English profs garner national recognition

Who knew that the “hot college” was also a hotbed of literary talent?  Recently, two creative writing professors at The College of New Jersey garnered national recognition for their writing abilities, marking them as artists to watch in upcoming years.

Assistant Professor of English Catie Rosemurgy is one of 50 recipients nationwide of the 2007 Literature Fellowship in Poetry, courtesy of the National Endowment for the Arts.

According to the agency’s website, “the 2007 Literature Fellowships recognize…writers of poetry, encouraging the production of new work by affording these writers the time and means to write.” Along with receiving the honor of being named a literature fellow, Rosemurgy received a $20,000 award.

Rosemurgy credits her love of writing to growing up in a musical household.  Writing “was just something that I did,” she said.  After majoring in English and taking a minor in Russian at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, she attended the University of Alabama to receive her master’s degree in creative writing. 

The 2007 Literature Fellowship isn’t Rosemurgy’s first honor.  Her first poetry collection, My Favorite Apocalypse, was published in 2001, and earned her a Rona Jaffe Award for Emerging Female Writers.  Her work also appears in the anthologies Isn't It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Young American Poets and Poetry 30, a collection of work by American poets in their thirties.

With this grant, Rosemurgy plans on finishing her second anthology, titled A Stranger Manual, a series of poems starring Miss Peach, a protagonist Rosemurgy describes as a “shape-shifting cartoonish exaggerated character” and “larger than life.”

Her third book, revolving around the art of dance, which Rosemurgy calls “very similar to poetry,” is still “in the very beginning stages,” she said.

Assistant Professor of English Jess Row was named one of the “Best of Young American Novelists” by Granta.  The famed literary magazine publishes the list every 10 years.  This year, Row is in the company of best-sellers Nell Freudenberger, Anthony Doerr, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Gary Shteyngart.

Like Rosemurgy, Row began writing at a young age, realizing in his teens that this was the career path he intended to take.

“I learned to roll with the punches and the disappointments,” he said, emphasizing that is “the first and best skill” a writer needs to develop.  He attended Yale University for his undergraduate work, and received his master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

Row’s first collection of stories, The Train to Lo Wu, was based on his time teaching English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He is currently working on both a novel and another collection of short stories, both of which he plans on publishing in the next few years.  “If you’ve been a writer for long enough, writing is what you do all the time,” he said.

Row is grateful for the acknowledgment by the literary community, but admits the title “Best of Young American Novelists” puts a bit of pressure on the honored writers.  “It’s an award that’s a bet on what you’ll do in the future,” he explained. 

Though most of the writers on Granta’s list will be embarking on a worldwide publicity tour this month, Row will be staying at home in New Jersey.  His wife is due to give birth to the couple’s first child in June.