Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing

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United States
Louisville, KY
Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing

The first MFA in Writing in Kentucky. A top-10 low-residency MFA in Writing, plus creative writing certificate and MA in Writing programs.

Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, and writing for TV, screen, and stage. Our low-residency program is:

* Ideally suited to the writing life: study with a great community of writers and write in your own home
* Ten-day residencies feature intensive, supportive workshops, lectures, and panel discussions with award-winning faculty
* One-on-one c

orrespondence with faculty mentor, post residency
* Mix and match options for fall and spring residencies in Louisville and summer residencies in international destinations

Accepts applications yearround. Application deadlines: August 1 for fall; February 1 for Spring and Summer

06/08/2026

We're proud to share Spalding University faculty member Neela Vaswani’s essay, "I had a Neighbor Whose Husband Constantly Shouted," which was recently published in Electric Literature.

Check it out: https://buff.ly/ieAjHAm

06/03/2026

Announcing our new Associate Programs Director, Whitney Collins, stepping into the role July 1! Click here to read all about Whitney: https://buff.ly/8JTwnbl

06/02/2026

Our Spring 2026 Residency is in the books! From our Distinguished Visiting Author, Kaveh Akbar, to faculty Bruce Marshall Romans' SPIDER-NOIR (ahem, Lectorium premiere), to KY Shakespeare in Central Park, to our 25th ANNIVERSARY (!) party--it was so wonderful to be together with all of our talented students and faculty!

05/31/2026

Big congrats to our recent graduate Laura Candler! Laura is the winner of the 2026 Chapbook Competition (a collaboration between The Poets Corner, Toad Hall Editions, & the Camden Festival of Poetry) & she'll be in conversation next Sunday with the contest judge, Aimee Nezhukumatathil! Register for this Zoom session here: https://buff.ly/LDW0koi

“Common Name: These poems keep turning toward the world—toward the child’s voice, the river’s body, the small, bright pop of a flower—and in that turning, they make a place where wonder and worry can stand side by side without shame. They remind us that close attention is its own kind of devotion, that to name what is fragile, fleeting, and alive means to love it more fully.” —Aimee Nezhukumatathil

05/28/2026

Spalding University Writers! Elderfly Press is currently seeking submissions for their upcoming anthology, Mother Monster/Father Fiend. The collection explores the uncanny and unsettling edges of parenthood.

Elderly Press is now accepting entries in fiction (1,000 - 5,000 words), creative nonfiction (up to 3,000 words), and poetry (up to 5 poems).

Deadline to submit is June 15, 2026.

More info and submit: https://buff.ly/RUSDdWh

05/27/2026

Huge congrats to screenwriting faculty Bruce Marshall Romans on the premiere of SPIDER-NOIR! Bruce is a writer and co-executive producer of this new series starring Nicholas Cage. Watch in black and white OR color starting today on Prime.

Plus, our lucky students get to hear Bruce chat a bit about the series this week while he is on campus at Spalding University leading a TV Writing Workshop during our spring residency!

05/24/2026

TOMORROW! Spalding University and the Louisville Free Public Library present Kaveh Akbar!

At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 25, our Distinguished Visiting Writer visits the Naslund-Mann Spring Residency to discuss his novel "Martyr!" with our literary community.

Akbar's talk will be presented at The Brown Hotel, and the public is invited to attend. A book signing will follow, with books for sale through our partner Carmichael's Bookstore.

05/23/2026

The Festival of Contemporary Writing at Spalding University, Kentucky's largest fall-spring reading series, kicks off TOMORROW, in conjunction with our Spring Residency!

All readings are free and open to the public. Plenty of free parking is available for on-campus readings.

The schedule is as follows:

FACULTY READING
Sunday, May 24th from 5:15 - 6:15 p.m.
Troutman Lectorium, Egan Leadership Center (ELC), 901 S. Fourth Street
- Lynnell Edwards (poetry), The Bearable Slant of Light
- Nathan Gower (fiction), The Act of Disappearing
- Karen Salyer McElmurray (creative nonfiction), I Could Name God in Twelve Ways
- Leah Henderson (writing for children/YA), The Courage of the Little Hummingbird
- Erin Keane (creative nonfiction), Runaway: Notes on the Myths that Made Me

FACULTY READING
Tuesday, May 26th from 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.
Troutman Lectorium, Egan Leadership Center (ELC), 901 S. Fourth Street
- Angela Jackson-Brown (fiction), Untethered
- Bruce Marshall Romans (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Spider-Noir
- Nancy McCabe (creative nonfiction, fiction), The Pamela Papers
- Kiki Petrosino (poetry), Witch Wife
- Whitney Collins (fiction), Ricky & Other Love Stories
- Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Goat-Footed Gods

05/22/2026

If you’re in Louisville during our Spring Residency, don’t forget to stop by the Naslund-Mann Pop-up Book Sale! Flashback to elementary school and relive all your book fair dreams!

Hosted by our bookseller partner Carmichael's Bookstore.

Thursday, May 28
11:15 am - 2:45 pm in the ELC Lobby at Spalding University

Address

851 S. Fourth Street
Louisville, KY
40203

Telephone

+15028734400

Website

http://www.spalding.edu/mfa

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