Jo Malin, PhD '95 and Victoria Boynton, PhD '94 co-edited a collection of essays, Herspace: Women, Writing, and Solitude (The Haworth Press, 2003). Jo is project director for the School of Education and Human Development as well as an adjunct assistant professor in the English department at Binghamton. Victoria is an associate professor in the English Department at SUNY Cortland.

Several of the essays included in the volume were written by alumni, including Anne Mamary, MA '92, PhD '94, Kass Fleisher, PhD '93 and M. Lisa Johnson, PhD '00. In addition, contributor Suzette Henke is a former faculty member of BU's English department.

"This collection delves deeply into the power of solitude in a richly detailed exploration of the lives of women writers!" reads the publisher's description. "The essays in this fascinating volume combine literary theory, autobiography, performance, and criticism, while opening minds and expanding concepts of women's roles both in the home and within academia along the way. Herspace: Women, Writing, and Solitude begins with a discussion of the importance of solitude to the works of a variety of writers, including Margaret Atwood, May Sarton, Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras, and Zora Neale Hurston, and then moves on to an examination of the actual solitary spaces of women writers."

Stacey Agin Murray '89, professional organizer and owner of Organized Artistry, LLC, wrote and self-published a booklet, 7 Steps to an Organized Wedding Thank You Note: A Bride and Groom's Guide to Staying Sane During the Thank You Note Writing Process. The guide details an easy-to-follow system for organizing the content of nuptial-related thank-yous. "While other wedding books discuss etiquette and how to thank people for silver tea sets, 7 Steps offers a system as well as strategies for breaking down the thank-you-note writing process into manageable steps," writes Murray. "7 Steps reveals tips and tools for organizing note writing and offers creative ideas for saying more than just, 'Thank you for your generous gift.'"

For more information about Murray and how she helps people "transform mess into masterpiece," visit her website at www.organizedartistry.com.

Nina Nickles '84, a professional photographer, published a book featuring her photographs, Things I Have to Tell You (Candlewick Press, 2001), a collection of poetry and writings by teenage girls. " . . . while the poems are triumphant in their realism, the book is elevated by the inclusion of gritty, unposed black-and-white photographs," noted a review in the School Library Journal. "These pictures, not taken to illustrate the poems, do so in an exemplary fashion. Like snapshots from personal photo albums, the images of a multicultural array of 'everygirls' are harmonious complements to this outstanding collection." A review in Children’s Literature noted: "The expressive black-and-white photos that accompany the writing add to the strength of this anthology."

Nickles won an American Society of Media Photographers Big Picture Award in 1999. Her works have been shown in numerous galleries in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. She lives in Arlington, Mass. To find out more about Nickles and her photography, visit her website at www.ninanicklesphoto.com

Stacey Olster '74 has published The Trash Phenomenon: Contemporary Literature, Popular Culture, and the Making of the American Century (University of Georgia Press, 2003). "The Trash Phenomenon looks at how writers of the late twentieth century not only have integrated the events, artifacts, and theories of popular culture into their works, but also have used those works as windows into popular culture's role in the process of national building," reads the publisher's description. "Taking her cue from Donald Barthelme's 1967 portrayal of popular culture as 'trash' and Don DeLillo's 1997 description of it as a subversive 'people's history,' Stacey Olster explores how literature recycles American popular culture so as to change the nationalistic imperative behind its inception."

"To do scholarship of this kind demands a wide knowledge of historical factors, but also an ability to maintain a focus on the artwork so that readers may understand just how it functions in the larger process of society," wrote Jerome Klinkowitz, professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. "In The Trash Phenomenon Stacey Olster does this brilliantly."

Olster is a professor of English at SUNY Stony Brook. She is also author of Reminiscence and Re-Creation in Contemporary American Fiction.

Danny Yankelevits '88, an executive at Dreamworks SKG, has published his first book, Hollywood Dealmaking: Negotiating Talent Agreements (Allworth Press, 2002), which he co-authored with Dina Appleton. "Two entertainment attorneys and Hollywood insiders explain all the ins and outs of negotiating in the movie industry, including back ends, gross and adjusted gross profits, deferments, box office bonuses, copyrights, and much more," reads the publisher's description. Alan Poul, executive producer of the popular TV series Six Feet Under, endorsed the book, saying "I wish I could have had this book when I was starting out in the business. It would have made the process of deciphering the various codes and intricacies of the filmmaking business immeasurably easier. An invaluable reference work." Yankelevits lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.