American Short Fiction, a nonprofit literary organization based in Austin, Tex., has announced its fall 2024 "MFA for All" program. The series will feature three accomplished authors as faculty: Jamel Brinkley, Karen Russell, and Susan Choi. The program's mission, which is held over Zoom, intends on "giving access to a rarified level of instruction usually reserved for students at privileged institutions."
This fall's session offers three two-session courses, each taught by one of the faculty members. Brinkley will lead "Perspective and Temperament" on October 9 and 23. Choi's course, "Generate and Revise (Make a Mess, Clean it Up)," is scheduled for November 7 and 21. Russell will teach "Other-than-Human Nature" on December 3 and 17.
Each course will be held from 6–8 p.m. CT, and students may sign up for one class ($150) or a full semester ($360). Those who enroll for the full semester will receive a 20% discount on tuition and access to an online community of their fellow students on Slack and Zoom. The courses do not constitute a degree-granting program.
Brinkley is the author of A Lucky Man and Witness. He has been a finalist for several literary awards and currently teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Choi, author of five novels including the National Book Award-winning Trust Exercise, teaches in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Russell, known for works such as Swamplandia and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, has a new novel, The Antidote, forthcoming from Knopf/Penguin Random House in March 2025.
American Short Fiction publishes a tri-quarterly print magazine and offers online content and live literary programming. The organization's mission is "to be a diverse, inclusive, and discerning publisher of today's best literary short fiction."
