MFA Writers

Missouri is a place of contradictions for poet Crystal Cox. It’s wonderful and difficult, a place of childhood adventures wandering in the forests, blue-collar roots, and complicated histories. For a time, Crystal worked to erase home from her writing. Now, she’s finding her way back through poetry, writing about the people and places that shaped her. In this episode, Jared and Crystal talk about stumbling into poetry as a first-generation college student, finding her voice in the University of Idaho MFA program, and the responsibility of writing about the people we love. Crystal shares the challenges of life after the MFA, why she started Outskirts, a literary journal for misfit writers, and how community helps keep us writing when life gets difficult. Crystal Cox was born and raised in mid-Missouri. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho. Her work has appeared in Midwest Review, Sonora Review, Phoebe, The Shore, and elsewhere. She is the 2026-27 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and co-edits Outskirts Literary Journal.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com. Special thanks to Brianne Tremper for her help on this episode. BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠our application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MFA Writers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

Writers often share work in readings, but how often do we write stories that are designed to be read aloud? Lewis Millholland tells Jared about preparing for a reading by creating a piece “that was short, had a lot of repetition, no dialogue, and noticeable voice changes.” Millholland also discusses drawing inspiration from Harvard Business Review case studies, bumping into Salman Rushdie at the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, and the extensive literary scene (including writing workshops in Hemingway’s final house) in and around Boise, Idaho.Lewis Millholland is a writer and video game developer. His fiction and essays have appeared in journals including Passages North, DIAGRAM, and The Garlic Press. Currently, he is a third-year MFA student at Boise State University, where he serves as the associate editor of The Idaho Review and lives with a stolen (rescued) jade plant. His work can be read online at lewismillholland.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠⁠⁠⁠MFAwriters.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.— Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: [email protected] 

Florida is more than a setting in Taylor Melia Elyse Mahone’s fiction. It’s wild, prehistoric, and supernatural. It’s a place where alligators are dinosaurs in the night, and the universe might just be carried on the back of one. Taylor draws on the landscape, mythology, and Gothic strangeness of her home state to build stories. In this episode, Jared and Taylor talk about the intimate writing community she found in the McNeese State MFA, finding structure and accountability after graduation, the magic of visiting writer conferences, and her return to academia as a PhD student at Florida State University. Plus, Taylor shares why she believes MFA students should take every opportunity they can, get close to their cohort, and remember that, for this brief period of their lives, they’re there to write.Taylor is a fiction writer from Central Florida and holds an MFA and an MA from McNeese State University. She writes about the sublime, the supernatural, Floridian landscapes, astrology, relationships, and reptiles. Fiction from her short story collection has appeared in Salamander Magazine, The Collidescope, Eckleburg Review, Eunoia Review, and Chrome Baby by Deep Sett Press. Her story, “Summerland”, which you can read in Salamander, was recently chosen as a winner of the 2026 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Taylor is currently pursuing a PhD in Literature at Florida State University. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠⁠⁠⁠MFAwriters.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠⁠⁠⁠our application⁠⁠⁠⁠.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠MFA Writers⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

In this episode, Jared and Shipra Agarwal talk about writing desire, shame, and female sexuality within collectivist cultures, and how those themes shape Shipra’s writing. They discuss the complicated responsibility of writing about India for a Western audience and the pressure to represent an entire culture. Shipra shares why she believes the answer is not to shy away from writing about home, but to add more stories and more voices to the literary landscape. They also talk about Shipra’s unexpected path to becoming a writer, from training as a doctor to earning an MBA, working as a brand manager for McDonald’s India, and eventually beginning an MFA at 40. She shares her experience in the writing community at Arizona State University and how it has shaped her as a writer. Shipra is a doctor-turned-brand-manager-turned-writer from India, pursuing an MFA in fiction at Arizona State University. Her work has been published in Witness Magazine and The Rumpus, awarded first place in the Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout Awards in 2026 and second place in 2025, nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize and the Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the First Pages Prize and the Iron Horse Long Story Prize, and supported by a Tin House Summer Workshop scholarship, the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, a residency at the Sundress Academy for the Arts, an Anaphora Arts scholarship, and a fellowship at the Authentic Voices Program. Shipra is the Editor-in-Chief of Best of the Net, and she’s currently working on a novel and an essay collection. MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠⁠⁠MFAwriters.com⁠⁠⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at ⁠⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠⁠⁠our application⁠⁠⁠.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: ⁠⁠⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠MFA Writers⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]

In this episode, Mohammad Hakima tells Jared about immigrating to the United States from Iran, experiencing culture shock in America, and the very different mechanisms of social control he encountered in each country. They discuss the freedoms that can be hard-won in Iran versus the subtler pressures of American life, including what Mohammad calls “manufactured desires”: the ways culture and consumerism can shape what we want while convincing us those desires are entirely our own.They also talk about how encouragement from others led Mohammad to take writing seriously and how writing ultimately gave him a greater sense of purpose. Mohammad reflects on the different possibilities of fiction and nonfiction, how the act of writing can illuminate where you need to go next, and his decision to pursue an MFA at The New School as a way to build community around a shared passion. They also explore the freedom of learning and teaching in an educational environment that encourages experimentation and the relationships that you can form through an MFA. Mohammad Hakima is a New York City-based author who moved to the US from Tehran, Iran and started writing after learning to speak English. His work is published in Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, Black Warrior Review, Boulevard, Passages North, and more. He is the winner of Boulevard magazine's 2024 Nonfiction Contest. He's a 2024 Jack Hazard Fellow and a 2026 Periplus Fellow. He has also received a fellowship from Hawthornden Brooklyn, where he teaches a fiction workshop. His writing has received support from Vermont Studio Center, the Kenyon Writers Workshop, and the Sewanee Writers Conference. He has an MFA in fiction from The New School, and he’s a high school special education teacher. You can find him at mohammadhakima.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠⁠MFAwriters.com⁠⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at ⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠⁠our application⁠⁠.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: ⁠⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠MFA Writers⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠[email protected]

katie wills evans is a second-year MFA candidate in fiction at the University of New Orleans who considers herself a poet and teacher above all else, having spent the last fourteen years working with teenagers in New Orleans public schools. Their short story "Something for the Children" was a finalist in Writer's Digest's 2024 Short Short Story contest, their poem "meth addicted fish" was a finalist in the Connecticut Poetry Society's Experimental Poetry Contest, and they have essays and interviews published in The Progressive, EdSurge, and Variable West Magazine. In this episode, Jared and katie talk about choosing an MFA program not only for the writing, but for the place where you’ll be living and creating. They discuss what makes New Orleans such a remarkable home for writers and artists, and how the city’s distinct history, culture, music, and traditions find their way into the creative life. They also talk about balancing teaching and writing, the intensity of working as a TA in graduate school, and why writing across genres can make us stronger writers. They get into how workshop can make us better teachers and citizens, what writing pedagogy looks like in the age of AI, and how the LSU New Orleans Writers’ at Work program gives students a look at the professional side of the writing industry.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at ⁠MFAwriters.com⁠.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at ⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠.— Leave a rating and review on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out ⁠our application⁠.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: ⁠@MFAwriterspodcast⁠Facebook: ⁠MFA Writers⁠Email: ⁠[email protected]

In our Season 7 premiere, Jemimah Wei talks about her debut novel, The Original Daughter, and how growing up in Singapore shaped the way she thinks about storytelling, identity, and our relationship with technology. She and Jared also explore what Singapore can teach us about the rapidly changing world of AI, the ways technology is training us to move faster than we were meant to, and how reading and writing can alter our experience of time. Their conversation asks what it means to resist the pressure to rush, why speed should never be the goal for its own sake, and how stories can help us hold onto what makes us human.Jemimah was born and raised in Singapore and splits her time between Singapore and the United States. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree, winner of the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize, and formerly held the Wallace Stegner Fellowship and Felipe P. De Alba Fellowship at Stanford University and Columbia University respectively. Her highly anticipated debut novel, The Original Daughter, debuted at #1 on The Straits Times bestseller list, is a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice. The Original Daughter won the Country Award for the Chōmmanard International Women’s Literary Award, was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and was named a Best Book of Spring by TIME, Foreign Policy, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Vogue, and more.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOW— Donate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.— Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.— Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.— Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: [email protected]

On this episode, Jonny Teklit sits down with Jared to talk about crafting odes to small, granular subjects, sharing his personal productivity tips and the common writing advice that doesn’t work for him. Plus, Jonny discusses the pros and cons of UW-Madison’s rotating genre admissions policy and reflects on how Lynda Barry’s comics class changed his perspective on creative talent, revision, and experimentation.Jonny Teklit is an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. He is currently a second-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he is working on his debut collection. He has an animal fact for any occasion. Find him at his website jonnyteklit.com, on IG @jonnyteklit, and on Twitter @jonnysaysOMG.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: [email protected]

15 years after her MFA, and 4 years after scrapping a book that just wasn’t working, Meghan Perry’s debut novel WATER FINDS A WAY is receiving strong positive reviews, including a coveted Kirkus star. She joins Jared to talk about the realities of post-grad writing, going “scorched earth” on revision, and the process of turning short stories into a full-length novel. Plus, she talks about grounding her work in a remote Maine fishing village, overlooked American cultures, and the hardships—and community—her characters face.Meghan Perry graduated with an MFA from Emerson College in 2009 and currently directs the Writing Center at St. John's Preparatory School in the Boston area. She has published stories in Cold Mountain Review, Sycamore Review, The Fourth River, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, WATER FINDS A WAY, was published in November 2024 by Delphinium Books with an audiobook by Penguin Random House. The novel has received a Kirkus star and been featured in Newsday and Condé Nast as one of the top books of this fall. Find her at meghanperry.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: [email protected]

Poets are known for considering form in their writing, but form is also critical in fiction. In fact, for Tyler R. Moore, form tells us the most about the story. “It’s the structure, scaffolding, bones, and architecture.” In this episode, Tyler tells Jared about approaching each story with a different structure, including his recent piece told exclusively through voicemails. Plus, Tyler discusses how being a queer writer from a pseudo-rural Midwestern town shapes his work, finding community across genres and faculty in his MFA program, and what he has learned from his editorial experience at Ninth Letter, like the do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts) of a cover letter.Tyler R. Moore is a fiction writer from Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin and is currently in his second year in the MFA program at the University of Illinois. He is the winner of the Hobart L. and Mary K. Peer Fiction Prize. He also holds the titles of current Associate Managing Editor and Associate Creative Non-fiction Editor for Ninth Letter. His work is published or forthcoming in Michigan Quarterly Review and elsewhere. Find him on Instagram @tyler_rmoore and at his website, tylerrmoore.com.MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.BE PART OF THE SHOWDonate to the show at Buy Me a Coffee.Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Submit an episode request. If there’s a program you’d like to learn more about, contact us and we’ll do our very best to find a guest who can speak to their experience.Apply to be a guest on the show by filling out our application.STAY CONNECTEDTwitter: @MFAwriterspodInstagram: @MFAwriterspodcastFacebook: MFA WritersEmail: [email protected]