Belhaven Graduate Ijanee Netter Accepted to Prestigious Tin House
May 28, 2025 (Jackson, Miss.) – Belhaven University is proud to announce that recent graduate Ijanee Netter has been accepted into the highly selective Tin House Summer Workshop for Fiction, one of the most prestigious writing programs in the country.
The workshop, which accepts only about 10 percent of applicants (roughly 140 out of 1,400), is by invitation only. Writers must submit samples of their work as part of the competitive application process.
Netter, who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Belhaven, has also been waitlisted for the New York University graduate program in creative writing, and is currently awaiting decisions from several other top graduate schools.
Dr. Randall Smith, Chair of the Creative Writing Department at Belhaven, praised Netter’s talent and promise as a writer. “She is one of the most gifted writers I have taught in the BFA in Creative Writing at Belhaven University over the past twenty-five years,” said Smith. “In terms of her ability to craft memorable characters and compelling plot structures, Ijanee reminds me of one of our most famous graduates, Angie Thomas.”
Smith added, “Ijanee also creates lyrical prose in her fiction (akin to the work of Jesmyn Ward) which complements her already fantastic, urgent, and believable characters set on inevitable arcs toward crisis and change. Ijanee does all of this in a seemingly effortless way. I don't think she really knows how gifted she is as a writer, but that innocence and her natural humility also make her very teachable.”
In addition, Netter is a bright scholar, consummate reader, and dedicated member of the writing community at large. During the fall of 2023, Netter attended the Fiftieth Anniversary Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival at Jackson State University where she listened to and learned from writers such as Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez, Jesmyn Ward, and Angie Thomas, among others.
Belhaven University celebrates Netter’s accomplishments and looks forward to her continued success as a writer and scholar.