We are delighted to announce that Cori McCarthy will be joining the program as a Visiting Faculty member this summer. Cori graduated from VCFA in 2011 and has been very busy in the interim! They are the acclaimed author of four YA novels, as well as a forthcoming coauthored space fantasy duology and a nonfiction picture book about Arab American poet Kahlil Gibran. Kirkus hailed their lyrical science fiction debut The Color of Rain as “an elegantly written and emotionally cathartic page-turner.” Their futuristic thriller Breaking Sky is in development to become a major motion picture, and their contemporary You Were Here combines word art poetry, graphic novel, and prose. Cori’s feminist romcom Now A Major Motion Picture is, according to Kirkus, “a war cry and a love letter all at once,” and their novel in verse won the MG category of the Katherine Paterson Prize. Cori holds a BA and MFA in creative writing as well as a degree in screenwriting. They cofounded the annual Rainbow Writers Workshop with their partner and, like many of their characters, are a member of the LGBTQ+ community.  More information about Cori and their work can be found here.