Gerry LaFemina
Professor and Teacher
Noted Professor and Literary Arts Activist
Gerry LaFemina has taught at Kirtland Community College. West Virginia University, Wheeling Jesuit University, Sarah Lawrence College, and currently at Frostburg State University and in the Carlow University low-residency MFA Program. At Kirtland, he developed the country's first Associate in Fine Arts Program in the country, and at Frostburg he developed the University's Center for Literary Arts. His writing about pedagogy has appeared in The Writer's Chronicle, in Text: the Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs, and in Pedagogy. He's served on the Board of Directors of the AWP and as an external evaluator of several Creative Writing Programs. His textbook, Composing Poetry: a Guide to Writing Poems and Thinking Lyrically comes out later this year.
Private Classes & Manuscript Review
Guest Teaching
On Teaching & Pedagogy
Often Gerry gets invited to give a craft talk or do a guest workshop; many of these programs are open to the public.
Winter Poetry Workshop
A 5-6 week workshop will begin in early 2018. For more information, Email for details .
A 5-6 week workshop will begin in early 2018. For more information, Email for details .
Gerry writes and publsihes about creative writing pedagogy and teaching. The following essays are available on line:
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Lab Work: Creative Writing, Critical Writing, Creative Obsessions and the Critical Essay
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Fields of Inquiry: Poetic Composition, Revision, and Transcendence
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Teaching Craft, Teaching Criticism: The Creative Writer in the Literature Classroom
- More than Just Mentorship and Modeling: Creative Writers and Pedagogy
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Demystifying and Demythifying the Workshop: On the Supposed 'Lore' of Creative Writing Pedagogy
Gerry LaFemina hosts private wrokshops and does works individually with private students in poetry and fiction writing, He also performs manuscript editing services. Writers interested in working with Gerry should query about a schedule and are also urged to know his work some.
People who have worked with Gerry have gone on to publish books with major university presses, published in serious
literary journals, and published on smaller literary presses.
Gerry's criticism is honest--he praises what's working, points out what isn't and explains why it isn't working--and reflects his years of
experience as an editor, writer, writing teacher, and critic. Gerry does try to understand his students' personal aesthetics, and guides them based on fidelity to that aesthetic and appropriate challenges to it.
People who have worked with Gerry have gone on to publish books with major university presses, published in serious
literary journals, and published on smaller literary presses.
Gerry's criticism is honest--he praises what's working, points out what isn't and explains why it isn't working--and reflects his years of
experience as an editor, writer, writing teacher, and critic. Gerry does try to understand his students' personal aesthetics, and guides them based on fidelity to that aesthetic and appropriate challenges to it.
For more information including schedules and rates,
email Gerry
.