Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University

We are so happy for Martha Park ‘15! Congratulations!!

Announcing the 2026 Tennessee Book Award Finalists - Humanities Tennessee The literature of Tennessee helps to define its history and its culture. Classic novels like Alex Haley’s Roots and James Agee’s A Death in the Family are joined by newer…

We are very excited to announce that Emily Davis-Fletcher (MFA ‘23) is the winner of the 2026 Foley Prize from America Magazine. Read it at the link below!

They tell us border nets, 10,000 feet high, What good are great blue herons reflecting our quiet thoughts

Hollins University Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University Social Media Team 2025–2026: Bow out! No roosters were harmed during the development of this post. Any similarity to anyone living (a full life) is purely fictional or coincidental.

Hollins University’s English and Creative Writing Department bids farewell to two gifted educators, T. J. Anderson III and Marilyn Moriarty, whose work has shaped and inspired generations of young writers for more than three decades.

What you built here endures in the courage you asked of us on the page, and in the kind of attention and care you modeled so consistently. Your legacy will continue to touch our hearts and light our paths. We love you and will never forget you!

The Hollins University English & Creative Writing Department and Jackson Center for Creative Writing invite you to the final reading of the season. One last bow from this year’s graduating writers.

Come listen, and celebrate the final act.

Come out tomorrow night for TJ Anderson III’s final Hollins reading before retirement! We’ve been so lucky to have TJ as a presence, poet, and teacher in the English Department for nearly 30 years. Join us to send him off in style.

Congratulations to Emily Davis-Fletcher (Hollins University MFA ’23) on this incredible achievement!

Winning Writers has announced the results of its 23rd annual Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, and Emily has been awarded the Tom Howard Prize of $3,500 for her poem “Sonogram Vision.”

We are so proud to see Emily’s work recognized in this way and to celebrate this moment with her. Read the winning entry here: https://edge.prnewswire.com/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=4663867-1&h=2011216828&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwinningwriters.com%2Fpast-winning-entries%2Fsonogram-vision&a=%22Sonogram+Vision%22

We’re incredibly proud to share that our Hollins University MFA alum (Class of 2021), Gabriel Antonio Reed, has been named the winner of the 2026 First Book Award by the Academy of American Poets for his debut collection Reach.

Selected by acclaimed poet Brenda Hillman, the manuscript was praised as “a collection of interconnected notational pieces… displaying both grandeur and intimacy… a marvelous first book.”

The prize has recognized poets such as Kweku Abimbola, Kemi Alabi, April Bernard, Nicole Cooley, Matt Rasmussen, Alberto Ríos, Sara Daniele Rivera, Mai Der Vang, and Jenny Xie. Many past recipients have gone on to shape contemporary literature through writing, teaching, and major honors from institutions such as the National Book Foundation, the National Book Critics Circle, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. We’re thrilled to see Gabriel join this remarkable lineage.

Reach will be published by Graywolf Press in April 2027.

We often measure MFA alumni success by lines on a CV: publications, jobs, awards. These things matter, of course, but what about the less obvious ways an MFA can prepare the path for a sustained artistic practice? Since graduating from the Hollins MFA in Creative Writing Program in 2017, Ellie Paolini, Inga Schmidt, Abbey Tippin, and Tessa Cheek have virtually gathered almost every month for workshop. In our conversation with them, we hear about how the generative and life-enriching capacities of such long-standing community, and how it’s possible at all. Read the full interview on our website now.