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Creative Writing MFA Student Spotlight: Reagan Prior

Creative Writing MFA Student Spotlight: Reagan Prior

April 12, 2024
A blue background with yellow headers around the text. The headings are in yellow and regular text is in white. The Drexel University logo is at the bottom. A photo of Reagan Prior, smiling in the car, wearing a white dress, black sunglasses, and multicolored friendship bracelets, is on the left. She has ginger hair. The text reads, "When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? 'I realized I wanted to be a writer at a very young age. Before I learned how to write, I would tell stories to my mother and she would write them down for me. I would staple the pages together and draw pictures, making my own ‘books.’ I have this memory from when I was 7 years old. My grandma took me to Washington Irving’s (writer of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) Sunnyside home in Tarrytown. We went on a tour and we saw his writing desk. I had a kind of epiphany moment where I realized storytelling is what I wanted to dedicate my life to.' What do you like best about the MFA program? 'Everyone here is so nice. I’ve heard some nightmare stories about super competitive environments in MFA programs, but I feel at Drexel’s program everyone genuinely wants each other to do well and support one another. One of the ways in which peers supported each other was when we started a NaNoWriMo group to encourage each other's writing.' What does literary success mean to you? 'To me, literary success means putting out a work into the world that makes people feel something. Whether that be happiness, sadness, or making them feel less alone, the act of emotionally moving someone is something that cannot be replaced by anything else. No A.I. or computer software will be able to replicate that experience or take it away.'"
Same background and colors. The Drexel University logo is at the bottom. On the top right is a white bordered photo of Reagan smiling on a black background. On the bottom left is a photo of Reagan smiling, outside, wearing an off-white/pink t-shirt and multicolored skirt. The text reads, "What was your proudest moment as a writer? 'My proudest accomplishment is when I was 15, I won a regional Scholastic bronze writing award. It was for a poem that ended up being published in a magazine for a children’s hospital. Somehow my poem was accidentally submitted to it and I got lucky. The poem was called ‘to be a bird.’ When I went to the award ceremony, which was at Manhattanville College, we had to read our pieces out loud. It was very nerve-racking. But I was proud of myself for facing my fear of public speaking.' Quick Facts: From West Nyack, New York A Lana Del Rey fan Favorite movies are Whiplash, 10 Things I Hate About You, and The Shining Likes walking her dogs Favorite books are The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, and Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid Enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles Favorite TV shows are Twin Peaks, Lost, and Stranger Things"
2023-2024 Spotlights, MFA Student Spotlights

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