Tola Sylvan

Tola Sylvan is the incoming Kapnick Fellow in Creative Writing for the 2026-2027 year. The Kapnick Fellow is a unique position through which an emerging writer joins the Creative Writing faculty for one academic year, teaching undergraduate courses while working on a significant project. Working the heart of our writing community, the Kapnick Fellow will also deliver a public reading of their work and contribute to the vitality of the Creative Writing Program.

Tola Sylvan a poet and translator. She holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Fellow. Her poems, prose, and translations appear in journals such as Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Poetry, and The Common. She is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships from Tin House, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and Tupelo Press.