Friday, March 27, 2009

Carmen Rodrigues and Daniel Nathan Terry, current graduate students in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, will read at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 17 in the Kenan Hall courtyard on the UNC Wilmington campus. Both Terry and Rodrigues are pursuing their Master of Fine Arts degrees, and each celebrated the publication of a book in 2008.

Rodrigues is the author of the young adult novel Not Anything (Berkeley Jamz, 2008), a story of a teenage girl living a not-so-glamorous life in Miami, a city all about glamour. Terry is the author of Capturing the Dead (NFSPS Press, 2008), a sequence of poems in the voices of Civil War soldiers and photographers. Rodrigues and Terry join the growing ranks of UNC Wilmington alumni to publish books. Among the now more than 20 published alumni are notables Brad Land (Goat, 2005, and Pilgrims on the Earth, 2007), Derek Nikitas (Pyres, 2007, and The Long Division, 2009) and Nina de Gramont (Gossip of the Starlings, 2008).

The creative writing department proudly commemorates the accomplishments of these debut authors and invites the public to attend this free event. A reception will follow, along with a book signing sponsored by Pomegranate Books.

Recent praise for Not Anything:

“Any girl who's ever fumbled her way through changing friendships, first love and real loss will find a friend in Susie Shannon.”

~Melissa Walker, author of Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design and Violet
in Private.

“With her debut novel, Carmen Rodrigues crafts a successful story of a girl lost in a world she thought she knew, only to figure out that she needed a little push, a little strength, to overcome her obstacles... Beautifully written, Not Anything is just the beginning of something special.”

~ Randstostipher Nguyen, TeensReadToo.com

Recent Praise for Capturing the Dead:

“In this masterful and meticulously researched debut collection, Daniel Nathan Terry gives us the photographer’s view of the Civil War, its beginning and aftermath. Terry, by capturing the past, asks us to look squarely at the present day. I have never seen a young poet write with such a vast range of form and emotional scale. A powerful, important, beautiful book.”

 ~ Sarah Messer, author of Bandit Letters and Red House

“Don’t be fooled by the look back into history; these poems are relevant today and resonate with us. Terry’s images will burn on your retina like film developing in a dark room, and we will remember these poems like we remember the fallen figures it commemorates.”

~ A. Van Jordan, author of Rise and M-a-c-n-o-l-i-a

For further information on programs and events, please contact the Department of Creative Writing at 910.962.7063 or visit www.uncw.edu/writers.