Creative Writing Programs :: NewPages Guide

Pine Manor College

Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program

400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Website: www.pmc.edu/mfa

Program director: Meg Kearney

Program contact: Tanya Whiton

Phone: 617-731-7697/7684

Email: mfa@pmc.edu

Degrees offered: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, & Writing for Young People

Type of program: Low Residency

Length of program: 2 years

Enrollment: 35

Total credits required: 60

Application deadlines: The winter 2012 residency/spring semester will take place from December 30, 2011 to January 8, 2012. Students applying for any of our genre-based fellowships must submit the general application form to the MFA office no later than October 14, 2011 (not a postmark date). General applications are due by November 15, 2011 (not a postmark date; materials must be received by our offices before or on November 15).

The summer 2012 residency/fall semester will take place from July 6–15, 2012. Students applying for the Lee Hope Fellowship for Diverse Voices must submit the general application form to the MFA office no later than April 2, 2012 (not a postmark date). General applications are due May 7, 2012 (not a postmark date; materials must be received by our offices before or on May 7).

Scholarships available: Four fellowships are available for students starting the program during the winter residency/spring semester: the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction, the Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction, the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent, and the Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry. Recipients (except those of the Hope Fellowship) will receive a $1,000 award toward their first semester's tuition.

The Lee Hope Fellowship for Diverse Voices offers $500 to a first-semester student who begins the program during the summer residency/fall semester. Other limited need-based scholarships are available.

Core faculty: Kathleen Aguero, Venise Berry, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Evelina Galang, Laban Carrick Hill, Amy Hoffman, Steven Huff, Randall Kenan, Robert Lopez, Laura Williams McCaffrey, Jaime Manrique, Anne-Marie Oomen, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Sandra Scofield, Mark Turcotte, Sterling Watson, Dave Yoo

Visiting faculty: Terrance Hayes, Helen Elaine Lee, Dennis Lehane, M.L. Liebler, Grace, Lin, Michael Steinberg, Jacqueline Woodson

Assistantships: Yes

Publishing/editing courses: Yes

Literary magazine: Yes, online journal Solstice

Reading series: Yes

Recent visiting writers: Naomi Shihab Nye, Dorothy Alison, Phillip Lopate, Cornelius Eady

Program description: The Solstice Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College 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. The program embraces a wide range of voices and artistic approaches in its faculty and its students, establishing a learning environment that fosters community and celebrates the individual. Working with some of the best writers in the country, students of Pine Manor College's MFA program emerge with a deep, well-rounded knowledge of their art, a strategy for continuing the development of their creative vision, and a supportive circle of peers and mentors.

We are co-educational, inclusive, and affordable; our diverse and dedicated faculty are committed to helping students of all backgrounds achieve their writing goals.