Student and Alumni Achievements

Jean Kim MFA ’11 was selected to study with Susanna Sonnenberg through the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown.

Arriel Vinson’s (MFA ’19) novel Under the Neon Lights was named the Young Adult winner of the 2026 Indiana Author Awards.

Zachariah Claypole White MFA ’23 was named the winner of the Fall 2026 Dark Fiction Prize from The Fifth Corner and had a story (“The Children, Like Birds”) published in the North Carolina Literary Review nominated for the O. Henry Prize.

Yusra Amjad MFA ’22 was named a winner of the TWS Literary Excellence Award 2026 for her poem “Against Translation.”

Jimin Han’s (MFA ’98) latest novel Dreamt I Found You was published with Little, Brown and Company in April 2026.

Mai Tran MFA ’24 was awarded a 2026 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Nonfiction. They also published a column, "NYC Area Trails," in The Other Almanac 2027, an essay "Running is Just the Start" in Autostraddle's Print Issue #03, the sports issue, and published a flash piece "intergenerational graphic novel" with The Rumpus, which won their AWP flash contest.

The debut poetry collection, Wet Reckless, by Victoria Lynne McCoy MFA ’10 will be published September 2026 from independent feminist press Riot in Your Throat.

Samantha Paige Rosen’s (MFA ’17) first book, Living, Together: Reimagining Community in the Age of Disconnection (Beacon Press) was published in July 2026 and became an indie press bestseller. It was also named a "best/notable" book by ELLE, Book Riot, Daily Kos, and Debutiful, and was “most anticipated” by Electric Literature, Debutiful, The Millions, and Autostraddle. 

The anthology What Are You Waiting For?, edited by Kathy Curto (MFA ’89) and featuring the work of several other MFA alums, was published by Motina Books in July 2026 and was reviewed favorably by Kirkus.

Leah Umansky’s (MFA ’04) next book of poems, Ordinary Splendor, will be published by Etruscan Press in 2028.

Mahreen Sohail’s (MFA ’13) debut story collection  Small Scale Sinners was selected as the winner of the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Shasta Grant’s (MFA ’05) debut novel, WHEN WE WERE FERAL, was published with Regal House Publishing in June 2026.

Melissa Andrés MFA ’20 published her debut full-length poetry collection Together and Apart with Pine Row Press in April 2026.

Maya Bernstein MFA ’24 published new poems in Gashmius Magazine; The Passionfruit Review; South Florida Poetry Journal; Esther Poetry Journal; Psaltery & Lyre; Judith Magazine; Vita Poetica; and Sheila-Na-Gig.

KT Herr MFA ’20 was named a finalist for the 2026 Gregory Djanikian Scholars program hosted by the Adroit Journal. They also received the 2026 Monarch Queer Literary Award for their poem "Gender study; gestalt".

Megan Prendamano (pen name: Megan D’Albero) MFA ’10 had a poem featured in the recently released anthology titled If Memory Serves: Stories from the Table published by Good Printed Things.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths MFA ’06 was profiled in Poets & Writers about her memoir The Flower Bearers. She was also interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air ("Poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths On Love, Tragedy & ‘Survivor Mode’ ").

Melissa Faliveno MFA ’11 published her debut novel Hemlock (Little, Brown, Jan 2026) and an essay in LitHub related to Hemlock, titled "A Butch Black Swan: On Horror, Transformation, and Writing a Queer Midwestern Gothic."

T Kira Māhealani Madden MFA ’12 published her debut novel Whidbey (Mariner, March 2026) and was featured on the cover of the March/April 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. She was also profiled by Vogue, Elle, The Rumpus, and The Seattle Times. Whidbey was selected for the CBS News/Club Calvi book club, and was featured in The Guardian's roundup of "Best Recent Crime and Thrillers" and The New York Times's "32 Novels We're Excited About This Spring"

Noor Tannir MFA ’26 published a new essay “Respawn” in mt7rk.

Shivani Mutneja MFA '’25 published a new piece of flash fiction "A Calamity, an Inconvenience, and a Minor Tragedy" in Waxwing Issue XXXV and a new poem “I Belong Hair” in Okay Donkey Magazine.

Niyati MFA ’18 published a new piece of fiction titled "Erem and the House of Heritage" in the "Imagined Histories" folio in The Margins.

Annie Lazillotto's (MFA ’90) Dyke Rubicons: Sonnets of Love was published in early March as a limited edition print run from Quelle Presse chapbooks, Salt Lake City.

Leah Umansky's (MFA ’04) memoir, Delicate Machine, was announced as under contract with Dzanc Books for 2027.

The second collection of poetry by Chloe Yelena Miller MFA ’05 titled Perforated was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in January 2026 and can be purchased here.

Melisse Gelula MFA ’24 won a 2025 NYSCA/Arts For Sullivan Literary Fellowship for her memoir in progress.

Mira Ptacin MFA ’09 was awarded a Maine Artist Fellowship 2026, an award recognizes literary artistic excellence, the strength of one's creative voice, and the important role one plays in Maine’s cultural life. 

Katiy Heath MFA ’20 published a new essay with the relaunch of The Rumpus, "On Nature Writing, Growing up an Indoor Kid, and Walmart as Landscape." 

If a film is a window through which we view life’s mysteries, can an essay be an investigation? Viewfinder is Abigail Oswald's (MFA ’18) new column for Bright Wall/Dark Room about looking for clues to your own story in art made by other people.

David Marino MFA ’25 published a story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and a different story in Lightspeed Magazine.

Mai Tran MFA ’24 and Eigen Ott developed a zine called NYC Area Trails, which is available now at select booksellers linked here. NYC Area Trails collects 20 trails in and around NYC that are accessible by public transit, with suggested routes, maps, trail tips, terrain grading, local attractions, and more! We aim to help people of all experience levels get outside and get to know their local area, whether it's biking to the Rockaways and Yonkers, taking a day trip to the Jersey mountains, or hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Madisen Gummer MFA ’23 published a new poem "Southern Gothic" in Vol. 43.2 of Southeast Review.

Arriel Vinson MFA ’19 was awarded the 2026 Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe New Talent Award from the American Library Association.

Denne Michele Norris MFA ’12 was named the new Executive Director of Electric Literature.

Vanessa Lawrence's (MFA ’23) third novel Patron will be published by Dutton.

Jacqueline Friedland's (MFA ’16) sixth novel, Breathing Under Water, will be released by HarperCollins Focus on August 4th, and was recently highlighted in People Magazine.

In The Trembling Heart, the novel by John Mitchell Morris MFA ’16 will be available for preorder on March 17 from Starlite Street Press.

Anya Johnson MFA ’23 was named the winner of the 2025 inaugural Bob Hicock Fellowship through Only Poems Magazine. 

Melissa Febos (MFA ’08) published a memoir The Dry Season (Knopf, June 2025) which was listed in TIME's “The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025” and Vulture's “The Best Books of 2025.” She was profiled in The New York Times, The Cut, and Kirkus. 

Vanessa Lawrence MFA ’23 published her second novel Sheer (Dutton, January 2026), which recently received a starred review from Booklist, an American Library Association publication, and was also chosen as a January 2026 Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association. Sheer can be purchased here. 

The novel by Melanie Anagnos MFA ’17 titled Nightswimming was published by High Frequency Press in June 2025. The novel was reviewed in The New York Times and included in the “New and Noteworthy” section. Her work also received a traditional review by Kirkus. Nightswimming can be purchased here.

Preorders are now available for the memoir, These Fragments I Have Shored, by Jason Irwin (MFA ’04), which will be published by Apprentice House Press in May 2026.

Anna Marie Cain (MFA ’23) interviewed author Lydi Conklin about their new book Songs of No Provenance for the LA Review of Books.

Nora Obeid MFA ’23 secured an international book deal with Brazen for her debut novel, Bester Wrook, set to publish in spring 2027. 

Mai Tran MFA ’24 developed a zine during their residency at Monson Arts called Chronicles of a Cat Sitter, with illustrations by Juan C. Hernandez, which is available now at select booksellers linked here. 

Virginia Pye MFA ’87 will publish her fifth book, MARRIAGE AND OTHER MONUMENTS, in February 2026. Preorders are now available.

Krista White MFA ’25 published her book Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose, in November 2025 with Harvard Business Review Publishing.

The short story "When Henry Bit Shelby" by Izzy Beach MFA ’24 was a finalist in the 2025 Saints and Sinners fiction writing contest and published in the 2025 Saints and Sinners anthology. They also published a short story, "The Shrinking," in Nocturne Magazine.

Rishona Michael MFA ’24 was named by Poets.org the 2025-2026 Poetry Coalition Fellow for Kundiman.

Melissa Febos MFA ’08 was a recent guest on the Memoir Nation podcast, discussing her latest book, The Dry Season. The episode explores solitude as a creatively regenerative space. The podcast, originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, focuses on memoir and personal writing, as well as industry trends and tips and resources for writers and authors.

The fourth collection of poetry by Eric Tyler Benick MFA ’19 titled Terracotta Fragments will be published by Antiphony in January 2026 and is currently available for preorder.

Adam Chandler MFA ’10 published his second book of nonfiction, 99% Perspiration, with Penguin Random House.

Abigail Oswald MFA ’18 is now the editor of Split/Lip Press' Lost/Found imprint, which gives out-of-print books a new home.

Kyla Marshell MFA ’12 had a poem "Somewhere Swimming" featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series on July 16, 2025.

Jessica Lynne MFA ’24 was a winner of the 2025 Rabkin Prize. This award celebrates the creative and intellectual contributions of today’s art critics and journalists.

KT Herr MFA ’20 was awarded a PM Lilac Foundation Environmental and Social Justice Fellowship to attend a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in May 2025. Their poem "Leitmotif with norovirus and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" was also named a finalist for Best of the Net 2025.

Erica Cardwell's  (MFA ’16) memoir Wrong Is Not My Name: Notes on (Black) Art was named a finalist for the Lambda Literary award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography.

Heather Aimee O'Neill's (MFA ’04) debut novel The Irish Goodbye was published by Henry Holt in September and was named a Read with Jenna’s October book pick.

Mahreen Sohail's  (MFA ’13) debut story collection Small Scale Sinners was published by A Public Space in September and received a starred review with Publisher's Weekly.

The second novel by Vanessa Lawrence MFA ’23 titled Sheer will be published by Dutton in January 2026 and is currently available for preorder.

Traci Brimhall MFA ’08 was named the 2025 Guggenheim Writer-in-Residence.

Cynthia Cruz MFA ’99 was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.

Abigail Oswald MFA ’18 published a new essay in Bright Wall/Dark Room  and in the forthcoming anthology IF I CAN BE HONEST .

Abigail Oswald MFA ’18 published a new essay about finding meaning in movies for Bright Wall/Dark Room's Winter issue: "13 Ways of Looking at The Mothman Prophecies"

Carolyn Silveira MFA ’14 launched a podcast called Extra+Ordinary: The Fight for Reproductive Justice

Kathy Curto MFA ’12 was a contributor to the award-winning anthology There Were Red Geraniums Everywhere: Women’s Voices of the Italian Diaspora in North America

Adeline Wong MFA ’23 published a short story, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackened Husk of a Planet", in Strange Horizons

Maya Bernstein MFA ’24 published a poem “The Primordial Catastrophe in the Process of Creation” in Viva Poetica .

Tangie Mitchell MFA ’23 was named a 2024-2025 Emerge-Surface-Be Fellow through the Poetry Project.

Maria Santa Poggi MFA ’24 interviewed U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, on her nature poetry anthology You Are Here for Electric Literature .

Miciah Hussey MFA ’24 published an essay “Autumnal” in the Fall/Winter 2024 issue of the Bellevue Literary Review.

Abigail Oswald MFA ’18 published an essay about genre, grief, and The Night House in Bright Wall/Dark Room

“Solitaire” by AJ Tierney MFA ’08 was published in the “Solar Flare” issue of Same Faces Collective Art & Literary Journal

A flash fiction piece “This Time of Death” by Wendy Holmes MFA was accepted by Fractured Lit for their 2024 Anthology.

Melissa Faliveno MFA ’11 announced a book deal for her debut novel HEMLOCK which will be published by Little, Brown.

Anya Johnson MFA ’23 published a new poem in Anti-Heroin Chic .

Melissa Gelula MFA ’24 was interviewed by Maria Santa Poggi MFA ‘24 for the Creative Independent .

Current MFA student Bee Hyland published their debut collection of stories Ethical Necromancy  (Winding Road, 2024).

Current MFA student Maeve Barry published a new story “Girabella” in The Sewanee Review Spring 2024 issue.

Abigail Oswald MFA ’18 published an essay “The Descent (2005): ASearch History” in Bright Wall/Dark Room's "Obsession" issue.

Ash Pattison-Scott MFA ’24 published an essay “The Speck” in The Audacity.

Current MFA student Beth Holly published a new prose piece in Green Hills Literary Lantern.

Katiy Heath MFA ’20 published an essay “What is Special About Dusk” in LIT Magazine.

Sarah Levine MFA ’11 published her debut collection of poems Each Knuckle with Sugar with Driftwood Press.

Current MFA student Hayley Shucker was a finalist for the 2024 Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

Tangie Mitchell MFA ’23 published new poems in KGB Lit , West Trade Review , and Berlin Lit .

Zachariah Claypole White MFA ’23 published new poems in Sequestrum , The Rumpus , Pigeon Pages, and Bourbon Penn .

Arriel Vinson MFA ’19 was named a Renee Watson Scholarship recipient through the Highlights Foundation.

Current MFA student David Marino published a story “Salemo” in Lightspeed.

Sreshtha Sen MFA ’17 was named a 2024 Margins Fellow through the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

Current MFA student Maeve Barry published two stories  and Fran Matos MFA ‘23 published a new poem in Columbia Journal.

Colter Jackson MFA ’19 wrote and illustrated the children’s book Everyday Brave, which was published in 2024 by Beaming Books.