Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University

Congratulations to MA in Writing student Doug Donovan on the publication of this hilarious--and bleak--dystopian story about journalism and editing in the AI world of 2041.

Penumbric June 2k26, A Post-Times Dispatch Edgy speculative fiction magazine

“When I lost my memory, a part of me feared it might never return, but a larger part believed that when it did return, all the pieces would fall into place, my past would be settled, even resolved, and I’d be able to move on. What I learned is that the past is never settled, its effects linger in the fabric of your being.”—from Chapter Twenty-Two, Loss of Life

Congratulations to faculty member Mark Farrington on the publication of his novel this month, LOSS of LIFE.

Flap copy reads:

In a Virginia hospital, forty-one-year-old Matthew Winton awakens from a car accident with no memory of his life after the age of thirteen. Over time, he learns that he is a college professor who lives alone and has no family. He is also a writer, and he turns first to his writing, hoping it will show him his past. But he has written primarily fiction, and he struggles to separate the blurred lines between fiction and fact. He is helped by a policewoman who investigated his accident, and a relationship develops.

Then he comes upon something he’d written shortly before the crash. This writing disturbs him greatly and leads to a series of events that end with him traveling to Massachusetts, where he spent the first thirty years of his life, in search of ghosts from his past. Throughout, he’s been troubled by questions raised by the car accident. What was he doing out on a deserted country road at two o’clock on a Sunday morning? Was the crash even an accident?

A book about facing the people who harmed us as well as the people we harmed, Loss of Life is a poignant reminder that we’re all the totality of what we’ve done.

Advance Praise for Loss of Life

“I devoured Mark Farrington’s novel Loss of Life because I had to know what would become of protagonist Matthew Winton’s quest to recover his lost memories. With wit, humor, compassion, and a mastery of fiction technique, Farrington has created an earnest, yet imperfect, character with a pitch perfect voice. Written in sparse, elegant prose and with much humanity, Loss of Life offers a fresh narrative about how the act of writing can both unearth the painful stories that define us and offer an opportunity for healing, redemption, and renewal.”
—Michelle Brafman. author of Swimming with Ghosts and Draw Near to Me

“In Mark Farrington’s debut novel, Matthew Winton, a man with partial retrograde amnesia, wakes in a room after his initially undisclosed single car accident, his eyes sticky and closed, and remembers the word for his immediate need: water. An attendant provides ice chips. The novel then develops from Winton’s loss of life slowly remembered and reexperienced by recalling aspects of his current life as a professor in Virginia and then of his childhood and developing life in the Berkshires of Massachusetts where he was born and raised. The tone and pacing and insights of Farrington’s book allow the reader to also experience and feel the precisely rendered scenes that eventually occur in real time in places and with people after Winton drives to the Berkshires. This is a novel of pain and loss, of forgiveness, but also of love found and love remembered. It is also the story of a man learning to release the unreasonable blame of self he’s carried for decades. He is Matthew Winton, and you, reader, are not likely to forget him.”
—David Giannini, author of Stones Are the First to Rise

“Loss of Life is a compelling drama that explores the impacts of trauma in insightful and poignant ways. Farrington expertly guides us through the unintended impacts of a troubled past in sometimes colorful and sometimes bittersweet ways that truly explore what it means to lose your sense of self and your sense of safety through memory loss. At times funny, at other times devastating, Loss of Life explores the trauma of facing your past with great humility and humanity.”
—Jessica Stilling. author of Betwixt & Between and The Beekeeper’s Daughter

Loss of Life: a novel In a Virginia hospital, forty-one-year-old Matthew Winton awakens from a car accident with no memory of his life after the age of thirteen. Over time, he learns that he is a college professor who lives alone and has no family. He is also a writer, and he turns first to his writing, hoping it wil...

Congratulations to recent alum Patrick Lane. A flash story from his MA Thesis, titled “Lollipop,” has been selected for publication in Brilliant Flash Fiction in their September 30, 2026, issue. This is his first publication, and he drafted the story in Madeleine Watts’ Contemporary American Writers course in Fall 2022.

Congratulations to student Kevin Snyder who had his first piece published in January House. It's a lovely flash story...Maybe inspired by his flash fiction intensive with Shawn Nocher?

Motel Moths by Kevin Snyder A caterpillar fingers its way up my forearm. I’ve shut my eyes so I can only feel the fine hairs and half an inch of tiny stubs. Its head antennas the air. It doesn’t know that the …

Hopkins MA in Writing Students: Consider entering this story slam contest. Hopkins will pay your registration fee to attend and perform, if you win:

AGLSP Conference - Story Slam - Formstack Simply put, Story Slam is a competition based on the art of storytelling. It puts a dual emphasis on content and performance, encouraging storytellers to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it.  It is an exercise in crafting stories within a set time limit and it's great entertainme...

Congratulations to Whitney Poole ((MA, Fiction ‘08) who just published his third novel, Finding the Beat.

Finding the Beat Finding the Beat

Here's the link to our online Spring 2026 Thesis Reading.

Spring 2026 MA in Writing Online Thesis Reading Please join the Johns Hopkins MA in Writing program as we celebrate...

Congratulations to all our graduates!

Congratulations to our first round of thesis readers who all did beautifully!

Alumni, Students, Faculty,
Please join us for our Spring 2026 Thesis Readings. As usual, we'll have two. One is online and one is in-person on Baltimore's Homewood campus. You can register for either or both below.

5/16 Writing Online Thesis Reading, 6 p.m.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ma-in-writing-online-thesis-reading-tickets-1981173129161?aff=share

5/17 Writing and Science Writing In-person Thesis Reading, 6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. reading
Baltimore, Homewood Campus
Hodson Hall, Room 210

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ma-in-science-writing-and-ma-in-writing-combined-thesis-readings-tickets-1981174463151?aff=share

Here is a list of our readers:

ONLINE

Alexa Lewis
Patrick Lane
David Scott
Marcela Ossandon
Stefanie Sichler
Lorenzo Prieto
Santana Lewis
Laura Duncan
Alan Scott Polackwich
Charlene Hardy
Zach Bjorklund
Franchesca West-Ford
Julia Dinmore
Donovan Hill
Susan Harris Edwards
Allison Bradley


IN PERSON

Karim Trueblood
Eric Wilson
Will Cole
Greshen Gaines
Carl Levesque
Melanie Haid
Cora Karim
Steven Calleja
Majdolin Hasan
Tyler New
Jace Schinderman
Keia Arrojado
Michael Bowen
Samuel Ulrich
David Wu
Christina Bailey

MA in Science Writing and MA in Writing Combined Thesis Readings Celebrate this semester's MA in Science Writing and MA in Writing thesis students.