An online home for the American University Creative Writing MFA community
By Tara Campbell Photographer, novelist, essayist, art historian and critic, Teju Cole is a master of many genres. His novel (Open City), novella (Every Day is for the Thief), and essay collection (Known and Strange Things) have won enough awards and accolades to take […]
By Tara Campbell Welcome to American University, and welcome to the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia)! We know you’re still plowing through all the new information about AU, but at some point, you’re going to pop your head up and wonder what else is going […]
By Yohanca Delgado This year’s issue of Folio focused on the theme of crossroads and intersections, places where “two paths, two ideas, meet, converge, collide, or divide.” In keeping with Folio tradition, 33 features award-winning pieces selected by members of our own American University faculty. As a nonfiction […]
By Yohanca Delgado Elizabeth Acevedo is a slam poet and used to teach middle-school before she turned to writing books— and you can tell from the moment she steps onto the stage. She’s wearing sweatpants, her signature curls are flawless, and she’s one of […]
By Nick Chhoeun On February 28th, the AU Literature Department event “The Art of Losing” showcased particular “poets, prose writers, musicians – anyone who put pen to paper who was important to you.” The goal was to celebrate the works of these people and discuss […]
By Yohanca Delgado Last Wednesday, we gathered for a cherished AU MFA tradition: an annual faculty reading to benefit the magical 826 DC. Prospective students, current students, alumni, and faculty mingled over wine and cheese before the reading—and few of us could resist the gravitational […]
By Yohanca Delgado I had the privilege of chatting with poet Sally Wen Mao ahead of her PEN/Faulkner and Hill Center event this Thursday.We talked about her experience living in DC as the current Jenny McKean Writer in Washington at GW and about what’s fueling her […]
By Vince Granata For more than two years, I’ve admired the string of embassies lining Massachusetts Avenue while riding the bus to campus. Yet, it wasn’t until Monday that I was able to set foot in one of these compounds. Thanks to David Keplinger and […]
By Yohanca Delgado On Wednesday, September 13th, Pulitzer-prize winner Tracy K. Smith read as Poet Laureate for the first time. Before she took the stage, nineteen-year-old Amanda Gorman read as the first ever Youth Poet Laureate. National youth organization Urban Word regional finals across the […]
I found out about Artomatic on the very last day of the very first one, back in 1999. It was one of those sunny, dusty, urban spring afternoons, and a friend and I trekked to the 1300 block of Florida Avenue NW, to what used […]