Hello, everyone. On behalf of the Fresno State Creative Writing Alumni Chapter, I wanted to take a moment to send one last update on this year's fourth and next-to-last installment of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon.

In the end, we received 46 generous gifts for a total of $4,060. We hit the 81% mark of our $5,000 goal! The alumni committee is deeply grateful for your support of Fresno State students.

Many thanks to our supporters who made gifts to the marathon on its final two days: Diniz Borges, Steve Dzerigian, Talia Kolluri, Cassandra McGuire, Eric Parker, Jer Xiong, and two anonymous donors. And many thanks again to our three marathon writers this year, the amazing Lena Mubsutina, Steven Sanchez, and Michelle Brittan Rosado.

Sometime in 2023, we will send you all a letter in the mail, updating you on our progress to build the Larry Levis Memorial Scholarship endowment. Until then, we'd like to introduce you to this year's Larry Levis Scholar, the nonfiction writer Rosie Bates. She shares an excerpt from one of her essays in the attached video. We hope you enjoy hearing Rosie's work. (Link is below.)

Thank you, sincerely.

-Jefferson.

Hello, friends. We now have just two days left for this fourth installment of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. Thank you for making a gift to support this project!

Michelle Brittan Rosado has one poem left that just published this morning, and both Steven Sanchez and Lena Mubsutina have completed their marathons. Please read their exclusive new works at FresnoWriters.com and share their incredible poetry and prose in your networks.

Shouts out to our supporters who made gifts to the campaign from Oct. 22-29. Many thanks to: David Brodie, Will Freeney, Lee Herrick, Melanie Kachadoorian, Melinda Medeiros, Diana Portugal, Isaac Weil, Marty Williams, and one anonymous donor.

The Fresno State Creative Writing Alumni Chapter is now asking YOU to please tell others about this project today and Monday. We are at 76% of our $5,000 goal as of this morning, and our alumni committee would really be grateful if you can help us reach our goal to build the Larry Levis Scholarship. YOU are our best ambassador! We will share one final email update to wrap up the project in a week or so.

Long live Fresno Writers!

-Jefferson.

Hello, friends! Today, we enter the stretch run of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. The campaign ends in 10 days, on Monday, Oct. 31.

The Creative Writing Alumni Chapter is excited to report that to date we've had 29 supporters make gifts to the marathon, for a total of $3,220. We are at 64% of our $5,000 goal. We're hoping for one last big push this coming week!

Shouts out to our most recent project supporters:

Linnea Alexander, Armen Bacon, Carole Firstman, Marti Fredericks, Jorge and Irene Garcia, Gabriel Ibarra, Tanya Nichols, Mai Der Vang and Anthony Cody, Soul Vang, Cindy Wathen-Kennedy, and 3 anonymous donors.

And an extra-special shout out to Corrinne Hales, who made a second gift.

Our second and third alumni authors, Steven Sanchez and Michelle Brittan Rosado, are still producing incredible pieces over at FresnoWriters.com in support of the marathon. Please go read their stuff, along with the incredible works of Lena Mubsutina.

And most importantly, PLEASE SHARE news of The Fresno 15 in your social media and email networks in the coming days. We need your help, to spread the word. Let them know that YOU support the future generation of Fresno writers, and invite them to join us. Thank you,

-- CW Alumni Chapter organizing committee

Hello, friends. We are now at the halfway point of this installment of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon! We are at 21% of our fundraising goal. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

Today, we just posted the first piece by our third Fresno State alumni author, Michelle Brittan Rosado, and she will be writing through the end of the month. I've long admired Michelle's tender, adventurous poetry. Her latest poems, as she mentions in her opening author's note, "may not have come into existence without the invitation to contribute to The Fresno 15." All of the poems use the idea of a window as the starting point, and the opportunity to gaze into and from these windows in the coming days will surely be a delight.

The 15th and final piece from our first author, Lena Mubsutina, will publish late today. Our second author, Steven Sanchez, is now just past the halfway mark of his marathon. Steven's posts will continue through Oct. 23. Visit FresnoWriters.com to read the latest work of these extraordinary writers.

Please share our posts in your social media and email networks! As we now look toward the finish line of our campaign, we need your help in spreading the word.

Thank you,

-Jefferson.

Hello, readers! Welcome to the second week of this fourth installment of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. We are approaching 20% of our fundraising goal!

Today, we just posted the first piece by our second author, Steven Sanchez. A widely published poet with three books, Steven is a Lambda and CantoMundo fellow whose works ache with tenderness and crackle with discovery. As one of the five founding members of Fresno State's Creative Writing Alumni Chapter, as well as an organizer with the collective Fecund Stitch, Steven is a respected collaborator throughout the Fresno writers community. So it feels great to put the focus on his own new works in this venue.

Our first author, Lena Mubsutina, has hit the midway mark of her marathon, and her pieces will continue to post through Oct. 16. The tension in her story excerpts has been building! I'm looking forward to this next week, as both Steven and Lena's pieces publish side by side each day.

Visit FresnoWriters.com to follow the work of these alumni writers.

Thanks for reading. And please share our posts in your social media and email networks. Thanks to everyone who has supported with a gift and told your friends so far.

With respect,

-Jefferson.

Hello, everyone! Today, we are at the 1-week mark of The Fresno 15 Creative Writing Marathon. Thank you for joining us on this campaign.

The Creative Writing Alumni Chapter is excited to report that we've received 15 gifts so far, for a total of $820. We are at 16% of our $5,000 goal. We are feeling grateful for all the love.

Shouts out to our project supporters of the past week:

Jessica Barrett, Jefferson Beavers, David Borofka, Angela Chaidez Vincent, Ronald Dzerigian, Corrinne Hales, Charles Hanzlicek, Marisa Mata, Patricia O'Connor, Peter Robertson, Tim Skeen, Pam Weiner, and 2 anonymous donors.

If you know these folks, please give them a virtual pat on the back! We appreciate them. And please continue telling your friends about the project, through social media and 1:1 connections. We've got lots of great writing to share through the end of the month.

-- CW Alumni Chapter organizing committee

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

We just posted the first piece by our first author, Lena Mubsutina, this morning. Lena's extraordinary debut novel, Amreekiya, won an Arab American Book Award. The book's portrayal of its multiethnic protagonist, Isra, is so vivid and tender and necessary, especially in the divisive United States of the 21st century. I'm greatly looking forward to reading Lena's new work for the marathon, as she shares with us a trio of poems and a dozen excerpts from her forthcoming second novel.

New works by Lena will be posted from today (Oct. 2) through Oct. 16. Visit FresnoWriters.com to follow Lena's writing.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts in your networks. And big thanks to those of you who've supported the project thus far.

With gratitude,

-Jefferson.