Antioch University Los Angeles

09/02/2026

Antioch University MFA Program alum Andre Hardy published his debut novel, Tear the City Down, with Grand Central Publishing, today, September 1!

The hard-edged noir thriller follows Coltrane Davis, a fixer for a corrupt San Diego political kingmaker who is trying to leave that life behind and focus on his teenage daughter. When the Los Angeles Chargers’ star running back disappears before a major game, Coltrane is drawn into an investigation that takes him through the city’s underworld and forces him to confront questions of power, race, loyalty, family, and redemption.

A former NFL running back, Hardy came to Antioch University Los Angeles to pursue his MFA in Creative Writing after turning from professional football to writing. (Read a 2019 profile on Hardy on Common Thread.) While at Antioch, he immersed himself in hard-boiled detective fiction and began developing the character of Coltrane and the story that would ultimately evolve into Tear the City Down. Hardy’s writing has also appeared in Lunch Ticket, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and L.A. Tribe Magazine, and his short fiction has been included in Made in L.A.: An Anthology of Stories Rooted in the City of Angels.

The 432-page novel is already earning praise from some of crime fiction’s leading writers, including S.A. Cosby, Paula Hawkins, Tod Goldberg, Ace Atkins, and Eli Cranor. Cosby calls it “a fantastic journey through mean streets and shattered hearts,” while Hawkins describes Hardy as “a distinctive new voice in American noir.”

Learn more at https://www.andrehardy.com/

09/01/2026

What began as a conversation in an Antioch University MFA Program workshop has become Spell Check, a new anthology featuring essays from writers across the country.

Co-edited by MFA in Creative Writing faculty member Colette Freedman and MFA Screenwriting alum Caitlin Buxbaum, the collection brings together 33 personal essays inspired by misspelled words and the life lessons they convey:

What began as a conversation in an Antioch University MFA workshop has become Spell Check, a new anthology featuring essays from writers across the country. Co-edited by MFA in Creative Writing faculty member Colette Freedman and MFA Screenwriting alum ...

09/01/2026

Andre Hardy, an alum of the MFA in Creative Writing program, was featured in this article from the LA Times. His debut novel, Tear the City Down, is officially published starting today!

Former athlete Andre Hardy weaves the dark side of San Diego and Buddhist principles in his compelling debut "Tear the City Down."

08/29/2026

At the intersection of music and visual art is a type of magical creativity that Mikki Itzigsohn () ('12, Undergraduate Studies) has harnessed throughout her artistic process. A self-taught musician, artist, and painter, Mikki turned to “creativity as a way of making sense, as a way of making meaning out of experiences and the challenges in life” during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Inspired by a variety of musicians, artists, and songwriters, Mikki’s Songwriter series depicts women immersed in the sacred act of making music, through various colorful hues and symbols of wisdom and strength: owls and tigers.

Her time at Antioch University provided a learning experience that provided “a springboard for creativity” and “helped open something up in me to get to where I am now.”

Read more about the magic of creativity and songwriting in the 2026 edition of Antioch’s Alumni Magazine here: https://at.antioch.edu/songwriters-experience-2026-alumni-magazine

08/26/2026

Shari Foos, co-founder of the Bridge program and a graduate of the MA in Clinical Psychology program, has spent decades exploring how creativity, storytelling, and human connection can help people better understand themselves and one another. Now, the ideas at the center of her work are becoming a book.

The book is an extension of The Narrative Method, the nonprofit organization Foos established in 2012. Utilizing writing prompts, facilitated gatherings, and group experiences, The Narrative Method employs creative expression to cultivate awareness, empathy, and connection. Currently, the organization provides both online and in-person salons, along with programs for schools, social service agencies, veterans, educators, and various other communities.

Read more about Shari and her book here:

Shari Foos ‘97 (Los Angeles, MA in Clinical Psychology) has spent decades exploring how creativity, storytelling, and human connection can help people better understand themselves and one another. Now, the ideas at the center of her work are becoming a ...

08/25/2026

For the fourth consecutive year, Antioch Los Angeles' MFA in Creative Writing program earned its spot on Moviemaker Magazine’s annual 30 Best Film Schools in the US and Canada.

The recommendation mentions the program’s low-residency model, where students work off campus for five-month periods and gather for 10-day residencies in the Spring and Fall. The list also praises the Screenwriting concentration and its emphasis on one-on-one work with established screenwriters, TV writers and playwrights.

See the full list here: https://www.moviemaker.com/best-film-schools-us-and-canada-2026/

08/23/2026

MFA in Creative Writing Affiliate Fiction Faculty Megan Kakimoto was awarded one of the 5 under 35 honorees by the National Book Foundation for her story collection, Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare.

Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare is a fierce love letter to Hawaii's myths and folklore, which centers on the inner lives of Native Hawaiian and Japanese women and girls.

Read more about the 2026 Honorees here:

The National Book Foundation announced its annual 5 Under 35 honorees, a selection of five fiction writers under the age of 35 whose debut work promises to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.

08/21/2026

✨ Join us for a virtual Info. Session about Antioch’s MFA Program, Wednesday, August 26th, at 5pm PT/8pm ET, with Cathy Linh Che . We are accepting applications for December!

📚 Learn about our hybrid residencies in Los Angeles and online, our social justice mission, scholarships, and our fiction, YA, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, and translation genres.

🔗 Register at link in bio.

08/19/2026

The idea of “defamiliarization” says that we sometimes become so adjusted to our world, that we eventually grow numb to it. Art can help us revitalize our view of the world, sympathize with the human experience, and connect with community.

In this episode of The Seed Field podcast, we interview novelist and MFA in Creative Writing Acting Co-Chair Alistair McCartney, discussing the theory of defamiliarization and how this practice can be used in the world of literature and arts in order to create a more empathetic world.

“I would say what excites me about it is just when I first encountered the concept, the clarity of the concept. I was very immediately drawn into this notion that Shklovsky defines that the purpose of writing is to, as he says, to make the stone stony, is to impart the stone, the stoniness of the stone. And it felt like even though he clearly gets more complex about the concept of defamiliarization, or estrangement is a term people sometime- sometimes use in place of defamiliarization, I would say the simplicity and the clarity of the concept really struck me in terms of the function of writing.”

https://commonthread.antioch.edu/podcast/s3e6-stuck-on-autopilot-we-ignore-daily-injustices-can-art-shake-us-awake/

08/14/2026

✨ This week, our Faculty Friday Spotlight goes to one of our Fiction / Creative Nonfiction faculty members for the upcoming December Residency, Christine Hyung-Oak Lee!

📚 Christine Hyung-Oak Lee is the author of a memoir (Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember), which was featured in Self magazine, Time, The New York Times, and NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. Their short fiction and essays have appeared in ZYZZYVA, Guernica, The Rumpus, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and other publications.

🎓 Want to study with Christine Hyung-Oak Lee? We're accepting applications and granting scholarships!

📅 Priority Deadline: September 1. After that, rolling admissions.

🔗 Learn more at the link in our bio.