February 18, 2003 SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - January was an exceptional month for the faculty of the Susquehanna University Writers' Institute. Two of its instructors - Gary Fincke, professor of English and director of the Writers' Institute, and Tom Bailey, associate professor of English in creative writing - received a total of five publishing contracts that month. In addition, Fincke was awarded a $5,000 fellowship for creative nonfiction from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Fincke received three of the five publishing contracts. The first is a collection of poems, titled Writing Letters for the Blind. Due out in December, the collection won The Journal Award for Poetry from Ohio State University Press, a competition that attracted 900 manuscripts from the United States. In November, the University of Missouri Press will publish Fincke's third collection of short stories, titled The Stone Child. Michigan State University Press will print Kicking Ass, the true story of his son's rock-n-roll life as a member of the signed bands "Lifer" and "Breaking Benjamin," scheduled for publication in 2004. Bailey received publishing contracts from Etruscan Press for a collection of short stories and a novel. His collection of short stories, titled Talking Like an American, is due out this fall. The core stories contained in the collection have earned Bailey a Newhouse Award from the John Gardner Foundation, "The Distinguished Dissertation Award for the Humanities" from Binghamton University, and a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship for Fiction. His novel, The Grace That Keeps This World, is due out in the fall of 2004. Set in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, the novel is told from multiple points of view to relate the story of a family struggling with the elements and the changing tides in American culture. According to Fincke, five publishing contracts in one month is not remarkable for a large master of fine arts program, but it's almost unheard of for a relatively new undergraduate program such as Susquehanna's where teaching is the primary focus. Such success in publishing only serves to bolster the Institute's already nationally recognized program. Bailey agreed that five contracts in one month are unheard of, saying, "It's as if lightning struck in the same spot not twice, but five times. The Writers' Institute in the basement of Hassinger Hall feels like a charged place." Fincke and Bailey are no strangers to publishing success, however. Oxford University Press has published two of Bailey's books, On Writing Short Stories and The Short Story Writer's Companion. Fincke's most recent publications include Blood Ties, a collection of poems printed by Time Being Books in 2002, The Almanac for Desire, another collection of poems published by BkMk Press in 2000, and Emergency Calls, a collection of short stories put out by University of Missouri Press in 1996. In addition, each has received Pushcart Prizes and had their work published in Pushcart anthologies, one of the highest honors bestowed on a creative writer. Bailey's work has also been anthologized in New Stories from the South and received mention in The Best American Short Stories. He and Fincke have been widely published in periodicals such as DoubleTake, The Black Warrior Review, The Paris Review, and Harper's. Fincke has been a writing instructor at Susquehanna for 23 years, in addition to being the men's tennis coach for 21 years. He has been director of The Writers' Institute since it was established in 1993. Bailey taught in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University for five years before accepting the Winifred and Gustave Weber Professorship in the Humanities at Susquehanna University in 1999, which he held until this past fall. Contact: Victoria Kidd 570-372-4119 #vk/3143#