College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
MFA Creative Writing

Writers-in-Residence

Every year, the MFA-Creative Writing program hosts several writers for extended visits: these writers meet with the MFA students in social settings, lead classroom discussions, read manuscripts and provide mentoring and inspiration throughout their stays. Recently, writers-in-residence have included: Jonathan Lethem, National Book Critic's Circle Award winner in 2000 for Motherless BrooklynAlicia Erian, author of the acclaimed coming-of-age novel, TowelheadJean Valentine, National Book Award-winning poet; celebrated European poet Tomaz Salamun; bestselling young adult author and YouTube star John Green (Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska); and Lenore Marshall Award-winning poet Linda Gregg (In the Middle Distance, All of It Singing).Writers-in-Residence for 2012-2013 include: Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and journalist Jennifer Egan; poet and prose writer Laura Kasischke; poet Eduardo Corral; and prose writer Yiyun Li. 

Booth Tarkington Writer-in-Residence

The Booth Tarkington Writer-in-Residence, a program designed to bring exciting, emerging writers to the program as guest faculty. Our first Tarkington Writer-in-Residence, Michael Dahlie, author of A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living, and winner of a Whiting Prize and the 2009 PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel joined our faculty full-time as of August 2012. Our next Tarkington Writer-in-Residence will be announced February, 2013.