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Graduates from the UCI MFA Programs in Writing

Many graduates of the Program have gone on to distinguished writing careers. A sampling of published authors includes:

Novels and Short-Story Collections

Aimee Bender, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, An Invisible Sign of My Own, and Willful Creatures

Greg Bills, Consider This Home and Fearful Symmetry

David Benioff, The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over

Elise Blackwell, Hunger, The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, and Grub

Don Bredes, Hard Feelings, Muldoon, Cold Comfort, and The Fifth Season

James Brown, Hot Wire, The Second Story Theatre, and Two Encores, Final Performance, Lucky Town, and The Los Angeles Diaries (non-fiction)

Michael Chabon, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, A Model World and Other Stories, Wonder Boys, Werewolves in Their Youth, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2001 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction), Summerland, The Final Solution: A Story of Detection, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union

Leonard Chang, The Fruit ‘n Food, Dispatches From the Cold, Over the Shoulder: A Novel of Intrigue, Underkill, and Fade to Clear

Chieh Chieng, A Long Stay in a Distant Land

Jill Ciment, Small Claims, The Law of Falling Bodies, Teeth of the Dog, Half a Life, and The Tattoo Artist

Stephen Cooper, Full of Life: A Biography of John Fante (non-fiction)

Charmaine Craig, The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy

Carolyn Doty, A Day Late, Fly Away Home, What She Told Him, and Whisper

Alex Espinoza, Still Water Saints

Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End

Richard Ford, A Piece of My Heart, The Sportswriter, Rock Springs, Wildlife, The Ultimate Good Luck, Independence Day (1996 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction), Women with Men, A Multitude of Sins, and The Lay of the Land

Frank X. Gaspar, Leaving Pico

Patricia Geary, Living in Ether, Strange Toys, The Other Canyon, and Guru Cigarettes

Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil

Michael Golding, Simple Prayers and Benjamin’s Gift

Polly Gross, Western Motel

Jay Gummerman, We Find Ourselves in Moontown and Chez Chance

Rhoda Huffey, The Hallelujah Side

T.C. Huo, A Thousand Wings and Land of Smiles

Michael Jaime-Becerra, Every Night Is Ladies’ Night

Louis B. Jones, Ordinary Money, Particles and Luck, and California’s Over

Elizabeth Kadetsky, First There Is a Mountain

Marti Leimbach, Dying Young, Sun Dial Street, Love and Houses, Falling Backwards, and Daniel Isn’t Talking

Jack Lopez, Cholos and Surfers: A Latino Family Album (non-fiction) and In the Break

Kathryn Marshall, My Sister Gone, Desert Places, and Combat Zone

Gordon McAlpine, Joy in Mudville, The Persistence of Memory, and Mystery Box

Tom McNeal, Good Night, Nebraska

Maile Meloy, Half in Love, Liars and Saints, and A Family Daughter

Kem Nunn, Tapping the Source, Unassigned Territory, Pomona Queen, The Dogs of Winter, and Tijuana Straits

Varley O'Connor, Like China, A Company of Three, and The Cure

Whitney Otto, How to Make an American Quilt, Now You See Her, The Passion Dream Book, and A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity

Frederick Reiken, The Odd Sea and The Lost Legends of New Jersey

Elizabeth Rosner, The Speed of Light and Blue Nude

Alice Sebold, Lucky (non-fiction) and The Lovely Bones

Susan Segal, Aria

Danzy Senna, Caucasia and Symptomatic

Roberta Smoodin, Ursus Major, Presto!, Inventing Ivanov, and White Horse Cafe

Craig Strete, Dreams That Burn in the Night and If All Else Fails

Jervey Tervalon, Understand This, Living for the City (non-fiction), Dead Above Ground, All the Trouble You Need, and Lita

Héctor Tobar, The Tattooed Soldier and Translation Nation (non-fiction)

Katherine Vaz, Saudade, Fado and Other Stories, and Mariana

Helena María Viramontes, The Moths and Other Stories, Under the Feet of Jesus, and Their Dogs Came With Them

Lane Von Herzen, Copper Crown and The Unfastened Heart

David Walton, Waiting in Line, Evening Out, and Ride

Mary Yukari Waters, The Laws of Evening

Andrew Winer, The Color Midnight Made

David Winn, Gangland

Elizabeth Winthrop, Fireworks

Poetry

Many poetry graduates have gone on to publish their works both in books and prominent journals.  These poets include:  Ai, Ralph Angel, Colette Labouff Atkinson, Allison Benis, Steve Benson, Michael Blaine, Lavina Blossom, Michael Borich, Virginia Campbell, Jay Laton Carter, Killarney Clary, Marie Connors, Brad Crenshaw, Karen Dale, Juan Delgado, Mark Dow, Carrie Etter, Holly Fleming, Martha Fritz, Frank Gaspar, Penny Gasaway, Elton Glazer, Debra Gorlin, James Hejna, Karen Holmberg, Garrett Hongo, Dan Howell, Aletha Irby, Robert Jones, Doug King, Yusef Komunyakaa (Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Neon Vernacular), Maria Maggi, Michael Malizia, Caley O’Dwyer, Tira Palmquist, V. Penelope Pelizzon, Joyce Peseroff, Stuart Peterfreund, Dennis Saleh, Sherod Santos, Matthew Schwartz, Barry Seiler, Patricia Seyburn, Tim Sheehan, Gary Soto, David Steingass, Steven Thomas, Robert Vasquez, Connie Voisine, Michael Watterlond, Tom Wayman, Peter Wild, Leslie Wolf, Eve Wood, Deborah Woodard, Barbara Wuest, and Gary Young.

Graduates of the Program have received distinguished national prizes and fellowships, ranging from Pulitzer Prizes in fiction and poetry to Guggenheim Fellowships, the Tufts Poetry Award, The Nation's Discovery Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Awards and the fiction Gold Medal and Silver Medal from the Commonwealth Club of California. At least four have directed writing programs at other institutions, and many more hold positions as writing faculty at distinguished colleges and universities.

UC Irvine Department of English