USA Today bestselling author Alicia Thompson honed her craft at USF’s College of Arts and Sciences. Since graduating in 2011 from the Department of English with a master of fine arts in creative writing, Thompson has published three romance novels, including “Love in the Time of Serial Killers” and “The Art of Catching Feelings.”
Alicia Thompson is now a full-time writer and residing in the Tampa Bay area. (Photo courtesy of Alicia Thompson)
“I'd been a writer since I was a kid, but it hadn't really occurred to me that you could study it,” Thompson said. “I got my first book deal after college, and I thought, ‘I'd like to do more with that.’”
For Thompson, one of the major benefits of pursuing an MFA in creative writing at USF was that it allowed her to dedicate her time and attention to her craft.
“I think it's really valuable to have dedicated time to write, to be surrounded by a community of writers and to engage in a diligent practice of reading and learning,” Thompson said. “I was glad to have all of that during my three years in the graduate program at USF.”
Thompson and other students in the program receive guidance from award-winning faculty who cultivate everything from traditional narrative genres to hybrid and experimental forms. At USF, Thompson studied under John Fleming, a professor and author of the short story collection “Songs for the Deaf” and the middle grade novel “Wonders of Shadow Key,” and Rita Ciresi, author of “Second Wife: Short Stories.”
“Both Fleming and Ciresi did a lot to help guide and teach me during my time at USF,” Thompson said. “Fleming's sensibilities always ran to writing that was funny and weird, which I appreciated both as a writer and a reader. Ciresi always had very high standards for work, and also gave me an opportunity to act as her teaching assistant for a class in young adult writing, which was my main genre focus at the time.”
Though Thompson occasionally writes other genres, critics have fallen in love with her romance novels. The New York Times called her book “With Love, from Cold World” one of the 10 best romances of 2023.
“I love the intimacy of romance, the way you can feel like you really know the characters
and are so emotionally invested in whether they'll be together,” Thompson said. “I
think every kind of story can be told through the lens of romance. I also like the
comfort of knowing that things will turn out well, and even though there are usual
beats and conventions you can come to expect, you never know quite how the author
will get you there.”
Thompson’s next novel, “Never Been Shipped,” is forthcoming this summer.
Described as an instant USA Today bestseller, Berkley published “The Art of Catching Feelings” in 2024.
Berkley, which is underneath Penguin Random House, published “With Love from Cold World” in 2023.
“Love in the Time of Serial Killers” was published in 2022 by Jove Books.