Exploring the Impact of a Prestigious Writing Program
In the world of writing, some educational experiences can profoundly shape one’s career. Kerry Howley, a graduate from 2011, found such an experience in a writing program that transformed her approach to crafting sentences. Known for her book Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Howley reflects on how the program influenced her career.
“It was thrilling to come to a place where the sentence — even the factual sentence — was seen as a site of artistic creation,” shares Howley, currently a staff writer for New York magazine. She emphasizes the program’s role in changing her writing structure, impacting her work to this day.
One of the most significant benefits, according to Howley, was the encouragement to take her craft seriously. “You’re protected from the pressures of publishing and everything that might detract from your courage to be strange and new and weird and brave,” she explains. “It’s like a little island of experimentation. It was so important to me creatively.”
More than ten years later, Mofiyinfoluwa O., a Nigerian writer and 2025 graduate, experienced a similar transformation. Her time at the program was pivotal in pursuing her passion for nonfiction. As a student, she founded the Abebi AfroNonfiction Foundation to support Nigerian and African women’s creative nonfiction work.
“My time at Iowa made me realize that what I’m doing is cool, and there’s a whole group of people who think this is important work,” she states. “That perspective shift makes you take your work and your creativity more seriously. It puts a pep in your step.”
This newfound confidence has led to a widespread influence among alumni. Graduates are noted for publishing books, editing magazines and journals, and leading their own writing programs.
“More so than any MFA program that I’ve ever touched, our students go out into the field and make an impact,” says Febos. “It’s such an honor to be able to point to our alums and say, ‘This is what people who graduate from this program do.’”
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