Writing What We Carry
Contributed by: Katherine Neilan, Digital Content Producer & Storyteller
“I think it’s something I’ve been interested in since I was a child.”
Rohanna Ssanyu Delossantos ’23 M.F.A. has been writing for as long as she can remember. By first or second grade, she was keeping notebooks. By fourth grade, she had attempted to publish her own magazine for her classmates.
“It was completely plagiarism,” she said, laughing. “There was original material, but then there was also, like, cut out pieces from the teen magazines that I was reading.”
The magazine never took off, but Delossantos’ passion for writing stayed with her. Years later, that passion led her to the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Albertus Magnus College, where she began exploring poetry and developing work rooted in her family, culture, and identity.
“I’d been writing, for some time, essays that people would say, ‘Well, that’s a nice poem.’ And I’m like, ‘It’s not a poem. It’s an essay,’” Delossantos said. “So I was like, let me just lean in, because this is where my brain is going.”
Delossantos entered the MFA in Writing program in 2021 while working full-time as a teacher and raising her young son. She already held a master’s degree in history, so finding a program that could fit into her life was important.
“When I found the Albertus program, I was like, this might actually really work,” she said.
The flexibility of the program allowed her to continue her career while pursuing her writing, while the community connected her with classmates from across the country.
“I liked that I was gonna be in a class with people from around the country,” she said. “That ended up being one of the best parts of the program.”
Her writing soon became a way to preserve and explore her Ugandan heritage. Born in Alaska to a Ugandan mother and American father, Delossantos describes herself as a second-generation immigrant and first-generation American. Her work draws on family history, immigration, motherhood, and the Ugandan diaspora.
“How do I preserve my understanding of Ugandan culture in a form of a book, so that one day my children can read it?” she said.
That question helped shape The Marabou Who Crossed the Sea, her poetry collection inspired by her family history and experiences with Ugandan culture.
“It’s one way that I’m trying to carry culture forward,” Delossantos said.
Today, Delossantos continues to write while working as an educator and museum professional in New Haven. Her work has appeared in Obsidian, African American Review, Literary Mama, and elsewhere.
Her journey through the Albertus MFA in Writing shows the power of giving a writer the space, community, and encouragement to follow where their voice leads.
Interested in becoming a published writer like Rohanna? Learn more about our MFA program at our Virtual Information Session on November 2 at 5:30 PM. Register for your spot HERE.
