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Credit: Jerry Bauer
Acclaimed writer Jayne Anne Phillips’
works have been translated into 11
languages. Phillips came to the English
department at Rutgers-Newark last year
and will lead the new Master of Fine
Arts program in creative writing in fall
2007.
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Jayne Anne Phillips sees the diverse urban campus of Rutgers-Newark as fertile ground for producing the next generation of great writers. That’s why the nationally acclaimed author is pleased that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Newark has asked her to help lead its new Master of Fine Arts writing program.
Born and raised in West Virginia, Phillips sees similarities in the challenges that students in her home state and Newark face. Both environments have the potential to produce talented writers with unique perspectives on the worlds in which they live, she says.
“We have a campus located in an urban environment that presents many intriguing possibilities for an aspiring writer. I believe we can draw on this dynamic when we establish our program,” she says.
Although the M.F.A. program is not expected to enroll its first students until fall 2007, Phillips has spent her first year on campus teaching courses and working with colleagues in the English department to establish the focus and goals of the program. She believes the program can benefit from Rutgers-Newark’s many assets, including its English department faculty, exceptional academic programs and proximity to some of the world’s leading cultural institutions in Newark and New York City.
The program requires students to complete 48 credits of study with specializations in fiction, poetry and nonfiction. In addition to choosing from a broad range of core writing workshops and literature electives, students select one of three study concentrations. These include literature and book arts, performance media (instruction in media, television writing and drama writing) and political/cultural studies. The third concentration, Phillips says, would benefit from partnerships with university institutions, such as the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience, and the Dana Library, as well as city institutions such as the Newark Museum and Newark Public Library. Phillips hopes to forge partnerships with these institutions as well as with Newark’s public schools.
Phillips has published five books – three novels, “Motherkind, “Shelter” and “Machine Dreams,” and two volumes of short stories – to enthusiastic reviews. Her works have been translated and published in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hebrew, Greek, Danish and Dutch. She also has received several prestigious awards and honors for her work, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, a Bunting Fellowship from the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, a National Book Critics Circle Award nomination and Britain’s Orange Prize nomination.
A major theme in many of Phillips’ writings is the passage from adolescence to adulthood. She believes this period is important because it is a time when literature can have a tremendous influence on youths and the paths they choose in life. “Literature can reach out and save lives. Telling stories can help students define who they are,” Phillips says. “We believe we can offer a comprehensive program to students who want to underscore their experience as writers with real life experiences.”
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