Creative Writing

Want to explore the world of creative writing? Let the AFA or Certificate in Creative Writing at Anoka-Ramsey Community College help you get there. With campuses on the Mississippi River in Coon Rapids and the Rum River in Cambridge and the option of a fully online curriculum, ARCC offers inspirational settings, convenient ways to take classes, and support from award-winning, published faculty.

Our AFA, which can be completed in-person or fully online, culminates in two classes: A Writer’s Life and Manuscript Development, which gives students hands-on career exploration, publishing knowledge, and a polished manuscript. Our AFA program also has strong transfer partnerships with Augsburg University, Metropolitan State University, Hamline University, University of Minnesota—Mankato, and University of Wisconsin-Superior. Our Certificate is a streamlined degree that consists of our core creative writing classes: you can take it as stand alone degree or in conjunction with an AA degree.

Students connect with to our vibrant literary community through our Two Rivers Reading Series on the Coon Rapids campus, Minnesota Writers Series on the Cambridge Campus, Careers in Writing speaker series, our Creative Writing Club, and volunteer opportunities. Students graduate from our degrees with greatly improved writing skills that prepare them for the job market and four-year programs.

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Recent Faculty and Alumni Publications & Awards:

Professor Katie Berg:

• Katie Berg’s book, Rock Climbing Minnesota: 3rd edition, was published in 2022.

Professor Kathryn Kysar:

• Prof. Kysar won the 2025 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from the Association of Writers and Writing Contests! Prof. Kysar is the first community college instructor to win this prestigious award. Read more here: 2025 George Garrett Award Winner Kathryn Kysar
• “Captivity.” Midway Journal. January 2023.
• “A Mother’s Jet Lag.” Literary Mama. January/February 2023.
• “Black Asphalt.” Hayden’s Ferry Review. May 2023.
• “After You Leave.” Poets and Pints 10^th Anniversary Anthology. Summer 2023.
• “After the Lockdown: Dance Workshop.” Fourth River. August 2023.

Professor Kathryn Kysar & Professor Paige Riehl

• “Adapting to Change in Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s Creative Writing Program,” published by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).

Professor Eduardo Lerro

• Professor Eduardo Lerro’s new novel titled Insurrection was published on July 4, 2025 by Antigone Press.

Alum Martha LaBine

• 2024 Creative Writing Certificate graduate Martha LaBine’s creative nonfiction piece, “Red,” was published in The MJLC’s “Revolution” edition in December 2024. Additionally, four of her poems, “Demolish,” “Vessel,” “My Therapist, Rachel, Told me to Listen to ‘Rainbow’ by Kacey Musgraves,” and “I Am Worthy” will be published in The Awakenings Review this coming spring.

• Martha recently graduated from Bemidji State University with her Bachelor of Science in psychology and a minor in addictions. In fall 2025, Martha plans to attend graduate school to earn a Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology and go on to become a therapist specializing in eating disorders.

Alum Russel Melby

• 2024 AFA graduate Russell Melby’s short story “Men, Like Flies” was published in Black Petals Horror Magazine in October 2024.

Alum Katrina Monroe:

• Creative Writing Alum Katrina Monroe published her novel They Drown Our Daughters in July 2022.

Professor Paige Riehl:

• “How to Ignore Math Homework” by Paige Riehl won first place in the 15th Annual Park Bugle Poetry Contest.
• Interview with Mona Susan Power about A Council of Dolls (Mariner, 2023), winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction, published in Midway Journal, October 2024.
• Selected as a 2024 Outstanding Educator by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees.
• Interview with Claire Wahmanholm about Meltwater (Milkweed, 2023), nominated for a Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, published in Midway Journal, July 2024.
• “The Girl’s Mother and Father Disagree at Breakfast” by Paige Riehl –2nd place winner in the annual poetry contest, St. Anthony Park Bugle, March 2023. 
• An Interview with Michael Torres about An Incomplete List of Names, A National Poetry Series Winner selected by Raquel Salas Rivera, published in Midway Journal, July 2022.
• Terrapin Books Interviews Series: Paige Riehl Interviews Ann Keniston about her poetry book Somatic in Terrapin Books Interview Series, May 2022.

Alum Sana Wazwaz

• Anoka-Ramsey Creative Writing graduate alum (2021) Sana Wazwaz’s essay, “How to Say ‘Survival’ in Latin,” was published in the web preview and the print edition of Hayden’s Ferry Review (Issue 75) and was nominated for the 2025 Best American Essay Anthology. She graduated from Augsburg University with a BA in English, Creative Writing Concentration.

Professor Tracy Youngblom:

• Professor Tracy Youngblom’s memoir Because We Must won the Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction from The University of Massachusetts Press and MFA for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was published in early 2025.
• Her full-length collection of poems entitled Boy was published in Spring 2023 by CavanKerry Press and was featured as the Two Rivers Reading Series selection in Fall 2023.