

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.

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
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.
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
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


Contact Us
Director of Graduate Creative Writing Program, Brian Roley
Interim Director of English Department Graduate Studies, Madelyn Detloff (detlofmm@miamioh.edu)