MFA Programs

MFA Writing Alumni

MFA Writing

MFA Writing Alumni Profiles Moncho Alvarado, MFA ’15 Max Halper, MFA ’19 T Kira Mahealani Madden, MFA ’12 Akhir Stewart, MFA ’23 Aaron Tillman, MFA ’98 Leah Umansky, MFA ’04 Arriel Vinson, MFA ’19 Zachariah Claypole White, MFA ’23

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Moncho Alvarado

Hometown: Pacoima, California
Job title: Operations Associate
Employer: The Laundromat Project
Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2015
Advice for current students: I learned to believe in words, that they have power, that they can be inspiring, and life changing.
Three words to describe the program: Intellectual, Rigorous, Discovery

Max Halper

Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2019
Genre Studied: Fiction
Job Title: Max teaches creative writing and lives in Putnam Valley, NY, with his wife, son and daughter.
Advice for current students: Outside of the MFA program, writing tends to be very lonely, and external validation is scarce. Most people will stop writing altogether in the years following graduation, because the silence feels like an indictment of their talent, maybe even a refutation of them. So as you develop your craft in this intensive environment, spend a bit of time also developing your own reasons for doing it, ones that don’t depend on other people. And ask your professors about theirs.

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T Kira Mahealani Madden

Hometown: Boca Raton, Florida
Job title: Visiting Professor at Sarah Lawrence College, Editor-in-chief of No Tokens
Employer: Sarah Lawrence College
Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2012
Advice for current students: Sincerity can't be taught. No matter what genre you're working with, no matter how stylized or conceptual, always trust in what's sincere.
Three words to describe the program: Nurture, Ritual, Community

Akhir Stewart

Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2023
Genre Studied: Fiction and nonfiction, in equal measure
Job Title: Writer and high school English teacher
Advice for current students: Don’t force it.

Aaron Tillman

Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 1998
Genre Studied: Fiction
Job Title: Associate Director of the Writing Program at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Advice for current students: Be the best literary citizen you can be.

Leah Umansky

Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2004
Genre Studied: Poetry
Job Title: High School English Teacher, writer ( six books of poems and a memoir coming out in 2027), and host and curator of The Couplet Reading Series
Advice for current students: Never stop asking for advice.

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Arriel Vinson

Job title: Marketing Coordinator
Employer: Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press
Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2019
Advice for current students: Figure out why you want to attend this program. Is it for connections, for community, to learn more about the craft of writing? Knowing your reason will guide you to the right classes, the right craft talks, the right people. And build a community! Latch onto the classmates whose work you absolutely adore,, or whose work frightens you in a good way. My friend group was my friend group because we loved each other's writing and we cared to see it grow.
Three words to describe the program: Lively, Challenging, Comfortable

Zachariah Claypole White

Master's degree: MFA Writing
Master's class year: 2023
Genre Studied: Poetry
Job Title: Faculty in the English department at the community college in Philadelphia
Advice for current students: Let your writing be smarter than you are. Follow it. Even if you are unsure or afraid of where it might take you.