University News

Student Author Chosen for Best New Voices

Ted Wheeler, a graduate student in Creighton's creative writing program, had his short story "Welcome Home" selected for publication in the 2008 Best American New Voices anthology.

The fictional story is about a young soldier from Nebraska who refuses to fire his weapon during combat in order to return home to his wife unmarred by war.
                
"It deals with the notion that no citizen of a nation can avoid the tincture of war waged on his behalf," Wheeler said.

Wheeler began working on the story in 2005 while reading daily about the U.S. involvement in Iraq and what it meant for the soldiers who were beginning to come home. But it wasn't until a spring 2007 writers' workshop, led by Creighton professor Mary Helen Stefaniak, M.F.A., director of Creighton's creative writing program, that the story really began to take shape.

"My main intention was to write a story that exemplified our nation's indecision regarding the war — our confusion on whether we should stay there and whether our presence in the Middle East is good or does harm," Wheeler said.

"I wasn't out to write a political story, per se, but was more into exploring the gray areas that make doing the right thing so difficult."

Author Natalie Danford, who served as co-editor of the anthology, called Wheeler in November to tell him that his story had been selected.

"Even though I knew that it had been nominated, I was shocked that it had been picked," Wheeler said. "My hands were shaking; I couldn't really think straight."

Wheeler, who earned his undergraduate degree in 2005 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), said he was attracted to Creighton's creative writing program through his association with the program's past director, Creighton professor Brent Spencer, Ph.D.

"I had worked with Brent Spencer before and enjoyed our time together. His wife (author and UNL professor Jonis Agee, Ph.D.) and I were very familiar from my time at UNL, so I had a couple of people on the inside who thought Creighton would be a good place for me. And, judging by this honor, who can argue with the results?"