It is my pleasure to introduce two talented young writers with bright futures: Patrick Link and Mika Rivera. Patrick and Mika were students in my undergraduate Creative Nonfiction course at Virginia Tech in the spring of 2009. Both submitted essays to the Norman Mailer College Writing Award for Creative Nonfiction, sponsored by the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and the National Council of Teachers of English, and both were selected as National Semifinalists, finishing in the top 3% of entries received.

What are the chances of two undergraduate students from the same workshop finishing in the top 3%, nationally?! I am so very proud of Mika and Patrick, and I feel honored to call them my students and my friends. I hope you enjoy their essays; remember their names, and look for more of their work in the future. - Katie Fallon, Creative Nonfiction Editor for Connotation Press.   

Patrick Link is a native of Norfolk, Virginia, and is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. Beyond his graduation in May of 2010, he hopes to write more poetry and creative nonfiction, as well as devote at least a year to a full-time community service program. Besides writing, Patrick enjoys listening to an eclectic mix of music, walking through nature, and reading prose poetry. Also, he currently volunteers as a counselor at a crisis hotline, and is a teaching assistant in an environmental studies class.

 

 

 

Michelle (Mika) Rivera is from Chantilly, Virginia, and will graduate from Virginia Tech in December 2009 with a dual degree in Biology and English with a concentration in Professional Writing. She was a Norman Mailer College Writing Award for Nonfiction competition national semifinalist and hopes to continue writing fiction and creative nonfiction. Her passion for writing stems from her love for developing and getting to know characters, many of which are inspired by people she knows in everyday life.