{"id":399,"date":"2020-06-05T22:03:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T22:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/?page_id=399"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:38:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:38:30","slug":"mfa-alumni-information","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/mfa-alumni-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent News<\/h2>\r\n

Carson Colenbaugh<\/a> (’25) published “Love Song Set to a Tune of Gathering”<\/a> in the Atlantic<\/em>, “Approaching Pine Mountain” and “A Ball Game” in Appalachian Places<\/a><\/em>, and \u201cLove Song Scrawled at Shaking Rock\u201d<\/a> in Shore Poetry<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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Lara Hughes<\/a> (\u201822) received a 2025 PEN\/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize<\/a>, and “The Faraday Cage”<\/a> appeared in Catapult’s Best Debut Short Stories 2025<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

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Kanak Kapur<\/a> (\u201824) is a 2025-2027 Wallace Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University. Her stories \u201cProphecy\u201d<\/a> and “The Ice-Skater”<\/a> were published in the New Yorker<\/em> in 2025. Her debut novel will be published by Riverhead in 2027.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Lela Ni (\u201825) received an Emerging Writer Fellowship to Aspen Words, a Tin House Summer Workshop scholarship, and a Blue Mountain Center residency.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Danny Perez’s (’23) story “Block Party,” published in the Kenyon Review<\/em><\/a>, was selected for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in the 2025 print anthology.<\/p>\r\n

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Kiyoko Reidy<\/a>\u2019s (\u201822) debut collection Black Holes and Their Feeding Habits<\/em> was published by Terrapin in 2025. It was included in Electric Lit<\/em>\u2019s list of \u201cmost anticipated debut poetry books of this year.\u201d Additionally, her poem “My Brother as Anonymous Bather”<\/a> appeared in Palette.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Selected Highlights<\/h2>\r\n

Alissa M. Barr<\/a>‘s (’25) poeTRY<\/h4>\r\n

\"\"Alissa M. Barr<\/a>‘s poem “Ambulance Ride-Along Through a Maternity Care Desert”<\/a> appeared in Frozen Sea<\/em>. Her poems “Yield Strength” and “The Possible Music of Doubt” were in West Branch<\/em><\/a>. Fellowship. Her work has also appeared in Poet Lore<\/em>, Muzzle Magazine<\/em>, Hayden\u2019s Ferry Review<\/em>, Ninth Letter<\/em>, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by the Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe and Sewanee Writers’ Conference Tennessee Williams scholarships.\u200b <\/span><\/span>Alissa was shortlisted for a Fine Arts Work Center.<\/p>\r\n

Nathan Blum (\u201925) FICTION<\/h4>\r\n

\"\"Nathan Blum<\/a>‘s short story \u201cOutcomes\u201d <\/a><\/span>was published in <\/span>the <\/span>New Yorker <\/span><\/em>in October 2025. His <\/span>story \u201cHere Now\u201d<\/a> was published in Ploughshares <\/em>in 2025, and\u00a0\u201cWater Tower\u201d<\/a> appeared in the New England Review<\/em>. He was nominated for the PEN\/Robert J. Dau Award, named a finalist for the Tickner Fellowship, and awarded a Staff Scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Writers\u2019 Conference.<\/p>\r\n

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EDGAR KUNZ ’15 (POETRY)<\/h4>\r\n

\"\" Edgar Kunz<\/a> is the author of two books: Fixer<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Tap Out<\/em><\/a>, both published by HarperCollins. He has been an NEA Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, a Casa Ecco Fellow, and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Recent poems appear in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, Oxford American,<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0American Poetry Review.<\/em> He splits his time between Baltimore and Richmond, where he teaches in the MFA program at VCU. He is working on a book about growing up in a medieval anachronist society.<\/p>\r\n

anders carlson-wee ’15 (POETRY)<\/h4>\r\n

\"\"Anders Carlson-Wee<\/a> is the author of Disease of Kings<\/em><\/a>, published by W.W. Norton (2025). He penned The Low Passions<\/em><\/a> (W.W. Norton, 2019), which was a New York Public Library Book Group Selection, and Dynamite<\/em><\/a> (Bull City Press, 2015), winner of the Frost Place Chapbook Prize. His work has appeared in the Paris Review<\/em>, Washington Post<\/em>, Harvard Review<\/em>, BuzzFeed, American Poetry Review<\/em>, Ploughshares<\/em>, Virginia Quarterly Review<\/em>, Sun<\/em>, Southern Review<\/em>, and many others. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Poets & Writers, the Camargo Foundation, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and the Napa Valley Writers\u2019 Conference, he is the winner of the Poetry International Prize.<\/p>\r\n

Destiny O. Birdsong ’09 (Poetry)<\/h4>\r\n

\"DestinyDestiny O. Birdsong<\/a> is a Louisiana-born poet, fiction writer, and essayist. She published Negotiations <\/em><\/a>at Tin House in 2020. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, Jack Jones Literary Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony, and won the Academy of American Poets Prize, Naugatuck River Review\u2019s Narrative Poetry Contest, and Meridian\u2019s \u201cBorders\u201d Contest in Poetry. She earned both her MFA and PhD from Vanderbilt University and lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\r\n

Cara Dees ’14 (Poetry)<\/h4>\r\n

\"CaraCara Dees<\/a>‘ debut poetry collection Exorcism Lessons in the Heartland<\/em><\/a> (Barrow Street) was selected for the 2018 Barrow Street Book Prize by Ada Lim\u00f3n, who describes the book: \u201cNavigating a landscape of loss with language that is both lyrically charged and freshly brutal, Cara Dees has given us a first book that is unexpected and burning with life.\u201d Cara received a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Cincinnati and is an assistant professor<\/a> of English at Belmont University.<\/p>\r\n

Tiana Clark ’17 (Poetry)<\/h4>\r\n

\"TianaTiana Clark<\/a> was named a finalist for both the National Book Award and the New England Book Award for her 2025 poetry collection Scorched Earth<\/em><\/a> (Simon & Schuster). Winner of the 2020 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, she<\/span> is also the author of <\/span>I Can\u2019t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood<\/em><\/a> (University of Pittsburgh Press), winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, and <\/span>Equilibrium<\/em><\/a> (Bull City Press). Tiana’s work has appeared in the <\/span>New Yorker<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Atlantic<\/a>,<\/em> <\/span>Kenyon Review<\/em><\/a>, <\/span>and American Poetry Review<\/em><\/a>, among others.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

rita bullwinkel ’16 (Fiction)<\/h4>\r\n

\"\"Rita Bullwinkel<\/a> is the author of\u202f<\/a><\/span>Headshot<\/i> (Penguins Books), which was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize<\/a> <\/span>and has been featured inNew York Times<\/a>, Vulture, Atlantic, Guardian<\/a>,<\/em> andNPR<\/a>.<\/em> The New York Times <\/em>named it one of “The Best Books of 2024<\/a>,” while the Atlantic<\/em><\/a> called it “brilliant.” President Obama included it on his 2024 Summer Reading List<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Rita’s debut novel <\/span>Belly Up<\/i><\/a> (Strange Object) garnered a 2022 Whiting Award. Bullwinkel\u2019s writing has also been published in\u202f<\/span>Tin House<\/i>,\u202fthe\u202f<\/span>White Review<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>ZYZZYVA<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>Conjunctions<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>BOMB<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>Vice<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>NOON<\/i>, and\u00a0<\/span>Guernica<\/i>. She is a recipient of grants and fellowships from MacDowell, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, Hawthornden Castle and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Currently, Bullwinkel<\/span> is an editor at large for\u202fMcSweeney\u2019s, deputy editor of\u202f<\/span>The Believer,<\/i> contributing editor for\u202f<\/span>NOON<\/i>, and the creator of\u202fOral Florist<\/a>. She is an assistant professor<\/a> of English at University of San Francisco.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simon Han ’15 (Fiction)<\/span><\/h4>\r\n

\"SimonSimon Han<\/a> was born in Tianjin, China, and raised in various cities in Texas. He released Nights When Nothing Happened<\/em><\/a> (Riverhead), which NPR<\/a> called a \u201cnovel best read slowly, so one can savor the resonance and originality Han wrings from the quotidian.\u201d He has received praise from the New York Times<\/em><\/a> and TIME Magazine<\/em><\/a>. His short stories and essays have appeared in the\u00a0Atlantic<\/span><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Virginia Quarterly Review<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0Guernica<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0Electric Literature<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0Lit Hub<\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>and Texas Observer<\/span><\/em>. Simon is the recipient of awards from MacDowell, the Bread Loaf Writers\u2019 Conference, the Sewanee Writers\u2019 Conference, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and Vanderbilt University. Simon is a professor of the practice<\/a> in English at Tufts University.<\/p>\r\n

claire jim\u00e9nez ’14 (Fiction)<\/h4>\r\n
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\"\"Claire Jim\u00e9nez<\/a> is a Puerto Rican writer who grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York. She is the author of the short story collection Staten Island Stories<\/em><\/a> (Johns Hopkins Press) and What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez<\/em><\/a> (Grand Central), <\/span>winner of the 2024 PEN\/Faulkner Award for Fiction<\/a>. Jim\u00e9nez received her PhD in English with specializations in Ethnic Studies and Digital Humanities from the University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln. In 2019, she co-founded the Puerto Rican Literature Project<\/a>, a digital archive documenting the lives and work of hundreds of Puerto Rican writers from the last century. She is an assistant professor<\/a> of English and African American Studies and McCausland Fellow at the University of South Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Lee Conell ’15 (Fiction)<\/h4>\r\n

\"LeeLee Conell<\/a> is the author of <\/span>The Party Upstairs<\/em><\/a> (Penguin Press), a critically acclaimed novel that Buzzfeed called \u201cnuanced, heartfelt novel that offers righteous anger spiked with enough good humor to keep the cocktail balanced, and a refreshing twist on an old genre.” She is the author of the short story collection <\/span>Subcortical<\/em><\/a>, which was awarded the<\/span> Story Prize Spotlight Award<\/a>. She has published short fiction in the Kenyon Review<\/em>, Guernica<\/em><\/a>, Ecotone<\/em><\/a>, and Sewanee Review,<\/em> among many others. Lee is the recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the N.E.A. Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Matthew Baker ’12 (Fiction)<\/h4>\r\n

\"MatthewMatthew Baker<\/a>‘s third book of fiction, Why Visit America<\/em><\/a> (Henry Holt & Co), which the New York Times <\/em>called “satirical and comedic… The premises of the stories in Why Visit America<\/em> are increasingly inventive and clever, often featuring some sort of reversal to our current social order, offering up allegorical commentary on who we are as Americans.” He has also published a graphic novel The Sentence<\/a><\/em> (Dzanc Books) and the collection Hybrid Creatures<\/a> (<\/em>LSU Press). Founding editor of the Nashville Review<\/em>, Matt has sold stories to Amazon, Netflix, and FX.\u00a0Variety<\/em><\/a> has called him one of “ten storytellers to watch.”<\/p>\r\n

A Selection of Alumni Books<\/h2>\r\n

Chad Abushanab (’12)<\/span><\/p>\r\n