The SMC MFA in Creative Writing Program: Graduate Student Reading

Join the SMC MFA program on February 27, 2019, at the SMC campus in Moraga, for a night of electrifying readings from our very own MFA candidates. The evening’s stellar authors include: Devan Brettkelly, Dee Allen-Kirkhouse, Kierstin Kolte, and Maxwell Stenson.

The event will be hosted on campus at De La Salle Hall in Hagerty Lounge. Doors open at 7:30pm; readings begin at 7:45. The event will include delectable treats and adult beverages.

Devan Brettkelly is a copywriter in San Francisco. She grew up in Maine, and went to Scripps College for undergrad. She likes writing fiction about dogs, BART, collecting/hoarding, and complex families (especially sisterhood).

Dee Allen-Kirkhouse writes about how nature and growing up in the small town of Crockett, California in the 1950s and 60s prepared her to face the complexities of her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, whose 18-month tour of duty in Vietnam turned him into a different man and complicated their lives for decades to come. She teaches English at Diablo Valley College. Publications include Runner’s World, New Woman, and Diablo Magazine, among other newspapers and journals.

Kierstin Kolte is from Brentwood, California and has been working on a fantasy novel for a decade. She’s obsessed with anime, video games, her friends, and her cat Jiji. She likes to find the magic in everyday things and bring it to life on the page.

Maxwell Stenson was born in Sacramento, California. As a lad, Maxwell wanted to be a samurai warrior, a snake charmer, or an orthodontist. But for now, he has settled on being a janitor, and hopes to one day teach people things about books and writing. Maxwell's recent poems enact what he calls a "prosody of the phrase", and prioritize intuition and Pound's notion of melopoeia to explore memory, societal violence, and the imagination as both a redemptive and destructive tool.

The Graduate Student Reading Series is hosted by the GSR Committee: Victoria Billings, Michael DuBon, Zoë Loos, and Terry Taplin.

The SMC MFA in Creative Writing offers students a campus environment that feels like a writing retreat within the bustling Bay Area. We have a stellar faculty that includes Marilyn Abildskov, Brenda Hillman, Lysley Tenorio and Matthew Zapruder, as well excellent Visiting Writers. Our two-year program combines a studio writing workshop component with an analytical component, offering concentrations in creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. For more information visit www.stmarys-ca.edu/mfa-in-creative-writing.