Writing (MFA): Related Content
Suzanne Koven MFA ’12, a longtime physician and current writer-in-residence at Massachusetts General Hospital, penned a letter to her younger self as part of a recent orientation session for new medical interns in Boston.
Megan Mayhew Bergman (MFAW '10), associate director of Bennington’s MFA in Writing, will be on the faculty of this year's Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers’ Conference, at Middlebury College, June 3–9.
New York Times best-selling author Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney MFA ’13 was included in the annual “35 Over 35” list, which celebrates 35 debut authors over the age of 35 years old.
In a piece on NPR, Michelle Mercer MFA '10 highlighted the continued sexism in the jazz world, in the light of recent comments from two top jazz figures.
Paris Review correspondent Megan Mayhew Bergman (MFAW '10), associate director of Bennington’s MFA in Writing, addresses in her latest column how women, often excluded from adventure narratives, carve out their own heroic space.
Bennington Writing Seminars is pleased to announce two one-time creative writing MFA scholarships, in partnership with the PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellowship, and Cave Canem Poets, an organization committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters honored Safiya Sinclair '10, Lee Clay Johnson '07, and MFA faculty Kathleen Graber.
Morgan Jerkins MFA ’16 wrote an opinion piece published in the New York Times, in response to a recent wave of disappearances of children of color in Washington DC.
Almost Famous Women, a short story collection by associate director of Bennington’s MFA in Writing, Megan Mayhew Bergman, (MFAW '10), uses eccentric women throughout history in “intimate, imaginatively told tales that explore the figures’ muddled relationship with fame and greatness,” according to a review in the online art forum, Hyperallergic.com.
Visiting faculty member Phillip B. Williams has won a Whiting Award for his debut book of poems, Thief In The Interior. MFA faculty member Kaitlyn Greenidge won for her debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman.
Harper’s Bazaar published an open letter to Ivanka Trump written by Isabel Rose MFA ’97. In it, she shares the story of her transgender daughter, Sadie, and urges the first daughter to consider from her perspective the issue of transgender students being allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.
An essay by Marine veteran Teresa Fazio MFA ’18 in Rolling Stone magazine addresses the problem of “toxic masculinity” in military culture—which, she says, has normalized gender shaming, sexual harassment, and even assault.
Amber Caron MFA '16 has won a PEN/ Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers for her story "The Handler," originally published in Southwest Review.
The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler's Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia, by award-winning author Alden Jones MFA '01, will be re-released in paperback in March.
This Will Be My Undoing, a collection of essays by Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, was included in the The Millions most anticipated books of 2017 list.
Morgan Jerkins MFA '16 was interviewed as part of the Pen Ten interview series on Pen America last month. She spoke about "the responsibility of the writer" which she sees as "to be honest and vulnerable. Jerkins is the author of a forthcoming collection of essays, This Will Be My Undoing. She is currently a contributing editor for Catapult. Her take on the Colin Kaepernick controversy, "What Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest Reveals About American" was published in Rolling Stone in August.
In its Guide to 2016’s Great Reads, NPR recommended Nitro Mountain by Lee Clay Johnson ’07, The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney MFAW ’13, Kookooland by Gloria Norris ’76, and The Queen of the Night by former MFAW faculty Alexander Chee.
Earlier this week, Mashable announced their long lists for several categories of the 2017 PEN Literary awards, which include a number of Bennington graduates.
Last month, Buzzfeed published a memoir-style essay by Chandra Ganguly MFAW '18 called "How They Killed My Grandmother."
Morgan Jerkins MFAW ’16 recently published an essay in Rolling Stone on “What Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem Protest Tells Us About America.” In it, she argues that “People aren’t merely upset because he is disrespecting the flag; they are upset because [his] anger illuminates just how divided this nation is and has always been.”
NPR's Selected Shorts aired a reading of Megan Mayhew Bergman's story "Hell Diving Women" from her collection Almost Famous Women. Anika Noni Rose (Dream Girls, Raisin in the Sun) read it.
MFA(W) visiting faculty member Mark Slouka pens a letter to Donald Trump and thousands of writers sign on, by Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke '07
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney MFAW '13 talks to the New York Times about the decision to pursue a degree in writing at age 50 and selling her first novel—started while she was a student at Bennington—for a seven figure advance.
Faculty member in literature Benjamin Anastas reviews Elisha Cooper's memoir Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back, an account of the author's daughter's struggle with cancer, for The New York Times.
Sarai Walker, a graduate of the MFA Program at Bennington College, spoke with Scott Simon about her novel Dietland.
MFA core faculty member Alexander Chee spoke with Alison Kinney of the LA Review of Books about his novel, Queen of the Night.
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (MFA) spoke with Vulture about the inspriation and process behind her debut novel, The Nest. The interview is titled: A First-Time Novelist’s 7-Figure Midlife Breakthrough.
Morgan Jerkins MFAW '16 published an essay in The New Yorker called "Black Women Writers and the Secret Space of Diaries."
The novel manuscript by Gail Vida Hamburg (MFAW June '04), Liberty Landing, was a finalist in the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Hamburg workshopped the first 30 pages in a workshop at Bennington with Bob Shacosis workshop two summers ago.
Bennington MFA Writing Seminars graduate Megan Galbraith published an essay, titled "Sin Will Find You Out" in Catapult. The essay recounts her search for and conversation with her birth mother, who gave Galbraith up for adoption at six months old.