MFA Writers

In this episode, PhD Candidate Mackenzie McGee talks about her process when writing speculative fiction, including how she decides on topics and themes, how her process changes when writing flash versus her novel, and how writers are able to explore politically dangerous topics by leaning into speculative elements. She then tells Jared about her decision to pursue the PhD after finishing her four-...

Rone Shavers joins Jared for our annual application episode to discuss the differences between MFA and PhD applications and programs. Rone and Jared talk about how to choose the right program, put together the best application, and get the most out of your time in a program. Before that, they discuss Rone’s “funky” novel Silverfish and how getting over the pressure of making a commercially viable...

The leaves are turning, the pumpkin spice lattes are brewing, and that means the MFA applicants are revising and re-revising their personal statements. To celebrate the arrival of fall, we’re bringing you last season’s (super informative) application episode. Stay tuned for a new episode in your feed soon. Happy MFA Application Season to all who celebrate! Jess Silfa returns to the show bringing s...

Carlee Jensen reflects on how the American West and constructions of personal mythology shaped her writing, and how coming out “late” taught her that life has no single narrative. She also tells Jared why she avoided MFA application resources before submitting her materials, how the MFA helped her refocus on writing as an art, not just a profession, and she discusses her experience taking advantag...

On this episode, Jonny Teklit sits down with Jared to talk about crafting odes to small, granular subjects, sharing his personal productivity tips and the common writing advice that doesn’t work for him. Plus, Jonny discusses the pros and cons of UW-Madison’s rotating genre admissions policy and reflects on how Lynda Barry’s comics class changed his perspective on creative talent, revision, and ex...

It’s not quite Halloween, but on this episode, Emma Allman talks to Jared about the utility of defamiliarization, surrealism, uncanniness, and body horror in ecofiction (spooky!). Plus, she discusses how working in marketing pre-MFA helped her understand professionalism and realism in academia, life in Tuscaloosa as it aligns with and diverges from outsiders’ expectations, and unique opportunities...

As the pod team settles into the fall semester, we’re excited to celebrate the recent accomplishment of one of our past guests. Simon Graham was awarded an AWP Intro Journals Prize for their story “Blair,” forthcoming in Puerto del Sol. Enjoy our conversation with Simon from Season 3. How do you write about the climate crisis without becoming didactic? On this episode, Simon Graham describes their...

Following Venezuela’s disputed presidential election, debut author Alejandro Puyana returns to the show to discuss his novel, which explores the revolutionary lives of both ordinary and extraordinary Venezuelans over the span of fifty years. He also shares insights with Jared about the rewrites he made to his MFA thesis before publication, the experience of collaborating with an editor, and the jo...

Ever heard of an MFA program with 12 different genre concentrations? On this episode, Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li tells Jared about how UBC’s multi-genre emphasis allowed her to work across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, filmmaking, comics, and more. Plus, she discusses self-funding her degree, receiving a grant to do research in China for her novel, and UBC’s online option for distance lear...

As the pod team wraps up our summer vacation, we’re highlighting one of the gems from a previous season. Watch out for the Season 5 premiere in two weeks. On this episode, Nikki Lyssy tells Jared about how, as a blind writer, she uses research to access the sighted world and fill her fiction with vivid imagery, while in her nonfiction, she explores her own experience with blindness and plays with...

The pod team is still on vacation! In the mountains! Without recording equipment! The Season 5 premiere will be in your feed soon. Until then, enjoy this conversation with Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of three books and faculty member twice over. Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author and faculty member at two MFA programs, joins Jared for this special episode about Maurice’s multi-year journey from corpo...

The podcast team is on vacation! In the meantime, we invite you to listen to one of our favorite episodes from Season 3. Wishing you all a great summer, friends. As the editor-in-chief of Peach Mag, Rachelle Toarmino is consistently focused on the work of others. She chats with Jared about her own writing career, including finding and using playfulness in her poetry, coping with MFA faculty turnov...

It’s the Season 4 finale! On this episode, Eric Larsh tells Jared about writing into obsessions, whether he’s focusing exclusively on sonnets or, for the last two years, diving into a long poem about the Mojave Desert. Eric also discusses how his music compositions and editorship at Portland Review inform his poetry, deciding between a graduate degree in rhetoric or creative writing, and Portland...

Former stand-up comedian Max Delsohn sits down with Jared to talk about how humor and detailed line-level revision show up in his work for the stage and the page. Plus, he discusses a pleasure-forward writing process, switching MFA programs after the first year, and his experiences with big-name faculty like George Saunders and Mary Karr. Max Delsohn is a third-year MFA candidate in fiction at Syr...

What’s involved in an English PhD with a creative dissertation? Abhijit Sarmah tells Jared about how this path allows him to pursue his research on global indigenous literatures while continuing to craft poetry on identity and insurgency in Assam, India. Abhijit also discusses postmemory, or the memories we inherit from earlier generations, writing about your homeland when you live far from it, an...

On this episode, Sam Herschel Wein tells Jared about their path to finding poetry outside of academia, co-founding and editing Underblong, and their approach to collaboration and humor in their writing. Plus, they discuss the nuances of MFA program decisions (Two or three years? English or Art departments?) and whether creative writing should live within institutions of higher education at all. Sa...

The podcast team is on spring break, giving us (and you) the perfect opportunity to revisit an episode we love. In celebration of her new short story collection, GREEN FROG , we invite you into this conversation with Gina Chung who spoke to Jared last season about her debut novel, SEA CHANGE. Gina Chung, debut author of the speculative novel SEA CHANGE, tells Jared how the book began with a writin...

Memoirist and director of the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA program Deborah Jackson Taffa talks to Jared about her new book, Whiskey Tender. Deborah shares how memoir writing is a form of familial and historical preservation, and offers advice on having difficult conversations with the real people who appear in our creative nonfiction. Plus, she discusses the value of the low-res IAIA prog...

Drawing from her decade-long career in Silicon Valley, Jamie Li tells Jared about writing tech satire that struck her MFA colleagues as far-fetched and her tech friends as totally realistic. Plus, Jamie talks about how her background as a Chinese immigrant and the model minority myth shape her interest in writing about in-group/out-group behaviors, and her attraction to VCFA’s emphasis on experime...

The podcast team has been busy at the annual AWP conference, so we’re bringing you a rerelease of a great conversation from Season 2. A new episode will be in your feed in two weeks. Luna Adler talks to Jared about moving between fiction and non-fiction, Brooklyn College’s unique novel-writing workshop aimed at accommodating the long form, the tension between a slow revision process and rapid MFA...

Kate Brody, debut author of the literary thriller RABBIT HOLE, sits down with Jared to talk about crafting a true crime novel that focuses on the victim’s family. Drawing from her own experiences with publishing, she also offers advice for choosing an agent, pivoting if your book doesn’t sell, and marketing your work. Finally, she shares the most memorable pieces of advice from her own MFA teacher...

Noah Evan Wilson spent ten years finishing his undergraduate degree while developing as a musician and a photographer. On this episode, he talks with Jared about how that decade of experiences animates his current writing, how the craft of music and photography overlaps with and informs his fiction, and how the MFA has provided him the opportunity to experience college in a way he wasn’t able to b...

Happy New Year from the pod team! We’re ringing in 2024 with a vacation, so enjoy this episode from our last season. Regular programming will resume in two weeks. What’s it like writing historical fiction in an MFA program? On this episode, Kayla Cayasso tells Jared about the family histories and archival research that informed her collection portraying families affected by generational trauma. Sh...

When she became a mother, Sarah Ann Noel turned to autofiction as a way to process her own childhood. In this episode, she sits down with Jared to share how those reflections became a novel about teenagers growing up in a high-control Evangelical environment. Plus, she talks about shifting from magazine editing to creative writing, attending jet-lagged residencies in Paris, and getting feedback on...

Finance proofreader turned full-time poet Matt Farley joins Jared to share how his transition out of the corporate world affects his perspective on his MFA program and future career. Plus, Matt talks about his manuscript on mycology and post-traumatic growth, becoming a parent during the MFA, setting up a thesis committee, and Miami University’s emphasis on play, practice, and experimental learnin...