Seattle Pacific University MFA | Creative Writing

Welcome to the SPU MFA Blog!

This site grows out of the dynamic low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program based at Seattle Pacific University. At the heart of this blog will be creative writing by the talented authors emerging from our program. Continue Reading …

Merit Scholarships Available!

The next deadline for admission to the SPU MFA is October 1, 2013… Continue Reading …

Wild-Eyed Youth Pastor

By Vic Sizemore

After that, Joe instructed us to bring all our secular cassettes to his house, where they were burned in a green wheelbarrow on the front drive. Continue Reading …

She Will Not Live a Small Life

By Allison Backous Troy

Perhaps this is another reason that Moneerh challenges me: She moves with ease in a life that many would claim is restrictive. Continue Reading …

The Line Dividing Pains

By David P. Clark, M.D.

On the day I graduated from medical school I took the oath of Hippocrates. I didn’t think much about the words: the oath was one more hoop on a long hot morning. My promise to keep patient confidences, always treat patients with justice, and never harm them seemed doable, straightforward, and common sense. Continue Reading …

Bible Thumping

By Dyana Herron

The Bible hit her in the back of the head and she whipped around in shock, blood drained from her face, tears pooling in her eyes. Continue Reading …

Looking at the Real

by Brian Volck

I wanted a stiff dose of contemplative prayer—straight, no chaser—what the late Walter Burghardt called “a long, loving look at the real.” Continue Reading …

Learning to See Beauty

By Jessica Eddings-Roeser

“It’s ugly. It’s hard. It’s weird,” someone called out every year. My students were not stupid, but they lacked the practice required to see. Continue Reading …

Listening to a Stranger’s Story

By Allison Backous Troy

“Beautiful,” she says. “It was all beautiful. He is a genius, and those pirates stole everything he ever wrote.” Continue Reading …

Traditional New Year’s Food

By Dyana Herron

The magic key—and center of the meal—is black-eyed peas, which came to signify prosperity because of how they swell as they cook. Continue Reading …

Gregory Wolfe: “Whispers of Faith in a Postmodern World”

Among our national pastimes, there is none more persistent than the ritual lament over the decline and fall of the arts. The death of the novel . . . the end of painting . . . if an art form exists, we’re willing to believe it has seen better days. Continue Reading …