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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.

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Apply to the MFA Program

Ready to apply? Apply online now to the MFA Program.

https://apply.temple.edu/CLA/Account/create?f=52a3765c-921a-40bc-b790-7f33fd0519…

Alumni Spotlight

Many of our distinguished alumni have gone on to great accomplishments. Read more about where our alums went after completing their degree. A few more 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
Sam Allingham - M.F.A in Fiction, 2013
image of Sam Allingham wearing glasses in a grey shirt and black tie

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.

Alyssa Songsiridej - M.F.A. in Fiction, 2013
image of Alyssa Songsiridej in a black turtleneck in a black back drop

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. 

Divya Victor - M.A. in Poetry, 2006
image of Divya Victor in a black dress sitting on brick steps

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. 

Yolanda Wisher - M.A. in Poetry, 2000
image of Yolanda WSisher in a red shirt standing against a tree

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.