Faculty
Wendy Barker
Poet in Residence; Pearl LeWinn Endowed Professor of Creative Writing
Author of Nothing Between Us: The Berkeley Years, a novel in prose poems (Del Sol Press, 2009) and numerous collections of poetry, including Poems from Paradise (2005), Way of Whiteness (2000), Let the Ice Speak (1991), and Winter Chickens (1990), as well as two chapbooks, Eve Remembers (1996) and Between Frames (2006).
Catherine Kasper
Author of Notes from the Committee (fiction), winner of the Noemi Press Chapbook Award (published 2009), Field Stone, winner of the Winnow Press First Book Prize (2004), A Gradual Disappearance of Insects (poetry, Pecan Grove, 2004), Optical Projections (short stories, Obscure Publications, 2004), and Blueprints of the City (Transparent Tiger Press, 2000).
David Ray Vance
Author of Stupor, winner of the 2012 Elixir Press Antivenom Prize (anticipated 2013), and Vitreous, winner of the 2005 Del Sol Press Poetry Prize (Del Sol Press, 2007), as well as a chapbook, Radium Jaw (Transparent Tiger Press, 2001).
Program Committee Members
Norma Elia Cantú
Author of the award-winning Canìcula Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera (New Mexico, 1995 and 2000) and editor of the book series, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo: Borderlands Culture and Tradition, at Texas A&M University Press.
Steven G. Kellman
Author of Redemption: The Life of Henry Roth (W. W. Norton, 2005), which was honored with the 2005 New York Society Library Award for Biography.His other books include The Translingual Imagination (2000), The Plague: Fiction and Resistance (1993), Loving Reading: Erotics of the Text (1985), and The Self-Begetting Novel (1980). He received the 2007 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle, and he currently serves as vice president for membership of the NBCC.
Bonnie Lyons
Author of Meanwhile , (Finishing Line Press, 2005), In Other Words (Pecan Grove Press, 2005) and Hineni, (Finishing Line Press, 2003).
B. V. Olguín
Author of two poetry manuscripts: Red Leather Gloves and Sombras de Sangre/Shadows of Blood (both under review).
Teaching Assistants
Jack Buentello
A doctoral student in The English Department at UTSA, Jack was recently the winner of the 2005 San Antonio Poetry Fair Adult/College Division, 2nd Place Winner of the 2007 Wendy Barker Writing Award, and 3rd Place Winner of the 2007 COLFA Creative Writing Awards. With his brother, Lawrence Buentello, he has published both a short story collection, Binary Tales (iUniverse, Inc., 2004) which was a semifinalist for the 2006 IPPY Awards (Independent Book Publishers Awards), and a novel, Reproduction Rights (iUniverse, Inc., 2007). Jack also has a short story forthcoming in the Mystery Writers of the Year 2007 Anthology Burden of the Badge.
Debra Peña
A doctoral student in the English Department at UTSA, Debra is a recent recipient of a COLFA research grant. Debra currently serves as Associate Editor (prose) for Voices de la Luna: A Literary Magazine and is actively involved in monthly prose/poetry reading events sponsored by La Cantera Barnes & Noble. Her work (prose & poetry) has appeared in The Floresville Chronicle and Voices de la Luna.
Elaine Wong
A doctoral student in the English Department at UTSA, Elaine's dissertation explores a dialogue between the Chinese written character and visually-oriented poetry. She was a recipient of Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (2010-11). She was awarded first place at the COLFA Research Paper Competition (2007, 2011) and Creative Writing Competition (2010). She also received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2010) and a Teaching Recognition Award (2009) from UTSA’s Teaching and Learning Center. Recently she has been awarded third place at the San Antonio Poetry Fair 2011.