university of tennessee knoxville mfa creative writing

• Become A Member
• Remember Me      Forgot Password?
• CANCEL Login

Association of Writers & Writing Programs

• Writing Programs & Pedagogy
• Community & Calendar
• Magazine & Media
• AWP Conference
• Writers' Conferences & Centers
• Guide to Writing Programs

• Advice Articles
• Campus Visit Video Series

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Tennessee, united states.

UT offers a PhD in English with a creative dissertation and an MFA in Creative Writing. Our goal is to blend creative work with literary studies for a degree that helps candidates realize their potential as writers and scholars as well as making them more viable in the marketplace.

All of our PhD candidates and MFA students are fully funded, with generous opportunities for additional financial support. Our Writers in the Library reading series has brought in a stunning list of writers—Terrance Hayes, Colum McCann, Edward Hirsch, Elizabeth McCracken, and Jesmyn Ward, just to name a few––many of whom not only gave readings, but also directed workshops and worked one-on-one with students.

Our graduate students take advantage of teaching opportunities in a thriving undergraduate program and hold key editorial positions on Grist: The Journal for Writers. Our creative faculty (Margaret Lazarus Dean, Joy Harjo, Christopher Hebert, Marilyn Kallet, Michael Knight, and Arthur Smith) are as deeply committed to the teaching of writing as to writing well.

It's a great place to do your best work.

For more information about the Creative Writing Program, contact Margaret Lazarus Dean at [email protected].

Contact Information

Department of English 301 McClung Tower Knoxville Tennessee, United States 37996-0430 Phone: (865) 974-0899 Email: [email protected] https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/

Bachelor of Arts in English/Literature +

Undergraduate program director, minor / concentration in creative writing +, phd in phd with creative dissertation +, graduate program director.

All students are fully funded. Students may apply for a paid fifth year to finish the dissertation.

Master of Fine Arts in MFA in Creative Writing +

Students take small, intense workshops with renowned faculty as well as literature courses. All students teach in the second year, with support from award-winning composition faculty. Most students get the chance to teach creative writing, and many gain editorial experience on our in-house journal, Grist. All admitted students are fully funded.

Marilyn Kallet

Author of 16 books, including poetry (The Love That Moves Me, Black Widow Press, 2013), translations, and children's books. Directs the creative writing program and teaches poetry workshops in Auvillar, France as well.

http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_kallet.php

Arthur Smith

Orders of Affection, Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for Elegy on Independence Day

http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_smith.php

A Place for Outlaws, Departing as Air, ChubbLifeAmerica Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction

http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_wier.php

Michael Knight

Divining Rod, Dogfight and Other Stories, New Writing Award, Fellowship of Southern Writers

http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_knight.php

Margaret Lazarus Dean

The Time it Takes to Fall; forthcoming nonfiction, The Time it Takes to Fall. Winner of 2013 Greywolf Nonfiction Prize. Blog: The Time it Takes to Blog

Publications & Presses +

Grist: The Journal for Writers

Visiting Writers Program +

Yusef Komunyakaa, Kay Ryan, Robert Hass, Jesmyn Ward, Dorothy Allison, Marge Piercy, Kevin Wilson, Adam Johnson, Keith Flynn, William Pitt Root, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jack Gilbert, Pamela Uschuk, Ted Kooser, bell hooks...

Reading Series +

Writers in the Library ( http://www.lib.utk.edu/writers/ )

Share this page:

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 by AWP. All rights reserved.

Jump to navigation Skip to content

Search form

• P&W on Facebook
• P&W on Twitter
• P&W on Instagram

Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Find a home for your poems, stories, essays, and reviews by researching the publications vetted by our editorial staff. In the Literary Magazines database you’ll find editorial policies, submission guidelines, contact information—everything you need to know before submitting your work to the publications that share your vision for your work.

Whether you’re pursuing the publication of your first book or your fifth, use the Small Presses database to research potential publishers, including submission guidelines, tips from the editors, contact information, and more.

Research more than one hundred agents who represent poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, plus details about the kinds of books they’re interested in representing, their clients, and the best way to contact them.

Every week a new publishing professional shares advice, anecdotes, insights, and new ways of thinking about writing and the business of books.

Find publishers ready to read your work now with our Open Reading Periods page, a continually updated resource listing all the literary magazines and small presses currently open for submissions.

Since our founding in 1970, Poets & Writers has served as an information clearinghouse of all matters related to writing. While the range of inquiries has been broad, common themes have emerged over time. Our Top Topics for Writers addresses the most popular and pressing issues, including literary agents, copyright, MFA programs, and self-publishing.

Our series of subject-based handbooks (PDF format; $4.99 each) provide information and advice from authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers. Now available: The Poets & Writers Guide to Publicity and Promotion, The Poets & Writers Guide to the Book Deal, The Poets & Writers Guide to Literary Agents, The Poets & Writers Guide to MFA Programs, and The Poets & Writers Guide to Writing Contests.

Find a home for your work by consulting our searchable databases of writing contests, literary magazines, small presses, literary agents, and more.

Poets & Writers lists readings, workshops, and other literary events held in cities across the country. Whether you are an author on book tour or the curator of a reading series, the Literary Events Calendar can help you find your audience.

Get the Word Out is a new publicity incubator for debut fiction writers and poets.

Research newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications that consistently publish book reviews using the Review Outlets database, which includes information about publishing schedules, submission guidelines, fees, and more.

Well over ten thousand poets and writers maintain listings in this essential resource for writers interested in connecting with their peers, as well as editors, agents, and reading series coordinators looking for authors. Apply today to join the growing community of writers who stay in touch and informed using the Poets & Writers Directory.

Let the world know about your work by posting your events on our literary events calendar, apply to be included in our directory of writers, and more.

Find a writers group to join or create your own with Poets & Writers Groups. Everything you need to connect, communicate, and collaborate with other poets and writers—all in one place.

Find information about more than two hundred full- and low-residency programs in creative writing in our MFA Programs database, which includes details about deadlines, funding, class size, core faculty, and more. Also included is information about more than fifty MA and PhD programs.

Whether you are looking to meet up with fellow writers, agents, and editors, or trying to find the perfect environment to fuel your writing practice, the Conferences & Residencies is the essential resource for information about well over three hundred writing conferences, writers residencies, and literary festivals around the world.

Discover historical sites, independent bookstores, literary archives, writing centers, and writers spaces in cities across the country using the Literary Places database—the best starting point for any literary journey, whether it’s for research or inspiration.

Search for jobs in education, publishing, the arts, and more within our free, frequently updated job listings for writers and poets.

Establish new connections and enjoy the company of your peers using our searchable databases of MFA programs and writers retreats, apply to be included in our directory of writers, and more.

• Register for Classes

Each year the Readings & Workshops program provides support to hundreds of writers participating in literary readings and conducting writing workshops. Learn more about this program, our special events, projects, and supporters, and how to contact us.

The Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award introduces emerging writers to the New York City literary community, providing them with a network for professional advancement.

Find information about how Poets & Writers provides support to hundreds of writers participating in literary readings and conducting writing workshops.

Bring the literary world to your door—at half the newsstand price. Available in print and digital editions, Poets & Writers Magazine is a must-have for writers who are serious about their craft.

View the contents and read select essays, articles, interviews, and profiles from the current issue of the award-winning Poets & Writers Magazine .

Read essays, articles, interviews, profiles, and other select content from Poets & Writers Magazine as well as Online Exclusives.

View the covers and contents of every issue of Poets & Writers Magazine , from the current edition all the way back to the first black-and-white issue in 1987.

Every day the editors of Poets & Writers Magazine scan the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know.

In our weekly series of craft essays, some of the best and brightest minds in contemporary literature explore their craft in compact form, articulating their thoughts about creative obsessions and curiosities in a working notebook of lessons about the art of writing.

The Time Is Now offers weekly writing prompts in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. Sign up to get The Time Is Now, as well as a weekly book recommendation for guidance and inspiration, delivered to your inbox.

Every week a new author shares books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired and shaped the creative process.

Listen to original audio recordings of authors featured in Poets & Writers Magazine . Browse the archive of more than 400 author readings.

Ads in Poets & Writers Magazine and on pw.org are the best ways to reach a readership of serious poets and literary prose writers. Our audience trusts our editorial content and looks to it, and to relevant advertising, for information and guidance.

Start, renew, or give a subscription to Poets & Writers Magazine ; change your address; check your account; pay your bill; report a missed issue; contact us.

Peruse paid listings of writing contests, conferences, workshops, editing services, calls for submissions, and more.

Poets & Writers is pleased to provide free subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine to award-winning young writers and to high school creative writing teachers for use in their classrooms.

Read select articles from the award-winning magazine and consult the most comprehensive listing of literary grants and awards, deadlines, and prizewinners available in print.

• Subscribe Now

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Printable Version
• Log in to Send
• Log in to Save

PhD Program

Poetry: Cornelius Eady, Iliana Rocha Fiction: Margaret Lazarus Dean, Christopher Hebert, Michael Knight Nonfiction: Margaret Lazarus Dean

The program offers full funding. All students receive a tuition waiver, stipend, and health insurance for up to five years.

The program hosts the University of Tennessee Creative Writing Series. Students also hold key editorial positions on Grist .

Marcel Brouwers, Matt Brock, Katie Condon, Christian Gerard, Jesse Goolsby, Jesse Graves, Tawnysha Greene, Otis Hashemeyer, Laura Hoffer, Jessie Janeshek, Charlotte Pence, Adam Prince, Jeremy Michael Reed, Joshua Robbins, Michael Shou-Yung Shum, Brad Tice, M. O. Walsh.

University of Tennessee

Knoxville , TN

http://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Financial aid.

All of our PhD candidates and MFA students receive tuition waivers and teaching assistantships or fellowships. All are fully funded, and we provide generous financial support for travel to conferences. In the past few years, we’ve brought to campus editors, agents, and a host of writers––Richard Bausch, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jessmyn Ward, Kevin Wilson, Dorothy Allison, Charles Baxter, Terrance Hayes, to name a few––many of whom not only gave readings, but also directed workshops and worked one-on-one with students.

• Katie Condon PhD (Poetry)
• Samantha Edmonds MFA
• Juliana Gray MA (Poetry) 1997
• Adam Prince PhD (Fiction) 2012

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .