Oral Defense | Oral Defense is required.
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Research | Individualized research is required.
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Purpose Statement The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing balances the study and practice of creative writing with academic coursework in English. Students participate in writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, undertake coursework in literature, and study critical theory. MFA candidates will present a creative thesis of between 45 to 120 pages, depending on genre. The MFA Program at Northern Arizona University allows you to:
- live and write in the beautiful, vibrant city of Flagstaff
- focus on poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction
- participate in intensive writing workshops with dedicated professors
Student Learning Outcomes Upon completion of the Creative Writing MFA students will be able to:
- Examine, explicate, analyze and evaluate literary texts of considerable difficulty in order to determine the place of the student’s own work within a literary tradition.
- Develop the student’s own critical and aesthetic position, based on recognizing, understanding, and interpreting critical positions and literary arguments of other authors.
- Read and respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to work by other MFA students in order to hone the critical, intellectual, and analytical skills that are crucial to success in a broad range of literary, artistic, cultural and professional fields.
- Investigate the world of literary publishing in order to discover suitable journals, magazines and/or quality trade book publishers to which the student author can submit his/her own finished work.
- Refine skills in drafting, revising and editing in a primary literary genre with the goal of producing a polished creative manuscript of marketable quality.
- public readings,
- interviewing other writers,
- attending outside readings,
- writing book reviews,
- serving on editorial boards, and
- organizing literary events.
Graduate Admission Information
The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College. Admission requirements include the following:
- Transcripts.
- Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.
Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies. Ready to apply? Begin your application now.
International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy .
Additional Admission Requirements
Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
- 2 letters of recommendation
- Writing sample
- Personal statement or essay
Master's Requirements
This Master’s degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:
- Creative Writing courses: 12 units
- Supportive coursework: 12 units
- Electives chosen with your advisor’s approval: 6 to 9 units
- Thesis: 3 to 6 units (if 6 units of thesis are selected, it will reduce the number of units of electives required for the degree)
- 500- and 600-level creative writing courses, some of which may be repeated for 9 units of credit (12 units)
- Coursework in literature, literary criticism, literary theory, and/or readings in creative writing (12 units)
- Electives chosen with your advisor's approval (6-9 units)
- ENG 699 , for the research, writing, and revision of an approved thesis. Please note: You may end up taking more than the 6 units of thesis credit you can count toward your degree because you must register for it each semester while you are working on your thesis. (3-6 units)
- Note that up to 6 units of 400-level literature courses may count toward degree, with advisor approval
Additional Information
Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.
Campus Availability
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Our list of 255 MFA programs for creative writers includes essential information about low-residency and full-residency graduate creative writing programs in the United States and other English-speaking countries to help you decide where to apply. It also includes MA programs and PhD programs.
5. Goucher College. The only program dedicated solely to nonfiction writing, this low residency MFA attracts applicants and faculty interested in pursuing narrative, memoir, personal essay, and literary journalism. Literary agents and editors attend the two 10-day residencies in Baltimore, Maryland, and there are sponsored trips to New York to ...
15 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2024
Michael Kobre, on-campus director of the Queens MFA program, has a simple philosophy on why low-residency programs are proliferating. "There's an enormous constituency of people who are passionate writers, but can't uproot their lives for two years.". The students in the Queens creative writing program range in age from 20 to 60, Kobre ...
Here is the list of 53 universities that offer fully-funded MFA programs (Master's of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing. University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL): Students admitted to the MFA Program are guaranteed full financial support for up to 4-years. Assistantships include a stipend paid over nine months (currently $14,125), and full payment ...
Faculty: Renee Gladman, David Levi Strauss, and others. Annual Tuition: $16,470. Bard's tuition isn't the lowest, but it's worth mentioning this program because over 90% of their students receive at least one type of grant aid (fellowship, scholarship, or both). Their residency is eight weeks and held every summer.
Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing Degree
The 2019 MFA Index provides the basic specs of a program as well as some application information to help you stay on schedule, but many of the most important and unquantifiable aspects of a program—faculty, curriculum, precise funding structure, and so on—require more research. Much of this information can be found in the Poets & Writers ...
Many low-residency MFA programs in creative writing offer scholarships, although often of limited amounts—so it only erases a bit of the expense. Other schools may pay for your entire MFA pursuit. A few examples: New England College: 25% tuition discount applied to graduate level classes for NEC alumni.
Low Residency MFA Creative Writing
MFA in creative writing is considered a "terminal degree" in creative writing, which means that you're allowed to teach at accredited MFA programs once you have a degree. Students complete most coursework online under the guidance of a series of mentors—typically a faculty member. During the twice annual "residency," an intensive 6 ...
The Nation's Premier Low-Residency MFA Program. Now in its fifth decade, the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, established in 1976 by master poet and teacher Ellen Bryant Voigt, continues to set the standard for the innovative model it pioneered.This rigorous, nurturing, and highly-selective four - semester graduate program, with study tracks in fiction and poetry, combines ...
Lesley University's celebrated low-residency MFA program nurtures and challenges your creative potential. Attend nine-day residencies in the literary mecca of Cambridge. Pursue interdisciplinary study as a spur for fresh ideas. Cultivate mentor relationships with prize-winning writers. Graduate with the work and connections to publish, win ...
With a student-to-mentor ratio never greater than 5:1, students receive creative, focused, individualized feedback. Each residency is a 10-day intensive period of workshops, seminars, readings and more, in which we explore the wide landscape of the writing life from practical tricks-of-the-trade to subtleties of conceptual nuance.
September/October 2016. 8.17.16. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the country's oldest low-residency MFA program in creative writing, established by poet Ellen Bryant Voigt in 1976 at Goddard College before relocating to Warren Wilson College in 1981. Contributing editor Jeremiah Chamberlin explores the program's history and ...
Antioch University's low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program is devoted not only to the education of literary and dramatic artists but to community engagement and the pursuit of social justice. The program features one-on-one mentoring with a variety of successful publishing writers and includes instruction in craft, revision, and ...
The MFA in Creative Writing at New England College, founded in 2002, is one of the country's oldest and most highly esteemed low residency programs. We boast a small and selective program that allows us to sustain a close-knit, supportive community. Students are individually mentored by accomplished, award‐winning faculty members who are ...
The MFA Program for Writers. In 1976, Ellen Bryant Voigt, renowned poet and master teacher, founded the nation's first low-residency creative writing program. In 1981, the program relocated from Vermont's Goddard College to one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, Warren Wilson College.
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. Converse University is home to the only low-residency MFA in SC.
Lists of authors without graduate creative writing degrees or whose degree status is unknown are available. Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected].. Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best ...
Award-winning American and Irish writers mentor students in Carlow's low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program with residencies in Pittsburgh and Dublin. Our MFA mentors are dedicated teachers and writers whose work has been recognized in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Within an inclusive, supportive community, our mentors are ...
The low-residency Creative Writing MFA program offers students a deep dive into writing in multiple genres and features a convenient and flexible format that blends online study with summer residencies. Students of this program hone their skillset in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, and playwriting over the course of three years to ...
The Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Western Colorado University seeks to create transformative learning experiences for our students, built from a strong foundation that honors our students' unique voices and is supported within inclusive environments established both virtually and at yearly residency gatherings.
Program Specializations Dual-Genre. This specialization will require 12 additional semester hours, for a total of 67 credits. Dual-genre students will take three residency workshops and three semesters in their main genre (i.e. the genre in which they will write their MFA thesis) and two residency workshops and two semesters in their secondary genre.
MFA candidates will present a creative thesis of between 45 to 120 pages, depending on genre. The MFA Program at Northern Arizona University allows you to: live and write in the beautiful, vibrant city of Flagstaff; focus on poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction; participate in intensive writing workshops with dedicated professors