Ashland University MFA Program

We recently sat down with our wonderful faculty member Lisa Nikolidakis to discuss books, writing, and life. Where are you from and how do you use your surroundings to write? I’m currently in Houston, TX—I’ve been here a little over a year—but in 2021, I had twelve addresses, I think. My life has been a bit upside-down for a bit due to chronic illness, so I’m not precious about process. I can write anywhere, on any device. The constant in all of that flux is nature. No matter where I land, the first thing I do is pull up a map and look for the swaths of green and blue. When I was in north Florida, that meant a lot of time spent at St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refu. In Indiana, Wesselman Woods. And in Houston, I’ve been stalking a flock of roseate spoonbills at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge. Nature grounds and inspires me. It is my church. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing and how is writing implemented in your life? I’m blessed with a great problem for a writer: I am curious ab

We're very pleased to introduce our spring 2018 Ashland MFA Faculty. We hope you're as excited about these names as we are. Included are a few links to help you get acquainted with these writers and their work: interviews, book reviews, short publications, excerpts. For a full listing of faculty including their bios and additional information, visit our website's Faculty Page . Poetry Dexter Booth Author of Scratching the Ghost , winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Booth’s poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, Blackbird, VQR, and elsewhere. Grist Journal  review of  Scratching the Ghost   “Love in the Time of Revolution” ( Blackbird ) “Queen Elizabeth” ( VQR ) “Insomnia Poem” ( Waxwing ) Gaylord Brewer Author of nine collections of poetry including Country of Ghost and Give Over, Graymalkin.  Brewer has published over nine hundred poems in journals and anthologies including Best American Poetry and The Bedford Introduction to L

Each month, the Ashland MFA Program receives calls for submissions and contest deadlines, which it publicizes in its monthly newsletter. Listed below are this month's calls for submissions.  Journal Submissions Mothers Play/Mothers Work is the theme for Mom Egg Review ’s 16 th annual print issue. They publish work by writers who are mothers or by others about motherhood.   The upcoming issue of   Mom Egg Review   will be looking at PLAY and WORK through the lens of motherhood. Submissions due August 15, 2017. For more information, visit: http://momeggreview.com/submit/ The Woven Tale Press   welcomes unsolicited submissions. Since their mission is to grow traffic to noteworthy artists and writers on the World Wide Web, they want to be able to link back your work; you must have a blog or website address. Rolling submissions accepted. https://thewoventalepress.submittable.com/submit The Southern Review’s  submission period is open, with submissions for prose re

Our Ashland MFA faculty were asked to recommend books for developing writers. We're including instructional guides, anthologies, and classics of the craft, all meant to be helpful tools for your writing. Listed below are this month’s recommendations. Creative Nonfiction Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau Recommended by Steve Harvey Walden is the finest and most influential collection of essays by an American writer.   It created an American voice for the personal essay and took on issues such as nature and personal responsibility that continue to be explored by American essayists who have followed such as Annie Dillard in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire .   Norton has a fine critical edition which combines Walden with another extremely influential essay, “Civil Disobedience.”                              Poetry The Resistance to Poetry  by James Longenbach Recommended by Angela Estes Th

Each month, the Ashland MFA Program receives calls for submissions and contest deadlines, which it publicizes in its monthly newsletter. Listed below are this month's calls for submissions.  Journal Submissions BlackLivesMatter  is the theme for the MFA Monthly 's third issue. They are looking for politically mindful poetry, stories, and essays centering on the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Submissions for this issue close on April 1st. https://greensubmissions.com/876/mfamonthly/index.php New Delta Review’s general submissions are now open for fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and artwork.   As a journal they are committed to publishing underrepresented voices and aim to foster diversity in their issues. They’re now accepting submissions for their Spring 2017 issue, submissions closing April 5th. https://newdeltareview.submittable.com/submit   The Woven Tale Press welcomes unsolicited submissions. Since their mission is to grow traffic to noteworthy art