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Susan Swetnam was raised in Philadelphia; she earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Delaware and her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, where she was a Rackham Scholar. She has been teaching literature and writing at Idaho State University since 1979. She has published several books and numerous scholarly articles about Intermountain West literature and culture in addition to her creative work, and her freelance articles have appeared in a variety of national, regional, and little magazines, including Gourmet, Mademoiselle, and Journal of the West. Her first collection of creative nonfiction, Home Mountains: Reflections from a Western Middle Age (Washington State University Press, 2000) won an Idaho Library Association prize. Her second, a book of personal essays for teachers based loosely (and sometimes irreverently) on the lives of Catholic saints (My Best Teachers Were Saints, Loyola, Chicago, 2007), set a Loyola Press conference record in April 2006, selling 800 copies in two days. She has been a Writer in Residence with Washington State’s Espy Foundation. Currently she is in the last stages of preparing a narrative manuscript about early widowhood, Beginner’s Mind, under the direction of an agent. She also has a novel in progress, and she can see where the next six books are coming from. She is the widow of poet and distinguished teacher Ford Swetnam. She is New Works Review's featured writer for this issue. Visit Susan's New Works Review non-fiction page. |
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| Michael Corrigan brings his strengths as a published author, playwright, and educator to NWR's ranks. He writes: "Any bio has to include the question, why write? What a ridiculous business. A writer's life can be a lonely business. As Hemingway said, 'a writer faces eternity or the lack of it each day.' Despite loneliness, writers can experience a joy that 'normal' people can't imagine. I adapted the letters of a late writer friend, Rebecca Bruns, to a stage play. Born in New Orleans, she worked in San Francisco. We had known each other for twelve years and much of our relationship consisted of letters. Hers were articulate, poignant and heartfelt. When she died of cancer, I put the letters into a two person play, and the premiere in Ketchum, Idaho, gave her words flesh. The audience listened as Rebecca spoke through an actress giving her a voice. A woman came up to me after the show and said, 'You must be so proud to celebrate your friend like this.' Actually, I felt a bit depressed since the words couldn't replace Rebecca's warm presence, but it was some comfort to think a few people went home that night feeling the presence of this remarkable person who died too soon. The play, Letters From Rebecca, is available through Aran Press for those who want to hear that special voice." His wife Karen passed away on September 12, 2005. Visit Michael's New Works Review non-fiction page. |  |
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Jon Leibowitz writes: "I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. For undergraduate school I moved out west and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I graduated with a B.A. in political science. After graduating, I spent six months traveling and then spent a summer working for Americorps before attending Vermont Law School. I am currently getting my Masters degree in the study of environmental law. In the fall of ’08 I plan on starting the Juris Doctoral program here at V.L.S. with the intention of practicing environmental law. I enjoy spending my days out of doors and taking photographs of the natural world. My personal website can be found at www.leibowitzphotography.com." Visit Jon's New Works Review non-fiction page. |
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A member of Phi Theta Kappa and a Who's Who Among Junior College Students, Stephanie Sanders is attending college, working towards a PhD in Psychology. She currently lives in Indiana with her wife and son, but she hopes to be moving to the east coast in the next few years. In her spare time she likes to be with her family, watch movies, and play board games. Contact her at ssanders32@gmail.com. Visit Stephanie's New Works Review non-fiction page. |
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Susan Middaugh has been a writer for over thirty years. She owns a small writing business in Baltimore, MD, doing business as well as feature writing and editing. For the past fourteen years she has also written plays. Several of her ten-minute plays have had productions at community theaters in the United States and Canada. Her short play, Such Good Neighbors, has been published by the One Act Play Depot in Saskatchewan, Canada. |
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| Hugh Fox was born in Chicago in 1932. Raised as a singer, violinist, composer, pianist, and painter, he was then pushed into Medicine by his M.D. father. After four years of pre-med and med school, Fox rebelled and got a Ph.D. in American Lit, married Peruvian poet Lucía Ungaro de Zevallos, became “Peruvianized,” and started making all sorts of archaeological discoveries. He has a stack of published books on pre-Columbian archaeology, plus novels, poetry, a book on French film, a book of plays, etc. Altogether over a hundred books published. The next one to appear will be The Collected Poetry, five hundred pages, out from WorldAudience in 2008. Our PDF Edition includes an excerpt from a book of Hugh's, titled What Do You Do On Sundays? The entire excerpt runs in the PDF file, but you can read the first section by viewing Hugh's New Works Review non-fiction page. |  |
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