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.
My time at Miami was integral to the process of writing and selling my memoir. The creative writing faculty helped foster my voice and style and find the language I needed to talk about my project and my writing, which gave me an edge when pitching agents and publishers. My cohort provided astute and serious criticism of my writing as well as a community of writers with different writing styles and interests whom I still look to for advice and feedback.
Matt Young, author, Eat the Apple (Bloomsbury, 2018)
Graduate Successes
Faculty and Mentors
Graduate students often work with faculty from across the department, taking advantage of our rich interdisciplinary expertise
Joseph Bates
PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2006
Co-Editor of the Miami University Press
Associate Professor of English
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
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
Kayla Belser
- B.A. Creative Writing, Northern Kentucky University
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
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
Contact Us
Director of Graduate Creative Writing Program, Brian Roley
Interim Director of English Department Graduate Studies, Tim Lockridge (Lockrita@MiamiOH.edu)