Northwestern University's MA in Writing, MFA in Prose & Poetry

The Best New Books to Start 2026 From neo-Nazi true crime to George Saunders’s latest and a long-awaited Vollmann epic, here are the books we can’t wait to read in the coming months.

NBCC member Paul Wilner contributed a book roundup on the first months of the new year for Alta:

“What is one to make of these complex lives? Is forgiveness in order?”

Paul Wilner reviews Joan Silber’s novel, Mercy.

Read at zyzzyva.org

MFA alumnus and editor @realtimchapman.bsky.social recently published a new issue of LitBop - Kindle edition available here and hard copies also available from your favorite bookstore!

tinyurl.com/3pdesmxh

#literarymagazine #litmag #poetry #fiction #books #amreading #amwriting #writingcommunity

Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Prose and Poetry | Northwestern SPS: School of Professional Studies | Northwestern University Explore Northwestern's creative writing MFA. MFA in prose and poetry specializations include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, popular fiction, publishing and more.

There's still time to apply for classes starting in June 2026! Our next admissions deadline for the MA in Writing & the MFA in Prose & Poetry is April 15.

#poetry #nonfiction #fiction #publishing #creativewriting

More information available here: sps.northwestern.edu/masters/prose-and-poetry

New Fiction Faculty Member Rachel Swearingen Recommends Two Contemporary Classics to Read - and Read Again : School of Professional Studies | Northwestern University Summer reading lists abound and we thought we’d ask various members of our community to share what they’re reading or recently read and enjoyed. Here is a sampling of different books that have have ...

New Word Cafe post with two book recommendations by spring quarter fiction workshop faculty @rachelswearingen.bsky.social !https://sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word-cafe/stories/rachel-swearingen-recommends-two-contemporary-classics.html

✨What is Already There Kathleen Schmidt on what needs to change in publishing...a replay of my 2019 conversation with the great Tim O'Brien...Brad & Mira contemplate the popular culture...& more...

✉️ This week's newsletter...

Subscribe! (free)

bradlisti.substack.com/p/what-is-al...

The cover of Every Galaxy a Circle by Chloe N. Clark

My book comes out in two days! Why might you want to pick up a copy?

Do you like speculative fiction? Short story collections that are very intentionally ordered? Stories about memories? Ghosts? Friendship? Monsters? Pie? Whales? Basketball?

If so, this might be the book for you!

Sharing a writing prompt for fiction writers - can be adapted for nonfiction and poets (e.g. for a narrative poem).

#amwriting #writingcommunity #mfaincreativewriting #fictionwriter #nonfiction #poetry #poems #essays #shortstories #novel #novelists #shortfiction #shortstory #amwritingfiction

EVERY EXIT BRINGS YOU HOME | Kirkus Reviews Domestic strife in his adopted city of Chicago proves a fleeting distraction from the atrocities that Jamal—now Jack—Shaban and Dimra, his traditional Muslim wife, left behind in a Gaza refugee camp.

Faculty member Naeem Murr's novel Every Exit Brings You Home (@wwnorton.com) is out on 2/3, book launch at Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago, Th, 2/26, 7 PM - please join us!

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews....

Congratulations to creative writing certificate alumnus Dr. Cathy Humikowski whose first book, READ THIS BEFORE YOU DIE, will be published by @mitpress.bsky.social 🎉#northwesternsps #newbook #medicine #science #mortality

A Sense of Finite Time and Place: Aram Mrjoian on His Debut Novel WATERLINE "[P]lace can be a good way to naturally reinforce themes and get at the central questions and constraints of my characters on a small and large scale."

A Sense of Finite Time and Place: MFA fiction alumnus Aram Mrjoian on His Debut Novel WATERLINE (HarperVia) open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Sharing a recent micro-story by current fiction MFA student, Kevin McEvoy published recently by the online journal 50 Give or Take @northwesternsps.bsky.social

#amreading #fiction #shortstories #microfiction #writingcommunity #flashfiction #mfainfiction

Arcturus The Chicago Review of Books presents Arcturus, an online literary magazine of new perspectives in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid genres.

Congratulations to @laurazhang.bsky.social, MFA student at @northwesternsps.bsky.social, on the acceptance of an excerpt of her novel-in-progress by Arcturus Literary Magazine (arcturusmag.com)!

#fictionwriter #writing #fiction #writer #fictionwriting #amreading #amwriting #amreadingfiction

Congrats to MFA fiction alum @devintoshea.bsky.social whose book THE VEILED PROPHET will be published in June 2026 by the great @haymarketbooks.org! Link to preorder:
www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2770-t...

Congratulations to current MA student in fiction, Brett Brown, whose short story, "A Picture of Fragility," was a second runner-up in the 2025 Gulf Coast Magazine Prize!

Nonfiction MFA Alumnus Alexandria Haynes on Navigating Trauma Writing: In the Midst : School of Professional Studies | Northwestern University Summer reading lists abound and we thought we’d ask various members of our community to share what they’re reading or recently read and enjoyed. Here is a sampling of different books that have have ...

Sharing here a new Word Cafe from recent MFA alumnus, Alexandria Haynes!

sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word...

#amwriting #writingcommunity #traumawriting #writing #mfaincreativewriting #creativewriting #nonfiction #memoir #personalessay #essay

There's still time to apply for classes starting in late March 2026! Our next admissions deadline for the MA in Writing & the MFA in Prose & Poetry is Jan. 15.

#poetry #nonfiction #fiction #publishing #creativewriting

More information available here: sps.northwestern.edu/masters/prose-and-poetry

New post on our program's Word Cafe blog by current MFA student Nathaniel Foster, former LAPD officer and forensics teacher to middle school children this past summer at Northwestern University!

"Should Goldilocks Be Arrested?"

sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word...

Spooky season reads to keep you awake at night, at prices that you can't find anywhere but at The Strand. Hit the link for our full collection of cheap thrills 💀📚🎃
buff.ly/18WAxBn

Great talk w Amber Sparks coming up tomorrow. She returns to the show for the first time in 13 years, celebrating the publication of her debut novel, HAPPY PEOPLE DON'T LIVE HERE (Liveright).

Stay tuned...

MFA fiction alumnus Patricia Crisafulli shares her thoughts on the experience of writing her recently published novel, THE SECRETS OF THE OLD POST CEMETERY, the third in a series. Her post is up now on our program blog, WORD CAFE ✒️ @northwesternsps.bsky.social

sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word...

The Secrets of the Old Post Cemetery: An Ohnita Harbor Mystery An Ohnita Harbor Mystery

Congratulations to MFA alumnus Tricia Crisafulli on the release of her third Ohnita Harbor mystery, The Secrets of the Old Post Cemetery, which is out today from Woodhall Press!
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

There's still time to apply for classes starting in January 2026! Our next admissions deadline for the MA in Writing & the MFA in Prose & Poetry is October 15.

#poetry #nonfiction #fiction #publishing #creativewriting

More information available here: sps.northwestern.edu/masters/prose-and-poetry

New post up on our Word Cafe site by Northwestern School of Professional Studies MFA student Kevin McEvoy about his favorite indie bookstore - the @strandbookstore.bsky.social in NYC!

sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word...

Swing Magazine | Porch TN Literature in a print magazine: Nashville spirit, national sway. Issue 1 is available now! Submit your work for the Spring 2024 issue by December 10, 2023.

Congratulations to fiction alumnus Jeremy T. Wilson, whose new short story, "Where Are You From?", was published in the Spring/Summer 2025 Issue of SWING!

www.porchtn.org/swing

#shortstories #story #fiction #shortstory #literaryjournal #litmag #amreading #amwriting

There's still time to apply for classes starting in January 2026! Our next admissions deadline for the MA in Writing & the MFA in Prose & Poetry is October 15.

#poetry #nonfiction #fiction #publishing #creativewriting

More information available here: sps.northwestern.edu/masters/prose-and-poetry

If you're in Chicago this Thursday, Sept. 11, join @michaelzapata.bsky.social & @zakmucha.bsky.social at After-Words Books, 23 E. Illinois St., 6:30 PM for a discussion on trauma and fascism. Eventbrite link ⬇️ www.eventbrite.com/e/trauma-and...

📢 JOB ALERT: Block Club is hiring a full-time reporter to cover Beverly, Morgan Park + Mount Greenwood on Chicago's South Side!

Deadline to apply is 9/15:
blockclubchi.co/417MIqG

Looking for a new book to add to your reading list? Current MA student Brett Brown shares a book recommendation/summer reading pick: Taiye Selasi's "The Sex Lives of African Girls."

sps.northwestern.edu/masters/word...

#amreading #amwriting #novels #fiction #taiyeselasi

Join us tomorrow, Tu, 8/19, 6 PM, (doors: 5:30 PM), 500 Main St., Evanston, IL for a faculty & graduate reading, cohosted by @bookedevanston.bsky.social & Brothers K Coffee!

Readers: Betsy Haberl, Alexandria Haynes, Jared Spitz, Ryan Rivera, Faisal Mohyuddin billy lombardo @loriraderday.bsky.social