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Posted: 7/28/22

TAMIU Creative Writing Student Wins Statewide Nonfiction Writing Competition

 

TAMIU Creative Writing Student Daniel Tovar Jr
TAMIU senior Daniel Tovar, Jr.  

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) student Daniel Tovar, Jr., a senior Mathematics major and Creative Writing minor, recently earned the top award in a statewide writing competition.

Tovar’s nonfiction piece, “The End?” was the winning entry in the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers’ undergraduate nonfiction category.

The piece, told through a third-person perspective, is an opportunity for Tovar to express himself, he emphasized.  

“I really enjoy being able to use the genre to express a part of my more vulnerable self. You could do that with every form of the genre, but it’s with nonfiction where you’re really putting readers into your shoes and allowing them to see almost every part of you,” said Tovar. 

He first learned about the competition through a creative writing nonfiction course taught by Dr. Suzette Bishop, an adjunct TAMIIU faculty member and member of the Texas Institute of Letters. 

“The course really made me admire nonfiction as a whole, especially with it being creative nonfiction. It allowed me to find unique ways to tell a nonfiction piece such as this one,” Tovar observed.

Bishop earned an MFA from the University of Virginia and a DA from the University at Albany. She has published three books of poetry, Hive-Mind, Horse-Minded, and She Took Off Her Wings and Shoes, as well as two chapbooks, Cold Knife Surgery and Jaguar’s Book of the Dead.

Her poetry has appeared in several journals, including Jellyfish Whispers, Free State Review, New Texas, Borderlands, Concho River Review, Journal of Texas Women Writers, Aries, and various anthologies. 

Upon graduation, Tovar hopes to pursue a master’s degree and intends to begin a career as a screenwriter. 

TAMIU currently offers students a minor in Creative Writing with courses that can be taken in English or Spanish and is one of the few programs in the United States offering Creative Writing in Spanish and English. 

Coursework helps students develop their skills as creative writers in small class settings, preparing them for the publishing world and entry into a career, graduate school, or professional school.

For more information on the Creative Writing minor at the University, visit https://go.tamiu.edu/creative-writing-minor.

TAMIU’s Fall 2022 Registration is now underway. For detailed registration information, visit https://news.tamiu.edu/fall22

Classes begin Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. Late registration ends Friday, Aug. 26.

University news and information can also be found online at tamiu.edu and on TAMIU’s social channels on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.