Creative Writing Programs :: NewPages Guide

Minnesota State University, Mankato

MFA in Creative Writing

230 Armstrong Hall

Mankato, MN 56001

Website: http://english.mnsu.edu/cw/cwmfa.htm  

Program director: Richard Robbins

Program contact: Richard Robbins

Phone: 507.389.1354

Email: richard.robbins@mnsu.edu

Degrees offered: MFA

Genres: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting

Type of program: Residency

Length of program: Average is three years

Enrollment: 40

Total credits required: 48

Application deadlines: 2/1 for TA/GA consideration

Scholarships available: Teaching and non-teaching assistantships to some students (process is competitive)

Core faculty: (see below)

Assistantships: Yes

Publishing/editing courses: Yes

Literary magazine: Yes

Reading series: Yes

Recent visiting writers: Alison McGhee, Richard Ford, Debra Magpie Earling, Steve Almond, Bob Hicok, Beth Ann Fennelly

Program description: The M.F.A. 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.

The creative writing staff at MSU Mankato is composed entirely of award-winning poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. We believe students at all levels of instruction should be guided by individuals steeped in their own creative projects and familiar with the common challenges surrounding bringing imaginative works to completion. The graduate creative writing curriculum assumes writing and reading are complementary activities, and so students read and discuss some of the best literary works of the past and present while exploring issues of craft and genre that will allow them to take their own writing to new levels.

Candidates in the program will find it appropriate training for careers in free-lancing, college-level teaching, editing and publishing, arts administration, and several other areas.

New students will discover the faculty eager to work with them and a community atmosphere extremely supportive of their writing. The core faculty:

Candace Black (poetry, creative nonfiction)—The Volunteer

Geoff Herbach (fiction, screenwriting)—The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg; Stupid Fast

Diana Joseph (fiction, creative nonfiction)—Happy or Otherwise; I’m Sorry You Feel That Way

Richard Robbins (poetry)—Famous Person We Have Known; The Untested Hand

Roger Sheffer (fiction)—Borrowed Voices; Music of the Inner Lakes

Richard Terrill (creative nonfiction, poetry)—Fakebook: Improvisations on a Journey Back to Jazz; Coming Late to Rachmaninoff