Alumni in the News
Kirstin Allio (BA ’96), a novelist who lives in Providence, RI, and has taught writing at Brown, is one of five young writers honored by the National Book Foundation in its annual “5 under 35” recognition, as someone “whose work is particularly promising and exciting and is among the best of a new generation of writers.” Allio was selected for her first novel, Garner (Coffee House Press, 2005).
Jennifer Clement (BA ’81) is a writer living in Mexico City, Mexico. Her recent books are a collection of poetry: Jennifer Clement: New and Selected Poems (Shearsman Books, UK, 2008) and the novel The Poison That Fascinates (Canongate Books, UK, 2008). In 2007 Clement received a MacDowell Fellowship.
Christopher Desantis (BA ’92) recently published Clocks of New York: An Illustrated History (McFarland & Co., 2006), a richly illustrated work that chronicles the history of public clocks in NYC.
The Auteur, a comedy produced by Amber Geiger (BA ’96)and Byrd McDonald and directed and written by James Westby, premiered at this spring’s Tribeca Film Festival. Go to www.theauteurmovie.com or www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
Susan Johnston (BA ’98) is the coauthor of Party Favors, a novel about politics and greed published by The Lyons Press, an imprint of The Globe Pequot Press, in 2008. Johnston is a five-time published playwright whose works have been produced all over the country. She’s been the recipient of a MacDowell Colony residency and a Jerome Fellowship and has worked as a film industry reporter for Interview magazine as well as a writer for A&E’s popular Biography series.
Kaki King (BA ’01), along with fellow composers Michael Brook and Eddie Vedder, was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture, for their work on Into the Wild. King also released her latest album, Dreaming of Revenge, on Velour in 2008.
Melissa Matlins (BA ’00), who serves as marketing director for BKSK Architects in NYC, has worked with the firm to open the first building in NYC designed to achieve a LEED Platinum rating: The Queens Botanical Garden. LEED is a ratings system for sustainable building design.
David B. Schwartz (BA ’93) is vice president of business affairs for Disney-ABC Domestic Television, where he works on the cutting edge of new technological distribution platforms for movies and TV shows. But, by night, he writes. His recent comic book series, Meltdown, one of the most critically acclaimed series of 2007, has been collected into a book entitled Meltdown: The Definitive Collection (Image Comics, 2007).
Christopher S. Stewart (BA ’96) is the author of Hunting the Tiger: The Fast Life and Violent Death of the Balkans’ Most Dangerous Man (St. Martin’s Press, 2008), a book about Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic, the Serbian mobster and warlord at the center of the Balkan wars in the 1990s. Martin is a contributing editor at Condé Nast Portfolio. His work has also appeared in GQ, Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Salon, Wired, and other publications. Learn more at www.christophersstewart.com.
Roben Torosyan (BA ’91, MA ’96), of the Center for Academic Excellence at Fairfield University, CT, was recently appointed assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the Graduate School of Education & Applied Professions, and published “Public Discourse and the Stewart Model of Critical Thinking” in The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moment of Zen in the Art of Fake News (Blackwell, 2007).
Maryrose Wood (BA ’96) is having two new novels for young adults published in 2008. My Life: The Musical (Delacorte) is a comic tale about two teenagers who are obsessed with Broadway musicals. How I Found The Perfect Dress (Berkley Books) is a sequel to the ’07 release, Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, and continues the adventures of Morgan Rawlinson. Wood is currently working on a new book, to be published by Delacorte: A Beautiful Nothing. Visit www.maryrosewood.com.