Read, write, and make books on the coast of Maine.
English and Book Arts
The wild coastal region of Downeast Maine captivates the imagination of poets, writers, and artists. Drawing inspiration from this setting, the English and Book Arts Program offers individualized training in literature with a special focus on creative writing, publishing, and book arts.
The Program’s hallmark curriculum combines the study of literature with creative writing and the art of making and publishing books in a unique natural environment. Students elect courses in American, British, and world literature, and film. They practice their craft as writers through these courses and through workshops in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting. Through class work and internship opportunities, students gain invaluable experience in book and periodical publication in its many different forms—fine letterpress, desktop, digital, and multi-media.
Students are directly involved in editing, book design, printing, and marketing of various publications, including books produced by the UMM Press. Work takes place in small classroom settings and in the Program’s professional Book Arts Studio, all located in the last untouched region of the Eastern Seaboard.
Because the English and Book Arts Program is formally recognized as unique, you may be eligible for a tuition discount.
Career Preparation
There is no better time to study English than the present. Historically, the demand has never been higher for individuals with outstanding skills in written and spoken communication. With its emphasis on writing, publishing, and individualized instruction, the English and Book Arts Program uniquely prepares its majors for success.
The Program provides a seamless transition to graduate degrees in English, creative writing, and book arts, but it also provides a solid foundation for other careers: journalism, editing, publishing, teaching, marketing, public relations, archives and museum management, law, library science, and broadcasting. Importantly, all students leave the Program with job-related skills in writing, editing, publishing, and the aesthetics of book design.
Program of Study
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Meet the Faculty
The faculty of the English and Book Arts Program is distinguished with remarkable professional advancement and accomplishment.
Robert Froese, Professor of English - Click for details
After receiving acclaim for his first novel The Hour of Blue, Robert
Froese has gone on to publish three recent novels, The Forgotten
Condition of Things (2001), A Dark Music (2006), and The Origins of
Misgivings (2009). He also helped to inaugurate Stone Island Press,
the contemporary Maine literary imprint of the UMM Press as well as
the Flay Bay Writers Collective.
Marcus LiBrizzi, Professor of English - Click for details
Since 2007, Marcus LiBrizzi has published three books with a fourth
coming out in June 2011, Ghosts of Acadia. Two of these books are
scholarly and two are creative nonfiction. His work has received
national attention: Dark Woods, Chill Waters was the book that
inspired an ABC Extreme Make-Over—Home Edition episode in
Millbridge, Maine, in 2007.
Lost Atusville also received a national
spotlight 2009, when it was featured in a front-page review in The New
Republic and when it was mentioned in an online editorial page of The
New York Times.
Gerard NeCastro, Professor of English - Click for details
Gerard NeCastro has edited Mankind, a TEAMS volume of the most
popular medieval play; he founded Medica: The Society for the
Study of Healing in the Middle Ages; he created and maintains the
eChaucer website, which includes all of Chaucer’s texts, including
original translations and a complete concordance; he also created and
maintains Stage to Page, a website that includes almost all Middle
English drama and miscellaneous Tudor plays.
Bernie Vinzani, Associate Professor of Art - Click for details
Bernie Vinzani, achieving recognition in his field, was featured in
the following publications: Hand Papermaking 25, showcasing
work from 25 papermakers celebrating the 25th anniversary of the journal Hand
Papermaking, Beltsville, Maryland, 2010; Sylvie Turner’s
The Book of Fine Paper (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998). In
addition, he designed and organized the book arts printing facility
and the Gallery for the Book at UMM and was the site host for the
International Paper and Book Intensive at UMM in July 2010.
Carol Wolf, Associate Professor of English - Click for details
Since 2003, Carol Wolf has written or co-authored four
successful grant proposals including the $250,000 MELMAC Support
Early Success in College Grant. She has authored a paper on “The
Engaged Campus and College Access” for Campus Compact’s 20th
Anniversary Visioning Summit, Chicago, IL. 17 October 2006. With
Lois-Ann Kuntz (UMM—Psychology) she participated in a poster
session, “Service Learning Encourages Students to Find Their Voice,”
Demonstrating the Public Value of Higher Education: A Northeast
Regional Campus Compact Conference. Worcester, MA. 16 April 2004.
She has also presented on Student Success at MELMAC Education
Foundation Peer Learning Conferences and on Early College at
statewide forums sponsored by the Mitchell Institute. Additionally,
she worked on the UMS Chancellor’s Committee on College Readiness
(2005) and is a member of the national faculty consulting corps for
Campus Compact. In 2005, she received the Campus Civic Stewardship
Award from Maine Campus Compact.
Publications, Organizations, and Venues
- The UMM Press
- The Binnacle
- Washington County Writer’s Symposium
- Annual UMM Poetry Fiction Readings
- Open Mic Nights
- Alternative Film Series
- Araby a.k.a. The Dead Poets Society
- Options to mount an original play at the Performing Arts Center or Art Galleries
