100 Books by MFA Creative Writing Alumni at The New School
Creative Writing Program alumni are steadily advancing through our complex, volatile, and exciting new literary world.
In honor of The New School’s Centennial, we’ve compiled a list of 100 books by MFA Creative Writing alumni. Robert Polito, professor of writing and the founding director of the MFA Creative Writing Program, shared the following reflection on the program and its history.
My gratitude to Justin Sherwood—Senior Director, Communications and Strategic Initiatives at The New School and MFA Creative Writing alumnus—for convening this luminous roster of “100 Books by Creative Writing Alumni” for The New School Centennial. All of us in the Creative Writing Program could obsess over our own personal, even idiosyncratic recapitulations of exemplary MFA alumni publications, as Justin’s erudite survey inevitably designates just a scintillating fraction of the noteworthy poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and writing for children and young adults created by our graduates.
Our MFA Creative Writing program dates from the mid-1990s, but The New School has been a vital center for writing and the instruction of writing since 1931, when Gorham Munson, a Manhattan editor and influential partisan of the Alfred Stieglitz circle, introduced his legendary workshop in creative writing. Munson’s was a professional writing program, originating not in an English literature department, but instead out of the magazines, newspapers, and publishing houses of New York City and Greenwich Village. “We can’t claim a first,” Munson recalled.
“We led the way in revolutionizing the teaching of writing. For notice that all of us in those years were practicing writers. We washed the typewriter ink off our hands as we started for class.”
“Credit for the ‘first’ goes to Amherst for inviting Robert Frost to be a poet-in-residence. But when The New School began to offer writing courses, the professional writer was a rare animal on the classroom platform. We led the way in revolutionizing the teaching of writing. For notice that all of us in those years were practicing writers. We washed the typewriter ink off our hands as we started for class.”
From the outset, The New School Writing Program accented the importance of working with influential voices of the day. As a result, the historical faculty reads like a who’s-who of 20th-century literature, with instructors spanning W.H. Auden, Kenneth Koch, Stanley Kunitz, May Sarton, Horace Gregory, Wiliam Goyen, Richard Yates, Alfred Kazin, Carolyn Kizer, Daniel Halpern, Gilbert Sorrentino, and David Markson.
When we designed the MFA Program, one of our aims was to touch base with this intensive professional tradition of writing at The New School, although not in any readymade, nostalgic way, but instead to reimagine that tradition’s turn-of-the-century equivalent. If you studied writing and literature here in the early 1960s, you might have taken classes with Robert Lowell, Marguerite Young, Frank O’Hara, Kay Boyle, and Amiri Baraka. Our intention was to assemble a faculty of established and emerging writers that could persuasively be described as the contemporary analogue of this resplendent legacy. A faculty committed to teaching and students–yet also a faculty accomplishing their own creative work in the world.
Decisive to this vision was the notion of reading as a writer. Such reading from the inside out engages craft, language, form, style, and structure, and what across our reading can be summoned and reinvented for our work. But reading as a writer also opens up into the vastest possible challenges and conundrums of politics, culture, and history. A touchstone text for us was Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark. There Morrison writes:
“But then I stopped reading as a reader and began to read as a writer…I began to see how the literature I revered, the literature I loathed, behaved in its encounter with racial ideology. American literature could not help being shaped by that encounter. Yes, I wanted to identify those moments when American literature was complicit in the fabrication of racism, but equally important, I wanted to see when literature exploded and undermined it. Still, those were minor concerns. Much more important was to contemplate how Africanist personae, narrative, and idiom moved and enriched the text in self-conscious ways, to consider what the engagement meant for the work of the writer’s imagination…As a writer reading I came to realize the obvious: the subject of the dream is the dreamer…In other words, I began to rely on my knowledge of how books get written, how language arrives; my sense of how and why writers abandon or take on certain aspects of their project.”
Our MFA Writing Program proposed to honor The New School founding aspirations of the artist as public intellectual. Alongside the writing workshops and literature seminars, we saw ourselves as a community resource, with an extensive, diverse public reading series, and many creative partnerships—PEN America, Cave Canem, the Poetry Society of America, the Academy of American Poets, and the National Book Foundation.
This is a powerful moment to be a writer, since so much impressive work is now appearing across styles, aesthetics, and genres. As Justin’s “100 Books” list manifests, Creative Writing Program alumni are steadily advancing through our complex, volatile, and exciting new literary world, animating their social media, launching their magazines, reading series, and arts organizations, releasing their music and films, and of course—what else?—publishing their books.
Robert Polito is a professor of writing and founding director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at The New School.
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott (’03), a recipient of the Madame Figaro Prix Heroine and the Stonewall Book Award by the American Library Association
2Brides 2Be by Laura Leigh Abby (’13), called “the ultimate and thoroughly user friendly ‘how to’ lesbian wedding guide” by Midwest Book Review
The Optimistic Decade by Heather Able (’01), hailed as “funny and light even under the weight of its Big Ideas” by New York Times Book Review
The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard (’05), celebrated as “approachable, intelligent, and highly satisfying historical fiction” in a starred review by Booklist
Arts and Entertainments by Christopher Beha (’06), called a “tender intellectual memoir” by the New York Times Book Review
A Box of Longing with Fifty Drawers by Jennifer Benka (’07), noted in Lambda Literary as “fresh and captivating…daring, even, at times, brash”
Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin (’05), a “pick of the week” and recipient of a starred review by Publishers Weekly
They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full by Mark Bibbins (’98), a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
The Dog Fighter by Marc Bojanowski (’03), hailed as “the most exciting debut…by an American writer since Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides” by Geoff Dyer
Tyrell by Coe Booth (’06), winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature
Solemn by Kalisha Buckhanon (’03), called a “standout novel…anchored by its vulnerable and brave heroine” by Publishers Weekly
The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd (’06), recipient of a starred review by Booklist
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender (’14), winner of the Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association
Old Silk Road by Brandon Caro (’16), called “an invaluable primary document that illuminates a violent hall of our history in the way that only fiction can” by the Miami Herald
Forever, or a Long, Long Time by Caela Carter (’12), hailed as a “poignant, moving, and riveting” by IndieReader
Melt by Selene Castrovilla (’04), called “A fresh, emotionally complex bildungsroman” by Kirkus Reviews
Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton (both ’12), called “a page–turner with a heart” by Kirkus Reviews
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton (’12), named to the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults List and a Booklist Editor’s Choice
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close (’06), a national bestseller
What I Thought I Knew by Alice Eve Cohen (’99), noted as a “darkly hilarious…an unexpected bundle of joy” by O: The Oprah Magazine
I Was Not Born by Julia Cohen (’08), one of Entropy Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
The Ruining by Anna Collomore (’08), hailed as “A compelling psychological thriller” in a starred review by Kirkus Reviews
Brink by Shanna Compton (’02), called “all sorts of breakthrough” by Publishers Weekly
Outerborrough Blues by Andrew Cotto (’08), hailed as “a novel that reads like Raymond Chandler taking dictation from Walt Whitman” by Publishers Weekly
Having Been An Accomplice by Laura Cronk (’04), winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize from Persea Books
The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino (’06), praised in the New York Times: “There’s not a sluggish moment in Kris D’Agostino’s second novel . . . with sharp, funny dialogue that never seems formulaic”
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler (’14), a national bestselling novel called “Brilliantly written” and “Outstanding” by The New York Times Book Review, and adapted into a television series on Starz with Danler serving as Executive Producer
In This Way I Was Saved by Brian DeLeeuw (’07), called “terrifying and terrifyingly good” by Vanity Fair
The January Children by Safia Elhillo (’15), winner of the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and a 2018 Arab American Book Award
The Jewel by Amy Ewing (’12), a national bestseller and recipient of a starred review in Booklist
Fantasy by Ben Fama (’15), one of Flavorwire’s “50 Best American Poetry Books of the Decade”
Karma Gone Bad by Jenny Feldon, called “heartfelt, frequently very funny and always extremely well written” by Travelati Magazine
You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon (’00), winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction
The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield by Anne Fishbeyn (’04), called a “compelling new voice” by Kirkus Reviews
Deep: The Story of Skiing and the History of Snow by Porter Fox (’04), hailed as “a powerful call to action for anyone who cares about the future of our planet” by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore
Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees by DuEwa Frazier (’11), Nominated for NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Literary Work — Poetry
King of the Worlds by M. Thomas Gammarino (’05), hailed for its “hints of other greats like Kurt Vonnegut and David Foster Wallace…represent some of the funnest aspects of a novel that takes its fun pretty seriously” by Entropy Magazine
Sunshine State by Sarah Gerard (’12), a New York Times Critics’ Best Books of the Year and longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay
The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg (’06), called “a sharp and bitter satire” by Kirkus Reviews
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman (’99), a national bestseller and winner of the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers
A Generous Latitude by Lenea Grace (’12), winner of the Walrus Poetry Prize
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff (’06), longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and recipient of a starred review by Kirkus Reviews
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (’05), a New York Times bestselling novel, adapted into one of Netflix’s “most viewed original films ever” with Han serving as Executive Producer
Watch Us Rise by Ellen Hagan (’03) and Renee Watson (BA Liberal Arts ’09), called “A highly needed work for the #MeToo movement” in a starred review from School Library Journal
OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu (’12), recipient of a starred review by Publishers Weekly, a Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Selection, and Junior Library Guild Selection
In Search of the Movement: The Struggle for Civil Rights Then and Now by Benjamin Hedin (’04), called “thoughtful essays on this significant struggle, ongoing and continuous” by Kirkus Reviews
Charlie, Presumed Dead by Anne Heltzel (’08), called “A compelling read, one that will provoke adventure-lust, a need to experience the strange, the fearful, and the unknown” by the Boston Globe
The Butcher’s Sons by Scott Alexander Hess (’09), one of Kirkus Review’s Best Books of the Year
A Scarecrow’s Bible by Martin Hyatt (’99), winner of the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award from the Publishing Triangle
The Sleepwalker’s Guide To Dancing by Mira Jacob (’03), named one of the best books of the year by Boston Globe
The Doctor’s Wife by Luis Jaramillo (’02), winner of the Dzanc Books Short Story Contest
Instant Classic by erica kaufman (’03), called “beautiful, thoughtful, a music for the eye, heart, soul and mind” by Thurston Moore
Everything You Need To Survive an Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss (’07), one of Children’s Book Council’s Best Children’s Books of the Year
Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling (’01), hailed as a “stunning novel” by Novel Novice
Flying Couch by Amy Kurzweil (’13), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
My Dead by Amy Lawless (’07), celebrated in the Literary Review as “poetry that, in speaking to the dead and in speaking about death, urges us to go on living”
Listening for Lucca by Suzanne LeFleur (’08), celebrated as “a heartbreaking and honest look at family trauma that is devastating, humorous, sad, and, most of all, real” in a starred review by Booklist
Tell Me How This Ends Well by David Samuel Levinson (’01), called “a moving account of the rich complexities of maternal love and the bewildering ecstasies of sibling rivalry” by the San Francisco Gate
Ida, Always by Caron Levis (’08), a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year
And Then There Were Crows by Alcy Leyva (’16), hailed as “a high-energy debut” by Publishers Weekly
The Crystal Ribbon by Celeste Lim (‘15), called “….a hopeful coming-of-age story” by Kirkus Reviews
All Back Full by Robert Lopez (’99), called “a remarkable achievement” by Green Mountains Review
Party Knife by Dan Magers (’05), noted as “funny…logically, in how it organizes its thoughts, surprising the first time and then impressive in a different way the second time” by Vice
Blue Hallelujahs by Cynthia Manick (’07), winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry
The Things That Need Doing by Sean Manning (’03), called “honest and gut-wrenching” by Kirkus Reviews
Pin Action: Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler Who Became a Bowling Champion by Gianmarc Manzione (’04), recipient of a starred review in Booklist
A Million in Prizes by Justin Marks (’04), selected by Carl Phillips for the New Issues Poetry Prize
Outline of My Lover by Douglas Martin (’01), named an International Book of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (’07), a New York Times bestseller
Sold by Patricia McCormick (’99), finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
I Don’t Know Do You by Roberto Montes (’12), one of NPR’s Best Books of the Year and a finalist for the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry from the Publishing Triangle
North Haven by Sarah Moriarty (’03), hailed as “a magnificent debut” by “a gifted author of singular talent” by Library Journal
Eulogy by Ken Murray (’09), called a “powerful, poignant debut” by the Globe and Mail
A Model Year by Gina Myers (’05), hailed as “that rare collection of poetry that wholly actualizes for its reader the sensation of getting into an author’s head” by Coldfront Magazine
The Do-Over by Kathleen Ossip (’98), a New York Times Editor’s Choice
Natural History Rape Museum by Danielle Pafunda (’02), hailed as “major triumph in feminist poetry” by Pank Magazine
Between Land and Sea: The Atlantic Coast and the Transformation of New England by Christopher Pastore (’03), called “an exceptional history that weaves broad and compelling theories with impressive, place-specific research” by American Historical Review
Livability by Jon Raymond (’02), winner of the Oregon Book Award
Repetition by Rebecca Reilly (’98), recipient of a starred review and selected by Maggie Nelson as a best book of 2015 in Publishers Weekly
The Woolgrower’s Companion by Joy Rhoades (’05), called “A wonderful new voice in literary rural fiction” by Australian Women’s Weekly
To Assume A Pleasing Shape by Joseph Salvatore (’98), called “magnetic and propulsive” by Rain Taxi
Rabbit Punch! by Greg Santos (’09), praised by Small Press Book Review for “offer[ing] an admirable finesse to the reader who craves good verse”
Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian (’07), called a “captivating debut” by Publishers Weekly
Drowning Lessons by Peter Selgin (’05), winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Fiction
Problems by Jade Sharma (’12), one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year
Dirty Secret by Jessie Sholl (’98), called “a compelling and compassionate perspective on an illness suffered by an estimated six million Americans” by Booklist
Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman (’15), called “a novel that reads like a warm summer afternoon…a charming novel full of diverse characters” by Paste Magazine
Treat Yourself! by Jessica Siskin (’16), featured on the Today Show and The Rachael Ray Show and called “genius” by Refinery29
Getting Lucky by Nicole Steinberg (’06), noted for poems that “question and re-envision traditional standards for beauty and femininity” by Bitch magazine
Refugees by Catherine Stine (’03), called a “powerful” and “accomplished” novel by Booklist
Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner (’07), called a “wonderful and wrenching debut novel” by The New York Times
Flings by Justin Taylor (’07), an Amazon Best Book of the Month
Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson (’12), called “an intelligent, tense psychological drama” by Kirkus Reviews
Dear Almost by Matthew Thorburn (’01), winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry
What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi (’12), recipient of a starred review by School Library Journal
The List by Siobhan Vivian (’06), a New York Times bestseller
Of Being Dispersed by Simone White (’06), winner of the 2017 Whiting Award for Poetry
For Single Mothers Working As Train Conductors by Laura Esther Wolfson (’07), winner of the 2017 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction
Janey’s Arcadia by Rachel Zolf (’11), nominated for a Lambda Literary Award
Where I Stay by Andrew Zornoza (’07), called “a marvelous first book” with “style and grace” in a review by elimae
Check out Twitter (@NewSchoolAlumni + @NewSchoolWrites) and Instagram for more stories, reading, and news from New School Alumni and the Creative Writing community at The New School.
