Congratulations to Michener Center for Writers alum, Zachariah Ezer (MCW ‘23), for being awarded one of the 2026 Inaugural State of the Art Prizes from Creative Capital.

For the first time in Creative Capital’s 25-year history, the inaugural State of the Art Prize will provide a $10,000 unrestricted grant to 53 individual artists, one in every state, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. With this new grant, Creative Capital extends its democratic, national, open call to serve more artists at the grassroots level and to foster creativity and innovation in a broad range of rural, regional, and urban communities. More details and complete list of winners available: https://tinyurl.com/yvwvvzth 

Chronicle of Drifting is the debut poetry collection by Japanese poet Yuki Tanaka, exploring themes of rootlessness, belonging, and surrealism through dreamlike imagery inspired by Japanese traditions like tanka and haiku. The book features a restless, wandering voice that moves between different personas and locations, blending the inner and outer worlds in a surreal, often poignant, and sometimes humorous way, with a focus on “lightness” and fluid movement. 

Congrats, Yuki!

Join us at the Ransom Center on Thursday, January 22nd for a reading with MCW’s spring Guest Poetry Faculty, Daniel Khalastchi and Guest Fiction Faculty, Kevin Powers! Register here to attend!

Yeajoon Cho is a writer & filmmaker based in Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA. His work has screened at notable festivals globally and he has received distinctions from the Academy Nicholl, the Black List, Humanitas, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and more. The Humanitas College Screenwriting Awards recognize writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way and are currently enrolled in a college or university program. His screenplay sometimes, i wish i was a fish is the winner of the 2025 Humanitas Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award.

Join Noah Hawley—novelist, screenwriter, and director—and Bret Anthony Johnson, director of the Michener Center for Writers, on Wednesday, November 12th from 6-8pm at the Harry Ransom Center for a screening of the pilot episode of Alien: Earth (released August 2025 on FX). The pilot highlights Hawley’s singular storytelling—his ability to craft complex characters, weave resonant themes, and reimagine iconic franchises with originality and depth. Hawley, recently awarded the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat Summer Residency, will discuss the craft and vision behind the series as part of this special event. A reception will follow the program.

Join us on October 9th from 6-8pm at the Harry Ransom Center for a poetry reading with Sandra Lim. Sandra Lim’s previous collections of poetry include The Wilderness (W.W. Norton), winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize selected by Louise Glück, and Loveliest Grotesque (Kore Press). She is the recipient of the 2023 Jackson Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, the Pushcart Prize, and the Levis Reading Prize. Her writing has appeared in a range of journals, including The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, Poetry, The Baffler, and The New York Times Magazine, among others. In 2023, she was named Distinguished University Professor at UMass Lowell, where she teaches literature and creative writing. Born in Seoul, Korea, she now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail. This darkly comic novel explores survival, love, and hope in times of encroaching darkness.

Dr. Chang was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for her third collection of poetry, An Authentic Life (Copper Canyon Press). Her debut, The History of Anonymity (2008), was an inaugural selection for the Virginia Quarterly Review Poetry Series and a finalist for the Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers. Her second book, Some Say The Lark (Alice James Books), was longlisted for the 2018 PEN Open Book Award and won the 2018 William Carlos Williams Award. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry 2012, The Nation, The New Yorker, and Poetry. Chang holds a BA from the University of Chicago and earned an MFA and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Since 2003, she has been the co-chair of the advisory board for Kundiman, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Asian American literature.

Jessie was awarded this prize for her short story ”Mouth and Heart” (StoryQuarterly)

The 2024 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced this week. We’re thrilled to see three MCW alumni and their work in the mix!

Shōgun, written & created by Rachel Kondo (MCW 2016) received 25 nominations, including 2 nominations for Kondo for Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series.

Only Murders in the Building, which Ben Philippe (MCW 2014) writes for, received 21 nominations.

The full list of 2024 Emmy Nominations can be viewed here.