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Kira T

- Research Program Mentor

MA at Northwestern University

Expertise

Poetry, Creative Writing, Literary Analysis, Linguistics

Bio

As a poet and visual artist from Memphis, Tennessee, my mission is discovering art in every facet of life imaginable. Driven by my passion for literature, I earned a BA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry, while also completing a chapbook for my senior thesis, at Emory University. There, I also minored in Linguistics while studying Russian and Spanish—I’m a certified word nerd who loves languages! I’ve taught comics, researched abroad in Russia, founded an arts collective for mental health activism, performed with a social justice poetry troupe—I'm as eclectic as my experiences and interests. I’m currently pursuing my MFA and MA in Creative Writing and English at Northwestern University. My latest project explores dreams, both personal and cultural, while interrogating narratives of the American dream.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Creative Writing: Blending Genre, Exploring Form

In this project, we'll learn the rules of literary craft while finding innovative ways to break them. We can explore poetic forms like the sonnet, ghazal, or epic and how to remix them in your own artistic style. I can teach you tools from poetry and memoir to explore your lived experience in a lyric essay. This is not a project about fitting the bounds of tradition; it is about learning to create literature that is uniquely and authentically yours.

Sociolinguistics: A Dialectic Investigation

Conduct a study in sociolinguistics—who speaks how and why? In this project, we will learn how to scientifically observe the speech patterns of those around us and uncover some possible social, political, and historical reasons why. No prerequisites in linguistics required—only an inquisitive mind and an eager ear!

Languages I know

Russian (conversational), Spanish (beginner)

Teaching experience

As a current MFA and MA candidate at Northwestern University, I teach introductory undergraduate courses in Creative and Expository Writing. Previously, I worked for two years as a writing consultant at the Emory Writing Center, tutoring students on writing and revising academic course papers, personal statements, creative passion projects, grant applications, theses, dissertations, and more. I also co-taught a summer intensive in comics and graphic text at the Virginia Young Writers Workshop and served as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the Institute for Liberal Arts at Emory University.

Credentials

Work experience

Northwestern University (2020 - Current)
University Fellow
Emory University (2018 - 2020)
Writing Consultant
University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop (2019 - 2019)
Residential Teacher-Counselor
Black Star* Magazine (2017 - 2020)
Contributing Writer

Education

Emory University
BA Bachelor of Arts
English and Creative Writing, Linguistics (minor)
Northwestern University
MFA Master of Fine Arts candidate
Creative Writing
Northwestern University
MA Master of Arts
English

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