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New Writers Project MFA

@newwritersprojectmfa

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MFA in Creative Writing at UT–Austin

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This week at the shop and around town!

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Coming up this week - three evenings of poetry, a Spanish language reading, and two book clubs 🦌

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September at AM 🕯️

check alienatedmajestybooks.com to rsvp and meet this month's guests

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Once Squad Co-ordinator, Libby Maeve is now on a funded three year MFA at the New Writers Project at the University of Texas, Austin. Her speculative short stories, inspired by ASMR, explore pleasure, bodily corruption and imagined futures. This week’s Sunday read is her short story Sticky in Issue 58 of Story Quarterly. Which in the words of our current Co-ordinator “is a queazy, profound and confident sci-fi tale that will stay with you for light-years after reading…”

Press Sticky in the bio tree to read.

#squadsundayread #go_all_in_2026 #thewritingsquadofficial #shortstories #asmr

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We're shortlisted on the @austinchronicle ballot for best bookstore in Austin, and - while we're not one to care for popularity contests - we're honored to be written in enough times to even make it to a shortlist.

Just this year, we've gotten to be a place for book launches and book clubs, punk shows, karaoke parties, live screenprinting, coffee popups, 16mm film screenings, MFA student readings, Pulitzer Prize winners.

But our number one will always be the books - showing off our favorite small presses and international authors, strange and subversive zines, niche essays and auteur artbooks. We are endlessly curious about books, and we hope that curiosity rubs off on everyone who steps through these doors for the first or fiftieth time.

Voting closes tomorrow, May 18 at midnight at austinchronicle.com if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, enjoy this photo slideshow of the past five months - and see you at the bookstore 🌠

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🌟 TONIGHT at @alienatedmajestybooks : I Scream Social celebrates National Poetry Month at with an incredible all-poetry line-up, featuring Jasmine Games, Sabrine Petusky, and Ray Foster!!! Bring your hopes, dreams, and a fresh poem for the open mic! | Apri 24th, 7pm, Free!

🌸 Presented by Host Publications, I Scream Social is a monthly feminist reading series and ice cream party that takes place at Alienated Majesty Books. We aim to celebrate and empower historically marginalized writers and share incredible literature and diverse perspectives to an Austin-area audience. Hosted this month by poets Claire Bowman & Katelin Kelly! Free & open to all!

💜 Open mic sign-ups begin at 6:45pm and are reserved for writers from historically marginalized communities.

🌸 Health & Safety Statement: masks are strongly encouraged and will be provided for this event.

✦✦✦ ABOUT THE FEATURED READERS ✦✦✦

💜 Sabrine Petusky is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, studying—among other things—honors English and Creative Writing for Poetry. She is also a Poetry Board member for Hothouse Literary Journal. She is currently obsessed with aye-ayes, the Lord of the Rings, and her cat, Ivy. @sabrine.olivia

💜 Ray Foster is a poet with roots in upstate New York and Vermont, currently studying in UT Austin’s New Writers Project.

💜 Jasmine Games (she/they) is a Black, queer poet, theatre maker, and educator based in Austin, TX, whose work centers healing, identity, and liberation. They are the Co-Executive Director of The Poet House and a 2025 finalist at both the Blackberry Peach National Poetry Slam and the Right2Write Poetry Slam Festival. An award-winning artist and community leader, Jasmine creates spaces where poetry, performance, and justice meet. @jasminegamespoetry

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Join the Warfield Center for the 24th annual, 2026 Eric Williams Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 2, 2026, featuring award-winning author Marlon James.

Known for his powerful storytelling and global impact on contemporary literature, James brings a dynamic and thought-provoking voice to this year’s lecture, titled “Imagining Alternative Futures.”

The evening will begin with a 5:15 PM reception, followed by the 6:15 PM keynote lecture and a conversation with UT Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Khytie Brown.

Location: George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center

Free and open to the public

Books by Marlon James and Eric Williams will be available for purchase from Black Pearl Books, followed by a post-event book signing.

Refreshments will be provided.

This beloved lecture series honors the legacy of Eric Williams while bringing leading voices in global thought, literature, and scholarship to our community.

We hope you’ll join us for an evening of reflection, dialogue, and celebration.

Registration link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-eric-williams-memorial-lecture-ewml-marlon-james-tickets-1983830283782?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

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MFA tn, queen? 😏
I know this is a time when a lot of writer’s are deciding if/where to start looking at #mfa programs around the country.
Here is some of my writerly advice on how to pick the right program for you. A longer version of this can be found on my substack Out of This World 🌍 (link in bio :) )

#writertips #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #author #writerlife #mfaprogram

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📝 One of the perks they don’t tell you about when you become a writer is all the free T-Shirts.
Just a few of the countless shirts I have from orgs I’ve worked with over the years. My closet is so full of writing events swag 😵‍💫
Revisiting these shirts has me thinking about all the events I’ve done. KB in a T-shirt for the new writers project

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big month for bullshit artists & austin punks ... come thru to the bookshop on 29th street!

all details @ alienatedmajestybooks.com/events 🏂

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✨RIVA LEHRER AT THE JOYNES READING ROOM, TUESDAY 4/1 @ 5 PM✨

In partnership with the New Writers Project, the Joynes Reading Room will host artist, curator, and writer Riva Lehrer on Tuesday, 4/1 at 5pm, for a reading and conversation with Elizabeth McCracken. Lehrer’s memoir Golem Girl follows the revolutionary change that Lehrer experiences when invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers building a Disability Culture movement. Reception and Q&A will follow. Copies of Golem Girl are available for Plan II students to pick up at the front desk of the Joynes Reading Room.

RIVA LEHRER’S work has been exhibited in venues including the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others. Lehrer now serves as an instructor in the Department of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University.

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Thanks to @parinishroff for this endorsement of THE SLIP. Parini is a fellow member of the 2015 @newwritersprojectmfa fiction cohort, and has read more versions of this book than anyone who isn’t one’s editor or spouse should be forced to endure. I don’t want to say the ‘15 NWP crew is the best and most supportive fiction cohort that’s ever existed but given that we are still gobbling Whataburger together a decade later, we must be in the running.

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