Kudos to Fresno writers — Fall 2024

Republished courtesy of We Grow Writers

From left, English Department alumni Samantha Golden, Kenyeih Williams, Kayla Mendoza, and Mary Sosa were featured this past fall in the “English Majors Out in the World” video series.

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Kudos to #FresnoWriters is an ongoing series on the Fresno State MFA blog, celebrating the professional accomplishments of students, alumni, and faculty in Fresno State’s Creative Writing Program and Department of English. This compilation includes news between September and December 2024.

Compiled by Jefferson Beavers
2/07/25

Rosie Bates (alumni) — Published the essay “Don’t Read the Comments” in Alpinist Magazine.

Jefferson Beavers (alumni, staff) — Accepted a new position as publisher of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Venita Blackburn (faculty) — Published the stories “The Good One” in McSweeney’s; and “Pigfoot” and “Witches of Fresno” in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her novel “Dead in Long Beach, California” was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Award, and it was included in NPR’s Best Books of 2024 list and the 100 Notable Books of 2024 list from the New York Times.

Sara Borjas (alumni) — Her poem “Homo naledi” was featured on The Slowdown podcast, hosted by Major Jackson.

David Borofka (retired faculty) — Published his latest story collection, “The Bliss of Your Attention” with Johns Hopkins University Press. Published the stories “Appeasement” in the Brussels Review, and “We Are All Such Humans Here” in Unlikely Stories.

Mariah Bosch (alumni, faculty) — Published the poems “Vacancies” and “Greenery” in Huizache magazine.

Audra Burwell (MFA student) — Accepted a new position as communication coordinator for College Bridge, a nonprofit that increases college access and success for underrepresented students. Published the poems “Medulla Oblongata” and “Self-Portrait #2” in The Collidescope; and “Inania (empty place)” in Tethered Literary Journal. 

Kenneth R. Chacón (alumni) — Published the poem “The Red Bandana” in the Southeast Review.

Angela Chaidez Vincent (alumni) — Accepted a new position as associate editor of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Steven Church (faculty) — Published the essay “Signs of Something Else” in Essay Daily. His essay “Auscultation,” previously published in The Pedestrian and included in the 2011 Best American Essays anthology, was re-published in the Doubleback Review.

Ronald Dzerigian (alumni, staff) — Exhibited new artworks in the monthlong solo show “Obsolete Vernacular” inside the Porterville College Art Gallery. Accepted a new position as associate editor of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Lillian Faderman (faculty emerita) — Interviewed by KPBS about the Luca Guadagnino film “Queer” and the evolution of the controversial word. Included in the GCN magazine story “Meet the Old Lesbians sharing personal stories to reclaim their herstory.”

Kathy Fagan (alumni) — Published the poems “Walk,” “Now I Drive Straight Through,” and “Song” in the Southeast Review; and “Listening to Others” in Poetry Northwest.

Angela Flores (alumni) — Accepted a new position as editorial coordinator for the Stanford University Libraries. 

Samantha Golden (alumni) — Featured in the “English Majors Out in the World” video series for Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities.

Sean A. Gordon (faculty) — Appeared on the Artful Discourse podcast, discussing climate change literatures.

Pilar Graham (alumni) — Published her second book, the poetry collection “Falling,” with Stubborn Mule Press. Published the poems “Parade,” “Attractions and Departures,” and “Winter Butterfly” in the Gasconade Literary Review anthology “No One Sees the Irony.”

Bonita Jewel Hele (alumni) — Published the poem “Roots” in the Clayjar Review.

Chris Henson (faculty emerita) — Accepted a new position as publisher emerita of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Nou Her (alumni) — Accepted a promotion to marketing manager at WestCare California.

Mia Amor Hernandez (alumni) — Accepted a new job as an after-school program educator at the Fresno Discovery Center.

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras (alumni) — Named a 2025 Periplus Fellow by the Periplus Collective, and will be mentored by the poet Felicia Zamora. Published the poems “N St. Mottled Bark” and “Today I went to heaven and punched its door” in Huizache magazine; and “zapotec ii” in Omnium Gatherum Quarterly from the Community of Writers. 

Soreath Hok (MFA student) — Presented essays from her thesis manuscript, “Donut Kid,” for Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, in conversation with NPR host Deepa Fernandes of the “Here and Now” program. Published the essay “A Fresno family honors its Cambodian roots thanks to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter” in the Fresno Bee.

Madison Johansson (M.A. student) — Presented the paper “Reimagining the Gothic Genre: Female Mobility and Subaltern Rejection in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ‘Mexican Gothic’” at the Pacific Ancient Modern Language Association (PAMLA) conference in Palm Springs.

Ryan Kenedy (alumni) — Published the story “Anacortes” in the North Dakota Quarterly. 

Gilliann Kenerly (alumni) — Accepted a new co-coordinator position of the Writing Center at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Angelina Leaños (MFA student) — Published the poem “Erasure of the Exodus” in Fruitslice. Interviewed for the Arkana Literary Magazine contributor spotlight on “Finding what you are being called to write.”

Phoua Lee (MFA student) — The piece “i gorge i genitalia,” published in A Velvet Giant, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The story “Whirlwing Daughter,” published in Fractured Lit, was nominated for Best Small Fictions 2024. 

Alison Mandaville (MFA student, faculty) — Published the collaborative essay “Migrations and Mutations: Four Writer-Translators on Writing and Translating from Our Bodies” in the journal Exchanges.

Marisa Mata (alumni, staff) — Accepted a new position as associate editor of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Michele McConnell (faculty) — Published the co-authored book chapter “Co-creating Complexities, New Epistemologies, and Sustaining Collaboration: The Effects of an Online Community of Practice in International Higher Education” in the book “Interdisciplinary Sustainability Education: Collaborative Intercultural Learning for Positive Change” from Lexington Books.

Kayla Mendoza (alumni) — Featured in the “English Majors Out in the World” video series for Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities.

Sarah Fawn Montgomery (alumni) — Published the poems “Brine” in Ghost City Press; “When I am Diagnosed, an Absent Family Member Reappears to Ask if My Disability is Genetic” in the Laurel Review; “Sea Change” in The Fourth River; “Chronic Pain as Aquarium” in Identity Theory magazine; “A Male Doctor Says Maybe the Pain is My Period” in The Pinch journal; “Scrimshaw” in Permafrost Magazine; “Diagnosis as Iceberg” and “Riptide” in the Jabberwock Review; “Exoskeleton” in The New Territory; and “Seawall” in the South Dakota Review. Interviewed by Shenandoah Literary on writing about women’s reproductive rights. 

Olivia Muñoz (alumni) — Published the poems “Medio oeste” in the anthology “The Cost of Our Baggage” from Gnashing Teeth Publishing; “The Men Stop Here Only Briefly, They Know to Move Along” in the Blue Mountain Review; and “Bloodlines” in Broken Lens Journal. Interviewed by the Blue Mountain Review about her debut chapbook, “These Women, They Carry Purses Full of Knives.”

Samina Najmi (faculty) — Her chapbook “Kindling” was named a semifinalist for the Jeanne Leiby Memorial Chapbook Award from the Florida Review. Published the essays “The Spark of Your Story, Ode to Aaron Bushnell” in the Markaz Review; “First Thanksgiving Without Them” and “Applause” in Sugar Sugar Salt magazine; and “Here—and There—Lies Home” in the anthology “Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California,” from Angel City Press.

Shelby Pinkham (alumni) — Reviewed the Michael Chang book “Toy Soldiers” for Pleiades.

Monique Quintana (alumni) — Awarded a July 2025 residency at Storyknife, a women writers retreat in Homer, Alaska. Published the story “Vallejo” in Huizache and the fairy tale “The Wolf Trap” in Trash Wonderland. Published the prose poems “My Son’s Ultrasound Becomes a Velvet Painting” and “The Gramophone” in Até Mais: Latinx Futurisms. Her prose poem “That’s Still My Stone Serpent,” published in Sunhouse Literary, was nominated for Best of the Net. Her flash story “What Hatchlings,” published in The Bonemilk Collective III from Gutslut Press, was nominated for Pushcart Prize.

Jacob Reina (alumni) — Published the story “To See the Saffron Winter” in Twisted Vine.

René M. Rodríguez-Astacio (faculty) — Published the co-authored article “‘I’ve Seen Literacies Move Mountains’: A Queer of Color Critique as a Guide toward Reading and Teaching beyond What We Know” in the English Journal from NCTE.

Brynn Saito (faculty) — Published the essay “Acts of Grace: Memory Journeys Through the San Joaquin Valley” in the anthology “Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California,” from Angel City Press.

Alberto Saldaña Uribe (alumni) — Published the poem “la bala perdida” in Slippery Elm journal.

Taylor Seals (MFA student) — Accepted a new position as assistant editor of the revived Scrub Jay Press.

Jacob Simmons (MFA student) — His essay “The Rougarou,” previously published in Under the Sun magazine, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Mary Sosa (alumni) — Featured in the “English Majors Out in the World” video series for Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities.

Daniel Speechly (alumni) — Published the essay “How I Love You” in Litro Magazine UK.

sami h. tripp (alumni, faculty) — Published the triptych poem “Naj Tunich” in Huizache magazine.

Brian Turner (alumni) — His poetry collection “The Wild Delight of Wild Things” was longlisted for the Laurel Prize.

Carolina Vasquez Mata (alumni) — Published the story “The Desert” in Luna Station Quarterly.

Hope Vang (M.A. student) — Accepted a writing internship with The Key Reporter and Phi Beta Kappa.

Mai Der Vang (faculty) — Published the poems “Chant of Immediate Threats” and “Node: When In the End” in AGNI; and “Tame External Features Come Birthing Endangered In a Cage” in Narrative magazine. Performed the Larry Levis poem “New Year’s Eve at the Santa Fe Hote, Fresno, California” for Graywolf Press. Her poem “For the Nefarious,” previously published in Poetry magazine, was included in the Daily Kos for the Morning Open Thread feature “Time Done is Dark: Scars and Tasting Sunshine.”

Soul Vang (alumni) — Published his second poetry collection, “Song of the Cluster Bomblet,” with HER Publisher. The book was reviewed by the Asian Pacific Review.

Kenyeih Williams (alumni) — Featured in the “English Majors Out in the World” video series for Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities.

M.L. Williams (alumni) — Published the poems “My Tosca,” “Lacuna: Grandfather,” and “Ode to Nothing” in Live Encounters. 

Brenna Womer (faculty) — Published the essay “Child(free)” in the journal So To Speak. Published two excerpts from her epistolary erasure project “Dear Mom” in Diode Poetry.

Brandon Xiong (B.A. student) — Reviewed the Soul Vang poetry collection “Song of the Cluster Bomblet” for the Asian Pacific Review.

Jer Xiong (alumni) — Published the essay “Are We Getting Out?” in the Watershed Review. Her essay “Calling,” previously published in the Cincinnati Review, was recognized as notable in the 2024 Best American Essays anthology.

Did we miss your accomplishment? If you’re a student or alumni of the English Department and you have a special announcement, a new job, a professional or creative success, or an inspiring story that you’d like to share, please submit this short “Share Your Success Stories” form, or contact staff Jefferson Beavers by email or at 559.278.1569.