An online home for the American University Creative Writing MFA community
Everyone has a writing tick, a repetitious practice that can become like a written accent. At best, these idiosyncrasies establish distinct voice and compelling narrative style. At worst, a writing tick catches in the reader’s ear like the incessant “like” of an 80’s Valley …
We don’t know about you, but the staff over here at Café cannot wait to hear Ada Limón read tonight. In preparation for Limón’s visit, editor Yohanca Delgado chatted with her about form, voice, and swimming with Natalie Diaz. CA: You’ve said in …
If you read this past week’s New Yorker, you have seen Limón’s latest poem. If you didn’t, you can read it here: “The Burying Beetle.” What I appreciate most about Limón as a poet is her openness. Her collections vary significantly in voice and theme, but they all share …
By Yohanca Delgado Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family is a beautiful, headlong dive into the life of a family in the Bronx from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. LeBlanc immersed herself in the lives of her subjects for eleven years, chronicling the cycles of crime, …
The AWP Conference & Bookfair is upon us, and to say that the number of options is overwhelming would be an understatement. The editorial staff of Café has rounded up a few panels that we wouldn’t dream of missing, plus some other tips and tricks for …
Café Américain is thrilled to welcome first-year MFA candidate Yohanca Delgado to our editorial staff. Yohanca is a first-year MFA candidate. She loves to read all three genres, but mostly writes creative nonfiction. She lived overseas for a long time (Paris, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Kyiv, …
If you’re needing book recommendations to beef up your winter break reading list, look no further. As 2016 comes to a close, the Cafe staff is striking a reflective pose. Each of us chose two of the best books we read this year: one that …
About a month ago, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Parkhurst for coffee. In the span of only half an hour, we talked about everything from accountability in the writing life to rejection to cults, and finally to …
By Vince Granata Melissa Scholes Young’s work has appeared in The Atlantic, Washington Post, Narrative, Ploughshares, Poets & Writers, Poet Lore, and other literary journals. She teaches at American University in Washington, D.C. and is a Bread Loaf Bakeless Camargo Fellow. Her novel, Flood, …
The conversation about literature’s serious diversity issue intensifies every year, as it should. Literature’s whiteness and overall homogeneity has destructive consequences: books will become irrelevant if they don’t reflect the everyday experiences of individuals who identify as LGBTQ; Black, Indigenous, or People of Color …