Concentration in Creative Writing
as part of the Master of Arts in English at Southeastern
CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM MISSION
The Creative Writing concentration at Southeastern is dedicated to supporting the intensely personal act of creating literature. Incoming students encounter an open, respectful community of writers/faculty and a curriculum that embraces the full range of writing experiences through intensive workshops, independent studies, and literature classes; internship experiences; and close contact with Southeastern's visiting Writers-in-Residence. The Creative Writing program at Southeastern simultaneously challenges students to extend the possibilities of their craft and offers them a safe place to take risks as they develop a body of finished work.
CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Students who plan to concentrate in Creative Writing will need to meet with, and gain
the permission of, the Coordinator of Creative Writing.
The student must complete the following coursework:
| ENGL 475/575 | Introduction to Contemporary Criticism |
| ENGL 482/582 | Intermediate Poetry Workshop |
| ENGL 483/583 | Intermediate Fiction Workshop |
| ENGL 645 | Creative Writing |
| ENGL 770 [6 hrs] | Thesis in Creative Writing |
Students must also complete at least 15 hours of coursework in English at the 600
level. With the approval of the Advisory Committee, students may take a maximum of6
graduate hours in a related field.
FACULTY
Dr. Jack B. Bedell, Program Coordinator, Poetry
Jack Bedell, Professor
Education: B.A. and M.A. degrees from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana;
a M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and a Ph. D. from
the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.
Areas of Expertise: Modern and Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing.
Notable Achievements: Recent journal publications: Dr. Bedell has poems published by the Connecticut Review and The Hudson Review. Books: Sleeping with the Net-Maker, At the Bonehouse, What Passes for Love, and Greatest Hits.
Other Information: Books Dr. Bedell highly recommends for everyone are James Dickey's Poems 1957-1967 and J. D. Salinger's Nine Stories. His favorite quotation is, "Pain come from the darkness and we call it knowledge. It is Pain."--Randall Jarrell.
Dr. Norman German, Fiction
Norman German, Professor, Associate Editor of Louisiana Literature.
Education: B.A. from McNeese State; M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin; Ph.D. from
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Areas of Expertise: Etymology, African-American Literature, and Twentieth-Century American Fiction and
Poetry.
Notable Achievements: Journal/Magazine Publications: Dr. German's short stories have appeared in literary
and commercial magazines ranging from Louisiana Life and Salt Water Sportsman to The Virginia Quarterly Review. He has also published scholarly articles on Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway,
Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, James Dickey, and Raymond Carver. Books: Dr. German's
novel No Other World won the 1991 Deep South Writers Prize.
Other Information: Dr. German's hobbies include fishing, running, bicycling, and coin collecting.
Dr. Tim Gautreaux, Fiction
Tim Gautreaux, Professor Emeritus. Southeastern's first Writer-in-Residence
Education: Ph.D. University of South Carolina, B.A. Nicholls State University.
Areas of Expertise: Published two novels, The Next Step in the Dance, The Clearing, and two collections of short stories, Same Place, Same Things, and Welding with Children. Fiction has appeared regularly in Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, GQ and other places.Awarded
National Book of the Year.
Ms. Bev Marshall, Fiction
Bev Marshall, Writer-in-Residence
Education: B.A.E. University of Mississippi, M.A. Southeastern Louisiana University
Areas of Expertise: Creative Writing
Notable Achievements: Author of three novels, Walking Through Shadows, Right As Rain, and Hot Fudge Sundae Blues. Her short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies, most recently
in Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe and The Alumni Grill anthologies.
Affiliations: Co-founder, St. Tammany Writers Group; Founder, Southeastern Louisiana University
Creative Writers Group; Board of Directors, Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary
Festival.
Dr. Reine Bouton, Creative Non-Fiction
Reine Dugas Bouton, Assistant Professor
Education: B.A. and M.A., University of New Orleans, Ph.D. University of Southern Mississippi
Areas of Expertise: Modern American and British Literature, Travel Writing, Southern Literature, Composition
and Rhetoric, Eudora Welty.
Notable Achievements: Recent journal publications in Arkansas Review, The Teaching Professor, Literature in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, and Teaching in the Two-Year College.
Affiliations: MLA, The Eudora Welty Society, The Two-Year College Association, National Association
for Developmental Education.
Dr. Jayetta Slawson, Drama
Jayetta Slawson, Assistant Professor.
Education: B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; M.A. from Arkansas State University;
Ph.D. from New York University.
Areas of Expertise/Interests: Modern and Contemporary Drama; Performance Studies, including Ethnographic Performance
Practices in Social, Cultural, and Historical Contexts; American Culture and Popular
Entertainments; Creative Writing; and Literary Analysis.