Rasha Alkhateeb is a poet and graduate student at UB’s MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts program. She provides a list of reading recs from our own MFA alumni.
Created in 2004 by Professors Emeriti Kendra Kopelke and Steve Matanle, the University of Baltimore’s (UB) MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts is a community for writers and artists. The program is housed in the Liberal Arts and Policy Building, with a view of the Mount Vernon arts district just a couple blocks away. UB MFA grads write in every imaginable genre about everything unimaginable. They’re just that creative.
Brion Gill ’17 (AKA: Lady Brion) is a spoken word poet and author of With My Head Unbowed, a collection of poems about “the Black struggle, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.” She competed in and won the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion title and represented Baltimore in the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Gill teaches poetry workshops in Maryland prisons and group homes.
Tracy Gold ’16 is a writer, editor, and mom living in Baltimore. She writes short stories, essays, and novels, with two picture books set to be published in 2021, Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby from Sourcebooks and Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat from Familius. She blogs about the writing process, publishing tips, and negotiating book deals here.
Ron Williams ’16 is a poet and solo performance artist. His collection of poems and essays, Black Freak Mosh Heaven, embodies parallel themes to his autobiographical one man show, Dreadlocks, Rock ‘n Roll and Human Rights, both of which examine racism, humanity, and identity. He has been performing for 20 years.
Anthony Moll ’14 is a Baltimore-based writer and educator. Published by Mad Creek Books in 2018, Out of Step: A Memoir is Moll’s “queer coming-of-age story” in the U.S. army during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” His works focus on LGBTQI+ studies and multicultural approaches to contemporary American literature. Out of Step received a Lambda Award. He completed his Ph.D. in English at Morgan State University in May 2020.
Rafe Posey ’11 teaches writing at a maximum-security prison in Maryland. His debut fiction novel, The Stars We Share, from Pamela Dorman Books/Viking Press, is available for pre-order at independent bookstores and online sellers. Posey’s MFA chapbook, The Book of Broken Hymns, was a 2012 Lambda Literary Awards finalist.
As you’re searching through Goodreads for book recommendations or giving into your targeted ads, consider picking up one of our alumni’s books. Read what we’re reading—and writing!
