The online literary journal Nine Muses Poetry has announced that “Inside Out,” a work
written by Ferris State University’s coordinator of Creative Writing, Deirdre Fagan,
is one of six poems now under consideration for the “Best of the Net 2018” anthology
published by Sundress Publications. Nominations for the honor are for individual work
published in 2018 and are submitted by the editors of online journals.
Fagan, a College of Arts, Sciences and Education associate professor of English and coordinator of the university’s Literature in Person program, said the poem was one of three she contributed to the online journal that were published there in June 2018. “Inside Out” was chosen from a field of approximately 80 qualifying works to be considered for this possible award.
“Nine Muses is a fairly new journal, and it is an honor to be among their inaugural nominees,” Fagan said. “I submit my works to those journals where the content presented is close to mine in style.”
Fagan added that technology is a friend to the time-honored practice of writing poetry, and an online journal such as Nine Muses reflects how the literary community is responding to its traditional and prospective audiences.
“It seems that there are many journals going online since there are readers there,” Fagan said. “Some journals have limited print runs, especially for poetry. Print-only journals are restrictive by their nature, with the likelihood that you are only being seen there by poetry lovers. Online distribution means your work is available to the world.”
Fagan said she made a conscious effort to focus on creative writing beginning in 2010, and having her poems, fiction and nonfiction writing published has occurred with greater frequency since she joined the Ferris faculty in 2015. The professor had begun her literary efforts by writing literary analysis and critical essays and was contracted to write the reference book, “Critical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work” in 2007 which was published by Facts on File. She said that while she prioritizes her creative writing, Fagan continues to write literary analysis and criticism and recently presented a literary analysis on U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan.
“My essay, ‘Kay Ryan and Poetic Play,’ received Best in Section at the College English Association’s 48th conference, which was held on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina,” Fagan said. “It was a pleasure to make a presentation there, and have it accepted for publication. I am certainly more involved in the creative writing process these days, which I see as an application of my first studying and writing about literature, especially the works of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost.”
The Ryan essay was published in the College English Association journal, CEA Critic, in 2017.
Sundress Publications has not yet announced the pieces that will be printed in the 2018 Best of the Net anthology.
Fagan has also learned that another online publication, the Constellate Literary Journal, has nominated her poem “Homesick” for the 2019 Pushcart Prize. This is the 43rd annual compilation by New York-based Pushcart Press, which was originated in 1976 by Bill Henderson, who continues as founding editor.
The Pushcart Prize honors those works reflecting the best “poetry, short fiction,
essays or literary whatnot” from small presses and journals across the United States.
PHOTO CAPTION: Deirdre Fagan, an associate professor of English and the coordinator
of Ferris State University's Creative Writing program has had a poem, “Inside Out,”
nominated for “Best of the Net 2018,” an anthology that will be published by Sundress
Publications.