Please help us give a warm welcome to our newest cohort:
Logan Akinwale (Creative Writing)
Logan Akinwale, a poet, will join Purdue’s MFA program with a BS in Psychology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. takinwal@purdue.edu
Suraj Alva (Creative Writing)
Suraj’s last residence before Purdue was somewhere in the Los Angeles area, where he worked odd jobs to support his writing habit. He finished his first story in March 2017 and his work has so far appeared or is forthcoming in The Common; Multiplicity Blog, GNU Journal, The Fiction Pool and Dragon Poet Review. In his spare time, he loves to exercise or do anything outdoors. He is happy to be here!
Alexandra Anderson (LTC)
Alex (she/her/hers) is an incoming Literature, Theory, and Cultural Studies PhD student with an MA in Literature, Criticism, and Textual Studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her academic foci include American literature from the long nineteenth century and the Gothic, as well as memory and trauma studies. A few of her extracurricular interests are painting, creative journaling, horror films, and all things Barbra Streisand.
J K Anowe (Creative Writing)
An Igbo-born poet, JK Anowe's poems primarily interrogate & dabble in the existential, the autobiography of the psyche & the self. He has two chapbooks published 3 years apart & was a finalist for the 2019 Gerard Kraak Award. Recent works appear in Plume Poetry, THE SHORE, The Temz Review, Palette Poetry, and elsewhere. He's also Poetry Chapbooks Editor for Praxis Magazine Online, an online journal for Arts & Literature.
Heather Augustyn (Rhetoric & Composition)
Heather Augustyn is a PhD student in the Rhetoric and Composition program and is a continuing lecturer in the English Department at Purdue University Northwest. She is the author of seven books on Jamaican music history and she received her B.A. in English and a B.A. in philosophy from Bradley University and an M.A. in writing from DePaul University. She resides in Chesterton, Indiana with her husband and two boys and she enjoys traveling, reading, concerts, and photography.
Robert Beck (Rhetoric & Composition)
Robert Beck holds a BA in English literature from Capital University, and an MA in Rhetoric and Writing from the University of Findlay, Ohio.
Marisa Bryans (LTC)
Marisa Bryans is an MA student studying Medieval Literature. She is chiefly interested in medieval examples of modern gender theory; anachronistic cases of identity inspire her. She loves dancing badly, Kurt Vonnegut, and live music.
Shannon Campbell (Creative Writing)
Shannon Campbell is a librarian-turned-MFA candidate. She received her BA in English literature from University of Oregon, with a focus in Creative Writing and Folklore. Myths and fairy tales inspire much of her writing, and she likes to upend plenty of archetypes along the way. In her free time she draws, plays video games, cooks with too many spices, and reads and reads and reads.
Blake Chernin (Creative Writing)
Blake Chernin has a BA from Muhlenberg College, PA, majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing, and is joining the MFA program here as a fiction writer.
Cassius Epps (Creative Writing)
Cassius Epps will study fiction in the MFA program. He holds a BA in English from California State University San Bernadino.
Siroun Hintiryan (LTC)
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there lived a fairy princess named Siroun. An avid player of Dungeons & Dragons, she loves to take her mind to imaginary forests where magic, elves, fairies and colorful mushrooms frolic about. Siroun joins Purdue’s LTC program with an MA in Liberal Studies from Dartmouth College, an MA in Philosophy from Loyola Marymount, and a BA in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine.
Paul Hunter (Rhetoric & Composition)
Hello all. My name is Paul Thompson Hunter. I’m an incoming PhD student in rhetoric and composition. I completed my M.A. in technical/professional writing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where I examined 19th-century manuals of folk medicine and user persona rhetorics. I share my life with my fiancée Noël, our three cats (Salem, Samson, and Sabrina), and our dog Yuki.
Krista Johnson-Awomoyi (LTC)
Hello! I’m Krista, and I’m an incoming LTC master’s student from the faraway land of Indianapolis, IN. After earning a B.A. from Wheaton College (IL) in 2017, I worked as an English Language Assistant in France and high school English Language Arts teacher in Indy. I enjoy watching psychological thrillers, experimenting in the kitchen, and playing Sudoku on my phone.
Kirby Knowlton (Creative Writing)
I'm Kirby Knowlton (she/her), an incoming poet from South Carolina. I recently completed my BA in English at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Besides writing and reading poetry, I enjoy cooking, cycling, and being outside.
Kaden Milliren (Rhetoric & Composition)
After completing his MA in Rhetoric and Composition, Kaden Milliren is back for more and will pursue his doctoral studies with us as well. Hi again, Kade!
Matthew Morgenstern (LTC)
Matt Morgenstern is an incoming LTC doctoral student. He holds a B.A. in English from Miami University and an M.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Cincinnati. Researching Modernist and contemporary fiction, Matt also studies affect theory and its applications to environmental humanities texts that depict the everyday emergence of climate change. His first scholarly publication is forthcoming from the Virginia Woolf Miscellany.
Ayla Wilder (LTC)
Ayla Wilder is an incoming LTC MA student from Knoxville, Tennessee. She recently graduated from Susquehanna University and is primarily interested in critical theory and young adult literature as a genre. Ayla enjoys collecting enamel pins, making custom pops, baking, and playing Urban Shadows with her friends.
Marisa Yerace (Rhetoric & Composition)
Marisa Yerace (she/her/hers) is an incoming rhetoric and composition PhD student. She recently completed her MA at Oregon State University and, before that, graduated from Northern Kentucky University. Her interests include hiking, trivia nights, cooking for friends, and the academic side of Twitter (@marisaey).