SEMO graduate student, poet wins fellowship

Southeast Missouri State University graduate student Kristi Murray made some noise when she got the news that she had won a $22,000 annual fellowship to a prestigious doctorate program in creative writing at a New York college.

"I screamed so loud that my neighbors came downstairs to see if I was OK," she said.

The 25-year-old graduate assistant in Southeast's English department, won one of two creative writing fellowships handed out by Binghamton University for the coming school year.

Murray said Binghamton has one of the top creative writing programs in the nation, particularly in the area of poetry.

While pursuing a doctorate, she'll also teach writing classes and have opportunities to be involved in poetry conferences and Binghamton's national literary magazine.

Many contemporary poets got their start at Binghamton, she said. "I went through the faculty list, and I had read all of them." Binghamton is a state university in upstate New York.

The good news came about two weeks ago when she phoned the school to ask about her fellowship application. That set off an impromptu celebration. "I started jumping up and down all by myself, running laps in my apartment," said Murray.

In addition to the fellowship, she won the Newhouse Award from Binghamton University for best submitted portfolio from an incoming poetry student. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

Dr. Susan Swartwout, a Southeast English professor and Murray's adviser, was just as excited about the news. "It really is a dream package as far as graduate school goes," said Swartwout, who compared the fellowship to winning the lottery. "This is poetry lotto, and she won," Swartwout said.

She first taught Murray in a freshman creative writing class six years ago. "Her writing was always very crisp and clean," Swartwout said.

Murray also was willing to take suggestions and revise her work, Swartwout said. "She is truly exceptional," Swartwout said.

In addition to her fellowship and prize from Binghamton University, Murray recently received the Excellence in Teaching Award presented by Southeast to the best graduate assistant on campus.

To be accepted into the doctorate program at Binghamton, Murray had to submit six poems as well as various other forms of writing, including a short story and an example of scholarly writing. She also included a novel she wrote for her thesis.

But Murray said poetry remains her favorite kind of writing. "I have been writing poetry since I was 3 or 4 years old, even though it didn't make sense to anybody but me," she said.

"With poetry, every poem is more like its own separate story," said Murray.

She will graduate from Southeast in May with a master's degree in English. She believes poetry is becoming more popular because it fits in with today's instant-gratification society.

"I think poetry is going to become the new novel," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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