Ashland University MFA Program

08/27/2026

Students and especially alumni: as a reminder, we include updates in the monthly Ashland MFA Substack newsletter! Be sure to sign up to keep up with our updates. Also, send us said updates!

Low-residency MFA program with degree tracks in poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction at Ashland University. Write from the Heartland! Click to read AU's MFA in Creative Writing, a Substack with hundreds of subscribers.

08/27/2026

Fall semester begins August 31! We're pretty excited about it, even as we're still remembering all the fun we had this summer (like this poetry session one class morning, with Katie Hartsock, Jane Scharl, and Rob Wyllie)!

07/29/2026

Did we have a really incredible residency with truly amazing faculty and students and staff? Yes, yes, we did!

07/24/2026

Tonight we wrapped up Summer 2026 Residency with a glorious graduation ceremony, celebrating Taryn Mullins and Ryan Vandehei! If you know them, send them a big congrats note!! And if you don't personally know them already, you will know them soon, because these are writers who are going to go far!

07/21/2026

Tonight we hosted Plough Quarterly poetry editor Jane Scharl for a reading of her verse play, Sonnez Les Matines! Here is Jane surrounded by the fabulous cast!

07/18/2026

It's a wrap on Week 1 of Summer Residency 2026!!! We concluded with a truly fantastic MFA Alumni Evening, featuring Joseph Hess (winner of inaugural MFA Alumni Book Award), Joy Gaines-Friedler (2nd runner-up), and also alumnae Joanne Lehman and Tia Shanklin! Photographic proof that it happened, even if no picture can tell you just how wonderful this evening was!

06/30/2026

We can't wait to welcome students to this Summer Residency in a little under two weeks! And we're excited for the collaboration with the Ashland Public Library for a Craft Talk Series during the residency!

ASHLAND, Ohio – In conjunction with Ashland University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creativ

06/20/2026

We're just a few weeks removed from this year's MFA residency. Here's a full list of this year's public events! In particular, we hope local(ish) alumni will join us for the alumni evening on July 17th! Please see details and RSVP!

All Things 2026 Residency

05/14/2026

If you follow the MFA substack, you have seen this already, but otherwise, we're delighted to announce the Inaugural MFA Alumni Book Award! This year, the award was for poetry. More details about the judge and the winners here! Congratulations to the winner and the two runners-up!!!

I am delighted to report the results from the inaugural Ashland MFA Alumni Book Award.

05/03/2026

Check out the most recent MFA newsletter, including the faculty and visiting writers and editors list for this summer's residency!

Ashland University was represented well at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing in April.