Vanderbilt Creative Writing

Congratulations to the winner and honorable mention recipient of the 2026 Academy of American Poets College Prize!

Winner: Ayesha Asad, MFA, for "Machinery"

Honorable Mention: Lana Reeves, MFA, for "My Mom Had to Teach Me Real Pearls are Gritty in the Mouth"

Judge: Kiyoko Reidy (MFA '22), Author of Black Holes and Their Feeding Habits (2025)

Applications are now open for the 2026-2027 Emerging Critics Fellowship with the National Book Critics Circle! To apply, visit the link below. 📚

https://www.bookcritics.org/emerging-critics/fellowship

Congratulations to our recent graduates in Creative Writing! We enjoyed hearing a few talented students read their work last month. 📚

Readers: Jacqueline Welsh, Eleni Ertel, Sorin Caldararu, Katerina Krizner, Nicole Reynaga, Colleen Newman, Cady Butcher, Tam Obisesan

Special thanks to Events Coordinator Arianna Pappas, Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson, and Photographer Tim Gollins.

Let's hear it for our Creative Writing MFA Graduates👏 They read excerpts from their work on Thursday, April 23 in Alumni Hall and received thunderous applause for their accomplishments these last three years at Vanderbilt. We're so proud and we can't wait to see what they do next! 💛🖤

Photos 1-6: Iman Saleem (fiction), Kumari Devarajan (fiction), Athena Nassar (poetry), Sydney Mayes (poetry), Langston Cotman (fiction), Ajla Dizdarevic (poetry)

Special thanks to Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson, Events Coordinator Arianna Pappas, and Photographer Tim Gollins.

We were thrilled to host Vanderbilt Literary Prize Winner Melissa Range on Thursday, April 16. Swipe to see a few of the moments captured that evening➡️ The full photo gallery can be viewed on our website. Go grab your copy of Printer's Fist today!

1 - Major Jackson, Melissa Range, Patrick Samuel
5 - Melissa Range and Mark Jarman

✒️ Special thanks to Vanderbilt University Press, Patrick Samuel, Gianna Mosser, Rachael Johnson, Events Coordinator Arianna Pappas, Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson, and Photographer Tim Gollins.

We had the pleasure of hosting Fiction Author Mitchell S. Jackson at Vanderbilt on February 12! He is the author of 'Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion', 'Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family', and 'The Residue Years'.

Thank you to Special Collections and University Archives, The Vanderbilt Bookstore, Events Coordinator Arianna Pappas, and Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson. Photo credit goes to Tim Gollins.

The Vanderbilt Reading Series was thrilled to host Poet Prageeta Sharma on February 19! She read excerpts from her latest collection 'Onement Won'. The complete photo album can be viewed on our website!

Thank you to Special Collections and University Archives, The Vanderbilt Bookstore, Events Coordinator Arianna Pappas, and Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson. Photo credit goes to Tim Gollins.

We hope everyone is staying safe and warm in the midst of the Great Ice Storm! ❄️ Mitchell S. Jackson's reading and events have been rescheduled to Thursday, February 12. Join us in the Special Collections Library that evening to celebrate the work of a Pulitzer-prize writer! ✒️📚

6:30 Literary Salon - Refreshments will be served
7:00 Reading
8:00 Book Signing

Mitchell S. Jackson is the winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and the 2021 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing. His essay collection Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family was named a best book of 2019 by fifteen publications. Jackson is also the author of Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion. Jackson’s other honors include fellowships, grants, awards, and features from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Cullman Center of the NYPL, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and elsewhere.

We hope everyone is staying safe and warm in this crazy weather! ❄️

Join us for a Pre-Reading Literary Salon at Special Collections and University Archives THIS Thursday, January 29 at 6:30pm. Featuring Pulitzer-prize writer Mitchell S. Jackson! Refreshments will be served. ☕️📚

Fiction Reading and Book Signing with Quan Barry ~ The Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series ~ Thursday, October 16, 2025

Thank you to all who attended our event with Fiction Author Quan Barry! She read from her new book, The Unveiling, which follows a Black film scout who gets stranded with other tourists on a remote Antarctic island after a kayaking accident. Visit the Vanderbilt bookstore to get your copy today!

Special thanks to the Special Collections Library for putting together Quan's exhibit featuring Antarctic history, which was on display at Thursday's Literary Salon. Thank you to Tim Gollins for capturing our recent event photos and to the Vanderbilt Bookstore for supporting our visiting writers and the Creative Writing Program.

ONE MONTH until the deadline of April 15 to submit for the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize! Visit vanderbilt.edu/vuliteraryprize for full details.