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Creative Writing, MFA

Small, intensive and supportive, merging a playful approach to contemporary experimentation with an ambitious exploration of literary traditions, Miami University's MFA program draws students from across the country and beyond to classes in creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, multimedia and performance writing.

Practice-Oriented

The program’s core consists of four practice-oriented workshops focused on student writing. MFA writers also take seminars in literature (usually in contemporary British and American literature) and a course devoted to questions of theory and practice. Every aspect of the program - especially the close mentorship of faculty writers - is designed to nurture the composition of a publishable full-length work of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction by the end of the second year of study.

Miami’s graduate creative writing alumni enjoy successful writing careers (recent graduates have sold first books to Alfred A. Knopf, Random House and Harcourt) as well as careers in university teaching, public service, editing and publishing.

Funding Opportunities

All students admitted to the MFA program in Creative Writing hold generous Graduate Assistantships, teaching first-year composition in Miami’s renowned rhetoric and composition program. Non-teaching assistantships may also be available. Students teach creative writing during the second year, and two MFA writers annually are awarded creative writing internships in China.

Faculty and Mentors

Graduate students often work with faculty from across the department, taking advantage of our rich interdisciplinary expertise

MFA Faculty

Joseph Bates

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2006

Co-Editor of the Miami University Press
Associate Professor of English

Areas: Narratology, Creative Writing Pedagogy, Fantastic, Absurd, and Grotesque Literatures; Southern Literature, Film Studies, Religion and Literature

  

Margaret Luongo

MFA, Creative Writing, University of Florida, 2001

Associate Professor of English

Areas: Creative writing practice, Short fiction, Experimental prose, Contemporary short forms

 

 

Eric Melbye

PhD, Creative Writing, University of Denver, 2001

Associate Professor of English (Middletown Campus)

Areas: Community-Based Learning, Creative Writing, Creative Writing Pedagogy, Exile Studies


 

  

Tim Melley

PhD, English and American Literature, Cornell, 1995

Professor of English and Affiliate of American Studies, Director of the Miami University Humanities Center

Areas: U.S. Literary and Cultural History Since 1950, Cold War Studies, Postmodernism, Fiction Writing


 

TaraShea Nesbit

PhD, University of Denver, 2015
Associate Professor of English

Areas: 20th and 21st Century Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, Lyric Essays, Multi-Genre Texts, Creative Writing Pedagogy.


 

Brian Roley 

JD, University of California, Los Angeles and MFA, Creative Writing, Cornell University, 1998

Professor of English and Affiliate of Global and Intercultural Studies, Director of Creative Writing

Areas: Creative Writing; Film, Theatre and Literature Adaptations; Disability / Medical Narratives; Contemporary and Twentieth Century Literature; Asian American Literature; Literature and the Law


 

Emily Spencer,

M.F.A., University of Iowa, Iowa Writers' Workshop
B.A., The Ohio State University

Assistant Professor of English

Areas: Poetry and Poetics, Creative Writing, Contemporary Poetry


 

Keith Tuma

PhD, University of Chicago, 1987

Assistant Professor of English and Co-Editor of the Miami University Press

Areas: Modern and Contemporary British, Irish, American, and Anglophone Literature, Creative and Performance Writing, Poetry and Poetics, Anecdotes and Ephemera, Travel Writing


 

Cathy Wagner

PhD, University of Utah, 2000
Professor of English

Areas: Creative Writing, Poetry Writing, Contemporary and Modern American Poetry and Poetics, Contemporary and Modern British Poetry and Poetics, Poetry and Politics

Current Creative Writing Grad Students

Creative Nonfiction and Fiction MFA Students

Ritika Bali

BA, English Literature, Lady Shri Ram College for Women
MBA, Marketing, Institute of Management Technology

Creative interests: prose poem, flash, short stories, magical realism, photo essays, spiritualism, graphic novels, migration literature, journaling, folklore and legends, Indian mythology, historical fiction


Kayla Belser

BA International Business, University of Cincinnati
BA Creative Writing, Northern Kentucky University


Chris Bowyer

MA Philosophy, Miami University
BA Philosophy, Miami University


David W. Carstens

BA, English, Kenyon College

Creative interests: technology, religion, German, literature, philosophy, social alienation, individualism, game design, the internet, community (and the lack thereof), environmentalism, loneliness, climate change.


Ash Ganderi

BA, Creative Writing & Mass Communication, Miami University


Priyadarshini Oshin Gogoi

BA, MA, University of Delhi

Creative interests: YA and children's fiction, poetry, micro and flash fiction, hybrid genres, memoir, non-fiction writing, and speculative fiction


Joshua Konecke

MA, Kansas State University
BA, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay


Molly Moran

MA, Georgetown University
BA, Catholic University of America


Tanushree Mukherjee

MA, Journalism and Media Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Creative Interests: Reading fiction, hope to complete a long-form fiction project


Mary Newton

BA, English/Creative Writing, UCLA
MA, English/Literature, San Francisco State University


Xavier Prince

BA, English, Salisbury University


Sammie Steiner

BS, English Language Arts Education, University of Central Florida

Creative Interests: Novels and novellas, Southern Gothic, queer identity, absurdism, environmentalism, humor, and ordinary perspectives


Kendra Stiers

BA, Creative Writing, Miami University


Ty Young

BS, Creative Writing, Ashland University

Poetry MFA Students

Jeremy Daugherty

BA, MA, English, Northern Kentucky University

Creative interests: elegy and the works of confessional poets; creative writing pedagogy in the composition classroom.

 


Adefemi Fagite

BA, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta

Creative interests: social injustice, grief, speculative fiction, and African poetry

 


Matt Farley

BA, English Literature/Creative Writing, Miami University

 


Hallie Fogarty

BA, Northern Kentucky University

Creative interests: women poets, Affrilachian Literature, formal poetry, LGBTQ writers, mental illness in poetry, sestinas, confessional poetry

 


Sophia Judge

BA, Creative Writing, University of Cincinnati

Creative interests: climate-based literature and poetry, feminist works

 


 

Ross Kohler

BA, Miami University

 


Maddie Portune

BSB, Marketing & International Studies, IUPUI
MA, English Literature, Indiana University

Creative Interests: Poetry (confessional, new formalism, micro), modern adaptations of mythology & religion, historical fiction (esp. Exploring European history & language), bisexuality in popular media & literature, feminist theory, queer theory, pedagogical approaches to writing & literature, linguistic justice & literary studies in young adult literature


Danton Remoto

MPhil, Publishing Studies, University of Stirling UK; 
BA/MA Literature, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Creative Interests: Postcolonial Poetry, Lyrical Poetry, Creative Writing Pedagogy


Hossein Sobhani

MA, University of Southern Denmark
BA, Persian Gulf University

Creative Interests: Narrative and the way in which our lives and identities are intertwined with narrative


Cody Tieman

BA, English, Denison University

 


Kyle Williams

BA, University of West Indies


Reynie Zimmerman

BA, Miami University

Visit

Writers participate in a stimulating literary climate on a campus Robert Frost called the prettiest in America. Miami’s lively reading series hosts a dozen eminent and emerging writers yearly and includes a yearly symposium on translation.