糖心视频logo

Alumna receives notable mention in ‘Best American Essays’

A University of Arkansas at 糖心视频logo alumna has received a notable mention in “The Best American Essays of 2013” with her essay “We Scar, We Heal, We Rise.” Erin Wood graduated from UALR in 2009 with a master鈥檚 degree in Professional and Technical Writing, with a nonfiction writing focus. Wood鈥檚 piece grew out of a classroom assignment in Dr. Toran Isom鈥檚 class, 鈥淲riting for Children, Adolescents, and Families,鈥� according to Wood. 鈥淥ur semester culminated in writing a children鈥檚 book, and I wrote mine about scars,鈥� said Wood. 鈥淭he scars that I speak about are corporeal scars,鈥� she said. 鈥淪cars of the body. Although certainly there are emotional aspects closely tied to those physical scars.鈥� During and after graduate school, Wood taught Composition 1 at UALR. She said one of her most popular assignments was when students wrote about their own physical scars. 鈥淓veryone has a scar story,鈥� she said. The piece is published at聽.

Since graduating from UALR, Wood has fulfilled many professional roles, from freelance writer to managing editor for the academic journal, Literature and Medicine, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The journal was formerly sponsored by the UALR Department of Rhetoric and Writing.

Wood is currently editing an anthology of nonfiction and poetry related to scars of the body, to be published in the fall of 2014 by Et Alia Press, the publishing company she owns and runs with two partners. Wood has also taught professional writing workshops and tutored students at The Clinton School of Public Service. This spring, she is teaching the course 鈥淟iterature and Medicine鈥� as a fourth-year elective at UAMS. She has also volunteered to teach writing at the Wrightsville Correctional Facility near Pine Bluff, alongside Drs. Julie Steel, Michael Kleine, David Montague, and Charles Chastain of UALR. Wood is currently working on a short story collection.