Celebrations and New Beginnings

Writers to Watch

I used to believe that good writers should be able to describe anything and everything in language. There are words for all experiences: the birth of a child, the loss of a parent, the feeling of flying in a dream. But I know now that some experiences defy description, and the mix of my emotions during our recent MFA graduate reading is one of them. To say I was proud doesn’t come close. I know what it took for these writers to finish their theses and graduate from the program. I know how hard they worked on their writing, how many long nights and early mornings it took to finish the cascade of weekly assignments, how many books and articles and essays they read, to the point of needing new glasses (or maybe that’s just me). Most important of all, I know how much of their lives they dared to reveal in their work.

Listening to our graduates read from their honest and beautiful work, I found myself in the presence of what the writer Mary Karr calls “the sacred creative” – a moment sanctified by art and by truth. And that still doesn’t describe it. Fortunately, you don’t have to wonder; you can experience it for yourself. We video recorded the event, which you can watch here. You can also browse our photo gallery here (scroll to bottom). And please join me in congratulating the MFA class of 2019:  Kate Anderson, Mary-Warren Bartlett, Karen Bellavance-Grace, Freda Brackley, Christine Brooks, Andy Castillo, L’Tanya Durante, Sarah Gallagher, Nicole Hamer, Jim Henry, Naomi Kooker, Jon Nichols, Melina Rudman, and Maria Smith.  Hats off to all!

New MFA faculty member        

We are very pleased to announce new MFA faculty member Jennifer DeLeon, who joined us this May to teach a course she developed for the program: “Reading and Writing about Identity, Race, and Culture.”  Jennifer, the editor of Wise Latinas (University of Nebraska Press), was named the 2015-2016 Writer-in-Residence by the Associates of the Boston Public Library and has published in Ploughshares, Ms., Brevity, Poets & Writers, The Southeast Review, Guernica, Best Women’s Travel Writing, and elsewhere. Her essay, “The White Space,” originally selected as first place recipient of the Michael Steinberg Essay Prize and published in Fourth Genre, was listed as notable in Best American Essays 2013, edited by Cheryl Strayed. She was also named a 2016-2017 Artist-in-Residence by the City of Boston.

Born in the Boston area to Guatemalan parents, Jennifer earned a master’s in teaching from the University of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice, and an MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts–Boston. In addition to teaching in the Bay Path MFA, Jennifer teaches English at Framingham State University and creative writing at GrubStreet Independent Creative Writing Center. She maintains an active freelance writing, editing, and consulting practice, and travels the country speaking on issues of diversity, college access, and the power of story. Jennifer has published author interviews in Granta and Agni, and will be interviewed in our next MFA e-newsletter…stay tuned!