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Creative Writing

Faculty

Faculty information for the Creative Writing MFA program

Majors & Programs

Graduate Programs

Creative Writing

Meet Emerson College’s distinguished faculty and graduate program director in the School of the Arts’ on-campus graduate Creative Writing program.

Home to one of the longest-running creative writing MFA programs in the country, Emerson’s Writing, Literature and Publishing Department has attracted an industry-active faculty who offer a diverse range of perspectives and expertise.

Recent faculty accolades include:

Pulitzer Prize in Biography and Memoir
Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts
Fiction Honors from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Massachusetts Book Award in Nonfiction

Creative Writing Graduate Program Director

Graduate Program Director Mako Yoshikawa will serve as your primary faculty advisor, guiding you on course selection to ensure that you achieve your learning objectives and satisfy the program requirements. You will also receive program and department news from your program director and any on- and off-campus opportunities that might interest you.

Mako Yoshikawa

Professor and Graduate Program Director
Address
mako_yoshikawa@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Mako Yoshikawa is the author of the novels One Hundred and One Ways and Once Removed. Her work has been translated into six languages; awards for her writing include a Radcliffe Fellowship. Her essays have been published in the Missouri Review, Southern Indiana Review, Harvard Review, Story, LitHub, Best American Essays, and Longreads. Her memoir, Secrets of the Sun, is forthcoming from Ohio State University Press in February 2024.

Our Creative Writing Graduate Faculty

Jabari Asim

Distinguished Professor
Address
jabari_asim@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Ben Brooks

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Professor Emeritus
Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Christine Casson

Assistant Professor
Address
christine_casson@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Julia Glass

Senior Distinguished Writer-in-Residence
Address
julia_glass@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Alden Jones

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Assistant Professor
Address
alden_jones@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Mary Kovaleski

Sr. Lecturer II
Address
mary_kovaleski@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Megan Marshall

Charles Wesley Emerson Professor
Address
megan_marshall@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Frederick Reiken

Professor
Address
frederick_reiken@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Peter Shippy

Senior Affiliated Faculty
Address
peter_shippy@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Daniel Tobin

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Professor
Address
daniel_tobin@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Novuyo Tshuma

Assistant Professor
Address
novuyo_tshuma@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Jerald Walker

Distinguished Professor
Address
jerald_walker@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Steve Yarbrough

Professor
Address
steve_yarbrough@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Katie Williams

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director
Address
katie_williams@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Katie Williams is the author of the novels My Murder (Riverhead/Penguin 2023) and Tell the Machine Goodnight (Riverhead/Penguin 2018) and the young adult novels Absent and The Space Between Trees. Her short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, Best American Fantasy, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, Subtropics, and elsewhere. Williams's fiction has been translated into eleven languages and has been listed as a New York Times Editors' Choice, NPR Best Books of the Year, Kirkus Prize for Literary Fiction, National Magazine Award for Short Fiction, and Dublin International Prize for Literary Fiction. Her most recent novel, My Murder, is a national bestseller.

Our Literature and Teaching College Composition Graduate Faculty

Yu-jin Chang

Associate Professor and Assistant Dean
Address
yujin_chang@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248983

Department School of the Arts
Steven Himmer

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Sr Lecturer II and First Year Writing Program Director
Address
steven_himmer@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Maria Koundoura

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Assistant Provost, Strategic Projects
Address
maria_koundoura@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248570

Department Academic Affairs
Adele Lee

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Associate Professor
Address
adele_lee@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Stephen Shane

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Senior Lecturer
Address
stephen_shane@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing & Academic Resource Center
Areas of Focus: Writing Center Coordinator
Rosario Swanson

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Associate Professor
Address
rosario_swanson@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Wendy Walters

Professor and Associate Chair
Address
wendy_walters@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing

Our Publishing Graduate Faculty

Susanne Althoff

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Associate Professor
Address
susanne_althoff@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Bill Beuttler

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director
Address
bill_beuttler@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Before joining Emerson, Beuttler spent three years covering jazz for The Boston Globe, which he continues to do occasionally, and teaching journalism at Boston University. His magazine work includes stints as a senior editor at the Discovery Channel, Men's Journal, and Boston magazine, and as an associate editor at DownBeat and American Way. He has also been published in JazzTimes, Jazziz, The Atlantic, Esquire, Chicago magazine, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Travel Holiday, Cooking Light, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The New York Times Book Review.
Sarah Cole

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Assistant Professor
Address
sarah_cole@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Benoit Denizet-Lewis

Associate Professor - On Leave
Address
benoit_d_lewis@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Lisa Diercks

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Professor and Chair
Address
lisa_diercks@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Gian Lombardo

Professor Emeritus
Address
gian_lombardo@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Raquel Pidal

Pronouns: (She/They)

Assistant Professor
Address
raquel_pidal@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
John Rodzvilla

Pronouns: (He/Him/His)

Assistant Professor
Address
john_rodzvilla@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Kyanna Sutton

Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

Assistant Professor
Address
kyanna_sutton@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing
Daniel Weaver

Senior Publisher/Editor-in-Residence
Address
daniel_weaver@emerson.edu Telephone 6178248750

Department Writing Literature & Publishing