Awards & Highlights

Academics

Graduate Programs

Menu

MFA-CW Awards & Highlights

Students

Theresa Lynn Ast

  • Recently published an essay in The Blue Mountain Review (Vol. 8), which examines the various types and degrees of colorblindness and neurologist Dr. Oliver Sach’s book, Island of the Colorblind
  • Additionally, The Blue Mountain Review accepted a historical essay, “Thinking About Genocide” for their upcoming fall issue, along with three poems, “Late at Night,” “Shepherds Watch,” and “With Children”
  • Dr. Ast is a professor of European History, but spends summers participating in the Reinhardt University MFA – Creative Writing workshops

Angela Drury

  • Two poems were published in Sanctuary

Katie Fesuk Hartsock  '18

  • “Mise En Place” was published in Pangyrus LitMag
  • Finishing Line Press is publishing her full poetry manuscript, Mamabird.
  • Katie is now teaching 11th grade English at Mount Paran Christian School

Casanova Green  '18

  • Since graduation, Casanova has been working diligently both in and out of writing. He has recently been published in the winter issues of The Raw Art Review and Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review.
  • He recorded his second major album, Songs from the Journey, which is scheduled to be released in late Spring 2019.
  • Starting in August 2018, he began work as an Adjunct Instructor at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, OH.
  • Casanova continues to serve as the Lead Pastor of True Vision Christian Community in Lancaster, OH.

Justin Jones  '19

  • Justin is still teaching at Cherokee High School, where he is the Chair of the Gifted Department.
  • Recently had an artist’s profile published in December’s Family Life Magazines.

Tia King  '18

  • Professor Atiya King is an Adjunct Instructor of Communication. She earned both her B.A. in Communications and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Reinhardt University. She freelance writes for Canton, North Fulton, and Woodstock Family Life Magazines, profiling local artists and musicians.

  • The Denver native, who recently became a vegan, is a serious animal lover and mother to three cats. Before joining our staff, King spent over a decade in the skincare industry. When she wasn’t taking years off her client’s skin, she was traveling the Caribbean, visiting Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman Islands, and the Dominican Republic.

  • In her spare time, the ex-beauty expert, social media addict, and big time dreamer loves to write and hopes to one day become a respected author. She is excited about teaching communications and hopes to instill the same love of learning in her students, as her Reinhardt professors instilled in her.

Maria Klouda  '18

  • Recently was accepted at Hambidge for an October residency
  • She was awarded a CNF Scholarship for the Hindman Appalachian Writers Workshop this summer

Dawn Major  '19

  • 2020 Wren's Nest Writing Mentor in the Scribes Program
  • Awarded 2020 Horror Writers Association Mentee
  • Launched author website and blog, www.dawnmajor.com
  • Scriptwriter for Melodically Challenged
  • Published "The Attic Dreams of William Gay," James Dickey Review, 2019 Vol. 35
  • Published "A Window into William Gay: A Southern Author, A Southern Painter," Five Points, A Journal of Literature & Art, 2019 Vol. 19, No. 3
  • 2019 Oakland Cemetery Living History "Sunday in the Park" Scriptwriter
  • “White Trash," won 2019 Dr. Robert Driscoll Award for Excellence in Writing on Regional Themes
  • “Nativity,” won 2019 Faculty Choice Award for Excellence in Writing
  • Will present at the 2020 Lost Southern Voices on William Gay and Five Points Podcast/Interview also on William Gay

Jennie Mayes  '19

  • Won the 2018 Driscoll Award Excellence in Writing

Amy McGee  '18

  • Published “Prologue” from The Mayor-Do-Well in Reinhardt University’s Sanctuary magazine, 2018
  • Published flash fiction pieces “Ever After,” “Something Stolen,” “Surprise Party,” and “Broken Promises” in Typo Magazine
  • Read at the 2018 Robert L. Driscoll Convocation of Artists and Scholars
  • Winner, 2018 Reinhardt MFA Graduation Residency Scholarship
  • Winner, 2018 Reinhardt University Etowah Valley MFA Faculty Choice Award 

Bonnie Medford  '18

  • Joined Mountain Area Storytellers at Cabin Coffee Company for a reading
  • Following a passion for dance at Blairsville Dance Project and Raq the Mountain Tops Bellydance.
  • Joined Shimmy Mob, a “flash mob” founded by Francesca “Sabeya” Anastasi to spread awareness of domestic violence and support victims around the world
  • Published an Artist profile in Family Life Magazines

Jules Miller  '20

  • Published a poem, “The Clothes I Wear,” in Closet Cases, an anthology edited by Megan Volpert about what queer people wear
  • Forthcoming, a poem, “For Marsha ‘Pay It No Mind’ Johnson” in Lavender Review

Sharon Wright Mitchell

  • Poem “Art/Work” published in the Winter 2018-2019 issue of Blue Collar Review
  • Poem “Sisterhood” published in the American Journal of Poetry, Vol. 7
  • Poem “Ghost” published in the Summer 2019 issue of Dream Pop Journal
  • Essay “Home for the Holidays” published in the Athens weekly Flagpole, December 2019.
  • Reader on Melodically Challenged. The radio show, “Bad to the Bone,” was written by MFA alum Dawn Major. Poems featured were “Rooting for the Wildling,” “On Seeing You in Wal-Mart,” and “The Promise.” Aired March 8, 2020.
  • Devotional, “Strength in Solitude,” published in the March/April edition of Upper Room.
  • Poem “How a Daughter Comforts a Mother,” forthcoming in pacificREVIEW.

Tina Morris  '18

  • Has artist profiles published and forthcoming with Family Life Publications
  • She recently had her short story, “Blue” published in the Blue Mountain Review

Barbara Newey  '18

  • Her artist profile on Woodstock's Old School Horn Band appeared in the August issue of Canton Family Life

Cindy Sams

  • “Pandemics and Pasta: Sustenance in the Viral Age,” published in Pangyrus LitMag—In Sickness and In Health: Life in the Pandemic
  • Essays published recently in The New Southern Fugitives, Canyon Voices Literary Magazine, Brevity Nonfiction Blog, and Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine
  • High Shelf Press published a poem
  • Was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Nomination from New Southern Fugitives

Krista Shaw  '18

  • Recently started working as part-time faculty at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, TN. She is also a tutor in the Teaching and Learning Center for C-State.

Andrew Diaz Winkelmann

  • Published “Joni’s Seashell” in Sanctuary

Wes Young  '20

  • Published an op-ed in the Pickens County Progress in February
  • Forthcoming in Georgia Outdoor, a four-part serial story starting in the August edition of the News
  • His novel is under consideration at Southern Fried Karma


Faculty

Anjali Enjeti

  • Continues to write a regular political column for Medium's ZORA magazine
  • Has recently published book reviews for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and The Boston Globe
  • Published author interviews for Kirkus
  • Published a creative non-fiction piece recently in The Georgia Review

Soniah Kamal

  • Unmarriageable was noted as a Book All Georgians Should Read
  • Townsend Prize for Fiction finalist
  • Georgia Author of the Year in Literary Fiction nominee
  • Financial Times Readers Best Book
  • People Magazine Pick
  • NPR Code Switch and New York Library Summer Readers Pick
  • Presented the keynote address at Red Clay Writers Conference which was picked up by The Georgia Review—“Writing the Immigrant Southern in the New New South.”
  • Presented the Keynote at a Citizenship Oath Ceremony that was picked up by The Bitter Southerner, “We Are The Ink”
  • Essay published in VIDA, “Like A Virgin- Madonna and Me”
  • Essay “The Scarlet A and Pakistan’ published in Anthology
  • Essay “Face” in A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South
  • Essay The Face of Miscarriage” in What God is a Honored Here: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color
  • An Isolated Incident forthcoming July 2020
  • BoobBub A 2019 Best Book

Donna Little

  • She is in her second year of a Fellowship for writing about the intersections of science and religion, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, Arizona State University and the journal Creative Nonfiction
  • She is co-teaching an online course for Creative Nonfiction as part of the Fellowship and presented her essay "The Physics of Fire" at the Creative Nonfiction in May
  • Her poem "Sunset Cruise at Key West" appeared in the summer 2017 Florida Review and was first runner-up in their annual poetry contest, judged by Denise Duhamel. She is currently submitting her two poetry manuscripts, two new short stories, and “The Physics of Fire” essay to presses and journals.

Gray Stewart

  • Was awarded a residency at Yaddo and spent six weeks in Saratoga Springs, NY working on his next novel.

William Walsh

  • Received the 2019 Faculty Artistic Award, Reinhardt University
  • Featured Writer at the Pat Conroy Literary Center
  • Introduced Eavan Boland at her poetry reading in Athens, GA for The Georgia Review
  • His collection of poems, Fly Fishing in Times Square received the following recognition:
    • Southern Literary Review as May Read of the Month
    • Pinnacle Books Achievement Award in Poetry from National Association of Book Entrepreneurs
  • Published an “Interview with Eavan Boland” in The Georgia Review
  • Published an introduction to Jack Myers in the James Dickey Review

Scott Wilkerson

  • New opera libretto project, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, based on the classic Carson McCullers novel, will have a workshop premiere at Millikin University's Opera Theater in May, 2021
  • A concert version of the 2017 opera Eddie's Stone Song: Odyssey of the First Pasaquoyan is scheduled to be recorded in late 2020 and released on CD and digital formats. Wilkerson's composer collaborators on these operas are Robert Chumbley and James Ogburn.

John Williams

  • A play co-authored with Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Hiram: Becoming Hank, will be performed at the courthouse in Monroeville, Alabama in October. The play is set in the early adolescence of Hiram Williams, and traces the influences, musical and otherwise, that led him to become Hank. The play features 14 songs: hillbilly, black and white spiritual, hymn, western, shape note, and blues.

Will Wright

  • Grass Chapels: New & Selected Poems (Mercer UP, 2021) forthcoming
  • Self-Portrait as Late Autumn Frost (Iris P, 2020) forthcoming
  • Blight: A Novel (Iris P, 2020) forthcoming
APPLY NOW

For admissions information, please contact:

Admissions 770-720-5526
Office of Admissions
Reinhardt University
7300 Reinhardt Circle
Waleska, GA 30183-2981
gradadmissions@reinhardt.edu