A journey to Cornell for creative writing

This Cornell Research story focuses on Nneoma Ike-Njoku, a first-year MFA student in creative writing, who hails from Lagos, Nigeria.

Ike-Njoku, who is a fiction writer, said the workshop atmosphere of Cornell's program has been one of its most surprising aspects.

“Before coming here, I had done a few workshop classes that were somewhat helpful. But this program, due to its size, is great because my peers are very careful readers. Everyone wants everyone to do their best work, so we support each other,” Ike-Njoku said.

First-year students in the program become familiar with public readings by having a showcase at a local bookshop in Ithaca. Second-year students can travel to New York City for the David L. Picket & Cornell Creative Writing Program Literary Reading in NYC, where literary agents might be in the audience. Those readings are thanks to the generosity of David Picket ’84.

Read the entire Cornell Research story.