Creative writing alumnus, National Book Awards finalist visits FSU during 2024 Opening Nights

Florida State University creative writing graduate students had the chance to engage one-on-one this month during an open-forum session with one of America’s best-known poets.

During a wide-ranging and extemporaneous discussion spanning current world affairs and his career in publishing, students queried Kaveh Akbar, who earned a doctorate from FSU’s Creative Writing Program in 2019, on how to help their submissions stand out to editors, the process he followed when transitioning from poetry to prose ahead of his debut novel, and how he handles writer’s block.

“I'm one of those writers who says he doesn't believe in writer’s block, but I think project block is a real thing,” Akbar said. “If you're trying to write a novel and you're like, I have to write this scene, I can understand being immobilized with that. If you can't write it, just write down the word ‘person’ and write down the word ‘carpet’ and then think ‘How do I connect these?” and then it’s about connecting, and you’re off.”

Akbar’s first novel, “Martyr!,”  published in early 2024 to widespread critical acclaim, cracking The New York Times Bestseller List, and he is a finalist for the 2024 National Book Awards. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere, and he is the author of the poetry collections “Pilgrim Bell” and “Calling a Wolf a Wolf,” and the chapbook, “Portrait of the Alcoholic.” Akbar edited “The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine” and has served as poetry editor of The Nation since 2020. 

“His ability to connect different ideas and ways of writing with who we are as humans and as writers stands out,” said fifth-year creative writing doctoral student Laura Biagi. “You don't see that often. It's very inspirational.”

Among Akbar’s accolades are multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and he presently teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency Master of Fine Arts programs at Randolph College, in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

This event was presented through the Opening Nights in Class series, which inspires students and educators to exercise creativity and encourage achievement through the performing arts, and jointly organized by the FSU Department of English and its Creative Writing Program.

FSU College of Arts and Sciences photos by Devin Bittner.