March 18, 2024, the Wisconsin Book Festival hosted a reading from the University of Wisconsin’s graduating Master of Fine Arts cohort — Aeron Parks, Jackie Chalghin, Nitya Gupta, Phoebe Kranefuss, R.E. Hawley and Robert Sorrell Bynum. The event was hosted in collaboration with UW’s Creative Writing program.
The event was introduced by Jane Rotonda, Director of the Wisconsin Book Festival and graduate of UW’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, as well as Professor Beth (Bich Minh) Nguyen of UW’s Creative Writing Department — who also serves as the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing.
Each of the six MFA candidates read an excerpt from their work and introduced a fellow member of their cohort for their reading.
First to speak was Bynum, who introduced Parks as the first reader. Parks, who aspires to be a novelist, read an excerpt from one of his works in which the protagonist is captured from their home, sold and transported in a whiskey barrel. The reading detailed the protagonist’s efforts to escape their confinement and featured tense, methodical and descriptive language that elevated the drama of the situation.
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Next to read was Chalghin, who read from one of their short stories. The story, told through the perspective of a soon-to-be college student, involved the protagonist’s relationship with their mother and their mother’s fraught relationship with a local belligerent. The excerpt contained equal elements of humor and realistic, convincing horror.
Gupta also recited an excerpt from one of her short stories, involving a friend brought into the filmmaking work of another’s. While the story contained elements of drama — such as the growing distance between friends and seeing such a friend in a poor state — the text also managed to be humorous and contained elements of authenticity and warmth indicative of a true relationship.
Kranefuss’ short story contained elements of friendship as well, but was presented in a different context and manner. The story, in which the protagonist reflects on her fraught relationship with her friend while at the latter’s bachelorette party, emphasized the conflicting and complex dynamic between friends and roommates as well as the convincing internal struggles of each — while still allowing room for humor and relatable elements of daily life.
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Hawley’s work — the fictitiousness of which was deliberately left ambiguous — was an abstract experience in which the narrator spoke directly to the reader. It revolved around a nameless protagonist suffering from a heavy psychotic break as they attempted to live some semblance of a daily life. The story ultimately ended with the narrator themself seeming to malfunction, a potential allusion to the actual experiences of a mental breakdown.
Lastly, Bynum, who initially introduced Parks, read an excerpt of a story involving a photographer’s efforts to capture an old pair of husbands. The story contained elements of magical realism, with an emphasis on a strange phenomenon known as “The Glow,” yet also contained sharp characterization and commentary on the life of a gay man who attempts to reconcile his sexuality with the family he had during his time closeted.
The six MFA candidates wrote in a variety of tenses, points of view and prose styles, yet they each showcased their strong creative ability. They will graduate this spring.
