About the Thesis Anthology

Anthology, from the Greek anthos (flower) and legein (to gather together; a bouquet).

IT’S BEEN the tradition at Columbia University’s School of the Arts to celebrate each class with a debut of their achievement during their two years of study. The Film Program hosts a film festival, Visual Arts mounts an exhibit in the gallery, Theater productions are showcased, and until 2009 Writing had presented three evenings of readings. Readings can be fun, and yes, writers do, on occasion, give public readings, but first and foremost, writers are writers. Our work is intended to reside on the page, intended to be read, not by the author, but by the reader. At the onset of my tenure as chair of the department, I pursued a celebration that would better represent what it is we do. In 2009, the first Thesis Anthology was launched.

Now, in 2022, it is your poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction printed on this luxurious paper, set between the letter-pressed covers of a superbly beautiful book. It is an artifact, and it is your yearbook, and like all year- books, it captures only the present. It is an introduction to your writing, and the promise of your future as writers. The Thesis Anthology is not evidence of your best work. Your best work is yet to come. To consider the etymology of “anthology,” you are a mixed bouquet of wildflowers, hothouse flowers, lush greens, roses with thorns, roses without thorns not yet in full bloom, but here is the evidence of your talent, your originality, and your diversity of form, style, voice, perspective, geography, history, personal experience, and artistic vision. Here is the evidence that having set out with your talent, you worked hard, learning from that which is foreign to you as well that which is familiar. You wrote, rewrote, honed your craft, and you will continue to strive, to discover, to nurture that which makes your writing uniquely yours.

In this time of the pandemic, all of us have had to negotiate our way around many struggles, hardships, and disappointments but, nonetheless, you rose to the occasion. You inspired, supported, shared, comforted, and learned from one another with intelligence, honesty, and generosity. We are a society of writers, and the friendships you have forged here are invaluable. The Thesis Anthology 2022 is testimony to your commitment to your community and to your writing.

Many thanks to Charulata Sinha and Halley McDonough for all they have done to bring this book from its beginning to this magnificent conclusion. And, as always, from 2009 onwards, for his astounding artistry and production, there is deep appreciation and gratitude to Matvei Yankelevich.

—Binnie Kirshenbaum, Faculty Advisor

About the Program

Columbia University School of the Arts' Writing Program encourages artistic ambition, integrity, and diversity. We do not adhere to a one-style-fits-all approach to writing. Our fiction, nonfiction, and poetry workshops respect the artistic instincts of each individual student.

This approach to writing is evident across the program’s curriculum, in our faculty, among speakers at our Creative Writing Lecture and Nonfiction Dialogue series, as well as our contributors to poetry readings and symposia.

Our location in New York City provides connection to the nation’s literary and publishing nexus. We take pride in our student and faculty achievements, and eagerly seek to support every student in reaching their fullest potential. The Thesis Anthology is an important and meaningful manifestation of this ambition.

Full-Time Faculty

Hilton Als, Paul Beatty, Susan Bernofsky, Anelise Chen, Nicholas Christopher, Timothy Donnelly, Rivka Galchen, Lis Harris, Leslie Jamison, Margo Jefferson, Heidi Julavits, Binnie Kirshenbaum, Dorothea Lasky, Victor LaValle, Sam Lipsyte, Phillip Lopate, Ben Marcus, Shane McCrae, Orhan Pamuk, Deborah Paredez, Gary Shteyngart, Wendy S. Walters, Lynn Xu, Alan Ziegler

Recent Adjunct Faculty

Diksha Basu, Joshua Cohen, CAConrad, Cynthia Cruz, Meghan Daum, Nicholas Delbanco, Mark Doten, Farnoosh Fathi, Joshua Furst, Jen George, Alan Gilbert, Aracelis Girmay, Michael Greenberg, Xiaolu Guo, Madhu Kaza, John Keene, Nicole Krauss, Hari Kunzru, Paul La Farge, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Lynn Melnick, Daphne Merkin, Ben Metcalf, Erroll McDonald, Kamila Aisha Moon, Jen Percy, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Alice Quinn, Camille Rankine, Christine Schutt, Leanne Shapton, Benjamin Taylor, Jia Tolentino, Lara Vapnyar, Natasha Wimmer, Brenda Wineapple, James Wood, Mark Wunderlich, Wendy Xu, Monica Youn, Jenny Zhang