Alexandra Watson

Alexandra Watson is a Senior Lecturer in First-Year Writing and Associate Director of the Writing Fellows Program at Barnard College. A fiction writer and poet from Syracuse, New York, she founded the Creative Writing Fellows program and the Cite Black Barnard Faculty initiative. Watson holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and a BA in English and Literary Arts from Brown University.

• M.F.A., Columbia University
• B.A., Brown University

Her research interests include Fiction Writing, Poetry Writing, Contemporary American Literature, Literary Magazine Editing, Inclusive Pedagogy, and Creative Writing Pedagogy. Her work explores the intersections of race, class, gender, mental illness, addiction, and family. She co-founded Apogee Journal, a nonprofit literary arts organization prioritizing writers of color.

Watson’s publications span journals like The Nation, The South Carolina Review, and The Rumpus, focusing on themes such as racial identity, urban experience, and systemic oppression. Her awards include the 2025 Linda Bell Collaborative Teaching Award, the 2023 Platinum Review Award, and multiple grants from NYSCA and LMCC.

• 2025 Linda Bell Collaborative Teaching Award
• Barnard Provost’s Fund for Innovative Teaching
• 2019 PEN/Nora Magid Prize for Literary Magazine Editing
• Archie D. & Bertha H. Walker Scholarship
• Mariposa Fellowship
• New York State Council on the Arts grants

Watson advocates for inclusive pedagogy and has received three Provost Grants for Innovation in Teaching. She lives in the Hudson Valley and commutes to Barnard via Metro-North.