NEOMFA : Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

09/04/2026

Continuing our countdown to the annual Literary Cleveland Inkubator conference next week! https://inkubator.litcleveland.org/.

Check out the NEOMFA table in the bookfair at Cleveland Public Library on Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12!



Catch NEOMFA alum Jon Conley in a session hosted with Semyon Khokhlov on Friday 9/11 at 3:30pm:

“Non-Protagonist-Centered Writing: Beyond the Individual”

Though much of western literature is concerned with centering a single protagonist, there are other possibilities. Semyon Khokhlov, founder of LEAN magazine, will introduce non-protagonist-centered writing, showing how it works and what it can do. Authors Jon Conley and Semyon Khoklov will present examples and discuss their work. The workshop will culminate in a writing exercise where participants will be given a canonical, protagonist-driven short story (there are many to choose from!). We’ll then try our hand at our own radical revisions, using key techniques of non-protagonism that may complicate the status of the individual in storytelling.

Registration for Inkubator is free! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-inkubator-writing-conference-tickets-1996896766985

09/03/2026

Counting down to the annual Literary Cleveland conference, coming up next week! https://inkubator.litcleveland.org/. Check out the NEOMFA table in the bookfair at Cleveland Public Library on Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12.

Among the many NEOMFA faces at this year’s Inkubator are students Willow Campbell and Benvolio Nichols, whose session “Trans-ing the Narrative’: Trans Fiction Then & Now” is Fri 9/11 at 11am.

“A conceptual, forward-thinking celebration of trans identity in conversation with fiction. This panel will discuss trans fiction’s past and present—including issues of visibility and representation, dysphoria and euphoria, trans pain and trans joy—and offer a future-focused take on ‘trans-ing the narrative’. This dialogue grows out of the urgency to examine ‘trans fiction’ as a question of both social change and craft.”

Registration for Inkubator is free! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-inkubator-writing-conference-tickets-1996896766985

09/02/2026

Student Scott Kenimond has two poems published in the September issue of Does It Have Pockets:

“Virginia Woolf Goes to Ikea”

and

“Cold Section of Myself”

Read both now at https://www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/scott-kenimond !

Congrats to Scott on these new works!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089667337781

08/31/2026

Alum Lisa Langford’s play “Con” will have two staged readings as part of Seat of the Pants Productions’s Salon Series, both directed by Natalie Sander Kern and produced by Julia Fisher:

– Saturday, September 12 at 1:30 p.m. in Canton, venue TBD

– Saturday, September 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Cleveland, at Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, 2592 W 14th St #309.

Both events will be followed by a talkback with the playwright.

Tickets are $10.

Info at

Seat of the Pants is always traveling around Northeast Ohio, and we'd like you to be able to join us, too! But we know that driving longer distances or through inclement weather or at night isn't for everyone — and that's why we created The Caravan Program!

08/27/2026

Congrats to alum Steven Caumo, whose new novel Dryad was released by JournalStone! Info at https://journalstone.com/bookstore/dryad/.

“Deep in the woods, the last dryad—Scarlet Oak—mourns her fallen sisters and seethes with hatred for humanity. In nearby Evergreen, Persephone ‘Percy’ Birch is home from college for the summer, looking to reconnect with her best friend and unrequited love, Cheryl Young. But after a drunken party gone wrong with a group of entitled jocks led by Percy’s cousin Ricky, Cheryl ends up buried alive—right at the base of the dryad ‘s tree.

“Free at last, fueled by blood and righteous anger, Scarlet Oak enacts her terrible vengeance on the small Pennsylvania town. As bodies pile up, only Percy seems to notice the connection between the victims and Cheryl’s disappearance. Can Percy and her sheriff father stop Scarlet and save Cheryl before it’s too late?”

Dryad arrives on the heels of Steven’s recent novella Thrill Killers. Find that one too via Grindhouse Press at https://grindhousepress.com/steven-caumo/.

08/25/2026

Congrats to alum Sony Q. Ton-Aime, named by Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP as one of the Pittsburgh 40 Under 40 Class of 2026! https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/40-under-40-honorees/

Sony is the Executive Director, Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. https://pittsburghlectures.org/lectures/sony-ton-aime/

As well, he’s the author of the recent poetry collection, Konbit. Available now at https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/K/bo265673332.html !

Poems that capture a transformative and visionary way of life in Haiti.Konbit is a Haitian Creole word, a way of living, for which there is no direct translation in the English language. It captures the communal life in Haiti and is used for every event where neighbors are called upon to help each o...

08/21/2026

Student Ashton River Leigh, alum Carrie George, core faculty Hilary Plum, and recent guest faculty Xan Forest Phillips are among the readers in the 2x2 / FMZ event on Saturday, August 29! 7:00 pm at Riff’s, 2418 Professor Ave in Cleveland. .216

08/19/2026

Alum Zach Peckham has co-launched a new journal, Delicatessen! https://www.delicatessen.site/

“Delicatessen is a journal of book reviews and literary criticism, specializing in texts from small, independent, non-profit, and university-affiliated publishers.

“Our mission is to cultivate reception and readership for titles from noncommercial presses, broadly conceived, while supporting emerging and established critics. We pay our contributors.”

Welcome to the Deli at https://www.delicatessen.site/weekly-specials !

08/17/2026

Student Julianne Metzger Taylor will be the guest reader for the Poetry Night event on August 21 at Last Exit Books & Coffeehouse in Kent. The program starts at 8:00 pm at 24 E Main St #1, Kent, OH 44240. Open mic to follow!!!