Chatham Creative Writing Program Launches Emerging Black Writers-in-Residence Program
The Chatham University MFA in Creative Writing (MFACW) Program launches an Emerging Black Writer-in-Residence program, with MFACW alumni Caitlyn Hunter and Cedric Rudolph as the writers in residence for the 2020-2021 academic year.
The Emerging Black Writer-in-Residence program aims to support and feature the art and teaching of young Black writers. Throughout this residency, the writer-in-residence will each teach a semester-long multi-genre workshop to Chatham MFACW students. They will also deliver a public craft lecture, a public reading of their work, and enter into professional mentorship relationships with Chatham faculty.
This program launches in tandem with the Boosie Bolden Chapbook Series, a limited-edition chapbook produced by The Fourth River with a press run of 100 copies in memory of Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden, who served as an editor for The Fourth River during his time in the MFACW program.
Caitlyn Hunter will be teaching in the spring 2021 semester, while Cedric Rudolph will be teaching in the fall 2021 semester. Both writers-in-residence will be involved with the 2021 Summer Community of Writers residency.
For more information about either program, contact MFA Program Assistant, Joe Bisciotti, at j.bisciotti@chatham.edu.
About Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing Program:
Chatham’s MFA in Creative Writing program consists of both an on-the-ground full-residency program and a low-residency program with concentrations in travel writing, social engagement, teaching, publishing, or nature writing in addition to a primary genre focus (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or children’s writing). The program offers innovative field seminars that include travel to such places as Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, and Germany. Chatham MFA candidates have the opportunity to participate in the Words Without Walls program, which brings creative writing classes to jails, prisons, and drug treatment centers in Pittsburgh, and offers students meaningful ways to engage in the Pittsburgh community beyond campus. In 2007 Poets & Writers named the Chatham MFA in Creative Writing program one of “Nine Distinctive Programs” and The Atlantic Monthly named it one of five innovative/unique programs in the country in its “Best of the Best” graduate program listings. In 2009, The Writer named it one of ten programs that offer a specialty focus. In 2016, Publisher’s Weekly named the program one of five distinctive MFA programs in the nation. For more information, visit www.chatham.edu/mfa.