The WVU MFA program welcomes nine new writers to its program this year. We are very excited to get to know them and read their work over the next three years. Find out a little more about the new cohort within each genre below.
Fiction:
Vahid Arefi is an Iranian American writer and engineer from South East Michigan, and grew up abroad in Germany, Italy, and France. He studied Mechanical Engineering and Creative Writing, with concentrations in energy and sustainability at the University of Michigan.
Karen Klein moved to Morgantown from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In her former life she was a high school classroom teacher who taught both domestically and internationally. When she isn't reading or writing, she spends much of her free time outside running, walking, and in the company of horses, if at all possible.
Morgan Roediger holds a master’s degree in English from Ohio University. She’s been writing fiction since middle school; and her first story was about a group of mermaids who lived in a backyard pond. In her free time she likes to bake, worry about her plants, and spend time with her cats.
Non-Fiction:
Katie Clendenin is from Charleston, West Virginia. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2018 with her B.A. in English concentrating in creative writing and minoring in Native American Studies and Women and Gender studies. Katie primarily writes creative nonfiction. She enjoys spending time with friends and taking care of her plants.
Rachael Bradley originally hails from West Bloomfield, Michigan. She is a graduate of Michigan State University where she received a B.A. in Arts and Humanities and a B.A. in English with a creative writing emphasis. She enjoys writing creative nonfiction, traveling, and tending to her homemade sourdough starter, Winona.
Kasey Shaw received her B.A. in creative writing at Ohio University. Formally, she was a Public Services & Outreach librarian at Urbana University.
Poetry:
Sharon Reynolds is a queer poet, activist and Gemini originally from New York. She has called Minnesota, Vermont and most recently Colorado, where she (finally) completed her undergraduate education at Naropa University, home. Sharon aims to write, teach and organize with the intention of eradicating barriers to education and creative practice.
Gabriel Bass grew up in Arkansas and his hobbies include cooking, sloth, and stanning C.D. Wright.
Caroline Riley is from the Washington, D.C. area and is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland. Her fun fact is that she is a twin. She loves reading, writing, matcha lattes, and The Sopranos.