Fiction MFA alums Nicole Haroutunian MFA ’08 and Vanessa Lawrence MFA ’22 read from their recently published novels and discuss the evolution of their books from early drafts to post-MFA support and publication.
Nicole Haroutunian MFA ’08 is the author of the novel-in-stories Choose This Now (Noemi Press, 2024) and the story collection Speed Dreaming (Little a, 2015). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Story, The Georgia Review, the Bennington Review, Post Road, Tin House's Open Bar, and elsewhere. A Sarah Lawrence College MFA alum, she edited the long-running digital arts platform Underwater New York with three fellow SLC writers, Nicole Miller, Helen Georgas, and Nicki Pombier, and co-founded the reading series Halfway There with SLC writer Apryl Lee (who also narrates the Choose This Now audiobook). She works in museum education and lives with her family in Woodside, Queens in New York City.
Vanessa Lawrence MFA ’22 is a writer, editor, and native New Yorker. For nearly two decades she covered the arts, fashion, beauty, design, and New York society as a staff writer for publications including Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine. She has a BA in history from Yale University and an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her debut novel, Ellipses, will be published by Dutton on March 5th. Ellipses has been chosen by Electric Literature as a "Queer Book You Need to Read" in 2024 and by Vogue as a "Best Book of 2024 (So Far)."
This event is colloquium credit eligible.