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USF Launches Master’s Program to Train Authors for Young Readers
Starting in summer 2026, USF is offering a new, exciting program for aspiring fiction and nonfiction writers for young readers. The program’s director and its philanthropic supporters shared what makes the program impactful and necessary.
“We think books for kids are simple, right? It’s actually quite the opposite. Kids have far less patience with books than grown-ups do. If a kid doesn't like a book, they will literally get up and walk away,” said Martha Brockenbrough, program director, USF Writing for Young Readers, MFA (MFAY) program.
For its first semester at USF, the program exceeded its enrollment target with a cohort of 22 students. Hailing from all over the country, they will come to San Francisco twice a year for residencies on campus. The rest of the time, they will work one-on-one with their faculty mentors.
Across genres and subgenres — among the incoming cohort of student authors themselves and the characters and stories they will create — representation is a point of emphasis for the program.
“These are books with people of color in them. These are books where kids are growing up with LGBTQ parents,” said Brockenbrough. “We are expanding the possibilities of what it means to be a person and, in age-appropriate ways, presenting these stories for kids.”
A close friend of the program said, “As we're seeing literacy rates falter, having great books out there for kids is really important. It sets them up for lifetime literacy. The workforce that we need, like lawyers, scientists, researchers — people that need to parse nonfiction — they start out in life by reading fiction as young readers.”
The program is designed to be rigorous, emphasize efficiency in the writing process, and help aspiring authors discover their personal writing style. Students will explore how to tell the truth to kids about life in ways that are meaningful and help them grow.
MFAY courses will be taught by a host of faculty whose achievements include Newbery Medals, Michael L. Printz Awards, National Book Award nominations, and hundreds of publications.
Barry Goldblatt, a founding donor to the program, said the faculty were an inspiration for his gift.
USF has brought in all of these incredibly passionate, experienced writers who are going to give their heart and soul to share what they know and what they've learned in all their years of doing this. With an environment like that, what more could I ask for in a program to support?”
USF’s mission and emphasis on caring for the whole person made the university a good home for this kind of coursework.
“The school's values are so much in alignment with what we do,” said Brockenbrough. “In working with teachers, working with librarians, working with parents, our mission in life is to ensure that kids know how to read, love to read, and turn to books whenever they have questions or need comfort or an escape.”
