Dear friends,

Our three alumni authors -- Anthony Cody, Jeffrey Schultz, and Marisol Baca -- have now run their Creative Writing Marathons, and their poems have been fantastic! Marisol's last poem published this morning. To catch up on the incredible writing you may have missed, visit our project website at FresnoWriters.com and make sure to spend a little time there with their generous work.

We are now in the final final push of this first installment of The Fresno 15. We have until 11:59 PM on Thursday night, Oct. 31, to reach our goal of $5,000 to build the new Larry Levis Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing. As of this afternoon, with just a day and a half left, we are at the 53% mark, $2,680, which is a terrific achievement for our first campaign. The most gratifying part for us: 47 individual donors have come together to support this project so far. The amounts contributed might be small, but when pooled together, we are doing something great together.

Thanks to my Creative Writing Alumni Chapter colleague Esmeralda Gamez for compiling our list of shout-outs from last week's contributors. They were:

Pam Weiner, Tim Skeen, David St. John, Becky Brown, Nene Casares, Cassandra and Derek McGuire, Armen and Daniel Bacon, James Espinoza, Angela Chaidez Vincent, Will Freeney, Elizabeth Martin, Cindy Wathen-Kennedy and 3 anonymous donors.

Now is the time we need YOU, our supporters, to help push us past the finish line! Please share The Fresno 15 project in your networks. If each of you inspired just one person apiece to support this project, we'll have a shot at eclipsing our goal. Thank you for supporting the work of Fresno writers.

Many thanks,

-Jefferson.

Hello everyone,

There’s less than ten more days for The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. We want to give a huge thank you to Anthony Cody for the amazing poetry he shared with us. Jeffrey Schultz is on poem 14 out of 15, so very close to the end of his marathon. Marisol Baca is on poem 7 out of 15, halfway there. Thanks to these alumni for contributing and for sharing their work with us.

As of yesterday, October 21st, we have raised 38% of our goal. Big thank you to everyone who donated and supported our campaign last week and who continue to read along. We received some donations late yesterday and we want to thank you too; you will be included in next weekend’s post as well. I know I’ve said it before, but we really are touched and overwhelmed by how supportive everyone has been.

Thank you: Frances Levine, Steven Church, Erin Webster, Sylvia Chatagnier, Barbara Baca, Jacqueline Thomas, Kimberly Baca, Sylvia Savala, and one Anonymous donor.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for sharing and spreading the word, and thank you for supporting the next generation of Fresno Writers. One more week of powerful poetry left. We hope you continue to read and enjoy.

-- Esmeralda Gamez, on behalf of Fresno State Creative Writing Alumni Chapter

Hello, friends! We are now passing the midway point of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. We're at 24% of our fundraising goal as of today. We are hoping for a big finish!

We just posted the first poem by our third author, Marisol Baca, this morning. Marisol is the current Fresno Poet Laureate, the first woman to serve in the role. Her stunning debut poetry collection, Tremor, won the Three Mile Harbor Press prize a couple years ago. Sol is writing half of her pieces inspired by surrealist painter Remedios Varo, and half of her pieces inspired by stories about her great grandmother and her sisters.

Marisol's poems are slow-burn, and they pack so much punch in so little space. She will be posting poems from today (Oct. 16) through Oct. 30. Our first poet, Anthony Cody, just finished his marathon today; our second poet, Jeffrey Schultz, is halfway through his marathon.

Thanks for following our progress. Please keep sharing our posts and telling your friends about The Fresno 15.

Am writing,

-Jefferson.

Hello everyone, we’re beginning our third week of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. We hope you’ve been enjoying the poetry from Anthony Cody and Jeffrey Schultz.

As of today, we have received so much support that we’ve raised 23% of our goal for the new Larry Levis Scholarship. Many of these donations have been in memory and in honor of members of our writing community, who are missed every day.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve been receiving with this project, but these donations have truly touched us, and have reminded us of why we are doing this project in the first place; to leave something that will support and encourage the next generation of writers who will come after us.

Thank you: Haley Laningham, Diane Barber, Steve Dzerigian and Sally Stallings, Kathy Fagan and George Kovalenko.

Your support is truly appreciated and we hope you continue to read and enjoy the poetry that will be coming up in the next two weeks. Thank you!

-- Esmeralda Gamez, on behalf of the Fresno State Creative Writing Alumni Chapter

Hello, friends! We are at the midway point of week two of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. We're at 18% of our fundraising goal as of today, which is nice and steady. Please keep spreading the word about our project.

We just posted the first poem by our second author, Jeffrey Schultz, this morning. Jeff has two excellent National Poetry Series collections to his name, including his latest, What Ridiculous Things We Could Ask of Each Other from 2014. Jeff is writing his 15 pieces as "variations" on themes from the late poet Larry Levis, in honor of the namesake of our alumni chapter's scholarship fund.

Jeff's poems are deeply intelligent, and they cover a lot of emotional territory and literary history in a compact space. He will be posting poems from today (Oct. 9) through Oct. 23. Our first poet, Anthony Cody, is past the halfway mark in his marathon; Anthony's poems will be posting through Oct. 16.

Thanks for reading. If you can, please ask your friends to consider supporting The Fresno 15 as we head toward the halfway point.

Am writing,

-Jefferson.

Hello, everyone. As we wrap up our first week of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon, the Creative Writing Alumni Chapter would like to thank those of you who have been following along and reading the amazing poems that Anthony Cody has crafted so far. Starting Wednesday the 9th, we will also be posting Jeffrey Schultz’s poems, along with Anthony’s, and Marisol Baca’s poetry will begin on the 16th.

We want to give a very special thank you to the people who have donated and helped support our goal for the new Larry Levis Scholarship. Thanks to you, we have raised 17% of our goal in the first week!

Thank you: Jefferson Beavers, Corrinne Hales, John Hales, Charles Hanzlicek, Linnea Alexander, Peter Robertson, Esmeralda Gamez, Honora Chapman, Ronald Dzerigian, Gabriel Ibarra, Marina Ibarra, Dianne Hanzlicek, Sara Borjas, Ethan Chatagnier, and one anonymous supporter.

We truly appreciate your support and hope you continue to enjoy the amazing poetry from all three talented poets.

-- Esmeralda Gamez, on behalf of Fresno State Creative Writing Alumni Chapter

Hello, everyone! Welcome to The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. I'm super excited to see what our alumni authors have in store for us this month!

We just posted the first poem by our first author, Anthony Cody, this morning. Anthony is a grad student in our MFA Creative Writing program, and he will publish his debut collection of poems, Borderland Apocrypha, in April 2020. Anthony will become only the third MFA alumnus in the history of our program, dating back to 1995, who will have published their debut book BEFORE finishing their MFA!

Anthony's poems are more than poems; to me, they are full multimedia experiences. His meditations on the Dust Bowl era are strikingly current. He will be posting poems from today (Oct. 2) through Oct. 16.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for sharing our posts. And big thanks to those of you who've supported the project so far.

Am writing,

-Jefferson.