Your fellow students and their work
The best way to know the truth about any writing program is to interrogate the students, who can always be relied on to be recklessly truthful. Ideally you do this face to face, at our Open House - which is usually held in the first week of November – but while you’re waiting, we offer a revealing interview with our executive director which James McCloskey (Fiction MFA class of 2006) published in the Brooklyn Rail. In a second, more recent interview in Granta, Peter Carey talks about his most recent work. You should also check out the links below to work by our student and alumni fiction writers, poets and memoirists.
| Recent book deals |
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Scott Cheshire, Hunter MFA Fiction 2010
High as the Horses' Bridles: A Novel
(Holt, 2013)
Phil Klay, Hunter MFA Fiction 2011
[untitled short-story collection]
(Penguin in the U.S., Canongate in the U.K., Einaudi in Italy, 2013)
Bill Cheng, Hunter MFA Fiction 2010
Southern Cross the Dog: A Novel
(Amistad Press/Harper Collins in the U.S. and Picador in the U.K., 2014)
Maria Venegas, Hunter MFA Memoir 2009
Bulletproof Vest: A Memoir
(Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012)
This memoir was excerpted in Granta and The Guardian (UK). Read an excerpt here. Watch Granta's video interview with Maria here. |
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| Fiction |
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel
(Random House, 2010) |
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
Absurdistan
(Random House, 2006)
New York Times 10 Best Books of 2006
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
The Russian Debutante's Handbook
(Riverhead, 2003)
New York Times bestseller |
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
The New Yorker names Gary Shteyngart among the "20 Under 40" best young contemporary American writers and publishes his short story "Lenny Hearts Eunice." Click here to read the story.
(The New Yorker, Summer Fiction Issue, June 14-21, 2010) |
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
Granta Best of Young American Novelists 2
(Granta 97: Grove Press, 2007)
Granta names Gary Shteyngart one of best young American novelists of the decade |
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Gary Shteyngart, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
"Sixty-Nine Cents"
(Personal essay, in The New Yorker, Sept. 3, 2007)
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Jessica Soffer, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots: A Novel
(Houghton Mifflin in the U.S. and Hutchinson in the UK, 2013) |
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Alex Gilvarry, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
From the Memoirs of an Non-Enemy Combatant: A Novel
(Viking/Penguin, 2012)
Here's a New York Times profile of Alex
Here's the New York Times Book Review of his novel |
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Liz Moore, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
Heft: A Novel
(W.W. Norton, 2012) |
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Phil Klay, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2010
"Redeployment"
A short story published
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012 ed. Dave Eggers (Mariner Books, 2008)
(This story was also published in Granta 116; see below)
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Eva Talmadge, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2008
"The Cranes"
Short story selected as "Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2008" in
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 ed. Dave Eggers (Mariner Books, 2008) |
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Janice Y. K. Lee, Hunter MFA Fiction 2002
The Piano Teacher: A Novel
(Viking, January 2009)
[New York Times Bestseller. Published in 20 countries and 18 languages] |
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Jeffrey Rotter, Hunter MFA Fiction 2006
The Unknown Knowns: A Novel
(Scribner, 2009)
Click here to read an excerpt |
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Phil Klay, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2010
"Redeployment"
A short story published
Granta 116: Ten Years Later
(This story was also published in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012; see above) |
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Maria Venegas, Hunter MFA Nonfiction 2009
"Bulletproof Vest," an extract from her book in progress, published in
Granta, Issue 108, Fall 2009
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Jessica Soffer, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
"Beginning, End" a short story published in
Granta's online edition, June, 2009
Click the picture to read this story |
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Victoria Brown, Hunter MFA Fiction 2011 Minding Ben: A Novel
(Hyperion, 2011)
The New York Times Book Review profiled Victoria, on July 14, 2010. Read the article here. |
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Aura Estrada, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2008
Mis Días en Shanghai
A collection of short fiction.
(Almadía, 2009)
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Liz Moore, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
The Words of Every Song
(Random House/Broadway, 2007) |
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Tennessee Jones, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
Deliver Me From Nowhere
(Soft Skull Press, 2005) |
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Colin Channer, Hunter MFA Fiction 2009
The Girl with the Golden Shoes
(Akashic Books, 2007)
Washington Post 2007 Spring Pick |
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Scott Cheshire, Hunter MFA Fiction 2010
"Watchers" a short story published in
AGNI Magazine's online edition, June, 2009
Click the picture to read this story |
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Vanessa Manko, Hunter MFA Fiction 2008
Thanked for her research assistance by novelist Salman Rushdie in the acknowledgements of his novel
The Enchantress of Florence
(Random House, 2009) |
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Vernon Wilson, Hunter MFA Fiction 2011
"The Prince"
A short story published in
Callaloo, Vol. 25, No. 4
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Geronimo Madrid, Hunter MFA Fiction 2006
"What I Did Showed Extremely Bad Judgement"
A short story published in
BOMB Magazine, Fall 2006
Click the picture to read this story
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David Rogers, Hunter MFA Fiction 2006
"The Tie Down"
A short story published in
The Antioch Review, Fall 2005
Click the picture to read this story |
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Eva Talmadge, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2008
"Caroline"
Short story in
Subtropics, no. 7, Winter/Spring 2009
Click the picture to read an excerpt |
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Eva Talmadge, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2008
"Northern"
Short story in
New Orleans Review 33.2 (December 2007)
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Noa Jones, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2009
"Brother Ron"
Short story, 1st-Place Winner of 2009 May Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers
Glimmer Train, Summer 2009 |
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Matt Mercier, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2007
"Valentine Ave."
Short story, 2nd-Place Winner of 2008 May Short Story Award
Glimmer Train, Summer 2008 |
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Carmiel Banasky, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2010
"Save"
Short story, 1st-Place Winner of 2008 Glimmer Train Family Matters story competition, published in
Glimmer Train, Summer 2009
"Dinner in Diaspora" short story, (forthcoming) Glimmer Train
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Kaitlyn Greenidge, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2010
"The Things They Paid For"
Short story, 2nd-Place Winner of the 2009 inaugral American Short(er) Fiction Prize, from the journal American Short Fiction
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Kaitlyn Greenidge, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2010
"Alaska"
Short story, 2nd-Place Winner of the 2009 Fiction Contest from
Canteen |
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Caledonia Kearns, Hunter MFA Poetry, 2008
Editor of:
Cabbage and Bones: An Anthology of Irish-American Women's Fiction
(Henry Holt, 1997) |
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Aura Estrada, Hunter MFA Fiction, 2008
"An Open Secret"
Short story in
Zoetrope: All-Story, vol. 13, no. 1, Spring 2009 |
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| Poetry |
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Renee Schaller, Hunter MFA Nonfiction 2008"From the Ground Down" personal essay
Sara Nelson, Hunter MFA Nonfiction 2008
"Jo Jo and Becky Took Ballet" personal essay
both in
Ploughshares, Fall 2009 |
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Caroline Conway, Hunter MFA Poetry 2006
"Spliting--322 Humphrey Street" poem in
Ploughshares, Winter 2008-2009 |
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Jack Lynch, Hunter MFA Poetry 2008
"French Cuffs" poem in
Bellevue Literary Review, Spring 2009 |
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Jason Baker, Hunter MFA Poetry 2011
"Chopsticks" and "I Want to Know Where Time Is Kept," poems in
Poetry East, Spring 2010 |
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Jason Baker, Hunter MFA Poetry 2011
"Tin Man" poem in
Poet Lore, Vol. 103, No.s 3-4, Fall/Winter 2008 |
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Danica Colic, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"A Note Left on the Counter," poem,
Winner of the 2009 annual Fugue Poetry Contest |
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Danica Colic, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
Selection of poems, Finalist in 2009 Nimrod Poetry Contest
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Amy Meckler, Hunter MFA Poetry 2001
What All the Sleeping Is For
(Defined Providence Press, 2002)
Defined Providence Poetry Book Award 2002 |
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Wendy Wisner, Hunter MFA Poetry 2002
Epicenter
(Wordtech Communications, 2004)
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Wendy Wisner, Hunter MFA Poetry 2002
"Seagull" poem in
RHINO magazine, 2008 |
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Kate Light, Hunter MFA Poetry 2005
Open Slowly: Poems
(Zoo Poems, 2003)
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Kate Light, Hunter MFA Poetry 2005
The Laws of Falling Bodies
(Story Line Press, 1997)
Nicholas Roerich Prize, 1997 (co-winner) |
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Ana Bozicevic, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
Stars of the Night Commute
(Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2009) |
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Alana Joblin, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"Earthworms," poem in
Crab Orchard Review, Vol.14, No. 1, Winter/Spring 2009 (p.142) |
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Alana Joblin, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"Wheat" and "Psalm," poems in
Quarterly West, 65, Fall/Winter 2007-08 (pp.6-7)
Click the picture to read these poems |
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Caroline Conway, Hunter MFA Poetry 2006
Poem in
LIT, 13 Fall 2007 |
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Danica Colic, Hunter MFA Poetry 2006
"Syracuse Parallel," poem in
Pebble Lake Review, Fall/Winter 2007 |
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Elizabeth Gross, Hunter MFA Poetry 2011
"Delta," poem in
New Orleans Review, Vol. 32, No. 2 |
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"A History of Jasmine," poem in
FIELD, Spring 2008 |
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"One the Whistler, One the Dog" and "We All Have an Uncle," poems in
The Cininnati Review, Summer 2008
Click the picture to read "We All Have an Uncle" |
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"Vacuum," poem in
Aufgabe, no. 8, 2009
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"Peonies," poem in
Literary Imagination, v. 10, no. 3, 2008
Click the picture to read "Peonies" |
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"Desire," "Desire II," "How A Fire Gets Built," "The Impossible," "On Charm," and "Where My Hands Find Their Way," 18-page chapbook feature in
Mid-American Review, vol. 28, no. 1, Fall 2007 (pp.163-180)
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Ari Banias, Hunter MFA Poetry 2007
"A Father" and "The Carrier," poems in
Arts & Letters, no. 17, Spring 2007 (pp.120-121)
Click the picture to read "The Carrier" |
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| Memoir / Creative Nonfiction |
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Ryan Berg, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008
"Lady Fingers" essay in:
Ploughshares, Fall 2008, pp. 8-26 |
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Manijeh Nasrabadi, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
Jade Sanchez-Ventura, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
Kym Ragusa, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008 (et. al.)
About Face: 25 Woman Write About What They See When They Look in the Mirror
(Seal Press, 2008)
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Sangamithra Iyer, Hunter MFA Memoir 2010
Thanked for her research assistance by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai in the acknolwedgements of her book:
The Challenge for Africa (Pantheon, 2009) |
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Sandra Hurtes, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
"Weighing In," essay in:
The Contempoary Reader
(Pearson Longman, 2007) |
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Sandra Hurtes, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
"What's a Knitting Store Without a Yenta?" essay in:
KnitLit the Third: We Spin More Yarns
(Three Rivers Press, 2005)
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Kym Ragusa, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008
The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging
(W.W. Norton, 2006)
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Scott Cheshire, Hunter MFA Fiction 2010
"Self-Portrait, Rear View," essay in
Knock, no. 10, Fall 2008
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Kym Ragusa, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008
Things That Come From the Sky
(An excerpt from Kym Ragusa's MFA thesis)
Click the jacket to read an excerpt |
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Karen Hudes, Hunter MFA Fiction 2005
"Epic Agent: The Great Candida Donadio," essay in
Tin House #24, Summer 2005 pp.149-168 |
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Kym Ragusa, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008
Essay in:
Are Italians White?: How Race Is Made in America
(Routledge, 2003)
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Kym Ragusa, Hunter MFA Memoir 2008
Essay in:
The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture
(Feminist Press, 2003)
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Caledonia Kearns, Hunter MFA Poetry 2008
"Morena," essay in:
Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers
(Seal Press, 2001) pp.193-197 |
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Caledonia Kearns, Hunter MFA Poetry 2008
Editor of:
Motherland: Writings by Irish American Women About Mothers and Daughters
(Harper Collins, 2000)
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Anna Marrian, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
"Under the Influence," essay in:
Behind the Bedroom Door
(Bantam, 2009) |
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Anna Marrian, Hunter MFA Memior 2007
"Nanny Love," essay in:
Jane Magazine, August 2006 |
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Anna Marrian, Hunter MFA Memoir 2007
"Mortgage on My Mind," essay in:
Newsweek, February 7, 2005 |
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Hunter MFA students and alumni: Do you have a creative-writing print publication that isn't listed here? Please let us know, by emailing mfa@hunter.cuny.edu, so we can add it.
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