MFA Program
See writers who attended this programPoetry: Nicole Cooley, Kimiko Hahn, Roger Sedarat
Fiction: Alaya Dawn Johnson, John Weir
Nonfiction: Briallen Hopper, Jason Tougaw
Translation: Ammiel Alcalay, Annmarie Drury, Roger Sedarat
The program offers partial funding in the form of several scholarships, and incoming students have the opportunity to apply for a two-year teaching fellowship. Selected students take a teaching practicum in the fall of their first year and work on initiatives within the program—social media, event planning, web development, alumni outreach. During the spring, they teach one course and continue to work half-time within the program. During their second year, they teach two courses each semester. The stipend is $24,000.
The program also offers literary fellowship opportunities with the Louis Armstrong House Museum archives, a yearly book prize for translators with Hanging Loose Press called “Loose Translations,” the $1,000 Hoyt Jacobs Poetry Prize, and a chapbook prize from Ghostbird Press.
The program collaborates on reading series with such literary organizations as Poetry Society of America, Cave Canem, and Kundiman, as well as hosts their own Trends in Translation event series. Students organize their own reading series called Brainstorm, which takes place off campus at the legendary underground performance space Pete’s Candy Store.