November 20, 2025 by Lesléa Newman, faculty, writing for children and young adults   “First thought best thought” –Allen Ginsberg Since Allen was my teacher, I happen to know what this means and more importantly what it doesn’t mean. Allen didn’t mean that the first thing you put down is your best piece of writing and it doesn’t need revision. It means that you should never lose sight of the original spark of inspiration that got you excited about any particular piece of writ

November 6, 2025 by Robin Lippincott, fiction and creative nonfiction faculty     I am in Provincetown, Massachusetts once again, this glorious, narrow strip of land at the end of Cape Cod. Though P’town is a place I’ve loved deeply and visited countless times for over forty years, it has been almost eight years since I was last here, the longest stretch I have ever gone since my first visit in the early 1980s. I am here now to scatter the remains of my beloved friend and fir

October 23, 2025 by Leah Henderson, faculty, writing for children and young adults     Since I debuted in 2017, I’m continuously trying to find a healthy footing in the writing world even after several books. Thankfully, along the way, I’ve paid close attention during most of my stumbles and leaps and have been able to add a few useful takeaways to my toolkit—takeaways that may be helpful to consider for anyone pursuing a career in writing, whether with a focus of writing for

EXCITING NEWS & UPDATES FROM SPALDING'S NASLUND-MANN SCHOOL OF WRITING STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY & STAFF Students   Morrow Dowdle  (P) was nominated for Best of the Net 2025 by Sky Island Journal  for their poem “I No Longer Want to Be Heartsick.”   Gratton Hicks  (F) is coming down the stretch on his third book and first adult novel, Mere Images . . . . . . of Lucky . The novel has just crossed the eighty-thousand-word count. He has planned extensive editing and feedback for

October 9, 2025   by Lee Martin, fiction and creative nonfiction faculty I’m taken these days with the popularity of the lyric essay,...

October 2, 2022   by Kathleen Driskell, Chair On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, I’m...

September 25, 2025 by Beth Ann Bauman, writing for children and young adult faculty   One of my favorite TV shows is the HBO crime drama...

In a move that aligns all of Spalding’s creative writing programs for the first time, the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Creative Writing...

September 11, 2025 by Nancy McCabe, creative nonfiction and fiction faculty   I’m working on a craft book, Creating Some Measure of...

Also, announcing faculty and guest books and scripts in common for Fall 2025—and our pre-lecture in W4TVSS and residency workshop...

August 27, 2025   by Lynnell Edwards, poetry faculty   As of this writing, I am a little past the halfway point in my reading for the...

Arianna Rebolini   Better: A Memoir About Wanting to Die   HarperCollins / April 2025 / 352 pp / $30 Hardcover   Reviewed by Hope...

August 14, 2025 by Whitney Collins, fiction faculty   Back in the 1900s, when my friends and I were growing up relatively unplugged and...

EXCITING NEWS & UPDATES FROM SPALDING'S NASLUND-MANN SCHOOL OF WRITING STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY & STAFF Students   Colleen Alles ’s  ...

by Kathleen Driskell, Chair, Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing   In less than two months, Naslund-Mann students and alumni will...

July 24, 2025 By Greg Pape, poetry faculty   On the hottest day of the year, the poetry workshop of the Spalding MFA summer residency...

Martín Espada Jailbreak of Sparrows Alfred A. Knopf / 2025 / 114 pp / $29 Hardback Reviewed by James Long / June 2025   About a third of...

EXCITING NEWS & UPDATES FROM SPALDING'S NASLUND-MANN SCHOOL OF WRITING STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY & STAFF Students Colleen Alles  (P)...

June 12, 2025 By Larry Brenner, faculty, writing for TV, screen, and stage   In our conversations on the Once Upon a Disney podcast, my...

May 22, 2025 By John Pipkin, fiction faculty   One concern that I often hear about delivering critiques in workshop (especially from...

May 8, 2025 by Leah Henderson, writing for children and young adults faculty   On any given day, I hear or read a new article, blog post,...

April 23, 2025   by Nancy McCabe, creative nonfiction and fiction faculty Over the last year or so, I launched two books: in March 2024...

April 10, 2025 by Dianne Aprile, creative nonfiction faculty   On a sunny day last month, I filled the tank of my dusty Subaru and hit...

Please join Naslund-Mann in welcoming three new faculty members. We are delighted each will be available to mentor students during the...

April 1, 2025 by Lynnell Edwards, poetry faculty and associate programs director     On the eve of the Kentucky Book Festival last...

March 13, 2025 by Lee Martin, fiction and creative nonfiction faculty   I was a shy boy who knew the discomfort that came from having...

The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing invites MFA alumni who graduated in writing for TV, screen and stage—or playwriting or...

Writing for Children and Young Adults is our cross-genre area. Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour is our residency book in common.    by...

February 27, 2025 By Lesléa Newman, faculty, writing for children and young adults Have you come down with a bad case of writer’s block?...

February 20, 2025 by Douglas Manuel, poetry faculty “[P]oetry may / not change the world but it might change you,” Evie Shockley writes...