Gregory Marlow teaches animation at East Tennessee State University and is a contract animator for various animation and game studios. He also writes stories about robots, unicorns, and/or teleporters. His stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, PodCastle, and the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. He lives in East Tennessee with his lovely wife, Amanda, and adorable dog, Sadie.

Find out more about his work here: http://www.greganimates.com/

Greg shares a bit about his path to the Lindenwood MFA:

Forty-three-year-old Greg is an animator and an animation teacher at a university in Tennessee. Twelve-year-old Greg was a writer who asked for a Smith Corona electric typewriter for his birthday. I spent many years thinking writing was just a hobby, and hobbies were less important than careers. However, in 2018, I found Lindenwood’s MFA in Writing while searching for terminal degree options to advance my career in teaching.

I concocted a plan! I enrolled in Lindenwood’s online MFA program. I spent two years writing stories about robots and spaceships and dark magic that lives in the woods. I read graphic novels and Kurt Vonnegut and Harlan Ellison. I traded stories with other people who loved writing, and they helped me make my stories better. I made friends with people from all over the world who were different from me and just like me at the same time. At the end, I received an MFA that helped me secure an assistant professor position at my current university. It felt like I was pulling off a heist. I got an MFA in the thing I had always wanted to do. I did it without leaving my home or putting my career on pause. And I loved every minute of it.

A few years later, forty-three-year-old Greg listened to LeVar Burton read one of the stories he wrote and workshopped while at Lindenwood. Twelve-year-old Greg was there listening too. He heard the guy from Reading Rainbow.

Denise McConduit lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is passionate about Louisiana culture and has written numerous magazine articles, newspaper columns, and poetry. 

Denise is committed to preserving cultural traditions through family stories. These stories inspired her to write books about the adventures of her son, “D.J.”  Her first book, “D.J. and the Zulu Parade” led her to write two other stories about the intrepid boy: “D.J. and the Jazz Fest” and “D.J. and the Debutante Ball”. Ms. McConduit feels that writing culturally rich books is essential because children need to see themselves in literature. Her fourth children’s book is titled, “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Read”. In this book, young readers will meet Robbie, a stubborn little boy who doesn't like to read. Her newest book is a middle-grade novel about the turmoil that children faced during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The story follows the plight of two sisters who became separated from their family in “Claudia in the Storm, A Hurricane Katrina survival story.” Her sixth children’s book is due to come out in the fall of 2024, “A Cane River Christmas,” and it’s about the Natchitoches, Louisiana Christmas Festival.

Denise has presented at numerous literacy conferences and received rave reviews for her Tips for Reluctant Readers presentation. Her mission is to write fun and meaningful stories for children. She worked on an oral history project for the Louisiana Children’s Museum, interviewing dozens of grandparents and capturing legacy messages about family traditions, recipes, and holiday customs to showcase in an exhibit throughout the museum.

Denise attended Lindenwood University during the pandemic and was grateful for the opportunity to immerse herself in the writing program. “I am a proud graduate of the Lindenwood Creative Writing Program. The professors were helpful and inspired me to write outside of my normal genre. I was able to explore and study renowned African American authors under Tony D’Souza and developed a love of famous black authors from each decade. I am also grateful that the program exposed me to numerous writing genres: Memoir, Flash fiction, Non-fiction, Journalism, YA, Nature, Science, Poetry, and others. This exposure stretched me to write outside of my comfort zone.”

Denise holds a BA English degree from the University of New Orleans, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lindenwood University. She is available for conferences, library, and school author visits: www.denisemcconduit.com

Cambria Williams believes that storytelling is a collective experience that is both limitless and timeless in its transformative nature. Williams’s love of stories and its magic found her writing from a young age in the hopes that one day she would become a published author. Her other lifelong dream was to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Writing, which Williams did in December 2021 from Lindenwood University as an invited member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society.

While at Lindenwood, Williams was enthralled with the opportunity of working one-on-one with members of the program’s faculty, a major reason why she selected Lindenwood’s online MFA program. One such professor was Tony D’Souza, who gave Williams remarkable encouragement to finish the “practice novel” she worked on during grad school. That practice novel entitled The Befallen, a work of dark fantasy, turned out to be the work of Williams’s childhood dreams. It was published in August 2023. While Williams is enjoying the thrill of success after years of hard work and daydreaming, she acknowledges that her time spent in Lindenwood’s fiction courses is owed recognition for that accomplishment.

Although Williams earned her MFA through the online program, she never felt as though there was a lack of community. Quite the opposite. Williams enjoyed a camaraderie and friendship with her fellow student-writers during her eighteen months in the MFA program.

The Befallen has already garnered awards and numerous five-star ratings, including the Olive Woolley Burt Award for its first chapter and a five-star review from Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. The Befallen is available on eBook and trade paperback and can be purchased wherever books are sold.

Williams still refers to notes, professors’ correspondence, and texts from her Lindenwood courses as she works on the sequel to The Befallen, smiling at her master’s degree that hangs on her office wall.

When not writing, Williams loves reading, traveling, and taking walks with her husband and dog. To learn more about Cambria Williams, visit her website: cambriawilliams.com

T.J. Baer is a queer, trans author of novels and short fiction. Born in Western Pennsylvania, he currently resides in his adopted hometown of Chicago with two cats and a well-stocked cupboard of tea. Some of his titles include Following Grandpa Jess, Guardians, Dreamers, and The Boy Who Was Kissed, and his short fiction has been featured in the Harpur Palate Literary Journal and Flash Fiction Magazine. When not writing, T.J. can be found either discussing queer media on his YouTube channel or failing to escape from murderous ghosts on Twitch. 

My time in the Lindenwood MFA program was pretty magical. Having the opportunity to connect with other writers, read amazing books and stories I never would've sought out on my own, and get insightful feedback on my writing was incredible, and I feel like I grew exponentially as a writer during my semesters in the program. The professors were encouraging and supportive while also providing useful constructive commentary. I'm so glad to have had the chance to study at Lindenwood, and I hope the writing program continues to thrive so many more writers can have the same unforgettable experience I did.

Chital was born and raised in India. She completed her MFA in creative writing with fiction emphasis from Lindenwood University in 2019. Her short stories have appeared in Landlocked literary magazine, Sangam magazine, The Noyo Review, and Oyez Review. Her essay about her experience with miscarriage has appeared in a parenting anthology series - Keeping Under the Wraps. Her story 'The Weight of Happiness' emerged as a Finalist for the Pinch Literary Awards 2022 - Fiction.

Find more of her on her website at www.chitalmehtajey.com

Chital says: Lindenwood's MFA program has helped me immensely in developing a regular writing schedule. I loved the ability to be able to read the work of others and connect with writers from different backgrounds. As a parent, this remote program helped me hone my writing skills. I took this program at a time when writing wasn't something I could give myself. After signing up for the program, I was able to see myself as a writer who writes most days, if not every day. I am grateful for the staff who have always been approachable and the helpful in shaping my voice.

Fred Venturini grew up in Patoka, Illinois. In 2014, his story "Gasoline" was featured in Chuck Palahniuk's Burnt Tongues anthology. His short fiction has been published in the Booked Anthology, Noir at the Bar 2, and Surreal South. The Heart Does Not Grow Back, published by Picador in 2014, is his first novel. He lives in Southern Illinois with his wife and daughter. Looking back on his time in Lindenwood's MFA in Writing program, Fred says: 

"The Lindenwood MFA program allowed me to discover my voice and pushed my boundaries as a reader, writer, and artist. The intimate workshop environment helped me forge important relationships with fellow writers so that our critiques, beta reads, and development could continue beyond the classroom. Many have become lifelong friends. If I can recommend one skill for writers to develop, it's the ability to self-edit, and the MFA program develops this difficult skill as you learn not only what works and doesn't work, but the reasons, techniques, and tools that create those results. I wouldn't be the writer I am today without my experience in the Lindenwood MFA program."

Michael DeVault is a writer living and working in Nashville, Tennessee. A multi-published novelist and essayist, Michael’s nonfiction has appeared in regional and international publications, including BayouLife Magazine and Eclectica. His next book, a collection of personal essays titled Defying Gravity: Memories of an Unconscious State, is due out in early 2018.

"Choosing Lindenwood’s MFA program was the best decision I could have made. Throughout the course of study, I was able to work alongside and learn from other writers who were working to improve their craft, all under the guidance of some of the best professors a young writer could hope for. Each workshop contributed so much knowledge, so many new tools, and I developed the kinds of professional relationships that last a lifetime. Not only did the program make me a better writer, but it also made me a much better teacher, as well. Today, I’m proud to be a Lion, carrying on the practices I developed at Lindenwood in my own teaching career."