An online home for the American University Creative Writing MFA community
By Nick Chhoeun Earlier this month, Allison Wright of VQR hosted the spring boot camp. She had much to say about the literary journal including useful tips for submissions. Here’s a brief recap of the event. About VQR: VQR receives 11,000-12,000 submissions a year, the […]
By Nick Chhoeun This past summer I had the opportunity to teach Creative Writing for two months to students from fifth grade to freshmen in high school. As a whole, the experience was a mixture of “why am I doing this” and “I’m doing this […]
By Vince Granata Sometimes, I think of reflective thought like a muscle, like an easy to neglect part of my brain. Without exercise, without training, this thought muscle will atrophy, wither away. I worry—too often, almost constantly—that if I don’t pause to reflect, don’t work […]
By Nick Chhoeun I recently came across a segment on BBC News titled “Why Some Male Authors Are Hiding Their Gender.” In the segment, author Allison Pearson talks about male authors going by gender-neutral names. We are familiar with writers like Mary Ann Evans going […]
By Yohanca Delgado I first met Angela Maria Spring just over a year ago, when I was hosting the Artomatic literary open mic and wandered into her very first pop-up. We became fast friends and watching Duende District explode from a Kickstarter campaign to a DC-brand […]
Café MFA is thrilled to welcome first-year MFA candidate Nick Chhoeun to our editorial staff. Nick is a first-year MFA candidate. His focus is fiction but he is also fascinated by poetry. He primarily writes short stories and wants to begin working on a novel. His other […]
Part of my journey is a writer is a constant striving to find a cadence that rings true — meaning that it rings me— across genres. Every form of communication has its own conventions, but good writing is good writing, right? Good writing is two […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]