Alumni

Sarah Blackman

“I was in the MFA program at Bama from 2003-2007. I entered as a fiction writer but my first writing love had always been poetry and I wanted to do both. At Alabama, I didn’t have to choose. I took workshops in both genres, literature classes in both genres, wrote two thesis and defended them both. […]

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Jessica Lee Richardson

“I attended UA from 2009-2013. My time there was marked by extreme events, both personal and local, including the tornado on April 27th 2011. I’m only leading with disaster because I think it tightened the bond between students and faculty and community beyond what may be normal for an MFA program. Our ego boundaries kind […]

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Luke Percy

Why did you choose Alabama for your MFA? What were you doing before you came here? I think the most honest answer here would be: Alabama chose me. As an international student who decided very late in the application season to pursue an MFA, I scattered my applications all over the board. Not only was […]

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Shelley Feller

Why did you choose Alabama for your MFA? What were you doing before you came here? To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know much about Alabama when I decided to apply. Five years ago, one of my favorite poets told me that all you really need from an MFA is money and time. In this […]

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Shaelyn Smith

Why did you choose Alabama for your MFA? What were you doing before you came here? I chose to apply to Alabama because at the time I was beginning to consider applying for MFA programs, I was in fairly regular contact with XFA Ander Monson (I had interviewed him for the lit mag I was […]

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Diamond Forde

Why did you choose Alabama for your MFA? What were you doing before you came here? Let’s be honest—there was some degree of hesitation. Here I am, heavy-set black girl smack dab in the heart of the South, surrounded by a sea of very similar, very unfamiliar faces. Community was a key factor in my […]

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