The Drexel MFA Class of 2024 just spent four days in New York City for our second of three residencies. We worked on our book jacket copy, met an assortment of agents and editors and writers, and visited the Author’s Guild. We trekked to the offices of Folio Literary Management and rode the subway all the way out to Washington Heights for pizza at the home of Brenda Copeland, an editor who is working with us to get our novels and short story collections into shape. There, we read the first pages of our manuscripts to our fellow students.
One of my non-literary highlights was just walking around. I pulled my duffel from the Moynihan Train Hall to the hotel on West 36th Street (and back again). I took morning walks to the Starbucks Reserve inside the Empire State Building, watched ice skaters in Bryant Park, lingered in Herald Square. and strolled past the lions at the New York Public Library.
In the post-COVID era, offices are downsized and professionals are working remotely. But to us aspiring writers, it still felt like the epicenter of the publishing world. It also was the first time we had been together in person since October 2022.
