JTS’s MFA in Creative Writing Launches “SPOILER: The Unpredictable Story Festival” 

August 7, 2025, New York, NY: Today, The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) announced the lineup of its inaugural SPOILER: The Unpredictable Story Festival. Hosted by the new MFA in Creative Writing, the festival will feature six Jewish storytellers talking about humor, truth, and the best mistakes they’ve ever made. Over three nights in September, they’ll debate: What makes a good story, and where the hell can you find one? And if you do find one, are you allowed to keep it?  

The festival runs September 7–10 in New York City at The Jewish Theological Seminary. It will feature storytellers from the new MFA in Creative Writing: Etgar Keret (MFA Director), Jonathan Safran Foer (Founding Creative Advisor), Jodi Kantor, Shalom Auslander, Alex Edelman and Deborah Treisman (all creative advisors).  

The first event will take place on Sunday, September 7. Shalom Auslander and Alex Edelman will tackle humor, rejection, and why other people are always 100% wrong (no exceptions).  

The second night’s event, on Monday, September 8, is a conversation between Etgar Keret and Deborah Treisman about how to edit your own story, and why editing other people is much more fun.  

The final night, Wednesday, September 10, will feature Jodi Kantor and Jonathan Safran Foer on truth versus fiction – can something obviously untrue still be truthful?  

MFA Director Etgar Keret shared his excitement about the event: 

“When the world keeps hurling crappy, simplistic stories at us, what could be better than spending time with smart and funny storytellers who can help us come up with better ones? Our first SPOILER festival will cover topics like curiosity, reflections, imagination, and other things not currently trending on TikTok.” 

The festival is presented by JTS’s newly-launched low-residency MFA in Creative Writing. The program will welcome its first class of MFA students this September.  

The SPOILER festival takes place on September 7, 8, and 10 at 7:00 p.m. at JTS, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY. Tickets for a single event are $36. A full festival pass for all three evenings is $89. Each event will be followed by a book signing.  

Tickets can be purchased here.