Monica West

Monica West's debut novel Revival Season was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a Barnes and Noble Discover selection, and short-listed for the Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award. Her second novel Light The Way will be published by Putnam in Spring 2027. Monica received her BA from Duke University, her MA from New York University, and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. She has received fellowships and funding from Hawthornden, Ragdale, Bread Loaf, Hedgebrook, Kimbilio Fiction, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Washington.

• Fiction writing
• Novel writing
• Black literature

• Literary fiction
• Coming-of-age stories
• Religion in fiction

• Co-Chair, MFA Postgraduate Teaching Fellowship Selection Committee (2021-2022; 2023-2024)
• Coordinator, Life After MFA Series (2021-2022; 2023-2024)
• Admissions Committee 2021-2022; 2023-2024

• Iowa Writers' Workshop, MFA in Creative Writing (2017)
• New York University, MA in English and American Literature (2003)
• Duke University, BA in English Literature (1999)

• Part-Time Faculty in Creative Writing, The University of Washington (2024-2025)
• Visiting Assistant Professor of Fiction, University of San Francisco (2021-2022; 2023-2024)
• Adjunct Faculty in MFA in Writing Program, University of San Francisco (Fall 2022)
• Visiting Writer, Faculty Member, Lick-Wilmerding High School (2011-2015; 2017-2022)

• Alice Judson Hayes Social Justice Fellow at Ragdale (2026)
• John Gardner Fellowship in Fiction, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (2023)
• Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award Shortlist (2022)
• New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice (2021)
• Barnes and Noble Discover Selection (2021)

• West, Monica, Light The Way. Putnam (Forthcoming Spring 2027)

• West, Monica. Revival Season. Simon & Schuster (May 2021)