NewPages Guide to
Creative Writing Programs

A low-residency program incorporating online workshops, one-on-one work with faculty members, and a residency spent in Edinburgh, Scotland. Students each produce a complete manuscript for their thesis, as well as a plan to publish it.

Columbia College Chicago offers graduate study in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with internationally renowned faculty and distinguished writers-in-residence, along with teaching instructorships, editorial opportunities, a diverse reading series, a thriving literary community, and small classes.

The Columbia University School of the Arts MFA Writing Program, offering concentrations in Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry, and a joint course of study in Literary Translation, is highly regarded for its illustrious alumni, artistic diversity and outstanding faculty of acclaimed writers and editors. The rigorous approach to literary instruction requires 60 credits over 2 or more years of study. Extracurricular programming includes the Creative Writing Lecture Series, Nonfiction Dialogues, a poetry reading series, student reading series, Our Word: Writers of Color, and events to introduce students to editors and agents. Internships, scholarships, and teaching fellowships are available.

The MFA in Creative Writing is a two-year co-educational low residency program designed for serious, independent writers seeking advanced instruction in poetry, fiction, young adult fiction, and creative nonfiction through a non-traditional course of graduate study. The program’s emphasis on the mastery and understanding of writing skills and contemporary literature and craft, through the master-writer and apprentice mentoring relationship, offers students a stimulating and individually tailored curriculum of courses and projects.

This unique program combines intensive, craft-focused creative writing workshops with elective courses and internships in publishing, pedagogy, literature, and language. The flexible curriculum encourages students to explore more than one genre, and our course offerings include fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and multi-genre workshops.

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 the relationships between poetry and poetics, experimental prose, cultural translation, community service, pedagogy, and contemporary arts.

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.

The MFA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University provides students the opportunity to work closely with award-winning, acclaimed faculty writers in small classes (usually 4-6 students) that provide rigorous and individualized attention. At residencies, faculty and students dine together, attend readings and lectures, and socialize. Our curriculum supports every writer's unique creative exploration, with a highly customized reading list and a guided study of craft.

The MFA in creative writing features an exciting curriculum in literature classes and creative writing workshops, as well as genre related courses in craft. Our program also offers graduate teaching fellowships and partial scholarships to our full and part-time students. Mentoring is an important aspect of our program, and students have the opportunity to work closely with faculty not only on their writing, but through our teaching fellowship program, which pairs students with faculty mentors. Our campus is only 45 minutes from NYC, one of the most culturally enriched resources for anyone interested in the arts.

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.

Our unique, non-tracking curriculum allows students 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. Manhattanville's campus provides a lush, quiet home and literary community to writers just 30 minutes from New York City. The program can be completed part-time, and evening and weekend courses are offered.

Mississippi University for Women’s new Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing aims to be flexible, personal, professional, and affordable. Students take online classes, including Graduate Writing Workshops in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Playwriting, Translation, and Writing for New Media, as well as Literature and Forms classes. With internships and two types of residencies, the program offers small classes, flexible full-time and part-time scheduling, professional development, and low in-state tuition with waivers of non-resident fees for all students in the program. Mississippi University for Women is an equal opportunity, co-educational institution with a diverse student body, located in historic Columbus, Mississippi.

The MFA in Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary's University is an artist-training program for students who want to write professionally across multiple genres. Class sessions meet every other weekend at the Doheny Campus in Downtown Los Angeles, making it ideal for busy working professionals. The program offers bilingual Spanish/English courses and integrates the humanities into the course of study, reflecting a commitment to intellectual rigor and liberal arts as the cornerstone of human understanding. Faculty also place a premium on helping students into their professional careers through continued mentoring and preparing them for the publication market.

The part-time MA/MFA in Creative Writing program offers flexible scheduling (all courses are in the evening) and flexible progress toward completion of the degree. Pursue your writing goals while in balance with your personal and professional life. Develop your writing at your own pace through peer workshops, courses in literature, elective courses in reading as a writer, a practicum in how to teach creative writing, and editorial work on TriQuarterly, the university's renowned literary journal (triquarterly.org) and in publishing internships. This program combines the virtues of both residency and low-residency programs, allowing students to keep their full-time jobs and have year-round access to faculty. Classes are offered in Evanston and in downtown Chicago.

Saint Leo University’s Master of Arts in Creative Writing gives aspiring fiction writers, essayists, memoirists, and poets the tools to begin a new phase of their creative life as a professional writer. Designed to be completed in just two calendar years, the 36-hour master’s degree is a low-residency program that requires three summer residencies, four semesters of study, and a book-length thesis of the student’s creative work. We offer tracks of study in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, and we are the only graduate creative writing program to offer an optional track of study in war literature and writing by and for veterans.

Southeast's Masters in Professional Writing helps students to explore different types of professional writing, to further develop their writing skills, and to perfect their critical abilities, including the determination of effective styles and presentations for texts. Professional writing includes composition, technical writing, new media, editing, and creative writing. The option allows students to learn in depth about writing theories, rhetorical theory, creative writing and its strategies, and technical production of text in print and online. Entering students should be computer-literate and able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

The Spalding MFA offers an intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive experience with a diverse and close-knit community of writers. Our 65-hour, low-residency MFA in Writing combines superb instruction with unparalleled flexibility. Each semester of the program begins with a ten-day residency, in which students and faculty gather for an intensive workshopping and learning experience. At the conclusion of the residency, students return home to study independently with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. During the semester, each instructor supervises a small number of students, and each student’s program is highly individualized to meet each student at his or her level of writing. Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies.

Our MA and PhD programs in English with emphasis in creative writing offer students with exceptional ability and potential the chance to concentrate on their art and the rigorous academic study of literature. This powerful combination opens doors for many academic opportunities not available to typical MFA graduates.

The University of Kentucky is proud to offer a two-year MFA in Creative Writing. Situated in historic Lexington and surrounded by the splendor of thoroughbred horse farms and bourbon distilleries, The University enjoys a rich literary heritage dating back to 1947, when Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist A.B. Guthrie first offered courses in fiction. The Department of English is delighted to build upon that rich history by offering students access to a diverse faculty in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, and, in most cases, extensive teaching experience, full tuition remission, health insurance, and competitive stipends.

Our MFA program is an intensive, three-year studio-academic experience in the writing of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. It joins students who share a common passion and faculty members who provide critical support of their work. The faculty of the Department of Creative Writing view MFA students as colleagues-in-the-making, and consider it a privilege to teach here. Our invitation to successful candidates to join us should be regarded as an equal privilege. We do all we can to encourage a supportive community and to mentor our students toward successful lives as writers.

The MFA at Vanderbilt is a two-year program requiring four semesters of graduate work in writing workshops and seminars. Students enroll in a workshop and two seminars during each of their first three semesters. Then during the final semester, they work intensively on a creative thesis. The thesis is a substantial piece of creative writing: a novel, a collection of short stories or creative nonfiction, or a collection of poems.

Vermont College of Fine Arts is home to three MFA programs in writing: the Master of Fine Arts in Writing, Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children & Young Adults, and Master of Fine Arts in Writing & Publishing. These programs are designed for students with a serious interest in deepening their craft and developing professional skills in writing. VCFA’s internationally acclaimed writing faculty are also committed and passionate teachers and mentors.