On Chance the Rapper
By Nick Chhoeun “Oh no, you’re into that crap, too?” a woman on campus said to me. I was sitting on a bench next to her wearing my Chance the Rapper hat with the word “Coloring Book” on it. She told me her kids listened …
An online home for the American University Creative Writing MFA community
Just for Fun
Ding Ding Ding!: Rejection Parties
When I was fifteen, I was pretty sure I would be the next great horror writer. I wrote my first short story and boy-oh-boy did my teenage brain think that it was the best: An abused woman vomits up her heart, cooks it, feeds it …
Tarartomatic : One Woman’s Artomatic Journey
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 …
Comma Conundrum
Surely, you’ve heard it all before. Heralded as a key mark for clarity, bemoaned as a pretentious rhythm breaking roadblock, the Oxford comma has sparked more eye-rolling debates than a piece of punctuation might deserve. To review, the Oxford comma (also called the serial comma, …
Sweet, Sweet Victory at the Annual Literary Desserts Party
For the graduate students in the Literature (MA) and Creative Writing (MFA) programs at AU, September brought workshops, reading lists, rough drafts—and desserts. At the annual Literary Desserts party on Saturday, hosted at the home of Professor Rachel Louise Snyder, students showed up bearing …
David Keplinger’s Natural Reach
Author and MFA faculty member David Keplinger has been garnering glowing reviews for his latest book of poetry, The Most Natural Thing (2013). Winner of the Colorado Book Award for The Prayers of Others (2006) and the T.S. Eliot Prize, Keplinger’s latest work explores the minutiae of …
2012 Literary Desserts Party
The annual literary dessert party hosted by the MA program in Literature and MFA program in Creative Writing brought out new delicious and funny sweets and drinks named for some great works of literature – and 50 Shades of Grey. Held at MFA faculty member …