Award-winning Writer to Direct Manhattanville College’s Growing Master in Fine Arts Writing Program

From Manhattanville College:

Purchase NY - Manhattanvillle College has appointed Professor Lori Soderlind, an award-winning writer, journalist and professor, as director of the college’s nationally known Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing program.

Over the past decade, Soderlind has been teaching courses in journalism, fiction, nonfiction, and memoir writing in higher education institutions such as Columbia University, State University of New York Albany, and Norwalk Community College, where she also served in an administrative capacity as chair of the Humanities Department.

“We are extremely excited about Soderlind joining the College to oversee the development and continued growth of our successful writing program,” said Lisa Dolling, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Manhattanville. “She has an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and experience in creative writing, journalism, teaching, as well as program building and administration.”

Soderlind has written literary reviews for the New York Times Book Review and has contributed articles to The Boston Globe and numerous national magazines such as Women’s World and Mamm. Professor Soderlind is founder and workshop instructor for the “Uptown Writers” in New York City. She holds an M.F.A. in non-fiction writing from Columbia University and a B.A. in English and journalism from Lehigh University.

Soderlind is the author of a 2006 memoir, Chasing Montana: A Love Story (University of Wisconsin Press) and literary essays such as “66 Signs,” (which is included in Norton’s Anthology of creative nonfiction) and “Hot Springs Montana” (published in the anthology Something to Declare).

Manhattanville’s MFA program is recognized across the country for its productive workshops in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, creative non-fiction, and children and young adults’ literature. Courses are scheduled in the evenings to meet the needs of working adults. The master’s program can be completed in two years, though students may work at their own pace. Summer and Fall Writer’s Weekends provide students with the opportunity to participate in “writing intensives.”

Professor Soderlind, who started her new position in mid-July, 2016, succeeds Professor Mark Nowak, who built the MFA program and brought to campus some of the world’s most renowned writers and poets. Mr. Nowak will return to his full-time faculty position in the English department.

Photo courtesy of Manhattanville College.