About

Mischa Willett directs the Whitworth Writers' Workshop MFA at Whitworth University in Spokane and is the author of the poetry collections Phases and The Elegy Beta, as well as the scholarly edition Festus.

His poems and essays on faith, literature, and the intellectual life appear widely, and his monthly newsletter, Missive, is where readers hear first about events, discounts, and publications.

Interviews and Profiles

Featured

Inkwell Interview on Writing Programs

Three seasoned writers who have given a great deal of thought to training Christian writers are Mischa Willett, director of the Whitworth Writers Workshop, and James Matthew Wilson and Joshua Hren, cofounders of the MFA in creative writing at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Group MFA Interview with Nadya Williams

I didn’t know what most of the words meant, nor had I any sense of the majestic realities beneath them, but the cadence lulled me like a song.

Profile in ACU Newspaper

Most schoolchildren countdown the seconds until recess. They look forward to going down the slides and playing games with their friends. However, this was not the case for Mischa Willett, a professor new to ACU this year. In fourth grade, he would skip recess just to read his teacher’s poetry.

Rabbit Room Poetry with Ben Palpant

Any work that's taking chaos and ordering it is co-laboring with the Holy Spirit…

C.S. Lewis Foundation Webinar with Amber Salladin

How can Christian artists perform their vocations in such a way that the practice strengthens their faith?

Christian Poetics Initiative with David Mahan

You speak of exploring the “pliability of formal structures in making verse.” Can you elaborate what you mean by this, perhaps again in light of your faith?

SPU Stories with Amanda Stubbert

I had never met a professor, never met anyone who had a PhD. I had never called anyone doctor, apart from my doctor.

Ascent Scholars: Faculty Profile

When Mischa Willett started college in the late ‘90s, he encountered an academic environment that was completely unfamiliar to him.

Queen Anne Neighbors with Nichole Hardina

For poet and educator Mischa Willett, walking to work is the long held dream.

Audio

Featured

NPR Poetry Moment

Audio from a series of radio appearances.

Old Books with Grace

I went on this fun podcast to talk S.T. Coleridge and creative resurrection.

The Habit w/ Jonathan Rogers

How can we equip a new generation of writers?

Let Go the Goat Podcast w/ Mike Rippy

The earliest stirrings of a literary response were hearing my mother read King James Bible.

Faith and Imagination Podcast w/ Matthew Wickman

It’s the realest thing that happens in my week.

Practicing Gospel with David Rayburn

What about the poet? How do you perceive your work as serving God?

The Ride Home with John and Kathy

My problem was I could never slow down enough to get it and I became impatient.

Ocean of Storms for Englewood Review of Books

It might help to have some commentary from the author.

Talking Earth with Patrick Brocarde

You do have some ribald work, actually; I was kind of surprised

Reviews

Featured

Aarik Danielsen for EcoTheo Review

Willett whirs and waxes rhapsodic, yet never writes from disembodied fancy. He converses with what he classifies knowing that, if we’re lucky, our understanding falls within the margin of error.

Glynn Young for Tweetspeak

These poems by Willett remind us that the elegy is a living poetic form, needed as much now as it ever was. Perhaps even more.

Daniel Rattelle for North American Anglican

Unlike Rilke, Willet is not ultimately afraid of the perfection of angels. He can turn our morbid foreknowledge into Christian hope.

Mark S. Burrows for Mockingbird

“Precisely this “more” is what gives these poems their strong allure.”

Lee Rossi for Rain Taxi

“Is Willett a Christian writer, or someone who uses Christian tropes to explore his (sometimes) spiritual experience?”

Michael Minkoff, Jr. for Relief Journal

“Phases proves that poetry can be clever without being condescending… and touching without being sentimental.”

Lee Rossi for Pedestal Magazine

“Phases is a wonderful book, filled with energy and thoughtfulness, resonant with the strenuous Christianity which still makes Hopkins and Donne pleasurable to read even in these post-Christian times.”