MFA in Writing at University of San Francisco

MFA in Writing at University of San Francisco Fiction (short story, novel), nonfiction, and poetry. Small class sizes. Acclaimed faculty. http://w

The MFA Program at USF offers students an intimate, personalized learning experience within San Francisco's vibrant and diverse literary scene. Set in a sanctuary city, the MFA program is designed to help writers develop their creative work (novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, poetry) and immerse them in a supportive community.

Alexia Nader’s debut novel is on the way, and we are beyond ready to dig into “The Meaning of Daughter,” which goes on s...
08/31/2026

Alexia Nader’s debut novel is on the way, and we are beyond ready to dig into “The Meaning of Daughter,” which goes on sale Sept. 15 from University of Iowa Press.

Here’s the synopsis…

After immigrating from Lebanon to Haiti as a young girl, Merjan comes of age in an insular, conservative community, where it seems as though her sole escape is marriage.

Striking a bargain with a young art dealer, she marries and dreams of becoming a painter, only to find her husband’s support tethered with expectations.

In the late 1970s, Merjan’s daughter Yvonne is a young woman on the cusp of a marriage of convenience.

Though resentful of her mother, Yvonne dreams of establishing a Haitian art gallery in New York with the help of a well-connected older man—but her time there ends disastrously, creating a deep rift between her and her family as she starts one of her own.

In the present day, Yvonne’s daughter Eva is a student whose art draws inspiration from her grandmother Merjan’s largely undiscovered work. When Eva becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she moves back to her childhood home in Miami to sort out her ambivalent feelings, only to find her family upended by feuds.

An intimate family saga, The Meaning of Daughter explores questions about maternal ambivalence, ambition, artmaking, and how desire resists gendered expectations.

…Alexia earned her MFA at the University of San Francisco, and was also a 2023-2024 Steinbeck Fellow. She’s currently an Artist-in-Residence at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, as well as a creative writing instructor at Writopia Lab.

You can pre-order “The Meaning of Daughter” now from Barnes & Noble, Books and Books, Green Apple Books, Books are Magic, and bookshop.org.

You can learn more about Alexia (and pre-order her book) online at alexianader.com

08/28/2026

Candy Shue, USF MFA alumnus, reads from her award-winning chapbook “Bridge of Knots.”

Here’s the synopsis from her publisher, Gold Line Press/Ricochet Editions…

A revelatory, nuanced debut, CE Shue’s Bridge of Knots weaves together meditations on marriage, motherhood, art-making, and the complexities of Asian American identity in pandemic-era San Francisco.

Grappling with revelations from her past, Shue’s narrator depicts “life as a collage” as she reconciles “what we choose and what we make of what we choose” with memories the body holds.

Written in an associative, impressionistic style that has drawn comparisons to Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation and Chet’la Sebree’s Field Study, Shue’s narrative, at once intimate and international, is attuned to the knots that hold communities, families, and selves together across time and geography.

…”Bridge of Knots” was selected by Matthew Salesses for the Gold Line Press fiction award, and was first published in 2023.

Candy holds an MFA from the USF and has been published in Drunken Boat, Entropy, Washington Square, Sparkle & Blink, Flash Fiction Review, Paragraph, E*Ratio, Spiral Orb, Lumina, Storyscape, The Satirist, flock, Poet As Radio, Switchback, The Collagist, and other journals.

The recipient of scholarships and grants from USF, The Provincetown Fine Arts Workshop, Vermont Studio Center, and Kundiman, she was a longtime board member for The Bay Area Generations reading series. She has read at Quiet Lightning, LitQuake and The Racket, as well as other festivals in the Bay Area.

You can follow Candy on Instagram at Candy Shue

Candy’s Little Book House newsletter is on Substack at substack.com/candyshue

And you can learn more about her on her website at invisibleadventure.com

Gold Line Press is on Instagram at Gold Line Press

Ricochet Editions is on Instagram at Ricochet Editions

Booklist reveal! Our nonfiction seminar this fall is “Memoir: Shapes & Structures”, a new course taught by Prof. Dave Ma...
08/28/2026

Booklist reveal! Our nonfiction seminar this fall is “Memoir: Shapes & Structures”, a new course taught by Prof. Dave Madden (Dave Madden).

With a focus on the diverse ways writers fit the messiness of life into aesthetic and narrative shapes, the class will unpack the tools of memoir that carry readers from your first sentence to your last.

Together, we’ll closely read these nine memoirs, plus craft essays by Elissa Washuta, Mary Karr, Henry Lien, Vivian Gornick, John McPhee, and others.

[Image description:

This post has a photo of nine memoirs…

Hanif Abdurraqib: Go Ahead in the Rain

Ingrid Rojas Contreras: The Man Who Could Move Clouds

Yiyun Li: Dear Friend, From My Life I Write To You In Your Life

Therese Marie Mailhot: Heart Berries

J.R. Ackerley: My Father and Myself

Charles Foster: Being a Beast

Sheila Heti: Alphabetical Diaries

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich: The Fact of a Body

Rigoberto Gonzales: Autobiography of My Hungers]

Apologies in advance to those of us with class tonight, because this edition of Literary Speakeasy at Martuni’s is going...
08/27/2026

Apologies in advance to those of us with class tonight, because this edition of Literary Speakeasy at Martuni’s is going to rock.

The captivating Dylan Connell Dylan Connell (USF MFA Alum) is joining an exciting and daring trio of Zoe Young, Ezra Fox, and Kimberly Gomes for a night of readings that will be sure to make those in attendance feel all the feels.

Of course, Literary Speakeasy always brings music into the mix, with this week’s guest being the brilliant Beauty!

All the f**k kicks off at 7 PM, but we highly suggest getting there at 6:30 PM to grab your seat as this event never fails to pull a crowd.

Martuni’s is located at…

4 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Tonight at 🍷 Qua O La 🍷, Chelsea Frank (USF MFA class of ‘28) is among the readers kicking off the debut edition of the ...
08/26/2026

Tonight at 🍷 Qua O La 🍷, Chelsea Frank (USF MFA class of ‘28) is among the readers kicking off the debut edition of the Rejects Reading Series 🥀! And you could join her, Caleb John and Ali Demers — because this is also an open mic.

Rejects Reading Series is putting the spotlight on the reality that, for writers, rejection is a way of life.

Each writer is invited to share work that has been rejected by editors, agents, publishers, literary magazines etc. Or to simply share a work-in-progress.

This isn’t about perfection. This is about sharing rebellious, raw work, and honoring the craft and skill it takes to write — published or not.

It’s all going down tonight, Wednesday, August 26th, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. After the invited readers finish, the open mic begins. So feel free to come and take part.

Qua O La is hosting, and located at…

1318 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133

…we hope to see you there!

Swipe through! 👉🏽Here are a few photos from our orientation on Saturday, where we welcome our MFA in Writing class of 20...
08/25/2026

Swipe through! 👉🏽

Here are a few photos from our orientation on Saturday, where we welcome our MFA in Writing class of 2028!

The day included readings from each new student. We’re beyond proud of this cohort, all of whom you’ll learn more about over these next two years.

Welcome class of ‘28!

Today, August 22nd, the Berkeley Poetry Festival Poetry Takes Root event is going down at DONKEY & GOAT WINERY 🍷 winery....
08/22/2026

Today, August 22nd, the Berkeley Poetry Festival Poetry Takes Root event is going down at DONKEY & GOAT WINERY 🍷 winery. USF MFA faculty members Maw Shein Win and K.M. (Karl) Soehnlein will be featured among the guests of the day.

The event brings together writers, readers, and friends for an afternoon of live poetry readings, music and performances, tarot readings, writing games, community-donated prizes, wine available for purchase, and opportunities to support Berkeley Poetry Festival.

Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Purchase prize tickets will be on sale at the event as well.

Donkey & Goat Winery is located at…

1340 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

Donkey & Goat Winery is in West Berkeley, five blocks east of the Gilman Street freeway exit. North Berkeley is the nearest BART station. Carpooling, biking, rideshare, and public transportation are encouraged.

Cheryl A. Ossola’s award-winning novel, The Wild Impossibility,” is back in a new edition from Cynren Press — and on sal...
08/18/2026

Cheryl A. Ossola’s award-winning novel, The Wild Impossibility,” is back in a new edition from Cynren Press — and on sale now!

(Happy Publication Day to Cheryl, a USF MFA in Writing alumnus!)

Here’s the description of Cheryl’s Nautilus Prize winning novel from Cynren Press…

After losing both her newborn daughter and her mother, neonatal ICU nurse Kira is barely holding herself together.

Then the visions begin: a teenage girl in 1945, a forbidden love affair, a baby, a gunshot, and a family secret buried for decades.

As Kira’s waking life unravels, the past presses closer.

In wartime Owens Valley, California, an Italian American rancher’s daughter falls in love with a young man imprisoned at Manzanar, an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

Their choices, made in a landscape of barbed wire, prejudice, and impossible longing, will echo into Kira’s life in ways she cannot yet understand.

Moving between World War II and 2011, “The Wild Impossibility” is a novel about motherhood, grief, racial injustice, and the stubborn endurance of love.

…you can buy the Cynren Press edition of “The Wild Impossibility” now at Cynren.com

Learn more about Cheryl A. Ossola at cherylaossola.com

Follow Cheryl on Instagram at Cheryl A. Ossola

And follow Cynren Press on Instagram at Cynren Press

[Image description:

A book cover on a white background sits below black text that reads: “The Wild Impossibility” by Cheryl A. Ossala.

Beneath the book cover reads black text that reads: The Nautulis Prize Winning novel, in a new edition from Cynren Press On sale now at cynren.com.

The book cover is a black and white photograph of a watch tower from a World War II era Japanese interment camp, with snow capped mountains in the background.

On the cover, white text reads: The Wild Impossibility Cheryl A. Ossola. The word “wild” is in a dark red color. A silver Nautilus Award is on the left side of the cover.]

Friday night at Nomadic Bookshop in Oakland, our very own Blake (MFA candidate ‘28) will be reading as TACT (Trans Advoc...
08/14/2026

Friday night at Nomadic Bookshop in Oakland, our very own Blake (MFA candidate ‘28) will be reading as TACT (Trans Advocacy & Care Team) presents: Trans Grief & Joy Open Mic!

This event invites trans folks to get on the mic and share a poem, song, or story.

Allows and friends are invited to attend and show support.

It’s all going down on Friday, August 14th, from 6 to 8 PM.

Nomadic Bookshop is located at 326 23rd Street in Oakland.

We love Medicine for Nightmares and we love it when they have poets reading from their store window. And this Thursday, ...
08/12/2026

We love Medicine for Nightmares and we love it when they have poets reading from their store window. And this Thursday, our very own Andrea Isabel andrea isabel 🪐 (MFA candidate’27) is going to be reading from their window!

Just when we thought one of the coolest Bay Area literary staples couldn’t get any cooler.

Here are the details…

Poets in the Window
at Medicine for Nightmares / Medicina para Pesadillas

Thursday, August 13, 2026
7 to 9 PM

3036 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Address

2130 Fulton St
Baltimore, MD
94117

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when MFA in Writing at University of San Francisco posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to MFA in Writing at University of San Francisco:

Shortcuts

Share

Category