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Phoebe Wagner
’14
Phoebe Wagner ’14 cut a brilliant streak through
Lycoming’s creative writing program during her
undergraduate tenure, participating in nearly every
poetry and writing workshop offered, delivering a
scholarly paper on Chaucer at a medieval studies
conference, and seeing both her poetry and prose
published. “The teachers here took me under their
wing and helped me develop every aspect of my writing,
sometimes word by word,” Wagner recounted.
Growing up in nearby Muncy, Wagner did not have
to travel far to find a writing program that suited her.
“I already knew Lycoming had a great department and
great professors, and it was right in my backyard. There
was no need to look farther.”
Currently employed as an admissions counselor at
Lycoming, Wagner’s work has already appeared in the
Rose Red Review, Hearth magazine and Vine Leaves
literary journal. In the fall, she’s off to the heartland
to earn her MFA at Iowa State University, where the
Creative Writing and Environment program has
offered her a three-year fellowship.
The environment is a recurring element in Wagner’s
work, and appropriately her vocabulary hails more
from the rugged Anglo-Saxon parish of the language
than the more cerebral Latin one. She frequently
connects words and nature, as in “River Words,” a
prose meditation on a kayak outing on the meandering
Susquehanna River, and “Jacklight,” which opens with
a rune appearing in the carcass of a bird. “I don’t use
many urban settings for my stories,” Wagner said.
“The environment is very powerful and I do a lot with
it in my writing. I hope when people read my work that
they will be inspired to look at the natural world in a
different way.”
Melody Johnson
’11
You don’t find too many writers who land multiple
book contracts a few short years after graduating from
college, but that’s what Melody Johnson ’11 just did.
Author of the recently released “The City Beneath”
(Kensington Books, 2015),
Johnson’s publisher has agreed
to terms on three more volumes
that will make up her Night
Blood series of paranormal
romances. A chilling vampire
love story, “The City Beneath”
takes place in New York and
explores the less-than-savory
underside of the city.
Entering Lycoming as
an English major, Johnson
graduated magna cum
laude and added a major in psychology along
the way, to which she attributes her attraction to the
villainous aspects of human nature. “I knew very
little about psychology when I began studying it,
but it totally captivated me,” said Johnson. “It also
helps me to make my more twisted characters
compelling.”
As she began developing her writing at Lycoming,
Johnson worked first with G.W. Hawkes, who was
instrumental in her choice of a college. “Dr. Hawkes
was the most intense professor that I met when I was
looking at colleges. Between that and his published
work, it was an easy decision to come here.” Johnson
wrote her first full length novel under the advisement
of Hawkes. “It was a huge breakthrough for me. Prof.
Hawkes worked with me for a full year, and finishing
that manuscript was a really big thing for my career.”
While her topics are dark, there is always room
for redemption in Johnson’s novels. “No one is purely
good or evil, and it’s important to explore why people
are the way they are,” Johnson asserted. “I hope my
books will help people connect with issues like this in
a way that will broaden their views.”
The second book in The Night Blood series, “Sweet
Last Drop,” is slated for release later this year.
Alumni
OUTCOMES
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LYCOMING COLLEGE 2015 SUMMER MAGAZINE
F E AT U R E S