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For more than fifty years, professional novelists, playwrights, poets, and short story writers have served as teachers, role models, and mentors for students in the creative writing program at UCO. In this exhibit, we present a brief introduction to some of these outstanding writers and their books.
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The UCO Artists in Residence Program: The First Fifty Years
The Artist in Residence Program at UCO has offered students an opportunity to learn from professionals in the fields of literature and the performing arts for more than fifty years.
This presentation focuses on the outstanding novelists, playwrights, poets and short story writers who have served as teachers, role models and mentors at UCO to students of creative writing over the first fifty years of the course of the program.
The Artist in Residence Program at the University of Central Oklahoma began in 1966, when Dr. Clif Warren, the first director of the program, persuaded British author Alex Waugh to teach the art of professional writing to Central’s students.
Waugh said he “hopes to help students learn to write the kind of novel that gets reviewed in the New York Book Review.” (The Oklahoma Journal, September 12, 1966, page 4)
Alec Waugh, famed British author and traveler will spend the 1966-67 school term as a writer in residence at Central State College.
With over 40 books published to his credit, Waugh recently celebrated his 50th year as a novelist. Among his best known works are "Island in the Sun," "The Sugar Islands," "The Lipton Story," "Merchants of Wine," "Family of the Islands," and "Fuel for the Flame.“
(The Vista: September 8, 1966—page 1)
Virginia Sorensen, internationally known author of books and short stories, will be writer-in-residence at Central State College this year.
Mrs. Sorensen will teach creative writing Monday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 and be on hand for individual counseling with aspiring writers.
"Her current work is a collection of short stories called “Where Nothing Is Long Ago”. She is using stories about her childhood in Utah, some of which have already appeared in the "New Yorker“ and other magazines.
(The Vista: September 21, 1967—p. 1)
Alice Marriott, nationally-known ethnologist, anthropologist and author, is teaching a class in Literature and Folklore of the American Southwest at Central State this fall, as a part of the artist-in-residence program.
Miss Marriott has lived in Oklahoma most of her life and is one of the top writers in the nation of books on Indian cultures and the west.
Assisting Miss Marriott is Carol Rachlin, her research teammate and co-author of several books.
(The Vista: September 26, 1968—p. 1)
Noted British author, Frank Baker, will share his talented experience with creative writing students this fall at Central State College.
Because of the author's array of experience, the class will cover all areas of creative writing, including television scripts, drama, novels, and short stories. (The Vista: September 11,1969—page 1)
Frank Baker is best–known for his novels, The Birds (1936) and Miss Hargreaves (1940), and his memoir, I Follow But Myself (1968).
Lionel Wiggam was a writer, known for The Very Thought of You (1944), Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947) and Tap Roots (1948).
Wiggam attended Northwestern University and graduated from Princeton University in1943.
An award-winning poet, playwright and fiction writer, he had two books of poetry published, Landscapes with Figures (1936) and The Land of Unloving (1960).
Wiggam taught playwrighting at CSU during the 1971-1972 school years.
Oklahoma native Marilyn Harris Springer graduated with degrees in Fine Arts and English from the University of Oklahoma.
Her first novel, In the Midst of the Earth, was followed by Hatter Fox, which was a Literary Guild Selection and was produced as a film titled A Girl Called Hatter Fox in 1977.
Marilyn Harris is best known for her Eden series of historical fiction novels set in England. Several of these novels were written while Harris was an artist in residence at UCO (then Central State University).
Harris taught Creative Writing at CSU from 1973 to 1979. She taught a course entitled “The Writing of the Novel,” which required her students to write a new novel before completing the class.
Harris was awarded the OU Literacy award in 1970 and was inducted into the Professional Writers’ Hall of Fame In 1991.
Dan Potter was a creative writing artist in residence at CSU during the fall semester of 1972 and the spring semester of 1973.
Potter is the author of the novels “The Town from the Treetop”, “The Way of an Eagle”, and “The Age of Stoning.”
Potter graduated from OU with a B.A. in English and earned a master’s degree from Yale in play writing and dramatic literature.
(The Vistette: July 27, 1972—p. 1)
Mrs. Wanda Duncan, former television scripter and free-lance writer, will become CSU's newest artist-in-residence next fall.
The Oklahoma born writer has written approximately 100 scripts for television series.
Her book "Castles in the Air," the biography of Irene and Vernon Castle, was published in 1958.
Mrs. Duncan's new job embraces teaching creative and professional writing classes and advising students who plan to write television scripts in the Master of Arts program.
(The Vistette: July 24, 1975, page 1)
In February of 1977, the novel “Hatter Fox” by Marilyn Harris, artist-in-residence at CSU was purchased by CBS for presentation as a two-hour movie-of-the-week.
The novel is the story of a seventeen-year-old Navajo girl and a Bureau of Indian Affairs doctor who tries to help her while fighting bureaucracy and prejudice.
Harris said watching the production when the film was aired in October 1977, was terrifying. Harris said she deals with the written word and a visual approach to a story must be different because the camera cannot get inside emotions like written words.
(The Vista: October 18, 1977—p. 1)
Geoffrey Bocca was a British author who served as CSU’s artist in residence from 1980 to 1982. Bocca wrote about thirty books, including novels and biographies of the Duchess of Windsor, Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
When Bocca died in 1983 at age 59 in London a memorial scholarship in his name was established at CSU.
Geoffrey Bocca, English writer, will serve as artist-in-residence in the creative studies program for the 1980-81 school year at CSU.
Bocca will teach the novel writing class at 7:30 p.m. on Mondays and a class on the writing of biography and biographical fiction at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays.
Regarding the role of artist-in-residence Bocca wrote "I want to help students with a gift and a longing for writing with all the experience I have had over the years.”
(The Vista: August 28, 1980—p. 7)
Robert Holles was a British author and television and film screenwriter who served as an artist in residence at CSU during the 1981-82 school year.
Holles wrote two books based on his experiences in the British military, including Captain Cat. He was a successful television writer with credits for Coronation Street and other BBC productions. Also, among his credits was the screenplay for the 1964 award-winning film Guns at Batasi (based on his own novel The Siege of Battersea).
"Friday's Forgotten Book: Captain Cat (Robert Holles)" - Book 'em, Danno! blog
Mike McQuay taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma for ten years.
He was an award-winning author of more than forty novels, including Escape from New York and My Science Project.
McQuay wrote for several series Including Mathew Swain and The Executioner, and The Book of Justice series, which he wrote using the pen name of Jack Arnett. His non-series science fiction novel Memories won the Philip K. Dick award in 1987.
If a student remembers only one thing from his science fiction class, he hopes it is "freedom of mind," said Mike McQuay, novelist and artist in residence here.
A full-time novelist and parttime instructor for five years in the creative studies department, McQuay has discovered teaching to be both frustrating and beneficial.
"Teaching has made me look at my own work and helped me to improve my writing," he said. (The Vista: November 20, 1984—page 4)
McQuay died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 45.
USA Today bestselling romance author Sara Orwig served as artist-in-residence at CSU in 1984 and 1985. At that time she had produced 18 published books that had been translated into 22 foreign languages.
Orwig went on to write 97 books and was one of the first six inductees into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame. She twice won the Oklahoma Writers Federation award for Best Oklahoma Novel.
From The Vista, September 17, 1985:
Broadway playwrights 'share duties' at CSU
Milan Stitt ("The Runner Stumbles") and John Bishop ("The Trip Back Down") are alternating teaching duties in a playwriting course being offered by the creative studies department.
Both Milan Stitt and John Bishop are members of the Circle Repertory Company of New York City. Bishop’s first play, “The Trip Back Down” became a Broadway hit in 1977. (The Vista, October 31, 1985)
While teaching at CSU in 1985, Bishop received a playwriting award for the script of his play “Borderline” from the Las Angeles theater publication “Drama-Logue.”
In 1986, he was joined by New York City playwrights, Granville Wyche Burgess and Ralph Pape, as artists-in-residence in the playwriting program of CSU’s Creative Studies Department.
Bishop is teaching advanced playwriting with the full-length play, while Burgess and Pape will provide students in the beginning playwriting class with instruction in the art of writing a one-act play. (The Vista: September 11, 1986—page 10)
Stage and Cinema - Los Angeles Theater Review: The Trip Back Down
"Ralph Pape is an acute observer of those who are trying to keep up a cheerful demeanor in the face of despair." (The Hollywood Reporter)
Ralph Pape, New York playwright, is completing his third semester as artist-in-residence in the Creative studies Department at Central State University.
Pape was won three Emmy awards for his first full-length play, "Say Goodnight, Gracie.“ Other plays he has written and seen produced include “Girls We Have Known” and “Beyond Your Command.”
About the students in his playwriting classes, Pape said "It's remarkable to see so much talent and is really exciting for me to be able to participate in the students’ development." (The Vista: December 8, 1987—p. 8)
During the spring 1987 semester, John Bishop returned to New York City. His play, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” opened on Broadway on April 6, 1987.
The comedy-thriller, which Bishop wrote and directed may be his most widely produced play.
As a resident playwright for Circle Repertory Company of New York City, Bishop was known for plays focused on masculinity and decline, such as “Borderlines” and “The Great Grandson of Jedediah Kohler.”
(New York Times—December 29, 2006)
In 1989 John Bishop’s screenplay, “The Package,” was made into a movie starring Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones.
In the spring of 1991 Bishop returned to CSU to teach playwriting and screenplay until March 14. Jonathan Bolt, also a New York playwright and screenwriter, taught the last nine weeks. (The Vista, February 28, 1991, p. 3)
In 1991-1992 Bishop again served as an artist-in-residence at CSU, but left in February 1992 to return to New York to oversee the rehearsals for his play “Empty Hearts.” (The Vista, February 6, 1992, p.3)
Kathleen Cahill was an Artist in Residence at CSU during the year 1988-1989. She was joined by Tim Mason, also a playwright, and screenwriter and writer Granville Burgess.
Kathleen Cahill is a Pulitzer Prize Nominated Playwright, Screenwriter and Lyricist/Book Writer. Her play Charm (NNPN Showcase) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; her play The Persian Quarter was nominated for a Steinberg Award.
Her awards include three Edgerton Foundation Awards, the Jane Chambers Playwrighting Award, two Connecticut Commission on the Arts Playwrighting Awards, a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award, a Rockefeller Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts New American Works Grant, and a Drama League Award.
Timothy Mason served as an artist in residence at CSU along with Kathleen Cahill and Granville Burgess during the 1988-89 school year.
“Mason was graduated from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with a B.A. degree and has done some graduate work at both St. Peter's College and Manchester College in England. Mason has taught at New York University, University of Utah, University of South Florida and St. Olaf College.” (The Vista: April 25, 1988—page 4)
“Tim got his start as a playwright in Minneapolis penning numerous plays for the Children's Theatre Company, which led to Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) tapping him to write the book and lyrics for the musical adaptation of "The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" in 1980. Its success led to the musical adaptation of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for the Children's Theatre Company, and subsequently for the Old Globe in San Diego. That production made its way to Broadway in 2006 and 2007 and has toured nationally ever since.” (Star Tribune: Obituary, October 8, 2023)
In addition to the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Mason wrote a number of plays that were produced by the Circle Theater in New York, including Levitation, Only You, Babylon Gardens, The Fiery Furnace and Bearclaw.
He was also commissioned by San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater's Young Conservatory to write six plays: "Ascension Day," "The Less Than Human Club," "Time on Fire," "Mullen's Alley," "My Life in the Silents," and "The Life to Come."
In addition to plays, Mason wrote two critically acclaimed Victorian thrillers, The Darwin Affair, published in 2019 and The Nightingale Affair, published in 2023. Both books depict Charles Dickens’ Bleak House detective, Charles Field, tracking down villains who threaten social progress with acts of violence.
Dr. Edward Allen has been at UCO for two years teaching creative writing workshops. (The Vista: April 14, 1994—page 6)
Allen is the author of two novels. His first novel, Straight Through the Night, was published in 1989. His second novel, Mustang Sally, published in 1992, was Purchased and made into a film called Easy Six.
Ed Allen was born in New Haven, Connecticut, grew up in the New York suburbs, graduated from Goddard College, and attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1972. He graduated from Ohio University with an M.A. in 1986 and a Ph.D. in 1989, and has taught at Rhodes College in Memphis, the University of Central Oklahoma, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland as a Senior Fulbright Fellow, San Jose State University, and the University of South Dakota. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Story Magazine, Gentlemen's Quarterly, and Southwest Review. He lives in Vermillion, South Dakota.
In addition to writing novels, Allen wrote poetry and short stories.
Allen’s story “River of Toys” was Included in The Best American Short Stories of 1990. He has had three stories published in GQ Magazine and four stories in The New Yorker. (The Vista: April 14, 1994—page 6)
Allen’s collection of poems was published In a volume titled The Clean Place at Ohio University, in June 1989.
Stewart O’Nan served as author-in-residence at UCO in 1994.
He is the author of numerous books, including Wish You Were Here, Everyday People, In the Walled City, The Speed Queen, and Emily, Alone.
When Stewart O’Nan was interviewed by the Vista in 1994, his novel “Snow Angels had just been published.
“Many of my characters are trying to determine whether they’re going to give up hope or not. They’re at the edge of faith and despair.” (The Vista, November 10, 1994—page 12)
In the late 1990’s, O’Nan was a writer-in-residence at Trinity College. The research for his novel "The Names of the Dead" led to the creation of a course on Vietnam war memoirs.
O’Nan’s 2007 novel, Last Night at the Lobster, was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Stewart O’Nan was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he lives with his family.
"Oklahoma Voices”, a production of excerpts from plays and screenplays written by UCO students, will be directed by Jonathan Bolt, UCO artist-in-residence. Bolt is visiting from the Circle Repertory Theater in New York City.” (The Vista: November 21, 1991—Page 3)
Jonathan Bolt is the Director of the American Academy Acting Company at American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Montclair, New Jersey.
A new artist in residence for the creative studies department will serve during the 1995-96 Academic year.
Writer Carolyn Wheat, who recently released a new mystery novel, will teach two new courses at UCO this fall.
Wheat is on a book tour until July 15 for "Fresh Kills," which was released in both hard and soft cover.
(The Vista: July 6, 1995—page 5)
Wheat’s characters are drawn from real-life experience.
"I was a criminal lawyer for many years, and then a trial lawyer in Brooklyn, New York. I also worked for the New York City Police Department as house counsel, a job that taught me a lot about how real crimes are solved.“
(The Vista: March 6, 1997—page 7)
In addition to her full-length works, Wheat has published a collection of short stories and has edited two other collections by women writers.
In an interview with Crime Writers of America Wheat said “As to my writing process, I have long gestation period. I am a great believer in revision; in my capacity as artist in residence at the University of Central Oklahoma, I’m teaching a course in novel-writing that focuses on the revision process as critical to the success of the finished novel.”
When John Domini was Artist in Residence at UCO in 2004, he had just finished his first novel, Talking Heads:77.
Dzanc Books now offers electronic versions of John's first four books: the story collections Bedlam and Highway Trade, and the novels Talking Heads: 77 and Earthquake I.D.
When Johnny Payne was teaching creative writing at UCO in the school year 1997-98, he had published Chalk Lake and Kentuckiana and finished a third novel Baja, which was to be published in the spring.
Johnny Payne is now director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles. He is a novelist, poet, and dramatist who expertly turns his deep and abiding love of history into a passion for historical fiction.
Johnny Payne’s most recent published novels are The Hard Side of the River and Confessions of a Gentleman Killer, which won the IBPA Gold Medal for Horror in 2021.
His published books of poetry include Vassal and Heaven of Ashes.
He has directed his plays Death by Zephyr, Touchstone and Cannibals for Slingshot Players, Los Angeles.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is an American poet and editor. Her debut book, Dog Road Woman, Published in 1997, won the American Book Award.
She was visiting Artist of the University of Central Oklahoma for the years 2012 through 2014.
Alison Hedge Coke was followed as an artist-in-residence at UCO BY Courtney Craggett, editors’ choice winner of the 2014 Sherwood Anderson Award and the winner of The Pinch’s Spring 2017 Featured Contributor Award.
Craggett’s book “Tornado Season” is a collection of short stories which demonstrate a special understanding of America’s complicated immigration issue. Her characters in these stories suffer the consequences of the refusal by others to recognize that people south of our border are just people, who like all people, only want a fair shot at life and a better future for their children.
A review of the accomplishments of the writers who have served in the Artists-in-Residence Program at UCO demonstrates the success of the program in attracting outstanding professionals to instruct and mentor students in the skills needed for writing novels, poetry and plays. The program continues to flourish at UCO. For information about the program contact the English Department, located in the Liberal Arts Building on the UCO campus.
The University of Central Oklahoma recognizes the university's main campus is located on the traditional lands of the Caddo and Wichita people.
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