How does a creative writing PhD compare to an MFA? Erin Slaughter talks to Jared about the focus on professionalization in her doctoral program at Florida State University compared to the exploration and experimentation she found as part of the inaugural cohort of the Western Kentucky University MFA program. Along the way, she discusses her many experiences in the publishing industry and offers advice for emerging writers to demystify the submission process.

Erin Slaughter is the author of A Manual for How to Love Us, short fiction forthcoming from Harper Perennial in 2023, and two books of poetry: The Sorrow Festival (CLASH Books, forthcoming 2022) and I Will Tell This Story to the Sun Until You Remember That You Are the Sun (New Rivers Press, 2019). She is editor/co-founder of The Hunger, and her fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid writing has appeared in Black Warrior Review, CRAFT, Slice, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Western Kentucky University and is a PhD candidate at Florida State University, where she teaches creative writing courses and co-hosts the Jerome Stern Reading Series. Find her at her website erin-slaughter.com and on Twitter @erinslaughter23.

MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack and Hanamori Skoblow. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.

This episode was requested by Rajiv Thind. Thank you for listening, Rajiv!

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