Graduate Students - MFA
Active MFA students in the Department of Literature.
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Oluyemisi Bolonduro
Email Address: obolonduro@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2023Biography:
Oluyemisi Ayoyinka Bolonduro (she/they) is a Christian, Nigerian American writer with a background in autofiction and blogging. Her writing often explores friendship trios and reimagined truths. In their free time, Oluyemisi collects anime trinkets, library cards, and Stardew Valley geodes.
https://oluyemisibolonduro.wordpress.com/
Writing/Research Interests:
African self-consciousness theory, Pentecostal Christianity, (a)sexuality
Academic Background:
- B.A. in Africana Studies with a minor in English, Pomona College, 2023
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Lucia Herrmann Benitez
Email Address: lherrmann@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2022 -
Kimaya Kulkarni
Email Address: kikulkarni@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2023 -
Rebecca Lane
Email Address: rmlane@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2022 -
Fiona Martinez
Email Address: fimartinez@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2024Biography:
Fiona Martinez is a poet and community organizer from Boise, Idaho. Most at home in nature, she writes while walking, ocean wading, watching the branches for birds and the cracks in the sidewalk for the unexpected.
Writing/Research Interests:
Fiona understands writing as a liberatory practice that requires free verse and hybrid forms including bilingual writing and visual poetry/autobiography. Her work centers nature, water, home (as place and embodiment), and the persistent entanglement of violence and tenderness.
Publications:
- “Though my hair is not black”, Jeopardy Magazine. LINK
- “Palm”, Cedar. LINK
- “Algo De Nuestras Raíces Empezó Aquí”, Jeopardy Magazine. LINK
Academic Background:
- B.A. in English - Creative Writing Emphasis with minors in Education & Social Justice and Spanish, Western Washington University, 2024
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Sarah Mullen
Email Address: srmullen@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2024Biography:
Sarah Mullen is a nonfiction writer & educator who is obsessed with the thin line that separates fact from fiction. Apart from writing, you'll find her perfecting her garden companion planting strategy, binge watching reality and sci-fi tv, or visiting local libraries with her two children.
Writing/Research Interests:
Personal and Lyric Essay, Memoir, explorations of nature and identity, Deconstruction, Addiction, Spirituality, Matrescence, and Re-Storying. Entanglements, Identity Construction, Post Structural and Materialist Feminism, and Auto-ethnography.
Publications:
- "Anything But” in Mulberry Literary- Issue VII- in (Nov 2023). LINK
- “Pendant” in Wordrunner eChapbooks- 2022 Anthology – (Apr 2022). LINK
- “Cigarettes & Silence” in Feels Blind Literary- Issue 7 – (Mar 2022). LINK
- “We Made Them: Degendered Play and Shifting Subjectivities in ABC’s Bluey” in The Journal of Children in Popular Culture- Issue 13- vol. 1 – (Nov 2022). LINK
Academic Background:
- B.A. in English with a minor in Writing, Portland State University
- M.A. in Literature & Writing, California State University, San Marcos
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Ricky Novaes de Oliveira
Email Address: rnovaesdeoliveira@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2023Biography:
Ricardo "Ricky" Novaes de Oliveira (he/him) is a literary artist, educator, and poet.
https://oliveirapoetry.substack.com/
Writing/Research Interests:
Writer of contemporary poetry, avant-garde and experimental prose, cross-genre writing, and hybridity and mixed identities. Researcher of indigeniety and counter-hegemonic cultural formations.
Publications:
- Poems. UChicago Arts Magazine, Winter 2019. LINK
- Poems. Rigorous Journal, 2021. LINK
- "Dirty Laundry." Postscript Magazine, 2022. LINK
Academic Background:
- B.A. in Creative Writing with Honors, University of Chicago
- B.A. in Political Science, University of Chicago
- M.A. in Urban Education with a focus in Literacy, Loyola Marymount University
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Rose Pacult
Email Address: spacult@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2022Biography:
I ran a business for a decade prior to entering into my MFA. I am goal-oriented, with a penchant for curiosity and pursuing dreams as attainable. My research has taken me to most continents and 48 states in the USA. I plan to finish my MFA in 2025, then pursue a PhD while continuing to work in tech.
Writing/Research Interests:
Art, Technology, and Culture
Publications:
- “The Special Cult Inside of Maya Von Doll’s Sohodolls: “Stripper.”” March Danceness, March 2024. CNF.
- “The Process.” The Brooklyn Review, 2021. CNF.
- Unfolded Perception. Grund, 2020. CNF.
- “Vol. 8 - The Tribe.” Wig Wag Magazine, Wig Wag Magazine, June 2020. CNF. LINK
- “What Happened on 12/21/19: Rose Pacult.” Essay Daily: Talk About the Essay, 1 Jan. 2021, CNF. LINK
- Schreiben Mit Jungpionier Espinosa. Galerie Im Turm, 2018. CNF.
- “Man” Talisman, edited by Julia Rublow, Edition Furor, Wien, Austria, 2017. Art.
- Lighter + Lighter. Hausu Mountain, 2016. Poetry Collection.
- “The Last of What's Left.” Untoward Magazine, Untoward, 22 May 2016, Fiction. LINK
- The House of Thomas Bratzke. Vol. 2, Knowing Zasd by His Walk. Dokument Press, 2016. CNF.
- Bending. Editions Juste Ici, 2016. Poetry Collection and Art.
- “Crusades.” Crook & Folly, 2015. Fiction.
- Market Ready. Kunstquartier Bethanien, 2014. Poetry Collection and Art.
- “Up and Coming Authors.” Glamour Girl Magazine, vol. 01, Glamour Girl, Chicago, IL, 2013. Fiction and CNF.
Highlights:
- “Pizza and Pedagogy” with Rose Pacult at UCSD (19 April 2024)
- “Virtual Open House Panel” with Rose Pacult at UCSD (27 Feb 2024)
- “Writing Trauma: A Patient’s Perspective” with Rose Pacult as moderated by Laura Kolbe New York Presbyterian Hospital— Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Dept
Academic Background:
- Non-degree seeking student. Advanced-Fiction Writing Workshop, University of Arizona, 2021
- B.A. in Literature, DePaul University, 2017
- Summer Writer's Conference, Northwestern Univeristy, 2016
- Advanced Humanities Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, 2014
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Isadora Petrovsky
Email Address: ipetrovsky@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2022 -
Bailey Sneed
Email Address: bsneed@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2023 -
Georgia Wright
Email Address: gewright@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2024Biography:
Georgia Wright (they/she) is a multidisciplinary writer, audio producer, and creative shapeshifter with roots in coastal Rhode Island. Their punchy, kaleidoscopic work explores themes of climate, perception, metamorphosis, and the inexplicable.
https://www.wrightgeorgia.com/
Writing/Research Interests:
Longform fiction, radio plays, drag, protest art, audio journalism, writing for performance; the Anthropocene, climate resilience, organized resistance, metamorphosis, wilderness survival; mental illness, dreams, hallucinations, the inexplicable; cats
Publications:
- "In How to Blow Up a Pipeline, The Villain is The System", film review, pub. Atmos (2023) LINK
- "The Dirty Dozen: Meet America’s Top Climate Villains", article coauthor, pub. The Guardian (2021) LINK
- "The Green New Dream", podcast episode, pub. Inherited Podcast (Critical Frequency) (2020)
- "Strange Light", personal essay, pub. The Indy newspaper (2017) LINK
Highlights:
- Brown University Guest Lecturer, Dept. of English: "Writing Through the Kaleidoscope" (2023)
- Salve Regina University Panelist, "Down to Earth" (2023)
- Semifinalist, "Writing Climate: Pitchfest" (2022)
Academic Background:
- B.A. in Literary Arts with Honors, Brown University, 2017
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Klytie Xu
Email Address: klx001@ucsd.edu
Year of Entry: Fall 2024Biography:
Klytie Xu is a writer and artist from California.
Writing/Research Interests:
Her writing and research interests include poetry, hybrid writing, visual literature, Asian American studies, (mis-,dis-) translation, artist’s books, and public & personal archives.
Academic Background:
- B.A. in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing, UC Santa Cruz, 2021
- B.A. in Art, UC Santa Cruz, 2021