It’s been a good year for the QC MFA Program!

Here’s some highlights, in case you missed the news:

This is just a small sample of what can happen for you through the QC MFA Program! If you’re interested in following in the footsteps of these alums, developing your writing and building towards your success, you should join us virtually for a Graduate Information Session to explore applying to the MFA in Creative Writing program at Queens College on January 29, 2024, at 5:00 pm.

RSVP at this link!

Located in the most culturally and linguistically diverse county in the nation, our sponsor, the Queens College MFA in Creative Writing and Translation, attracts students dedicated to crossing boundaries in genre, craft, and language. Classes are small, mostly in the evening, and students work closely with faculty mentors. The program offers tracks in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and literary translation–and students are encouraged to experiment with multiple genres. Gain a liberal arts experience with affordable public university tuition in an urban environment with a verdant 80-acre campus.

Visit the website to learn more about the program and how to apply online through the Graduate Admissions Office. For questions, email [email protected].

Two poems by MFA candidate Ameila Inderjeit are included in Ancestral Nourishment, an exhibition about honoring this source of energy through celebrating our roots, our past, our ancestors, and the inspiration they provide us to continue creating and telling our stories through art, currently on view at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

This multimedia group exhibition features art by Alejandro Pinzón, Ameila Inderjeit, Anjeanette Ang, Annie Del Hierro, Anurima Kumar, Audrey Rodriguez, Carolina Amarillo, Christian Chang, Elizabeth Velazquez, Ellie Reynoso De La Rosa, Garry Grant, Ida Owens, Kadiatou Coulibaly, Karen Sonilall, Katie Frank, LisaMaria Maya, Marcy Chevali, Mellisa Severino, My Tien Pham, Nadia Misir, Raqeebah Zaman, Samantha Rae Hosein, Seema Shakti, Shvadre Stiffend, Sita Sunil, Tariq Julfiker, and will run from November 17th – January 6th.

Get more information on this and other events at the JCAL website: https://jcal.org/current-exhibitions.

Congratulations to MFA alum Rebecca Suzuki, who’s award-winning chapbook, When My Mother Is Most Beautiful, had a wonderful launch at The World’s Bookshop in Jackson Heights, earlier this month.

Friends, family, and literary admirers of all kinds packed the beautiful independent bookshop, to hear Suzuki read from her work. It was truly heartwarming to see all the support from the MFA community and beyond!

When My Mother Is Most Beautiful is at once a powerful love letter to a mother and to language itself, delving into complex questions of family, communication, culture, and connection. These poems chronicle the difficult art of navigating multiple cultural identities, examining how languages twist and morph across cultures through the imperfect act of translation, how they bind people together and keep them apart, and even how they could be reimagined to make a better world.

You can pick up this book at the book party, of course, or order a copy today from Small Press Distribution!

We have to bring some special attention to Words Without Borders, and not just because MFA alum Eric Becker has been the Senior Editor there for several years now, but because WWB is one of the few magazines in the world dedicated to literature in translation. One of the things that makes our program so unique is our dedicated translation track, which means we share in the very same global literary conversation that Words Without Borders publishes in their pages.

This anniversary is the perfect time for this write-up in The New York Times, “Celebrating Literature That ‘Brings the World Close’,” which highlights the importance of what WWB does, especially in the midst of all the strife occurring around the world as we speak.

Being situated in the most diverse place on the planet naturally connects us to the world at large around us, through all the cultures that surround our humble program. That’s why we’re so grateful to WWB for creating unparalleled access to the world’s literary voices, because we all need to hear each other.

Congratulations on 20 years, and here’s to 20 more!