Sunday, March 18, 2012

good times for low-res: AWP board of directors

Steve Heller Elected President of AWP's Board of Directors

From the AWP website

At AWP’s recent conference in Chicago, Steve Heller, Professor and Chair of Antioch University Los Angeles’ MFA program, was elected President of AWP’s Board of Directors. He will serve from 2012 through early March 2013. Heller served as Vice President and Secretary in the years leading up to this appointment. 

“I attended my first AWP in 1980 when I was a graduate student (at Bowling Green State University),” said Heller. “The keynote speaker was poet Richard Hugo, who claimed that creative writers were destined to become the keepers of the literary canon, even if all we wanted at the moment was to expand it, replace it, or do away with it altogether. Hugo was right. Writers who also teach not only create literature, we help our culture to preserve literature and treasure it as part of our heritage. It’s an honor to serve as President of the organization that taught me not only the rights but the responsibilities of a writer in the world.”

Outgoing President, Denise Low-Weso, praised Heller’s election: “Creative writing continues to show growth as a major field for students. AWP leads the way for writers as new forms of media expand. Heller’s experience with online education, on-the-ground education, and administration—plus his own expertise as a fiction writer—prepare him for this national role.”

Heller is author of The Automotive History of Lucky Kellerman, a novel, and most recently, What We Choose to Remember, a collection of nonfiction. His work has appeared in New Letters, Colorado Review, Fourth Genre, and elsewhere. 

Article posted: 03/16/12

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