Joy Williams House Reading

Posted on October 20, 2015 by wyo.mfa under joy williams, reading

Last week, the wonderful Harvey Hix and Kate Northrop hosted a small gathering for those involved in the Creative Writing program. We all had the pleasure of hearing Joy Williams read a short story from her new collection, The Visiting Privilege. The story she read, “The Mother Cell,” witnesses the annual gathering of mothers whose sons grew up to be serial killers. Jason Burge, a fiction alum, introduced Joy as “the grand dame of American letters,” and the reading was a testament to how apt that introduction really is.

Joy Williams featured in NYT Magazine

Posted on September 9, 2015 by wyo.mfa under fictions, in the news, joy williams

Last week New York Times Magazine featured a profile with the brilliant Joy Williams. We still can’t really believe how lucky we are to have Joy as a Writer in Residence. She’ll be spending the month of October in Laramie and we’re all really looking forward to her visit.

From the profile:

“Williams seems to be searching for nothing less than a kind of artistic transfiguration, one in which humanity’s role in fiction is lessened decidedly. ‘Short stories need to touch people on a deeper level, a deeper, stranger level,’ she told me that night, ‘and they don’t.’ When I asked Williams what she wants out of a great story, she replied, ‘I want to be devastated in some way.'”

thinking about writing @awp

Posted on February 5, 2011 by wyo.mfa under boozing, joy williams, poetics, publishing

thinking of a word/ starts with a “c” / ends with a “t” /
all this talk about craft / makes me think of an essay i read once.

weiners/dogs

Posted on October 18, 2010 by wyo.mfa under boozing, joy williams, life in laramie, wyoming

another sunday out of doors, we spent one of the last warm days until summer bbq’ing in vedauwoo. there were many dogs, and a lot of food. miraculously, the only real conflict came about when the rabid pack fought over a charred scrap of hot dog. a few pretty pictures:

the other big sky country.

find brad watson, shoveling beans into his mouth.

leader of the pack?

lone wolf.

just another day in the woods.

we traverse the landscape of this rock-climbing mecca.

we didn't have this thing called autumn last year.

on the rocks.

holiday card photo!

program boyfriends: stuck between a rock & a hard place.

head in the clouds.

creative rhetoric.

Posted on October 15, 2010 by wyo.mfa under joy williams, life in laramie, noodling, thesis work, wyoming

on top of old smokey

Taking a break from trying to learn the fine art of evisceration. Spent the last couple of days transcribing an interview with Mirah – part of a series of interviews I’m working on talking to songwriters about the process of lyric writing. Joy Williams is in town and suddenly I’m laughing more.

hiking scientists.

Kelly and I climbed to the top of Medicine Bow Peak the other day with Maya the Great. 12,000 feet of triumph, or some approximation. The actual autumn we’re having makes it feel less like we live on a satellite planet.Oh yeah, we see this fucking rad car.

hot wheels.

-Scott Pinkmountain

joy

Posted on October 14, 2010 by wyo.mfa under good news, joy williams, life in laramie, wyoming

joy williams blows in & out of town. besides looking at our various works in progress, and giving our drafts a thumbs up or thumbs down, she also has us over for pizza. highlights from last sunday’s gathering at the ranch.