MFA Writers

Can writing be a form of protest? And if so, is there room for hope? Jared sits down with Marcus Jamison of the University of South Carolina to talk about Confederate monuments and economic justice, as well as finding solace in writing and crafting poetry after our literary heroes. Marcus Jamison is a poet and scholar from Hamlet, North Carolina. He is in his final year as an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of South Carolina, where he served as a senior editor for Yemassee Journal. His poems have appeared in Barely South Review and Quarterly West, as the 2017 winner of an AWP Intro Journals Award. He has also been a finalist for the Scotti Merrill Award and for 92Y's Discovery Poetry Contest. A fellow of The Watering Hole, he is also an avid fiction and nonfiction writer. He can be found on Twitter @theRarePoet. 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. Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Do we write because we understand or do we write to reach understanding? Jared and Vanessa Chan of The New School unpack this question. Along the way, they discuss writing about home while living in a foreign country, the long arm of colonialism, and the pros and cons of studying in the literary capital of the world. Vanessa Chan is a Malaysian writer who writes about race, colonization, and women who don't toe the line. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published or are forthcoming in Electric Literature, Conjunctions, The Rumpus, Pidgeonholes, Porter House Review, and more. Vanessa is a Fiction Editor at TriQuarterly Magazine, an Assistant Fiction Editor at Pithead Chapel, and an MFA candidate in fiction at The New School, class of 2021. This follows a 12-year career in public relations, including most recently as director of communications for Facebook in California. Her writing has received support from Tin House, Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, Aspen Words, and Disquiet International. She can be found at her website vanessajchan.com or on Twitter @vanjchan. 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 on social media. Twitter: @MFAwriterspod Instagram: @MFAwriterspodcast Facebook: MFA Writers Email: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Every word matters when writing flash fiction and poetry. Jared sits down with Hannah Cajandig-Taylor of Northern Michigan University to talk about writing and revising short works, crafting plot twists and unexpected imagery, taking a course that includes an overnight island trip, and fighting for an increase in stipends and better access to healthcare. Hannah Cajandig-Taylor is a poet and flash writer residing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where she is a 3rd year MFA candidate at Northern Michigan University. She also reads for Passages North and Fractured Lit. She likes to write anything that's less than 1000 words. Her work has recently appeared in mutiny!, Hobart Pulp, and Perhappened Mag, with new words coming soon. Her debut chapbook, Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster, is now available for preorder at finishinglinepress.com. She can be found at her website www.hannahcajandigtaylor.com or on Twitter @hannahcajandigt. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Singer-songwriter turned novelist Matthew Dougherty of West Virginia University joins Jared to talk about writing songs versus writing prose, fictionalizing family lore, and winning three literary contests. Matthew Dougherty grew up in Ohio, taught elementary school in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas and is now completing his third and final year in the MFA fiction program at West Virginia University. His short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Sonora Review, Salamander, and Crab Orchard Review—all as contest winners—and have been praised by writers such as Molly Antopol and Lucy Corin. Matthew is a Teach For America alumnus, and he also enjoys writing and performing original songs under the artist name Matt Skerk. He can be found on Twitter @matt_skerk. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

What’s it like to be a YA writer in an MFA program? Jared talks to Marcos Damián León of the University of California, Riverside about crafting young adult fiction, taking courses outside the department, navigating higher ed as a first-generation student, and helping young readers consider big themes like gender roles and educational equity. Marcos Damián León is a teacher and writer from the Salinas Valley. He is a first-year Ph.D. student at Texas Tech University, and a recent graduate of the University of California, Riverside's MFA program. He is currently working on a young adult novel about two boys deciding what kind of men they want to be. His work has appeared in The LA Review of Books, The Acentos Review, under the gum tree, and The Monterey County Weekly. Follow him on Instagram @damleon. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Clancy Tripp of Ohio State University talks to Jared McCormack about what happens when people believe your satire, how OSU encouraged her to experiment in multiple genres, whether humor is thriving or flailing in 2020, and if art can heal wounds. Tripp is a creative nonfiction, humor/satire, and fiction writer from the Midwest. Most recently, her work has been published in The Rumpus, shortlisted for the SmokeLong Quarterly Flash Fiction Award, and selected as the overall winner of the 2020 Iowa Review Award for Creative Nonfiction by Leslie Jamison. She is a rising second-year MFA student at The Ohio State University where she also serves as Associate Nonfiction Editor at The Journal. Find more of Clancy at her website www.clancytripp.com and on Twitter @TheUnrealTripp. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Jared McCormack talks with Ali Geren of the University of Arkansas about writing accessible poetry, growing up in small-town America, coming out in a poem, working a second job during the MFA, and drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarantino. Ali Geren is a poet in her second year of the University of Arkansas’ MFA program in Fayetteville. Her work has appeared in Caustic Frolic and in Moon City Review as the winner of their creative writing contest hosted for Missouri State University students. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

On this episode, Jared sits down with Preety Sidhu of Louisiana State University to discuss how to finance an MFA (Hidden fees? Healthcare? Cost of living?), how to outline a novel, and how to write stories that publishers want to read. Preety Sidhu is an intern at Electric Literature. She holds an MFA in fiction from Louisiana State University, where she worked as an editorial assistant at The Southern Review. You can find her on Twitter @_preetysidhu or at her website, preety-sidhu.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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod ig: @MFAwriterspodcast fb: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Sasha Debevec-McKenney of New York University joins us to talk about completing her thesis during a pandemic, diversity in MFA programs, networking with prolific authors, the institution of the U.S. presidency, and, of course, Garth Brooks. Debevec-McKenney also shares an unpublished poem she just wrote titled “Stand Up Routine." Sasha Debevec-McKenney graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University in Spring 2020. Her poems have appeared in Poets.org, The Yale Review, Nashville Review, Peach Mag, and elsewhere. While at NYU, she was the 2018 Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. And she was recently named the 2020-2021 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. You can find her on Twitter @sashadm. 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 on social media. t: @MFAwriterspod i: @MFAwriterspodcast f: MFA Writers e: mfawriterspodcast@gmail.com

Mary Henn of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Missouri State University joins us to talk about gender, trauma, writing as healing, and whether writing can and should be political. Henn reads an excerpt of her award-winning creative nonfiction piece "Assemblies," which will be published in the upcoming issue of Hayden's Ferry Review. Mary Henn is an emerging poet and nonfiction writer. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Missouri State University and was recently awarded an Intro Journals Award from the AWP. Currently, she is an MFA candidate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she teaches English. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.