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. Cafe MFA also hosts open mic nights and other community events for MFA students on campus. Thanks for stopping by!

- Angela Alvarez, EIC 2026-2027

FOLIO Literary Journal 4/23/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 4/23/26

Barrelhouse Conference

Angela Alvarez, upcoming EIC of Café MFA writes about how the Barrelhouse Conference, hosted by American University, impacted writers in the MFA program!

FOLIO Literary Journal 4/12/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 4/12/26

Second-Year Spotlight: Walker Peters

Walker Peters is a second-year student and diehard fantasy nerd. We interviewed him to learn more about his thesis project.

FOLIO Literary Journal 2/8/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 2/8/26

The Poems that Got Us In: Piérre Ramon Thomas

Piérre Ramon Thomas shares three poems he used to get into AU’s MFA program.

FOLIO Literary Journal 1/30/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 1/30/26

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.

FOLIO Literary Journal 1/26/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 1/26/26

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.

FOLIO Literary Journal 1/2/26 FOLIO Literary Journal 1/2/26

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.

Editor-in-Chief

Angela Alvarez

Angela Alvarez is a second year graduate student pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at American University. She has a BA from Wake Forest University where she studied English and secondary education. Before the 2026 fall semester, she spent two years teaching high school English in North Carolina and one year as PR chair for Café MFA, American University's literary blog. Currently, she works as an adjunct professor at American University, as an assistant instructional designer through American University's Office of Digital Learning & Strategy, and as editor-in-chief of Café MFA. She has a deep passion for both pedagogy and creative writing. Her writing tends to focus on speculative fiction centering on elements of girlhood/womanhood and family dynamics. She is excited to continue growing during her second year in the MFA program and in her role as editor-in-chief of Café MFA.

Associate Editor

Pierre Ramon Thomas

Pierre Ramon Thomas is an emerging Black queer writer whose themes orbit around family, gender & masculinity, sexuality, queer love & erotica, nature—just to name a few. He is rounding out his final year at American University pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. A video poem of Thomas’ was featured among twenty-nine other local poets in the 2026 DC Pride Poems this past June. He has pieces published or forthcoming in twurl, Vassar Review, Mid-Atlantic Review, WWPH Writes, and elsewhere. He is a native of the Washington metropolitan area and could be seen around the northern Virginia area trying new food, drinking white mochas, or enjoying national or state parks.

PR Chair

Haley Fullerton

Haley Fullerton is a fiction writer from New Rochelle, New York. She has a BA from Davidson College, where she was a double major in English and Hispanic Studies. She spent the first few years post-grad teaching abroad in Madrid, Spain, and now works full-time at an executive brand marketing company based in New York City. She is new to the DC area, having moved here from Brooklyn with her fiancé in the summer of 2026. Her fiction work focuses on coming-of-age stories with female narrators, exploring themes like love, religion, class, mental health, motherhood, and gender roles. Outside of writing, she enjoys traveling, swimming, running half marathons, reading, cooking, and crafting. Haley is currently in her first year of American University's MFA in Creative Writing program, as well as her first year as PR Chair of Café MFA.

Have questions? Want to know more?

Contact Us.

cafemfa@american.edu