MFA in Creative Writing

Current Students

2014-2015

Felicia Aguirre, Fiction '16

Felicia got her BA in English from the University of Notre Dame, and MA in Teaching from Santa Clara University. Her small-town roots and ability to keep middle school students awake fuel her YA fiction.
Abbigail Baldys, Poetry '16

Abbigail Baldys studied writing & children's literature at the University of Pittsburgh. She inevitably explores the haze-fire of small towns, hydraulic fracturing, & redacted body suture. She's propelled by the imaginative frontier & red wine.
Robyn Buller, Creative Nonfiction '16

After six years in San Diego, Robyn is thrilled to once again call the Bay Area home. Pursuing her MFA in non-fiction, Robyn hopes to make her writing as engaging as the fantasy she loves reading.
Mary Cisper, Poetry '15

Once upon a time, Mary Cisper whispered to ion trap mass spectrometers in New Mexico. In Berkeley, she loves perfecting her pedestrian skills and being closer to the Sierra Nevada.
Amelia Coombs, Fiction '15

23 Years Old; BA English from UC Davis; Master of Fine Arts Graduate Student at St Mary’s College of California; Second Year with a Concentration in Creative Writing Fiction; Born and Raised in Northern California.
Janine deBoisblanc, Creative Nonfiction '15

Janine writes about actors and dreams, bodies and minds, obstacles and disasters. She is interested in the intersection of fiction and nonfiction and is currently working on a memoir or a novel.
Marlene Decker, Creative Nonfiction '15

Marlene Decker. When she was a little girl in Chicago she put on her flannel pleated skirt, looked out the window to snow covered roof tops and decided to be a family therapist and a writer. She is.
Danielle Douvikas, Poetry '16

Dani lives in the Bay Area where she writes, practices yoga, and teaches an in-water exercise and stretch class for people with arthritis. Her work has appeared in Santa Clara Review.
James Duran, Fiction '16

James Duran is a first year MFA Creative Writing student in Fiction at St. Mary's College of California. His writing interests include Fantasy, Horror, Comedy, and Graphic Novels. He was last seen searching for Destruction.
Kelly Egan, Poetry '16

Kelly Jean Egan travels remote regions of inner, outer, and ordinary worlds. She muses on language, the jungle, and languages spoken in the jungle. She believes in strangeness, and strives for nothing less than sorcery.
Andrea Firth, Creative Nonfiction '15

Andrea Firth is a freelance journalist who has covered a range of topics from the digging of a massive to tunnel to floating in zero gravity. She loves reading and writing literary journalism because, for her, the best stories are true.
Joanne Furio, Creative Nonfiction '16

Joanne Furio is a contributor at San Francisco and also writes for Dwell and The New York Times. She loves profiles and will have her first in the Believer magazine—with cartoonist Roz Chast—in the Jan./Feb. issue.
Julie Gesin, Fiction '15

Julie Gesin was born in former Soviet Union, where her love of writing began. Currently Julie lives in San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter.
Andrew Hamilton, Fiction '16

Andrew Hamilton graduated from the University of Tennessee with honors in creative writing. His story “Surface Tension” was named runner-up in the Saturday Evening Post’s Great American Fiction Contest. He writes both poetry and fiction.
RJ Ingram, Poetry '14 & Creative Nonfiction '15

RJ grew up just south of a Great Lake but now lives just east of Lake Merritt. He works as a poetry & social media editor for Omnidawn Publishing. His cat Brenda lives in North Carolina & lost a leg in a terrible smelting accident. @RJEquality
Amanda Kuehn, Creative Nonfiction '15

Originally from the Midwest, Amanda is lifelong learner who wandered through Europe before landing in the Bay Area. She is fascinated by the variety and complexity of life and driven by a desire to better understand it.
Raina Leon, Poetry '16

Dr. Raina J. León, Cave Canem graduate fellow (2006), CantoMundo fellow, and member CAAWC, is author of two poetry collections: Canticle of Idols (2008) and Boogeyman Dawn (2013) and co-founding editor of The Acentos Review.
Tiffany Jimenez, Fiction '16

Tiffany Jimenez is a former banana slug, looking forward to earning her MFA as a gael. Other than being an ardent supporter of the imagination, she writes a lot, laughs a lot, startles easily, and loves potatoes.
Ryan McKinley, Fiction '15

Ryan McKinley is from Honolulu, Hawai`i. He loves the Pacific Ocean, a good mystery, listening to the world around him, and writing detective fiction.
Jacob Minasian, Poetry '16

Jacob Minasian graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California with a BA in English – Creative Writing, and currently resides in Walnut Creek, California. To him, bliss is a good book or a blank page.
Elizabeth Montoya, Fiction '16

Elizabeth M. Montoya is a writer, videographer, and mental health social worker in Concord, California. She received her B.A. in English (Creative Writing) from San Francisco State University, and currently works for a local non-profit.
Simon Neely, Poetry '15

Simon grew up on the Peninsula, is still there, has farmed vegetables and cared for goats, and loves the beaches of the Central Coast. Poetry is a way to participate in these geographies.
Anne Marie Nguyen, Fiction '15

Anne Marie Nguyen is a jill of all trades from the swamps of Spring, Texas. Currently she dabbles in the oil & gas industry. Her literary schema is to master compelling first-person voices, always plural.
Mariah O'Seanecy, Creative Nonficiton '15

A small town girl from Oregon who enjoys the simpler things in life.
Erin Robinson, Creative Nonfiction '16

While not court reporting, racing in triathlons, quilting, cooking, baking, playing with dogs, singing in choirs, watching movies with hubby, or drinking margaritas, Erin Robinson loves writing fiction and is excited to experiment with creative nonfiction.
Joseph Schneider, Creative Nonfiction '15

"I was born in Los Angeles, my favorite city to live in and write about. She's always got a story for me, and I've always believed that the first and last thing you owe your readers is a good story."
Arielle Schussler, Fiction '16

Ar-i-elle (ɑr/iː/ɛl'), noun. 1. “ding an sich.” 2. Ravenclaw who has misplaced her Hogwarts letter. 3. Skipper, specifically on roads of yellow brick. 4. Phantom Tollbooth driver. 5. A conspiracy of cartographers. 6. Tralfamadorian flower.
Andrew Shigo, Fiction '15

A New Jersey native, Andrew’s here to prove not all Jersians are fist-pumping tail-chasers draining the world of it’s Jaegermeister. He enjoys weaving humor, absurdity, and the macabre into his work.
Will Spongberg, Fiction '16

Will Spongberg was a high school teacher in Oakland for ten years. He hopes to write novels both younger readers like his students as well as people who love literature will be excited to read.
Jon Steinberg, Creative Nonfiction '16

Jon is from Newport Beach and graduated with a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Jon wrote his first full-length book at the age of ten. He still loves writing at the age of 28.
Ani Tascian, Creative Nonfiction '15

Ani writes in a Berkeley bungalow with an outdoor cat, an indoor/outdoor dog and a seventeen- year old indoor cat that sleeps on her husband’s head. Her eight-year old son calls this "epic."
Jeff Marcus Wheeler, Fiction '15

A lover, fighter, hater, and liar.
Elizabeth Wright, Creative Nonfiction '15

Elizabeth Wright is mainly interested in humor writing, although, so far, her memoir isn’t very funny. She currently lives in Oakland with her potted plants, and enjoys writing and other stuff.