Write of Passage 2025

Creative Writing MFA Student Reading

UCF Celebrates the Arts

Enjoy readings from the graduating students of UCF’s creative writing MFA program hosted by the UCF Department of English.

Enjoy readings from the graduating students of UCF’s creative writing MFA program.

Hosted by the UCF Department of English.

Write of Passage 2025 showcases the work and talent of the Spring 2025 graduating students of UCF’s creative writing MFA graduate program.

This reading will feature works by Ian Abercrombie, Jayleen Cerda, Gabrielle Decker Fernandez, Aloysius Devine, Carolina Guzman, Nina Lopez, Emily Miller, Drew Robertson, Sophia Saco, and Eric Tegethof.

Arrive early to enjoy a showcase of other projects from the UCF English department, including:

  • The Florida Review, UCF’s international literary journal
  • The Cypress Dome, UCF’s undergraduate student literary journal
  • Writers in the Sun, UCF’s visiting writers’ series
  • UCF Creative Writing faculty book display

Ian Abercrombie is a maximalist writer and an adventurer into the weird. Originally hailing from Pensacola, Florida, he writes literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and mixed-mode work. He is exploding you with his mind right now. His work has been published in The Kilgore Review.

Thesis Title: & Everything Else.

Jayleen Cerda is a Mexican-Lebanese writer based in Orlando. Coming from a journalism background, her work draws connections between the natural world and what’s innate to our behavior. Cerda’s poetry sifts all mediums of language – from mythology to science – in pursuit of what lies in the marrow of the soul. Her work has appeared in The Acentos Review.

Thesis Title: Corpus Chimera  

Aloysius Devine is a fiction writer, poet, and maker of zines. Their work often explores queerness, gender, and complex family relationships. Alo is an assistant editor for The Florida Review.

Title of thesis: Lost Things

 

Gabrielle Fernandez’s fiction has appeared in Waxwing, The Racket Journal, SORTES, and elsewhere. She attended the 2023 Bread Loaf Writers Conference and was a finalist for the 2024 Barry Hannah Prize for Fiction. She loves writing stories that are spooky, dark, and twisted. More of her work can be found at gabriellefernandez.com.

Thesis Title: Cigarettes, Flesh, and Other Cravings

Carolina Guzman is a storyteller who spends her time crafting fiction that transports readers to new worlds. When she’s not writing, she’s probably learning a new language or spending time with her family.

Thesis Title: Threads Beyond Worlds

Nina Marie López is a creative nonfiction writer of Puerto Rican descent. She received UCF’s Graduate Dean’s Fellowship for her studies, and she has taught multiple creative writing courses at UCF. Nina explores identity and testimony through flash prose, memoir-in-essays, and graphic narratives. Her work has been published in Orlando’s América Magazine.

Thesis Title: Gothic Girlhood Horrors.

 

Emily Rose Miller is a poet born and raised in Florida who now lives in Orlando with her partner and cats. Her work has appeared in over twenty literary magazines including Saw Palm, Wild Roof Journal, and Mantis. Emily is an alumna of The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and currently serves as a reader for ONLY POEMS.

Thesis Title: Every Person a Home Every Home a Person

Drew Robertson is a Southern fiction writer interested in the long-term impacts of home and place. She explores characterization by examining the effects of inherited belief, cultural identity, and the number of times someone has blessed your heart. When she’s not writing, she can be found thrifting in Orlando, watching bad movies with her friends, or playing with her cat. She has been published in The Colorado Review.

Thesis Title: Left on Peachtree

Sophia Saco, a recipient of the Provost Fellowship, is a poet and writer. A graduate of Wellesley College, Sophia has been published in her alma mater’s journals, including The Wellesley Review, as well as The Acentos Review and others. She has taught creative writing workshops in Orlando. She writes prose poetry with a narrative arc, and sestinas for fun.

Thesis Title: The Girl Who Drowned the Whole World

Eric Tegethoff is a fiction writer and journalist. His literary work explores the corrosive nature of American masculinity. Eric’s reporting has appeared in The New Republic, The Appeal, and Orlando Weekly. He lives in Orlando with his partner.

Thesis Title: Under Control

Logos for UCF and Dr. Phillips Center

Thank You to Our Supporters

LIFE at UCF logoOUC: The Reliable One logoDowntown Orlando logo
Logos for LIFE at UCF, OUC The Reliable One, Florida Arts and Culture, Downtown Orlando, Rockley Family Foundation, and Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies Inc.

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.

  • The Judith and David Albertson Endowment in the Arts
  • Cartwright Family Humanities & Arts Endowment
  • Phil and Jane Easterling
  • LIFE at UCF
  • Orlando Downtown Development Board
  • OUC – The Reliable One
  • Women’s Club at UCF, Inc.

Thank You to Our Festival Partners

  • Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
  • National Young Composers Challenge
  • Orlando Family Stage
  • Orlando Shakes
  • Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
  • UCF College of Health Professions and Sciences
  • UCF School of Modeling, Simulation and Training