MFA Writers

Self-proclaimed “protest poet” Komal Bukhari tells Jared what this title means to her and how, in her view, speaking truth to power is not an act of bravery—it’s a way of being. They also discuss Komal’s process, how she approaches the heavy themes of her work with patience to avoid burnout, and how MFA deadlines complicate this process. She also tells Jared about teaching creative writing versus English composition, how the MFA taught her it takes a hundred hours to finish a poem, and what it’s like moving from Pakistan to the small town of Carbondale, Illinois. Komal Bukhari is a Pakistani poet and MFA candidate in creative writing at Southern Illinois University. Her work explores theology, dissent, and the personal cost of defying patriarchal and religious boundaries. She writes about honor killing, blasphemy laws, and the politics of faith in Pakistan, often examining her own struggle to seek freedom within and beyond these systems. Her poem “Iconoclast” was featured by BBC Urdu, where she was named an emerging poet, and her poems have appeared in Pakistani anthologies. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠MFAwriters.com⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at⁠ Buy Me a Coffee⁠.Leave a rating and review on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠our application⁠.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: ⁠@MFAwriterspod⁠Instagram: ⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠Facebook: ⁠MFA Writers⁠Email: ⁠mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Award-winning cinematographer Michael Fitzer joins Jared to talk about his work in the film industry and how it compares to writing about their own experience in the US military. Michael shares what it’s like to build a creative career in Louisville, Kentucky’s growing film scene. He also reflects on how the magic of the Spalding Low-Residency MFA transformed his writing path, offering guidance and validation he hadn’t previously found. Plus, Michael discusses his mission to help other artists recognize that a life in creative work is not only possible, but within reach.Michael is a recent graduate of Spalding University’s low-residency MFA in Writing program after spending more than 25 years in the film industry. He’s an Emmy Award-winning DP, Director, Producer, and Editor whose work has been seen on networks like Discovery, History, A&E, The Documentary Channel, iTunes, and Netflix, and represented at major film markets like Cannes, Berlin, and Toronto. Most recently, he assisted in the development of the Netflix hit show WRESTLERS, where he served as production supervisor. He is also a decorated combat veteran of the United States Army. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠MFAwriters.com⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at⁠ Buy Me a Coffee⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠our application⁠.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: ⁠@MFAwriterspod⁠Instagram: ⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠Facebook: ⁠MFA Writers⁠Email: ⁠mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

LA-based spoken word poet edwin bodney joins Jared to explore what it really means to build an authentic writing life rooted in connection and community. edwin shares their journey to finding an artistic home at Da Poetry Lounge and why discovering the right community can shape your craft, confidence, and longevity as a writer. They also tackle the question, “Do you need an MFA to be successful?”, asking whether the MFA path is right for everyone. edwin speaks honestly about what it is like to teach at an MFA program without holding the degree, what they have learned from the experience, and how writers can define success on their own terms.  edwin bodney is a Black, Queer, non-binary artist, award-winning educator, and nationally recognized poet from Los Angeles. As someone living with M.S. and the rest of the world’s chaos, they strive to remind all vulnerable communities of their joy and laughter. edwin and their work have been featured in platforms and publications like Button Poetry, Platypus Press, The Exposition Review, The Advocate, Lexus, TvOne, Amazon Prime, UW-Madison, and many others. Their full-length book of poetry, A Study of Hands (2017), is available through Not A Cult Media. edwin is a former co-host of Da Poetry Lounge, one of the country’s largest and longest-running, non-profit poetry venues.edwin currently works supporting LGBTQ+ students at California State University, Dominguez Hills.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.— Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

MFA Writers is going to Canada! Neil Griffin, wildlife biologist turned poet and essayist, tells Jared about how both ecology and writing require patience, openness, and vision. Plus, Neil talks about whether “creative nonfiction" is a useful label, the pros and cons of a small program, and UVic’s emphasis on training students in creative writing pedagogy.Neil Griffin is a poet, essayist, and former wildlife biologist. A former finalist for CBC's Poetry Prize and multiple Alberta Magazine Awards, his writing has appeared throughout Canada and Western Europe. He's an MFA student at the University of Victoria, working on a book-length lyric essay about extinction. In addition, he is the 2023 Artist-in-Resident for Ocean Network's Canada, where he writes about the ecology and history of the abyssal regions of the Pacific Ocean. Find him at his website, neilcgriffin.com, and on Twitter @prairielorax.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Following Venezuela’s disputed presidential election, debut author Alejandro Puyana returns to the show to discuss his novel, which explores the revolutionary lives of both ordinary and extraordinary Venezuelans over the span of fifty years. He also shares insights with Jared about the rewrites he made to his MFA thesis before publication, the experience of collaborating with an editor, and the journey of securing book blurbs.Alejandro Puyana is the author of the upcoming novel Freedom Is a Feast, available from Little, Brown on August 20th. Alejandro moved to the United States from Venezuela at the age of twenty-six. In 2022, he completed his MFA at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His work has appeared in Tin House, American Short Fiction, The American Scholar, New England Review, and Idaho Review, among others, and his story “The Hands of Dirty Children” was selected by Curtis Sittenfeld for Best American Short Stories 2020. He lives with his wife and daughter in Austin, Texas. Learn more at alejandropuyana.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Memoirist and director of the Institute for American Indian Arts MFA program Deborah Jackson Taffa talks to Jared about her new book, Whiskey Tender. Deborah shares how memoir writing is a form of familial and historical preservation, and offers advice on having difficult conversations with the real people who appear in our creative nonfiction. Plus, she discusses the value of the low-res IAIA program for both indigenous and non-indigenous writers, offers strategies for sustaining creative energy, and describes methods to avoid falling into a common misstep for MFA students: social comparison.A citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo, Deborah Jackson Taffa is the director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the Institute for American Indian Arts. She is the author of the memoir WHISKEY TENDER and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa. Her writing can be found at PBS, Salon, LARB, Brevity, A Public Space, The Boston Review, The Rumpus, and the Best American Nonrequired Reading. In late 2021, she was named a MacDowell Fellow, Kranzberg Arts Fellow, and Tin House Scholar. In 2022, she won a PEN American Grant for Oral History and was named a Hedgebrook Fellow. Find her at deborahtaffa.com and on social media @deborahtaffa.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Tyler Ayres draws on his extensive resume in manufacturing, Chinese translation, and hospitality to inform his workplace fiction, exploring interpersonal conflict, pressure, and bonds. He joins Jared to discuss the craft behind these stories, as well as his experience with granular writing study (think: syllables, punctuation), Chatham’s focus on nature and travel writing, and the opportunity to teach writing in nontraditional spaces.Tyler is a first-year MFA candidate in fiction and a teaching fellow at Chatham University. He also holds an interdisciplinary MA from the University of Nebraska which culminated in a 45,000-word short fiction manuscript. His nonfiction appears in The Fourth River and L’Esprit Literary Review and his fiction appears in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Uppagus, and Line of Advance. Tyler also writes and performs music, works as a freelance editor, and has experience translating Chinese professionally.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Many people pursue an MFA to have time to write (time enough at last!), but how much time does an MFA student really have? Josephine Gawtry talks to Jared about the day-to-day demands of an MFA program and creating space in her schedule to experiment with her statement-based poetry. Plus, she discusses Colorado State’s supportive community, a doubt-free workshop environment, and lessons learned from assisting with the program’s reading series and The Colorado Review.Josephine Gawtry is a third-year fellowship recipient in poetry at the Colorado State University MFA, where she is an associate editor for Colorado Review and the assistant director of the Creative Writing Reading Series. She graduated from Bennington College in 2023 with a degree in literature and visual arts. Her work has been published in Gigantic Sequins, South Dakota Review, Beaver Magazine, and elsewhere.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Rone Shavers joins Jared for our annual application episode to discuss the differences between MFA and PhD applications and programs. Rone and Jared talk about how to choose the right program, put together the best application, and get the most out of your time in a program. Before that, they discuss Rone’s “funky” novel Silverfish and how getting over the pressure of making a commercially viable book allowed him to write the book he wanted to write.Rone Shavers is the director of the creative writing program at The University of Utah, which offers both an MFA and a PhD in creative writing. Rone is the author of the experimental Afrofuturist novel Silverfish from Clash Books, a finalist for the 2021 Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Firecracker Award in Fiction and one of The Brooklyn Rail’s “Best Books of 2020.” He is also fiction and hybrid genre editor at the award-winning journal, Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora. Find him at roneshavers.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

What do poets and humorists have in common? For Caylin Capra-Thomas, whose writing is sure to make you laugh, both pay close attention to life’s idiosyncrasies in the search for truth. In this episode, she also tells Jared about her experience getting a PhD in creative writing for an advantage in the academic job market (it worked: she’s a professor!), conquering the comprehensive exam, and key differences between the PhD and the MFA.Caylin Capra-Thomas is the author of a poetry collection, Iguana Iguana, and her poetry and essays have appeared widely, including in Georgia Review, Pleiades, Longreads, 32 Poems, New England Review, and elsewhere. Her scholarship has appeared in the T.S. Eliot Studies Annual. The recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Sewanee Writers Conference, she earned an MFA in creative writing (poetry) from the University of Montana, and a PhD in English and creative writing (nonfiction) from the University of Missouri in Columbia. She now teaches English and creative writing at Stephens College. Find her at caylincaprathomas.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

What role can poetry play in public health? Henneh Kyereh Kwaku joins Jared to explore how his MFA in Creative Writing intersects with his academic background in public health and disease control. Together, they discuss how Henneh uses a poetic lens to examine issues like vaccine hesitancy. He also reflects on writing about his home country of Ghana while living in the US, drawing from non-fiction and audio storytelling through cross-genre courses, and finding lasting support from MFA faculty even after his graduation.Winner of Poetry Magazine’s J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, Henneh Kyereh Kwaku was born in Gonasua and raised in Drobo in the Bono Region of Ghana. He has received fellowships from the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora (LOATAD), Chapman University, and the Carolyn Moore Writing Residency. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with a Bachelor of Public Health (Disease Control), an MA in Health Education, an MFA in Creative Writing, and is pursuing a PhD with an emphasis in Health and Culture. His (public) health communication scholarship explores art-based approaches to addressing medical mistrust and vaccine hesitancy in Black populations. He’s the author of Revolution of the Scavengers (African Poetry Book Fund/Akashic Books, 2020) and the founder/host of the Church of Poetry. His poems/essays have appeared or are forthcoming in the Academy of American Poets’ A-Poem-A-Day, Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, World Literature Today, Air/Light Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly, Poetry Society of America, Lolwe, Agbowó, CGWS, Olongo Africa, 20:35 Africa, and elsewhere. He shares memes on Twitter/Instagram at @kwaku_kyereh.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Spencer Robert Young sits down with Jared to talk about their path from punk music concertgoer to writing a chamber opera. Plus, Spencer and Jared discuss pattern and rupture in poetry, the pros and cons of staying in academia versus taking time off, the beauty and collaboration of editing, and life in Moscow, Idaho.Spencer Robert Young (they/them) is a poet, essayist, and editor. They write about embodiment, punk music, queerness, climate change, and good books. Spencer holds an MA in Creative Writing and Literature from Kansas State University and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Idaho. While earning their MFA, Spencer edited reviews and interviews for Fugue Literary Journal, and they currently judge chapbooks for the Cow Creek Chapbook Prize. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, their work has been published in a handful of literary magazines and journals, and their original chamber opera, Let's Blow Up a Gas Station!, premiered with Seattle Opera in 2024. Find them at spencerrobertyoung.my.canva.site. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Former stand-up comedian Max Delsohn sits down with Jared to talk about how humor and detailed line-level revision show up in his work for the stage and the page. Plus, he discusses a pleasure-forward writing process, switching MFA programs after the first year, and his experiences with big-name faculty like George Saunders and Mary Karr.Max Delsohn is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction at Syracuse University. His writing appears in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, VICE, Joyland, The Rumpus, Passages North, Nat. Brut, and the essay anthology Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games, edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado, among other places. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Saltonstall Foundation for The Arts, Mineral School, and Hugo House, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. His debut short story collection, CRAWL, is forthcoming in fall 2025 from Graywolf Press. Find Max on social media @maxdelsohn, and sign up for alerts to pre-order his collection via his website, www.maxdelsohn.com.This episode was requested by Amy Peltz, Sarah Blood, and Frank Turner. Thank you all for listening!MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Having moved from Atlanta to Montreal as a toddler, some of Sophia Tone’s earliest memories are shaped by the “slipperiness of language.” In this episode, she tells Jared how bilingualism and her French immersion experience influence her poetry today, and how she seeks to highlight lesser-known Québécois art and poetry. They also discuss the connection between visual art and poetry, as well as the cross-genre focus at Hollins (or “Pulitzer University”), where students receive funding without the requirement to teach.Sophia Tone is a second-year MFA candidate at Hollins University. Her focus is poetry, but she recently discovered the lyric essay and has been experimenting with creative nonfiction ever since. She seems to enjoy writing intertextual and ekphrastic work the best, these days. During her time in Atlanta, with her best poet friend, she co-founded PEACHFUZZ Journal (@peachfuzzjournal on Instagram), which seeks to publish emerging voices from the Atlanta area. You can find her work at HAD, Switch Microfiction, and Axil Poetry and Art. She is on Instagram @lilso3.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Writers often share work in readings, but how often do we write stories that are designed to be read aloud? Lewis Millholland tells Jared about preparing for a reading by creating a piece “that was short, had a lot of repetition, no dialogue, and noticeable voice changes.” Millholland also discusses drawing inspiration from Harvard Business Review case studies, bumping into Salman Rushdie at the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, and the extensive literary scene (including writing workshops in Hemingway’s final house) in and around Boise, Idaho.Lewis Millholland is a writer and video game developer. His fiction and essays have appeared in journals including Passages North, DIAGRAM, and The Garlic Press. Currently, he is a third-year MFA student at Boise State University, where he serves as the associate editor of The Idaho Review and lives with a stolen (rescued) jade plant. His work can be read online at lewismillholland.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

In our Season 6 premiere, James T. Morrison talks about how creative nonfiction provides an opportunity to discuss challenging topics like drug dependency and justice system involvement that counter the stereotypical portrayal of the addiction redemption arc. He and Jared also explore revision as a process to find your voice, Morrison’s shift from a law school path to an MFA at age 40, the importance of accessible mentors over university prestige, and the underappreciated literary scene of Fresno.James T. Morrison is a recent graduate of California State University, Fresno, where he received his MFA in creative nonfiction in June of 2025. He serves as the nonfiction editor at The Normal School literary magazine, affiliated with Fresno State's MFA. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Slate, Diode, River Teeth's "Beautiful Things," and Fugue. To hear him talk about his writing and American drug policy, check out his appearance on the award winning podcast, Death, Sex, and Money. James lives in California's Central Valley with his wife, Sara, their three cats, and brand new puppy (she is a real pistol). Find him at his website, www.james-t-morrison.com, and on Instagram @regularjamest.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

On this episode, Nikki Lyssy tells Jared about how, as a blind writer, she uses research to access the sighted world and fill her fiction with vivid imagery, while in her nonfiction, she explores her own experience with blindness and plays with ideas about which forms translate between braille and the page. Plus, Nikki talks about diversity and disability representation in young adult fiction, formal training in creative writing pedagogy, and support from faculty, friends, and family when she decided to change her thesis at the last minute. Nikki Lyssy is a third-year MFA candidate at the University of South Florida, where she writes fiction and nonfiction. She is blind, and her thesis is a young adult novel that follows the life of 17-year-old Emma Reynolds as she adjusts to her blindness and sets out on a path of self-discovery and acceptance of her disability. Find her on Twitter @Blindnikkii. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. BE PART OF THE SHOW — Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. — Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience. — Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application. STAY CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

On this episode, Sam Herschel Wein tells Jared about their path to finding poetry outside of academia, co-founding and editing Underblong, and their approach to collaboration and humor in their writing. Plus, they discuss the nuances of MFA program decisions (Two or three years? English or Art departments?) and whether creative writing should live within institutions of higher education at all.Sam Herschel Wein (he/they) is a lollygagging plum of a poet who specializes in perpetual frolicking. They have an MFA from the University of Tennessee (2021-2023) and were the recipient of a 2022 Pushcart Prize. They have published 3 chapbooks, most recently Butt Stuff Flower Bush from Porkbelly Press, and are the co-founder and editor of Underblong Journal. They have recent work in American Poetry Review, The Cincinnati Review, and Gulf Coast, among others. Find them on social media @samforbreakfast and at their website, samherschelwein.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

What’s it like to pursue a low-residency MFA when you’re a collaborative playwright and performer? In this episode, Suli Holum describes devised work, partnerships between writers and actors, and how she created a piece based on her research in the oil fields of North Dakota. She and Jared also talk about the details of Goddard’s creative and craft assignments, and how students in this low-res program still get teaching experience.Suli Holum is a Philadelphia-based director, performer, choreographer and playwright who recently graduated with an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Goddard College in Vermont where she was the recipient of the 2020 Engaged Artist Award. She is a member of the Wilma Theatre’s HotHouse Company, a founding member of Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Co-Artistic Director of Stein | Holum Projects, whose works include Drama Desk-nominated Chimera, and The Wholehearted. She’s the recipient of a Drama Desk Award, a TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship, a Barrymore Award, an Independence Fellowship, and a NEFA Touring Grant. Credits at the Wilma include Romeo and Juliet, Dance Nation and Minor Character, and you can also catch her on HBO’s Mare of Easttown. Find her at suliholumthework.org.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Noah Evan Wilson spent ten years finishing his undergraduate degree while developing as a musician and a photographer. In this episode, he talks with Jared about how that decade of experiences animates his current writing, how the craft of music and photography overlaps with and informs his fiction, and how the MFA has provided him the opportunity to experience college in a way he wasn’t able to before.Noah Evan Wilson is a writer and musician based in New York City, and a second-year MFA candidate at Rutgers University-Newark, in the fiction track. His short stories have been published in Beyond Words, Third Street Review, and the anthology, Ten Ways the Animals Will Save Us, from Retreat West Books. He received third place in the 2022 Dreamers Creative Writing Flash Fiction Contest, and second place in the 2021 Prime Number Magazine Flash Fiction Prize, and has stories forthcoming in both Chautauqua and Orca. Noah is currently working on his first novel, exploring the lasting power of a brief and intimate friendship between two young men who become entangled with a high-control religious cult. His solo records, Desert Cities, and The View from the Ground, are available on all major music streaming platforms. Find him at noahevanwilson.com or on Instagram @NoahEvanWilson.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com