Gregory Wojcikewych (Writing, 1998) is the recent author The Presidents Did What? , a kid's book on U.S. presidential history published by Brandylane Publishers and illustrated by C. Rod. Writing under the pseudonym Wag Harrison, Wojcikewych has worked as an award-winning educator and school administrator. Beyond his writing degree, he holds advanced degrees in history and education.
Pitt MFA alumna Jan Beatty (1990) is the winner of the Red Hen Nonfiction Award for her memoir, American Bastard (2021). A new chapbook, Skydog, is forthcoming from Lefty Blondie Press in 2022. Her sixth book, The Body Wars (2020), was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. In the New York Times, Naomi Shihab Nye said: "Jan Beatty’s new poems in 'The Body Wars”' shimmer with luminous connection, travel a big life and grand map of encounters." Previous books include Jackknife: New and Collected Poems (2018 Paterson Prize) named by Sandra Cisneros on LitHub as her favorite book of 2019; The Switching/Yard, Red Sugar, Boneshaker, and Mad River—all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Awards include the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, Discovery/The Nation Prize finalist, Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, Paterson Prize, $10,000 Artists Grant from the
Pittsburgh Foundation, and a $15,000 Creative Achievement Award in Literature from the Heinz Foundation. For 25 years, Beatty hosted and produced Prosody, a public radio show on NPR-affiliate WYEP-FM featuring the work of local and national writers. She worked as a waitress, a welfare caseworker, an abortion counselor, and in maximum-security prisons for many years. For fifteen years she directed creative writing and the Madwomen in the Attic Workshops at Carlow University. She was also Interim Director, Director of the Carlow International MFA Program, and Distinguished Writer in Residency. Beatty will retire from full-time teaching in January of 2022 to pursue full-time writing.
Gary Fidel, who graduated in 1972, has been living in New York City and penning a series of legal suspense novels. The fifth and latest installment of the series, Sands Wave, was published this past spring.
Robert L. Byer (Literature, 1973) was appointed as Chief Counsel to the 2021 Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission (nominated by Commission Chair and Pitt Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg); also in May 2021, Byer was designated as a Life Member of the American Law Institute in 2021, in recognition of over 25 years as an Elected Member of the Institute.
Paul Zobrod (BA, 1958; MA, 1962; PhD, 1967) recently retired after a long career that included 30 years as an English professor at Allegheny College in Meadville, Penna., followed by a 20-year career teaching composition and humanities at the Crownpoint, N.M., regional campus of the Navajo tribal college, plus 10 years as an adjunct professor of comparative mythoogy at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif. Among his scholarly contibutions, his 1983 Diné bahane': The Navajo Creation Story (University of New Mexico Press) is now in its sixteenth printing.
The hard-hitting memoir Punch Me Up to the Gods (HMH Books), by MFA alumnus Brian Broome, has received a 2021 Kirkus Award. Broome will be a 2022 Writer in Residence at St. Mary's College, in Morago, Calif. Broome's memoir, author Kiese Laymon writes, "obliterates what we thought were the limitations of not just the American memoir, but the possibilities of the American paragraph. I’m not sure a book has ever had me sobbing, punching the air, dying of laughter, and needing to write as much as Brian Broome’s staggering debut. This sh*t is special.” The memoir includes a foreword by Pitt Writing's Yona Harvey.
When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids, by Ryan Rydzewski (BA, Writing, 09) and Gregg Behr,was published by Hachette in spring of 2021, with a foreword by Rogers' widow Joanne Rogers.
Zoë Afful (BS Psychology, Writing minor, 2016) earned an MBA from the University of Maryland in 2019. She currently manages an engineering office.
Dennis Palumbo (BA, 1975) is busy as always out on the West Coast. A prolific author, he published an article this past summer in Suspense magazine for authors working through the COVID pandemic. More recently, he was featured in a video interview for the Southern California Writers Association.
"Roethke Meets Father John Misty," a poem by Mike Good (BA, Writing, 2011), appeared last year in Waxwing magazine. Good is currently a managing editor for Autumn House Press in Pittsburgh.
Editor's Note: We publish alumni news in the Fall/Winter issue, but welcome news year-round. Please update us on what is happening here. Faculty, staff, and grad students can keep us posted on publications, promotions, prizes, projects, and other news here.