Alumnus donates to writing program
By GEREMY CARNES
News Writer
After a 1.5 million-dollar donation by best-selling author and Notre Dame alumnus, Nicholas Sparks, Creative Writing Program students will have the opportunity to participate in publishing and internship programs
"It's the first major gift to the program, so it's a tremendous boost," said Valerie Sayers, director of the program.
The University created the Creative Writing Program in 1990 as a two-year course leading to a Masters of Fine Arts degree. The program admits five fiction and five poetry students each year. The Sparks gift will give several of those students the opportunity to gain experience in the publishing field.
"[Sparks] not only gave us the money, but [he] made the phone calls to get the internships," Sayers said.
The internships are part of the Sparks Summer Fellows Program. Each year, two students will serve as interns in New York literary agencies and publishing houses. This year, the award recipients will work at the Sanford Greenburger Associate's literary agency and Warner Books.
"There was tremendous interest," Sayers said about the internships. All the students in the program are eligible. The agency and publishing house will select the interns based on the student's letters of application, resumes and telephone interviews.
Another program made possible by Sparks's gift is the Nicholas Sparks Fellowship in Creative Writing, which will annually grant two students assistantships on the Notre Dame Review, the University's national literary journal.
Finally, the Sparks prize will go to a single Creative Writing Program graduate each year. The prize grants the recipient a year's residency at Notre Dame to work on his or her writing. The award recipient will also be expected to teach a class at the University and give a public reading during the year.
Despite the Creative Writing Program's small size and short history, it has had numerous success stories.
"We put it down to the support the students give each other," Sayers said. She considers the program's students to be among the most cooperative graduate students at the University.
Past graduates include Michael Collins, whose novel, "The Keepers of Truth," was on the short list for a Booker Prize; Mark Behr, whose novel "The Smell of Apples" has won numerous awards; Tom Coyne, author of "A Gentlemen's Game," a novel that later became a motion picture and Jenny Boully, who won the Associated Writing Program's Journal Prize for her poetry.
All News Stories for Wednesday, January 23, 2002
