Born and raised in Buffalo's Old First Ward,
Andrew Bannister '09 earned an associates degree in communications & media arts from Niagara County Community College, where he received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. He came to understand writing much better working as the editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper,
The Spirit. His influences range from Sharon Olds, Raymond Carver, and William Carlos Williams, to William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and T. S. Eliot. He began at Canisius as a junior, tried a creative writing class, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He found that the techniques learned in creative classes, along with supplemental guidance from faculty, dislodged many of the impediments that stifled his previous attempts at writing. At Canisius, he believes, the emphasis is on the craft of writing: the only way to elevate our work is through practice-we write and revise, write and revise, and through this exploring, develop our abilities and channel our creativity. He is currently building sentences and looking forward to sharing them.
Originally from Spokane, WA,
Dan Falkner '05 earned a bachelor's degree in English and adolescence education from Canisius. He graduated from Bowling Green State University’s creative writing program, earning a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing in 2007. At Bowling Green, Falkner was an assistant editor for
The Mid American Review, studied abroad in France and Africa, and won the program’s Devine Award in fiction writing. He has published fiction in
The Rectangle, among others. Currently, Falkner teaches literature and writing at Jesuit High School in Portland, OR.
To see a current list of Bowling Green State University’s alumni publications, click
here.
Alix Krzemien '08 grew up in the town of Hartland, a few miles outside of Lockport, NY, where the rural landscape -- open fields, woodlands, waterways, and the shores of Lake Ontario -- influences much of her poetry. When writing poetry, she usually finds that her imagination takes her back to these places. Going to college in Buffalo has opened her eyes to other scenes, but she still manages to find snippets of the pastoral in city settings such as the way the snow covers sidewalks or the way the sunlight falls on a busy street. Krzemien is a musician, singer and songwriter, and has traveled to Poland, where she taught Polish students to play the guitar. Her favorite poet is Walt Whitman. She hopes to continue studying his work as well as other mid-nineteenth century American texts during her graduate study in English at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
To read Krzemien's poem,
Old Stars, click
here.
Duyen Nguyen '08 was born in Vietnam and grew up in Buffalo, where she attended City Honors School. She began writing in elementary school and with the encouragement of her English teachers at City Honors, she committed herself seriously to her writing. At Canisius, she learned, among other things, that she does not want to be a lawyer -- ever; that she will always love British literature best; and that she’s never regretted being an English major. Her favorite writers are Jane Austen and Pablo Neruda. She intends to devote her life to studying the former and trying to write poetry with as much beauty and passion as the latter. Currently she is a student in the PhD program in English at Northeastern University, where she is teaching writing.
Jason Pontillo '09 is from Pembroke, NY. He started really "reading" with the Beats, particularly Kerouac, as a teenager -- like so many others have. To that end, he's tried in his writing to be flexible in form and meaning. He says, "whether I've succeeded or will succeed in the future remains to be seen." In his senior year, he worked as an intern at Starcherone Books in Buffalo, and after graduation continues working as an editorial assistant.
To read Pontillo's poem "Through the Baby-talk," click
here.
Joan Stoltman '05 finished her master's work in art history at the Pratt Institute in Summer 2008. Copies of her thesis, “Engage, Perform, Act: How Contemporary Artists Use the Book as Form and the Book as Idea,” were added to the collections of more than a dozen nationally recognized institutions, including the New York Public Library, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her first article, a review of the symposium “Metaphor Taking Shape: Poetry, Art, and the Book” at Yale University in March 2008, appeared in Vol. 31, no. 1 of
Umbrella, a journal dedicated to artists’ books, art books and new media. She and her fellow 2005
Quadrangle alumni Amber Mazza and Josh Paufler still dream of poetry vending machines in every school, and are working towards a small press venture together.
Jon Wheelock ‘09 began writing illustrated short stories on colored construction paper in elementary school, volumes that continually appear whenever his mom finds the opportunity to showcase his cave drawings to friends and family. He also started playing music at a young age, developing an affinity for jazz that has greatly influenced his writing. Coltrane, Mingus, and Miles Davis became his mentors--their unique way of conjuring a story through musical phrases, Jon found, was very much like arranging words in a meaningful way on a page. Jon tries to bring this sensibility to his own work, and hopes that he can continue to explore new opportunities in both music and writing.
Shana Williams ’06, was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and attended City Honors School. At an early age, she discovered her love of literature, and wrote countless short stories, plays, and poems as a child. During her time at Canisius, Shana was a proud member of the McGowan/Urban Learning and Leadership Community and feels blessed to have not only received a full scholarship to pursue her education, but to have been in the presence of some of the best friends and mentors she has ever had the pleasure of meeting. She served as the co-editor of Nia News, a literary publication of the Afro-American society, and also served as the editor-in-chief of the 54th edition of the Quadrangle. In June of 2008, Shana received her M.A. in English from the University at Buffalo, and currently teaches as an adjunct English professor here at Canisius. Shana feels her time at Canisius truly shaped the woman she has become, and she looks forward to a career in teaching and hopes to never stop writing. It’s what keeps her sane.
