Syracuse is Having a Moment: New and Upcoming Work from Former Students and Professors
Syracuse has quite an extensive list of notable alumni from their arts programs – including Aaron Sorkin, Joyce Carol Oates, Betsey Johnson, Sol LeWitt, Shirley Jackson, Alice Sebold, Cheryl Strayed, and Lou Reed, to name just a few. The bandier program itself has produced some of the biggest names in indie music in recent years, including ungraduate classmates and good friends Claud and Clairo, the latter just releasing a highly acclaimed sophomore album, Sling (check out this video from her earliest EP, which features much of the university campus and surrounding neighborhood).
The prestigious Syracuse MFA in Creative Writing program has been prolific in the first half of 2021, with a few notable bestsellers and highly anticipated reads. As a native Syracusan, I have been compiling some must-reads, so you don’t have to (in order of release):
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, George Saunders, released January 2021
Saunders brings his classroom teachings to the general public, pairing 7 short stories from Russia’s most brilliant writers of literary realism in the late nineteenth century (Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, and Gogol) with his experiences teaching them. He contextualizes translational quirks, student commentary, and normative readings of the texts to explain their lasting power in the cultural lexicon. This compilation is an excellent read for writers attempting to hone their craft and learn from the masters, while also enjoying the cheeky and prophetic writing of Saunders himself.
Wayward, Dana Spiotta, released July 2021
Spiotta, like Saunders, is a faculty of Syracuse’s MFA program and examines life in the Syracuse writing community with her new work. Her new novel centers a menopausal mother questioning her ethics as a new resident of Syracuse’s Sedgwick neighborhood. The neighborhood, formerly extravagant before the city descended into Rust Belt-induced depression, is an eclectic mix of urban blight, architectural rarities, and grassroots organization. Sam struggles to discover if her midlife yearnings for minimalist living and downsizing from her suburban lifestyle can be perceived as disingenuous; she often feels she is both an interloper and voyeur when participating in community events or political conversations (and, later on, when she witnesses a crime). Robust with local history and political nuance, this book covers a gamut of themes from social integration to femininity to aging. Watch her discuss the new work with Mark Krotov here.
Afterparties, Anthony Veasna So, anticipated release August 2021.
Veasna So was on the precipice of literary stardom, writing stories for major literary outlets like n+1 and the Paris Review, when he tragically passed away at the age of 28. This posthumous volume of short stories, many of which were written during his time as a student in the Syracuse MFA program, cover immense ground, including his identities as queer, AAPI, first-generation American-Cambodian, and a Californian. The collection is highly anticipated, with rave reviews from the New Yorker and the New York Times.
Here’s hoping you appreciate these works as much as this native does.
