Alumni Spotlight: Bianca McCarty
Registration is open for this summer! Join us June 8-12 at Millsaps College.
By Ryan Harper
Millsaps College Class of 2027
McMullan Writers Workshops alum 2022-2023
Bianca McCarty has been busy since attending the McMullan Writers Workshops from 2018 to 2021. In 2024, she published her debut novel Catfish Pond Woman, and after graduating from the University of Alabama in 2025 with a degree in biology and research in Parkinson’s Disease, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the University of Vienna.
The idea for Bianca’s novel Catfish Pond Woman was initially conceived of here at the McMullan Writers Workshops. She says the faculty and participants of MWW were the first people to have taken her seriously as a writer, and for the first time she felt as though the pursuit of writing was something within her grasp.
Bianca also acknowledges the insight gained from opportunities to meet “powerhouse writers” such as Kiese Laymon, Angie Thomas, and Joyce Carol Oates in her time at MWW. She says that she brags about meeting all of these people to this day, “even if Joyce Carol Oates thought my name was Marie and signed my book ‘to Marie.’”
While taking a prose writing course in college, Bianca dug out her old draft of a short story, “Catfish Pond Woman,” from her MWW archives. She had initially written it as a fledgling piece to make her friends laugh, but her college professor encouraged her, saying “it’s not done. There’s more here.”
Bianca’s initial reaction “was one of annoyance.” She was irritated by the idea of spending more time writing when she could be studying for her biology or chemistry classes, the core of her academic career. She had been focused on research, not on a short story she wrote in high school. Bianca had two loves—creative writing and science—but she had put her love for creative writing in the back seat.
“But the pull of the story was stronger than my academic ambitions, believe it or not. It sounds weird, but I when I was writing Catfish Pond Woman, I felt as if I’d stumbled upon the main character’s story, rather than invented it myself.”
--Bianca McCarty
Catfish Pond Woman was published in 2024 as a novel in stories while Bianca was a junior at the University of Alabama. Bianca says she now realizes that she does not, in fact, have to choose between her love of creative writing and her love for science—there is room to pursue both passions.
Bianca remarks that writing skills are of the utmost importance to her as a scientist. “We need to effectively communicate our work for it to really mean anything. Being a writer has served me very practically, but personally, it is my way of staying sane.” She makes an effort to consciously make space for creative writing in her life, carrying a notebook with her everywhere to journal and scribble down thoughts. At the McMullan Writers Workshops, she found a place full of young aspiring writers just like her, and felt an instant connection within it.
“Writing has always been a great joy of mine, and I was so happy to find others who were just as passionate as I was. I’m sure it goes without saying that this sense of belonging was incredibly important for both myself and surely the other participants.”
--Bianca McCarty
Bianca has been studying pharmacology in Vienna since September 2025. She says, “my German isn’t great and it’s too cold here, but I adore Vienna all the same.” She travels quite a bit while in Europe, using her Substack to post about her travels and to keep her friends and family updated from across the Atlantic. When she is not in the lab, she is trying out Vienna’s many cafes.
Bianca will begin a PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Alabama in Birmingham this August. Do you want to see where creative writing can take you?
Registration for this summer’s middle school, high school, and adult writers workshops is still open! But don’t wait — just a few spots remain. Claim yours today and join us June 8-12 at Millsaps College for an immersive creative writing experience in the McMullan Writers Workshops.
Are you an alum of the McMullan Writers Workshops? We’d love to share your story! Email us at myww@millsaps.edu.