It's been over a year, and folks are still calling me the new Jeff Lodge. But considering how good a job my predecessor did, I still take that as a compliment.  Indeed, it was a good year for everyone involved with the program. There were several notable publishing successes by our students, more awards for the faculty, and as many of you are well aware, Blackbird made international news with the publication of a previously unpublished poem by Sylvia Plath.

In the meantime, the program garnered more good press with its annual First Novelist and Levis Reading Prize awards. At the same time, our Visiting Writers Series brought the likes of Gerald Stern and Ellen Bryant Voigt to VCU, as well as acclaimed author George Saunders and VCU's MFA alum Sheri Reynolds.

Thus, not to sound too much like Frank Sinatra, it was a very good year. And with an amazing group of entering students, we're looking forward to having an even bigger and better one.

Thom Didato
VCU English Graduate Programs Coordinator