What Can I Do with a Graduate Degree in Creative Writing?

Creative Writing MFA graduates’ books have been published by trade and small presses and cover all genres; their works have won grants, prizes and residencies. Many are now professors. Our graduates have gone on to become web content editors, journalists, copywriters, book and magazine editors, arts administrators, librarians, grant writers, primary and secondary school teachers and more, and have obtained jobs in advertising, public relations, and communications. College of Liberal Arts Creative Writing alumni continue to make important contributions to the contemporary literary scene.

Alumni Spotlight

Many of our distinguished alumni have gone on to great accomplishments. Some notable alumni from the MFA program who have published books of fiction and poetry include:

• Emily Abendroth
• Lisa Borders
• Ryan Eckes
• Alex Kudera
• Teresa Leo
• Pattie McCarthy
• Meera Nair
• Debra Leigh Scott
• Mecca Sullivan
• Magdalena Zurawski

Read more below about where our alums went after completing their degree! 

Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Ph.D., is the author of three books: Big Girl a New York Times Editors’ Choice and winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize and the Next Generation Indie Book Award for First Novel; The Poetics of Difference: Queer Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora, winner of the William Sanders Scarborough Prize from the MLA; and the short story collection, Blue Talk and Love, winner of the Judith Markowitz Award from Lambda Literary. She has earned honors from Bread Loaf, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, the Mellon Foundation, the Center for Fiction, the NEA and others. Originally from Harlem, NY, she is Professor of English at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Divya Victor received her M.A. in poetry in 2006; she went on to earn her Ph.D. in the Poetics Program at the University at Buffalo. She is the author of Curb (Nightboat Books, winner of PEN America Open Book Award and the Kinglsey Tufts Poetry Award); Kith (Fence Books/ Book*hug); Scheingleichheit: Drei Essays  (Merve Verlag); Natural Subjects (Trembling Pillow), Unsub (Insert Blanc), Things to Do With Your Mouth (Les Figues). Her work has been collected in numerous venues, including BOMB, the New Museum’s The Animated Reader, Crux: Journal of Conceptual Writing, The Best American Experimental Writing, POETRY, and boundary2. 

Alyssa Songsiridej received her M.F.A. in fiction in 2013. Her debut novel, Little Rabbit, was published in May 2022 from Bloomsbury. A 5 Under 35 honoree, she is an editor at Electric Literature. Her short fiction can be found at StoryQuarterly, The Indiana Review, and Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. She has had residencies at Yaddo, Ucross, VCCA, and the Vermont Studio Center. She lives in Philadelphia. 

Yolanda Wisher received her M.A. in poetry in 2000. She is the author of Monk Eats an Afro (Hanging Loose Press, 2014) and the co-editor of Peace is a Haiku Song (Philadelphia Mural Arts, 2013). She was named the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia in 2016. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow, she has been a Writer in Residence at Hedgebrook and Aspen Words. She performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters and has led workshops and curated events in partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the U.S. Department of Arts & Culture. She was the 2017-2018 CPCW Fellow in Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches poetry workshops for all ages in a variety of settings. She is the founder of the School of Guerrilla Poetics, a training ground for folks interested in nurturing and mobilizing communities through poetry. 

Chris Davis is a writer and performer residing in Philadelphia, PA. His solo shows have toured throughout the United States and Europe. Recent work includes One-Man Nutcracker, which made its international debut in Germany this year at the Thespis Festival, and The 40-Year-Old Ballerino which had a sold-out run in the Philadelphia Fringe festival. He is a 2024 graduate of the Temple MFA Creative Writing Program and is currently working on a novel.

Eli Raphael received her MFA in fiction in 2023. Her debut novel, BRIGHT WORK, publishes in May 2026 from Hachette. Eli also holds an MA in Writing from Bar Ilan University, and has worked in journalism, book preservation, translation, and tech.

Alli Hoff Kosik is a freelance writer and editor. She facilitates online writing workshops and community through her Pen Pals program and has taught fiction at various Philadelphia venues. Alli is the creator, producer, and host of The SSR Podcast. Her debut novel Too Blessed to Stress is due from Grand Central Press in early 2026.

Sebastian Castillo is a writer and teacher who lives in Philadelphia. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and grew up in the New York City area. He is the author of Fresh, Green Life, The Zoo of Thinking, SALMON, Not I, and 49 Venezuelan Novels. He has been published in print and online variously. His writing and teaching is concerned with genre hybridity, experimental models of prose, and Spanish-language literature in translation.

Andrea Lawlor is the author of two chapbooks, Position Papers (Factory Hollow Press, 2016), and Position Papers (Belladonna*, 2024), as well as a novel, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (Rescue Press, 2017; Vintage, 2019; Picador UK, 2019). Their stories, essays, and poems have appeared in publications such as Ploughshares, The Brooklyn Rail, jubilat, and The New York Times. They are the recipient of a Whiting Award for Fiction, as well as fellowships from Lambda Literary, Radar Labs, the Ucross Foundation, and Macdowell. They are an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Mount Holyoke College, and live in Western Massachusetts.

Kevin Varrone is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Box Score: An Autobiography, as well as numerous chapbooks. His poems have appeared in various literary magazines and journals, including the Academy of American Poets poem-a-day anthology. He has been a fellow at The Poets House in Northern Ireland and an artist resident at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Nova Scotia. In 2012 he was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for poetry. He has taught literature, creative writing, and first-year writing courses in Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia and has taught at Temple since 2004.

Sam Allingham received his M.F.A. in fiction in 2013. He is the author of the short story collection The Great American Songbook (A Strange Object, 2016). His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, StoryQuarterly, Epoch, One Story, n+1, and American Short Fiction, among others. His nonfiction has appeared in The Millions, The Kenyon Review, and Full Stop, among others. He lives in Philadelphia and teaches at Temple University and the University of the Arts.