WELCOME TO CAFÉ MFA
Café MFA is a literary blog written by graduate students in American University's Creative Writing MFA program. These posts range in content including Second-Year Spotlights, coverage of local writing events, book reviews, writing tips, student work, and more! Café MFA is the lovable literary blog companion to FOLIO Literary Journal, which is also run by the graduate creative writing community here at American. We are happy to have you here!
- Hannah Cornell, EIC 2024-2026
The Poems that Got Us In: Piérre Ramon Thomas
Piérre Ramon Thomas shares three poems he used to get into AU’s MFA program.
Tell Me the Truth—Should Writers Always Show Instead of Tell?
A craft based piece by Laura Dame contemplating the advice “show don’t tell” in creative writing pieces.
Isn’t It Worth It?: An Interview with Café MFA’s Ashley Werner About Her Recently Released Poetry Collection
Café MFA was honored to sit down with Ashley Werner, our very own associate editor, to chat about her newly published poetry collection. Isn’t It Worth It? was published by Bottlecap Press just before the New Year.
PEN/Malamud Award: David Means
Café MFA’s associate editor, Ashley Werner, reflects on the PEN/ Malamud Award ceremony in Dec. 2025, celebrating distinguished short story writer David Means.
Second-Year Spotlight: Jalisa OH
Jalisa OH is a second-year student who dabbles in many genres. We interviewed them to learn more about their thesis project, a poetry and prose collection called Anatomy of an Eldest Daughter.
Stories That Got Us In: “Beach Day” by Krista Veneziano
A story by Krista Veneziano, first-year MFA student.
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