Alumni Spotlight: An interview with Sarah Knoth Ginter ’12, Executive Director of the Indiana Writers Center

March 2024

Butler MFA alum Sarah Knoth Ginter is the Executive Director of the Indiana Writers Center. She began her work with the IWC in 2016 by teaching creative nonfiction writing workshops before joining the staff as the Programs Manager in 2019. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Butler University, where she also worked as the Assistant to the Director of the MFA program and the Assistant to the Director of the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing.

What do you remember about your MFA experience?

Sarah Knoth Ginter (SKG:) Indianapolis is my hometown, and I’ve always loved Butler: from the fieldhouse, to basketball camp as a kid, to walking around campus and through Holcomb Gardens. I attended Butler the fall after graduating with a BA in English from [Indiana University] Bloomington. I remember being accepted into the Butler MFA program at the end of my senior year at IU and was thrilled at the opportunity to continue my education. At Butler, I developed a writing practice and worked with the English department on a variety of projects over the years. In addition to my roles as the Assistant to the Director of the MFA Program and the Assistant to the Director of the ECCW, I co-founded the Butler Bridge Program with Geoffrey Sharpless. I loved being able to grow something from the ground up from Second Saturdays, to the Booth Tarkington prize, to taking photos around campus for marketing materials. I’m happy to see that the program is still running today.

During your MFA, you worked as the Assistant to the Director of the MFA program and the Assistant to the Director of the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. What can you share about these experiences?

SKG: This was a unique experience that made my time at Butler so valuable. The ECCW was just being renovated – I was able to be in conversation with the planning committees on marketing materials, advertising, and even the fabric being used in the visiting writer’s apartment.

I learned so much about the inner workings of literary programs which has directly translated to my experience working at the Indiana Writers Center.

You’re the Executive Director of the Indiana Writers Center. What would you like to say about your work for the IWC?

SKG: Because of my MFA, I was able to move into teaching before I landed at the Indiana Writers Center. I started teaching creative nonfiction workshops with the Indiana Writers Center when it was located at the Indianapolis Art Center Cultural Complex. I worked with groups of writers for 5-week courses on the personal essay and taught some single-session courses like micro memoir. I loved digging into mentor texts and talking with groups of writers so invested in telling their stories. One group I worked with went on after the class finished to start their own writing group, which for me is a marker of a successful workshop – they gelled and wanted to continue to write and read together.

In 2019, I started as Programs Director where I created a comprehensive writing workshop schedule in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting, working with local, regional, and national professional writers, as well as publishing experts like Jane Friedman. I helped navigate the organization through the pandemic moving classes completely online and designed virtual events like readings and seminars with award-winning novelists like Angela Jackson-Brown and poets like Alessandra Lynch.

I moved into the Executive Director position in 2021 where I now oversee administration of 200 programs and work with a variety of community partners, writing artists, volunteers, and a small staff. I work on fundraising efforts, write grants, and work on ways to grow the literary community in Indiana.

In a small literary arts nonprofit, you wear many hats! I’ve learned so much about nonprofit arts administration and find a lot of joy in being a part of a wider literary community. One of the best parts of my job is being able to work with such talented writers. I love being able to plan events around what I love to talk about most – writing, creativity, and artistic expression.

The IWC does so much good work offering writing classes and workshops. In your own words, what can you share about the IWC’s work and mission?

SKG: Our goal at the Indiana Writers Center is to offer community in creative writing. Writing can be a lonely venture! We want to be a home for writers who have access to both in-person and online programming in all genres. We want everyone to have access to writing workshops that can help a person tell their story. We accomplish this with year-round creative writing workshops, critique groups, lectures, memoir projects with underrepresented groups, and through our annual writing conference – The Gathering of Writers.

Is there anything you’d like to say about the partnership between Butler MFA and IWC?

SKG: Just that I hope the relationship continues to grow. I think both communities can co-exist and nurture each other. Many people who graduate from MFA programs don’t have a writing home afterwards, and we can be there to offer a continued creative community. IWC has also hired many BU MFA grads to gain teaching experience and believe there is an opportunity for a partnership for current students to gain teaching experience as well. We have also welcomed many Butler professors to teach workshops throughout the years.

Is there anything you’d like to share about what you’re currently writing?

SKG: I’m currently working on a series of short stories taking place in Indianapolis. My first love has always been poetry. Then I discovered the world of [Creative Nonfiction] but also love diving into fiction. The first long form piece I wrote after earning my MFA was an 80,000 word novel.

The Indy literary community is growing in so many different ways, with Butler MFA students, alumni, and professors involved throughout. Is there anything you’d like to say about being part of that community?

SKG: Being a part of a literary community is more than just publishing your work. Being a student of the literary arts – if you truly love it – is something you study forever, and writing is something that will always continue to grow and change. Being with a group of people who understand this – even if in a small group over coffee, in a large group listening to a lecture, or you happen to be reading the same book and sharing comments over email – this community, this engagement, is integral to the creative wholeness, which is to say, so important to the making and living of our lives.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

SKG: I hope Butler MFA students and alumni will consider joining our community at the Indiana Writers Center! We have a member meeting (though nonmembers are welcome for a fee that can be put toward a membership) on March 5 with featured writer [and Butler MFA alum] Emma Hudelson. You can find more info on our website www.indianawriters.org.