Hello and thank you for your interest in a guest spot on the MFA Writers Podcast!

Having started in June 2020, we have listeners in all 50 states and over 100 countries around the world. Our guests have gone on to be featured in Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize collection, Wigleaf Top 50, Best of the Net, and many great journals. They’ve received fellowships and residencies, attended prestigious conferences, and been accepted to PhD programs.

Past guests include established writers like Ross Gay, George Saunders, Jonathan Escoffery, and Felicia Rose Chavez, and up-and-coming writers like Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Vanessa Chan, Bryan Byrdlong, Koyé Oyedeji, Alejandro Puyana, Adachioma Ezeano, and many more. You can find our entire backlist of episodes at MFAwriters.com.

The majority of our guests are current MFA students or recent graduates. For current students, we usually host those in their second or third year, as we find they are more comfortable speaking to the intricacies of the program. We also accept applications from creative writing PhD students, creative writing faculty members, and established writers or editors who can provide helpful information as it relates to being an emerging writer.

This podcast has two main goals:

First, we aim to be a resource for both MFA applicants and students. In our experience, the MFA industry is less transparent than it could be, which sometimes leads to misinformation, misguided expectations, and disappointment for applicants and students. Because the cost of simply applying can be exorbitant, our hope is to demystify the industry as much as possible so that those interested in pursuing an MFA can make the most informed decision possible.

Second, we aim to be a platform that highlights emerging writers. The literary industry is a tough one to break into, which means there are a wealth of talented, awe-inspiring writers out there who haven’t yet been discovered. With this podcast, we want to boost the profile of the emerging writers we interview, all of whom, we believe, are doing amazing work. This is why every guest gets the chance to read and discuss their work in the first half of the show. We hope this leads to more literary opportunities for our guests in the future.

If you’d like the chance to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the following application. In the last section, please copy and paste a writing sample that you want to read on the podcast (under five minutes). If you are coming from outside academia, please answer “N/A” for questions that do not apply. If you have questions or if you have a writing sample that can't be copied and pasted (e.g., visual poetry), please send those to MFAwriterspodcast@gmail.com.