Editor Ashley Cowger is the author of Peter Never Came, which won the Autumn House Press Fiction Prize for 2010 (to be published in 2011). Ashley's short fiction has appeared in various small literary journals and has been nominated for a Pushcart. She holds an MFA from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Ashley’s experiences in an MFA program completely changed the way she understands the art and business of writing. These experiences left her with a keen interest in the different paths writers take to study their craft and led her to found MFA/MFYou in the hopes to explore these different paths.  

Ashley writes our MFA/MFYou Newsletter, where you can read and comment on weekly posts about her experiences as a writer in and out of an MFA program.

Ashley also posts monthly updates about her process and progress as a fiction writer in her Process Blog.

Poetry Editor Damien Cowger’s career as a writer began in fourth grade when he wrote a ghost story and won first prize for best Halloween story. After his first taste of small scale success, Damien kept writing to entertain himself as well as his peers. When he got to college however, he was told by an ignorant counselor that there was no such thing as a degree in Creative Writing so he got a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University. After meeting his future wife in 2005, he learned that there was life beyond his high school writing and learned how to submit some of his work. Ever since, he’s been trying to make it in a world of highly educated writers, his wife included, and his fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous small journals.  He graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a certificate in Automotive Technology but decided to give up his job as a maintenance mechanic at a rental car company to enter into an MA program in Creative Writing – Poetry at Ohio University. In addition to his work with us here at MFA/MFYou, Damien is the assistant editor for the New Ohio Review. Damien writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction.