Our Success Stories

This compilation includes news between June and August 2025.

Compiled by Jefferson Beavers and Angelina Leaños
9/08/25

Chloe Abella (MFA student) – Published the essay “Steaming Cups of Unsuspecting Nostalgia” in the San Joaquin Review.

Stacey Balkun (alumni) — Interviewed the author Skye Jackson in the Bear Review.

Rosie Bates (alumni) — Published the poem “Train Heavy, Climb Light” in the magazine Alpinist.

Jefferson Beavers (staff, alumni) — Published the poem “Pocho Plant Power” in Abundance Literary Magazine. Quoted in the Fresno Bee article “Fresno has grown famous authors; how its literary communities continue to thrive.” For the sixth year in a row, recognized by Fresno State with a President’s Faculty and Staff Service Award for community volunteering.

Deborah Mechele Bento (MFA student) – Published the poems “Breaching Ballerinas” and “Moonlight & Monuments” in hais: a literary journal; and “Your Rise Inked,” in the San Joaquin Review. Also published the visual art “Searching for Francesca & Robert” and “Praying at Point Lobos,” and the story “Thai Teapots” in the San Joaquin Review.

Venita Blackburn (faculty) — Published the story “Black Jesus” in the new Dzanc Books anthology “Be Gay, Do Crime,” edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley. Her novel “Dead in Long Beach, California” was named a finalist in the 2025 Lammy Awards for Lesbian Fiction, from Lambda Literary.

Mariah Bosch (faculty, alumni) — Published a poetry chapbook, “Sooner Better Well Again,” with Flat Land Publications.

Cindy Bradley (alumni) — Interviewed the author Sarah Fawn Montgomery in the magazine Under the Sun.

Audra Burwell (MFA student) – Published the poem “Abhaile” in the San Joaquin Review.

Mialise Carney (alumni) — Awarded a residency to study with the author Kali Fajardo-Anstine at the Tin House Summer Workshop. Interviewed the author Sarah Fawn Montgomery in “Small Spaces, Small Stories: Essaying the Lives of Girls and Women” on the Brevity blog. 

Daniel Chacón (alumni) — His story collection “The Last Philosopher in Texas” was shortlisted for the 2024 REFORMA National Book Award.

Kenneth R. Chacón (alumni) — Published the poem “Coming Down” in the Vassar Review.

Sarah A. Chavez (alumni) — Awarded a Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission to develop new work and produce free public programming. Accepted a new position of Associate Dean of Faculty and Equity/Inclusion for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Steven Church (faculty) — His previously published essay “I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part” was included in the new Fourth Genre anthology “25 Essays from Our First 25 Years,” edited by Joey Franklin and Patrick Madden.

Anthony Cody (alumni) — Served as guest editor for the Architecture of Futuropasados issue of Mānoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing.

J. Corriea (alumni) – Published the poem “Jazz on Bones” in hais: a literary journal.

Holley Cotham (B.A. student) – Published the poems “Afterimage” in Abundance Literary Journal; and “Dissection of a Living Carcass” in hais: a literary journal.

Virginia Crisco (faculty, alumni) — Published the book-length Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC) module “My Language Journey,” a research informed, peer- and teacher-reviewed curriculum for 7th grade corequisite English Language Arts and English Language Development classes.

Martin Bantilan Dabon (alumni) – Published the poem “What Takes Me Home” in hais: a literary journal.

Isabella De La Torre (MFA student) – Published the poems “Stray Hold” and “Fangs” in the San Joaquin Review; and “Central Valley Feline” and “Hypochondria” in hais: a literary journal. Her poem “Ice Hart” was named a finalist in the poetry contest “Interwoven Destiny—Protecting Snow Leopards to Protect Our Planet” from the nonprofit Snow Leopard Conservancy. 

Andrew Dixon (B.A. student) – Published the piece “Shoe Shiner” in the San Joaquin Review.

Alea Droker (alumni) – Published the poems “Mirror” and “Mathematics” in the San Joaquin Review.

Karissa Ellison (alumni) — Accepted a new position as Marketing Coordinator for Royal T Management in Fresno.

Mercedez Espino (alumni) – Under the pen name meche olvera, published the poems “te amo tambien pero we had so much left to say” and “do I wear my madness well?” in hais: a literary journal.

Eduardo Espinoza-Gonzalez (alumni) – Published the poem “Memories on a Screen” in the San Joaquin Review; and “9-5 feet under” and “Comete una quesadilla a solas” in hais: a literary journal.

Lillian Faderman (emeriti faculty) — Featured with her partner Phyllis Irwin in the National Public Radio photo story “Decades in, these women’s love was ‘Hidden Once, Hidden Twice.’” Interviewed for the Smithsonian Magazine article “America Deported Her for Publishing a Book Titled ‘Lesbian Love’” about the author and Holocaust victim Eve Adams. Interviewed for the Parade Magazine story “What is a Lavender Marriage, Exactly?” Included in the Times of San Diego list “Queer Authors Build Your TBR List.” 

Kathy Fagan (alumni) — Published the poems “How Do You Feel?” and “Willow” in the journal Pleiades. 

Yeiri Farias (B.A. student) – Published the poem “The woman in the willow trees” in the magazine Furrow. Published the poem “Telling My Mirror About Forgiveness” and the story “We Are One” in the San Joaquin Review.

J. Ashley Foster (faculty) — Published the peer-reviewed article “Archives of Peace and Feminist Modernist Legacies: Woolf, Parker, Yazbek” in the journal Feminist Modernist Studies.

Allyssa Gaines (MFA student) — Published the essay “Secret Nicotine Addiction” in hais: a literary journal.

Stephanie Gutierrez (alumni) – Published the poems “Tasseography” and “Ode to Chores” in hais: a literary journal; and the essay “Film Reviews from a Captivated Spectator” in the San Joaquin Review.

Nou Her (alumni) — Accepted a new position as Senior Social Media Specialist for Kaweah Health in Visalia.

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras (alumni) — Awarded writing residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center in Massachusetts, the Hambridge Center in Georgia, and the Vashion Artist Residency in Washington. 

Melanie Hernandez (faculty) — Promoted at Fresno State to full professor.

Kimberly Horg (alumni) — Published the essay “The Seashell Fort that Saved America” in BarBar Literary Magazine.

Courtney Hughes (faculty, alumni) — Accepted into the Ph.D. program in English, Composition and Applied Linguistics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Presented on the panel “From Destiny’s Child to Beyoncé: Using Group Work to Establish Skills for Strong Solo Writing” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (4C’s) in Baltimore, Maryland. Presented on the panel “Artificial Intelligence: Reshaping the Conversation from the ‘Big Bad’ to Stress Slayer” at the International Writing Center Association online conference.

Ra Jarrar (faculty) — Performed her new science-fiction solo show “The Last Palestinian Alive” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was previewed in The Guardian. The show was reviewed in the Scottish newspaper The National. Her memoir “Love is an Ex-Country” was included in the Vogue Magazine list “13 Feminist Books That Deserve a Place on Your Nightstand.” Included in the OUT Magazine feature “Hollywood needs more queer Muslim stories.” 

Mellissa Jessen-Hiser (alumni) — Appointed interim director of Fresno State’s Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.

Angie Johnson (B.A. student) – Published the poem “No Face To Say It” in the San Joaquin Review.

Ariana Jones (B.A. student) – Published the poems “Anxious Moments” and “In Your Eyes” in the San Joaquin Review.

Celeste Jones (MFA student) – Published the poems “Smoke Cleanse” and “Can I stay?” in the San Joaquin Review.

Angelina Leaños (MFA student) – Published the poems “save your death,” “Because my name blossoms my bisabuela,” “They Tried to Bury Us,” and “Nochebuena” in the Northridge Review; “to birth an ancestral crown” and “Departing as Unclaimed” in the San Joaquin Review; “Dragonheart” and “Conversation Pending Abuelo’s Departure” in hais: a literary journal; “geographic tongue” and “Abuelo-Speaking #0.5” in Twin Bird Review; “What Lies in Fathers’ Dreams” in SHIFT magazine; “Ancestral V” in Reed magazine; “momia” in Abundance Literary Magazine; “Bury Me, Lover,” “Prayer to Saint Marie,” and “Ode to Rosaries [Censored]” in the magazine Kailon; and “The Raking,” “Potion for Abuelo-Being,” “tongue of abuelo’s grief #1,” and “lunapiel” in the White Wall Review. Her poem “geographic tongue” was featured in Poetry Daily.

Stefan Leiva (MFA student) – Published the pieces “An Egregious Evil Called the Relentless Rumor” and “Fangs, Stakes, and the Landlord's Letter” and the essay “Everyone Wants to Be My Enemy” in the San Joaquin Review. 

Suzanne Lummis (alumni) — Edited the new anthology “Poetry Goes to the Movies,” published by Beyond Baroque Books.

Sharon K. McClain (MFA student) — Published the essay “Santa Monica Sunset” in the magazine Under the Sun.

Ruben Mejia (alumni) — Published the poem “Bluebird” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: On Being.

Noah Reed Miranda (B.A. student) — Won a top award in the Outstanding Oral Presentation category at Fresno State’s 2025 Central California Research Symposium. The presentation title was “Playing with Orientalism in How to Host a Murder’s Hoo Hung Wu.”

Sarah Fawn Montgomery (alumni) — Her new flash nonfiction book from Small Harbor Publishing, “Abbreviate,” was reviewed in the Independent Book Review, Mom Egg Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Smokelong Quarterly, and Kirkus Reviews. Her craft chapbook “Nerve” was included in the CLMP list “A Reading List for Disability Pride Month 2025.” Published the essays “You Have Been Chosen to Lead a Workplace Seminar on Disability” for The Belladonna Comedy; “Though She be but Little, She is Fierce” in Essay Daily; and “Not Too Small to Matter” in Hippocampus Magazine. Interviewed by Mialise Carney in “Small Spaces, Small Stories: Essaying the Lives of Girls and Women” on the Brevity blog; by Cindy Bradley for the magazine Under the Sun; by Juliet Way-Henthorne for the Hunger Mountain Review; by Luke Rolfes for the Laurel Review; by Lisa Ampleman for the Cincinnati Review; and by Aylli Cortez for the Sundress Publications blog. 

James T. Morrison (alumni) — Published the essays “Down on the Farm” in Slate magazine; and “Bluffs” in the journal River Teeth. Interviewed by Jared McCormack for the MFA Writers Podcast. 

Olivia Muñoz (alumni) — Interviewed by Christiana Maria Malacara on the “Somos Hispanos” program on Delta College Public Media and the That’s What She Said podcast on WSGW radio, in Michigan. Featured in the article “From Mi Gente to poetry, local writer makes her mark” in the newspaper Latino Banner.

Samina Najmi (faculty, MFA student) — Her forthcoming debut memoir from Trio House Press, “Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time,” was named one of Poets & Writers magazine’s debut nonfiction picks of 2025. The book also earned a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. Published the essays “Fire Song” in the Los Angeles Review; and “The Heft of the Hollowing” in the Hunger Mountain Review.

James O’Bannon (alumni) — Published the poems “Memory Exercise: Describe It” and “How to Unmake the City” in the journal Many Nice Donkeys.

Delaney R. Olmo (alumni) — Published the poem “Quail Inheritance” in Poetry Northwest. The poem was named a finalist for the 2025 James Welch Prize.

Ava N. De La Cruz Pagan (B.A. student) – Published the poem “Ocean Graveyard” in the San Joaquin Review.

Dawn Parker (alumni) — Published the poem “To Gaze Upon a Mirror” in Abundance Literary Magazine.

Guadalupe Salgado Partida (MFA student) – Published the poems “The Sun Is” and “Ode to the Modalities of Love (the stitchery)” in the San Joaquin Review; and “The Clingstone Nectarines in a Jar (Rape by Imperialism)” in hais: a literary journal.

Aura Peredia-Garcia (alumni) – Published the poems “Ancestral Ambivalence” and “Cinema Paradiso (1988)” and the essay “Clotheslines Avenue" in the San Joaquin Review. 

Aissa Perico (alumni) — Published the poems “A poem is like” and “Reincarnation” in the Verseve anthology “Butterflies.”

Feroz Rather (alumni) — Published the essay “A Route of Evanescence” in the journal The Margins, from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

Raúl Rivera-Garcia (B.A. student) — Published the poem “Wednesday Morning (November 5th)” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: On Being.

Zeyda Romero (alumni) – Published the visual art “Simpler Days,” “Missed Call,” and “Solitude” in the San Joaquin Review.

Brynn Saito (faculty) — Included in the Fresno Bee article “Fresno’s noisiest park transformed into city’s largest outdoor art gallery.” 

Steven Sanchez (alumni) — Published the poem “Grief is the Raven” in Glass: A Journal of Poetry. 

Steven Sandage (MFA student) – Published the poem “Tangerine” in the San Joaquin Review.

Emily Jo Scalzo (alumni) — Published the poem “Insomnia” in the journal Serotonin. Published the villanelle “Jaded Thoughts Cascaded” social justice newsletter Dissident Voice.

Jacob Simmons (alumni) – Published the essay “John Little” in the San Joaquin Review.

Navdeep Singh Dhillon (alumni) — Published the essay “How My Wife and I Navigate Our Very Different Travel Styles” in Parents Magazine.

Jordan Solis (alumni) – Published the poem “Abuelita” in the San Joaquin Review.

Daniel Speechly (alumni) — Published the essays “Paris Syndrome: Pari Shōkōgun” in the journal Panorama; “Beware Paul Theroux!” in Republic of Letters; and “Transparency, Promotion, and Design: Tools for Building Strong Lit Mags” and “The Importance of (Good) Self-Promotion” in Lit Mag News.

Arianna Miranda Tapia (B.A. student) – Published the poem “Empty Without” in the San Joaquin Review.

Bo Vang (MFA student) published the poems “Kuv Txiv Ib Txwm Hais Tias,” “the weight of unshed tears and silent shadows,” and “goodbye transcends the bounds of time” in hais: a literary journal.

Hope Vang (M.A. student) — Served as a writing intern for the Phi Beta Kappa honors society publication The Key Reporter. 

Mai Der Vang (faculty) — Her third book “Primordial” was featured in the International Examiner article “Mai Der Vang’s latest collection continues the practice of documentary poets.” The book was included in The Revelator list “Earth Versed: 10 New Poetry Books About Our Relationship With Nature.” Promoted at Fresno State to associate professor.

Visas Vongnarith (B.A. student) – Published the poem “Google Rabbit Hole” in hais: a literary journal. 

Lisa M.C. Weston (faculty) — Presented the paper “The Queer Intimacies of Literacy in ‘Exeter Riddle 60’” at the Leeds International Medieval Congress.

Brenna Womer (faculty) — Published the visual poetry special feature “26 Sept 86” in the Cincinnati Review.

Brandon Xiong (alumni) – Published the piece “Cold Dinner” in hais: a literary journal.

Chou Xiong (MFA student) – Published the poem “bamboo is the grandma” in hais: a literary journal.

Jer Xiong (alumni) — Published the essay “Hollow” in Two Hawks Quarterly.

Katie Xiong (alumni) – Published the poem “the ghost who shall not be heard” in hais: a literary journal; and the essay “Which Guy Should You Go On A Date With?” in the San Joaquin Review.

Diego Zepeda (B.A. student) — Published the poem “Through Night Mast” in the San Joaquin Review.

Did we miss your accomplishment? If you’re a student or alumni of the English Department and you have a special announcement, a new job, a professional or creative success, or an inspiring story that you’d like to share, please submit this “Share Your Success Stories” form, or contact staff Jefferson Beavers at jbeavers@mail.fresnostate.edu or 559.278.1569.

This compilation includes news between January and May 2025.

Compiled by Jefferson Beavers
6/03/25

William Arce (faculty) — Nominated for an Outstanding Advisor Award by Fresno State’s Campus Advisors Network. 

Stacey Balkun (alumni) — Her story “Open Up,” published in The Plentitudes, won the journal’s 2025 Plentitudes Prize in Flash. Published the poems “The Water, the Truth, the Water” and “In the Forest” in the ecopoetry anthology “Attached to the Living World” from Trinity University Press. Her poem “Lent in the Anthropocene,” previously published in the Mississippi Review, was longlisted for the 2025 Previously Published Poem Prize from Palette Poetry. 

Stephen Barile (alumni) — Published the poems “Etiquette,” “Brasserie La Coupole,” and “Doyle White’s Wrecking Yard” in the Brussels Review; and “Spreading Paul’s Ashes” in Wild Blue Zine.

Kendra Barton (M.A. student) — Recognized by Fresno State’s Division of Graduate Studies as the M.A. English program’s 2025 exemplary graduate student.

Jefferson Beavers (staff, alumni) — Published the poem “Grandma Dorothy came to me in a dream” in Behemoth Magazine.

Deborah Mechele Bento (B.A. student) — Published the essay “Finding Your Voice” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Venita Blackburn (faculty) — Her novel “Dead in Long Beach California” was named a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. The book was included on the Torrance Daily Breeze list of “12 noteworthy books by California authors that made an impact in 2024” and the Autostraddle list of “Queer Books to Read if You’re Already Missing Severance.” Published the flash essay “Writing Sex and the Apocalypse Novel: A Memoir” in Elastic Magazine.

David Borofka (retired faculty) — Published the story “To Save the World, Idiot, Start with Your Own Trashy Backyard” in the magazine The Thieving Magpie.

Mariah Bosch (faculty, alumni) — Awarded a Peter Taylor Fellowship for a summer residency at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop in Gambier, OH. Also awarded a Theresa McCourt Memorial Scholarship for a summer residency with the Community of Writers in Olympic Valley, CA. Published the poems “Greenery” and “Vacancies” in the magazine Huizache.

Cindy Bradley (alumni) — Her unpublished manuscript was named a finalist for the 2025 Wandering Aengus Book Award in Nonfiction. 

Audra Burwell (MFA student) — Published the poems “Abhaile {A-wall-ya}” and “Persona” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets; and “Inania (empty place)” in Wild Blue Zine.

Mialise Carney (alumni) — Accepted a fully funded Ph.D. admission offer to study creative writing and literature at the University of Cincinnati.

David R. Carrasco-Gomez (MFA student) — Published the poems “Machuahuitl on Megiddo,” “Chicano Dionysus Cleans Up, Finds Jesus, Promptly Gets Into Pro Wrestling,” “The Apocryphon of Country Bacon Western Cheeseburger,” “Payaso Leather,” and “Yaldabaoth Fills in on Fryer on a Karaoke America Friday Night” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets; and “And Every Night Animal Turns Yellow Eyes on Us” in Wild Blue Zine.

Daniel Chacón (alumni) — Won the 2025 Salinas de Alba Award for Latino Children’s Literature from Arte Público Press, which includes publication of his debut children’s book “Gecko Girl/Lagartijita.”

Gurmannat Chalotra (B.A. student) — Published the poems “it’s almost mango season” and “clinical experience” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Justine Corriea (alumni) — Published the poem “Мор. Утопия.” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Holley Cotham (B.A. student) — Published the poem “Seeking Closure from a Shovel” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Mallory Crow (B.A. student) — Published the poem “The Supernova of Old Friends” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Tiffany Crum (alumni) — Awarded a creative residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, GA.

Isabella De La Torre (MFA student) — Published the poems “Season of the Wolves” and “Rite of the Snow Leopard” in Behemoth Magazine. Named a finalist in Fresno State’s annual Art Song Festival poetry competition.

Valentino Di Pietro Hernandez (alumni) — Published the story “Funeral March” in Behemoth Magazine.

Alea Droker (alumni) — Accepted a Ph.D. admission offer to study English literature at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Ronald Dzerigian (alumni) — Published a new poetry chapbook, “A Lie in the Refrain,” with Flat Land Publications.

Seth Ervin (M.A. student) — Published the story “Highs and Lows” and the essay “Smothering America’s Soul” in Behemoth Magazine. 

Mercedez Espino (MFA student) — Accepted a fully funded admission offer to the Master of Library and Information Science program at Simmons University in Boston, MA. Won Fresno State’s annual Art Song Festival poetry competition for her poem “for Wonder es un Secreto para Descubrir: an Incantation,” which was performed live, six times in six original compositions, by student composers and vocalists. Recognized by Fresno State’s Division of Graduate Studies as the MFA Creative Writing program’s 2025 exemplary graduate student. Under the pen name meche olvera, published the poems “when grief became a journey” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets; and “The Mental Catch” in Wild Blue Zine.

Eduardo Espinoza-Gonzalez (B.A. student) — Published the poem “UFOy” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Lillian Faderman (emeriti faculty) — A film adaptation of her nonfiction book “Scotch Verdict” began filming in Edinburgh, Scotland, with media coverage in Edinburgh Live and the Edinburgh Reporter. Her research was quoted in the CounterPunch article “Jerry Falwell and the Christian Culture Wars,” and the GayCities article “The legend of the lesbian wolf girls at Vassar College,” as part of the site’s Pride in Places series.

Kathy Fagan (alumni) — Published the poem “January 6th” in the Plume Poetry series Dissent: A Feature.

Yeiri Farias (B.A. student) — Published the poem “How can I be enough for you?” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets. Independently published the novel “Love Me Under the Stars.”

Olivia K. Ferro (B.A. student) — Published the poem “It’s Cold in Plymouth” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets. Independently published the poetry collection “The Goddess of Luck Turns Her Cheek.”

Analaura Flores (B.A. student) — Published the poem “Sangre Café” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Rebecca Abidail Flores (alumni) — Co-created the installation “Flores Couch, 2025. Rest. Play. Rest.” at Acción Latina in San Francisco, with Danielle Revives.

Mariah Gabler (B.A. student) — Presented the paper “A Father’s Trauma: Family, Masculinity, and War Trauma” at Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities honors symposium.

Madylin Garcia (B.A. student) — Published the poems “Family Portraits,” “Inheritance” “Curbside Enlightenment,” and the visual artworks “Lost on Shaw Avenue Bus Route 9” and “joy/love/revolution” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets. 

Pilar Graham (alumni) — Published the essay “Control Burn” in the Cold River Press anthology “Voices: Mysticism, Prophecies and Marigolds.”

Bonita Jewel Hele (alumni) — Published the stories “The Bloodvoicer” and “Tale of a Mirror Dragon” in Havok Magazine.

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras (alumni) — Published the poems “I-765” in Poetry magazine; “Excerpt from ‘Zapoteca’” in the Michigan Quarterly Review; and “N St. Mottled Bark” and “Today I Visit Heaven, Punch Its Door, and Measure Its Memory” in the magazine Huizache.

Soreath Hok (MFA student) — Won the graduate Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize for the essay “Hard Climb,” as selected by Brooke Champagne. Published the essay “My Father’s Apple Fritters” in Wild Blue Zine.

Uvllia Ibarra (MFA student) — Published the essay “The Bean” in Behemoth Magazine.

Vienna Ingrassia (B.A. student) — Accepted an admission offer to the M.A. program in English Literature at Sacramento State.

Celeste Jones (B.A. student) — Named honorable mention for the undergraduate Larry Levis Poetry Prize for the poem “If you ever go looking for my heart, you’ll find a boat out where the whales breach,” as selected by William Archila. Published the poems “I Caught the Moon,” “Let me remind you…” and “Taste of Pride” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being. Presented the short film “Dear Andy” at Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities honors symposium.

Jared Joseph (alumni) — Published the story “Bounty” and the essay “Crossfire” in Behemoth Magazine.

Scott Knoll (alumni) — Published the story “The Moons Divide” in Behemoth Magazine. 

Angelina Leaños (MFA student) — Named honorable mention for the graduate Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize for the poem “All the Flowers the Moon Keeps Hoarding,” as selected by William Archila. Published the poem “Amor de otro mundo” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being. Interviewed the author William Archila for The Normal School magazine.

Phoua Lee (MFA student) — Won the graduate Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing for the poem “My Dead Twin Returns and Guts Her Killer, Because Girlhood,” as selected by Anthony Cody; won the Soul Vang Prize Prize for Poetry for the poem “Orphan Boy; Destiny Unconstellated,” as selected by Yia Lee; and named honorable mention for the graduate Fresno Fiction Prize for the story “My Ancestors Say I Can’t Be Gay,” as selected by Tanya Nichols.

Joseph LeForge (M.A. student) — Named the English Department’s 2025 M.A. Student of Distinction. 

Stefan Romeo Leiva (MFA student) — Won the graduate Fresno Fiction Prize for the story “El Gallo Catracho,” as selected by Tanya Nichols.

Olga Y. Lopez-Villegas (B.A. student) — Published the poem “Father’s Love Without Words” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Jasmine Maldonado (B.A. student) — Published the poems “Tus Sueños” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets; and “Las Malenchistas” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Carolina Mata (alumni) — Published the story “Christened Red” in Black Fox Literary Magazine. The story was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 

Shannon C. Matalone (MFA student) — Published the story “A Moment on the Lake” in Wild Blue Zine.

Sharon K. McClain (MFA student) — Published the essay “Concentric Circles” and three “Skyscapes” photographs in Wild Blue Zine.

Ruben Mejia (alumni) — Published the poem “Behemoths in Babylon” in Behemoth Magazine.

Vanessa Mejia (B.A. student) — Published the visual artworks “Looking Forward (Self Portrait)” and “Mi Catrina”  in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Sarah Fawn Montgomery (alumni) — Published her new essay collection “Abbreviate” with Small Harbor Press. The collection was featured in the MER Bookshelf series for the journal Motherhood, Literature and Art; and it was included in the CLMP list of “Books Launching in May 2025.” Interviewed about the collection for Sweet Lit. Published her new craft chapbook “Nerve: Unlearning Workshop Ableism to Develop Your Disabled Writing Practice” with Sundress Publications. The chapbook was reviewed in the Independent Book Review. Published the writer’s diary “Chronic Pain, Disabled Community, and Navigating a Book Launch” for Write or Die Magazine. Published the essays “In Praise of Writing the Small Story” for Writer’s Digest; “To Tell My Disabled Stories, I Needed to Unlearn Ableist Workshop Critiques” and “7 Poetry Collections About the Disability Experience” in Electric Literature; “Mess with Electric” in Witness Magazine; “Snapdragon” in Zone 3 Press; “It Takes Nerve” in The Writer’s Chronicle magazine; “The Nerve to Unlearn” in the Chicago Review of Books; “Claw” in the journal Hunger Mountain; and “Don’t Lose Your Nerve” and “Mystery House” in Brevity. Published the four-poem series “Letters to America” in Terrain; and the poems “My Partner Bathes Me When I am A Body Too Broken” in the Crab Orchard Review; “Chronic Pain as Archipelago” in the Indianapolis Review; “In the Natural History Museum” and “Mollusk” in the Split Rock Review; “Lure” and “Sever” in Rowan Glass Works; and “Brine” in the Ghost City Review. Her story “Leap,” previously published in Necessary Fiction, was included in the Best Small Fictions 2024 anthology.

James T. Morrison (MFA student) — Named the English Department’s 2025 MFA Student of Distinction. Published the graphic essay “A Very Brief Memoir in Acronyms” in Diode Poetry.

Olivia Muñoz (alumni) — Published the prose poem “They are a circle” in the Westchester Review.

Samina Najmi (faculty, MFA student) — Her debut essay collection, “Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time,” was included in the CLMP list “A Reading List for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.” The book is forthcoming in October 2025 from Trio House Press.

Janet Nichols Lynch (alumni) — Published her new children’s novel “Ellen of Allensworth” on the Dragonfeather Books imprint of Bedazzled Ink Publishing. 

James O’Bannon (alumni) — Published the poems “Search + Result” and “Street Magic: Thirteen Considerations on Illusions, Possibility, and the Inevitable” in Wild Blue Zine.

Dawn Parker (B.A. student) — Won the undergraduate Larry Levis Poetry Prize for the poem “Arachnophobia,” as selected by William Archila; and won the undergraduate Fresno Fiction Prize for the story “Con Joined,” as selected by Tanya Nichols. Published the story “Late Bloomer” in 50-Word Stories, and the poem “Ode to Bloody Knuckles” in Behemoth Magazine. Featured in the story “Writing Center tutor imagines a career, plans to graduate in three years” on Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities blog.

Michelle Patton (alumni) — Published the poems “Horoscope Collected in the Net of Your Longing” and “Horoscope in the Liner Notes” in the journal Poetry Super Highway.

Aura Peredia Garcia (B.A. student) — Presented the novella “Azul’s Film” at Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities honors symposium.

Aissa Perico (alumni) — Published the poem “The Nagual” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets. Her poem “The girl who left Chiapas” was included in the multimedia arts project and exhibit “A Eulogy for Jane Doe” in San Diego, CA.

Sasha Pimentel (alumni) — Her poem “In Every Immigrant Home That Tin of Royal Dansk Butter Cookies, Blue as Old Water, Without Cookies, Filled for Sewing with Buttons and Notions” won the 2025 Emily Dickinson Award from The Writer Magazine.

Shelby Pinkham (alumni) — Awarded a CantoMundo Fellowship for a summer workshop at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Also awarded a fellowship with Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, CO, studying with Solmaz Sharif. Published the poem “Birdmurmuring” in the Queer Ecology issue of Fruitslice magazine.

Katie Quigley (B.A. student) — Accepted an admission offer to the M.A. program in Creative Writing at San Francisco State. Published the essay “How to make the first move when you’re both women” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Leslie Kay Quintana (alumni) — Under the pen name lkq, published the poems “A way to define love,” “another word for girl,” and “about hair” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Monique Quintana (alumni) — Published the stories “Vallejo” in the magazine Huizache, “Fruit Etymology” in The Solitude Diaries, and “The Ache” in the Flame Tree Press anthology “Latin American Shared Stories,” edited by V. Castro. Served as moderator for the Big Texas Author Talk featuring Octavio Quintanilla.

Rahaf Qutob (B.A. student) — Named the English Department’s 2025 B.A. Student of Distinction.

Lizette Ramirez (B.A. student) — Published the story “For a Pack of Gum” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Jacob Reina (alumni) — Published the poem “The New Year” in Behemoth Magazine.

Benjamin J. Rigby (B.A. student) — Published the poems “Crutches,” “Notes on Becoming,” and “The Weight of Air” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets; “If I Were a Fresno State Squirrel” and “voicemail to my eighteen-year-old self” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being; and “The Moths Have Learned to Read, Anyway” in Behemoth Magazine.

René M. Rodríguez-Astacio (faculty) — Invited to co-chair the CLA Early Career Award, which recognizes early career individuals who show extraordinary promise as researchers and leaders in the field of children’s literature, by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English. Published the co-authored articles “Teaching Miles Morales Suspended in a Time of Book Bans” in English Journal, the publication of NCTE; and “Striving for Truth, Justice and Racial Diversity: a Critical Race Content Analysis of DC Graphic Novel for Young Adults,” in the journal English Teaching: Practice and Critique. Published the poem “The Old Lady That Lived in the Bathroom” in Rhizomag. 

Zeyda Romero (alumni) — Published the photograph “Nana’s House” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Kaylee Ruiz (B.A. student) — Named a finalist in Fresno State’s annual Art Song Festival poetry competition.

Pauline Sahakian (alumni) — Published the essay “A daughter’s struggle to protect her father with Parkinson’s” in The Fresno Bee.

Brynn Saito (faculty) — Published the new anthology “The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration” with Haymarket Books, co-edited with Brandon Shimoda. The anthology was reviewed in the International Examiner, and it was featured in the Alta Journal list “13 New Books for April” and the Electric Literature list, “7 Books Reflecting on the Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II.”

Guadalupe Salgado Partida (MFA student) — Published the poem “Fire” in the Heart Flames anthology from Four Feathers Press.

Steven Sandage (B.A. student) — Won the undergraduate Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize for the essay “Circling Fences by August Wilson: Tracing the Contours of Love and Loss,” as selected by Brooke Champagne; and named honorable mention for the graduate Fresno Fiction Prize for the story “Legend of the Sunken Throne,” as selected by Tanya Nichols. Published the poems “Lamplights and Cobblestones” for the WILDsound Writing Festival collection; and “Le timbre, toujours le timbre” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being. Published the story “Seasonal Graveyard Shift” in the magazine Libre.

Alaina Schneider (B.A. student) — Presented the paper “The Vampiric Vessel in Le Fanu’s Carmilla: Why We Want to Kill the ‘Monster’” at Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities honors symposium.  

Taylor Seals (MFA student) — Won the graduate Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize for the poem “reMothering,” as selected by William Archila. [see YouTube performance]

Jacob Simmons (MFA student) — Published the essay “Five-Legged Spider” in Behemoth Magazine.

Navdeep Singh Dhillon (alumni) — Published the story “The Big Rig Rules” in the new “Home Has No Borders” anthology on Harper Collins, edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra.

Tim Skeen (faculty) — Published the poem “Recommendation for Myself” in Behemoth Magazine.

Jordan Solis (B.A. student) — Named a finalist in Fresno State’s annual Art Song Festival poetry competition.

Carol Spaulding-Kruse (alumni) — Under the pen name Carol Roh Spaulding, published her second book and debut novel, “Helen Button,” with Sowilo Press. The book won an Eludia Award from Hidden River Publishing.

Daniel Speechly (alumni) — Published the story “The End of Instruction” in the Sandy River Review, and the essay “The Hedonists’ Checklist” in the magazine LIT.

Diara Spencer (B.A. student) — Published the essay “On Living with Dead People 2012” in The Collegian’s literary column, Recollections: Of Being.

Michael Steiner (alumni) — Published the poem “The Handsome Monkey King” in Behemoth Magazine.

sami h. tripp (alumni) — Published the poem “Naj Tunich” in the magazine Huizache.

Bo Vang (MFA student) — Published the poems “Dreamscape” and “before his departure” in the journal Flies, Cockroaches and Poets.

Hope Vang (M.A. student) — Awarded the distinction of honorable mention for the Sally Casanova scholarship in the CSU Pre-Doctoral Program. Interviewed the author Trinity Nguyen in The Normal School magazine. Featured in the story “Children’s literature scholar opens her boundaries, builds a community” on Fresno State’s Arts and Humanities blog.

Mai Der Vang (faculty) — Published her third poetry collection, “Primordial,” with Graywolf Press. The book was reviewed in Literary Hub and New City Lit, and featured in The Student Life newspaper. The book was included in the Alta Journal list “10 New Books for March,” the CLMP list “A Reading List for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month” and the Washington Post list “4 new volumes of poetry that help restore nuance to our chaotic world.” Interviewed about the book by Mandana Chaffa for the Chicago Review of Books; and by Mitzi Rapkin of the First Draft Podcast for Literary Hub. Published the essay “U.S. Proxy War Displaced My Family 50 Years Ago, and We Still Live in the Wreckage” in Truthout. Published the poems “Otherworldly” in Poetry Daily; “Departures” in diaCRITICS; “One Nation Under Shadow Warfare,” “Era of Retreat,” and “Node: Remnants of Ash” in the Michigan Quarterly Review; and “Death in Captivity, a Surrender” in The Nation. Was featured in the Poets and Writers magazine series Writers Recommend.

Lisa M.C. Weston (faculty) — Published the photographs “Untitled (London 2024)” and “Arctic Imaginary” in Wild Blue Zine.

M.L. Williams (alumni) — Published the poems “Gone Home” and “How to Pick Cotton,” and a review of Margaret Gibson’s play “Draw Me Without Boundaries” in the journal SALT.

Tara M. Williams (alumni) — Published the story “The Children” in the journal Studies in the Fantastic.

Brenna Womer (faculty) — Published the nonfiction comic “Only” in the journal Blackbird. Announced the publication of a new chapbook, “Dear Mom,” forthcoming this fall as part of the Petrichor chapbook series. 

Katie Xiong (B.A. student) — Presented her undergraduate thesis, “Strength in Storytelling: A Second Generation Hmong American’s Reflection on Maxine Hong Kingston’s ‘No Name Woman’ and Cultural Inheritance,” at the annual Hmong National Development Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

Did we miss your accomplishment? If you’re a student or alumni of the English Department and you have a special announcement, a new job, a professional or creative success, or an inspiring story that you’d like to share, please submit this short “Share Your Success Stories” form, or contact staff Jefferson Beavers at jbeavers@mail.fresnostate.edu or 559.278.1569.

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