Leslie Pietrzyk, Author

BRIEF BIO

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Leslie Pietrzyk is the author of two novels, Pears on a Willow Tree (Avon Books) and A Year and a Day (William Morrow). Her short fiction has appeared in many journals and magazines, including The Iowa Review, New England Review, The Sun, TriQuarterly, and Shenandoah. She teaches in the graduate writing program at Johns Hopkins in Washington, DC, and is a member of the core faculty at the low-residency MFA program at Converse College. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Email address: lesliepietrzyk AT gmail DOT com

Literary blog: Work in Progress
Literary journal: Redux (editor)

Photo

ABOUT MY NOVELS

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Pears on a Willow Tree (Avon Books)
Buy

Pears on a Willow Tree is a multigenerational roadmap of love and hate, distance and closeness, and the lure of roots that both bind and sustain us all.

The Marchewka women are inseparable. They relish the joys of family gatherings; from preparing traditional holiday meals to organizing a wedding in which each of them is given a specific task -- whether it's sewing the bridal gown or preserving pickles as a gift to the newlyweds. Bound together by recipes, reminiscences and tangled relationships, these women are the foundation of a dignified, compassionate family--one that has learned to survive the hardships of emigration and assimilation in twentieth-century America.

But as the century evolves, so does each succeeding generation. As the older women keep a tight hold on the family traditions passed from mother to daughter, the younger women are dealing with more modern problems, wounds not easily healed by the advice of a local priest or a kind word from mother.

Amy is separated by four generations from her great-grandmother Rose, who emigrated from Poland. Rose's daughter Helen adjusted to the family's new home in a way her mother never could, while at the same time accepting the importance of Old Country ways. But Helen's daughter Ginger finds herself suffocating within the close-knit family, the first Marchewka woman to leave Detroit for the adventure of life beyond the reach of her mother and grandmother.

It's in the American West that Ginger raises her daughter Amy, uprooted from the safety of kitchens perfumed by the aroma of freshly baked poppy seed cake and pierogi made by hand by generations of women. But Amy is about to realize that there may be room in her heart for both the Old World and the New.

Read more here: http://www.lesliepietrzyk.com/POAWTRevised.htm

A Year and a Day (William Morrow)
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Fifteen-year-old Alice dreams of her first kiss, has sleepovers, makes prank calls, auditions for "Our Town," and tries to pass high school biology. It's 1975, and at first look, her life would seem to be normal and unexceptional. But in the world that Leslie Pietrzyk paints, every moment she chronicles is revealed through the kaleidoscope of loss, stained by the fact that Alice's mother, without warning, without apology, explanation, or note, deliberately parks her car onto the railroad tracks, into the path of an oncoming train.

In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward after their catastrophic loss. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette's familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother's voice speaking to her clear as day as she flips Sunday morning pancakes. Driven to understand who her mother was, Alice distances herself from her girlfriends and brother as she engages in "conversations" with Annette. As she works through her grief, Alice slowly begins to see Annette as an individual, separate from simply "my mother" -- and ultimately embraces the bittersweet knowledge that the lives to which we are most intimately connected often remain the most mysterious of all.

Taking its title from the pop-psychology idea that it should only take a year to get over the death of a loved one, A Year and a Day is an intense and deeply affecting portrait of how the human heart counters tragedy and can spin hard won triumph out of the deepest despair. A redemptive, often humorous meditation on growing up and growing into oneself, this is an intimate and heart warming novel to curl up with and to savor.

UPCOMING EVENTS

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~2012~

Saturday, March 3, 2012
AWP Annual Conference
Chicago, IL
Panel Discussion: “Connecting With Readers Via Your Website and Social Media”
Saturday, March 3
9:00 AM to 10:15 AM
Boulevard Room A,B,C, Hilton Chicago

Winter/Spring 2012
Teaching, Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Writing Program
“Writing the Novel Workshop”
January-May 2010

Winter 2012
Teaching, Converse College Low-Residency Program
December 30, 2011-January 8, 2012

~2011~

Class: The First Pages: What Makes a Good Beginning

The Writer’s Center / http://www.writer.org/
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815
Time: 7:00-10:00 P.M.
Date: 11/1/2011
Most writers know that they have to “hook” their reader from the start of the story or novel, but how exactly do we do this? What are the elements that make a great beginning to a story or novel? You’ll find out in this workshop, as we explore ways to strengthen your opening pages. Everyone is invited to bring 15 copies of the first two pages of one of their stories/novels/essays/memoirs for some hands-on advice.
Registration/more info: http://www.writer.org/

Class: Flex Your Creative Muscles: A One-Day Workshop
The Writer’s Center / http://www.writer.org/
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815
Time: 10:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M.
Date: 10/22/2011
Spend the afternoon doing a series of intensive, guided exercises designed to shake up your brain and get your creative subconscious working for you. You can come with a project already in mind and focus your work toward a deeper understanding of that—or you can come as a blank slate (that will quickly fill up!). Fiction writers and memoirists of all levels are welcome. Please bring lots of paper and pen/pencil or a computer with a fully charged battery. (1 hour lunch break)
Registration/more info: http://www.writer.org/

Converse College Low-Residency MFA
June 1-June 10, 2011
Spartanburg, SC
Many events are open to the public
More information: http://old.converse.edu/mfa/

Conversations and Connections Literary Conference
Saturday, April 16, 2011Johns Hopkins University Advanced Writing Program campus, Washington, DC
1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
one block from the Dupont Circle (Red line) Metro station’s south entrance.
$65 for full day
Debut Writers and How They Got There Panel discussion: Dylan Landis, Eric Goodman, Janice Shapiro, Robin Black,
Moderated by Leslie Pietrzyk

For more information: http://writersconnectconference.com/word/

Doing a Low-Residency MFA: Pros & Cons
sponsored by AIW (American Independent Writers)
Monday, April 4, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Free for AIW members and non-members

Leslie Pietrzyk teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Converse College (located in Spartanburg, South Carolina) and in the graduate writing program at Johns Hopkins. She is the author of two novels, Pears on a Willow Tree (Avon Books) and A Year and a Day (William Morrow). Her short fiction has appeared in many journals, including Shenandoah, The Iowa Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Sun Magazine.

Rimas Blekaitis is currently a student and MFA candidate in writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts low-residency MFA program. The VCFA program was recently ranked as the top low-residency writing program in the country by Poets and Writers magazine, and as one of the top five programs by The Atlantic magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Location: AIW Office
Suite 701
1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
The street entrance is on K Street, between 17th and Connecticut, near the K Street entrance to the Farragut North Metro station.
Metro: Farragut North on the Red line, Farragut West on the Orange and Blue lines.

Saturday, February 5, 20117:30 -8:30 PM
Reading with writers and editors of The Sun magazine
In conjunction with the AWP Conference
Go Mama Go!
1809 14th St NW
(between S St & Swann St)
Washington, DC 20009
(U Street metro station)

January 24-May 2, 2011
Teaching: Johns Hopkins Advanced Academic Programs
Washington, DC
Fiction Workshop

December 31, 2010-January 9, 2011

Teaching: Converse College Low-Residency MFA Program
Spartanburg, SC

Teaching: Converse College Low-Residency MFA ProgramSpartanburg, SC
June 1-June 11

Thursday, June 3, 2010

“The Lay of the Land: The First Chapter” (recommended reading: Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Chapter 1 of Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney)
10:30–12:00 p.m.
Dalton Auditorium, Converse College campus
Spartanburg, SC

Friday, June 4, 2010
Reading with Dan Wakefield
Reception to follow
7:30–8:30 p.m.
Montgomery Student Center, Converse College campus
Spartanburg, SC

AWP Conference: April 7-10, 2010
Hyatt Regency Hotel
650 15th Street
Denver, CO 80202

Declarations of Independence: Voices from The Writer's Center
Friday, April 9
1:30 PM to 2:45 PM
Room 401, 402 – CCC

Shhh!: Librarians, Archivists, and Writers Discover Research
Saturday, April 10
3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Room: Agate Hyatt

Thursday, March 18, 2010Reading
7:30 PM
Riverviews Artspace
901 Jefferson Street
Lynchburg, VA 24504
434.847.7277

Thursday, March 4, 20107:00 to 10:00 PM
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815
Phone: 301 654-8664
Registration here.
Click here for Directions

The First Pages: What Makes a Good Beginning?
A One-Night Workshop
Most writers know that they have to “hook” their reader from the start of the story or novel, but how exactly do we do this? What, in other words, are the elements that make a great beginning to a story or novel? You’ll find out in this workshop, as we explore ways to strengthen your opening pages. Everyone is invited to bring 20 copies of the first page of one of their stories/novels/essays/memoirs for some hands-on advice.

Monday, January 25, 2010The Writer’s Center7:00 to 10:00 PM
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815Phone: 301 654-8664
Registration here.
Click here for Directions

How to Talk the Talk: Focus on Dialogue
A One-Night Workshop
Dialogue seems as though it should be easy since we all talk! But written dialogue should reverberate beyond the sounds of everyday conversation, serving many purposes: revealing character, moving the story forward, supporting your setting. How to accomplish these effects in your own fiction and memoir? This supportive, hands-on workshop offers tips and techniques that will help the voices of your characters come alive. We’ll be doing a number of exercises in class, so bring pen/paper!

Winter 2010Teaching, Converse College Low-Residency Program

Teaching, Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Writing Program
“Voice in Modern Fiction”
January-May 2010

Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Writing Show: Novel Help From Writing Groups
Sponsored by James River Writers
How a writing group can prepare writers to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this November or write the novel of a lifetime anytime.
Featuring:
Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found.
Leslie Pietrzyk, author of Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and A Day.
Susann Cokal, author of Mirabilis and Breath and Bones.

September 24, 6:30-8:30 PM
The Children's Museum of Richmond
2626 West Broad Street
$10 in advance/$12 at the door/$5 for students
For more information and online registration visit jamesriverwriters.org

Fall 2009Teaching, Converse College Low-Residency Program

**********

January 2009Converse College, Spartanburg, SC
Writer in Residence

Thursday, February 12, 20091:30 pm – 2:30 p.m.
Book signing
Book Fair, AWP conference
Converse College table
Hilton Chicago
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605

Thursday, February 12, 20096:00 pm – 8:00 pm
The Polish Museum of America
The Great Hall
984 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL
Five Polish writers (John Guzlowski, Anthony Bukoski, Linda Foster, John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk) read and discuss how they have been shaped by the culture of the Mid-West and the culture of Poland.

There is free parking to the west of the building. The Museum can also be reached by the 56 Milwaukee Ave. bus (Augusta stop) or the blue line (three long blocks from either the Division or Chicago Avenue stops. A small donation is requested.

Friday, February 13, 20094:30 pm-5:45 pm
Hilton Chicago
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
Ontario Room, 8th Floor
The Country They Come From: Polish-American Writers Read about the Midwest and Poland. (John Guzlowski, Anthony Bukoski, Linda Foster, John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk) Polish-American writers have been writing in and about the Midwest for a 150 years. They have written novels, travel narratives, poems, songs and memoirs that commemorate the Midwest while memorializing the country these writers or their ancestors came from. Five recent Polish-American writers will demonstrate that this tradition is very much alive and vital. Free.
Sponsored by the AWP Writing Conference.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Conversations and Connections Writer’s Conference
Johns Hopkins University
1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW
(Dupont Circle)
Washington, DC
Details: www.writersconnectconference.com/wordpress/

Spring Classes 2009The Writer’s Center
TBA

Friday, May 1, 2009
Unlocking Your Creative Side Through Word Collage
Northern Virginia Writers (NVW): First Friday Event
Leesburg Town Hall
25 West Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176
7:30 to 9:30 PM
Lower Level Meeting Room
Free-write exercises are meant to let your mind simply flow onto paper. Using these exercises, see how you can pick out the words and phrases that really sing and how they can be gathered and combined to create new stories or enhance something you’re working on. Bring paper and pen and be ready to unlock your creativity!
Details: https://www.writer.org/about/index.asp?id=19

May 15–17, 2009The Sun magazine gathering
Rowe Conference Center
Rowe, Massachusetts
Details TBA

May 28-June 6, 2009Converse College Low-Residency MFA Program
Open readings and lectures TBA
Spartanburg, SC

June 1, 2009Memoir/Fiction workshop (SOLD OUT)
Have you always wanted to write but couldn't quite find the courage to pick up a pencil? Or perhaps you're a secret writer, scribbling stories in private notebooks, compulsively filling the pages of your journal? This supportive, hands-on workshop will give you courage to write and direction about how to proceed. Through discussion and writing exercises, participants will learn some basic techniques of fiction/memoir writing.The goal is to leave with several promising pieces to finish at home
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
$25 ($20 for members); sold out-- Email to join Wait List
Hub City Writers' Project
149 South Daniel Morgan Ave STE 2
Spartanburg, SC 29306
(864) 577-9349

Saturday, June 13, 2009AIW Writer’s Conference
The George Washington UniversityCafritz Conference CenterMarvin Center Building 800 21st St. N.W.Washington, D.C.
Details: http://www.washwriter.org/Craft Lecture:

READ MY WORK ONLINE

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“The Lady of the House," a novel excerpt published in The Drum Literary Magazine

[NOTE: The Drum is an audio journal, which means that I’ll be reading this chapter. The piece will be free until February 2012, after which time there will be a slight fee to access it. You may listen to it on your computer or as a download. The chapter is about 45 minutes long.]
“Lucy sat at the breakfast table with her sister, Nettie, lingering over a pot of tea and toast with marmalade. Patches of wintery sunlight edged through the large windows that overlooked the garden, now layered with several inches of new snow. Dozens of sparrows twittered and fluttered in the holly bush, rising up then circling back to the branches again and again, as if they couldn’t decide what to do and planned to use the whole day to settle on their course of action. The toast was burned, and, rudely, Nettie used her knife to scrape a shower of blackened crumbs onto a small plate. Lucy was the married sister, though Nettie was two years older. After their father had suddenly passed away, their mother had panicked, needing to feel that something—anything!—was settled and in place, so it seemed to make sense for Lucy to get married and fully established in society since she was the prettier of the two. There had been uncomfortable moments, but no one questioned the decision.”

From “Sophomore Outing,” a live storytelling event in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2011. Hosted by Story League.
“Ten Things,” short story, The Sun magazine:
"He once compared you to an avocado. He was never good at saying what he meant in fancy ways. (You had a boyfriend in college who dedicated poems to you, one of which won a contest in the student literary magazine, but that boyfriend never compared you to anything as simple and real as an avocado.)"

"Death Notice," essay, The Washington Post Sunday Magazine:
"No one likes to hear about such a loss. Euphemisms help: a loss. Passed on. I refuse those words because they're soft, hiding the reality that this could happen to you; someone you love could drop dead one Sunday morning while eating cornflakes. (Or that someone could be you.)"

“Valuables,” essay:
"The bank’s interior is tired and dated, everything with a dingy feel, as if dipped in yellow wax. The fluorescent lights buzz, a quiet, insistent, hissy whzz-zzzz. A phone rings softly in the distance, high heels tick across the floor. This is a very secure place, this bank, purposely giving the impression that nothing much has changed since it was built."

Redux: A Literary Journal ~ Work Worth a Second Run (editor)

Reading Guide, A Year and a Day

An essay about writing Pears on a Willow Tree and the first chapter (scroll down)

For fun: my adventures learning how to can, The Washington Post:
"When novelist Leslie Pietrzyk told me that home canning is one of the 50 things she wants to do before she dies, I had to wonder what else is on the list. What's so exciting about putting up a couple jars of peaches?"

PHOTOGRAPH

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Leslie Pietrzyk