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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,

Assistant Professor of English

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

Areas: Poetry and Poetics, Writing and Health Science, Confessional Narrative, African American Writing, and Social Poetics


 

 

 

 

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.


 

 

 

 

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


 

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


 

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

 


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.

Department of English

Committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship, and creative performance, our undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Composition and Rhetoric, Creative Writing, Linguistics, and Literature place this community at the center of liberal arts education at Miami.

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301 S. Patterson Ave.
Oxford, OH 45056
513-529-5221
english@MiamiOH.edu