UMass Amherst MFA for Poets and Writers

02/26/2026

🌿 Next month! 🌿
Join us for our annual Literary Arts Festival
March 27-28, 2026
UMass Amherst Old Chapel

Two days of readings, panels, and conversations with internationally recognized authors, editors, and agents + alumni, current and prospective students

Free and open to the public

🌿 See you there! 🌿

02/26/2026

04/16/2025

Celebrating our MFA alumni who read at the 2025 Juniper Literary Festival!

We hope you'll buy their books! Check out Amherst Books for more information: https://www.amherstbooks.com/, or shop at your local indie bookstore.

Alt text: four author photographs against a red background.

04/03/2025

Want to learn more about publishing and editing? Join us for this free panel discussion on Saturday, April 5th at 3:30pm, Herter Hall room 231, UMass Amherst. We are excited to hear from these publishing industry experts:

* Lauren Christensen, editor at the New York Times Book Review, and author of the memoir "Firstborn"
* Lily Dolin, Associate Agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc
* Nadxieli Nieto, Editorial Director, Algonquin, Co-editor, Gigantic Books, Board Member, Latinx in Publishing
* Suzanna Tamminen, Director and Editor-in-Chief at Wesleyan University Press

Alt text: panelists' photographs against a red background.

04/03/2025

This weekend!

03/31/2025

The Juniper Literary Festival is this weekend! Join us on Friday, April 4th and Saturday, April 5th for readings and a publishing panel. All events are free and open to the public:

Friday, April 4 - Bernie Dallas Room, Goodell Hall

* 5:00 | Welcome Reception

* 6:00 | MFA Faculty Reading with Desiree C. Bailey and Gabriel Bump

* 7:00 | Reception and Book Signing

* 7:30 | Live Lit featuring MFA for Poets & Writers candidates Bec Bell-Gurwitz, Noah Hale, Shaina Isaacsen, Hunter Larson, Sophia Lauer, and Vika Mujumdar

Saturday, April 5 - Herter Hall 231

* 3:30 | Editors & Publishing Panel with Lily Dolin, Lauren Christensen, Nadxieli Nieto, and Suzanna Tamminen

* 5:00 | Alumni Reading featuring Jedediah Berry, Gion Davis, Emilie Menzel, and Okey Ndibe

* 6:00 | Reception and Book Signing

The Juniper Literary Festival is produced by the University of Massachusetts Amherst MFA for Poets and Writers and the Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts and Action. The Festival is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the UMass Provost’s Office, the UMass English Department, the UMass Arts Council, and individual contributors. Special thanks to our independent bookstore, Amherst Books, for selling authors’ books at the event!






Alt text: Desiree C. Bailey and Gabriel Bump featured in circular photographs against a red background.

03/25/2025

The UMass MFA will be at AWP, March 27-29th! Please come find us at the following events and panels:

* Bookfair (Booth 644). We'll be there with the UMass Press, the Massachusetts Review, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute; drop by the booth any time!

* Queering Form, or Weird Fiction, Sponsored by the Center for Fiction - Thursday, March 27 1:45-3:00pm PT at the Petree Hall D, Convention Center, Level 1 - Andrea Lawlor (MFA alum) will be presenting alongside Kazim Ali and Henry Hoke.

* When a Book Takes Forever: How to Survive the Process - Saturday, March 29, 10:35am in room 502A at the Convention Center - Sabina Murray (MFA Program Director), Jeff Parker (prose faculty member), and Shastri Akella (MFA alum) will be on this panel, among others.

Offsite Events:

* Social Event at the Yard House - Saturday, March 29, 12:30pm - We'll be a five-minute walk from the Convention Center at the Yard House, 800 West Olympic Blvd A-115 Los Angeles, CA 90015. We hope to see you there! Newly admitted MFA students, please join us!

* Desiree C. Bailey (poetry faculty member) will be at the gathering hosted by Yale University Press, The Yale Review and N+1, Thursday 3/27 at 7-10pm, Everson Royce Bar, 1936 E 7th Street.

* Abigail Chabitnoy (poetry faculty member) will be featured at the Wesleyan Offsite Reading: Fri 3/28 at 6:30pm, Seahorse Sound Studio, 1336 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90015.

10/23/2024

Unfortunately, tomorrow’s reading with Hanif Abdurraqib has been cancelled. Our apologies.

Our final two Visiting Writers Series events will feature Rae Armantrout on November 14 and Yuri Herrera + Lisa Dillman on December 5.

10/08/2024

Events this week as part of ART, SUSTAINABILITY, ACTIVISM 2024, a collaboration between the UMass Fine Arts Center, School of Earth and Sustainability, and the UMass MFA for Poets and Writers.

See story for links. 🌎

09/19/2024

Tonight at presents for the visiting writers series. Tongo Eisen-Martin is the poet laureate of San Francisco.

09/09/2024

🍂 Announcing our Visiting Writers Series for Fall 2024! You’re not gonna wanna miss this one… 🍂

Sept 19: Tongo Eisen-Martin
Oct 24: Hanif Abdurraqib
Nov 14: Rae Armantrout
Dec 5: Yuri Herrera + Lisa Dillman

All readings are at 6pm at the Old Chapel in the heart of UMass Amherst campus.

🍂 FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 🍂

Spend your autumn with us and these incredible thinkers-writers.

More info at the link in our bio.

The Visiting Writers Series is sponsored by the MFA for Poets and Writers and the Juniper Initiative, and made possible by support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the University of Massachusetts Arts Council, English Department, and Chancellor’s Community, Democracy, and Dialogue working group. All events are free and open to the public.