Department of English
MFA Alumni Publishing
For more than sixty years, the graduates of our university's Creative Writing Program and the Department of English have enjoyed great successes in literary publishing. This page focuses on our distinguished alumni since 1995, when the program transitioned into a full Master of Fine Arts program.
Here's a partial (and growing!) list of MFA alumni publishing accomplishments since 1995.
Debut Books Published
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
Little Dystopias: A Collection (Lightning Cellar Publications, 2015)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Sightlines (Tourane Poetry Press, 2013, chapbook)
Additional books:
Vanishing Point (Orchard Street Press, 2018, chapbook)
Also of note:
Fresno Poet Laureate (2021-23)
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Heavy: A Memoir of Wyoming, BMX, Drugs and Heavy Fucking Music (Rare Bird Books, 2016)
Additional books:
Doomed to Fail: The Incredibly Loud History of Doom, Sludge, and Post-Metal (Rare Bird Books, 2020)
Out Here on Our Own: An Oral History of an American Boomtown (Bison Books/U of Nebraska Press, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Jackalope-Girl Learns to Speak (Dancing Girl Press, 2016, chapbook)
Additional books:
Lost City Museum (Bull City Press, 2016, chapbook)
Eppur Si Muove (Porkbelly Press, 2019, chapbook)
Fiolet & Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulist Poetry (Liminal Books, 2019, anthology co-editor)
Sweetbitter (Sundress Publications, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Theory on Falling into a Reef (Anhinga Press, 2016, chapbook)
Additional books:
Why Can't It Be Tenderness (U of Wisconsin Press, 2018)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
The Cholo Who Said Nothing and Other Poems (Turning Point Books, 2017)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn, 2020, finalist for National Book Award)
Additional books:
The Rendering (Omnidawn, 2023)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Concrete Paradise (Finishing Line Press, 2018, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Rough Fire (Finishing Line Press, 2018)
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Origins of the Universe and What It All Means: A Memoir (Dzanc Books, 2016)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
My Pulse Is an Earthquake (West Virginia U Press, 2015)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
By Their Father's Hand: The True Story of the Wesson Family Massacre (Harper Collins, 2007)
Additional books:
Ice and Bone: Tracking an Alaskan Serial Killer (WildBlue Press, 2016)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry; MA English, Composition
Familiar History (Finishing Line Press, 2016, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
The Bones Stay and Other Short Stories (Passengers Literary Press, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Endeavor (World Stage Press, 2017)
Additional books:
Cenizas (U of Arizona Press, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English Education (2010)
The Wicked We Have Done: A Chaos Theory Novel (Penguin/InterMix, 2014)
Additional books:
Our Broken Sky: A Chaos Theory Novel (Penguin/InterMix, 2014)
A Vault of Sins: A Chaos Theory Novel (Penguin/InterMix, 2014)
Eight Will Fall (Henry Holt and Company, 2019)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
On Display (Gunpowder Press, 2023, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Revolver (U of the Philippines Press, 1997)
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
The Astronaut Checks His Watch (Finishing Line Press, 2014, chapbook)
Additional books:
Leaving Tracks: A Prairie Guide (Finishing Line Press, 2017, chapbook)
Regenerate: Poems of Mad Women (Dancing Girl Press, 2018, chapbook)
Quite Mad: An American Pharma Memoir (Ohio State U Press, 2019)
Halfway from Home (Split Lip Press, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
The River: Reflections on Life and Poetry (Tourane Poetry Press, 2017, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
Peace is a Four-Letter Word (Heyday Books, 2005)
Additional books:
American Music Makers (Walker and Company, 1991)
Women Music Makers (Walker and Company, 1992)
Casey Wooster's Pet Care Service (Atheneum, 1993)
Where Words Leave Off, Music Begins: Stories (2004)
Chest Pains: A Novel (Bridge Works Press, 2008)
Messed Up (Holiday House, 2009)
Addicted to Her (Holiday House, 2010)
Racing California (Holiday House, 2012)
My Beautiful Hippie (Holiday House, 2013)
Wheel of Fire (2016)
Commie Pinko (2017)
Clara Schumann, Pianist and Composer (Bedazzled Ink, 2021)
Florence Price: American Composer (Bedazzled Ink, 2022)
Elizabeth Warren: What It Takes to Run for President (Bedazzled Ink, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English, Literature (2001)
The Barber's Wife (Alternative Book Press, 2014)
Additional books:
The Circle Game (Alternative Book Press, 2018)
Stinger (West of West Books, 2019, co-authored with Bill McEwen)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Insides She Swallowed (West End Press, 2020, winner of American Book Award)
Additional books:
For Want of Water and Other Poems (Beacon Press, 2017, winner of National Poetry Series)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English, Literature (2013)
Cenote City (Clash Books, 2019, novella)
Additional books:
My Favorite Sancho and Other Fairy Tales (Sword and Kettle Press, 2020, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
First Crush (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2016, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry; MA English, Composition (1989)
The Particulars of Being (In the Grove Press, 2003)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
To My Body (Glass Poetry Press, 2016, chapbook)
Additional books:
Photographs of Our Shadows (Agape Editions, 2017, chapbook)
Phantom Tongue (Sundress Publications, 2018)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
The Politics of Division (Five Oaks Press, 2017, chapbook)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
The Shape of Blue: Notes on Loss, Language, Motherhood and Fear (The Lit Pub, 2013)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
Everything You Came to See (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English, Literature (2002)
Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions (Dial Books/Penguin Random House, 2022)
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
The War at Home: A Memoir (Penguin Books, 2016)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry; BA English, Literature (2003)
The Ghetto Exorcist (Autumn House Press, 2009, chapbook)
Also of note:
Fresno Poet Laureate (2013-15)
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth (Swan Scythe Press, 2010, chapbook)
Also of note:
Winner of a Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with his brother Abel Vang. Co-directed the feature films "Bedeviled" and "They Live in the Grey."
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry; BA English, Literature (1996)
To Live Here (Imaginary Friend Press, 2014)
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction; BA English, Literature (2008)
The Cowgirl and the Racehorse: A Recovery (Skinner House Books, 2020)
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
What I Can Do (Chestnut Review Press, 2020, chapbook)
Anthologies Published
How Do I Begin? A Hmong American Literary Anthology (Heyday Books, 2011)
Co-edited by alumni Anthony Cody, Burlee Vang, Soul Choj Vang, and Andre Yang
The Spirit of Disruption: Landmark Essays from The Normal School (Outpost19, 2018)
Edited by faculty Steven Church; selections, editing, and promotion by MFA students in the English 286 Practicum in Literary Arts course
Publishing and Editing Jobs
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction; BA English, Literature (2010)
Previously:
Editorial Assistant, Fourth Genre
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Chapbook Series Editor, Sundress Publications
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English, Literature (2011)
Assistant Nonfiction Editor, Pithead Chapel
Reader, Under the Sun
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
Previously:
Production Manager, Dwell Magazine
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction
Assistant Editor, Poetry Magazine
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Digital Engagement and Content Director, The Academy of American Poets
Previously:
Digital Manager, The Paris Review
Director of Marketing and Publicity, Dzanc Books
Web Assistant, Harper's Magazine
MFA Creative Writing
Senior Editor, Beable Education
Previously:
Development Editor, National Geographic Learning
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Previously:
Production Manager, Dwell Magazine
Production Manager, Afar Magazine
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Previously:
Nonfiction Assistant Editor, Prairie Schooner
MFA Creative Writing, Fiction; BA English, Literature (2013)
Contributing Writer, Luna Luna Magazine
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Previously:
Program Associate, Poets & Writers, California office
MFA Creative Writing, Poetry
Founder, Tourane Poetry Press
Founder and editor, Perfume River Poetry Review
MFA Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction
Editorial Assistant, Zócalo Public Square
Creative Writing Alumni Chapter
Students have studied Creative Writing at Fresno State since the late 1950s, long before the MFA Program was started in 1995.
The Creative Writing Chapter of the Fresno State Alumni Association aims to bring together the multiple generations of Fresno writers.