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CHAPTER TWELVE Semicolonial Moments: The History and Influence of the University of Montana Creative Writing Program LOIS M. WELCH What do you do out there? —Mark Strand “Why Does Montana Have So Many Good Writers?”asked a 2002 Internet review of Judy Blunt’s memoir Breaking Clean. The reviewer, not surprisingly, didn’t answer this frequently asked question. While there may be no good answer,1 several possibilities converge to sketch a picture of the University of Montana creative writing program as a strong influence on Montana writing, and as a nexus for writers—local, regional, nationally recognized—at conferences, workshops, and readings. Growing visibility of its writing faculty and the success of its graduates have brought the program increasing recognition: in the 1997 US News and World Report national ranking of creative writing programs, the University of Montana’s ranked among the top ten.2 My focus here is on the influence of the program on Montana writing,3 but that influence extends so far that I would conclude with a discussion of the French fascination with Montana writers, were there space to do so. The very category, “Montana writing,” has fuzzy edges. Montana may epitomize the West in the national imagination, but it is hard to distinguish between, say, Terry Tempest Williams’s writing (Utah based) or Kim Barnes’s (Idaho based, University of Montana trained) and Judy Blunt’s eastern Montanabased writing. Further, while my focus is on the creative writing program as a unit, that program’s influence derives from individual writing faculty, from its students, and from an ambiance established early on. Additionally, some Montana writers graduated from the program and taught frequently in it (e.g., David Long) and some never (Ford or Doig); either sort may be part of the 218 Hugo-Land writing community. Many so-called Montana writers (like Bill Kittredge) are not from Montana; some Montana writers (like Ivan Doig) no longer live here; some Montana writers publish only in Montana for Montanans (for example, Rick Newby); some never published in Montana (such as Hugo and Welch). Some nationally recognized writers live in Montana but don’t mingle with local writers (e.g., Jeff Shaara).4 Several nationally recognized writers lived here for a time, then left (Richard Ford, Beverly Lowry, William Pitt Root; Lowry and Root taught in the program). As the creative writing program has gained national reputation, fewer and fewer of its students are native Montanans, so its influence is inevitably becoming more national and more difficult to categorize.5 Further, an important effect like the Hugo House, a nonprofit community center for writers and readers in Seattle, must be credited directly to their native son Richard Hugo’s influence, and only indirectly to that of the University of Montana’s creative writing program.Whether we discuss direct or indirect influence, however, it’s a good story. It is a story with two semicolonial beginnings, rather than just one, and a lot of good stories along the way. My claim is that the University of Montana’s creative writing program is now and has been since its inception a complex positive influence on both the university and the state, providing a welcoming community for writers and one of several cultural bridges between Montanans and their university, itself part of national intellectual culture.6 The university’s creative writing program is of particular interest, I believe, because it is older than most, and thus imbricated in the state’s culture.7 Faculty and graduates of the program have helped shape new generations of writers and readers in Montana,around the country, perhaps even internationally.8 The gauge of influence must, of course, include more than publications and personal connections. Many graduates teach in high schools or universities, some teaching creative writing, some literature and writing. Graduates contribute to Montana literary culture by involvement in activities considered less “artistic,” such as writing grants, computer programs, and academic reports.9 Other graduates have day jobs and write on the side.10 As a community, Missoula encourages and values its writers: witness the annual Montana Festival of the Book (offering sixty Montana writers to five thousand participants in 2006), numerous book groups, and public readings at the university, in bookstores, and at cafés. The Missoula Writing Collaborative, a nonprofit organization, sends writers into more than a dozen local schools each year; the majority of these writers are...

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