fiction writers in the mfa program at snu tahoe work with nationally and internationally known authors including rebecca makkai, natalie baszile, alan heathcock, peter mountford, sunil yapa, and gayle brandeis.
Our faculty have published with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Knopf, W.W. Norton & Co., Graywolf, Bloomsbury, Viking, tin house Books, Arte Publico Press, St. Martin’s Press, and more. Their short stories and excerpts have appeared in publications including mcsweeney’s, harper’s, esquire, the atlantic, granta, the rumpus, guernica, tin house, the best american and best american nonrequired reading series, narrative magazine, story quarterly, american short fiction, prairie schooner, and ploughshares. they have been awarded the american book award, the arab-american book award, new york times notable book of the year, the whiting award, the rooney prize, shortlist for the irish book of the year award, the glca new writers award, the john gardner book award, best book of the year prizes, washington state book award, pushcart prizes, the iowa short fiction prize, and the pen/o. henry prize, among others.
“sierra nevada is an extraordinary place, and i don’t even mean that geographically — the people and writing and energy, the discourse and debate and discovery, are what will stay with you throughout the year. you’ll go back to your own desk, eventually, but you won’t be alone.”
— rebecca makkai, mfa faculty
recent guests have included colum mccann, téa obreht, luis alberto urrea, benjamin percy, julie iromaunya, mat johnson, rick moody, and jesse goolsby. award-winning novelists mike mccormack, and alexi zentner are affiliated faculty.
our emphasis is on helping you to hone your vision and create work in which you feel personally and intellectually invested. we encourage, celebrate, and help to promote our students’ successes as working writers.