Student and Alumni News

• We had an inaugural Ministry-wide celebratory reading with our first spring cohort on July 9, 2026!

• Ministry alumnus Lenna Jawdat’s poetry collection, 70,000, is out from Central Avenue Books! The book was chosen by the American Booksellers Association for both their Indies Introduce and Indie Next lists.

• Ministry alumnus Aarti Shahani hosted an episode of NPR’s Fresh Air with photojournalist Loubna Mrie!

• Ministry alumnus Sarah Ghazal Ali has a poem, “Künstlerroman,” out with Poem-a-Day at poets.org!

• Ministry alumnus Lillian Howan’s novel, The Spellbound, is forthcoming in February 2027 from Mānoa Books!

• Ministry participant Crystal Theresa Z. Ejanda has three pieces in the “All About Desire” show with Pissed Off Moms!

• Ministry alumnus Sarah Ghazal Ali has two poems, “Nightly I Enter a Realm of Rooms” and “Bell Weather,” out with The Poetry Review!

If you’re a student or alumnus with writing-related news and would like to send us an update, we’d be delighted to hear from you! Please email Nicholas Hart at theministryofwords dot assistant at gmail dot com.