Former MAW Students Now Novelists

Ex Libris congratulates three graduates of the M.A. in Writing program who have completed novels in 2006: Bayo Ojikutu, Amanda Trimble, and Cheryl Hagedorn.

Bayo Ojikutu, a 1999 graduate of the MAW and currently an instructor in DePaul's English department, has just published his second novel, Free Burning (Three Rivers Press, ISBN: 1400082897). According to the publisher's press release, this novel brings to life the world of Chicago's South Side:

Tommie Simms, the novel's protagonist, is a product of this place. Despite the fact that he is college-educated and works in a downtown insurance firm, he still calls a sometimes destructive neighborhood his home— this South Shore, which he refers to as the "Four Corners." Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Tommie is laid off and, as his period of unemployment extends and his overdue bills accumulate, he finds himself frequently in the company of his petty criminal cousins, corner-side hustlers, loan sharks, and crooked cops. Will he suffer the consequences of experimenting with a marginal existence fraught with peril, and in the process lose his respectability, his livelihood, and his family? Or will he return to the legitimate, "square" path with which he was never wholly satisfied? Can he make either choice without losing his home, much less his sense of self, in a changing world?

Winner of the Washington Prize for Fiction and the Great American Book Contest, Ojikutu's first novel, 47th Street Black, has received copious praise. USA Today called it "a blistering social history… and exceptionally well-written and powerful literary achievement." And Publisher's Weekly called 47th Street Black an "accomplished and engaging story of gangster life on the South Side."

Amanda Trimble, another 1999 graduate of the MAW, recently published her first novel Singletini (Three Rivers Press, ISBN: 0307238644). The author's Web site (http://www.amandatrimble.com) offers this synopsis of the story:

Meet Victoria Hart. She's sassy, sparkly, and taking the Chicago dating scene by storm as a "wingwoman"—a modern-day matchmaker hired to help clueless guys find Miss Right. With nights on the town, drinks on the house, and clothes on the credit card, Vic is loving her glam singletini lifestyle. There's just one little problem...okay, maybe two. She needs to keep her new career a secret, and the first of her friends just got engaged—ENGAGED! Vic isn't sure she's ready to be that grown up yet—she likes her life the way it is. Not that being a wingwoman is all wine and roses. With clients ranging from cowboys and would-be porn stars to her best friend's boss, Vic quickly discovers this late-night Cupid gig is trickier than she anticipated. To make matters worse, she somehow agrees to help plan her friend's swanky wedding, which is complicated by a never-ending to-do list and a very shady groom.

With too many wingwoman gigs, bridezilla requests, and more and more friends eyeing the altar, Vic is starting to feel a little lost, a lot confused and completely bombarded by love connections. Does she really want to stay solo...or use those wingwoman skills for herself?

Cheryl Hagedorn, who graduated from the MAW in 2005, announces the publication of her novel Park Ridge: A Senior Center Murder (Booklocker.com, Inc., ISBN: 1601450230). Here is the author's précis of the work:

Four elderly pinochle players engage in a dangerous new game where murder is trump. An inverted detective story, PARK RIDGE allows the reader to sit in on conversations between the four murdering card players and to eavesdrop on each murderer's internal thoughts while they kill. Using videotaped interviews with both suspects and victims as material for a conference presentation, the luscious Italian center director uncovers the psychological motivation behind the crimes. But will the cowboy detective be able to prove who did it? In the case of the murder by banana, he can't; the perpetrator goes uncharged.

Cheryl also told Ex Libris of her writing life after graduation: "When I graduated from DePaul Univerisity's Masters in Writing Program in 2005, I had visions of doing academic writing, certainly non-fiction. In fact, I'm halfway finished with a biography of Theodora Van Wagenen Ward, an authority on Emily Dickinson. Murder mysteries couldn't have been farther off the radar. Short story murders had somehow come up in a class that I was teaching at the senior center. I proposed that we sponsor a "Murder She Wrote" contest. Several of the entries I wrote had potential, I thought – one in particular about pinochle players. This evolved over months into the novel, PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder. Having little experience outside the classroom in writing fiction, it came as a surprise when I realized how easily murder flowed through my fingers to the keyboard!"