Current fiction student A. J. Bermudez (Fiction '23)'s debut story collection Stories No One Hopes Are About Them was released today by University of Iowa Press! The collection, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award, has been called a "sly and sharp-edged collection" by The A.V. Club and a "must-read" by Publishers Weekly. Current program administrator Annaka Saari (Poetry ’21) was able to interview A. J. about the collection in advance of its release. Read below to hear more about how A. J. approached the creation and organization of the book. Annaka Saari: Stories N ..read more

Poetry alum Aaron Caycedo-Kimura (Poetry '20)’s debut collection Common Grace was released today by Beacon Press! To celebrate the book’s release, current program administrator Annaka Saari (Poetry ’21) was able to interview Aaron about the collection via email. Read below to hear more about how Aaron organized the collection and how he approached using the histories of the living and the dead to craft the poems within it. Annaka Saari: Common Grace is divided into three separate sections: “Soul Sauce,” “Ubasute,” and “Gutter Trees.” “Soul Sauce,” the first section in the book, explores y ..read more

Fiction alum Chris Amenta (Fiction '13)’s debut novel The Cold Hard Light was released this month by Blackstone Publishing! To celebrate the book's release current program administrator Annaka Saari (Poetry ’21) was able to interview Chris via email. Read below to hear more about how Chris crafted his novel, and what it was like to create such a complicated character using Boston as a backdrop. Annaka: The Cold Hard Light is your first novel. How does it feel to know that it’s out in the world? Chris: I’m very excited to have published The Cold Hard Light. It’s a small book, but a challen ..read more

Fiction alum Katherine Chen (Fiction ’21)’s second novel Joan was released today by Random House! In celebration of the book’s release, current program administrator Annaka Saari (Poetry ’21) was able to briefly interview Katherine via email. Read below to hear Katherine's thoughts about the difficulties of writing a second novel, the processes of writing and revision, and the similarities between writing fictional and historical characters. Annaka: I’ve heard many times that the second novel is harder to write than the first. Did that hold true for you? Katherine: I think this is genera ..read more

Former program administrator and alum Caroline Woods (Fiction '08)'s second novel The Lunar Housewife was released today by Doubleday! In celebration of the book's release, current program administrator Annaka Saari (Poetry '21) was able to interview Caroline via email. Annaka: The Lunar Housewife is your second novel. How was the process of writing this book different, if at all, from the writing of your first novel, Fräulein M.? Caroline: The process was completely different this time. I began Fräulein M. in Ha Jin's novella workshop, and then spent the next four to five ..read more

Lisa Hiton (Poetry '11)'s Queer Poem-a-Day podcast is back for a second season -- just in time for the start of Pride Month! Our program administrator, Annaka Saari (Poetry '21), had the chance to conduct a brief email interview with Lisa to discuss the podcast's conception, construction, and future. Annaka: Where did the idea for the podcast come from, and what's it been like working with Dylan Zavagno to develop that idea? Lisa: "Dylan and I went to the same high school in Deerfield, IL. Though Dylan is younger than me, we share a mentor -- our AP Senior English teacher, the inimitable Jeff ..read more

Camilla Lee (Fiction '17) has won awards for her stories "Koi" and "Green" (which has since been published in Rip Rap) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she is currently a PhD candidate in the English department. Her work was awarded both the UWM Creative Writing Faculty Legacy Award in Fiction and the Wladyslaw Cieszynski Prize. Congratulations, Camilla ..read more

Tonight at 6:30PM, the poet James Brookes (Poetry ’21) will join us (via Zoom webinar) for a discussion of versification and free verse poetry. James will begin by lecturing on the subject but will then take questions from the audience. James Brookes is  a poet from rural Sussex, England. A graduate of the University of Warwick’s Writing Program, he received an Eric Gregory Award from the UK Society of Authors in 2009 and published a chapbook, The English Sweats, in the same year. His first collection of poems, Sins of the Leopard, appeared in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Dy ..read more

Poetry alum Tara Skurtu (Poetry ’13) has published a new piece in The Puritan! The poem, entitled “Offering Street,” forces the reader to question what it means to be defined by an act and what it means to complete an act without being defined by it. The piece will be featured in her upcoming collection, Faith Farm, and those who wish to read it can click on this link.   ..read more

                                It’s that time of year again — summer course listings have gone live! We have plenty of fantastic courses to offer — including a completely new, interdisciplinary class — and this summer is the perfect time to join us in the study and practice of Creative Writing! All Boston University Summer Term courses will be held on-campus and are open to more than just BU students — in addition to those already enrolled at BU, visiting domestic and international students, high school studen ..read more