The Fifth Floor-Fall Winter 2011

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By Julie Beaulieu

A Tribute to Eric Clarke

I once heard Eric referred to as the love child of Lady Gaga and Michel Foucault—fitting for someone published on Kant who often forced houseguests to view Gaga’s videos (on repeat). But there has to be something in there about Indian cooking, something about taking risks, something about genius (in that utterly shocking way), something about men, gin, Pall Malls, Cacharel, and floral shirts. In trying to remember Eric carefully, I encounter not only the struggle to capture his love of the high and low, but I become aware of how little I know—what I still long to ask him. Most urgently, at this moment, I want to ask him how to write about friendship, influence, and love... More>

Winning Hint Fiction Entries

Judges' Winners Include:

Gates Close at Sunset
Behind the house is the yard, then the tracks. They would cross the tracks to walk the paths beyond. Now he walks, and she rests.
Colin Conway, BA 2011

Explanation for a Sex Change
She said it was like someone had pushed it up inside her. Her mother said, “What an ugly way to think about it."
Rachel Ann Brickner, BA 2010

Cold Case
It had been twenty years, but the citizens of Lorensburg still kept their doors locked and propane tanks empty on Easter.
Carrie Milford, BA 2011

To see our judges' blurbs, honorable mentions, and reflections on the process of writing hint fiction, click more>

An Interview with Toi Derricotte and Dawn Lundy Martin

This past fall, the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, which brings in several creative writers of national interest each year, hosted two of Pitt English's own for a special reading that filled the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium. Writing faculty Toi Derricotte and Dawn Lundy Martin gave readings of their poetry, each with a recently released book on hand: Derricotte's long-awaited fourth collection of poems, The Undertaker's Daughter (University of Pittsburgh Press), and Lundy Martin's Discipline (winner of the Nighboat Press Poetry Prize). As department Chair Don Bialostosky noted in his introduction to their readings, they are writers of different generations whose work, though quite different on the surface, shares certain commonalities on closer reading, including the theme of trauma and a variation of formal strategies. The Fifth Floor recently talked with the two poets about their work, literary communities, and teaching. More>

Writing Abroad: Tales from Pitt MAP

“I taught a course that has been in our curriculum for years, 'Professional Writing in a Global Context,' but I got to teach it in a context that was truly global, with classes in Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Beijing. From it came some of the best student writing I’ve ever read.”

-Dave Bartholomae on his experience as Faculty Coordinator for Pitt MAP last spring More>