One of the most rewarding times of the year in the Creative Writing program at WVU is the end of the spring semester, when graduating MFA students get to read from their theses to a crowd of family, colleagues, and English department faculty. On Thursday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Milano Reading Room of the Downtown University Library, the third-year MFAs held their graduation reading to the public. It was a privilege to listen to the moving work produced by the 2024 MFA cohort. The thesis excerpts ranged from an array of genres and form, and it was truly an honor to listen to each writer share excerpts from the incredible bodies of work they have been working on for three years while being in the MFA program. It was an evening of awe, joy, laughter, tears, and meditation — the English department is so proud of these talented writers!
Congratulations to all of our graduating MFAs, and the best of luck with your writing and endeavors!
The 2024 MFA Cohort:
Megan Williams, MFA Creative Nonfiction
Thesis: Control Freak Loser Bitches Need Love, Too
Thesis Adviser: Christa Parravani
Em Merrick, MFA Fiction
Thesis: Fire Sings in the Dark
Thesis Adviser: Glenn Taylor
Ola El-Wassify, MFA Poetry
Thesis: Your Eyes, Two Niles
Thesis Adviser: Mary Ann Samyn
Shannon Virtue, MFA Creative Nonfiction/Poetry
Thesis: Psychogenic
Thesis Adviser: Mary Ann Samyn
Matthew Powney, MFA Poetry
Thesis: Time on the Mountain
Thesis Adviser: Mary Ann Samyn
Jonah Stokes, MFA Poetry
Thesis: The Closet of My Tennessee Mountain Home
Thesis Adviser: Jenny Johnson
Jackson Buttery, MFA Fiction
Thesis: ANF
Thesis Adviser: Glenn Taylor