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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.

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 M.F.A. Students

Kayla Belser

  • B.A. Creative Writing, Northern Kentucky University
Creative and Research Interests: social justice studies, literary and speculative fiction, Black-queer perspective, women & gender studies, short story collections, themes of grief, liberation, and forgiveness

 

 


Chris Bowyer

  • M.A. Philosophy, Miami University
  • B.A. Philosophy, Miami University

Jordyn Damato

  • B.A., Broadcasting & Cinematic Arts, Central Michigan University
  • M.A., Creative Writing, Central Michigan University

Creative and Research Interests: I love taking risks in my work by pushing the bounds of form and telling a story as unconventional as possible. I’m also interested in the adaptation process of paper to screen as an avid filmmaker.

 


Ana Eliza de Melo Garcia

  • B.Ed., Portuguese and English, Sao Paulo State University

Creative and Research Interests:  Adaptation (books into movies/series), screenwriting, fiction, gothic literature, humor and drama (dramedy), adult literature.

 

 

 


Cordero Estremera 


Joshua Konecke

  • M.A., Kansas State University
  • B.A., University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Molly Moran

  • M.A., Communication, Culture, and Technology, Georgetown University
  • B.A., English Language and Literature, The Catholic University of America

Creative and Research Interests: Historical fiction, women's literature, speculative biography

 

  


Tanushree Mukherjee

  • M.A., Journalism and Media Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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


Mary Newton

  • M.A., English/Literature, San Francisco State University
  • B.A., English/Creative Writing, UCLA

Anna Richard

  • BFA, Visual Communication Design, Kent State University

Creative and Research Interests: Narration, diagetic distance, hauntings, the spectacular mundane, queer perspectives, dread, cults, flash fiction, art history, semiotics, the American Midwest, typography

 

 


Emma Rowan

  • B.A. English, Stony Brook University

Creative and Research Interests: CNF, micro/flash CNF, literary fiction, hybrid works, identity, environmentalism, humor, and LGBTQ narratives


Sammie Stahlhut

  • B.S., English Language Arts Education, University of Central Florida

Creative and Research Interests: novels, essays, Southern literature, Florida literature, LGBTQ+ issues, environmentalism, ordinary perspectives, absurdism, humor

Poetry M.F.A. Students

Ria Adams


James Foss


Dominik Gebell

  •  MFA Creative Writing (Poetry)

Creative and Research Interests:  Surrealism, Magical Realism, and The Supernatural. Meta Physics under the paradigm of Jungian Unconscious/Collective Unconscious; The Philosophy of Language, Dreams, and The Human Soul in Relationship to Itself and the World Around it.


Ross Kohler

  • B.A., Miami University

Roma Markle

  • B.A. English and Creative Writing, Northern Kentucky University

Creative and Research Interests: As a writer, I really enjoy experimental and hybrid work, but I also have a love for flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, and all forms of poetry. I like to keep my options open and feel free to write whatever I want. As a reader, I like poetry, flash fiction, and anything genre-bending.

 

 


Maddie Portune

  • M.A., English Literature, Indiana University
  • B.S.B, Marketing & International Studies, IUPUI

Creative and Research interests: Poetry, Old English literature (esp. charms), etymology & history of language, modern adaptations of mythology & religion, bisexuality in popular media & literature, feminist theory, queer theory, pedagogical approaches to writing & literature

 

 


Danton Remoto

  • M.Phil., Publishing Studies, University of Stirling UK; 
  • B.A./M.A .Literature, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Creative and Research interests: Postcolonial Poetry, Lyrical Poetry, Creative Writing Pedagogy


Candace Renicks 

  • B.F.A., Creative Writing, Southeastern University

Creative and Research Interests: British Romantic Poets, sonnets, the use of blank space in poetry

 

 


Hossein Sobhani

  • M.A., University of Southern Denmark
  • B.A., Persian Gulf University

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


Cody Tieman

  • B.A., English, Denison University

 

 

 

 

 


CC Webb

  • B.A., History and English, University of Georgia, (2021)

Creative and Research Interests: Practicing a process of writing they call "post-it poetry," CC primarily works by combining perse pieces of phrase, description, and word-form to create a cohesive poetic communication (with, of course, plenty of line breaks). They are particularly interested in William Blake's work, collage art, whether written, visual, or hybrid, political and protest poetry, sporadic world language-learning, and, through poetry, turning the mundane into something strange and explosive.


Kyle Williams

  • B.A., University of West Indies

Reynie Zimmerman

  • B.A., Miami University

Creative and Research Interests: poetry that includes visual elements

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.