Wynn Yarbrough

Wynn hails from Virginia: a little town called Aldie, thirty miles outside of Washington, D.C. He’s lived in Los Angeles (surprisingly full of real and warm people) and Portland (not surprisingly full of cold and wet people). Painting houses, teaching English, bartending, editing a music magazine: these are a list of the jobs he’s willing to admit having (some--the undercover, the disgraceful) he still hides. After a B.A. in History and Political Science from Mary Washington College, he received a M.A. in English Literature from VCU and a MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. All fine and dandy, but where is the love?

The “love” comes from the friendly environment and relationships established in Lafayette. As another step in a writer/critic/teacher’s education, ULL has given him the opportunity to teach Creative Writing, 20th Century British Culture, and in the Study Abroad program in England. He has continued to publish poems and essays, book reviews and interviews while rounding out his education. His primary areas of study are 20th Century Poetry and Children’s Literature. Where else could you be reading Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll and claim to be “working?”

Wynn Yarbrough So Far

Education

Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA. B.A. 1991

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. M.A. English Literature 1995

Goddard College, Plainfield, VT. M.F.A. Creative Writing 2003

Teaching Experience

University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA. 2003-Present

· English 101, 102

· Humanities 300-Twentieth Century British Culture

· English 223- Creative Writing

· English 360-Advanced Exposition

· English 205-American Literature

University of Sussex, Sussex, England Summer 2004

· Humanities 300 Twentieth Century British Culture

Lord Fairfax Community College, Middletown, VA. 2001-2003

· English 101, 102

Publications

"Savoir Faire," Poetry Midwest, Summer 2002

"St. Paul Revisited," Poetry Without Walls, Spring 2002

"At the Blue Oyster Diner," Branches Quarterly, October 2003-nominated for Pushcart Prize

"Duality," Southwestern Review, Spring 2004

"Mercury", Best of Branches 2003, Branches Quarterly Anthology, Afternoon Lunch, Green Tricycle, Winter 2003

"Mercury", Branches Quarterly, January 2004

"elegy for papa", Clockhouse Review, May 2004

"After the Wreck," Clockhouse Review, May 2004

"Happy Hour," "Urbanna Marina," Southwestern Review, Spring 2004

"Walter Anderson’s Pine Island Logs", National Association of Humanities Education, Spring 2005

"The Sirens," Louisiana Association College Composition, Fall 2005

"You Don’t Know the Half of It," LACC, Fall 2005

"Mapping to Make Meaning" (article) , NAHE, 2006

Reviews:

Antjie Krog, A Change of Tongue (Random House)

Twentieth Century American Women Poets (Wesleyan Press)

Experimental Writing from the South (University of Alabama Press)

Karen Volkman’s Spar (University of Iowa Press)

Verse: The Second Decade (University of Georgia Press)

Conferences/Awards

Marion Park Lewis Foundation Grant

Creative Writing Recipient, 2002, 2003, 2004

Shenandoah Arts Council—Winchester, Virginia

National Association of Humanities Education Conference

February 25, 2005 Richmond, Virginia

Panel Member: Teaching Creative Writing Through An Interactive Approach

British Women Writer’s Conference-April 14, 2005

Moderator: Women Poets

Sigma Tau Delta National Conference: Past and Present

December 2004, Beaumont, Texas

Creative Writing Reading

Louisiana Association of College Composition-2005

First Place, Graduate Level, Poetry- "The Sirens"

Louisiana Association of College Composition-2005

Honorable Mention, Graduate Level, Fiction- "You Don’t Know the Half of It"

Readings and Performances

University of Louisiana-Lafayette Graduate Reading Series

September 18, 2003

April 7, 2005

Rhonda/Maria Experience Monthly Arts Night

December 11, 2004

April 20, 2005

Editorial Experience

Associate Editor, Black Zinnias, December 2003- Present

Interviews Editor, Pedestal Magazine, April 2002- Present

Thomas Lux, Nikki Giovanni, Octavia Butler, Ruth Stone, Stanley Kunitz, Antjie Krog, Haydn Carruth

Wynn on UL Lafayette

First night in Lafayette, I stayed at the Blue Moon Saloon where I ate grilled red snapper and eggplant with Mark and Zack and split a bottle of Semillion Blanc; I’ve been hooked ever since. Faculty and fellow students have demanded new growth and development in both my academic writing and my creative writing while the community demands a faith in good food, good music, and a festival almost every weekend. After a crash course in balance, I’ve made it through my coursework. My scholarly interests were scattered among the thousand interests of a book/word lover, until I walked through (or went backward-maybe a little bit of both), the doors of Children’s Literature.

Currently, I am working on my PhD comps and narrowing down thesis ideas in Children’s Poetry. What other area can you read Pinocchio or Alice in Wonderland and say “I’m studying, no really, no really” and, for once, mean it honestly? My teachers have been more than encouraging in my research on A.A. Milne, John Clare, and Thomas Hardy.

It’s hard to mention a favorite, but a special plus for me in the Creative Writing program is the Collaborative night at the Blue Moon in the spring: sort of a late night carnival of spoken word, visual art, music and mosaic, performance and satire. People who see it (and our Weekly Reading Series) come away impressed at how lively our program is. Last year I wore an orange hunting cap and tights and read a poem about superheroes (with accompaniment by Redneck Tyrie on guitar). Man, it don’t get no better than that.

Read a Sample of Wynn’s Writing

Go to UL Lafayette Creative Writing Anthology

Creative Writing home Page

English Department Home Page

This site designed and maintained by The Creative Writing Concentration of the English Department of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

To contact us by mail: Director of Creative Writing, English Department, Box 44691, UL Lafayette, Lafayette LA 70504-4691; by telephone, 337-482-5478;

by email, jlm8047@louisiana.edu.

Last updated: January 25, 2006.