Mark Lewandowski
Mark Lewandowski is an English Instructor at the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He was born in Cheektowaga, New York in
1965. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Kansas in 1988, and
an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Wichita State University in 1991. He has
taught in numerous universities and colleges, including Siauliai University in
Lithuania, where he was a Fulbright Scholar in Creative Writing and American
Studies, and the Foreign Language Teacher’s College in Biala Podlaska, Poland,
where he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. “Tourist Season at Auschwitz,”
originally published in The Gettysburg Review, was listed as a “Notable
Essay” in The Best American Essays: 2000, and The Best American
Travel Writing: 2000. In 2002, his story “Shallow Grave” was a finalist for
the Willamette Award in Fiction offered by the Clackamas Literary Review,
and he taught creative writing and travel writing in Paris and London under the
auspices of the UL Lafayette/France Summer Program. He is currently involved in
completing a collection of stories reflecting the recent history of Poland, as
well as a collection of personal essays. His scholarly work reflects an ongoing
interest in Eastern European Literature and Popular American Culture.
BRIEF CURRICULUM VITAE
Courses Taught
Creative Writing: Fiction; Creative Nonfiction
Workshop; Fantasy Writing from Beowulf to Harry Potter, Modern
Fiction; Contemporary American Novel; Contemporary American Short Story; The
World of King Arthur; Teaching Developmental English; Surveys of American
Literature; Novel and Short Fiction; World Literature; Teaching Methodology;
English as a Second Language; Introduction to the Humanities; Composition and
Literature; Composition; Developmental English.
Publications
Short Stories
“Shallow Grave,” Clackamas Literary Review
(forthcoming)
“Past Perfect,” Rain Crow, Summer 2002
“Breaking the Halibut,” The Potomac Review,
Summer 2002
“George Was the Star at the Halibut Rodeo,” The
Evansville Review, Spring 2002
“A Man Loves His Cat,” Pinyon, Spring 2001
“Substitutions,” RE:AL, Spring 2001
“Beer Money,” The Louisville Review, Fall
2000
“The Slime-Line Queen,” Writers’ Forum, 1998
“To War! To War!” The North American Review,
May-June, July-August 1998
“The Prince of Kodiak,” The Red Cedar Review,
Spring 1994
Creative Nonfiction
“Caroline,” Cimarron Review, Summer 2002
“The Peace Corps: Love it or Leave it,” The
Yalobusha Review, Summer 2002
“Tourist Season at Auschwitz,” The Gettysburg
Review, Summer 1999
Honors
“Shallow
Grave,” Finalist, 2002 Willamette Award in Fiction, Clackamas Literary Review
“Tourist
Season at Auschwitz” cited as “Notable Essay” in The Best American Essays:
2000, series editor, Robert Atwan
“Tourist
Season at Auschwitz” cited as “Notable Travel Writing” in The Best American
Travel Writing: 2000, series editor, Jason Wilson
Fulbright
Grant, awarded in 1999 to teach Creative Writing and American Studies at
Siauliai University, Lithuania
“Saturday
Afternoon Matinee,” selected as “Honorable Mention,” Berkeley Fiction Review,
Short-Short contest, 1998
Conferences, Workshops, Readings
“Power
and Vision in John Boorman’s Excalibur,” Popular Culture Association
Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 2001
Chair,
“Working With Exceptional Needs Students,” South Central Writing Centers
Association Conference, March 2001
Fiction
Reading, Deep South Festival of Writers, 2000
“Cajun
Mardi Gras,” North American Studies Conference, April 2000, Siauliai
University, Lithuania
“’ ‘An Emersonian Looks at ‘Bartleby:’ Homage or Satire?” 1999 Conference for Teachers of English in Lithuania, Vilnius Pedagogical University, Lithuania
“Narrative
Journeys in the Lyrics of Robert Hunter,” Southwest/Texas Popular Culture
Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 1999
“Family
History as Alternative to Multiculturalism,” Pedagogical Series, Converse College,
South Carolina, October 1998
Fiction
Reading, Deep South Writers Conference, 1998
“Creative
Nonfiction” (workshop/craft lecture, with Luis Urrea), Deep South Writers
Conference, 1998
“Poland:
Culture and Traditions,” Peace Corps Day, Lafayette Middle School, 1998
“Explorations
into Folklore in the Writing Classroom,” Conference of the Louisiana
Association for College Composition, 1997
Biannual
readings for UL’s Weekly Reading Series
ON TEACHING AND/OR WRITING
My writing, I believe, reflects my reading
patterns. I read widely, and look for inspiration beyond the United States.
Movements considered dead in the States (Social Realism, for example) are alive
and kicking in other countries. As a writer, and a teacher, I believe students
should never feel impaired or limited by what is currently in vogue in our
small part of the world. I find it disheartening that so much literature
produced today has nothing to say, and that great writers we study in
literature classes, from Jane Austen to Thomas Pynchon, would be laughed out of
creative writing programs. Writing programs should be multifaceted, and
students need to enter them with a mind ready to tackle all forms of written
expression, from the work of Classical rhetoricians to the stories, poems and
essays appearing in the major annual anthologies of today. Ideally, a writing
program is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, a means of encountering
attitudes and styles often far different from our own. Writers should feel free
to explore their own passions about writing and reading.
Read a Sample of
Mark Lewandowski’s Writing
Go to
UL-Lafayette Creative Writing Anthology
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: May 1, 2001.