Dan Albergotti ’02 MFA is the author of The Boatloads (BOA Editions, 2008), selected by Edward Hirsch as the winner of the 2007 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in “The Cincinnati Review,” “Five Points,” “The Southern Review,” “The Virginia Quarterly Review,” and other journals, as well as in the anthologies “From the Fishhouse,” “A Face to Meet the Faces,” and “Pushcart Prize XXXIII.”
The graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at UNCG and former poetry editor of The Greensboro Review currently teaches creative writing and literature courses and also edits the online journal “Waccamaw” at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.
The UNCG Magazine staff asked him to share a bit about his former professor, Fred Chappell, who will celebrated on April 14-15, 2023, at UNCG:
My Memory of Fred Chappell the Teacher
At the beginning of each workshop, he would walk into the room at a casual stroll and write a quote on the chalkboard—an aphorism or bit of wisdom about writing, poetry, or art drawn from a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience. It was always aptly chosen; that would become clear at some point in the day’s discussion. I’m sure I wasn’t alone among my peers in religiously copying these down in my notes. By the middle of the semester, those quotes began to feel like epigraphs to the chapters of an exquisite book.
Such was the sense of purpose to the course’s development.
By their nature, creative writing workshops are unpredictable, dictated by the work produced and the personalities of the students. But Fred’s workshop was masterfully designed even as it seemed wholly extemporaneous. He shuffled into the room with his humble gait and wrote that quote upon the board as if it had just occurred to him as he walked down the hall from his office. In reality, he was guiding our learning with extraordinary purpose and wisdom.
That was part of his magic as a teacher. He was at once the immensely learned and accomplished expert and simply “Ole Fred” — our friend, our pal. How fortunate we all were.
— Dan Albergotti ’02 MFA
Enjoy a Celebration of Fred Chappell on Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, 2023. Dan Albergotti will be among the former students and faculty on hand to read and provide remembrances in an April 15 event at 2 p.m. in the Alumni House. Questions? Call 336.334.5459.