The UC Davis English Department is proud to announce that our MA in Creative Writing officially became an MFA program this year! Meanwhile, our Creative Writing alumni have been busy winning awards. We asked some of the most recent award winners to reflect on why they write and the books that inspire them. Follow the links below for their answers.
Jamil Kochai - Jamil Kochai’s short story “Nights in Logar” was recently selected for the 2018 O. Henry Prize. He graduated from the UC Davis Creative Writing Master’s program in 2017.
Kirsten Lunstrum - Kirsten’s collection of stories, What We Do With the Wreckage, won the 2017 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. She graduated from the UC Davis Creative Writing Master’s program in 2003.
Becky Mandelbaum - Becky’s first collection of stories, Bad Kansas, won the 2016 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and was chosen as a 2018 Kansas Notable Book. She graduated from the UC Davis Creative Writing Master’s program in 2016.
Melinda Moustakis - Melinda’s first collection of stories, Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories, won the 2010 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, the Maurice Prize, and was a 5 Under 35 selection by the National Book Foundation. She graduated from the UC Davis Creative Writing Master’s program in 2011.
Austin Smith - Austin was recently selected as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University, where he is also a Jones Lecturer. His first collection of poems, Almanac, was chosen by Paul Muldoon for the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, and his most recent collection will be published in the same series this year. He graduated from the UC Davis Creative Writing Master’s program in 2013.