Nathan Gray, recipient of the 2012 Fred Fosher Excellence in Writing Award

The craft of writing well eludes many students—and adults—but KSC senior and soon-to-be alumnus Nathan Gray found the key to excellence when he approached writing as music. “I began to think of writing a page of prose as writing a page of sheet music,” said Nathan, also a musician and songwriter. “Each word can be a note, or each sentence can be a note. I kind of made it an art game, playing with the shorts and the longs. As in music, you choose a note and then you decide upon the most effective instrument to play that note. In the same way, you choose a concept and then you choose the best word or phrase to express that idea. As soon as I did that, my writing improved. Just as it’s not very interesting to have a bunch of quarter notes in a row, you don’t want a bunch of five-word sentences in your writing. You’ve got to come up with ways to add variety and present your ideas in interesting ways.”
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Wesley McNair ’63 (Photo by Habib)

On April 20th, 2011, Maine Gov. Paul LePage installed Wesley McNair ’63 as the state’s fourth poet laureate. Recently retired from the University of Maine at Farmington, where he co-founded and directed the Creative Writing Program, McNair plans to use his new status to bring poetry back into everyday life, as it was in days gone by.

McNair grew up in Claremont, NH, attended KSC, and taught high school and at Colby-Sawyer before moving to Maine in 1986. His latest book is Lovers of the Lost: New & Selected Poems, and he has received many awards for his creative work. His work has appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition and The Writer’s Almanac, with Garrison Keillor; two editions of The Best American Poetry; and more than 50 anthologies. He has authored or edited 18 books, including poetry, nonfiction, and anthologies.

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Poet Mary Benson, recipient of the Eder Creative Writing Scholarship

KSC senior Mary Benson, of Chester, NH, has been awarded the Eder Creative Writing Scholarship, an impressive accomplishment. So impressive, in fact, that we thought we’d introduce her through three of her poems, a Newsline first. Let us – and Mary – know what you think. If you’d like to know more about her, and the scholarship, see the news story on the KSC news page.

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If you’d like to take some time off and work on your writing this summer, KSC has the program for you. Registration is now open for the Writers Conference, which will take place from July 26 to August 1.

Eight published, award-winning, nationally recognized writers in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry work one-on-one with conference attendees during the week. With four or five writers in workshops, instructors are able to focus their attention on students, both individually and in small groups.

Come back to campus to explore the craft of writing, network and share with other writers, and spend time writing.

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