phd creative writing low residency

Graduate Program in Creative Writing

Master of Arts in Creative Writing, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts

Genre Fiction, Nature Writing, Poetry, Publishing, Screenwriting – an advanced degree in any of our five areas of creative writing provides you the opportunity to hone your craft, elevate your art, and inspire the world. Join our welcoming and inclusive community and become the writer you are meant to be. To learn more about our program directly from our faculty and students, check out our program video .

Program Overview

Pursue your dream of becoming a published author.

If you’re looking to get serious about your writing and you’re eager to join a thriving and diverse community of writers, then you’ll find your niche in Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Our five innovative areas of study—Genre Fiction, Nature Writing, Poetry, Publishing, and Screenwriting—offer cutting-edge courses, and our dedicated faculty of award-winning writers will ensure that you achieve your full potential as a writer.

Our low-residency model makes a graduate education accessible. During the academic year, students work closely with faculty and fellow students through videoconferencing and online courses. Each summer, all students take intensive courses that culminate in a one-week residency on Western’s beautiful campus in late July. These residencies are packed full of exciting courses, inspirational workshops and lively social events.

Sharing work in community

Screenwriting student Tia Phillip giving a reading at the 2023 Open-Mic Night

Faculty & Staff

Kevin j. anderson, mfa.

Director, Publishing Concentration

Byron Aspaas, MFA

Poetry Faculty

Karen Auvinen, Ph.D.

Nature Writing Faculty

Claire Boyles, M.A.

Screenwriting and Nature Writing Faculty

Steve Coughlin, MFA

Professor of English

Julie E. Czerneda

Genre Fiction Thesis Mentor

Amy Fox, MFA

Screenwriting Faculty

CMarie Fuhrman, MFA

Associate Director; Director, Poetry Concentration; Faculty, Nature Writing Concentration

Geoff Geib, MFA

Gwyneth gibby, m.a..

Publishing Faculty

Sarah Goettsch

Graduate Program in Creative Writing Coordinator

Carol D. Guerrero-Murphy, Ph.D.

Tyson hausdoerffer, ph.d..

Director, Graduate Program in Creative Writing

Mitali Jahagirdar, MFA

Tenea d. johnson, m.a., julie kane, ph.d., lindsay king-miller, mfa.

Thesis Mentor

Gary Lilley

Allyson longueira, m.a., js mayank, mfa.

Interim Director of Screenwriting

Cameron McGill, MFA

Candace nadon, ph.d..

Genre Fiction Faculty

Johanna Parkhurst, M.A.

Director, Genre Fiction Concentration

Laura Pritchett, Ph.D.

Director, Nature Writing Concentration

Laura Resau, M.A.

Nature Writing/Genre Fiction Faculty

Ligiah Villalobos Rojas, MFA

Liz sczudlo.

Screenwriting Thesis Consultant

Andrew Sellon, MFA

GPCW Faculty, Performance Coach

Derek Sheffield, MFA

Ana maria spagna, mfa, anna stileski, m.a..

Executive Assistant

Richard Wilber, Ed.D.

Genre Fiction Faculty, Graduate Thesis Coordinator

Maya Jewell Zeller, MFA

Nature Writing and Poetry Faculty

Laura Pritchett

Laura Pritchett, who directs the MFA with a concentration in Nature Writing, has two novels coming out in 2024, and they could not be more different.

Ligiah Villalobos Rojas

Melissa Dalton-Martinez

Lara Richardson

Take the first steps toward your academic and personal growth..

Fostering your intellectual development is the primary focus of every academic program at Western. Our professors and Office of Career Services will help you identify your strengths, hone your skills, define your goals, and prepare for a fulfilling and enriched life after graduation.

News & Research

Western’s MFA Director Laura Pritchett’s latest novel is born from a world on fire

Western Earns Accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission

Western Poetry Faculty Member Chosen for Prestigious Poetry Prize

Teaching into the Firetower

Western’s CMarie Fuhrman Releases New Anthology & Public Radio Podcast

Nature Writing and Western Press Books to Produce Inaugural Book

Renown Author Karen Auvinen to Join Western Faculty

Western Instructor Named to Top Writer’s Honor

Graduate Program Pushes Caps on Enrollment During Pandemic

Western Professor Named to Authors’ Hall of Fame

Additional resources, admission requirements & application.

Western’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing considers applications in four waves throughout the year: Early Admissions, from July 1 through November …

Tuition & Fees

Full-time enrollment in the MFA extends over 25 months, spanning four non-residency semesters and three Summer Residencies. Students may also attend half-time or take a leave of …

Scholarships & Financial Aid

The GPCW is deeply committed to raising funds to support our students. Each year we offer substantial direct-funding scholarships. The GPCW is currently …

Summer Residency

The highlight of our academic year is the Summer Residency, held each July on Western’s beautiful campus in Gunnison, Colorado.

How can a low-residency format create a sense of community among students and faculty?…

Publications

Publications in the Creative Writing Graduate Program Explore the publications below to discover the depth and breadth of Western’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing: Think Journal Christine …

GPCW Mission, Indigenous Commitment and DEIA+ Statements

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.

Learn More about the GPCW

Interested in learning more about the Graduate Program in Creative Writing? There’s no better way to get to know our program than through the voices of our faculty and students. Tune in to watch this informational video about everything you’ll look forward to as a student in our program.

Related Programs

Genre Fiction

Master of Arts | Master of Fine Arts

Graduate Program in Creative Writing (GPCW) 3+2

Accelerated Degree Programs

Nature Writing

Master of Arts

Screenwriting

Department information, associate director, program coordinator, contact information.

970.943.2014

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Campus Location

Western Colorado University Quigley Hall 117 1 Western Way Gunnison, CO 81231

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1. Location You may choose ANY for both options OR just region OR just state

2. program type in contrast to more traditional residency programs, where students attend classes on campus, low-residency programs involve distance education and brief on-campus or specific-site residencies. depending on the program, residencies may last one weekend or several weeks per year..

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Degree: The Mills College Flex Res MFA Program in Creative Writing offers degrees in poetry or prose.

Program type : Flexible, hybrid, and online options

Application deadlines : Applications accepted until July 15 for Fall 2021.

Contact: [email protected]

Students anywhere in the world can earn an MFA in creative writing at Mills College. We offer a range of options you can select from to create an individualized educational experience that fits your goals and your schedule.

Student aid offered: Part-time graduate assistantships and editorial positions with our journal 580 Split .

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Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing

Master of fine arts in creative writing and poetics (low-residency).

Our low-residency MFA provides the structure, support, and professional development you need to take your writing to the next level .

Program Overview

Naropa’s Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing is designed for writers ready to hone their craft and earn their Master of Fine Arts degree through rigorous, cross-genre study. Students who can’t relocate to our Colorado Campus can acquire a quality asynchronous education with in-person residencies.

Whether you have a novel in progress, are preparing for a PhD program, or looking to strengthen your prose, poetry, and hybrid writing, our low-residency creative writing MFA program provides you with resources, accountability, and inspiration that fit your schedules.

Naropa takes traditional low-residency MFA programs a step further with our history of experimental and innovative writing, critical study, and cross-genre publishing. Our unique cross-genre online writing courses, generative residencies, and one-on-one mentorship provide students with a writing community, no matter where they live.

Cross-Genre Curriculum

Unlike other Creative Writing MFA programs, our low-residency MFA is open-genre. This means that writers can work in fiction, poetry, prose, non-fiction, playwriting, and hybrid forms throughout their degree program. Students experiment with narrative structures and forms that fit their unique voices. Writers develop their unique style, critical ear, and vast knowledge of contemporary trends across literary genres.

One-on-One Mentorship

One-on-one mentorship and small online writing classes help writers develop their style, refine their editing skills, and publish their work. Each writer dedicates their final semester to a thesis manuscript. Working one-on-one with their thesis mentor and workshopping with classmates through written exchange, students finish their MFA with a completed manuscript in the genre of their choice.

Generative Residencies

Every semester, our Low-Residency MFA students gather in Boulder, Colorado, for enriching and energizing residencies. MFA students meet one-on-one with mentors, enjoy master classes with guest writers, attend readings, and bond with writers. Residencies also overlap with our spring and fall symposiums, providing students with a rich 4-days of community and inspiration. Each academic year culminates in a week-long writing intensive at Naropa’s Summer Writing Program. This annual festival brings over 60 artists, writers, and thinkers to Boulder, for workshops, readings, panels, and professional development.

Quick Facts

• Fifteen annual days of residency in Boulder, CO
• Open-genre curriculum
• One-on-one mentorship with accomplished faculty
• Unique Experimental Approach
• Participation in the Summer Writing Problem
• Cohort model developing a strong sense of community among MFA students
• Several Scholarship and Financial Aid Opportunities
• Applications open for August 2025

Program Format

Naropa’s Creative Writing MFA is a rigorous, generative, low-residency two-year program with 4 writing residencies in beautiful Boulder Colorado. The program combines asynchronous craft courses with on-campus residencies. 

Annual fall and spring residencies allow writers to connect with other writers and faculty , deepen their craft, and participate in symposium readings and panels with other MFA students in Boulder, CO. Spring and Fall Residencies run from Saturday through Tuesday during the Spring and Fall JKS Symposiums.

The summer residency immerses writers in a full week of the Jack Kerouac School’s world-renowned Summer Writing Program . Here, students attend workshops, lectures, panels, and readings by numerous visiting writers to hone their craft, make connections, speak on student panels, and prepare for the next step in their writing career.

Course Spotlight

Craft of writing: rooting in the archive.

This course delves into the Naropa University Archive and its rich offerings to explore traditions, movements, and/or schools of writing that inform or extend the aesthetic vision of the Jack Kerouac School toward mindful writing. Possible recent historical examples include New American Poetry, the Beats, San Francisco Renaissance, the New York School, Black Mountain Poetics, the Black Arts Movement, and Language poetry, among others.

Degree Requirements

Unlike many online creative writing MFA programs, our asynchronous classes build community through writer-to-writer feedback and a structured curriculum.

26 credits of online asynchronous craft courses

Students work one-on-one with a mentor, exchanging packets —consisting of letters, bibliographies, contemplative reflections, creative manuscripts, and critical essays—throughout the semester.

• WRI-631E Craft of Writing: Rooting in the Archive(6)
• WRI-648E Craft of Writing: Contemplative Experiments(6)
• WRI-678E Craft of Writing: Cultures & Communities(4)
• WRI-735E Craft of Writing: Contemporary Trends(6)
• WRI-700E Professional Development: Writing Pedagogy (4)
• WRI-755E Craft of Writing: Professional Development (4)

6 credits of MFA Thesis

6 credits of MFA Thesis (faculty mentorship on a book-length creative manuscript)

4 credits of the Summer Writing Program

Two eight-day summer residencies are completed at Naropa’s Boulder campus. Choose two of the following:

• WRI-751 Summer Writing Program(2)
• WRI-752 Week Two Summer Writing Program(2)
• WRI-753 Summer Writing Program(2)

4 credits of fall and spring residencies in Boulder, CO.

• WRI-789WE Fall Residency(1)
• WRI-791WE Spring Residency(1)

Why Choose Naropa?

Strong writing tradition.

Founded in 1974 by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics encourages experimental forms across genres , pushing for innovation inside and outside the classroom.

Career Readiness

Whether a student plans to teach, write, edit, or work in publishing, our low-residency program provides the framework they need to develop their professional skills alongside a vibrant and supportive writing community.

In-house Publishing

The Kerouac School’s student-run Bombay Gin literary journal publishes work from promising students and distributes it nationally through Small Press Distribution. Students interested in fine-craft letterpress printing can learn at Naropa’s Harry Smith Print Shop and Kavyayantra Press.

How this Program Prepares You

Professional dossier.

Graduates from our low-residency Creative Writing MFA emerge from the program with a solid record of written work . The pieces that make up their dossier are workshopped with peers and perfectioned with guidance from their tutor.

Critical Analysis

You’ll emerge from the program with critical analysis skills that go beyond reading between the lines of a written work. The program will teach you to recognize the role of intersectionality in the literary arts, looking at the wider spectrum that surrounds a piece, and identifying bias, assumptions and stereotypes.

Unleashing creativity

Our workshops, classes and Summer Writing Program encourage students to harness their creativity by exploring experimental forms . Low-residency students receive on-on one mentoring to help them develop their creative writing skills to the fullest, as well as feedback from their writing community, be it online or during their residency.

What You'll Learn

Highly developed writing craft.

Hone your voice in every step of the writing process.

Skill in Critical Analysis

Learn to discuss literary works through a variety of critical lenses.

Contemplative Writing Practice:

Use your writing practice as a tool for self-inquiry and discovery.

Social and Cultural Awareness

Recognize the role of race, class, and gender in literary history and works.

Career Preparedness

Graduate with a publishable manuscript and/or professional dossier.

Career Opportunities with a MFA in Creative Writing

• Lyricist: write words for songs, matching melody and rhyme.
• Poet: use language to creatively express emotion, ideas and experiences.
• Proofreader: check written work for errors and inconsistencies.
• English Teacher: teach at the postsecondary level.
• Author: craft and publish original material.
• Editor: review and improve written work for publication.

Hear from a Graduate

Jackie henrion, faqs about the mfa in creative writing, what is a low residency mfa in creative writing, why choose a low residency mfa creative writing program, how long does it take to complete a low residency mfa in creative writing, how is naropa’s low residency mfa in creative writing different from other programs, what types of funding are available.

Students in the low-residency version of the MFA program may receive partial funding by applying for scholarships and Graduate Assistantships. Visit our Graduate Scholarship page for details.

Learn More About the Program

Connect with your counselor

Rachel thompson.

Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions 

• 303-970-9831
• [email protected]
• Schedule Appointment

Ready to Apply?

Admission requirements.

Naropa University values both academic excellence and critical self-reflection . Our application process not only evaluates academic performance but also candidates’ openness and willingness to engage in contemplation.

Learn more about admission requirements and the application process for our Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA.

Graduate Students

Prospective students who have completed an undergraduate degree are welcome to apply to Naropa. When applying, candidates must submit a transcript of their undergraduate coursework, a statement of interest, a resume, two letters of interest and a creative writing sample. They may also apply for financial aid at this stage. Discover all admission requirements.

International Students

If you obtained your undergraduate diploma from a non-US university, we require additional documentation to review your application. Learn how to apply to Naropa as an international student.

Costs and Financial Aid

Naropa University students have access to several financial aid opportunities and scholarships – over 75% of our graduate students receive some sort of financial support to pursue their studies. Use our calculator to estimate your tuition, housing, materials and other costs.

Graduate Scholarship Opportunities

Interested in our Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA?

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Naropa campuses closed on friday, march 15, 2024.

Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024.  All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.

Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.

Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.

As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.  

Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors.  Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.

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The MFA Program for Writers

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 ten-day residencies on campus each January and July with five-month nonresident semesters in which students work individually with the country’s finest fiction writers and poets.

Our nationally-recognized MFA faculty encompass a range of aesthetics, and include Pulitzer and National Book Award winners, national and state poets laureate, and NEA, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and MacArthur fellows. Residency lectures and readings are free and open to the public.

Our diverse and close-knit student body come from all over the world, and from a variety of disciplines and occupations. MFA program alumni have won countless major awards and have published well over a thousand books . Application deadlines are March 1 and September 1 via Submittable on the MFA program website .

I am grateful for what the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson offers all its students: the knowledge that allows us to become better and more ambitious readers and writers, and the connection to a community of other writers who will help us continue pursuing our interests throughout our lives. Rose McLarney (Warren Wilson BA, 2003; MFA 2010; Beebe Fellow 2010-11)

An Advantage for Undergraduates

Creative Writing majors at the undergraduate level benefit from the opportunity to attend January residency lectures and readings and to work with graduate-student mentors.

And each academic year, an MFA faculty member is in residence on the Warren Wilson campus for a week to teach undergraduate classes, present a workshop and a reading, and to meet with senior creative majors one-on-one.

More Information

Learn More About the MFA Program Requirements

Rose McLarney (BA ’03; MFA ’10; Beebe Fellow 2010-11), pictured with Matthew Olzmann (MFA ’09; 2012-13 Beebe Fellow) in Pew Library on the Warren Wilson campus

I am honored to serve as Director of the MFA Program for Writers, which has such an illustrious history and has launched the careers of so many talented writers worldwide, and which offers a vibrant, world-class education focused on artistry, rigor, community, and the possibilities of the imagination.

Dr. Gary Hawkins (MFA, 1995)

Gary Hawkins is a 1995 alumnus of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Dr. Hawkins writes poems, writes on modern and contemporary poetry, and writes and presents on the scholarship of teaching and learning. His debut book of poems, Worker, was published in 2016.

• Schools & departments

Creative Writing PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Creative Writing

Introduction to Postgraduate Study at the University of Edinburgh

Join us online on 25 September to learn more about Scotland, the city of Edinburgh and postgraduate study at the University.

Find out more and register

Research profile

The PhD in Creative Writing offers committed and talented writers the opportunity to study Creative Writing at the highest level.

Supported by an expert supervisory team you will work independently towards the production of a substantial, publishable piece of creative writing, accompanied by a sustained exercise in critical study.

The academic staff you will be working with are all active researchers or authors, including well-published and prize-winning writers of poetry, prose, fiction and drama. They include:

• Dr Jane Alexander - Fiction
• Dr Lynda Clark - Fiction
• Dr Patrick Errington - Poetry
• Dr Miriam Gamble - Poetry
• Dr Alan Gillis - Poetry
• Nicola McCartney - Drama
• Dr Jane McKie - Poetry
• Dr Allyson Stack - Fiction
• Kim Sherwood - Fiction
• Alice Thompson - Fiction

Find out more about the programme and our team

Training and support

We encourage you to share your research and learn from the work of others through a programme of seminars and visiting speakers.

We have an in-house Writer-in-Residence, annual writing prizes, and a range of opportunities to learn from experts in the publishing industry.

We also offer access to opportunities provided by the Sottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities.

Our postgraduate journal, Forum, is a valuable conduit for research findings and provides an opportunity to gain editorial experience.

• Forum: postgraduate journal of culture and the arts

A UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study, write, publish, discuss and perform prose, poetry and drama.

Take a PhD with us and you will be based in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) in the historic centre of this world-leading festival city.

Our buildings are close to:

• National Library of Scotland (where collections include the Bute Collection of early modern English drama and the John Murray Archive)
• Edinburgh Central Library
• Scottish Poetry Library
• Scottish Storytelling Centre
• Writers’ Museum
• Traverse Theatre

We have strong links with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which annually welcomes around 1,000 authors to our literary city.

There are lots of opportunities to write and share your work, from Forum to The Selkie, which was founded by Creative Writing students in 2018 to showcase work by people who self-identify as underrepresented.

Around the city, you’ll find library readings and bookshop launches, spoken word gigs, cabaret nights and poetry slams, including events run by celebrated publishing outlets, from Canongate and Polygon / Birlinn to Luath Press, 404 Ink, Taproot Press and Mariscat.

You will have access to the University’s many literary treasures, which include:

• William Drummond library
• Lewis Grassic Gibbon library
• Hugh MacDiarmid library
• Norman MacCaig library
• W.H. Auden collection
• Corson collection
• works by and about Sir Walter Scott
• Ramage collection of poetry pamphlets

The Centre for Research Collections also holds a truly exceptional collection of early Shakespeare quartos and other early modern printed plays. These have been put together by the 19th century Shakespearean James Halliwell-Phillipps, the correspondence of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (the focus of one of the major editorial projects in Victorian studies of the last half-century), and the extensive Laing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts.

You will also have access to letters and papers by - and relating to - authors including:

• Christopher Isherwood
• Rudyard Kipling
• John Middleton Murry
• Walter de la Mare
• George Mackay Brown
• Compton Mackenzie

Many of the University's Special Collections are digitised and available online from our excellent Resource Centre, Computing Labs, and dedicated PhD study space in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

Look inside the PhD study space in LLC

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK masters degree, or its international equivalent, in creative writing, normally with distinction.

We may also consider your application if you have equivalent qualifications or experience. For additional information please refer to the pre-application guidance in the 'How to apply' section.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

• Fees and costs

Read our general information on tuition fees and studying costs:

Scholarships and funding

Featured funding.

There are a number of scholarship schemes available to eligible candidates on this PhD programme, including awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Please be advised that many scholarships have more than one application stage, and early deadlines.

• Find out more about scholarships in literatures, languages and cultures

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• 50 George Square
• Central Campus
• Programme: Creative Writing
• School: Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This programme is not currently accepting applications. Applications for the next intake usually open in October.

Start date: September

Awards: PhD (36 mth FT, 72 mth PT)

Application deadlines

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

• How to apply
• Pre-application guidance

Before you formally apply for this PhD, you should look at the pre-application information and guidance on the programme website.

This will help you decide if this programme is right for you, and help us gain a clearer picture of what you hope to achieve.

The guidance details the writing samples you should send us as part of your application (either fiction or poetry, along with a shorter sample of your academic writing).

It will also give you practical advice for writing your project summary – one of the most important parts of your application.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Low-residency MFA in creative writing

Our low-residency MFA community inspires and sustains a lifetime of creative work.

Concentrations in the MFA in creative writing

Children and young adults.

Work with Pablo Cartaya, Traci Chee, Joe McGee, Isabel Quintero, Jessica Rinker and Kathryn Reiss.

Creative nonfiction

Work with Lidia Yuknavitch, Gayle Brandeis, Brian Turner, Suzanne Roberts, Gina Frangello and Leta McCollough Seletzky.

Work with Lidia Yuknavitch, Alan Heathcock, Brendan Basham, Gayle Brandeis and Peter Mountford.

Work with Brian Turner, Faylita Hicks, Brynn Saito, Lee Herrick, Rick Campbell and Gailmarie Pahmeier.

By writers, for writers

Come lean toward our fire and tell us your stories, poems, essays. We’re listening.

Our program was built entirely by writers, to guide authors organically through the exploration of their craft and thorough preparation for a sustainable life of creation and publication. No other program nurtures a writer from line and sentence to essay, story, poetry collection or novel like ours does.

Our editing semester is a uniquely practical experience in crafting work which is both thrilling and publishable. Our gifted faculty are here because they want to launch unique, individual voices within a global dialogue; to see risks taken, new moves in language braved, and students grow into professional and artistic peers.

How does a low-residency MFA program work?

We’ve made this program so that people who are unable to walk away from jobs and families and service can still become masters of their craft . . . NOW.

Over four distance-learning semesters, and five total 10-day residencies,  students will focus on their chosen genre (fiction, poetry, writing for children and young adults, or creative nonfiction) while exploring new territories of artistic expression.

Faculty meet with their students one-on-one during each residency to set plans, then work with them intensively throughout the semester providing written critiques. 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. Residencies are in early January and early August.  

Contact the director

June Sylvester Saraceno MFA-CW Program Director [email protected]

Apply to the low-residency MFA in creative writing  

Features of the low-residency MFA in creative writing

The editing semester.

Work a full semester one-on-one with an editor to make your manuscript polished – and publishable.

Approach your manuscript with greater objectivity, master the tools to shape its potential into a great reading experience on the page, and learn about the practical aspects of publishing from start to finish.

Writers in the Woods

Writers in the Woods presents intimate readings and workshops, open to all, with acclaimed authors in all genres.

The program has hosted scores of poets and writers from all over the country, including Carmen Maria Machado, Kaveh Akbar, Kim Addonizio, Rebecca Makkai, Nick Flynn, Tim O’Brien, Patricia Smith and many others.

Sierra Nevada Review

The Sierra Nevada Review is a biannual online literary magazine managed and edited by the MFA-CW students.

The magazine publishes poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction “that leans toward the unconventional, surprising, and risky. We appreciate experiments in form and content, and prefer works whose meanings deepen on repeated readings.”

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We want artists who will write for the rest of their lives. If you are interested in adding your voice to this transformative conversation and intrigued by the possibility of working with teachers and peers who are passionate about the art they love, then please contact us — we look forward to meeting you.

Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing

Low-Residency Creative Writing Model

In the low-residency model, students attend two 10-day campus residencies then, beyond residencies, work one-on-one with mentors. This model offers community immersion and intensive instruction while helping students to develop an independent writing practice as preparation for their future work as successful writers.

Every three weeks, graduate students submit to faculty mentors creative work, brief essays on forms and methods, an ongoing reading list, and a letter addressing their writing process and responding to substantive feedback from the mentors. This epistolary method is the oldest, most intimate and, perhaps, most intensive method of creative writing instruction. Writers, geographically distant from each other, exchange creative work and letters. Through this correspondence, writers come to see each other and feel seen while teasing out ideas about method and process along the way.

This balance between independent work and community immersion during the residencies helps graduate students develop the skills for sustaining reading and writing practices throughout their lives. It teaches graduate students to develop a rigorous, self-motivated discipline while periodically inviting them into supportive, non-competitive, generative spaces of community. This is a program deeply embedded in one of the country's most literary cities: Portland, Oregon.

Residency Dates

2022 Jan 2 - 12 June 22 - July 2

Writing in Portland

Our annual residencies are in the heart of Portland, Oregon where we are deeply integrated into its community of artists and writers who have made a real commitment to making art that is revelatory and experimental and that advocates, through resistance and liberation, for social justice. The program draws upon our existing strong relationships with partners in our burgeoning Portland literary scene—including Write Around Portland (WRAP), Literary Arts, Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC), Regional Arts & Cultural Council (RACC), The Alberta Abbey, Broadway Book’s, Powell’s Books, the Portland Book Festival, along with a host of local, regional, and national small presses like Fonograf Editions, Wave Poetry, Nightboat Books, New Herring Press, Widow+Orphan House, drNew Directions, among others.

IPRC Studio (photo credit: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland)

Powells bookstore

NOTICE: NOTIFICATION — DATE

2024 – 2025 Residency Dates

Fall: November 9 – 16, 2024

Spring: May 24 – 31, 2025

Summer (virtual): June 21 – 28, 2025

Email School of Writing

Learn more about our low-residency MFA, MA, and certificate programs.

Virtual Info Session: Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing

Low-residency is inherently more flexible than traditional, campus-based writing programs. Only low-residency can offer both the lively camaraderie of a peer group and intense one-on-one mentoring with expert faculty, allowing you to write and receive feedback on far more pages than you would in a traditional program.

Intellectual stimulation and artistic support are hallmarks of Spalding residencies. These weeklong gatherings instruct and inspire through faculty-led workshops, lectures, readings, book-in-common discussions and cultural events. Friendships form over conversation. Collaborations continue after class. Writing becomes a less solitary pursuit.

In-person and Virtual Residency Options

Spring and fall residencies begin in late May and mid-November, respectively. They take place in Louisville , where students stay at the historic, four-star Brown Hotel , engage in our city’s thriving downtown arts scene, and study on our green and growing campus.

When an in-person residency doesn’t fit your plans, our virtual option can keep you on track to earn your degree. During the virtual summer residency in late June, you’ll engage with the same immersive curriculum as students receive on campus, taught live in real time by our outstanding MFA faculty. Tuition is the same for both types of residency, though virtual residencies save travel time and costs. Like in-person residencies, virtual residencies lead to a highly respected Spalding degree. No matter which residency type you attend — perhaps a mix of both — you’ll become a part of a thriving alumni community that will support your writing career long after graduation.

The Primary Focus: Your Concentration

At residency, you’ll participate in a faculty-led workshop, attend faculty lectures in your area of concentration, and sample faculty lectures in other areas as well. You’ll read books or scripts in your area and regularly hear their authors discuss the path to publication or production.

Cross-genre Exploration

Cross-genre reading and exercises will make you a better writer. Maybe you never intend to write poetry — you’ll still discover how to add texture to your work by using compressed language. Even if you’re not a screenwriter, the study of five-act structure can strengthen your own work. And if you plan to teach, whether in or outside of the academy, you’ll need to be comfortable with the language and special considerations of many genres, not just your own.

Plenary lectures at each residency examine universal questions of subject, structure and style. At each residency you’ll get to know another genre in a rotating series as you write outside your area in a brief cross-genre exercise, read work by a distinguished visiting writer, hear the writer speak and chat with them during a private Q&A. Past Distinguished Visiting Writers include Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Kwame Alexander, Natasha Trethewey, Gene Luen Yang, Ann Patchett, Doug Wright, John Patrick Shanley, Barry Lopez, and Jacqueline Woodson.

All MFA students have the option simply to hop over to a different genre one residency and workshop in a new area. The things you learn there will give you a new perspective and inform your writing for years to come.

Special Seminars

Beyond single-genre workshops, we offer specialized options to students in the MFA, MAW and post-master’s programs. Our teaching seminar lets you gain skills you’ll use when teaching undergraduate creative writing courses. Our book-length manuscript workshop offers faculty and peer critique on an entire novel, story collection, memoir, book of essays or full-length poetry collection. We also offer special-topic workshops such as musical theatre, adaptation and place-based writing.

What Happens After Residency?

Once residency is over, students begin a 12-credit-hour independent study course, working one-on-one with an expert faculty mentor.

Application Deadlines

• March 1: application deadline for spring semester, starting in May with residency on campus
• April 1: application deadline for summer semester, starting in June with a virtual residency
• August 1: Application deadline for fall semester, starting in November with residency on campus

For more information, visit our admission requirements page. If you have any questions, please email us .

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Creative Writing, Low Residency MFA

New England College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is a transformative learning experience for writers. The program delivers a rigorous, individualized curriculum in five dynamic genres: poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Writing for Stage and Screen, and Dual Genre.

On This Page

Virtual information session, assistantships, scholarships, and program details.

• Jennifer Militello Named New Hampshire's Next Poet Laureate

Application Requirements

Recognition and rankings, recent visiting artists, notable alumni, degree requirements, frequently asked questions, contact the creative writing department, graduate admission.

[email protected]

Program Director

Jennifer Militello 603.428.2309 [email protected]

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Clicking the button above constitutes your express written consent to be called, texted, and/or emailed by New England College at the number/email address you provided, regarding furthering your education. You understand that these calls may be generated using automated technology.

Please join MFA in Creative Writing Program Director and New Hampshire Poet Laureate, Jennifer Militello, and program faculty and alumni for an upcoming virtual information session discussing the low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program

Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024 Time: 6:00 p.m. EST

Program Overview

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 among the most compelling writers in their genres and who are also known for their excellence in teaching.

Students are offered the opportunity to work on the literary project of their choice during their time in the program, with cross‐genre writing, hybrid forms, and fluidity in genre encouraged.

• Four-semester, 64-credit MFA program
• Low residency model
• MFA residencies in Henniker, New Hampshire, twice a year

2025 Residencies

Winter: January 7–12 Summer: July 10–20

Available Genres

• Writing for Stage and Screen

Additional Opportunities

• Teaching assistantships
• One-on-one mentorship

Hear about NEC’s MFA in Creative Writing

Teaching Assistantships and Scholarships

The NEC MFA offers several merit-and need-based financial assistance packages.

Full Teaching Assistantships Full Teaching Assistantships cover the full cost of tuition. The teaching load for full teaching assistants is four courses per year.

Partial Teaching Assistantships Partial Teaching Assistantships provide partial tuition for students. The teaching load for part-time teaching assistants is one to three classes per year.

The Joel Oppenheimer Scholarship The Joel Oppenheimer scholarship is awarded to an MFA student whose writing sample demonstrates outstanding literary achievement and exceptional promise.

The Joel Oppenheimer Scholarship is awarded in memory of the distinguished Black Mountain poet, Joel Oppenheimer, who taught at New England College from 1982 to 1988. He lived among the poets and artists of Greenwich Village, and was a columnist for The Village Voice from 1969 to 1978 before settling in Henniker, New Hampshire, where he was a popular presence in the local community. His most important publications include Collected Later Poems of Joel Oppenheimer (1997); Names and Local Arbitrations (1988); Drawing from Life: A Selection of Joel Oppenheimer’s “Village Voice” Columns (1997); Don’t Touch the Poet: The Life and Times of Joel Oppenheimer (1998); Just Friends: Friends and Lovers Poems , 1959–1962 (1980); New Spaces Poems 1975–1983 (1985); and Poetry: The Ecology of the Soul (1983).

Pilgrim Plus Scholarship New England College provides NEC alumni with a 25% tuition discount applied to graduate level classes across a wide range of graduate programs.

For additional information and assistance with program tuition and financial aid, you may contact Student Financial Services at 603.428.2226 or [email protected] .

Complete this application if you would like to be considered for a teaching assistantship.

Program Details

Upon graduation from the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, students will be able to:

• Produce and revise original works of literature through an exploratory process culminating in the completion of a substantial body of high‐quality literary work.
• Engage in rigorous critical discourse surrounding their own writing and the writing of others while developing an in-depth understanding of the writer’s craft and its use in the writing process.
• Locate their writing in historical, theoretical, and cultural contexts through an understanding of the movements that influence the writing, reading, and critical reception of literary works.
• Actively engage in academic, geographic, and cultural literary communities as they contribute to the advancement of the literary arts.
• Demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and discipline necessary for a successful postgraduate professional life in creative writing.

Allison Titus

Allison Titus has written three books of poems, a novel, and several chapbooks. Her newest book is called HIGH LONESOME . Her honors include poetry fellowships from the NEA, Yaddo, and the Donaldson Writer-in-Residence program at William & Mary, and her work has appeared in A Public Space , Tin House , The Believer Magazine,  and Ninth Letter , among other places. She is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology THE NEW SENT(I)ENCE: Revisioning the Animal in 21st Century Poetry , a collection of writing/manifesto that centers the nonhuman animal’s agency, consciousness, and creaturehood.

Anaïs Duplan

Anaïs Duplan is a trans* poet, curator, and artist. He is the author of a book of essays,  Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture (Black Ocean, 2020); a full-length poetry collection, Take This Stallion (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2016); and a chapbook, Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus  (Monster House Press, 2017). He has taught poetry at the University of Iowa, Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and St. Joseph’s College.

His video works have been exhibited by Flux Factory, Daata Editions, the 13th Baltic Triennial in Lithuania, Mathew Gallery, NeueHouse, the Paseo Project, and will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2021. As an independent curator, he has facilitated curatorial projects in Chicago; Boston; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Reykjavík, Iceland. He was a 2017–2019 joint Public Programs fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem. In 2016, he founded the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, an artist residency program for artists of color, based at Iowa City’s artist-run organization Public Space One. He works as Program Manager at Recess.

Andrew Morgan

Andrew Morgan is a professor, poet, editor, and volunteer whose work can be found in magazines such as Conduit ,  Verse ,  Slope ,  Stride ,  Fairy Tale Review , New World Writing ,  Post Road, Pleiades  (as part of a “Younger American Poets” feature)   and is the recipient of a  Slovenian Writer’s Association Fellowship, which sponsored a month-long writing residency in the country’s capital city of Ljubljana. Currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at New England College, his first book, Month of Big Hands , was published by Natural History Press in 2013.

Anna Qu is a Chinese-American writer. Her debut memoir, Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor was published in 2021 by Catapult . Publisher’s Weekly hailed the memoir as “the arrival of a new voice,” and Time has called it a must-read for the summer. Her work has appeared in the  Threepenny Review, Lumina, Kartika, Kweli, and Vol.1 Brooklyn , among others. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and teaches workshops at Catapult and Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop.

Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities  (BOA Editions, 2017) , which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. Bloodaxe Books has just released the UK edition. He is also the author of four chapbooks, most recently You MUST Use the Word Smoothie (Sundress Publications, 2019) and GESUNDHEIT!  (with Sam Herschel Wein and out now from Glass Poetry Press). His work appears in many publications, including  Poetry , Poem-a-Day, The Best American Poetry (2015 and 2019), and The Best American Nonrequired Reading (2017). He has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a PhD from Texas Tech University. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence and co-runs the journal, Underblong. He lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug, Mr. Rupert Giles.

Chika Unigwe

Chika Unigwe was born in Enugu, Nigeria. She was educated at UNN and KUL (Belgium) and earned her PhD from Leiden University, Holland. Widely translated, she has won many awards for her writing. Her books include  The Middle Sister ,  On Black Sisters’ Street,  and  Better Never than Late . She is Creative Director of the Awele Creative Trust, and she was a judge for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. In 2016–2017, she was Bonderman Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University.

David Ryan is the author of  Animals in Motion: Stories  (Roundabout Press) and  Malcolm Lowry’s  Under the Volcano:  Bookmarked . His fiction appears in the 2022 and 2023 O. Henry Prize anthologies, The 2023 Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize (Spain/UK), Threepenny Review, Fiction, The Georgia Review, Harvard Review, New England Review, Conjunctions, Bellevue Literary Journal, Fence, Kenyon Review, New Letters, Esquire, Tin House, BOMB , and elsewhere. His work has been anthologized in  Flash Fiction Forward  (W. W. Norton),  Boston Noir 2: The Classics  (Akashic), and  The Mississippi Review: 30 Years . His nonfiction appears in  The Paris Review, Tin House, BOMB, Bookforum, The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Fiction  ( Oxford University Press ), and others. A recipient of a MacDowell fellowship and Connecticut State Arts grants, he’s a co-founding editor of  Post Road Magazine , where he currently edits the Fiction and Theatre sections.

Jennifer Militello

Jennifer Militello is the author of the poetry collection The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021) and the memoir Knock Wood (Dzanc Books, 2019), winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize. She is also the author of four previous collections of poetry, including A Camouflage of Specimens and Garments (Tupelo Press, 2016), called “positively bewitching” by Publishers Weekly  and Body Thesaurus (Tupelo Press, 2013), named one of the best books of 2013 by Best American Poetry . Her poems and nonfiction have appeared in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, POETRY , and Tin House .

Leah Johnson

Leah Johnson is the author of the young adult novels You Should See Me in a Crown (Scholastic, 2020), recently named a Junior Library Guild selection, and Rise to the Sun (Scholastic, 2021). She received her MFA in fiction at Sarah Lawrence College, where she currently teaches in their undergraduate writing program. Leah is a staff contributing editor at Catapult Magazine and a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow. She resides in Brooklyn, New York, but will always be a Midwesterner at heart.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely

Paige Ackerson-Kiely is the author of three collections of poetry— In No One’s Land (Ahsahta, 2007); My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta, 2012); Dolefully, A Rampart Stands (Penguin, 2019); and other works of poetry and prose. Her poems have appeared in numerous national and international journals, and she’s received grants and fellowships from Poets & Writers , Boomerang, Vermont Arts Council, and others. Paige is especially interested in the prose poem and is currently at work on a collection concerned with middle age and the history of transportation. She lives in New York City and directs the MFA in Writing Program at Sarah Lawrence College.

Tara Ison is the author of three novels: A Child out of Alcatraz , The List , and Rockaway ; the essay collection Reeling Through Life: How I Learned to Live, Love, and Die at the Movies ; and the short story collection Ball . Her work has appeared in Tin House, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Salon, Black Clock, O, the Oprah Magazine, Electric Lit, and several anthologies. She is the recipient of multiple Yaddo fellowships, the PEN Southwest Award for Creative Nonfiction, and two NEA fellowships. She is also the co-writer of the cult classic movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead . Ison is a Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

Jennifer Militello Named New Hampshire’s Next Poet Laureate

Militello’s five-year term as Poet Laureate begins in April 2024. She will serve as an ambassador for poets in the Granite State and elevate the visibility and value of poetry in New Hampshire.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to serve poetry and poets here in New Hampshire,” stated Militello. “I can’t wait to connect with writers and readers, students and teachers, as I move into this incredible role. And I feel fortunate to have the continued support of New England College as an institution that values the creative arts.”

The NEC MFA program looks forward to your application. Though we have year-round rolling admissions, please note the preferred deadlines below which allow us to give an application our fullest consideration.

Preferred Deadlines

• Summer: May 1
• Winter: November 1

Personal Essay: 1–4 pages Applicants should address their preparation for graduate work as writers and scholars, the vision and goals they have for themselves and their work as writers looking to undertake a graduate degree program, and any other information pertinent to their application process.

Writing Sample: 10–15 pages in poetry; 20–25 pages in prose and Writing for Stage and Screen Applicants should submit a sample of creative work in the genre for which they are applying. Dual genre applicants should submit a sample that contains both genres of interest, with a shorter sampling of their secondary genre focus included. Prose should be double-spaced; poetry may be single-spaced.

Two Letters of Recommendation Letters of recommendation should address an applicant’s potential for rigorous creative and critical work at the graduate level.

Please have recommenders send letters to your counselor or [email protected] .

Official Transcripts Applicants must submit proof that they have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Rare exceptions may be made for individuals who can show a high level of professional achievement.

Official transcripts are legal documents and must be sent from the institution to your counselor or [email protected] .

For additional Admissions questions, please contact the Graduate Admissions Office at [email protected] or 603.428.2252 .

NEC Ranked Top College in New Hampshire

New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as a leading college in the state, as acknowledged by Intelligent.com , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

NEC Ranked Leading College in New Hampshire

New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as a leading college in NH, as acknowledged by EduRank , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as one of the best colleges in New Hampshire, as acknowledged by Academic Influence , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus III is the author of The Cage Keeper and Other Stories;   Bluesman;  and the New York Times bestsellers, House of Sand and Fog , The Garden of Last Days (soon to be a major motion picture) and his memoir, Townie , a #4 New York Times bestseller and a New York Times “Editors Choice.” His work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best Spiritual Writing anthologies, and his novel House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His novella collection, Dirty Love , was published in the fall of 2013 and has been listed as a New York Times “Notable Book,” a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2013 “Notable Fiction” choice from The Washington Post , and a Kirkus  “Starred Best Book of 2013.” His new novel, Gone So Long , was published in 2018 (W.W. Norton). Mr. Dubus has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over 25 languages, and he teaches full-time at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Fontaine, a modern dancer, and their three children.

Carmen Maria Machado

Carmen Maria Machado grew up in a household where storytelling was always present and has been writing her whole life. She learned about stories through reading, as well as oral tradition in her family. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts.

Carmen is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House;  the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods;  and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties . She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of “The New Vanguard,” one of “15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.”

Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker , the New York Times , Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best American Nonrequired Reading , and elsewhere. She lives in Philadelphia and is the former Abrams Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was named one of the best of the year by Library Journal , Coldfront , and the Academy of American Poets. He is also the author of the collection The Tradition (2019), which was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award and the winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His poems have appeared in BuzzFeed , The Nation, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Time, The Pushcart Prize Anthology , and several volumes of The Best American Poetry anthologies. He is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University in Atlanta.

Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous , out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 30 languages worldwide. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur “Genius” Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds , a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.

Vuong’s writings have been featured in The Atlantic , Granta , Harpers , The Nation , New Republic , The New Yorker , The New York Times , The Village Voice , and American Poetry Review , which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker—alongside Hillary Clinton, Ban Ki-Moon, and Angela Merkel—Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue , Interview , Poets & Writers , and The New Yorker .

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.

Vievee Francis

Vievee Francis is the author of The Shared World , which is forthcoming from Northwestern University Press; Forest Primeval (TriQuarterly Books, 2015), winner of the 2017 Kingsley Tufts Award; Horse in the Dark (Northwestern University Press, 2012), winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize; and Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006). Her work has appeared in numerous print and online journals, textbooks, and anthologies, including Poetry , Best American Poetry 2010 , 2014 , 2017 , 2019 , and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry . She has been a participant in the Cave Canem Workshops, a Poet-in-Residence for the Alice Lloyd Scholars Program at the University of Michigan, and teaches poetry writing in the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop (USA, UK, and Barbados). In 2009 she received a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award, and in 2010, a Kresge Fellowship. She is the recipient of the 2021 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry.

Tara Betts | Dr. Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit (Trio House Press, 2016), Arc & Hue (Willow Books, 2009),  7 x 7: Kwansabas (Backbone Press, 2015) and The GREATEST!: An Homage to Muhammad Ali (Argus House, 2013).

Catherine Kyle | Catherine Kyle is a writer, teacher, and scholar based in Seattle. She is the author of the poetry book Shelter in Place (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), along with six shorter collections. She teaches literature and creative writing at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Melissa Cahnmann-Taylor  | Professor of TESOL and World Language Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia, Dr. Cahnmann-Taylor’s honors include a 2017 Richard Ruiz Scholar-Artist Residency Award (Guanajuato, MX), 2015 Beckman Award for Professors Who Inspire, a 2013–2014 Fulbright Award (Oaxaca, Mexico), three NEA Big Read Grants (Jeffers 2015, Poe 2016, Hua 2018), top Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes, a Jewish Currents Prize, first place in Anthropology and Humanism poetry prize, a Leeway Poetry Grant, and several Pushcart Prize nominations.

Cole Phillips | Writer and educator living in coastal Maine and teaching in New Hampshire at Manchester Community College. His work has been featured in New World Writing , Juked , Post Road , Green Mountains Review , and elsewhere and has been longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions. He was a semi-finalist for the 2021 River Styx Microfiction Contest. He is the author of Standish Blue (Ghost City Press) and is the prose editor for Malasaña .

Kimberly Priest | Kimberly Ann Priest is the author of Slaughter the One Bird (Sundress Publications, 2021), finalist in the American Book Awards, and the chapbooks The Optimist Shelters in Place (Small Harbor Press, 2022),  Parrot Flower (Glass Poetry Press, 2021), Still Life   (PANK, 2020) , and  White Goat Black Sheep (FLP, 2018).

Reverie Konieki | A voice can be singular, yet also belong to all the bodies and experiences it connotes. Language is where we construct the common dream of the human experience yet fail at ultimately allowing one to fully experience the body of another. My artistic aim is to explore these seemingly contradictory aspects of the physical and metaphysical with wonder.

Creative Writing: Single-Genre, MFA

Creative writing single-genre core.

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EN 5311 - Mentorship Study: Creative Writing

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EN 6411 - Residency Study: Creative Writing

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En 7130 - final residency: lecture, public reading, and thesis defense, creative writing course map.

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Ellen Bryant Voigt speaking at the MFA Program’s 40th Anniversary Gala

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.  Today, forty-five years after its inception, the prestigious MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College remains one of the top writing programs in the nation.  Students of the program range in age from their early twenties to mid-sixties, in profession from teacher and journalist, doctor and bartender, to lawyer and lumberjack, and join us from all over North America, Europe, and Asia.  Our faculty have won virtually every major honor in the country, including MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, Pulitzer Prizes, and the National Book Award.  Several have served as state poets laureate, and two have been named national poets laureate.  Our alumni have published hundreds of books, and their work has been featured in The New Yorker  and on the front page of  The New York Times   Book Review .

About the Program

An alternative to the wholly residential workshop, the program is structured to meet students’ needs, to help them recognize specific strengths and address specific weaknesses in their work, and to encourage them to see themselves as active participants in the creation and study of literature.

Every six months, students from across the globe gather here on campus to form a cohesive, non-competitive community that offers camaraderie, direction, and inspiration. The four-semester course of study toward the Master of Fine Arts degree is carried out by alternating on-campus residency sessions with semesters of independent study under close faculty supervision.  The residencies, attended by all faculty and students, are ten days long and take place two times a year, once in early January, and once in early July.

Readings, lectures, classes, workshops, meetings, informal exchange, and conferences all aide in fostering a strong sense of community among peers.  In the classes and team-taught workshops, students will find an environment that is non-competitive, while our low student-faculty ratio (never more than 5:1) ensures that each student will receive personalized attention that will help provide direction for the semester.

Following the residency, correspondence between the student and  the faculty supervisor occur at regular, contracted intervals. This individualized course of study and thorough engagement with faculty, occurring within the context of one’s ongoing adult life, make the Program useful to writers at all stages of their development.

The Master of Fine Arts degree at Warren Wilson represents the study of literature from within the writer’s perspective.  It is not, however, a technical or narrow degree.  The reading and analytical components of each Semester Project, and the variety of classes and workshops offered during the residency periods, provide opportunities for unusually well-integrated, humanities-based curricula–without sacrifice of direct manuscript, work, and criticism.

The Program’s commitment to active teaching and active learning is unshakeable.  While the balanced study of literature and the craft of writing does make its graduates attractive candidates for teaching positions, no one should apply to the program if he/she seeks the degree mainly for employment purposes.  Likewise, while our graduates publish their work widely, no one should apply seeking only an editor for projects in progress.  Our goal is not to supply credentials or technical support but to assist students with their education and their development as writers.

Degree Requirements

The student’s record must indicate the following:.

• Full participation in five residency sessions
• Successful completion of four semester projects, with a minimum accumulation of 60 graduate hours
• Work with at least four different faculty supervisors
• Broad reading in literature and contemporary letters, as demonstrated by a comprehensive bibliography of usually at least 50-60 entries
• The ability to write clear prose, and to articulate cogent response to work by other writers, as demonstrated every semester in brief bibliographical annotations or their approved equivalent
• A substantial analytical essay (30-50 pp.) of intelligence and insight
• A Thesis Manuscript of poetry (30-50 pp.) or fiction (70-100 pp.) of high quality
• An objective assessment of that manuscript by faculty and peers in a one-hour Thesis Interview
• A one-hour graduate class taught to peers during a residency period
• A public reading of his/her work during residency

The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College

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Nurture your writing to its fullest potential.

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 literary prizes and fellowships, and find teaching positions or work related to your writing.

Program Summary

Exclusive partnerships create opportunities for you to put your pieces in front of prominent publishers, agencies, and organizations. You’ll meet literary figures who, as masters of their craft, will give you the tough love you need to achieve your aspirations. Benefitting from our small-group learning, you’ll form bonds with fellow writers from diverse backgrounds, and join in craft seminars, workshops, readings, and publishing events.

You'll have opportunities to interact with students and faculty from across the entire program, while still engaging in a deep exploration of your chosen genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Graphic Novels and Comics, Writing for Stage and Screen, or Writing for Young People.

Program Structure

Low-Residency Program

• 18% craft and reflection coursework; 18% interdisciplinary study; 50% creative writing and revision; 14% graduating seminar and thesis
• Independent work under the mentorship of faculty member
• Two nine-day residencies per year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an additional exit residency.
• Summer 2024 Residency dates: June 21 - June 29, 2024
• Come to the residencies in January and June (5 residencies). Complete 12 credits between each residency. Earn 1 credit in your final residency. Complete the program in 2 years.

Through our Fiction genre, you'll develop and hone your fiction-writing skills while being coached in the practice of constructing, analyzing, drafting, and revising short stories, novellas, or novels. As a graduating student in the Fiction genre, submit a sample from your thesis to acclaimed literary agency Aevitas Creative Management . Gain advice on the publishing strategy of your work and forge meaningful professional relationships.

Accomplished Faculty You'll be mentored by well-know writers with multiple publications to their credit.

Tony Eprile Laurie Foos Rachel Kadish Hester Kaplan Michael Lowenthal Kyoko Mori

Distinguished Visiting Writers As you progress through the program, you'll have the opportunity to work with experienced fiction writers to hone your craft. Recent visitors include:

• Steve Almond
• Julia Glass
• Lolita Hernandez
• Tom Perrotta
• Justin Torres

Graphic Novels & Comics

Through Lesley’s Graphic Novels & Comics genre, explore how to integrate text, image and design to create narrative and meaning. All practitioners of word and image work are welcome to apply, from traditional cartoonists to writers, photographers, and artists creating webcomics, zines, illustrated fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms. Mentorship will be tailored to students’ individual needs and projects.

Accomplished Faculty You'll be mentored by well-known creators with multiple projects and publications to their credit.

Carl Antonowicz Pamela Petro John Rozum Craft and Technique Learn the essential tools and skills involved with producing sequential narratives and other word and image pairings. Topics will include

• Graphic literacy: how words and images interact within panels and across pages
• Narrative pacing and structure
• Character development and dialogue
• Craft and tools, from drawing board to digital
• Print production and publication

Learn more about the Graphic Novels & Comics curriculum . 

Nonfiction & Memoir

Through our nonfiction & memoir genre, gain a foundational approach to craft in genres such as memoir, personal essay, literary journalism, food and travel writing, and research-based narratives. Receive professional guidance through our exclusive partnership with  Aevitas Creative Management.  Submit a sample of your thesis for an immediate read and publishing advice from the acclaimed literary agency.

Accomplished Faculty As you progress through the program, you'll be mentored by faculty with extensive experience publishing works of nonfiction & memoir.

Cindy House Rachel Manley Kyoko Mori Pamela Petro Janet Pocorobba

Distinguished Visiting Writers You'll work alongside successful nonfiction writers as they visit Cambridge during the residencies. Recent visitors include:

• Gail Caldwell
• Megan Marshall
• David Rakoff
• Jerald Walker
• Olive Senior

Through our poetry genre, learn directly from internationally-recognized poets and faculty as you explore the poetic forms and approaches that will serve to establish your aesthetic voice. Graduate deeply-read and immersed in a close-knit community that will provide ongoing support as you venture into the professional world.

Accomplished Faculty You'll be mentored by award-winning poets throughout your graduate program.

Erin Belieu Steven Cramer Joan Houlihan Kevin Prufer

Acclaimed Visiting Poets Make connections with visiting poets, who have included:

• Patrick Donnelly
• Martin Espada
• David Ferry
• Nikky Finney
• Louise Gluck
• Major Jackson
• Robert Pinsky
• David Rivard
• Oliver De La Paz
• Carl Phillips

Writing for Stage and Screen

Through our Writing for Stage and Screen genre, work on scripts with professional actors and directors while enrolled in one of the few university-based programs affiliated with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Given our location in a major metropolitan area, Lesley is one of the few low-residency MFA programs that offers graduate students staged readings of their scripts with professional actors and directors.

During your first year, write full-length scripts for stage and screen. In your second year, choose to concentrate in either stage or screen, or write another full-length play and another screenplay. During your fourth semester, participate in a Play Lab where your completed full-length play is read to students, faculty, and the public. You'll graduate with four full-length scripts and three ten-minute plays.

Accomplished Faculty Throughout the program, you'll learn from faculty whose work has been staged by prominent theater companies and presented at film festivals around the world.

Jami Brandli Barry Brodsky Ellen Lewis Cassie Seinuk Sinan Ünel

Distinguished Visiting Writers You'll connect with visiting playwrights and screenwriters, providing an opportunity to network with industry insiders. Some recent visiting playwrights and screenwriters have included:

• Constance Congdon
• Kia Corthron
• Jonathan Cott
• Molly Smith Metzler
• Theresa Rebeck
• Karen Zacarias

Writing for Young People

Through our Writing for Young People genre, create works of fiction and nonfiction while studying under award-winning faculty in the picture book, middle grade, and young adult genres. Our program maintains an exclusive agreement with  Candlewick Press , providing the opportunity for your final manuscripts to be considered for publication by this award-winning publisher. Candlewick's catalog includes picture books, middle-grade, and young adult fiction from hundreds of celebrated authors.

Accomplished Faculty You'll work closely with faculty who have substantial experience writing for children and young adults, including:

Tracey Baptiste Sara Farizan Michelle Knudsen Chris Lynch Cynthia Platt Jason Reynolds Sara Zarr

Distinguished Visiting Writers As you progress through the program, you'll connect with visiting writers who have published a variety of books for young people. Recent visitors have included:

• M.T. Anderson
• Elizabeth Bluemle
• Robie H. Harris
• Marilyn Nelson
• Maurice Sendak
• Rebecca Stead
• Renée Watson
• Jacqueline Woodson
• Kyle Lukoff
• Renee Watson

Why We Write

Jason reynolds named national ambassador for young people’s literature.

Aqueela Culbreath-Britt ’18

Axie Oh's 'Rogue Heart'

Katie Cotugno ’15

Women, History, and The Weight of Ink with Rachel Kadish

MFA in Creative Writing on Facebook #LesleyMFA

Writing books for kids who don't read books

Celeste Mohammed's 'Pleasantview' of Trinidad

Residencies in Cambridge, MA

Our residencies immerse you in a vibrant literary arts scene. Your faculty mentor will work with you throughout your residency to create a tailored plan for the upcoming semester. Seminars, lectures, and readings foster discussions about concept and craft. Genre-specific workshops allow you to share work and receive the praise/tough love that fuels you to keep writing, revising, and moving forward.

Interdisciplinary Study

Through our program’s interdisciplinary component, you can design an independent study on a topic vital to your writing, gain professional experience in publishing or education, take courses in subjects related to your concentration, and experiment in other genres.

Study Abroad in Wales

Study abroad at the Dylan Thomas International Summer School in Creative Writing, a 12-day residency in rural West Wales. Engage in on-site workshops in castles, gardens, Iron Age villages, slate and coal mines, and more. Plus, participate in readings and visits with internationally renowned Welsh writers.

Christine Bess Jones ’16

The 10 best us cities for creative workers.

Visit us. We'd love to show you around.

Shakespeare documentarian at National Press Club

Top Ranking MFA Programs

Tracey Baptiste

Leland Cheuk ’08

Making hard science easy

Sara Farizan ’10

Read more about alumni accomplishments.

Janet Pocorobba

Professor and Director, MFA in Creative Writing

I am interested in building power and voice with language, and in writing personal stories that push the boundaries of self. I’m obsessed with narrative persona, as well as the narrative modes required to shape a story. I loved braided essays and hybrid memoirs, where the story is larger than the self. Another obsession is creative writing pedagogy, which I work on with writers who want to teach. 

I work with my nonfiction writers via email, on the phone, over Zoom, however they need to work. “Who is this person writing the piece?” I want to know, “and how can I help them fulfill their intention and vision for the work?” I listen carefully—I’m a deeply intuitive writer—because writers often say out loud what they have neglected to say on the page. Speech is important to voice, and to catching the parts of ourselves that we reveal spontaneously and without censure. These are often the most important parts of the story. 

But writing is not just self-expression. The poet Billy Collins said, “Form gives you an enclosed space to work within and keep it from descending into chaos or tantrum. “ We are here not to only say what we must but to find the most effective way to say it. Artfulness comes only when one applies a shape—even in nonfiction. The separation of the author and the narrator is critical. I don’t think that demystifying the writing process has to take the magic out of it. It can add to the awe.    For more information about Janet, visit her website:  www.janetpocorobba.com  

Carl Antonowicz

Carl Antonowicz is a cartoonist, writer, performer, promoter, and musician working in Tulsa, OK. He has self-published zines, graphic novels, and minicomics since 2005, and earned his Master's in Cartooning from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2011. He teaches at Lesley as well as a number of other institutions.

"Comics can move readers in ways no other medium can, engaging interpretive processes that are often neglected by pure text-based media. 

"It's my goal to not only guide mentees through the creation of their work, but also to prepare them to bring their work to market and foster sustainable work practices to ensure a long and fruitful career in visual storytelling.

"Comics cannot be done long-term without structure, whether that be rigid deadlines, daily work sessions, intensive weeks-long drawing marathons, or some combination of the above. Throughout a mentee's time with me, we work together to not only start but finish work and bring it to print.

"An idea is worth quite a bit, but it's nothing compared to a finished piece!"

In addition to teaching and cartooning, Carl also facilitate live music events in Tulsa and performs in several bands. He also designs and performs live shows of his own comics and tours the indie comics festival circuit.

Learn more about Carl and his work on his  website  or  Instagram .

MFA in Creative Writing Faculty

The publishing industry is changing. There is a broader definition now of what storytelling looks like, and who storytellers are. But change is coming painfully slowly, and it needs to be changed from all fronts, including accepting that there are different, beautiful, engaging ways to tell a story than we have previously seen on our shelves, in our classrooms, and in our workshops.

The traditional workshop model worked for those whose stories were traditionally acceptable, stories that often perpetuated bias and cut out many voices. I work to educate myself about storytelling from different cultures. I actively seek new ways to create workshops that embrace different story styles and push the individual creator forward. I love the low-residency model of the Creative Writing program because I can individualize instruction for each mentee.

It is, I hope, a way to break new ground while also cracking open something for each writer. The goal is to find stories that only you can tell, and the format that best serves the story, and then focusing on the craft that illuminates both. It is tough, careful work, and my favorite thing about teaching.

Learn more about Tracey Baptise on her website .

Erin Belieu

Erin is a poet and writer whose work focuses on gender, love, and history.  In 2009, along with the poet Cate Marvin, Belieu founded the national literary organization VIDA.

Jami Brandli

To be an effective dramatist, I believe you must do three things:

•  Know what your characters want
•  Never make it too easy on your characters
•  You, the dramatist, must love your characters, even the most despicable ones.

Writing a script, play or screenplay, is a journey, and as your teacher/mentor, I'll do my best to guide you in writing the script you want to write. At the same time, I'll be asking all the hard questions of the script. No doubt, my main focus will be on character, for the core of all drama is "character in action." "Character in action" applies to every script, from a high-concept action-adventure screenplay to an intimate two-person play.

An interview with Jami Brandli

Barry Brodsky

I have been teaching playwriting since 1990 and screenwriting since 1998. My total love for theatre and movies (and TV too) as well as the history of these genres, drives my instruction. I'm always intrigued at the seemingly infinite number of ways people want to tell a visual story. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, some student will come to a class, or send me an assignment, that will test the boundaries of everything I thought I knew about writing for the Stage and Screen. And that's when the fun begins. As I read something I'm working on, I'll often stop and think "I'd never accept this from a student," shake my head, hit the "delete" button, and try it again.

It all pays off when I'm sitting in a theatre, or a classroom, and watching (or listening) to a student's work being read or performed. I remember the piece's various drafts. I marvel when something I told the student wouldn't work does work after all. I can feel the attention being paid to the spoken word. And I can't imagine doing anything else.

Steven Cramer

Professor, Creative Writing

I teach creative writing as the art that it is. Teachers of any art can’t implant true originality, or stoke the “fire in the belly” without the help of ready kindling, but they can nurture, through attentive challenge, the promise of apprentice artists. That dynamic involves the student’s willingness to recognize critique as a kind of caring, and the teacher’s alertness to the constraints and capacities of the apprentice.  The way a painter teaches studio art, or guitar instructors position their students’ fingers on the frets—that’s how good creative writing mentors teach.  And they don’t confuse rigor with ruthlessness, even as they know artists must be ruthless with themselves. Yes, they have to provide an honest appraisal of the merits of a student’s work-in-progress—promising or unpromising—but that can be done with what Seamus Heaney beautifully calls “care for the emotional tissues.”

I'm interested in how poetic traditions of all sort live inside our own work. I don’t believe that creative writing exists without creative, constant, and catholic reading. I know of no serious writer who didn’t first love reading.

When a poem is finished, it is a gift that no longer belongs to the poet.  

Tony Eprile

My teaching philosophy is constantly evolving...in response to what I'm reading, encountering in daily life and in the classroom, or learning from my students. My basic goal is to provide my students with the tools to teach themselves. Some of these tools have to do with how we gain access to the creative, inspired, subconscious sides of ourselves; others have to do with our critical faculties. The writing workshops are particularly useful to help people learn to become their own best editors through editing the work of others.

Beyond that, I'm strongly interested in questions of how we live in, engage with, and observe the world. I teach a seminar on the art of observation or "seeing like a writer." Understanding our own habits of mind and how these affect what and how we see is vital to also understanding that others see differently, and that you can show a great deal about who people are by what it is that they notice or fail to notice.

My aim is to encourage my students to move their own work to its highest level, not to write like me or according to some prerequisite standard of what makes a good story. There are always a variety of styles and approaches to writing in my workshop, and I'm delighted when someone "goes too far." Beyond that, I have to agree with Henry James that "the only condition that I can think of attaching to the composition of (a work of fiction) is, that it be interesting.

Laurie Foos

My philosophies regarding the teaching of writing are these: that the gateway to the unconscious must be opened, through habit and practice, in the production of creative material, or the writing cannot succeed. As a mentor, I ask students to describe the actual process that goes on in the writing of a story (or novel), and specifically how the story or novel idea came to be, how it germinated. Often stories succeed or fail when they are conceived in the rational part of the mind, or when the rational mind is too soon engaged.

I encourage students to risk themselves in their work, to be bold, for only in the act of risk can there be growth. The two years in an MFA program is in and of itself a permission slip, perhaps the one time they've been afforded to place writing in the center of their lives, and therefore students should use this time to try as many different styles as possible. In this way it is also important that they be exposed to many different types of writing, both contemporary and from the canon. In this way they are exposed to the many ways other writers approach the craft. What matters, I always tell students, is what has been gained in the process of taking risks.

Joan Houlihan

In poetry, more than in any other type of writing, language drives meaning. By focusing on the small elements of craft: line, syntax and line break, image and metaphor, sound and diction, I believe the poet finds a way to discover and inform the large elements: inspiration, intention, concept, invention, and communication. I engage each poem—and student—on their own terms, taking them as far (and deep) as possible, while challenging the student to examine their assumptions about what a poem can do. Through my extensive experience as an editor, I am especially able to help envision and re-envision a poem as well as a thesis/manuscript. My students have published books and chapbooks as well as poems in journals.

Cindy House

My teaching philosophy always comes back to the Tim O'Brien quote, "Stories can save us." To support someone as they dig down to the truth of their life, hunting for the spine of meaning, feels like a kind of religion, an honor and a sacred duty. I feel like my job is somewhere between being a witness and an interrogator. Asking the right questions to help the writer find their path and then knowing when to be silent as they talk their way into it feels like the most important part of the job to me.

One thing I like to encourage in the writers I work with is a sense of freedom to find their own form. How do you find the right frame for your story? What is the very specific structure that will shine a light onto the heart of what you have to say?

Rachel Kadish

Good writing makes us our most honest selves, and as a faculty mentor I'm fundamentally committed to coaching students as they work to set down the truth - whether it takes the form of fiction or nonfiction. When I work with a student, my most important job is to notice everything I can about that student's writing. Because the best way I know to understand writing is through detail - what Ryszard Kapuscinski called "the universe in the raindrop" - I focus on very close readings of student manuscripts. I try to read not only the story that's on the page, but also the story that might only be hinted at, because the writer hasn't yet dared write it. Sometimes this kind of reading leads us to focus together on what initially seemed only a faint tracery on the page - but might in fact be the barely audible heartbeat of the story that the writer truly needs to tell. My students know I'd rather they take risks and fail than write safe stories that leave no mark on either reader or writer. I congratulate my students on attempting each big leap, even if they fall hard - that sort of failure is productive, necessary, catalyzing.

I write fiction and nonfiction and have edited radio drama, but I learn a great deal from other genres and art forms, and I encourage my students to do the same - to attend playwriting workshops, read craft books written for sculptors. Art should always be surprising, and I want my students to surprise themselves; to raise the bar again and again; to be delighted by their own and others' contributions to the fledgling writing community that is a workshop. I believe in taking a student's writing more seriously than he or she may have dared take it... I tend to focus intensely on character development, as so much of a story's structure and plot grow out of character... I have a particular interest in the ways in which history and politics are metabolized through art. That said, I try to leaven seriousness with humor, with compassion, and with the sense that good writing is absolutely essential, though producing it can feel like pulling one's soul through a sieve. If we do this work well together, then the heartbeat of a story, perhaps only faintly audible in the first draft, strengthens. These are the best moments. A student revises and I critique, the student revises and revises again... and then abruptly the student is off and running without need of more advice, and we're looking at a draft together, and we can all of us hear that heart beating.

Listen to Rachel Kadish talk about her work on Lesley's podcast, Why We Write. Also available here: iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or Spotify.

Hester Kaplan

My most valuable teaching tool is the work itself, whether it's a piece of student writing, or the published work of a seasoned author. I'm interested in how and why a piece of fiction engages the reader, and I ask my students to consider what elements make a story and lead them to feel a certain way. I ask them where the engagement is happening on the page, and what dynamic is taking place between the reader and the words. This search is often where the student, transferring this consideration to his own work, discovers what his story is really about. This exploration, if we take a risk and allow it to, will lead the writer to discover the truth in and about his own writing.

I stress revision as the time when a piece of work finds its form and meaning, and when all the elements of fiction we talk about in seminars and workshops and submissions come together to serve the story. Revision - that process of chipping away, fine-tuning, and rethinking - is also about looking at the language and considering the cadence and the music of the writing. It's during revision that we feel ourselves itching to leave the work and run away, but it's those drops of sweat, that racing heart, that lets us know we're about to get to the true and genuine stuff.

I love teaching in Lesley's program and find my students enormously inspiring. Learn more about Hester at her website, www.hesterkaplan.com , or at www.goathillwriters.com

Michelle Knudsen

Michelle Knudsen is the New York Times best-selling author of fifty books for young readers of all ages, including the award-winning picture book Library Lion, which was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 Best Children's Books of All Time. Her other books include the picture book Marilyn's Monster (one of NPR's Best Books of 2015) and the novels The Dragon of Trelian (VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers) and Evil Librarian (YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and winner of the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor). Michelle also works as a freelance editor and writing coach. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

Connect with Michelle through her website at  www.michelleknudsen.com . 

Ellen Lewis

E. M. Lewis is an award-winning playwright, teacher, and opera librettist. Her work has been produced around the world, and published by Samuel French. She received the Steinberg Award for both  How the Light Gets In  and  Song of Extinction  and the Primus Prize for  Heads  from the American Theater Critics Association, the Ted Schmitt Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for outstanding writing of a world premiere play, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, a playwriting fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Commission, the 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship in Drama, and an Edgerton Award for her epic Antarctic play,  Magellanica,  that was produced at Artists Repertory Theater in 2018 and released as a five-part audio podcast in 2020.

Other plays by Lewis include:  Apple Season  (which received a rolling world premiere from the National New Play Network in 2019) , Infinite Black Suitcase ,  The Gun Show  (which has had more than fifty productions across the country and went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland),  True Story, Dorothy's Dictionary, You Can See All the Stars  (a play for college students commissioned by the Kennedy Center), and  How the Light Gets In  (a semi-finalist for the O’Neill that premiered at Boston Court Pasadena in 2019).

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant , a new opera commissioned by American Lyric Theater that Lewis is working on with composer Evan Meier, had an orchestral workshop in New York City in February 2020.  Town Hall , her opera about health care in America, created with composer Theo Popov, was produced at University of Maryland and Willamette University. She wrote a ten-minute musical called  The Letter  with composer Stacey Philipps, and is working on a full-length musical called  In the Deep  with composer Roscoe McDonald.

Lewis is currently working on a big, new political play called  The Great Divide , commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as part of their American Revolutions program, and co-commissioned by Artists Repertory Theater, where she is Playwright in Residence through the Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program. Lewis is a proud member of LineStorm Playwrights, Opera America, and the Dramatists Guild. She is represented by Samara Harris at the Michael Moore Agency. She lives on her family’s farm in Oregon. 

Michael Lowenthal

To walk a fictional mile in someone else's fictional shoes, first you have to make that pair of shoes; it helps to know something about cobbling. After many years in the footwear trade, as it were, I'm happy to share with students anything I've learned about uppers and soles (or even, on a good day, maybe, souls).

Chris Lynch

Having worked with quite a few editors over the past twenty years, I feel my strongest work as a teacher is when I bring the best of those experiences to my students. The most energizing exchanges always came when I realized a great editor was in fact pouring her energy into channelling me, rather than battling me. I believe new writers come to us wanting to sound like their best selves, I believe they are right to feel this way, and I believe it is my duty to help them achieve this. (We may sometimes have to debate what that best self might actually be, but that too is part of the fun.)

In workshop there is one horse I feel is never too dead to beat: our objective is to get the writer back to the keyboard. All feedback does not need to be cheerleading but it does need to be designed to leave the writer with the ideas - and the will - to go back and make the work stronger.

Rachel Manley

I do not have a teaching philosophy. Maybe empathy. But that's not philosophy. As a mentor I try to intuit what's in the minds and hearts of the writers I work with, hoping to help sharpen their philosophy, their thoughts, their words, and their meaning, so that they can achieve whatever special literary goal they have set for themselves. In the end, if I do have to define a philosophy of teaching, or the technique I use to buttress that philosophy, then simply, it is to use my experience as a writer in guiding and assisting my students along their journey to fulfill their imagination.

In the early drafts, I'm mostly interested in helping you see what is at the heart of the story. Who is this character, what does he or she want, and why do you, the writer, see him or her in that particular place doing that particular thing? I try to get you to understand the elements of the story that interest you the most - the characters, the place and the time setting, the images that started you thinking about the story in the first place, the one sentence that seemed right and important from the beginning - in order to sort out what is essential and what is not. My job is to help you figure out which things you started out with are worth keeping and developing, and (just as importantly) to encourage you to be utterly ruthless about throwing out the rest.

In the middle stages, I try to help you with the overall structure of the narrative: where to begin, what to explain right away, what to reveal more gradually along the way, how much to leave open-ended. This is a good time to consider and reconsider what is plausible and what is not, what is confusing to the reader and what is so clear that it doesn't need to be explained, where the story happens too fast and where it bogs down. With every subsequent draft, more attention can be paid to each paragraph, each sentence, each word. The final revision in which we get to scrutinize every word is a real pleasure and reward. I enjoy teaching because I like to see the story come into focus over time; it's both a pleasure and an honor to be part of that process. Learn more about Kyoko at her website: www.kyokomori.com

Pamela Petro

Pamela teaches in the Nonfiction and Graphic Novel & Comics genres of Lesley's MFA in Creative Writing program. Pamela views the mentoring relationship in both as a dialogue rather than a traditional teaching experience.

"The most important thing I’ve discovered as a working writer, and that I can convey to students, is that inspiration comes from writing. Writing doesn’t come from inspiration. Slogging out one word after another, sketching one comics panel after the next—especially when you don’t know what you want to say or where you’re going—is an act of great bravery. It’s also the only way I know to sufficiently rev up my imagination to take creative leaps into the unknown. The usual advice is to write what you know. I say, write what you are familiar with, not what you know. The very act of writing helps us articulate the deep, important things we didn’t even know we knew. Only writing affords me access to that place of understanding inside me. And I see my job at Lesley University as helping students find their way to that place inside themselves."

In addition to mentoring students, Pamela directs the Dylan Thomas Summer School in Creative Writing at The University of Wales where Lesley MFA students have been attending for credit since the program began in 2014. If you’ve ever wanted to write about an 11 th -century Welsh castle while in that castle, or compose a poem in the style of Dylan Thomas in Dylan Thomas’ childhood bedroom, come with us to Wales.

Learn more about Pam on her website and connect with her on Instagram @petropamela

Cynthia Platt

Cynthia Platt is the author of books for young readers for all ages, ranging from board books to young adult fiction. Her picture books include Grow, A Little Bit of Love, and Panda-monium . She’s also the author of the young middle grade novel Parker Bell & the Science of Friendship , the YA novel Postcards from Summer , and numerous Curious George books. She also teaches undergraduate liberal arts courses at Montserrat College of Art. With more than twenty years under her belt as an editor of books for young readers at Candlewick Press and the former Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade publisher, she brings her experiences as both a writer and editor to her work as a faculty mentor for Writing for Young People MFA program.

You can learn more about Cynthia at her website: cynthiaplattbooks.com

Kevin Prufer

Keven Prufer teaches in the Poetry genre of the MFA in Creative Writing program.

"Like other art forms, poetry at its best is a kind of complex communication—a way one mind speaks to a multitude of minds, many of them not yet born. What attracts me to poetry particularly is not merely the way it compresses or asserts meaning, but the way a poem can hold multiple, often conflicting, meanings. The poems I admire are frequently born out of ambivalence—out of strong feelings or beliefs in conflicting directions. These poems ask difficult, vital human questions, but their object is not necessarily to answer these questions. They are, in fact, often unanswerable. Instead, they think about them with purpose and complexity, helping us reformulate them for ourselves."

Although Kevin loves to talk about the technical aspects of poetry writing—rhyme, meter, image, tone—Kevin generally approaches drafts of student poems with these 3 questions:

• What questions is this poem engaged with?
• How does it go about trying to think about these questions?
• How might it do so more successfully?

Connect with Kevin through his website .

Jason Reynolds

My philosophy is to have a good time getting to know the characters in the stories. Let's all ask the questions, the hard ones, the funny ones, the ridiculous ones, to make sure the characters are breathing. Then, once they are alive, we can be better informed of the development of the plot. Also, I believe in positive reinforcement. I refuse to edit without highlighting strengths. My job is to serve as sort of a literary "personal trainer."  When you show up to my "gym," I'll be certain to let you know how great you look, and far along you've come. I'm going to tell you how proud I am, and how I can finally see the abs coming in. And then, we're going to hit the weights and work our butts off, pushing you to the limit for the desired goal — a perfectly chiseled story.

Aside from writing for television, magazines, and video games, John Rozum has been writing comics professionally for over thirty years. He has written for companies such as Marvel, DC, Topps, Milestone Media, Boom! Studios, Interpop Comics, and others. He has written characters such as Daredevil, Batman, Superman, and Scooby-Doo, and properties ranging from The X-Files to Dexter ’s Laboratory . He is best known as the creator of the critically acclaimed Xombi and Midnight, Mass . Currently, he is writing the digital comic, The Abyss, for Interpop Comics. He has been an independent study advisor in writing graphic novels for Lesley University since 2012.

Cassie Seinuk

Cassie M. Seinuk is a playwright, AEA Stage Manager, visual artist and educator in Boston, MA. Her play, From the Deep , has won multiple awards, including The Pestalozzi New Play Prize and the Latinidad Playwrights Award at the Kennedy Center. It was also a recipient of the Boston University Jewish Culture Endowment, and it appeared on the 2015 Kilroys Honorable Mention List. The production of From the Deep received IRNE Award nominations and nearly sold out at 2016 FringeNYC Festival.

Eyes Shut. Door Open. or “ ESDO ” was a recipient of the Bob Jolly Charitable Fund Grant. ESDO  won the 2016 OnStage Critics Award for an Outstanding New Work. Short play,  Occupy Hallmark , won the 2015 National Ten Minute Play Award at the Kennedy Center. Her newest play, Dream House , was developed at New Repertory Theatre as part of Next Voices Fellows, and has earned her a Mass. Cultural Council Fellowship. 

Seinuk’s short plays have been produced nationwide. She is a member of Boston Public Works, The Dramatist Guild, and AEA, and is a 2017 Mass. Cultural Council Fellow Finalist. As a stage manager, Seinuk has worked with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Central Square Theatre (The Nora and URT), Bridge Rep of Boston, SpeakEasy, and The Berkshire Theatre Group.

"Playwrights are given the gift of creating entire worlds for our audiences to experience with all five senses. We are able to make magic happen before their eyes with our words.  I want you to know what your character wants and what they will do to get what they want.  As a faculty mentor, I want you to dream wild, write imaginatively, and ask big questions from your plays and screenplays." - Cassie Seinuk

When asked what principle qualities make a good dramatist, playwright David Hare replied without hesitation: “Good playwrights have a distinctive view of the world. It’s their world view. It’s how they see the world.” This is the mantra that steers me as artist and as instructor. If my first job is to ensure that students discover, value and cultivate that individual perspective, my second - and perhaps more important - job is to give them the tools to bring forth a work of art.

Sara Zarr is the author of nine novels for young readers, as well as  Courageous Creativity: Advice and Encouragement for the Creative Life  and  This Creative Life: A Handbook for Writers.  All of her fiction is contemporary realism, with a focus on the inter- and intrapersonal dramas within the family unit, broadly defined. Her nonfiction (both short and long form) ranges in focus from the psychological and practical obstacles to a productive writing life, to how childhood trauma and dysfunction play out in adulthood, to faith and religion in art and culture. 

Sara is a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her books have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus, School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and the International Reading Association. Her essays and creative nonfiction have been published in  Image ,  Relief, Gather , and several anthologies. She also hosts and produce the This Creative Life podcast.

• Low-Residency
• Tuition $975/credit x 49 $47,775
• Fees Residency Fees $2,000 Comprehensive Fee $1,225

All graduate students are reviewed for merit scholarships through the admissions process and are awarded at the time of acceptance. Other forms of financial aid are also available. Review all graduate tuition and fees , and what they cover. Tuition and fees are subject to change each year, effective in the Summer term.

Ready to get started? We're here to make the application process as smooth as possible. Just answer a few quick questions, and get your customized application guide.

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Solstice MFA in Creative Writing

The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program offers a unique, affordable opportunity for students to act upon their artistic aspirations and embark on lives as serious writers and readers. This hybrid program is designed to be a transformative experience where accomplished faculty instruct students in craft and creative writing techniques that will bring their work to the next level. 

• 5 brief residencies followed by independent study working 1:1 with a mentor allow for more flexibility for the student's schedule
• 5 Concentrations: fiction—including popular fiction and genre fiction—creative nonfiction, poetry, comics & graphic narratives, and writing for children and young adults
• Award-winning writers who are dedicated to helping students find and develop their own, unique voices
• Students make lasting connections with a diverse, nurturing community of aspiring and accomplished writers

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Overview & career outcomes.

Lasell University's Solstice Low-residency MFA in Creative Writing is a selective full-time, two-year program that helps you further your writing practice with a high level of professional proficiency while developing your unique voice in a supportive community. This skills-based program combines five short, ten-day residencies—periods that feature literature & craft courses, writing workshops, seminars, readings, and panel discussions with a diverse cadre of writers, editors, and agents—with a 21-week long period of independent study in which each student works 1:1 with a mentor. This terminal degree offers a flexible format to help you fit the coursework into your schedule while providing an encouraging, immersive experience.

The program's mission is to nurture all the voices of America and beyond; 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; and to prepare students for the rigors of being a professional writer after graduation. The Solstice Program provides a supportive, welcoming environment in which writers of all backgrounds feel safe and are encouraged to take creative risks. Working with some of the best writers in the country, our students 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 seek to instill in our students an appreciation for the value of community-building and community service, and the belief that engagement with the literary arts is not only a means to personal fulfillment but also an instrument for social justice and real cultural change.

Thanks to the support of founding faculty member and best-selling fiction writer Dennis Lehane as well as the Solstice Institute for Creative Writing, the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program launched at its first home institution—Pine Manor College—in 2006. The program landed at its current home at Lasell University in 2022, beginning its next chapter at an institution that aligns with its mission via the University’s commitment to fostering the next generation of creative thinkers, makers, leaders, and doers.

Hear what makes Lasell's Solstice MFA program different!

Solstice MFA Concentrations & Tracks

Concentrations.

The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program allows students to focus on their passion by offering 5 concentrations:

• Fiction (including genre & popular fiction)
• Creative nonfiction
• Comics & graphic narratives
• Writing for children & young adults

• Pedagogy Track

Students who not only want to write but also have a desire to teach at the college level will want to consider the Pedagogy Track.  During their internship semester, Pedagogy track students teach their own creative writing workshops in their home communities.

Along with selecting a concentration focus, students in the Pedagogy track learn how to plan and design courses, assess and grade students' work, and manage a classroom.   Find out more.  

Solstice Creative Writing Workshops

Lasell's MFA Program students complete five residencies over a period of two years. Each 10-day residency, held in summer and winter, begins the new semester with a demanding program of craft classes and workshops in which students’ creative work-in-progress is analyzed and discussed. Each of the eight three-hour workshops held during the residencies allows students to experience a variety of pedagogical approaches; to develop constructive critiquing skills; and to enhance their own writing (and artwork, in the case of graphic narrative students) via close study of other students' works-in-progress under the guidance of a faculty mentor. During each residency, students in workshop have the opportunity to work with at least two different faculty mentors, providing the chance for a wider range of perspectives and feedback. Our approach to the writing workshop emphasizes an atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration between students and faculty members. Each residency takes place on Lasell University's beautiful campus (located just 10 miles from downtown Boston).  Take a virtual tour of the Lasell campus!

What is a Low-Residency Format?

Click on the video below to hear Meg Kearney, Founding Director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program.

Benefits of the Low-Residency Format

• Sense of community - These intensive, inspiring residencies help students form a supportive, engaged community and lifelong connections with fellow writers, including faculty members.
• One-on-one communication with faculty mentors during the semester: Because our student-faculty mentor ratio is never more than one to five, students receive highly focused attention from some of our nation’s best authors.
• Flexible learning  - Independent learning, a flexible schedule, and autonomy. Solstice students are able to pursue their writing goals while balancing the demands of work and family.

The Lasell Solstice MFA Difference

• Our faculty are award-winning writers who come from a variety of different backgrounds; are committed to achieving diversity of race, class, and creed in the classroom; and are dedicated to helping students find and develop their own, unique voices.
• Our goal  is to create opportunities for ALL writers to pursue their creative goals.
• Diversity - Our students, faculty, and alum represent a wide variety of ethnic, social, and geographic backgrounds (from 30 different states, Canada, and Dakar, Senegal), creating a truly vibrant cross-section of America.

Maria Luisa Arroyo Cruzado'15,  MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry

 “At Solstice, I found faculty members and peers who understand how to foster each other's growth with compassionate clarity."

Our curriculum is designed to be flexible. Between the residencies, students work on semester-long projects directly (1:1) with a faculty mentor. During this time of independent work and study, students collaborate with their faculty mentors to explore their genres in depth through reading, discussion, craft analysis, and the creation of new work.

This full-time program requires 60 credits—including work done during the residency and the remaining semester—for completion.

Craft Classes & Electives

At each residency, students attend a minimum of five courses in *Craft, Criticism, and Theory, as well as three Elective Seminars & Studies sessions (one- to two-hour classes). These classes are designed to provide students with a deeper understanding of the structural, philosophical, and historical underpinnings of the art of writing and include Foundational Craft Courses. Foundational Craft Courses are designed to ensure that students graduate with a shared vocabulary within their genre concentrations and a firm grasp of creative writing essentials. Residencies provide students with an opportunity for immersion in a community of writers as they sharpen their craft and expand their visions of their art.

*Students opting for the Applied Pedagogy Track will be required to take four course units dedicated to pedagogy basics, course design, assessment and grading, and classroom management.

Course and Work Roadmap

Students are expected to devote at least 25 hours per week to independent study each semester. It should be noted that reading, as well as writing, (and, in the case of graphic narrative students, making comics), is a vital component of the Solstice MFA Program at Lasell University. By the time a student graduates, they will have read between 50 and 80 books.

At the close of each residency, faculty mentors work closely with students to draft a semester plan—including a reading list, and a schedule for five packet exchanges in which students receive feedback to their creative and critical work. 

First & Second Semester

In the first and second semesters, students are encouraged to draft new material and expand their knowledge, submitting five packets of creative and critical work for feedback from their mentors.

Second-semester students can explore working in another genre—enhancing their craft by exploring the possibilities and constraints of another form—before selecting a focus for the third- and fourth-semester projects.

Third Semester

Third-semester students complete a 30- to 35-page critical essay, an essential part of developing into mature writers. This work builds on the critical writing and thinking skills students have developed in their first and second semesters, during which they applied close reading, analytical, and interpretive skills to the drafting of short literary essays on single texts. The critical thesis challenges writers to create and build a sustained argument surrounding a single aspect (or a few aspects/elements) of literature and/or literature’s role(s) in the world. Students are expected to choose subjects with some personal appeal; ideally, the thesis topic should have an application to the student’s own creative work.

Third-semester students also have the opportunity to pursue an applied-track internship in arts administration, community programming, or publishing as part of their research for the major critical essay. These optional internships will enrich their experience, broaden their knowledge, and provide necessary research for the essay due at the end of the semester. *The Applied Pedagogy Track also requires students to complete an internship during their second or third semester in the MFA program, during which they will gain valuable teaching experience.

Fourth Semester

During the fourth, creative-thesis semester, students work closely with faculty mentors to revise work created during the MFA program with the goal of producing a book-length manuscript. The fifth and final graduating residency requires the presentation of a 60-minute lecture or course in the students’ specialized area or track, developed in their critical essays. In addition, graduating students deliver a 15-minute public reading from their creative theses.

Students and faculty are required to submit thorough evaluations of the residency and the semester project each semester. These evaluations become part of the student’s permanent record and determine whether credit is granted toward the 60-credit degree.

Alejandro Ramirez '15,  MFA in Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction

 “At Solstice, I found a community that supported my vision and my voice, full of talented writers -- like you -- who encourage each other to grow."

Requirements & Deadlines

Requirements.

In order to graduate, students must have received a passing grade for 60 credits of course work and must have attended five, 10-day residencies. In addition to receiving passing grades for all course work, students must complete a creative thesis (a novel, graphic narrative, collection of poems, short stories, or creative nonfiction) that is approved by a faculty mentor, give a reading from their creative theses, and teach one-hour-long lecture at the culminating residency.

Please review the MFA application requirements for admission: 

For emailed transcripts, have them sent to [email protected] . For snail mail, have them sent to:

Lasell University Attn: Graduate Admission 1844 Commonwealth Ave Newton, MA 02466

• Two recommendation forms (completed by either former professors or anyone who can attest to the applicant’s dedication to the art of writing and ability to get along well in a community of fellow writers). Note that recommendation forms, located on our application portal, make the process efficient and simple; recommendation letters may be uploaded to supplement the forms, but are not mandatory.
• Your literary influences, including books you’ve recently read, and what you have learned about the craft of writing from these influences
• The strengths and weaknesses of your writing
• Your ability to listen to and use direct criticism of your work
• What you hope to gain from earning your MFA in Creative Writing
• Obstacles that might prevent you from devoting 25 hours per week to your study and corresponding regularly with your faculty advisor
• Your goals and aspirations as a writer and/or artist
• Other things you'd like us to know about you, relevant to this application
• Poetry: 10 typed pages (single spaced, one poem per page) total
• Fiction: 20–25 typed pages (double spaced) total
• Creative Nonfiction: 20–25 typed pages (double spaced) total
• Confident artists : 8–12 pages of sequential fiction or nonfiction
• Confident writers : 20+ pages of graphic narrative script (in standard script form or via “the Marvel Method,” i.e. the general outline of a story, major plot points, + some dialogue); pages of sequential art are not mandatory for confident writers.

*Note: Students in the Comics & Graphic Narratives Concentration are placed in the program as “confident artists” or “confident writers” based on their applications. Typically, confident artists aspire to improve their craft as writers to match their drawing talents, with the ultimate goal of becoming cartoonists who both write and draw their own stories. Confident writers are typically more interested in creating comics/graphic narratives in collaboration with an artist/illustrator. That said, even confident writers who do not consider themselves to be confident artists will be expected to learn and practice the fundamentals of comics art in order to more deeply understand the collaboration process.

A Note on Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology:  Any use of AI is considered plagiarism and prohibited by the Solstice MFA Program in application manuscripts. All critical and creative work should strictly be the work of the applicant. Writing is hard work; it has always been hard work, which has been one of its graces. We believe our students and those seeking to be our students are self-selected lovers of words who, as apprentices to this craft, share the goal of becoming the best, most original writers they can be on their own merit. This is not to say that AI-generated work is not being used in creative ways in certain circles, but we expect our applicants to generate the “inputs” that result in their original “outputs.” In the end, we trust that Solstice MFA Program applicants, along with faculty, staff, and students, believe that academic and artistic honesty are paramount and will live up to those ideals.

Note for prospective international students : At this time, the Solstice MFA Program is not in a position to consider F-1 international students for enrollment. We are able to accept applications from international students who are dual U.S. citizens or permanent residents, as well as those who have other visa types that permit study in the country, such as L2, H1B, and H4 visas. Contact Lasell University’s Office of International Student Admissions for more information.

MFA Deadlines

The Solstice MFA Program accepts applications on a rolling basis. The deadlines below determine your starting residency and eligibility for fellowships. Review our application guidelines as you decide when you want to apply to the program . Students who hope to receive a need-based scholarship  should submit their application and the FAFSA as early as possible, as these awards are granted until funds are depleted.

The Winter/Spring 2025 Semester

The winter 2025 residency, which begins our spring semester, is set for January 10 – 19, 2025. Writers who submit general applications by Monday, November 11, 2024, may be offered a space in the winter 2025 residency/spring semester. Following that date, all acceptances will be for the summer 2025 residency/fall semester. 

Fellowship Deadlines for Winter 2025

Applicants who wish to be considered for the  Francis L. Toner Fellowship for Veterans ,  Dubus Fellowship for Native & Indigenous Writers ,  Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction ,  Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent ,  Doug & Betsy Sholl Fellowship for Poetry , or the  Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction  should submit the general application form by Monday, October 28, 2024. Please note that Dubus Fellowship applications require a short essay.

The Summer/Fall 2025 Semester

The summer 2025 residency, which begins our fall semester, is set for July 12 – 20, 2025. Writers who submit general applications by Monday, May 12, 2025 may be offered a space in the summer 2025 residency/fall semester. Following that date, all acceptances will be for the winter 2026 residency/spring semester.

Fellowship Deadlines for Summer 2025

Applicants who wish to be considered for the  Monica Hand Fellowship for Nontraditional Students ,  Kurt Brown Fellowship for Diverse Voices,  or  Billy Still Fellowship for Social Action & Writing  should submit the general application form (check the appropriate box on the form) by April 28, 2025. Please note that Kurt Brown and Still Fellowship applications require a short essay.

10% Lasell Alumni Discount

Alumni can take 10% off all master's and certificate programs. Does not apply if you receive a scholarship.

Form more details about scholarships and fellowships see our financial aid information  and our scholarship page .

Explore Solstice MFA in Creative Writing

Program Overview

• Social Action Writing Track
• Comics & Graphic Narratives Concentration

Faculty & Staff

• Upcoming Guest Faculty

Scholarships & Fellowships

Testimonials

Classes for Audit

Spotlight Poet Program

Graduate Publications

• Solstice Anthology

Professional Development

Post Graduate Opportunities

• Post Graduate Semester
• Post Graduate Certificate

Sign-up to receive The Lasell MFA Newsletter!

Live Q&A Session

Register for our next virtual event . .

• Graduate Programs Virtual Information Session Wednesday, September 4th @ 6:00 PM ET

Career Outcomes

60% have published in a literary magazine or journal, 30% have published at least 1 book, 15% have landed teaching or writing-related jobs, request more information.

Stay updated about our program options and start dates.  

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Tags: PhD programs

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Attorney, poet, editor, and freelance journalist Seth Abramson explains the methodology used to compile the Poets & Writers Magazine 2012 rankings of postgraduate creative writing programs.

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Answers to the most commonly asked questions about our rankings of full-residency, low-residency, and doctoral programs in creative writing.

2012 Creative Writing Doctoral Program Rankings: The Top Fifteen

The top fifteen creative writing doctoral programs in the United States, from the University of Denver in Colorado to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

We’ve compiled this annual guide to graduate creative writing programs—which includes our rankings of the top full- and low-residency MFA programs (with honorable mentions ) and, new to this year, doctoral programs —to provide a spark for the deep thinking and serious consideration that the process of choosing a program requires.

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Creative Writing (MFA)

• Master's

About this Program

Hood College’s low-residency MFA in creative writing immerses students in the rhythms of the writing life, while providing them with a solid foundation in literary craft, criticism and publishing.

Program Overview

Find your rhythm. find your community. find your voice..

Ideal for working professionals and lifelong learners who are serious about their work, the MFA in creative writing appeals to students from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds, all of whom share a passion for literature and a desire to write and publish their own novels, stories and poems. Central to our philosophy is the idea of balance—between writing and the demands of everyday life, between periods of solitude and social interaction—as well as the presence of a diverse and cohesive literary community. By the end of the program, students will have produced a book-length manuscript of poetry or prose and will be beginning to submit and publish their work.

“The residency was a life-changing experience for me, and I think this program is the perfect match for my professional and creative needs.” -Maui Smith, current student

A 48-credit program with concentrations in poetry or prose, the low-residency MFA in creative writing involves four remote mentorship semesters and three on-campus summer residencies. Over the course of the two-year program, students will engage in one-on-one consultations with faculty mentors; participate in intensive writing workshops; attend lectures, panels and readings; begin submitting their work for publication; develop and present a craft lecture; complete a book-length creative project; and give a reading from their work. In addition to summer residences on the beautiful Hood College campus in Frederick, Maryland, students also have the option of attending an international summer residency through the  Prague Summer Program for Writers , the nation’s oldest study-abroad program for creative writers in the English language.

Application deadline is April 1, 2025. The summer 2025 residency will be held June 20-30.

For more information, please contact program director  Elizabeth Knapp  or email the  graduate school admission staff .

Please note that the MFA program is currently ineligible for financial aid. Please see the scholarship tab below for alternative funding opportunities.

Tuition & Fees     Funding Opportunities   MFA Brochure

Degrees Offered

Department offering.

• English & Communication Arts

Are you ready to go further?

Prospective Applicants must complete the following for consideration into the program:

• Complete the online application.
• Official copies of all college transcripts.
• A 1,000-word essay in response to a book of fiction, creative nonfiction or poetry published within the last 10 years. The book you choose to write on must correspond to the genre for which you are applying (e.g., poetry applicants should write an essay in response to a poetry collection).
• A 500-word personal statement on what you hope to achieve from the program; your reading life and which authors have been especially important or influential to you as a writer; any challenges or obstacles you have faced in your writing life as a result of your background and how you have responded to those challenges; and your current writing projects.
• Prose (fiction or creative nonfiction) should be no more than 25 double-spaced pages of one or several stories/essays, a portion of a novel/memoir, or a combination. If submitting a novel excerpt, please attach a brief plot synopsis.
• Poetry should be no more than 10 single-spaced pages, with no more than one poem per page.

The course listing for the program is as follows:

Permanent Faculty

Aaron Angello  is an assistant professor of English at Hood College, where he directs the theatre program and teaches courses in creative writing, modern and contemporary poetry, film and media, and drama. He is also creative director of the Endangered Species (theatre) Project and founder of the Frederick Shakespeare Festival. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals, and he is the editor of  The Synergistic Classroom: Interdisciplinary Teaching in the Small College Setting . His genre-defying book  The Fact of Memory: 114 Ruminations and Fabrications  was published in 2022 by Rose Metal Press.

Amy Gottfried  is a professor of English at Hood College and advises the undergraduate literary magazine, Wisteria. She teaches courses in environmental writing, advanced fiction, and American literature, and has twice earned Hood’s Excellence in Teaching award. Her short fiction has appeared in  Passager ,  Glimmer Train ,  Adirondack Review ,  Blunderbuss  and  Brain, Teen . Awards include  Blunderbuss’s  2015 Best Stories and  Glimmer Train’s  Fiction Open, Family Matters, and Short Short Fiction contests. She is currently working on her third novel and a short story collection.

Elizabeth Knapp  is an associate professor of English at Hood College and directs the low-residency MFA in creative writing. She is the author of  Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak  (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2019), winner of the 2019 Jean Feldman Prize, and  The Spite House  (C&R Press, 2011), winner of 2010 De Novo Poetry Prize. Her other honors include the 2022 International Poetry Prize from  Atlanta Review , the 2018 Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and an individual artist award from the Maryland State Arts Council.

2024 Guest Writers

Sandra Beasley  is the author of four poetry collections:  Made to Explode ;  Count the Waves ;  I Was the Jukebox  (winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize, judged by Joy Harjo); and  Theories of Falling  (winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize, judged by Marie Howe). Honors for her work include a 2015 NEA Literature Fellowship, the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Prize, the John Montague International Poetry Fellowship and six DCCAH Artist Fellowships. She is also the author of the memoir  Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life , and the editor of  Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance . Beasley is currently the Nora Roberts Writer-in-Residence at Hood College. She lives in Washington, D.C.

celeste doaks  is the author of  Cornrows and Cornfields  and editor of the poetry anthology  Not Without Our Laughter . Her award-winning chapbook,  American Herstory , contains ekphrastic poems that have been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Brooklyn Museum. doaks is a 2022 Yaddo fellow and has taught for more than a decade. Her work has appeared in  Ms. Magazine ,  The Millions ,  Huffington Post ,  Chicago Quarterly Review ,  The Rumpus ,  The Hopkins Review  and others.

Robert Eversz  is the author of six novels that have been translated into 15 languages. His books have been named to best of year lists at  The Washington Post ,  Oslo Aftenposten ,  Manchester Guardian ,  BookPage ,  L.A. Weekly  and  January Magazine . A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Robert teaches advanced fiction workshops at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and is a member of the permanent faculty of the Prague Summer Program, which he helped found.

James Allen Hall  is the author of two books of poems and a book of lyric essays. Their most recent book is  Romantic Comedy , winner of the Levis Prize selected by Diane Seuss and published by Four Way Books. Their previous book of poems is  Now You’re the Enemy  (U of Arkansas Press, 2008). They are also the author of a book of lyric personal essays,  I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well . They’ve won awards from the Lambda Literary Foundation, the Texas Institute of Letters, the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts. They direct the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College in Chestertown, MD.

Donna Hemans  is the author of three novels,  River Woman ,  Tea by the Sea  and  The House of Plain Truth  (forthcoming in February 2024). Her short fiction and essays have appeared in  Slice ,  Electric Literature ,  Ms. Magazine ,  The Rumpus  and  Crab Orchard Review , among others. She received her undergraduate degree in English and media studies from Fordham University and an MFA from American University. She lives in Maryland and is also the owner of DC Writers Room, a co-working studio for writers based in Washington, D.C.

Steven Leyva ’s poems have appeared in  Smartish Pace ,  Scalawag ,  Nashville Review ,  jubilat ,  The Hopkins Review ,  Prairie Schooner  and  Best American Poetry 2020 . He is a Cave Canem fellow and author of the chapbook  Low Parish  and author of  The Understudy’s Handbook , which won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. He holds an MFA from the University of Baltimore, where he is an associate professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design.

Cleyvis Natera  is the author of the debut novel  Neruda on the Park . Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in  The New York Times Book Review ,  URSA Fiction ,  Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration ,  The Brooklyn Rail ,  TIME ,  The Rumpus ,  Gagosian Quarterly ,  The Washington Post ,  The Kenyon Review ,  Aster(ix)  and  Kweli Journal , among other publications.

Elly Williams  is a senior faculty member of the M.A. in writing at Johns Hopkins University. Her essays, interviews and short stories have appeared in local and national journals, including  Confessions ,  Fact or Fiction? ,  The Missouri Review ,  Five Points  and  CEA Forum . Her novel,  Crazy Think , was released as a Penguin Classic in the U.K. in 1997 and under the title  This Never Happened  in 1998 by Random House.

Summer Residencies

The cornerstone of the low-residency MFA in creative writing is the intensive residency experience. For 10 days in June, students in the program attend residencies on the Hood College campus, during which they participate in rigorous writing workshops and attend lectures, panels and readings by permanent and guest faculty and graduating students. Residencies are designed to immerse students in activities and subjects central to the writing life and to foster a sense of community and fellowship with other writers; therefore, students are strongly encouraged to stay on campus in one of our newly renovated dorms for the duration of each residency. Visits to Frederick’s thriving historic Downtown are part of the residency; restaurants, shops, theatre, bars, art galleries, concerts and a wonderful independent bookstore are all a 10-minute walk from campus. Room and board are included in the residency fees.

At the core of the residency is the writing workshop, in which developing writers share their work for critique and provide commentary on the work of other members. Led by an accomplished writer in each genre, workshops meet in the mornings every other day, and students are guaranteed an expert and detailed review of their work.

In the afternoons, faculty and graduating students present lectures and panels on a range of topics within literary history, theory and practice, while evenings are devoted to literary readings. At the end of the residency period, students return to their individual writing lives reenergized and recommitted to the practice of writing. They then commence a period of concentrated reading and writing in the semester between residencies under the close guidance of a faculty mentor.

For the second residency, students may elect to attend the  Prague Summer Program for Writers , the nation’s oldest study-abroad program for creative writers in the English language. Approximately 2,000 established and aspiring writers have attended the Prague Summer Program since its inception in 1993. Included among the program’s outstanding permanent faculty are two MacArthur Fellows and a National Book Award winner in fiction. Fees for the three-week program are equal to those for a 10-day on-campus residency. Students are responsible for their own airfare and meals, but breakfast is provided with program housing. Two fully-funded teaching assistantships are available for each residency, one in poetry and one in prose. Assistantships are competitive.

Mentorship Semesters

Along with the residency experience, literary mentorship is a hallmark of the low-residency MFA in creative writing. The mentorship semester is designed to help students develop a close working relationship with an experienced teacher and published author who can direct them in all matters of literary craft, criticism and publishing. As immersive experiences, the mentorship semesters also provide students with a solid foundation in literary history, theory and practice, and students are expected to read broadly and deeply both within their genre and across genres.

Under the guidance of a faculty mentor, students produce original creative work while simultaneously developing their own course of study within the areas of literary history, theory, and practice. At the beginning of each semester, students confer with their faculty mentor to create a reading list, along with a submission schedule for critical essays and original work. Over the course of each semester, students submit to their faculty mentor packets of original poetry or prose and critical essays. The faculty mentor then provides extensive feedback, including suggestions for revision and further reading. Participation in the residencies is required for enrollment in the mentorship semesters.

Advantages of the Low-Residency Model

The low-residency model for an MFA in creative writing offers several advantages compared to traditional full-residency programs, including:  

• Flexibility.  Low-residency programs are designed to accommodate students who may have work, family or other commitments that make it challenging to attend a full-time, on-campus program. With the low-residency model, you have the flexibility to continue working or fulfilling other responsibilities while pursuing your degree. 
• Geographic Independence.  Low-residency programs allow students to participate from anywhere in the world. You are not limited by geographical proximity to a specific institution, which means you can choose a program that aligns with your interests and needs regardless of your location. 
• Intensive Residency Periods.  Low-residency programs typically include short, intensive residencies on campus or at a designated location. During these residencies, you have the opportunity to engage in workshops, panels, readings and networking events with faculty and fellow students. This concentrated period of interaction provides a focused and immersive experience.
• Personalized Attention.  In low-residency programs, students work closely with faculty mentors or advisers. One-on-one mentorship allows for personalized attention and guidance tailored to your specific writing goals and needs. This individualized approach will help you hone your craft and develop your unique voice. 
• Diverse Perspectives.  Low-residency programs attract students from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. The cohort of students often includes individuals with diverse perspectives and writing styles. This enriches the learning environment, fosters cross-cultural understanding and encourages creative collaboration. 
• Cost Savings.  Low-residency programs may offer cost savings compared to full-residency programs. Since you are not residing on campus full-time, you can save on expenses such as housing and commuting. This can make pursuing an MFA more financially feasible for some individuals. 

With an MFA in creative writing, you can pursue a variety of career paths related to writing, literature and communication, including:

• Author.  An MFA in creative writing equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to write and publish your own literary works. Through the mentorship semesters and summer residencies, you will develop your craft and learn about the business of literary publishing.
• Editor.  MFA graduates work as editors for publishing houses and literary magazines, or as freelance editors. You can help writers polish their manuscripts by providing feedback and copy edits.
• Copywriter.  Advertising agencies, marketing firms and businesses hire creative writers to develop persuasive and engaging copy for advertisements, websites, product descriptions and other promotional materials.
• Content Writer.  With the rise of digital media, there is a high demand for skilled content writers. You can create engaging articles, blog posts, social media content and other written material for websites, online publications and businesses.
• Literary Agent.  As a literary agent, you can represent authors and their literary works. You'll review manuscripts, negotiate publishing contracts and guide writers through the publishing process.
• Writing Instructor/Professor.  Many MFA graduates find fulfillment in teaching creative writing. You can work as an instructor or professor at universities, colleges, writing workshops or community centers, sharing your knowledge and helping aspiring writers develop their skills.
• Freelance Writer.  You can work as a freelance writer, taking on a range of writing assignments. This may include magazine articles, blog posts, ghostwriting projects, content creation for businesses or contributing to anthologies and literary journals.
• Communications Specialist.  Corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies often employ MFA graduates as communications specialists. You can write press releases, speeches, reports and other communication materials.
• Writing Coach/Consultant.  With your expertise, you can offer your services as a writing coach or consultant. This involves assisting aspiring writers, providing feedback on their work and helping them improve their writing skills.

Many MFA graduates combine multiple roles or pursue a mix of freelance and traditional employment opportunities to build a diverse career in the writing field.

The Elizabeth Peters-Barbara Michaels Scholarship Fund

Established in 1990 by Barbara Mertz, the scholarship is awarded annually to a student from an underrepresented background based on writing ability. Recipients for this scholarship will be identified and nominated by the MFA faculty.

Barbara Mertz, who used the pen name Elizabeth Peters, wrote more than 60 novels. Primarily known for her work in the mystery genre, Mertz won various awards, and her novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Mertz was also a long-time resident of Frederick, Maryland.

The Nora Roberts Foundation Scholarship

Established in 2010 by the Nora Roberts Foundation, the scholarship will be awarded annually to a creative write MFA student, with priority given to those with financial need and academic merit.

Nora Roberts, a Maryland native, is the bestselling author of more than 225 novels. She is primarily known for her work in the romance genre and was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.

For more information, please contact Program Director Elizabeth Knapp .

Pergola Magazine

MFA students will help develop Hood's brand new online literary magazine, Pergola, launching in spring 2025 and featuring original work!

Meet Our Guest Writers

Learn about our 2024 guest writers in this Q&A series!

Program Contact

Elizabeth Knapp, Ph.D.

MFA Program Director

Nick Masucci '17

Assistant Director of Graduate Admission & Data Management

James Allen Hall | Guest Writer for MFA Program

Hood’s creative writing MFA program welcomes James Allen Hall as guest writer for June 2024 residency.

Steven Leyva | Guest Writer for MFA Program

Hood’s creative writing MFA program welcomes Steven Leyva as guest writer for June 2024 residency.

Cleyvis Natera | Guest Writer for MFA Program

Hood's creative writing MFA program welcomes Cleyvis Natera as guest writer for June 2024 residency.