MFA News Room

MFAC Faculty Member Ron Koertge Retires from Teaching

CWP is happy to announce that we have added a new faculty, Erin Entrada Kelly to our faculty. She will be starting with us in July!

For the second consecutive year, and for the third time in the last four years, five writers connected to Hamline's creative writing programs have been named finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards.

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams, MFAC alumna ‘13 receives a Newbery Honor, the Coretta Scott King Award, and is a finalist for the William C. Morris Award.

MFAC faculty Laura Ruby takes her place on the 2019 National Book Awards Shortlist for Young People's Literature with her newest novel Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All. 

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain, written by alumna Cheryl Bardoe (MFAC ‘10), is out now from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

MFAC faculty member Ron Koertge discusses the creative life of writing and teaching, along with the experience of working in poetry and prose, in a new interview with the Los Angeles Review.

Hamline MFAC Faculty Gene Luen Yang talks about writing, teaching, and the MFAC program in a new feature with Cynthia Leitich Smith.

MFAC faculty and 2017 Newbery Medal-winning author Kelly Barnhill’s collection of short stories and a novella, Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories, is out now from Algonquin Books.

Winterfolk, the debut novel from CWP alum Janel Kolby (MFAC '15), is out now, and with great reviews, from Harper Collins Teen. Congratulations, Janel!

Congratulations to Sarah Ahiers (MFAC '16)  and Caitlin Bailey (MFA '12), both named as finalists for the 30th annual, 2018 Minnesota Book Awards!

LOVE, the beautiful new picture book by our very own Newbery Medal-winning MFAC faculty, Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Loren Long, is now available from Putnam Books.

MFAC faculty Sherri L. Smith's young adult novel Pasadena is the winner of the 2017 Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Book Award, in the Young Adult category. Great work, Sherri!

The CWP is thrilled to welcome best-selling YA author Eliot Schrefer to the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty lineup. Eliot will join us in January 2018.

The Devils You Know, YA debut from Megan Atwood (as M.C. Atwood), MFAC '09, is out today from Soho Teen. NY Library Journal says, "A truly a literary tour-de-force of the supernatural genre, at the same time disturbing, frightening, and fascinating." 

New from Chicago Review Press, Bold Women of Medicine: 21 Stories of Astounding Discoveries, Daring Surgeries, and Healing Breakthroughs, by Susan Latta, MFAC '09. Great work, Susan!

The debut, middle grade novel from CWP alum Melanie Heuiser Hill (MFAC '13), Giant Pumpkin Suite, is out today from Candlewick press. Melanie launched her book, with Pete Hautman, at Red Balloon bookstore earlier this month.

Introducing the "mischievous fun" Halloween Goodnight, a picture book by CWP alumna Rebecca Grabill (MFAC '11), new from Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Illustrated by Ella Okstad.

MFAC student celebrating book release and graduation! Blair Thornburgh's YA novel, Who's That Girl is out today (from HarperTeen). Publication party July 12 at Red Balloon Bookshop.

Celebrating its 10th year, the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) boasts an impressive number of award-winning alumni and faculty who are among the most influential writers of young people’s literature in the country.

Stars Over Clear Lake, the debut adult novel by Loretta Ellsworth, MFAC '09, launched on May 2, 2017 from St. Martin's Press, with the Minnesota Book Launch Party at Subtext Books on Saturday, May 11.

Winners of the 2017 MN Book Award include two Creative Writing Programs alumni and a Hamline School of Law alumnus. JJ Austrian (MFAC '12) won in Children's Lit for Worm Loves Worm, Brian Farrey (MFA '09) won in Middle Grade Lit for The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, and Allen Eskens (JD '91) won in the fiction category for The Heavens May Fall.

Molly B. Burnham, MFAC '10, has released the third book in the Teddy Mars series: Almost an Outlaw. Teddy goes from record breaker to rule breaker in this conclusion to the hilarious and heartwarming series by the winner of the Fleischman Humor Award.

Six CWP alums have been named as finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards! Congratulations to J.J. Austrian, Caren Stelson, Brian Farrey, Stephanie Wilbur Ash, and Gretchen Marquette.

Debut books from Hamline Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock ('12) and Caren Stelson ('09) received honors at the American Library Association's midwinter conference.

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s novel, The Smell of Other People's Houses, has been named a 2017 William C. Morris honor book—for a debut novel written for teens in 2016.

Three CWP alums are on Kirkus' Best of 2016 list: Jane O'Reilly (MFAC '09) and Brian Farrey (MFA '12) are listed for Middle Grade, and JJ Austrian (MFAC '12) is listed for picture books.

Carmella Full of Wishes, a picture book by Matt de la Peña (MFAC faculty) and illustrated by Christian Robinson, has been acquired by Jennifer Besser at Putnam. 

The Toymaker's Apprentice, by Sherri L. Smith, has won the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Award for Middle Grade.

Award-winning author Sherri L. Smith has joined the faculty of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) Program. Smith is the author of six young adult novels.

Melinda R. Cordell’s (MFAC ’12) debut juvenile nonfiction book, Courageous Women of the Civil War: Soldiers, Spies, Medics, and More, has just been released from Chicago Review Press as part of the ‘Women of Action’ series.

High school students explore creative writing in a four-day workshop with Hamline faculty in the Creative Writing Programs.

Marsha Wilson Chall, MFAC faculty, is launching her newest picture book, The Secret Life of Figgy Mustardo—published June 7th. Join Marsha for the launch party on the 11th at Red Balloon Bookshop.

Peter Pearson's MFAC ’12 debut picture book, How to Eat an Airplane, is an absurdist guide to eating an airplane without embarrassing yourself. Launch party is June 4th at Flying Cloud airport.

Christine Heppermann MFAC ’10 explores the complexities of being a teenager in her latest young adult novel, Ask Me How I Got Here. The novel in verse is being released May 3 by Greenwillow Books.

Gene Yang, instructor for the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, was named the fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress.

Matt de la Peña has won the 2016 John Newbery Medal for his picture book Last Stop on Market Street and Laura Ruby has won the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award for her novel Bone Gap.

Matt de la Peña has won the 2016 John Newbery Medal for his picture book Last Stop on Market Street and Laura Ruby has won the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award for her young adult novel Bone Gap.

New fiction out from CWP / MFA faculty, Angela Pelster-Wiebe.

Matt de la Peña, MFAC faculty, listed on Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year

MFAC faculty member Laura Ruby’s young adult novel, Bone Gap, has been listed on Publishers Weekly’s Best of the Year List.

Orbiting Jupiter (published by Clarion), the latest middle grade novel by MFAC faculty member, Gary D. Schmidt, has been named to the Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2015.

The Creative Writing Programs at Hamline launched an online literary publication called Runestone.

Faculty e. lockhart and alum Christine Heppermann (MFAC '10) both have books named to Publisher's Weekly list of best YA books of 2014.

MFAC faculty Gene Luen Yang spoke about the power of comics to reach diverse audiences at the 2014 National Book Festival gala.

CWP faculty members John Brandon (BFA/MFA) and e. lockhart, a.k.a., Emily Jenkins, (MFAC) are both celebrating new releases in fiction.

The Creative Writing Programs are pleased to announce the addition of three new scholarships for students in the low-residency MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.

MFAC faculty Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel masterpiece, Boxers & Saints, won the School Library Journal's 2014 Battle of the Books.

... "a lovely and sophisticated new middle-grade fantasy that asks readers to wrap their heads around abstractions and accept a lack of absolutes."

Gene Luen Yang, a member of the faculty in the low-residency Masters of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program, was named one of five finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature.

Five of the eight winners of the 2013 Loft Literary Center Shabo Award are students and alums of the low-residency program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline.

Anne Ursu and Gene Luen Yang named to the 2013 National Book Award Longlist for Young People's Literature

Gene Luen Yang's newest, Boxers & Saints (a two-volume graphic novel project that explores both sides of the Boxer Rebellion), released from First Second Books.

Ron Koertge gets the spotlight this week from both Axon Journal and the American Life in Poetry project, including the poem "Burning the Book"

Two CWP alums are nominated for Minnesota Book Awards! Nothing Special, by Geoff Herbach (MFA '06), and Silhouette of a Sparrow. by Molly Beth Griffin (MFAC '09), are both finalists for best young people's literature.

"Koertge is a master at getting to subtle and uncomfortable emotional truths and relaying them in just a few precise lines." Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses is a collection of re-told fairy tales. 

MFAC students/alums Daniel Bernstrom, Kristin Gallagher, Peter Pearson, and Rebecca Stanborough, and MFA alum Charlotte Sullivan, all recipients of The Loft 2012 Shabo Award for Children's Picture book Writers.

In Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses, Ron Koertge, "a much-honored poet and novelist retells, in free verse and from various points of view, twenty-three familiar tales..."

Hear Garrison Keilor read Katrina's poems, 'Handwriting Analysis' and 'M', both from her new book of poetry, The Alphabet Not Unlike the World.

Read MFAC faculty Anne Ursu along with July Residency graduation ceremony speaker Chris Crutcher and many others in The Sports Pages, the new edition of the Guys Read short story series.

The CWP is developing a new blog site and we're looking at you to help us name it. Submit through the end of June. The winner will receive a shiny new Kindle Touch!

Award-winning writer and CWP favorite, Scott Russell Sanders, will visit campus Friday, April 20. All students interested in creative nonfiction in general, and/or Scott Russell Sander's work in particular, are invited to meet and engage with him in a discussion of his work and of writing.

 A Secret Keeps is the new picture book from MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty Marsha Wilson Chall. Published by Lerner Publishing Group, Jan 2012.

"Best Ofs" from Amazon, Publisher's Weekly; starred reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, and more. Read the astounding list of honors for Breadcrumbs.

Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now nominated for a National Book Award

Introducing Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight For Women's Suffrage, the newest book by Claire Rudolf Murphy

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) nominates MFAC faculty Ron Koertge and Gary Schmidt, MFA alum Geoff Herbach for best fiction.

MFA students start nonfiction blog – Join the discussion!

Some of the best authors of literature for young people are sharing their creations through free public events January 7-16, 2011 at Hamline.