"Writers Speak" Returns To Stony Brook Southampton With Bragging Rights

By Douglas Harrington

Helen Simonson, Roger Rosenblatt, Jules Feiffer, Julie Sheehan, Dr. Samuel Stanley, Elena Gorokhova and Robert Reeves all participated in "Writers Speak." Photos by Douglas Harrington

Southampton - One of the most revered programs in the curriculum of Stony Brook Southampton is the MFA Program in Writing and Literature. Its faculty is a who's who of distinguished writers, playwrights, poets and screenwriters, and the summer writers conference is one of America's greatest. To publish as a result of participation in the program is not the rare exception, it is generally the rule. On Thursday, October 22 a special edition of the 2009 Writers Speak series celebrated the forthcoming books of faculty members and alumni. The evening was appropriately titled "Bragging Rights."

MFA Chairman Robert Reeves addresses the attendees with opening remarks in Duke Hall.

Robert Reeves, the chairman of the MFA program, opened the evening with remarks that described the history and successes of the prolific program, introduced the evening's readers, described their upcoming books and recent awards and bid welcome to the evening's special guest, the newly inaugurated Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley.

The event's first reader was longtime Village Voice cartoonist, playwright and children's book author Jules Feiffer. The Stony Brook Southampton faculty member read from his memoir "Backing Into Forward," which is coming out in March 2010, published by Nan A. Talese Books. He read from a particularly funny and touching chapter that dealt with his mother which he calls the "The Jewish Mother Joke."

Prior to the event I ran into Feiffer as he was about to enter Chancellors Hall. I asked him about his connection to the Southampton campus, "I guess this is my 11th year, quite a shock." He commented on the Stony Brook University transition, "Much more than a learning curve, it was a curve of pleasure and joy. What the previous owner wanted to do was to build some housing here, but this has always been a place of education. Part of why I like coming out here to teach is because it is such a fertile territory for education and I am happy to be asked to be part of it."

Stony Brook University's new president, Dr. Samuel Stanley.

Having appeared many years ago in his play "Little Murders," I asked Feiffer if he was working on a new play, "No, just teaching and illustrating children's books. Norton Juster and I are doing a new book, a picture book this time, called the "Odious Ogre" which comes out next fall. I am illustrating a new book for my daughter Kate. I am doing a lot of illustrations and trying to think of an idea for a new play."

Russian born MFA alumni Elena Gorokhova read next from her soon to be published memoir about growing up in the still communist Leningrad of the 1960s. The author acknowledged the impact of the program on her success and noted her studies with longtime faculty memoir professor, the late Frank McCourt. Gorokhova's beautiful lyric "A Mountain of Crumbs" will be published by Simon & Schuster in January of 2010.

Faculty member Julie Sheehan took the floor next with her usual effervescent and uninhibited energy. A 2009 NYFA fellow and 2008 Whiting Writer's Award winner, the poet's third collection, "Bar Book: Poems and Otherwise," will be published by W.W. Norton in June of next year. Enlisting the help of her fellow readers and Dr. Stanley, she assigned parts to each and orchestrated a group reading of a short play selection from her book.

Roger Rosenblatt and Elena Gorokhova chat prior to reading from their new works.

Another MFA alumnus came to the podium in Helen Simonson, who created quite a stir this past year when she was given a six-figure advance for her first novel, "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand." A highly humorous book inspired by characters from the small English county village of her youth, Simonson, like Gorokhova, credited the Stony Brook Southampton MFA program for her success, "This book would have never been written had it not been for my participation in this incredible and supportive program. One is never thought of as anything but a working writer."

One of the faculty's most prolific writers and most tenured members is novelist, essayist and playwright Roger Rosenblatt. His next book, "Making Toast: A Family Story" is being brought out in February by Ecco, an imprint of Harper Collins. The book chronicles the recent heartbreaking death of his daughter and the struggle of a loving family to recover and rebuild. Referencing his and his wife's move to Bethesda, Maryland to help their widowed son-in-law with the upbringing of their grandchildren, Rosenblatt's reading was the most touching and poignant of the evening. For this 13 year widow who raised two children alone, it literally touched every chord.

Helen Simonson reading from "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand."

Although in a bit of a rush to get back to Stony Brook, Dr. Stanley gave me a few minutes after the reading to address the challenges he faces as incoming president in this difficult economy, "There is much to be done. Stony Brook as a university has a great foundation and that is the encouraging thing. I am really troubled, of course, by the current economic situation, the budget is a challenge for us that we are going to have confront and deal with. In the short term we are going to have to deal with these cuts and preserve as much of the academic programs as we can, but there will be, for lack of a better word, blood associated with this. The second thing we need to do is develop a better way of funding education in New York and I think it is very important that the State University of New York gets flexible tuition in addressing the cost of the tuition we charge."

Specifically addressing the Southampton campus Dr. Stanley said, "In terms of the Southampton campus, I think it needs to fit what every other part of the university campus needs to fit, it needs to be excellent and it needs to provide differentiating programs that really helps us be distinct and helps Stony Brook be among the top research universities in the world. That is the kind of thing I am looking for in all our endeavors."

There is no doubt that the new president was impressed with both the success and reputation of the MFA program at the Southampton campus. As were all the attendees at the "Writers Speak" reading, who lingered at a reception in the lobby and chatted with the writers that provided such an illuminating and entertaining evening.