BFA in Creative Writing at LU

03/09/2026

What’s better than a new bookstore? A bookstore owned by one of Lakeland’s own! Mark your calendars for the grand opening of Verbosity Bookhouse!

Mark your calendars for the grand opening of Verbosity Bookhouse this Friday, March 13th! 📚☕

Verbosity Bookhouse is more than a bookstore. It is a place for community, connection, and creativity. We are a place you can settle in! The Bookhouse will host events, master classes, workshops, and more!

Verbosity Bookhouse was created by Melissa Kassens, a recent 2023 graduate of the BFA in Creative Writing program.

“During Melissa's time at Lakeland, I often asked her during our numerous meetings in my office, "What are your plans after graduation?" With an overwhelmed look on her face, she'd reply, "Oh, gosh, I don't know. . . . I should just open a bookstore; that’s always been my dream." Three years later, she is doing just that, and I couldn't be prouder. It's an incredible feeling seeing your creative writing student's story come to life in thriving downtown Port Washington, WI where locals and travels can come and enjoy a good book and dream just like she did.” --Jodie Mortag, Associate Professor of Writing

Kassens has poured her heart and soul into this childhood dream, and she is beyond excited to share this space with everyone. All are welcome!

🌟 Soft Opening - March 10th-12th, from 9AM-2PM
⭐ Grand Opening - March 13th, from 5:30-8PM
📍 123 N Franklin Street, Port Washington, WI, 53074

Please see the links below for more information regarding Kassen's inspiration and progress.
Press Release: https://www.ozaukeepress.com/content/bookstore-open-port-near-owner%E2%80%99s-inspiration
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verbositybookhouse?igsh=aDdtd3V3Y2ZpazVp
Email: [email protected]

12/09/2025

Huge congrats, Sarah!

Congratulations to Lakeland senior Sarah Stege who had her short story “Toad Rage” published in volume 26 of Furrow, a literary magazine published by UW Milwaukee.

She wrote the story in her Lakeland advanced fiction class. She is on track to graduate this spring with a bachelor of fine arts in creative writing and a bachelor's in professional writing.

12/05/2025

BFA student Megan Hunt has an article in the Sheboygan Sun about filmmaker and founder of Belladonna Film Project Beah Travis! Read it here.

Discover Beah Travis's journey in filmmaking and her passion for creating spaces like the Sheboygan Film Festival, inspiring independent filmmakers.

10/23/2025

It’s not too late to register for the Great Lakes Writers Festival! Attend readings and take FREE classes with our visiting writers, novelist Maggie Su and poet Albert Abonado. Check out the website to learn more.

The Great Lakes Writers Festival offers a free opportunity to meet published authors and mingle with the writing community. Come to as few or as many events as you like! Register today at greatlakeswritersfestival.org

10/23/2025

This past spring, Professor Jodie Mortag went on sabbatical to work on her book. Learn about her experiences in a new article for the student newspaper, The Lakeland University Mirror!

After Jodie Mortag took her sabbatical this past spring, she is beginning to reflect on her experiences. Savannah Szalanski writes about Mortag’s experiences and how she has grown from them. Want to read more? Link in bio!!

05/19/2025

Patrick Parr, Lakeland University-Japan professor and author of the book Malcolm Before X, reflects on the future of reading in an Op-Ed for the Acron Beacon Journal.

Malcolm X would've turned 100 May 19. Here's what we can learn from his time spent reading in prison.

05/08/2025

BFA graduate Marian Cramer ('24) has a poem freshly on display at the New Hanover County Arboretum AND published in the Spring 2025 issue of storySouth as part of the public poetry project "Poetry at the Arboretum: Eight Poems for Native Plants." 🌱 Marian is currently an MFA student at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

Check out the link in the comments to read Marian's poem and its companions in this fantastic project!

05/01/2025

Associate Professor Jodie Mortag has taken first place in Mikrokosmos’s 2025 Fiction Contest! Congrats, Jodie!

Lakeland University Associate Professor of Writing Jodie Mortag’s short story “Nightcrawler” has been awarded 1st place in “Mikrokosmos”' 2025 Fiction Contest by guest judge Scott Phillips, author of nine novels and a collection of short stories. His first short story, “The Ice Harvest,....

04/26/2025

Scenes from the Calliope Chapbook Series book launch today! Students in Literary Publishing planned the event for the three writers (Lynn Aprill, Freesia McKee, and Megan Muthupandiyan) selected for publication. No better way to celebrate a semester of hard work than to come together and share poems.

A big thank you to Water’s Edge Press for making this collaboration possible. Aging in Place by Lynn Aprill, City of Honesty by Freesia McKee, and Human Geographies by Megan Muthupandiyan are for sale at watersedgepress.com.

04/15/2025

You are invited! Join us at the Calliope Chapbook Series book launch on April 26th at Jake’s, a Lakeland Community in Sheboygan. The reading and Q&A begins at 2:30 p.m.. Students have been working all semester to select, edit, and publish these three wonderful books, so come celebrate with us!

Aging in Place by Lynn Aprill, City of Honesty by Freesia McKee, and Human Geographies by Megan Muthupandiyan are now available for purchase at watersedgepress.com

04/01/2025

In her flash fiction piece "The Fork," BFA student Miranda Arnold gets quickly to the point--forks have feelings too. You can read her piece in Zasshi, the creative magazine for Lakeland University, LU-Japan, and Virginia Wesleyan University students and staff.

In this flash fiction, get to know someone you hold on a daily basis…