MFA candidate Lianna Lazaros has earned a scholarship to the New York State Writers Institute. The residency includes small workshops and one-on-one meetings with award-winning writers in residence; this year, Lianna will get a chance to work directly with poets Megan Fernandes and Elisa Gonzalez.
Phil Lopate with students at the Summer Writers Institute, photo by Ashley Rutland.
Since 1987, the Summer Writers Institute has offered students the opportunity to learn from an extraordinary faculty of distinguished writers in a supportive environment. The program, directed by Robert Boyers and Adam Braver, is an offshoot of the New York State Writers Institute on the Skidmore College campus in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York.
Our very own program director, Jason Tougaw, has a new article in his regular column for Psychology Today, about the revolutionary grief of Lynn Breedlove’s new album.
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The album, Why I Like Dead Guys, is a series of elegies about those how have passed from Breedlove’s life, including his father and step-mother, who were murdered by his step-brother. Jason Tougaw tracks how these songs aren’t bogged down in pure sadness but tap into larger creative storytelling. As Tougaw puts it:
“Tragedy becomes the background for a song cycle focused on the emotional intricacy of relationships. Anger and resentment are part of the story, but so are love, admiration, and wily humor.”
Most of us have lost people. Those of us who have, know how heavy that weight feels. Maybe this album, and Jason’s article, are for us–why not start by reading the article first:
In what is a short list, the CUNY Graduate Center is shining a light on our own Professor Vanessa Pérez-Rosario this month in their article “Poets and Scholars to Know This Poetry Month.” Professor Pérez-Rosario is working on the first comprehensive bilingual, English-Spanish collection of the poetry, essays, and letters of writer and activist Julia de Burgos, for which she has been awarded a research grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Congratulations to Vanessa! And please read the full article on the Graduate Center’s News page to learn more about her translation project:
This just in: MFA student John Mistretta was named as a finalist for the 2026 Witness Literary Award in Nonfiction. Although they only publish the winner of the award, being shortlisted for an award is a great honor!
Here’s the official announcement from the magazine:
Founded by Peter Stine in Detroit in 1987, Witness is best known for showcasing work that defines its historical moment; special issues have focused on political oppression, religion, the natural world, crime, aging, civil rights, love, ethnic America, and exile.
We’re very excited today to see the official announcement for Nicole Cooley’s new book of poetry, Trash, from Alice James Books.
We don’t have a lot of information on the book yet, except that it revolves around grief, existential anxiety, and the things we throw away. As the editor of Alice James Books, Carey Salerno puts it:
“The book is so intensely atmospheric. The landscape is drenched in emotion, while the syntax and structure of the poems is meticulous and crisp. Within are lamentations, isolations, a speaker reflecting on what we’ve taken and take for granted, her/our grief and loss, the mourning of the death of her mother, and mothering, helplessness, disillusionment….
We find instead of existential musings which trigger anxiety, the poet grounds herself in cataloging, in naming, in what is concrete and visible around her.”
Founded as a feminist press, Alice James Books is committed to collaborating with literary artists of excellence whose voices have been historically marginalized by producing, promoting, and distributing their work, which often engages the public on important social issues.
Alice James provides a platform from which to elevate exceptional literary artists and is dedicated to helping its writers achieve purposeful engagement with broad audiences and communities nationwide. Which is exactly why they are proud to have Nicole Cooley among their best and most urgent voices.
To see what all our faculty are up to, check out our Faculty page, or keep a lookout for this blog!
MFA student Jonathan Rubinov has a very heartfelt essay up on The Glaucoma Foundation website. The piece explores them losing their sight and what they gained by engaging the community around them.
“I am feeling less like an outsider. Before, I felt like the only fish in the pond, but now I socialize with people who know the kinds of emotions I have been keeping inside for so many years now.”
Jonathan’s thesis project delves into his experience as a high school student with visual impairment, and how schools were not prepared to offer him the technology or understanding he needed as a developing mind.
The Glaucoma Foundation is a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing glaucoma research. They also empower patients through outreach and education. ( Clearly, Jonathan is doing their part!) To learn more about TGF, visit their website below:
Doing your MFA is both a commitment to your writing and a big risk. What if you choose the wrong program, and there’s no one who knows the kind of writing you do, and you’re trapped in a small town you hate, and you wind up in a huge amount of debt???
We’re here to help you chase your writing dreams.
Just a few of our current MFA students chasing their dreams at the recent Hudson Valley Writers Center’s emerging writers showcase.
We are an MFA Program that values community, encourages risks in craft, and promotes crossing boundaries through imagination and language. Situated in one of the most diverse communities in the world, we at the Queens College MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation play seriously with language. Small classes and conferences make for individually-guided work. Cross-genre classwork can make translation as much a metaphor for exploring one’s craft as it is a unique opportunity to learn. We offer financial aid and professional opportunities, including internships, residencies, publication awards, and staff positions on our literary magazine, The Queens Review.
Not only do we offer some of the lowest tuition of any MFA program in the country, but we were also able to give every student we accepted last year a significant amount of financial aid. That’s one less thing to worry about as you settle into one of the most diverse parts of one of the greatest cities in the world!
Want to learn more? Register here for our virtual Open House, or visit our website:
It tackles the hardest part of being a writer–revision–and starts with an exercise from our own faculty member Nicole Cooley, which just goes to show you that you learn so much about your craft when you do your MFA at QC. The things you learn here you take with you and grow on as you develop your own work, just as Senia has done here with this very practical craft piece!
Take a read if you’re feeling stuck, or just want to support a fellow QC alum:
Our very own John Weir’s story, “Starting from Paumanok,” is out in the latest issue of Epiphany! As you can see from this image of the first page John provided us, it not only has Queens as part of the setting but also Gino’s Pizzeria, which makes us doubly proud!
He also took part in the launch of the new issue with a reading in Brooklyn:
Epiphany has been publishing generation-defining voices for over 20 years, including Jamel Brinkley, Jennifer Egan, Lydia Davis, Sara Ahmed, Elena Ferrante, Robert Pinsky, Fanny Howe, and Rae Armantrout. And now they’ve added John Weir!
To learn more about what our faculty are up to, check out our Faculty page below, or just keep reading this blog!
Our own Program Director, Jason Tougaw, has won the Graduate Center’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Teaching! This is an award that recognizes professors’ “deep commitment to teaching and mentoring CUNY Graduate Center Master’s students.”
We’ve got professors so good here that they’re winning awards for teaching at other campuses! Check out what the rest of our faculty are up to by visiting our faculty page:
Email us at [email protected] so we can respond to your questions and requests. Please email from your CUNY email address if possible. Or visit our help site for more information:
