MFA Writers podcast

#Books #Arts #Jared McCormack

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HR is no longer just about managing people—it’s about shaping the future of work. Jens Baier, BCG’s HR transformation expert, discusses how AI and shifting employee expectations are forcing companies to rethink talent strategies. From re-recruiting to upskilling employees, HR must adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. Learn More: Jens Baier: https://on.bcg.com/41ca7Gv BCG on People Strategy: https://on.bcg.com/3QtAjro Decoding Global Talent: https://on.bcg.com/4gUC4IT…

MFA Writers

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MFA Writers is the podcast where host Jared McCormack interviews creative writing MFA students about their program, their process, and a piece they’re working on.

124 επεισόδια

MFA Writers

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MFA Writers is the podcast where host Jared McCormack interviews creative writing MFA students about their program, their process, and a piece they’re working on.

124 επεισόδια

#Books #Arts #Jared McCormack

All episodes

1
Oli Peters — University of Notre Dame 44:31

πριν 1 day44:31

44:31

Integrating elegy, ekphrasis, and dance notation, Oli Peters’s thesis project is a multilingual, multi-genre exploration in translation and lyric poetry. In this episode, she shares how her program encourages creative experimentation, even when she submits work that feels “absolutely unpublishable, verging on unreadable.” Plus, she discusses her courses in Medieval manuscripts and theater, university-funded opportunities in Paris and Ireland, and how being rejected from MFA programs right after undergrad led her to spend five years writing daily for no one but herself. Oli is a second-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Notre Dame. Her writing is forthcoming in Annulet, DIAGRAM, DREGINALD, and mercury firs . Her past work appears in Pleiades , New World Writing , Rain Taxi, Heavy Feather Review , and abobo zine . Her dance-performance piece "Body Glyph State" will be performed at the 2025 Iowa Choreography Festival. She is a MFA candidate at the University of Notre Dame. Find her at her website, oliupeters.wixsite.com/olipeters , and on Instagram @olimpeters . 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Emily St. Martin — UC Riverside, Palm Desert Low-Residency Rerelease 44:38

πριν 15 μέρες44:38

44:38

Can you find a close community in a low-res program? Emily St. Martin, having met her best friends in her MFA, says absolutely yes. She joins Jared to talk about how her program has helped her craft her memoir-in-progress, the fear and reward of vulnerability in creative nonfiction, and how writing lets us acknowledge and redefine our pasts. Emily St. Martin is an independent journalist based in Los Angeles, CA. She has written for the New York Times , InStyle Magazine, Cosmopolitan , VICE , Los Angeles Magazine , The Fix, The Hollywood Reporter , People and elsewhere, including for the Southern California News Group where she won a third place award for best news feature with the LA Press Club in 2022. She holds a BA in Journalism from The University of La Verne and is currently pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction in the University of California Riverside’s Palm Desert Low-Residency program. Find her at her website, emilystmartin.com , and on Twitter @ByEmilyStMartin . 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Derek Chan — Cornell University Rerelease 47:47

πριν 29 μέρες47:47

47:47

How does our excavation of ancestral history shape our understanding of ourselves and how can writing guide us through this process? On this episode, Derek Chan discusses the role of family stories in his poetry and life, the magic of bewilderment in art, and the dissonance between our external language and our internal being. Plus, as a first-generation and international student, he offers advice for others moving to the United States to pursue higher education. Derek Chan is a writer and educator from Melbourne, Australia. He holds a First-Class Honours in Literary Studies from Monash University, where he received the Arthur Brown Thesis Prize. His writing has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Best of Australian Poems , Australian Poetry Anthology , Cordite Poetry Review , Meanjin , The Margins , Juked , and elsewhere. He has been a finalist for awards by Frontier Poetry and Palette Poetry. He is currently an MFA candidate at Cornell University, where he is an Editorial Associate for EPOCH and a university fellow. Find him at his website derekchanarts.com and on Instagram @derek_chan_ . 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Matt Homrich-Knieling — Western Connecticut State University 40:35

πριν 6 weeks40:35

40:35

Speculative memoir allows Matt Homrich-Knieling to lean into the subjective nature of memory and explore his experience with separation anxiety. Plus, he and Jared discuss how Matt created a specific list of experiences he wanted from an MFA, which allowed him to narrow his MFA application list to just three programs. They also talk about how the WCSU program requires students to choose both a creative and a professional genre, and how they develop community despite being a low-residency program. Matt Homrich-Knieling is a writer and educator based in Detroit, MI. He is a second-year MFA student at Western Connecticut State University focusing on creative nonfiction and editing. Matt currently serves as editor-in-chief for Poor Yorick , the literary magazine housed at West Conn's MFA program. Matt is particularly interested in reading and writing speculative memoir. He has had essays published in Brevity Blog , Metro Parent , Edsurge , and elsewhere. For his MFA creative thesis, Matt is working on a speculative memoir that explores the connections between his family history and his experiences with separation anxiety. 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Meghan Perry — Debut Author Series — Water Finds a Way 45:01

πριν 8 weeks45:01

45:01

15 years after her MFA, and 4 years after scrapping a book that just wasn’t working, Meghan Perry’s debut novel WATER FINDS A WAY is receiving strong positive reviews, including a coveted Kirkus star. She joins Jared to talk about the realities of post-grad writing, going “scorched earth” on revision, and the process of turning short stories into a full-length novel. Plus, she talks about grounding her work in a remote Maine fishing village, overlooked American cultures, and the hardships—and community—her characters face. Meghan Perry graduated with an MFA from Emerson College in 2009 and currently directs the Writing Center at St. John's Preparatory School in the Boston area. She has published stories in Cold Mountain Review, Sycamore Review, The Fourth River, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, WATER FINDS A WAY , was published in November 2024 by Delphinium Books with an audiobook by Penguin Random House. The novel has received a Kirkus star and been featured in Newsday and Condé Nast as one of the top books of this fall. Find her at meghanperry.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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Rerelease: Jamie Li — Vermont College of Fine Arts 42:46

πριν 10 weeks42:46

42:46

The pod team is traveling this week, so we invite you to travel back to a great episode from our previous season. We’ll be back with new episodes in the New Year — how fitting! Wishing you all a beautiful close to 2024. Drawing from her decade-long career in Silicon Valley, Jamie Li tells Jared about writing tech satire that struck her MFA colleagues as far-fetched and her tech friends as totally realistic. Plus, Jamie talks about how her background as a Chinese immigrant and the model minority myth shape her interest in writing about in-group/out-group behaviors, and her attraction to VCFA’s emphasis on experimental and cross-genre writing. Jamie Li is a Southern California-based fiction writer and product marketer. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College and is pursuing her MFA at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been recognized in the New York Times and published in Slant’d Magazine , Mangoprism , and elsewhere. She writes the Creative Juice newsletter and exists online on jamieli.co or IG @j.a.m.i.e.l.i. 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Rerelease: Krista Diamond — University of Nevada, Las Vegas 56:18

πριν 12 weeks56:18

56:18

It’s winter break! Strap on your snowshoes, brew a hot chocolate, and escape to the heat of the Vegas desert with one of our favorite episodes from last season. Wishing you all rest, writing inspiration, and early-decision acceptances. This week, an MFA with an international focus! Krista Diamond sits down with Jared to talk about UNLV’s required (and funded) study abroad component and its emphasis on translation. Plus, Krista shares lessons learned as a freelance writer, info on the Vegas literary community, and how her experience working and living in national parks informs her fiction and nonfiction alike. Krista Diamond is a Las Vegas based writer whose work has appeared in or is forthcoming in The New York Times , Longreads , Hazlitt, Catapult , Electric Literature , Joyland , and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by Tin House and Bread Loaf. Her essay “That Girl is Going to Get Herself Killed,” which first appeared in Longreads , was adapted for audio by Oscar-nominated actress Naomie Harris. She is currently a third year in the fiction MFA program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she is working on a novel about paparazzi. Learn more at www.kristamariediamond.com and on Twitter at @kristadiamond . 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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Wilson M. Sims — Florida Atlantic University 57:39

πριν 14 weeks57:39

57:39

In this instant classic episode, Wilson M. Sims and Jared talk about the step-by-step process of getting an agent, what they do (or know they shouldn’t do) when a story isn’t working, how MFA programs are like basketball drills, and approaching craft discussions in ways that are more flexible and time-varying than declarative and concrete. Plus, Wilson discusses making lasting connections with faculty and visiting writers and shares the realities of living on an MFA stipend and pivoting to part-time to maintain a day job. Wilson M. Sims is a behavioral-health worker and policy strategist in the final year of his MFA program at Florida Atlantic University. His work is published in Longreads, The Florida Review, Witness Magazine, and Virginia Quarterly Review. He is the winner of the 2021 Lascaux Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and his essay “Unknown Costs,” received a special mention in the 2025 Pushcart Anthology. Find him at wilsonmsims.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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Mackenzie McGee — University of Kansas 45:44

πριν 16 weeks45:44

45:44

In this episode, PhD Candidate Mackenzie McGee talks about her process when writing speculative fiction, including how she decides on topics and themes, how her process changes when writing flash versus her novel, and how writers are able to explore politically dangerous topics by leaning into speculative elements. She then tells Jared about her decision to pursue the PhD after finishing her four-year MFA program and how KU is particularly supportive of speculative writers. Mackenzie McGee is a speculative fiction writer from the Midwest. A winner of the 2021 PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers , her work can be read in Porter House Review , Nat. Brut , Alaska Quarterly Review , and Cease, Cows . Mackenzie earned her MFA from the University of Arkansas and is currently a second-year PhD student in English-Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. You can find her at mackenziemcgee.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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Rone Shavers — Application Series — MFA vs. PhD 47:10

πριν 18 weeks47:10

47:10

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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Rerelease: Jess Silfa — Application Series — MFA Draft 1:19:44

πριν 20 weeks1:19:44

1:19:44

The leaves are turning, the pumpkin spice lattes are brewing, and that means the MFA applicants are revising and re-revising their personal statements. To celebrate the arrival of fall, we’re bringing you last season’s (super informative) application episode. Stay tuned for a new episode in your feed soon. Happy MFA Application Season to all who celebrate! Jess Silfa returns to the show bringing seven years of experience with the MFA Draft Facebook Group. On this episode, Jess and Jared offer advice for applicants across a wide range of topics: teaching, funding, health insurance, fees, faculty, letters of recommendation, writing samples, statements of purpose, negotiations, timelines, and more. Good luck, friends. Jess Silfa is a writer and poet from the South Bronx. They hold an MFA from Vanderbilt University in Creative Writing (Fiction) and are currently pursuing their Ph.D. in Creative Writing at the University of Cincinnati. They have received a Displaced Artist Fellowship from Vermont Studio Center, a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Mae Fellowship, and a Ricardo Salinas Scholarship for Aspen Summer Words. Jess serves as President for the Disabled and D/deaf Writers Caucus and helps run the MFA Draft Facebook group. Jess’s first novel, the story of a tight-knit immigrant community rattled by the war on drugs, goes on submission this fall. Learn more at www.jesilfa.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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Carlee Jensen — Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars 49:59

πριν 22 weeks49:59

49:59

Carlee Jensen reflects on how the American West and constructions of personal mythology shaped her writing, and how coming out “late” taught her that life has no single narrative. She also tells Jared why she avoided MFA application resources before submitting her materials, how the MFA helped her refocus on writing as an art, not just a profession, and she discusses her experience taking advantage of Hopkins’s optional third year. Carlee Jensen is a fiction writer and educator, raised in Utah and California, and currently living in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a BA from Yale University and an MS from Bank Street College of Education, and spent seven years as a classroom teacher before pursuing an MFA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. During her time at Johns Hopkins, she received the 2024 Benjamin J. Sankey Fellowship in Fiction. Her work has appeared in New Ohio Review and The Master’s Review , where it was selected by Kristen Arnett for a 2022 Short Story Award for New Writers, and was a finalist for American Short Fiction ’s Short(er) Fiction Prize in 2023. Find her at carleejensen.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 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Jonny Teklit — University of Wisconsin–Madison 42:49

πριν 24 weeks42:49

42:49

On this episode, Jonny Teklit sits down with Jared to talk about crafting odes to small, granular subjects, sharing his personal productivity tips and the common writing advice that doesn’t work for him. Plus, Jonny discusses the pros and cons of UW-Madison’s rotating genre admissions policy and reflects on how Lynda Barry’s comics class changed his perspective on creative talent, revision, and experimentation. Jonny Teklit is an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets , The New Yorker, The Atlantic , The Adroit Journal , and elsewhere. He is currently a second-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he is working on his debut collection. He has an animal fact for any occasion. Find him at his website jonnyteklit.com , on IG @jonnyteklit , and on Twitter @jonnysaysOMG . 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 — 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Emma Allmann — University of Alabama 56:56

πριν 26 weeks56:56

56:56

It’s not quite Halloween, but on this episode, Emma Allman talks to Jared about the utility of defamiliarization, surrealism, uncanniness, and body horror in ecofiction (spooky!). Plus, she discusses how working in marketing pre-MFA helped her understand professionalism and realism in academia, life in Tuscaloosa as it aligns with and diverges from outsiders’ expectations, and unique opportunities of the University of Alabama’s MFA program, including teaching in youth writing camps or within the state’s prison system. Emma Allmann studied creative writing at UW-Madison and is entering her third year in the MFA program at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. Prior to returning to grad school she worked in market research for several years in Chicago. She has had pieces published with Ellipsis and Ink In Thirds, shortlisted with Smokelong and has had a play produced for the Marcia Légère Student Play Festival at UW-Madison. She has pieces forthcoming with LandLocked and Ink In Thirds. Find her at www.emmaallmann.com and on Instagram @emryal91 . 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 — 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 CONNECTED Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com…

1
Rerelease: Simon Graham — University of Washington 45:38

πριν 28 weeks45:38