Graduate Creative Writing Programs
Creative Writing Programs ::
MA, MFA, PhD
This directory of university creative writing programs includes MFA creative writing programs, and MA and PhD creative writing programs. It is still being updated, and we'd appreciate hearing from you if you know of programs not yet listed. Whenever possible, links lead directly to the home page for the creative writing program.
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- MD - ME - MI
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NE
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NV - NY - OH
- OK - OR - PA
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TX - UT - VA
- VT - WA - WI
- WV - WY - Canada
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Arcadia
University
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
A low-residency program incorporating online workshops, one-on-one work with faculty members, and a residency spent abroad. Each student produces a manuscript length thesis as well as a plan to publish it.
Hollins University
Jackson Center for Creative Writing
MFA in Creative Writing
Our intensive two-year studio/hybrid MFA program helps you find your way in an atmosphere of cooperation and encouragement. We support college graduates who want to concentrate on craft and on reading the way writers do. The 24 students in this highly regarded program work successfully in poetry, short fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction—and between genres, too. We're known for our strong sense of community and our lively co-curricular program. Our faculty take time to work with students. Hollins alums have a remarkably high record of publication: this is a program for people who really want to write.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA degree at UIUC provides students with graduate study and professional training in the writing of fiction and poetry with our distinguished graduate faculty: Philip Graham, LeAnne Howe, Janice N. Harrington, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Michael Madonick, Audrey Petty, and Alex Shakar. The degree’s primary goal is to give writers time and space to work on perfecting their art. Upon graduation, students will have the skills necessary to teach writing and will produce a book-length, publishable manuscript. Students will also have the opportunity to gain experience in literary editing and publishing while working on Ninth Letter.
University
of South Carolina
MFA in Creative Writing
The University of South Carolina MFA blends the camaraderie of a small program with the resources of a large English department. Students work closely with well-published and supportive faculty and interact frequently with both internationally acclaimed and emerging visiting writers. All admitted students are funded across their three years here. (All second- and third-year students are fully funded and all first-year students are fully or substantially funded.) Intensive yet collegial workshops comprise the program's center, while students also receive world-class training in literary study with optional opportunities in pedagogy, editing, and outreach in a vibrant, inexpensive, and relaxed college city.
Alabama
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Auburn University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Creative Writing Program :: MA
"Through a series of workshop classes, the concentration in creative writing enables students to develop their skills as poets or writers of fiction or creative nonfiction. In creative writing workshops, the content of the course is literally generated by the students themselves."
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The program is a studio/academic course of study, designed with an eye to accommodating a variety of student and faculty passions. Imaginative writers enroll in writing workshops, forms courses, and literature classes, gaining exposure to a broad range of writing models and experimenting with a variety of strategies and forms.
University of South Alabama
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Alaska
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University of Alaska Anchorage
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
At the heart of this innovative program lies the literary connection of writers and place. No matter how diverse such connections, the North’s boundless terrain allows writers to locate their own place in the world. Explore the landscape of memory, family, and culture. Take your imagination from the local to the global. Reach from the personal to the communal.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
UAF is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. Our Visiting Writers program has brought up such notables as Yusef Komunyakaa, Ilya Kaminsky, Edward Hirsch, and David Lee. Please visit our website for more information.
Arizona
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Arizona State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing Program at Arizona State University, consistently ranked as one of the top MFA programs in the United States, is interdisciplinary in nature and tailored to address individual writing needs. Students in the program enjoy small classes and workshops, local and global outreach opportunities, and some of the best funding in the nation.
Northern Arizona University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Masters of Fine Art in Creative Writing allows you to balance academic coursework in English with the study of creative writing. Students participate in writing workshops in fiction and poetry, undertake coursework in literary periods and types, and study critical theory.
University of Arizona
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Founded in 1974, we are ranked one of the top ten graduate writing programs in the country. The workshop and the writer-to-writer conversations are at the heart of the MFA experience here, but the literary and cultural riches expand out from there. We’ve got a lot of interesting things to do and a lot of interesting people doing them.
Arkansas
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University of Central Arkansas
Creative Writing
Program :: MFA
The Arkansas Writers MFA is a studio program taught by writers for writers. At 60 hours, this three-year program ensures that writers build multi-genre backgrounds through workshops, forms courses, topics courses, and electives as well as specialized teaching and editing practicums. For further information, see the program website at: http://www.uca.edu/writing/mfa/.
University of Arkansas
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Candidates may apply to do a Master of Fine Arts degree either in Creative Writing or in Translation. Ours is a working program. With up to seven intensive workshops, courses in poetics and fiction theory, along with literature both traditional and contemporary, our students prepare themselves for the life of the writer.
University
of Arkansas - Monticello
MFA in Creative Writing Program (online)
UAM's entirely online program offers workshops in creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. We offer our students a rigorous, yet flexible education with small classes and a quality education at an affordable price.
California
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Antioch University Los Angeles
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
Antioch L.A. offers the world’s only MFA in Creative Writing Program specifically devoted not only to the education of literary artists but to the many roles of the writer in society, including community service and the pursuit of social justice. Certificates in Publishing Arts and Teaching are also available.
California College of the Arts
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
CCA’s MFA offers a course of study in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, cross-genre writing, playwriting, or screenwriting. Set in an art school, the MFA offers opportunities to collaborate with artists, designers, writers. CCA’s MFA affirms both innovative and traditional practice, offering a flexible and rigorous program supporting the path of each writer.
California Institute of the Arts / CalArts
Writing Program :: MFA
Its presence in an art institute like CalArts gives the Writing Program a theoretical and aesthetic affinity with new and often hybrid genres and a unique perspective on how they affect more conventional genres, such as the novel, the screenplay, the poem.
California Institute of Integral Studies
MFA in Creative Writing
The writers in these full-time weekend residency MFA program encourage each other to create powerful, interdisciplinary work that changes lives. We do not believe literary artists exist in a vacuum separate from culture; rather, we hold the view that art provides a profound method for engaging self and culture and can transform the individual and world.
California State University, Fresno
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing Program at California State University, Fresno prides itself on the quality of its teaching and writing, as well as for the contribution it makes to the cultural life of the campus and the community. The program, long known for its distinguished faculty and alumni, offers the Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction.
California State University, Long Beach
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
We offer full-time programs in fiction and poetry. While we currently do not offer teaching assistantships, a wide range of teaching opportunities are available to our graduate students.
California State University, Los Angeles
Creative Writing Program :: MA
California State University, Northridge
Creative Writing Program :: MA
California State University, Sacramento
Creative Writing Program :: MA
California State University, San Bernardino
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The M.F.A. program welcomes writers with fresh voices, expansive visions, and evident commitment into a diverse but tightly knit community. Based on the belief that the best education for the artist includes training in literature as well as the honing of craft, this two-year, terminal studio arts degree is designed to nurture talent while simultaneously preparing students for the challenges and joys that mark the writer's life.
Chapman University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The MFA degree at Chapman is a two-year, 42 unit program intended for graduate students who wish to specialize in writing literary fiction and poetry, with secondary studies in screenwriting and playwriting. Chapman also offers a Dual Degree in Creative Writing and Literature—a 54 unit program leading to both an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in literature.
Loyola Marymount University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
The Creative Writing Emphasis offers a range of coursework in several genres and modes of writing. In addition to strong fiction and poetry workshops, the Emphasis offers innovative classes including The Novella, Prose Poetry, The Memoir, Constraint Based Writing, Playwriting, and more. Students may also work with Faculty in other departments, including Film and Theatre.
Mills
College
MFA in Creative Writing
Part of the San Francisco Bay Area’s vibrant literary community, Mills College offers innovative MFA programs that allow you to explore poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and book art—enhancing your creativity and extending the power of words to the world around you.
National University
MFA in Creative Writing (online)
The National University MFA program is a completely online program with no residency requirement. Workshop classes are conducted in electronic classrooms with fellow writers from around the country and the world.
Otis College of Art and Design
MFA in Writing
Our multi-disciplinary approach—writing, literature, critical theory, publishing and translation—is the ideal complement to the program's international emphasis, providing a singular opportunity to look at American writing in relation to other contemporary world literatures.
Pepperdine University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From web: "Pepperdine's two-year MFA in Writing for Screen and Television trains students for a vocation as screenwriters and prepares them to become cultural leaders in the entertainment industry. Courses in the program focus on the storyteller in conversation with contemporary culture through the lens of ethics, philosophy, film studies, and religion."
Saint Mary’s College of California
MFA in Creative Writing Program
Founded in 1995, the MFA Program in Creative Writing is a two-year course of study leading to the M.F.A. degree in creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. The Program provides the time and formal training necessary for serious students to improve their writing. It embodies the finest qualities of Saint Mary’s College: an investment in the social justice and educating the whole person. We model community both in the classroom and in the arts community, attending to the powerful role of developing artists in a culture that is thirsty for the knowledge only arts can bring.
San Diego State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing program at San Diego State University proudly offers a Master of Fine Arts to writers of great promise and commitment. Our campus is situated in the heart of San Diego, the site of early Californian history, and only minutes from the U.S./Mexico border.
San Francisco State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
From website: The Department of Creative Writing offers undergraduate and graduate programs. The three degree programs emphasize the primary importance of the study and practice of imaginative writing in the genres of poetry, fiction, playwriting, and nonfiction.
San Jose State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The MFA program in Creative Writing at SJSU is a 48 semester-unit studio/research program that provides concentrations in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting/screenwriting. Graduation requirements include writing workshops in the primary and secondary genres, literature seminars, and professional training courses and/or internships.
University of California Davis
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "One of the main benefits of our M.A. program is
that our creative writers take literature courses right along with
Ph.D. candidates; this means there are close relationships among
students across disciplines"
University of California Irvine
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "What we expect of our students is passionate precision, character, and stamina. What we want most for our students is that each will sooner or later write something that lasts."
University of California Riverside
Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts Program :: MFA
Move fluidly within various arenas of creative writing, including the genres of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, and screenwriting, as well as in multimedia studies. The program integrates scholarly studies of narrative, style, voice, structure, and history of these writing disciplines with traditional workshop formats, forming writers who can actively direct the literature of the twenty-first century.
University
of California, Riverside-Palm Desert
MFA Program in Creative Writing &
Writing for the Performance Arts
The low residency MFA program at UCR-Palm Desert, the first of its kind in the University of California system, offers a full academic and professional immersion into the writing world. In addition to their creative work, students meet one-on-one with industry professionals to help guide them towards the next step of their careers.
University of California San Diego
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
University of San Francisco
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: If language is human culture's distinguishing characteristic, creative writing is its artful practice, rooted in the imagination and developed throughout history by multiple traditions. USF's Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program offers graduate students an intimate learning experience in the art of writing, while taking advantage of San Francisco's position as a dynamic center of literary expression.
University of Southern California
Creative Writing Program :: MPW, PhD
The program provides dual emphasis in literature and creative writing, culminating in the dissertation, which combines critical analysis with creative originality.
Colorado
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Colorado State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The program offers a balance of intimate and intensive writing workshops with courses in literature, form and technique, and such related electives as creative nonfiction writing and translation.
Naropa
University
Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
MFA in Writing & Poetics (res)
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
The Jack Kerouac School emphasizes innovative approaches to literary arts. Our programs problematize genre while cultivating contemplative and experimental writing practices. Each year, we invite more than sixty guest faculty to our internationally renowned Summer Writing Program, a four-week colloquium of workshops, lectures, and readings. This distinguishing feature fosters an intensely creative environment for students to develop their writing projects in conversation with a community of writers. Founded in 1974 by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, the Jack Kerouac School consists of the undergraduate Core Writing Seminars, a BA in Writing & Literature, a residential MFA in Writing & Poetics, a low-residency MFA in Creative Writing, and the Summer Writing Program.
State College of Western Colorado
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
The Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing is ideal for those who demand rigorous instruction in creative writing, poetry or screenwriting. The low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program is a 60-credit, student-centered program for writers who choose to live their lives and hone their writing skills at the same time.
University of Colorado Boulder
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing Program :: MFA trains students to write in a variety of genres and to study literature from the point of view of a working writer. Recent graduates have become not only published authors, but also journalists, editors, publishers, and educators. The Program has a thirty year tradition stressing literary experimentation and diversity in all of its forms.
University of Denver
Creative Writing Program :: PhD
From website: We pitch our workshops and other courses to the sophisticated levels of students who have done an MA or MFA in creative writing elsewhere (recent PhD students have come from Brown, Iowa, the Art Institute of Chicago, U-Mass-Amherst, Florida, and many other celebrated MFA programs).
Western
State Colorado University
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
Western’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing focuses on writing for larger audiences: concentrations in mainstream as well as genre fiction; poetry with an emphasis in form; and screenwriting for Indies, Hollywood, and television. Residencies occur the last two weeks of July, high the Colorado Rockies.
Connecticut
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Albertus Magnus College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
Fairfield University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
From website: "Fairfield University's low residency MFA in Creative Writing is a two-year program leading to a Master of Fine Arts with concentrations in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry."
Southern Connecticut State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
From website: "With its main focus on the writing workshop and the creative thesis, the M.F.A. also requires students to study literature at the graduate level and provides opportunities for students to train for teaching collegiate-level writing."
Western Connecticut State University
MFA in Creative and Professional Writing
The first and only MFA program designed to prepare writers for careers in the contemporary marketplace, not just for a genre. Our students master a creative and a practical genre such as magazine writing, technical writing, or PR; and most of them are working professionally before they leave the program. (Low-Residency)
Washington D.C.
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American University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing program at American University is dedicated to supporting the intensely personal act of creating literature that will illuminate and endure. Students encounter an open, respectful community of writers and a curriculum that embraces the full range of writing experiences in a vibrant cultural and international capital, Washington, DC.
Florida
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Florida Atlantic University
Creative
Writing Program :: MA, MFA
Students in the MA and MFA programs specialize in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction, pursuing half of their coursework in creative writing workshops and half in literature and theory seminars.
Florida International University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Study in paradise with a highly productive and accessible faculty--coursework in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, screenwriting, & drama. Ranked among the nation's Top Ten by the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Alums include Dennis Lehane, Barbara Parker, Preston Allen, Richard Blanco and many more.
Florida State University
Creative Writing :: MFA, PhD
Our program, ranked in the top 10 by The Atlantic, offers both the MFA and Ph.D. and is affiliated with FSU’s top-ranked schools of Film and Theatre. Home to winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and more often included in Harcourt’s Best New American Voices.
Nova Southeastern University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Writing program at the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences build backgrounds in both professional and creative writing. The program allows students to further develop the writing skills that they acquired as undergraduate students and to develop specialized writing skills in areas such as business, technical, and journalistic writing.
University of Central Florida
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The UCF MFA is a workshop-centered studio writing program offering concentrations in fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry. We also encourage the close study of published work (contemporary and historical), and offer classes in Teaching CRW and Teaching Composition and Rhetoric. Our MFA students have the opportunity to work on our national literary journal, The Florida Review. Teaching assistantships and fellowships are available.
University of Florida
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: We require an equal interest in writing and in reading literature. We don’t believe in any particular school of writing; we have no wish to foster or found one.
University of Miami
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
We offer an engaged and accessible faculty, small graduate workshops, and a supportive environment, both in terms of our own growing program and the English department at large. We offer full or partial funding to all our students. All MFA candidates have the opportunity to teach ENG 209 (Introduction to Creative Writing.)
University of South Florida
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The program emphasizes the craft of writing and concentrates on the student's original work. The MFA requires 45 hours of coursework and typically will take three years for the student to complete. Our goal is to help MFA students to produce publishable theses and secure teaching or editing positions upon graduation.
University
of Tampa
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
The University of Tampa low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program is designed to help poets, fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers advance their command of craft through exposure to literature from a writerly perspective and with supportive critique and mentoring.
Georgia
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Georgia College & State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Creative Writing Program :: MFA program offers workshops with award-winning faculty writers in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and memoir, and scriptwriting, and students may write the thesis in any of these four genres. Our university is small (about 6,000 students), located in historic downtown Milledgeville (home of Flannery O'Connor).
Georgia State University
Creative Writing :: MA, MFA, PhD
From website: GSU's rigorous studio/academic program offers the BA with a concentration in creative writing, and the MA, MFA, and PhD in poetry and fiction.
Kennesaw State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: The Master of Arts in Professional Writing degree is a professional graduate degree program that prepares candidates for a wide variety of writing-related positions in business, education, publishing, and the arts. Coursework in three concentrations - applied writing, composition and rhetoric, and creative writing - allows students to gain theoretical and practical knowledge in various fields of professional writing.
Savannah College of Art and Design
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "The professional writing program prepares students for careers in a global society that demands communication through the written word."
University of Georgia
Creative Writing :: MFA, PhD
From website: Stresses the importance of teaching as well as research. Most students who want a chance to teach are able to do so before completing their degrees. Students are expected and encouraged to participate actively in the program, attending readings by visiting writers and participating in some of the reading series offered by the department and the larger Athens writing community.
Hawaii
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Faculty come from Hawai‘i, New Zealand, Samoa, Pakistan, India, and the Americas. Our location—in the crossroads of the Pacific, Asia and the Americas, where cultures meet/collide/struggle/rejoice/imagine/invent—gives us unique creative possibilities."
Idaho
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Boise State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The MFA Program in Creative Writing offers degree tracks in fiction and poetry, emphasizing the art and craft of literary writing and concentrating on the student's written work. Close work with faculty and visiting writers is encouraged through seminars, conferences, and classroom interaction during the three-year course
University
of Idaho
MFA in Creative Writing
Idaho’s three-year curriculum is ideal for those who demand rigorous instruction in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Our program—small by design—limits enrollment in graduate workshops to 10-15 students, which allows for an intimate and dynamic work environment, and full access to our award-winning faculty. Moscow, and its abundant wilderness opportunities, is an ideal place to focus on writing.
Illinois
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Chicago State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Columbia College Chicago
Creative Writing MFA - Fiction
Degree candidates are expected to produce work of publishable quality during the course of study and complete a book-length manuscript. In addition to Story Workshop fiction and prose forms classes, the program offers courses in young adult fiction, science fiction, researching and writing historical fiction, creative non-fiction, adaptation of prose fiction to script, independent study in playwriting, and new historical approaches to the study of famous writers' writing processes.
Columbia College Chicago
Creative Writing MFA - Nonfiction
Columbia College Chicago
MFA in Poetry
Columbia College offers a flexible two-year, poetry-only MFA program at an art school in the heart of downtown Chicago. Students take workshops, literature and craft seminars, hands-on courses in teaching and literary editing, two semesters of thesis coursework, and attend monthly coffee chats with visiting writers and publishers.
DePaul University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "The Master of Arts in Writing and Publishing program offers advanced training in the art and craft of writing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction."
Illinois State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "The Program has earned a reputation as a place for the study of alternative forms of writing. Graduate students are invited to envision limitless choices in an environment that respects innovation."
Northwestern University
Writing for the Screen + Stage MFA
From website: From indie films to hit sitcoms and dramas to Tony Award winners and Oscar nominees, from John Logan (The Aviator) to Tony Kushner (Angels in America) to Greg Berlanti (Everwood) to Gretchen Berg & Aaron Harberts (Pepper Dennis) to Zach Braff (Garden State) to Janae Bakken (Scrubs), Northwestern writing alumnae, faculty, and visiting artists are at the forefront of stage, film, and television.
Northwestern
University
School of Continuing Studies
MA/MFA in Creative Writing
The part-time Master of Arts/Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Northwestern University offers scheduling flexibility to pursue your writing goals while balancing your professional and personal life. Core writing competency is developed through peer workshops, reading and discussing other authors’ works, literature courses, electives, a teaching practicum, and publishing internships.
Roosevelt University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Through writing workshops, a range of literature courses and the opportunity for skills-building internships, the Roosevelt MFA offers students an intensive writing experience, a laboratory in which to grow the skills necessary to sustain a lifetime of writing, and the connections to launch writing careers.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Creative Writing Programs :: MFA
The Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program is for writers of all genres - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, as well as for writers who work with both image and text. Students learn to sustain their careers through workshops, seminars and intensive one-on-one advising. Because the Writing program is situated within an acclaimed school of fine art and design (as opposed to an English department), students are free to work with artists from all areas of the school.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: A three year studio/academic program for students gifted in the writing of fiction and poetry. Workshops are small and faculty members work closely with students, providing an unusual degree of both formal and informal mentoring.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "One of the terrific perks of studying creative writing at SIUE is the vibrant literary community in the St. Louis metro area."
University of Chicago
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "Students at Chicago pursue creative writing within the larger context of academic study."
University of Illinois at Chicago
Program for Writers :: MA, PhD
From website: "The department offers the MA with three concentrations: English Studies, Creative Writing, and English Education. The department offers the PhD in English Studies and Creative Writing."
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA degree at UIUC provides students with graduate study and professional training in the writing of fiction and poetry with our distinguished graduate faculty: Philip Graham, LeAnne Howe, Janice N. Harrington, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Michael Madonick, Audrey Petty, and Alex Shakar. The degree’s primary goal is to give writers time and space to work on perfecting their art. Upon graduation, students will have the skills necessary to teach writing and will produce a book-length, publishable manuscript. Students will also have the opportunity to gain experience in literary editing and publishing while working on Ninth Letter.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
MFA program, which offers degrees in Fiction or Poetry, is affiliated with an English Department routinely ranked among the highest in the nation. The department's creative writing faculty features several distinguished poets and fiction writers with national and international reputations. The Department's reading series draws writers of the highest caliber.
Indiana
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Ball State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Butler
University
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA is a 36-hour studio MFA that includes ten three-credit courses and six hours of formal thesis work with an advisor. We offer programs in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as electives in screenwriting, young adult fiction, poetic form, literary editing and publishing, and teaching creative writing. We offer top-flight, full-time faculty, nationally recognized visiting faculty, and one of the finest visiting writers series in the country. We operate a MFA-run literary magazine and other publishing enterprises, and also offer teaching and service opportunities through an array of programs.
Indiana State University
Specialization in Writing :: MA
From website: This emphasis is designed for students planning further graduate work in creative writing, rhetoric/composition or related areas, for those preparing to teach at the high school or college level, and for those planning to practice writing or editing in other professions.
Indiana University Bloomington
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
From website: Indiana University is one of the few universities to offer its students a graduate-level course in creative writing pedagogy: Teaching Creative Writing.
Indiana University South Bend
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "We have an active community of students, faculty, and bloggers who meet both in class and out in the community to share our passion for writing."
Purdue University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Gives poets and fiction writers the opportunity to develop their work in a supportive atmosphere. Three-year program. Full funding for all. Dynamic Visiting Writers Series. With one of the best student to faculty ratios (3.5 to 1) in the country, the program ensures personal attention and a friendly writing community.
University of Notre Dame
MFA Creative Writing Program
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Notre Dame is a two-year degree program centered around workshops in poetry and fiction and offering literature courses, translation, a literary publishing course, and twelve credits of thesis preparation with an individual faculty advisor.
Iowa
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Iowa State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
Our MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment offers an original and intensive opportunity for gifted students of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and drama to document, meditate on, celebrate, and mourn the transformation of our world.
University of Iowa
Creative Writing
Program :: MFA
For almost 70 years writers have come to Iowa City to work on their manuscripts and to exchange ideas about writing and reading with each other and with the faculty. Many of them have gone on to publish award-winning work after graduating.
University of Iowa
MFA Nonfiction Writing Program
The Nonfiction Writing Program is broadly devoted to literary nonfiction and serves the purposes principally of people who aspire to become writers. But it serves equally well persons who imagine themselves teaching writing or in a job that emphasizes strong writing and editing skills.
University of Northern Iowa
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "In nurturing workshop environments, students explore their craft."
Kansas
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Kansas State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website "One of the department's largest and most vibrant tracks, the program offers creative writing workshops in every genre, and features individualized attention from highly published, award-winning faculty."
Pittsburg State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "This new emphasis offers small classes in poetry and fiction writing with personal attention from faculty."
University of Kansas
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
A newly established MFA program with tracks in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and playwriting. Internships for academic credit can be taken with Cottonwood, KU's national literary review, and with the English Alternative Theater. We have a visiting writers program and each semester all graduate students can read their work. A Ph.D. with a creative dissertation is also available.
Wichita State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The MFA Program at Wichita State University has been rated one of twenty-five underrated MFA programs because of the financial support and attention to their writing that its students receive. The Wichita State MFA program, which is the twelfth oldest in the U.S., is a three-year studio-academic program offering concentration in fiction or poetry. Students do their workshops and thesis work with full-time faculty members and can study, as well, with visiting distinguished writers.
Kentucky
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Bluegrass Writers Studio
MA/MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
EKU offers a vibrant and uncommonly affordable brief-residency MFA program with opportunities to attend residencies in either (or both) downtown Lexington, Kentucky and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The rest of the program takes place via online courses which students complete within the context of their everyday lives.
Morehead State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "The goal of the creative writing program at Morehead State University is to combine the rigorous instruction of creative writing with an active creative writing community so that aspiring writers may develop their individual talents in an atmosphere that is both demanding and supportive."
Murray
State University
MA/MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
In the beautiful lakes region of Western Kentucky, something extraordinary is happening. Masters in their craft—some of the most widely respected novelists, poets and essayists working today—are guiding a group of talented and diverse writers in Murray State University's high quality, low-residency, and very affordable MFA program.
Spalding
University
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
The Spalding MFA offers an intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive experience; unparalleled flexibility and individually tailored graduate study; a diverse and close-knit community of writers.
University of Louisville
Creative Writing Program :: MA
The Creative Writing Program at U of L offers a variety of creative writing courses covering the major genres of poetry, fiction, drama and creative nonfiction at the graduate and undergraduate level. At the graduate level, we offer an Creative Writing Program :: MAwhere students have a thesis or a non-thesis option.
Louisiana
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Louisiana State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
With full funding and tuition waivers for all students, an excellent student faculty ratio, distinguished faculty, and freedom to explore every genre (including non-fiction, drama, and screen writing), LSU has a gem of a program. Alumni include Olympia Vernon, Virgil Suarez, Josh Russell, Clarence Nero, and Megan Volpert.
McNeese State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The Master of Fine Arts program at McNeese is for you if you're a serious writer eager to explore your potential as a creator of literary fiction and poetry. While here, you'll write and read constantly, encouraged and guided by professors who are passionate about language and art. Our workshops are capped at a dozen to allow personal attention.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "A friendly, energetic community of faculty and students who enjoy a lively relationship with the other graduate concentrations in English, an exciting university, and a warmly receptive local environment."
University of New Orleans
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
Many students arrive from undergraduate programs, yet many find their way to the CWW at other stages of their lives. And this eclectic mix, combined with New Orleans' long tradition of embracing the arts, makes for workshops that are lively and constructive, with students producing impressive, and award-winning, creative work.
University of New Orleans
Creative Writing
Program :: MFA (low-res)
From website: The low residency MFA in Creative Writing is based on our workshops at our flagship program in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Montpellier, France; and the poetry workshop at Ezra Pound's castle in Brunnenburg, Italy. Three summer semesters abroad are combined with distance (online) classes taken during the intervening fall and spring semesters to create a curriculum that is engaging, challenging, and fun.
Maine
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University of Maine at Orono
Creative Writing Program :: MA
University of Southern Maine
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
One of the nation's leading low-residency MFA programs, Stonecoast provides a rigorous, open-minded, and progressive two-year graduate education in the art of writing, distinguished by an innovative curriculum, rich residency offerings, and an award-winning, diverse faculty handpicked for their generosity and talent as teachers.
Maryland
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Goucher College
Creative Writing Program ::
MFA (low-res)
What distinguishes Goucher's MFA in Creative Nonfiction from other graduate creative writing programs, including those that take advantage of the limited-residency format, is its exclusive focus on a single genre. The program is also distinguished by its strong professional focus on writing and publishing.
Johns Hopkins University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The M.F.A. degree in The Writing Seminars is designed for students committed to the study and practice of literary writing at the highest level of accomplishment.
University of Baltimore
Creative Writing Program :: MFA & Publishing Arts
In addition to an array of writing classes and workshops, we offer courses in book arts, small press publishing, and creativity. You'll send your work to established literary journals, and you'll also create your own print and electronic journals and publish broadsides and chapbooks. And that's what's unique about us.
University of Maryland - College Park
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The program offers concentrations in fiction and poetry, and requires a creative thesis.
Massachusetts
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Boston University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
From website: We are perhaps the most venerable of all such graduate programs; certainly one of the finest; and, with our single year of residence and scholarly component, decidedly different. We are not the place for a leisurely discovery of yourself as a writer or person.
Emerson College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
U.S. News & World Report ranks Emerson’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program among the country’s top graduate programs of its kind. Well-respected, workshop-based MFA residency programs such as Emerson’s have proven to be incubators for rising literary talent.
Emerson College
Publishing & Writing Program :: MA
The MA in Publishing and Writing program provides an overview of the publishing industry from writing and editing through design, production, promotion, and distribution. You may also take courses in literature, writing workshops, teaching college composition, or intern at a literary agency, magazine publisher, or book publisher.
Lesley University
MFA Program in Creative Writing (low-res)
A low-residency program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the literary capitals of the U.S. Students work with a distinguished faculty mentor to design their own concentrations in one of five genres. An exciting interdisciplinary component allows students to explore other genres, art forms, internships, and disciplines.
Pine
Manor College
Solstice MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
The Solstice Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA Program of Pine Manor College is co-educational, inclusive, and affordable. Our program is designed to help students reach their full potential as writers through a demanding curriculum that balances the workshop experience with the study of literary craft, criticism, and theory.
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Dedicated to the creation of new and important writing. For almost half a century, it has been a place for writers to concentrate on their work and to write their books. The program provides opportunities for writers to gain experience in the fields of literary publishing, scholarship, arts administration, and the practice of teaching. Our writers make significant contributions of contemporary letters through the publication of their work and in their roles as publishers, editors, educators, and in various fields in which writing and imagination are central.
University of Massachusetts - Boston
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "The Master of Fine Arts builds on UMass Boston’s well-established undergraduate creative writing program, and on the English M.A. degree’s creative writing track."
University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Michigan
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Central Michigan University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Eastern Michigan University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
The MA Program in Creative Writing at EMU promotes innovation, experimentation and collaboration across artistic fields and cultural practices. Distinguished as one of the only interdisciplinary programs for creative writing in the country, we provide a rich space for exploring multiple arts and mixed genres, sound and performance, digital technologies and new media, as well as community-based and collaborative projects, innovative curating and alternative publishing.
Northern Michigan University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The MFA program in creative writing offers talented writers the opportunity to meet high literary standards in their own work as well as sharpen their critical acumen in a formal academic setting.
University of Michigan
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
At the heart of the program are the writing workshops, where students assemble as a community of writers to read and comment on one another's work in progress.
Wayne State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: The variety of our offerings enables students to construct individual programs that suit their interests, promote their career aims, and increase their employment possibilities while satisfying standards of the profession.
Western Michigan University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
From website: Graduates of the program have gone on to publish books, found and develop literary journals, see their plays produced, and develop creative writing programs at universities around the country.
Minnesota
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Augsburg College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
Come to the Twin Cities and be a part of a vibrant literary community where youll engage the world thoughtfully, deepen and broaden your artistic sensibilities, and enjoy individual attention with a 5:1 student to faculty mentor ratio. The Augsburg MFA in creative writing is a two-year low-residency program with tracks in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting and concentrations in translation, teaching, and publishing.
Hamline University
MFA in Writing
MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults (low-res)
At Hamline, you’ll benefit not only from being a part of the only university in the U.S. with three fine arts programs in creative writing and an award-winning national literary magazine, but also from the cultural and literary bounty of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Hamline students experience a world-class education in the process and craft of writing taught by award-winning practicing writers. Our faculty have published more than 250 books and won the highest awards given for excellence in writing for children, young adults, and adults. Our alumni go on to publish, teach, and work in the literary publishing industry.
Minnesota State University Mankato
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA program in creative writing meets the needs of students who want to strike a balance between the development of individual creative talent and the close study of literature and language. New students will discover the faculty eager to work with them and a community atmosphere extremely supportive of their writing.
Minnesota State University Moorhead
MFA in Creative Writing
A small program with maximum attention given to individual students; designed for either full-time or part-time enrollment. New Rivers Press is based on campus; it is one of only two university-based literary presses in the nation.
University of Minnesota
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
This three-year degree provides advanced graduate-level coursework in writing, language, and literature, as well as study in a related field.
Mississippi
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Mississippi State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "Faculty include notable and extensively published creative writers."
University of Mississippi
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: This graduate program in writing offers students intensive training in fiction or poetry in William Faulkner's hometown.
University of Southern Mississippi
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: Workshops are offered in fiction, nonfiction prose, and poetry by the Center's distinguished faculty, and there are the usual specialized readings courses and traditional scholarly courses available.
Missouri
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Lindenwood University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "The wide range of classes we offer gives our students a chance to experience many different types of writing—fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and journalism—with the option for emphasis on a chosen genre."
Missouri State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: Students in the M.A. in English program at Missouri State gain advanced skills in writing, critical reading, and analyzing language.
Southeast Missouri State University
Creative Writing :: MA
The MA offers courses in literature, creative writing, rhetoric, publishing, theory, and pedagogy. Students design programs to prepare for graduate work at the doctoral level, for teaching in high school or community college, or for occupations such as editing. Assistantships in teaching or working in the University Press are available.
University of Missouri
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
Through a diverse offering of faculty, courses, visiting writers, interdisciplinary projects, writing prizes, publishing internships, student readings, and a unique commitment to the generative interrelationship between literary study and literary production, the Creative Writing Program is dedicated to enhancing our students' creative, literary, and professional lives.
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
"Our program works on the principle that a solid grounding in the traditions of literature, careful mentoring by published writers, and the powerful give and take of the workshop experience create the poets and fiction writers who have the best resources for making great literary art."
University of Missouri-St. Louis
MFA in Creative Writing
We are small, flexible, and perfect for working adults as all our classes are in the evenings. We have a strong literary community of current students and alums who meet often and provide a network. All students can work on Natural Bridge, our international literary journal.
Washington University St. Louis
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA Program at Washington University in St. Louis is a two-year program where 20 to 25 students are working toward MFA degrees in fiction or poetry. Each year our reading series brings a diverse group of poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers to the department. In addition, the Hurst Professor program brings in four distinguished visitors each year to present their newest work, lecture on the craft of writing, and work one-on-one with our MFA students. Students teach creative writing courses in their second year. All students are fully and equally funded.
Montana
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University of Montana
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: Committed to integrated study of literature and creative writing, the writing program prepares writers to teach a variety of courses at the college level.
Nebraska
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Creighton University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
The M.A. in creative writing is a two-year program providing training and guidance in poetry and/or fiction writing. Graduates of the program are prepared to take jobs in publishing, to teach part-time at the university level, and to enter PhD programs in English and Creative Writing.
University of Nebraska, Kearney
Creative Writing Program :: MA
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: The Graduate Program in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers the MA and PhD for students interested in Literature Studies, Creative Writing, and Composition and Rhetoric.
University of Nebraska, Omaha
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
The program offers focused instruction for creative writers who are committed to a literary career. Four 16-week semesters and five 10-day conference-style residencies are integrated to help those who desire to hone their writing and critical thinking in order to participate competitively in the wider domain of contemporary American letters. We have chosen faculty mentors on the basis of their literary accomplishments and their strong emphasis on teaching the craft of writing through individual mentorship.
Nevada
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Sierra Nevada College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
The MFA program at UNLV is an international program, designed so that writers could begin to recognize themselves and their writing in relation to world writing at large.
University of Nevada, Reno
Creative Writing Program :: MA
New Hampshire
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New England College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA in Poetry (low-res)
More than a graduate course of study, the New England College MFA program strives to teach its students how to become better poets by providing a trans-formative experience in the study of creative writing and poetry that will enhance their professional goals. The distinguishing features of our program include a single genre focus on poetry, as well as specialized study in memorization and recitation, collaborative performance, translation, new media poetics, prose writing for poets and teaching opportunities.
Southern New Hampshire University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The highly focused, low-residency M.F.A. prepares students to write in their chosen genre at a professional level.
University of New Hampshire
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The program emphasizes craft, learned in small workshops, and seeks students who plan to become professional writers after taking their degrees.
New Jersey
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Drew University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
From website: For poets and poet translators. Students hone and develop their talent, as well as gain knowledge of the craft and poetics of contemporary American writers, and writers from other eras and cultures. The program offers some of America’s most talented poets as faculty mentors who work one-on-one with our students.
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The MFA degree is offered in three disciplines: Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Non-Fiction.
Rowan University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Rowan’s well-established Master of Arts in Writing is housed in the Department of Writing Arts and provides students with a multidisciplinary approach to Writing.
Rutgers University - Camden
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
What makes the Rutgers-Camden MFA different? We think that writers in one genre can learn from writers in another– poets from fiction writers, fiction writers from memoirists, and memoirists from poets. Our unique multi-genre approach prepares our students not only to write poetry and prose but to teach at the college level. MFA students interested in pursuing academic careers have the option of taking graduate courses in Rutgers-Camden’s highly regarded Teaching of Writing M.A. track. Therefore, while our students concentrate in fiction, poetry, or narrative nonfiction, they are encouraged to enroll in workshops and craft classes in genres and disciplines other than their own and with teachers who publish across genres.
Rutgers University - Newark
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Rutgers-Newark MFA in creative writing program, located on the most richly diverse undergraduate campus in the nation, is a 25-minute PATH train ride from Manhattan. Literature comprises the consciousness and conscience of a culture, and the Rutgers-Newark MFA is a 21st Century program designed to nurture a wide range of voices.
William Paterson University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
New Mexico
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New Mexico State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
From website: The Department of English at New Mexico State University offers the Master of Fine Arts Degree in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing.
University of New Mexico
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: Our widely published creative writing faculty, along with a distinguished visiting writers series, a faculty and student reading series, the acclaimed Taos Summer Writing Conference, and a national literary magazine, all make for an exciting atmosphere for the study of writing.
New York
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Adelphi University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: This cross-genre program is distinctive from the traditional two-genre M.F.A. programs in which students study either fiction or poetry.
Bard College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
Interdisciplinary summer-based MFA program. Students work with faculty in all fields: film/video, music/sound, painting, photography, sculpture, and writing. The nature of the program makes it most suitable for writers working with innovative forms of poetry, short fiction, sound, and mixed-media writing.
Binghamton University SUNY
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Designed to foster in its students a powerful, disciplined and skilled creativity cultivated in a supportive environment. Through its dedicated faculty, students are introduced to all facets of their art — its traditions and masters, its pleasures and responsibilities, its materials and practices"
Brooklyn College
MFA in Creative Writing
Based in Brooklyn, the heart of today’s literary scene, the Brooklyn College MFA program offers workshops, literature seminars, small-group reading tutorials, and one-on-one tutorials, which all emphasize relationships between eminent faculty and students. Students also benefit from The Brooklyn Review, frequent public readings/performances, annual Espy residencies, fellowships, and teaching opportunities.
City College Of New York - CUNY
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
We offer an M.F.A. with writing workshops and one-on-one tutorials in fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, and memoir, and we encourage our students to explore more than one genre. Our program encourages part-time students, with classes scheduled in the late afternoon and evening to accommodate those with full time jobs. Each student is required to write a thesis of publishable quality. CCNY is ranked among the top Graduate Creative Writing Programs in U.S. News and World Report.
The
College of Saint Rose
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
This new full-residency, 48-credit program provides serious writers with the opportunity to work within their chosen genres—fiction, creative nonfiction or poetry—in workshops with an accomplished full-time faculty of creative writers, literary scholars and a visiting writer each semester and to complete a full-length creative work as a thesis.
Columbia University School of the Arts
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
We hope to provide an atmosphere that allows for full artistic exploration, and honest, substantive critical dialogue.
Cornell University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
The Creative Writing program in English Language and Literature offers two degree options: the M.F.A. degree, with concentrations in either poetry or fiction, and the Joint M.F.A./Ph.D. degree. Advanced students are able to pursue intensive study with a distinguished faculty committed to creative and intellectual community.
Fordham University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "We feel that the study of literature and the practice of writing are mutually reinforcing; our core faculty members are both scholars and creative writers."
Hofstra University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From Website: "Designed especially for students who wish to combine the graduate study of literature with an opportunity to develop their skills as creative writers."
Hunter College -CUNY
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Hunter College is located in New York City. MFA faculty includes Peter Carey, Tom Sleigh, and Louise DeSalvo. Our Hertog Fellowship pays select students to research for writers such as Jonathan Franzen and Toni Morrison.
Long Island University-Brooklyn
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The M.F.A. in Creative Writing offers writers the opportunity to work in poetry, fiction, playwriting, and cross-genre projects ranging from the contemplative to the experimental and avant garde.
Manhattanville College
Manhattanville’s MFA program is among the most flexible creative writing programs in the country. With our unique, non-tracking curriculum, students have the opportunity to work in a variety of genres, to experiment with cross-genre writing, or to focus on a single genre with gifted teachers and mentors who are also award-winning authors. MFA students are encouraged to build an individualized program that best fits their immediate interests and long-term goals. Course offerings regularly include workshops in fiction (in short story and novel), poetry, cross-genre writing, creative nonfiction, children’s/young adult writing, and screenwriting as well as other electives.
The New School
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Writing Program offers a 36-credit course of study leading to the MFA
degree, with concentrations in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and writing for
children.
New York University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The N.Y.U. Creative Writing Program, among the most distinguished programs in the country, is a leading national center for the study of writing and literature.
Queens College - CUNY
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Our MFA program encourages risk-taking, innovation and cross-genre work and is located in Queens, the most linguistically and culturally diverse borough in New York City! We offer tracks in creative writing (poetry, prose, playwriting) and literary translation. Workshops, craft courses and literary seminars are taught by core faculty members, as well as visiting writers. We've partnered with The Poetry Society of America, The Actors Company Theater and the Louis Armstrong House and Museum.
Sarah Lawrence College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The program focuses on the art and craft of writing, rather than on the study of literature.
State University of New York at Albany
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "This concentration combines the disciplined practice of writing with a rigorous course of study in the formal, institutional, and material frameworks for understanding that practice."
State University of New York at Brockport
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Stony
Brook Southampton
MFA in Writing & Literature
The MFA program in Writing and Literature at Stony Brook Southampton is committed to offering students the best of advanced training in writing, reading, and editing. The program welcomes talented writers whose writing is expressed in any form – from novels, poetry, and scripts to scientific, technological, and cultural analysis.
Syracuse University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Student writers of poetry and fiction explore the processes and products of their writing in workshops, graduate courses, and seminars. Each student writes, as a thesis, a poetry or fiction manuscript of publishable quality. The final third-year essay is a writer's thoughtful analysis of works in his or her own genre.
North Carolina
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East Carolina University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
North Carolina State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
This is a fine arts degree and our mission is to help our students improve their art and make solid progress toward literary publication and a career in writing.
Queens University of Charlotte
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The Queens MFA program was the first and is still one of the only low-residency programs to use a workshop format both during residencies and in the distance learning component of each semester. With workshops that never exceed a four-to-one student-teacher ratio, the Queens MFA program offers the lowest student-teacher ratio of any MFA program.
University
of North Carolina-Greensboro
MFA Writing Program
We are one of the oldest MFA programs in the country. With an emphasis on studio time in which to study the writing of poetry or fiction, students also develop their talents through small classes in the arts. Workshops and individual conferences with faculty are the core of the curriculum.
University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
UNCW's Department of Creative Writing unites a community of passionate, dedicated writers who believe that the creation of art is a pursuit valuable to self and culture. The department devotes itself to the pursuit of excellence in writing through an informed application of craft. We value versatility, and we encourage writers to explore aesthetics and methods across genre lines."
Warren Wilson College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
Although students come from all over the country, they form a cohesive, non-competitive community that offers camaraderie, direction and a practical way to pursue writing while maintaining the responsibilities of adult life.
North Dakota
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University of North Dakota
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
Ohio
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Antioch University Midwest
Creative Writing Program ::MA
Ashland
University
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
Ashland University offers the only two-genre low-residency program in the country, with a cross-genre option and degree tracks in poetry and creative nonfiction. The program is characterized both by an insistence on high aesthetic standards for the creation of new literature and by an emphasis on a supportive community of writers.
Bowling Green State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing gives a comprehensive and rigorous education in the professional writing, editing, and marketing of poetry and fiction.
Miami University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "Students at both levels work closely with our award-winning faculty and have the opportunity to attend frequent readings by visiting writers and to edit our undergraduate and graduate literary journals."
Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA)
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The NEOMFA is a consortium of four universities: Cleveland State, Kent State, The University of Akron, and Youngstown State. NEOMFA students take advantage of a large award-winning faculty to concentrate in poetry, fiction, playwriting, creative non-fiction, or literary translation.
Ohio State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The purpose of the Creative Writing Program at The Ohio State University is to help graduate students develop to the fullest their talents and abilities as writers of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, with a hope of eventual publication.
Ohio University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
One of the first universities in the country to offer a Ph.D. in Creative Writing, Ohio University offers a rigorous, intimate graduate program with generous stipends. PhD and MA students concentrate in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction with award-winning mentors and numerous visiting writers. Ohio University is home to the journals New Ohio Review, Quarter After Eight, and Brevity.
University of Cincinnati
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
The creative writing program at the University of Cincinnati offers concentrations in poetry and fiction, which culminate at the doctoral level with the completion of a creative dissertation and critical essay suitable for publication in a scholarly journal. Nearly all of our MA and PhD students are supported with full scholarships and stipends.
Oklahoma
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Oklahoma
City University
Red Earth MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
The Red Earth MFA in Creative Writing: Write in the middle of it all. A new kind of low-residency program. Two years, five residencies. Creative and professional development.
Oklahoma State University
Creative Writing Program :: BA, MFA, PhD
Founded in 1975, our creative writing program is an integral part of an English department committed to diversity in its offerings. The BA, MFA, and PhD programs in creative writing focus on the vital relationship between fictional and poetic coursework in both writing and literary study. Concentrations in poetry writing and fiction writing are available.
University
of Central Oklahoma
MFA in Creative Writing Program
Students participate in two sequential workshop tracks allowing intensive, sustained experience in a primary and a secondary genre, chosen from among poetry, short story, novel, nonfiction, and screenwriting. The 36-hour program is usually completed in two years, concluding with the submission of a book-length thesis of publication quality.
University of Oklahoma
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
Oregon
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Eastern
Oregon University
MFA in Creative Writing
Innovative, intense, intimate. The new low residency MFA in Creative Writing combines the rigor and energy of small, focused workshops (5-7 students working with faculty mentors) in the heart of Northeast Oregon’s Grande Ronde Valley. If you value the real West over the resort town West, then join us in the low residency MFA program at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.
Oregon State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: Seeking a balance between literary artistic practice and literary scholarship, the course of study emphasizes the importance of reading to one's development as a writer.
Pacific University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
In the belief that writers can and must lead full and interesting lives, the Pacific MFA in Writing program embraces students who have full-time jobs and other obligations and gives each a way of designing an individualized course of study to be carried out under the supervision of a writer advisor.
Portland State University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "Consistent with PSU's mandate to serve our city's cultural and professional needs, engagement in Portland's vibrant local community of writers is central to our students' movement from academic to creative careers."
University of Oregon
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The central emphasis of our program is the act of writing, undertaken here in the context of a community of committed practitioners.
Pennsylvania
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Arcadia
University
MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)
A low-residency program incorporating online workshops, one-on-one work with faculty members, and a residency spent abroad. Each student produces a manuscript length thesis as well as a plan to publish it.
Bucknell University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Carlow University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a low-residency international program designed for students who want to be professional writers, to teach creative writing at the college level, or to enjoy the satisfaction of writing and reading in an individualized program.
Chatham University
MFA in Creative Writing Program
Chatham University's ground breaking MFA focusing on nature, environment and travel writing is the premier graduate program for nurturing creative writers interested in the environmental imagination and place-based writing.
Rosemont College
MFA in Creative Writing
The mission of Rosemont College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is to empower students with real-life skills and experiences that will enable them to achieve their professional and creative goals as writers, and to become productive contributors of larger writing communities as authors, teachers, publishers, and readers. We have envisioned a program where the students have opportunities to work with established and accomplished writers, editors, and industry professionals, in a variety of settings that allow our students to blossom and discover their own unique voices as writers.
Saint Joseph's University
Writing Studies :: MA
Saint Joseph's University's graduate writing program combines a traditional literature-based master's program with a creative writing program by offering a wide variety of courses and prospects. Our students explore many diverse forms of writing, including short stories, poems, press releases, reflections on teaching, plays, adolescent literature, autobiography, biography, personal essays, and grant proposals.
Seton Hill University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill is one of the only programs in the country that teaches writers to produce genre fiction (SF, fantasy, horror, romance, mystery, YA, children’s lit), or the fiction that sells to a wide audience.
Temple University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Temple's M.F.A. program combines creative and critical practices in a rigorous and generative way.
University of Pittsburgh
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Ours is a three-year degree, providing students with the time and opportunity to produce a book-length final manuscript.
Wilkes University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
(low-res)
From website: Meet agents and editors in residencies and learn the business aspect of writing.
Rhode Island
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Brown University
MFA Literary Arts
Along with only a handful of other writing programs nationwide, Brown’s Program in Literary Arts provides a home for innovative writers of fiction, poetry, playwriting, electronic writing (hypertext) and mixed media.
Rhode Island College
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: Students can study and write poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction in workshops and literature classes that focus on the components of craft, questions of genre, and intricacies of art."
South Carolina
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Converse College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA (low-res)
The Converse College Low Residency MFA is a co-educational program designed for independent writers seeking instruction in fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. Our selective program features small workshops and individual mentoring with award-winning authors, individual consultations with visiting editors and agents, partial scholarships and editing opportunities on South 85 Journal.
University
of South Carolina
MFA in Creative Writing
The University of South Carolina MFA blends the camaraderie of a small program with the resources of a large English department. Students work closely with well-published and supportive faculty and interact frequently with both internationally acclaimed and emerging visiting writers. All admitted students are funded across their three years here. (All second- and third-year students are fully funded and all first-year students are fully or substantially funded.) Intensive yet collegial workshops comprise the program's center, while students also receive world-class training in literary study with optional opportunities in pedagogy, editing, and outreach in a vibrant, inexpensive, and relaxed college city.
South Dakota
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University of South Dakota
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Because of the relatively small number of graduate students and the congenial atmosphere of the department, professors are willing and able to give students the support and guidance they need to be successful as graduate students and professionals."
Tennessee
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Austin Peay State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Sewanee The University of the South
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website "The purpose of the Sewanee School of Letters is to provide a Master’s program of the best quality, in English and in Creative Writing, to students who have only summers to devote to study."
The University of Memphis
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The Writer's Workshop at the University of Memphis is the premier creative writing program in the South for fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Our graduates have gone on to publish books, win awards, and teach at universities around the country. Special features are the nationally & internationally distributed, award-winning literary journal The Pinch and the River City Writers Series.
The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: This concentration emphasizes poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. The concentration is designed for those who wish to further their skills in these arts, to publish their creative work, to add a creative element to their writing in such firlds as advertising or public relations, to work in the creative side of the publishing industry, or to prepare to teach or enhance their present teaching of creative writing.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
The idea here is to blend creative work with literary studies for a degree that helps candidates realize their potential as writers and scholars, plus makes them more viable in the marketplace. All of our Ph.D. candidates and the majority of our MAs receive tuition wavers and/or teaching assistantships and we provide generous financial support for travel to conferences.
Vanderbilt University
MFA in Creative
Writing
From website: Creative Writing has been a vital part of the Vanderbilt English Department for nearly a century, since the poet and critic John Crowe Ransom’s famous class which he called “a practical course in writing various types of prose, including the short story.”
Texas
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Baylor University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Hardin-Simmons University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Sam Houston State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Stephen F. Austin State University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Texas A&M University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Provides undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to develop their talents through an array of creative writing courses taught by established novelists, poets, and short story writers, all of whom are actively engaged in the creation of original work."
Texas State University - San Marcos
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Here at Texas State, we feel that the greatest advantage in attending a program is being in a community of writers.
Texas Tech University
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Our creative writing M.A. and Ph.D. programs offer students with exceptional ability and potential the chance to concentrate on their art and the rigorous academic study of literature."
University of Houston
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
Based on its reputation, scholarship, curriculum, and the quality of faculty and students, the Creative Writing Program was rated second in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its first annual ranking of writing programs in 1997.
University of North Texas
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
One of the distinctive strengths of this program lies in how closely the literature and creative writing faculties work together, exploring ways in which knowledge of diverse literary traditions facilitates the development of one's own craft. In addition to form and theory classes in fiction and poetry, graduate workshops in fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and screenwriting, the department offers a creative options for both the master's thesis and the dissertation.
University of Texas at Austin
Creative Writing Program :: MA, MFA
The University of Texas at Austin offers two separate degrees in creative writing: the Master of Arts degree and the Master of Fine Arts Degree. The English Department administers the M.A.; the Michener Center for Writers administers the M.F.A.. Although the programs share faculty, workshops, visiting writers, and visiting readers, they also have distinct differences in terms of length, specialization, and means of student funding.
University of Texas at Dallas
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
In the Creative Writing Program, students are encouraged to cross standard academic boundaries and explore the humanities not only from a scholarly vantage but also from creative and practical directions. Creative writing courses are offered in fiction writing, poetry writing, playwriting, script writing, biography, and translation.
University of Texas at El Paso
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The only one of its kind in the U.S., the MFA at UTEP offers a fully bilingual course of study in fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, and non-fiction. Our students may also study literary translation, libretto writing, novella, and prose poem.
University of Texas at San Antonio
Creative Writing Program :: MA
Utah
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Brigham Young University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
University of Utah
Creative Writing Program :: MFA, PhD
The University of Utah offers both the M.F.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Creative Writing. Doctoral students study all genres of writing and literature in an intellectually rigorous department The Atlantic Monthly recently cited as one of the top five Creative Writing Ph.D. programs in the nation. Students who pursue the M.F.A. take part in a dynamic studio program that centers primarily on creative development.
Vermont
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Bennington College
MFA in Writing
(low-res)
From website: The Bennington Writing Seminars—Bennington's low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Program in Writing and Literature—puts as much emphasis upon reading as upon writing.
Goddard College
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The Goddard College Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a rigorous, student-centered low-residency program for writers who choose to live their lives and hone their writing skills at the same time.
Vermont College of Fine Arts
MFA in Writing (low-res)
Established in 1981, the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program was one of the first low-residency programs in the country. The Atlantic named it one of the top five low-residency programs nationwide. The 1200+ alumni/ae have published over 650 books and received nearly every literary award in the country. Unlike traditional residential programs, VCFA brings students together twice each year on campus from every corner of the world. The diversity of perspectives, attitudes, and voices is exceptional. After each residency, writers return home inspired and ready to continue the semester through discourse with their advisors.
Virginia
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George Mason University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The faculty of the George Mason Creative Writing Program stress that the M.F.A. is a studio degree; that the process of reading and writing is the greatest help to a person who wants to develop writing talent; and that this reading and writing must be done over a significant course of time.
Hollins University
Jackson Center for Creative Writing
MFA in Creative Writing
Our intensive two-year studio/hybrid MFA program helps you find your way in an atmosphere of cooperation and encouragement. We support college graduates who want to concentrate on craft and on reading the way writers do. The 24 students in this highly regarded program work successfully in poetry, short fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction—and between genres, too. We're known for our strong sense of community and our lively co-curricular program. Our faculty take time to work with students. Hollins alums have a remarkably high record of publication: this is a program for people who really want to write.
Longwood University
Creative Writing
Program :: MA
Designed as "An Education for the Working Writer" Longwood's Master's offer the rare combination of artistic and professional training to provide graduates with a very real edge with which to meet this market's consistent demands.
Old Dominion University
MFA in Creative Writing
Three genres of study: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Writer-in-Residence Program each semester. Writers-in-Community program offering students opportunities to assist with writing workshops in community centers, schools, and libraries. Annual four-day Literary Festival. Faculty honors include NEA Fellowships, Whitings, Guggenheims, #1 New York Times Bestseller, National Book Award Finalist and more.
University of Virginia
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: Our Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program is a two-year graduate degree in fiction or poetry writing. Consistently ranked among the top MFA programs in the nation, the program is full time, residency required, and workshop-based, with a small, but aesthetically diverse group of students and faculty.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Virginia Commonwealth University's nationally ranked creative writing program is a three-year residency program that offers concentrations in poetry, short fiction, the novel, creative nonfiction, and drama. Teaching assistantships and fellowships offered to the majority of students, including full tuition waivers and competitive stipends.
Virginia Tech
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Fiction and Poetry. All students fully funded through Graduate Teaching Assistantships with annual stipends of $15,000. A three-year program; funding package includes full tuition remission and health insurance. No teaching first semester; teach creative writing in the third year. Opportunities for creative nonfiction, new media writing, and playwriting. Opportunities for editorial work on The Minnesota Review and The New River. For more information, email Aileen Murphy aileen@vt.edu.
Washington
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Eastern
Washington University
MFA in Creative Writing
The Inland Northwest Center for Writers Master of Fine Arts program is an intensive, two-year, pre-professional course of study with an emphasis on the practice of literature as a fine art. The program includes course work in the study of literature from the vantage point of its composition and history.
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts
Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA in Creative Writing
&
MFA in Publishing & Editing
(low-res)
The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, an organization of writers,
sponsors the Whidbey Writers Workshop's two low-residency MFAs: the MFA
in writing and the MFA in Publishing and Editing. The only accredited
MFA program in the country sponsored by an association of writers
includes tracks in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and writing for
children/young adults and Publishing and Editing. Each semester begins
with a 10-day intensive residency on Whidbey Island, Washington; classes
begin there and continue online for an additional 16 weeks. MFA in
writing students may take an additional Certificate in Publishing and
Editing for a total of 70 semester credits.
[Read
more about this program]
Pacific Lutheran University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
A high quality, high-spirited low-residency program for serious writers, including busy adults. Our aim is literary achievement. Focus on Poetry-Fiction-Nonfiction, but mixed genre participants welcome. Distinguished faculty of working writers.
Seattle Pacific University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
(low-res)
The low-residency MFA at SPU is a creative writing program for apprentice writers—both Christians and those of other traditions—who not only want to pursue excellence in the craft of writing but also place their work within the larger context of the Judeo-Christian tradition of faith.
University of Washington
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
The University of Washington's two-year MFA program provides a working community for students in prose or poetry. While the first year is devoted to workshops and literary seminars, the second year allows for concentrated work on a thesis and masters essay under the supervision of one of our regular faculty.
Western Washington University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
West Virginia
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West Virginia University
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
Our three-year program emphasizes close, personal attention to student work. We are committed to keeping the program small, and to fostering a sense of community. All students teach composition and most have the opportunity to teach creative writing, online courses and other advanced offerings.
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Creative
Writing Program :: MFA
Write in the heart of Appalachia. Students in Wesleyan’s two-year low-residency program join an extraordinarily warm community every summer and winter residency for ten days before launching into a semester of student-centered apprenticeship in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Program highlights: uncommonly affordable; 1 to 4 faculty-student ratio; option of spending one residency in Ireland; opportunity to explore place and identity in writing.
Wisconsin
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Mount Mary College
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "The Master of Arts in English (Writing Concentration) provides students with a breadth of graduate level professional and creative writing instruction that is unique in Wisconsin."
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
This small and innovative two-year MFA program annually admits six students, welcoming fiction writers in even-numbered years and poets in odd-numbered years. All students receive generous financial assistance and teaching opportunities. Faculty includes Lorrie Moore, Ron Wallace, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Quan Barry, Amaud Jamaul Johnson and Judith Claire Mitchell.
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: "Create on the shores of Lake Michigan at one of America's first graduate English programs to grant both the M.A. and Ph.D. with concentrations in Creative Writing."
Wyoming
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University
of Wyoming
MFA in Creative Writing
The University of Wyoming's Creative Writing MFA program is an intensive two-year studio degree in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Special features include a flexible curriculum, cross-genre opportunities, opportunities for interdisciplinary study, and our Eminent Writers in Residence program, which brings distinguished authors to campus to work closely with our students. We have a deeply committed faculty, a lively visiting writers series, an incomparable natural setting, and full funding for students, including teaching assistantships with reasonable teaching loads, full tuition waivers, summer stipends, and support for travel and publication.
Canada
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Concordia University
Creative Writing Program :: MA
University of Alberta
Creative Writing Program :: MA
From website: "Participants in WRITE courses in nonfiction, fiction, poetry, as well as other new genres, discover much more than a marketable expertise at their craft."
University of British Columbia
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: "We provide a uniquely comprehensive opportunity for writers to develop their craft within the studio environment, offering BFA and MFA degrees with study in 9 separate literary genres as well as an innovative MFA by distance education."
University of British Columbia - Okanagan
Creative Writing Program :: MFA
From website: The IGS MFA program is unique in Canada and is designed to encourage an exchange of ideas and influences from non-studio and other academic disciplines reflecting the complex nature of contemporary art and literary practice.
University of Calgary
Creative Writing Program :: MA, PhD
From website: We offer an M.A. or Ph.D. in English with a Creative Writing option. For this reason, students considering a Creative Writing option at the M.A. or Ph.D. level are admitted to the program on the basis of their academic preparation and fulfill the same requirements, including course work, as other M.A. or Ph.D candidates in English. This means they will be taking literature courses as well as writing workshops.
University of Guelph
Creative
Writing Program :: MFA
From website: This is the only MFA program in Canada east of the Rockies. Workshops address the following genres: fiction, poetry, drama, screen-writing and creative non-fiction.
University of New Brunswick
Creative Writing Program :: MA
UNB has a cozy program with small classes. Our students have an extraordinary record in publishing their theses. Click here to see the covers and everything you need to know about our wonderful program.
University of Toronto
Creative Writing Program :: MA
"The Department of English at the University of Toronto launched a new M.A. program in English in the Field of Creative Writing in 2004-05. The program draws both on the expertise of faculty at the University of Toronto and on the extraordinary vitality of Toronto’s writing community."
University of Victoria
Creative Writing Program :: MFA