures at the University of Minnesota. I'll be taking photos at events for the U's webpage / other promotional materials.

2008-10-06T23:18:00.000-07:00

L to R: Trish Hampl, Colleen Coyne (P), Amanda Beck (P), Brian Laidlaw (P), David LeGault (CNF), Josh Ostergaard (CNF), Ying Huang (CNF), Brian Gebhart (F), Heather McPherson (CNF), Edward McPherson (F), Liana Liu (F), Josh Morsell (CNF), Jonah Charney-Sirott, me.

Here we are, the first year MFA candidates with our Reading Across Genres instructor, Trish Hampl. She brought us to the Loft (with which, so many years ago, she was a founding member) for a tour of the facilities, then out for wine and appetizers at Spill the Wine next door.

2008-09-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

(U of MN) Writing Retreat: Cry of the Loon, 2008. See more here.

2008-09-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

217 Lind Hall: I can't tell you how many classes I had in here as an undergraduate. Now, I'm back, but on the other side of the table. Intro to C.W. 2008.

2008-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Loft Literary Center holds a poetry conference, featuring Martin Espada and Linda Hogan.

Also of interest: a panel on the poetry of witness, with local poets Bao Phi, Jim Moore, Jude Nutter, and Mike Rollins.

2008-09-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

This time, it's Whitman: as a part of the Minneapolis Unconvention, a protest against the Republican National Convention, a collection of us are reading parts of Song of Myself outside the art museum on the Minneapolis campus.

2008-08-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Reading at Magers & Quinn:
Shana Youngdahl (chapbook: Donner: A Passing)
+ Eireann Lorsung (music for landing planes by)

2008-07-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Split Rock Arts: The Work and Play of the Poem, with Michael Dennis Browne.
July 2008. MDB was an instructor of mine as an undergrad at the U of MN and will be again in the MFA program; I thought it would be good to return to that just before delving into the seriousness of my new degree. The Cloquet Forestry Center is gorgeous, and there were plenty of wonderful classmates, including Laura Goldin from NYC and Wilt and Jenny, etc. I love these experiences--both to be outdoors and to celebrate poetry every day.

See more from the trip here.

2008-06-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a godmother! Christian Steven was born June 22, 2008, and I was blessed enough to witness the event. Congratulations, Kelly and Richard.

2008-06-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

It's strange, but I'm saying good-bye to another classroom now, and I have no idea if I'll ever return to high school teaching: who knows what will happen at the end of three years? Here are post-its where I've collected my own beloved words along the rims of the computer monitor.

My program allows for funding for all, most of which is paid through TAships. I will be teaching Introduction to Creative Writing in the fall; a perfect ease into the school year.

2008-04-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Matthea Harvey + Mary Jo Bang + Fanny Howe.

I have to say, Matthea Harvey was hugely charming and I love the title of the book Pity the Bathtub and its Forced Embrace of the Human Form. A lovely reading, and my husband accompanied me. I've also picked up a copy of Bang's Elegy to see how writing about passing might inform my own work regarding my grandfather.

2008-04-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Alex Lemon's book release party at Bryant Lake Bowl.

Hallelujah Blackout

Alex was an MFA student at the U of MN when I was an undergraduate. I remember seeing him coming out of class as I waited for my own (creative non-fiction, I believe) class to start. This is his second book (or third, if you also count chapbooks).

2008-03-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

Relief: I will be attending the U of MN's MFA program for the next three years. I did apply to a series of low-res programs, eight of nine of which accepted me, but I think I need the structure of a regular residency program.

And so begins my own process of contacting the list of programs, both low-res and regular-res, to decline. This process has been incredibly surreal for me--rushing home to check the answering machine, wondering where I might end up, the panic and hope of waitlists, and on.

2008-03-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Went to see Mary Oliver (with dear friends Emily and Jen) in downtown Minneapolis. Was a wonderful event--the sort where the rest of the world vanishes and it's just one vision, Oliver, on the stage. So good.

2008-03-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Excited to find Eireann's book all the way in a charming bookstore in New Orleans!

2008-03-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've written a review for Sun Yung Shin's Skirt Full of Black; it is appearing on CutBank and can be seen here: "Organs of Articulation."

2008-03-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

Florida State University called to accept me into their MFA program. Bonus: my friend Becky Lehmann is in the Ph.D in creative writing program there.

2008-02-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

La Fovea has an interesting concept: each person who publishes a poem then becomes an editor and solicits from poets, who then solicit, and on. My friend Becky Lehmann (MFA, Iowa and Ph.D in progress at FSU) requested a pair of poems from me, so you can see "Blood Test" and "What I Won't Say" on La Fovea.

2008-02-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

And so it begins: I received an acceptance packet in the mail today from Emerson College.

2008-01-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

This January, I attended the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, where I worked with Malena Morling, got to meet one of my favorite poets, Sharon Olds, made a good friend in fellow classmate Sarah McCann, and fell in love with a poet new to me, Claudia Emerson. Oh, and I was in Palm Beach in January--this, for a Minnesotan, was heavenly. Feel free to browse more photos from the week here.

2008-01-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

The Carol Connolly Reading Series Friday, January 11, 2008 7:30 PM at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts 6666 E River Rd, Fridley Free and open to the public

Hosted by Anna George Meek

Featuring:

Raised in the south, MOLLY SUTTON KIEFER currently teaches English in Red Wing, Minnesota where she lives with her husband. She received her BA in English at the University of Minnesota, where she is also currently studying for her Master's degree. Her poem "Harry Houdini" can be purchased as a poetry postcard broadside through Yes Press (www.yes-press.com). More information can be found at her website, http://www.mollysuttonkiefer.com/.

EMILY K. BRIGHT the author of Glances Back, a chapbook collection of history and storytelling. Originally from Connecticut, she lived in France and Ghana before settling in Minnesota. Her writing is fascinated by the original landscape we carry with us when we move to a new place. Emily will receive her MFA in poetry from the University of Minnesota this spring.
This Carol Connolly Reading is sponsored in part by Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts.

2007-12-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

The literary magazine Dislocate has accepted my poem "Counting" for its spring issue.

Because the poem will be in print and not on the web, I'll also put the poem here, though you should buy a copy of the magazine when it comes out!:

Counting

One. They say there is a place where

your body remembers: the heat

that rose from your summer childhood,

the way the cicadas persisted in the trees and

at night, when power went out, your mother

placed fans up against screen doors.

At night, when the thunderstorm rolled in, you

counted each beat from flash to rumble, you thought

about swimming pools and how the safest place

to be was tangled in your covers, where the bogeyman

could not see you. Two.

But what of the bogeyman who places fans?

What of the monsters in the trees, the robins

with fangs (it’s there, I know

it’s there) and the crickets, the way the thighs

run furiously, anxiously? Three. The way

the night has a way of creeping, slowly,

around the room.

Four. They say when you get to five, it’s a mile

away and you can’t help but hope it gets closer,

so it can cover the fear, so you can

blame the barred doors on lightning, on keeping

the night out, not the mother. You do not

want to remember the biggest secret, you do not—

Five.

2007-11-30T21:28:00.000-08:00

This fall semester, I'm working with the poet Jude Nutter through Intermedia Arts' Writer to Writer program.

I've begun writing a series of poems based on my grandfather who has Alzheimer's--all the poems are incredibly immediate and urgent.

2007-09-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yes Press has published my poem "Harry Houdini" as a part of their poetry post card broadside series. I'm absolutely enamoured with their work.

2007-08-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

(We got married!!)

2007-08-03T00:03:00.000-07:00

Working with Carolyn Forche, the week the bridge collapsed. Split Rock Arts. More images here.

Carolyn has become a mentor for me, working with me through a series of poems, which I hope will become a chapbook. I am eternally grateful to her, this poet I've admired for so many years.

2007-06-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

While teaching high school creative writing, I put up a sheet of butcher paper and had students write up words they both loved and despised on a banner. They were to collect those words throughout the school year too--collect them and keep them in their pocket, and we used those sheets as a writing prompt at the end, discussing why, in loose linguistic terms, those words spoke to us in the ways that they did.

2007-05-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

Reading: Eireann Lorsung at the Tea Garden
Uptown Minneapolis

music for landing planes by

Eireann is a good friend from my undergraduate days; she graduated from the U of MN MFA program and this is her thesis, essentially. If you haven't read it yet, do so. It's gorgeous and was nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.