Alumni Highlights
MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC)
To date, Hamline MFAC alumni have together published nearly 200 books and won over 80 awards, including a Newbery Honor and two Minnesota Book Awards. Their work has been featured on several “Best of” lists, including as a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, and an NPR Favorite. Most importantly, many of our alumni are living the “writer’s life” — earning their livings through a writing practice honed in our program.
For an in-depth look at all-things-writing as told by our alumni and faculty, visit the Hamline MFAC blog, The Storyteller’s Inkpot.
I was in Hamline’s first MFAC class of 2007, just as it was launching. The air in the room was jittery with nervous expectation. No one among us had yet graduated to show us how to break through as an author in the competitive world of children’s literature. We were all taking a leap of faith in Hamline’s program and in ourselves. Looking back, I simply would not have become the writer I am today without taking that leap into Hamline’s MFAC. I allowed myself to become immersed in creative experimentation, critical thinking, taking chances and being brave. My faculty mentors believed in me as they pushed me beyond what I thought I could do. They saw me as the writer I could become when I couldn’t quite see it for myself. In those two years at Hamline, I honed my writing skills, filled up my writer's toolbox, found community in my writing cohort, held full-hearted appreciation for my faculty mentors, and when it was time, graduated with a new mission in life. Mine was a leap of faith to join Hamline’s MFAC. It was a leap I needed to take to have a writing life. It’s a leap everyone takes who comes to Hamline’s MFAC program. But isn’t that what writing is all about—being brave and taking that leap.
Featured MFAC alumni
Alicia D. Williams
MFAC '13
Winner of a Newbery Honor for her middle-grade novel, Genesis Begins Again, praised by the New York Times as “a stunning debut novel . . . reminiscent of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.”
Justina Ireland
MFAC '13
New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including the Locus-winning Dread Nation, an alternate history of the U.S. Civil War.
Kalena Miller
MFAC '18
Author of three YA books, most recently South of Somewhere, about which Kirkus Reviews said "Complex, fully defined characters...take what could have been a standard riches-to-rags story and turn it into a thoughtful exploration of class, love, and relationships" (starred review).
Tracy Nelson Maurer
MFAC '09
Author of over 100 informational books—for audiences pre-K to upper-grade—including the nonfiction picture book John Deere, That’s Who!, which was selected as both a Junior Library Guild Selection and a National Science Teaching Association STEM Book.
Elizabeth Verdick
MFAC '13
Author of over thirty books for toddlers to teens, including the Best Behavior series and Small Walt, described by Kirkus Reviews as “reminiscent of Virginia Burton’s classics.”
A few of our alumni awards and honors
Hamline’s MFAC alumni have won or been nominated for some of the most prestigious awards in children’s literature and appeared on numerous “Best of” lists. The following is a short selection of the more than 80 awards won by our graduates.
Selected awards
- Newbery Honor
- Minnesota Book Award
- Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent
- Science Teachers of America STEM Award
- Scott O’Dell Award
- Locus Award
- Milkweed Prize for Literature
- Orbis Pictus Honor Book
- Robert Sitwell Honor Book
Other selected honors
- Junior Library Guild Selection
- Bank Street Best Children’s Book
- New York Times Bestseller
Contact information
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Creative Writing Programs, College of Liberal Arts
