mfa creative writing indiana university

Creative Writing

Master of Fine Arts

Offered at IU Bloomington by College of Arts and Sciences .

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Indiana University Southeast Indiana University Southeast IU Southeast

Creative Writing

• All courses and prerequisites fulfilling the requirements for minors or certificates in English must be completed with a grade of C or higher.
• The overall GPA for any English minor or certificate must be 3.0.
• English majors may count no more than two online and/or correspondence courses toward the minor or certificate. Students may request departmental consent for exception.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge of Craft Terms and Concepts: The student will become knowledgeable in essential craft terms and concepts in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
• Competency in Creative Writing: The student will develop competency in creating original works in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
• Competency in Revision: The student will be able to meaningfully revise original creative writing and incorporate suggestions from peers and instructors.
• Competency in Critiquing Creative Writing: The student will learn to meaningfully critique drafts of other student writers applying craft terms and concepts, participate in workshops, and prepare workshop reports.
• Competency in Analyzing Creative Writing: The student will be able to analyze works by major authors of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction in analytic essays and scholarly articles.
• Appreciation of Literature and Literary Culture: The student will develop aesthetic values and appreciate literature and literary culture by reading important works and analyzing them, participating in university and community events featuring readings and lectures, participating in the university and community literary scene, and attending cross-cultural and cross-media events such as plays and gallery shows, to understand the interrelatedness of the arts.

University Residency Requirement

Students must complete 50% of the required credit hours for a certificate in residence at IU Southeast. Some departments may have additional Residency requirements.

Creative Writing Specific Residency Requirement

English majors may count no more than two online and/or correspondence courses toward the minor or certificate. Students may request departmental consent for exception.

Creative Writing Certificate Requirements

Fifteen (15) credit hours including:

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The 10 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in the US

The talent is there. 

But the next generation of great American writers needs a collegial place to hone their craft. 

They need a place to explore the writer’s role in a wider community. 

They really need guidance about how and when to publish. 

All these things can be found in a solid Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree program. This degree offers access to mentors, to colleagues, and to a future in the writing world. 

A good MFA program gives new writers a precious few years to focus completely on their work, an ideal space away from the noise and pressure of the fast-paced modern world. 

We’ve found ten of the best ones, all of which provide the support, the creative stimulation, and the tranquility necessary to foster a mature writer.

We looked at graduate departments from all regions, public and private, all sizes, searching for the ten most inspiring Creative Writing MFA programs. 

Each of these ten institutions has assembled stellar faculties, developed student-focused paths of study, and provide robust support for writers accepted into their degree programs. 

To be considered for inclusion in this list, these MFA programs all must be fully-funded degrees, as recognized by Read The Workshop .

Creative Writing education has broadened and expanded over recent years, and no single method or plan fits for all students. 

Today, MFA programs across the country give budding short story writers and poets a variety of options for study. For future novelists, screenwriters – even viral bloggers – the search for the perfect setting for their next phase of development starts with these outstanding institutions, all of which have developed thoughtful and particular approaches to study.

So where will the next Salinger scribble his stories on the steps of the student center, or the next Angelou reading her poems in the local bookstore’s student-run poetry night? At one of these ten programs.

Here are 10 of the best creative writing MFA programs in the US.

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)

Starting off the list is one of the oldest and most venerated Creative Writing programs in the country, the MFA at the University of Oregon. 

Longtime mentor, teacher, and award-winning poet Garrett Hongo directs the program, modeling its studio-based approach to one-on-one instruction in the English college system. 

Oregon’s MFA embraces its reputation for rigor. Besides attending workshops and tutorials, students take classes in more formal poetics and literature.  

A classic college town, Eugene provides an ideal backdrop for the writers’ community within Oregon’s MFA students and faculty.  

Tsunami Books , a local bookseller with national caché, hosts student-run readings featuring writers from the program. 

Graduates garner an impressive range of critical acclaim; Yale Younger Poet winner Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Cave Canem Prize winner and Guggenheim fellow Major Jackson, and PEN-Hemingway Award winner Chang-Rae Lee are noteworthy alumni. 

With its appealing setting and impressive reputation, Oregon’s MFA program attracts top writers as visiting faculty, including recent guests Elizabeth McCracken, David Mura, and Li-young Lee.

The individual approach defines the Oregon MFA experience; a key feature of the program’s first year is the customized reading list each MFA student creates with their faculty guide. 

Weekly meetings focus not only on the student’s writing, but also on the extended discovery of voice through directed reading. 

Accepting only ten new students a year—five in poetry and five in fiction— the University of Oregon’s MFA ensures a close-knit community with plenty of individual coaching and guidance.

Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

Cornell University’s MFA program takes the long view on life as a writer, incorporating practical editorial training and teaching experience into its two-year program.

Incoming MFA students choose their own faculty committee of at least two faculty members, providing consistent advice as they move through a mixture of workshop and literature classes. 

Students in the program’s first year benefit from editorial training as readers and editors for Epoch , the program’s prestigious literary journal.

Teaching experience grounds the Cornell program. MFA students design and teach writing-centered undergraduate seminars on a variety of topics, and they remain in Ithaca during the summer to teach in programs for undergraduates. 

Cornell even allows MFA graduates to stay on as lecturers at Cornell for a period of time while they are on the job search. Cornell also offers a joint MFA/Ph.D. program through the Creative Writing and English departments.

Endowments fund several acclaimed reading series, drawing internationally known authors to campus for workshops and work sessions with MFA students. 

Recent visiting readers include Salman Rushdie, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, and others. 

Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)

Arizona State’s MFA in Creative Writing spans three years, giving students ample time to practice their craft, develop a voice, and begin to find a place in the post-graduation literary world. 

Coursework balances writing and literature classes equally, with courses in craft and one-on-one mentoring alongside courses in literature, theory, or even electives in topics like fine press printing, bookmaking, or publishing. 

While students follow a path in either poetry or fiction, they are encouraged to take courses across the genres.

Teaching is also a focus in Arizona State’s MFA program, with funding coming from teaching assistantships in the school’s English department. Other exciting teaching opportunities include teaching abroad in locations around the world, funded through grants and internships.

The Virginia C. Piper Center for Creative Writing, affiliated with the program, offers Arizona State MFA students professional development in formal and informal ways. 

The Distinguished Writers Series and Desert Nights, Rising Stars Conference bring world-class writers to campus, allowing students to interact with some of the greatest in the profession. Acclaimed writer and poet Alberto Ríos directs the Piper Center.

Arizona State transitions students to the world after graduation through internships with publishers like Four Way Books. 

Its commitment to the student experience and its history of producing acclaimed writers—recent examples include Tayari Jones (Oprah’s Book Club, 2018; Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2019), Venita Blackburn ( Prairie Schooner Book Prize, 2018), and Hugh Martin ( Iowa Review Jeff Sharlet Award for Veterans)—make Arizona State University’s MFA a consistent leader among degree programs.

University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)

The University of Texas at Austin’s MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, maintains one of the most vibrant, exciting, active literary faculties of any MFA program.

Denis Johnson D.A. Powell, Geoff Dyer, Natasha Trethewey, Margot Livesey, Ben Fountain: the list of recent guest faculty boasts some of the biggest names in current literature.

This three-year program fully funds candidates without teaching fellowships or assistantships; the goal is for students to focus entirely on their writing. 

More genre tracks at the Michener Center mean students can choose two focus areas, a primary and secondary, from Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting, and Playwriting.

The Michener Center for Writers plays a prominent role in contemporary writing of all kinds. 

The hip, student-edited Bat City Review accepts work of all genres, visual art, cross genres, collaborative, and experimental pieces.  

Recent events for illustrious alumni include New Yorker publications, an Oprah Book Club selection, a screenwriting prize, and a 2021 Pulitzer (for visiting faculty member Mitchell Jackson). 

In this program, students are right in the middle of all the action of contemporary American literature.

Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

The MFA in Creative Writing at Washington University in St. Louis is a program on the move: applicants have almost doubled here in the last five years. 

Maybe this sudden growth of interest comes from recent rising star alumni on the literary scene, like Paul Tran, Miranda Popkey, and National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed.

Or maybe it’s the high profile Washington University’s MFA program commands, with its rotating faculty post through the Hurst Visiting Professor program and its active distinguished reader series. 

Superstar figures like Alison Bechdel and George Saunders have recently held visiting professorships, maintaining an energetic atmosphere program-wide.

Washington University’s MFA program sustains a reputation for the quality of the mentorship experience. 

With only five new students in each genre annually, MFA candidates form close cohorts among their peers and enjoy attentive support and mentorship from an engaged and vigorous faculty. 

Three genre tracks are available to students: fiction, poetry, and the increasingly relevant and popular creative nonfiction.

Another attractive feature of this program: first-year students are fully funded, but not expected to take on a teaching role until their second year. 

A generous stipend, coupled with St. Louis’s low cost of living, gives MFA candidates at Washington University the space to develop in a low-stress but stimulating creative environment.

Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)

It’s one of the first and biggest choices students face when choosing an MFA program: two-year or three-year? 

Indiana University makes a compelling case for its three-year program, in which the third year of support allows students an extended period of time to focus on the thesis, usually a novel or book-length collection.

One of the older programs on the list, Indiana’s MFA dates back to 1948. 

Its past instructors and alumni read like the index to an American Literature textbook. 

How many places can you take classes in the same place Robert Frost once taught, not to mention the program that granted its first creative writing Master’s degree to David Wagoner? Even today, the program’s integrity and reputation draw faculty like Ross Gay and Kevin Young.

Indiana’s Creative Writing program houses two more literary institutions, the Indiana Review, and the Indiana University Writers’ Conference. 

Students make up the editorial staff of this lauded literary magazine, in some cases for course credit or a stipend. An MFA candidate serves each year as assistant director of the much-celebrated and highly attended conference . 

These two facets of Indiana’s program give graduate students access to visiting writers, professional experience, and a taste of the writing life beyond academia.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)

The University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program cultivates its students with a combination of workshop-driven course work and vigorous programming on and off-campus. Inventive new voices in fiction and poetry consistently emerge from this two-year program.

The campus hosts multiple readings, events, and contests, anchored by the Zell Visiting Writers Series. The Hopgood Awards offer annual prize money to Michigan creative writing students . 

The department cultivates relationships with organizations and events around Detroit, so whether it’s introducing writers at Literati bookstore or organizing writing retreats in conjunction with local arts organizations, MFA candidates find opportunities to cultivate a community role and public persona as a writer.

What happens after graduation tells the big story of this program. Michigan produces heavy hitters in the literary world, like Celeste Ng, Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Kostova, Nate Marshall, Paisley Rekdal, and Laura Kasischke. 

Their alumni place their works with venerable houses like Penguin and Harper Collins, longtime literary favorites Graywolf and Copper Canyon, and the new vanguard like McSweeney’s, Fence, and Ugly Duckling Presse.

University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)

Structure combined with personal attention and mentorship characterizes the University of Minnesota’s Creative Writing MFA, starting with its unique program requirements. 

In addition to course work and a final thesis, Minnesota’s MFA candidates assemble a book list of personally significant works on literary craft, compose a long-form essay on their writing process, and defend their thesis works with reading in front of an audience.

Literary journal Great River Review and events like the First Book reading series and Mill City Reading series do their part to expand the student experience beyond the focus on the internal. 

The Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer Series draws exceptional, culturally relevant writers like Chuck Klosterman and Claudia Rankine for readings and student conversations. 

Writer and retired University of Minnesota instructor Charles Baxter established the program’s Hunger Relief benefit , aiding Minnesota’s Second Harvest Heartland organization. 

Emblematic of the program’s vision of the writer in service to humanity, this annual contest and reading bring together distinguished writers, students, faculty, and community members in favor of a greater goal.

Brown University (Providence, RI)

One of the top institutions on any list, Brown University features an elegantly-constructed Literary Arts Program, with students choosing one workshop and one elective per semester. 

The electives can be taken from any department at Brown; especially popular choices include Studio Art and other coursework through the affiliated Rhode Island School of Design. The final semester consists of thesis construction under the supervision of the candidate’s faculty advisor.

Brown is the only MFA program to feature, in addition to poetry and fiction tracks, the Digital/Cross Disciplinary track . 

This track attracts multidisciplinary writers who need the support offered by Brown’s collaboration among music, visual art, computer science, theater and performance studies, and other departments. 

The interaction with the Rhode Island School of Design also allows those artists interested in new forms of media to explore and develop their practice, inventing new forms of art and communication.

Brown’s Literary Arts Program focuses on creating an atmosphere where students can refine their artistic visions, supported by like-minded faculty who provide the time and materials necessary to innovate. 

Not only has the program produced trailblazing writers like Percival Everett and Otessa Moshfegh, but works composed by alumni incorporating dance, music, media, and theater have been performed around the world, from the stage at Kennedy Center to National Public Radio.

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

When most people hear “MFA in Creative Writing,” it’s the Iowa Writers’ Workshop they imagine. 

The informal name of the University of Iowa’s Program in Creative Writing, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop was the first to offer an MFA, back in 1936. 

One of the first diplomas went to renowned writer Wallace Stegner, who later founded the MFA program at Stanford.

 It’s hard to argue with seventeen Pulitzer Prize winners and six U.S. Poets Laureate. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is the root system of the MFA tree.

The two-year program balances writing courses with coursework in other graduate departments at the university. In addition to the book-length thesis, a written exam is part of the student’s last semester.

Because the program represents the quintessential idea of a writing program, it attracts its faculty positions, reading series, events, and workshops the brightest lights of the literary world. 

The program’s flagship literary magazine, the Iowa Review , is a lofty goal for writers at all stages of their career. 

At the Writers’ Workshop, tracks include not only fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction, but also Spanish creative writing and literary translation. Their reading series in association with Prairie Lights bookstore streams online and is heard around the world.

Iowa’s program came into being in answer to the central question posed to each one of these schools: can writing be taught? 

The answer for a group of intrepid, creative souls in 1936 was, actually, “maybe not.” 

But they believed it could be cultivated; each one of these institutions proves it can be, in many ways, for those willing to commit the time and imagination.

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Creative Writing major

The creative writing major at UIndy gives you the opportunity to develop and hone your creative writing skills. Whether you're interested in poetry or fiction, our dedicated faculty will help you push your writing endeavors to new heights. With a diverse background of writing skills, our faculty can show you how to make your poems memorable or your short story cohesive and entertaining. Multiple writing workshop courses will help you improve your writing, while literature courses will allow you to explore various genres. Students can also add a creative writing minor to any degree.

Program strengths

• Published authors meet and speak with students in their classes
• Valuable hands-on experience editing and publishing a literary and fine arts magazine, Etchings
• Course topics include advanced poetry and advanced fiction writing workshops, genre writing workshops, and publishing the literary and fine arts magazines
• Career-focused electives help students understand how to market their writing skills
• Faculty have published books in both fiction and poetry
• Opportunities to meet & listen to writers through the Kellogg Writer Series
• Faculty with books published in fiction and poetry

Potential careers in creative writing:

The creative writing program is designed to not only hone your creative writing skills, but also enhance your research, reading and composition skills, which are valuable in many fields, including:

• Professional writer: Many students choose to use their creative writing skills for companies by writing grants, web content or technical documents.
• Professional editor: Many marketing departments rely on editors to review work before it is published.
• Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing: Further develop and hone your creative writing skills by attending graduate school.
• Creative writer: With hard work and dedication, you could become a published author or poet.
• Literary arts administration: Work for community arts organizations that develop poetry in the schools and communities, literacy outreach and writer series programs.
• Advertising and marketing: Advertising, public relations, media and marketing departments depend on good copywriters.

Creative writing might be for you if:

• You enjoy planning, writing and developing your own creative fiction
• You enjoy writing poetry and want to learn how to improve your writing
• You are curious about how you can apply, market and utilize your creative writing talents in the real world
• You want to learn about the styles and techniques of poetry and/or fiction

Creative writing minor

Pairing a creative writing minor with another degree shows future employers that you have studied the art and craft of writing, which is an increasingly common asset in many career fields. Countless businesses require individuals who can effectively manage the flow of written communication, using proper points of view, grammar and structure and well-developed ideas. Completion of this minor requires a minimum of 21 hours of core requirements and electives.

Curriculum Guides

These curriculum guides outline the different classes you will need to take as a creative writing major. The general education guide provides a list of all the class options and requirements that you need in order to fulfill the university's general education requirements. The creative writing guide provides a list of all the classes you will need take in order to fulfill the major's requirements. Be sure you look at both guides in order to get a complete picture of what your classes will look like at UIndy.

• University of Indianapolis General Education curriculum guide
• Creative Writing Major curriculum guide
• Creative Writing Minor curriculum guide

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS The University of Indianapolis ("UIndy") admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at UIndy. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarships and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Additional non-discrimination policy information is available at uindy.edu/admissions/non-discrimination-policy .

Department of English College of Liberal Arts

Creative Writing

The MFA Program is being phased out, terminating in Spring 2024. Thus, we are not accepting new graduate students.

Our undergraduate Creative Writing majors and minors continue to thrive, as you can read about here .  Below is a testament of the high caliber of its faculty, graduate students, and curriculum.

Check out the successes of our alumni and current students here .

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Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

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Creative Writing

Creative Writing is the expression of one’s ideas, observations, and imagination through the genres of poetry and prose (including fiction and nonfiction). Students who pursue a B.A. with a concentration in Creative Writing or a minor in Creative Writing will work alongside award-winning faculty to learn the techniques of the craft, study published writers, create their own original work in a series of workshops, and craft courses designed to introduce students to the basics of each genre and allow for their individual growth as they advance in their practice.

Learn about our B.A. Creative Writing Concentration

Learn about our Creative Writing minor

Creative Writing faculty

The Creative Writing faculty is comprised of award-winning poets, playwrights, and fiction and nonfiction writers whose honors include fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations, the NEA Literature Fellowship in Fiction, the Kingsley Tufts Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the U.S. Artists Simon Fellowship, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The faculty works closely with undergraduates and M.F.A. students in both creative writing workshops and traditional literature courses.

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• B.A., Creative Writing Concentration
• B.A., Cultural Studies Concentration
• B.A., Public and Professional Writing Concentration
• Bachelor of Arts & Master of Arts
• Interdepartmental Major in AAADS & English
• Minor, English
• Minor, Creative Writing
• Minor, Communication and Public Advocacy
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Indiana University

Bloomington , IN

https://english.indiana.edu/graduate/master-of-fine-arts-degree/index.html

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length.

60 credits (3 years)

Financial Aid

Fellowships and TAships are available for qualified students.

Teaching opportunities

A typical three-year teaching assignment is as follows. During the first year, the A.I. normally teaches two sections of introductory creative writing: one section during the fall semester, and one during the spring. In the second year, the A.I. teaches a section of 100-level freshman composition during the fall semester, and either two sections of composition or a section of a composition and a 200-level creative writing workshop during the spring. In the third year, the A.I. normally teaches two or three creative writing courses. All third-year A.I.s are eligible to request an assignment to one of several 100-, 200-, or 300-level literature courses, or to serve as a consultant to first-year A.I.s teaching the fall semester sections of our introductory creative writing course. More than half of our third-year A.I.s are awarded reduced teaching loads. The M.F.A. program has also developed a 200-level course in publishing and editing, Literary Editing and Publishing, for our third-year creative writing A.I.s to teach.

Editorial opportunities

Editing positions are available to students with the department’s journal, Indiana Review . These include Editor, Associate Editor, and genre editor positions. The journal also offers students the opportunity to read submissions for decisions on publication.

Cross-genre study

• Carolyn Alessio MFA (Poetry) 1993
• Chad B. Anderson MFA (Fiction) 2009
• Kathleen Balma MFA (Poetry) 2007
• Bradley Bazzle MFA (Fiction) 2010
• Rebecca Black MFA (Poetry) 2002
• Richard Cecil MFA (Poetry) 1985
• Su Cho MFA (Poetry) 2017
• Christopher Citro MFA (Poetry) 2013
• Tenaya Darlington MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Elizabeth Dodd MFA (Poetry) 1986
• Sascha Feinstein MFA (Poetry) 1991
• Megan Giddings MFA (Fiction) 2018
• Jennifer Grotz MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Janet Kim Ha MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Christie Hodgen MFA (Fiction) 1999
• Ming Holden MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Elizabeth Hoover MFA (Poetry) 2010
• Dana Johnson MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Allison Joseph MFA (Poetry) 1992
• Jacqueline Jones LaMon MFA (Poetry) 2006
• Shayla Lawson MFA (Poetry) 2015
• Kiese Laymon MFA (Fiction) 2003
• Cate Lycurgus MFA (Poetry) 2013
• Amos Magliocco MFA (Fiction) 2005
• Khaled Mattawa MFA (Poetry) 1994
• Clint McCown MFA (Fiction) 1984
• Erin McGraw MFA (Fiction) 1986
• Philip Metres MFA (Poetry) 2001
• Angela Pneuman MFA (Fiction) 1997
• Alison Powell MFA (Poetry) 2005
• Keith Ratzlaff MFA (Poetry) 1984
• Lee Ann Roripaugh MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Christine Sneed MFA (Poetry) 1998
• Brian Teare MFA (Poetry) 2000
• Judy Troy MA (Fiction) 1981
• LaWanda Walters MFA (Poetry) 1989
• Alexander Weinstein MFA (Fiction) 2010
• Marcus Wicker MFA (Poetry) 2010

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 .

University of Notre Dame

Department of English

College of Arts and Letters

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MFA in Creative Writing

Why get an mfa at notre dame.

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The Notre Dame MFA in Creative Writing program combines generous, attentive focus on student work with active, engaged pedagogy. We believe that an MFA is more than a credential or two years paid writing time, but rather an active, cooperative process of growth and exploration that relies as much on peer-to-peer relationships and mentoring as it does on individual initiative.

Our vision of the MFA is a holistic one, in which community, craft, experimentation, dialogue, study, reflection, and teaching all contribute to self-directed learning.

Since the program was founded in 1992, we have emphasized recruiting a diverse, international body of students. We welcome and encourage diversity in terms of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, economic background, nationality, immigration status, ability, and disability, as well as in aesthetic approaches, genre, and vision.

Our faculty represent a rich array of ethnic, economic, linguistic, and national backgrounds. They have distinguished themselves in a variety of genres and media, and teach from their expertise in both traditional and innovative practices. 

As an admitted MFA student you will receive a full tuition waiver, a fellowship providing a full stipend, and a health insurance subsidy, as well as teaching, editorial, and publication experience . 

The Creative Writing Program encourages applications from undocumented, international, and non-traditional students. Our application deadline is January 15.

 “It's difficult to overstate the impact that the Notre Dame creative writing program had on my life. I entered the program at age 22, terrified, hoping I could somehow hold my own in workshop. I left with a stack of papers that got me an agent that got me a book deal that became a movie and more books, because Notre Dame gave me the time and community and just enough confidence to chase what I'd been otherwise convinced was an unreasonable life. My mentors at Notre Dame showed me what I did well, but more importantly, they taught me my shortcomings, and that awareness has guided just about every sentence I've written since.” —Tom Coyne ('99)

Have questions about the MFA in Creative Writing? Contact:

Roy Scranton Director of Creative Writing Associate Professor of English Email: [email protected]

Paul Cunningham Creative Writing Program Manager Email: [email protected]

How to Become a Writer in Indiana with a BFA, MFA or Similar Creative Writing Degree

Created by CreativeWritingEDU.org Contributor

When asked where he found inspiration for his work, a great writer born and raised in Indianapolis replied:

“… I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization.”

A sardonic sarcastic prevailing-narrative-challenging wit bordering on the vulgar, anyone from the Hoosier State will easily recognize the person behind that quote as the chain-smoking Kurt Vonnegut.

Maybe it’s because Indianapolis gets more rain than London. Maybe it’s because Indiana is a place where legislatures felt compelled to pass a law that makes it illegal for employers to implant microchips into their employees. Maybe it’s that it’s home to the nation’s first successful goldfish farm.

Stir the state’s eccentric facts together and it’s one explanation for how a mind like Vonnegut’s might emerge to write greats like Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions . Or maybe it’s more nature than nurture with Vonnegut.

Quaker writer Mary Jessamyn West was born in Jennings County, and her style of writing is completely different from Vonnegut’s. Her best-known book The Friendly Persuasion , set in a Quaker family farm, was published at the end of World War II and made into a movie of the same name staring Gary Cooper.

Fast forward to the present and Indianapolis-born resident-author John Green is altogether different from West and Vonnegut, debuting his talents on today’s most popular digital media platforms. His novels have made the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list – all five of them – with 24 million copies being published in over 55 languages.

It’s not that there’s a magic recipe for how to become an established professional writer in Indiana, it’s that it’s possible, and degree in creative writing can make the difference – whether it’s a BA or MA in English or an esteemed BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or MFA (Master of Fine Arts) with a focus in creative writing.

Indiana’s Golden Age of Literature

If you answered, Indiana , then you’re correct; specifically, Indiana during its golden age of literature roughly between 1880 and 1920, a signature time in American neo-romanticism.

It could be said that Lew Wallace kick-started Indiana’s golden age with his all-time best seller Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ , published towards the end of 1880. It was an epic filled with action, adventure, spiritual references, and romanticism. By the 1890s Indiana-native James Whitcomb Riley was the most popular poet in the nation. Booth Tarkington, another Hoosier, published some of his best novels in 1899, 1918, and 1921. The later two each won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, placing Tarkington in the same league as Faulkner, Updike, and Whitehead.

A number of theories have been considered to explain why Indiana of all states experienced such a literary renaissance. For one, its state history leading up to its golden age was heavily influenced by the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant movement that swept through the Midwest and established a strong writing, oratory, and publishing framework.

In the wake of the recent Civil War Indiana was also seen as being a last bastion of rustic wholesome Americana; a place that had not been as relatively radicalized by war as other states in the nation. This was a view held by many Americans as they read Indiana authors, which perhaps made space for one last nostalgic indulgence into romantic literature.

Whatever stars had aligned, Indiana’s romantic golden age quickly faded after the end of the First World War as simple American romanticism was replaced by a zeitgeist of technological innovation, exemplified by the thousands of cars that were being churned out of post-war factories.

It’s been just over a hundred years since the last literary golden age in Indiana. It’s high time for the next. Maybe you’ll be a part of it?

Indiana’s Creative Writing Classes, Courses and Workshops Can Prepare You for a Creative Writing Degree

There are many things standing between a green-behind-the-ears writer attending a workshop and the published author who’s up on the stage. The most significant of those, and the one that you have the most control over, is practice.

Fortunately, in Indiana there are many opportunities to hone your writing skills, you just need to take advantage of them.

The Indianapolis Writers Meetup convenes every week and serves as a venue where professionally-aspiring writers can share critiques of their work.

The Indiana Writers Center sponsors classes, workshops, and its own publications. Inwords features original anthologies and titles by members, while Flying Island is the center’s online literary journal that accepts submissions from authors with ties to the Midwest. It’s based in Indianapolis.

The Fort Wayne Writers Guild’s mission is to support local creative writing artists through groups, meetings, and community-based activities that advance the literary arts. It hosts a range of events throughout the greater Fort Wayne region.

If you live near Evansville then check out the Midwest Writers Guild. It does book events, publishes its own literary journal, and participates in the Franklin Street Bazaar every year. Monthly meetings for writers are held at a local bookstore.

It’s only natural that once you start cranking out material that’s good, you’re going to need a publisher. Indiana has plenty of those too.

Tanglewood Publishing in Indianapolis prides itself on discovering authors with a spark; those who will be critically acclaimed tomorrow but who have been passed over by undiscerning publishers today. With a nod towards its niche that values creativity in children’s writing, it describes itself as a publisher of good books for bad children.

Ave Maria Press is a major Catholic book publisher based in Indianapolis. It was founded by the same French priest who established the University of Notre Dame and St. Joseph’s Parish in South Bend.

Nearing its 20 th anniversary, Indianapolis-based Blue River Press, with Cardinal Publishers Group as its distributor, publishes authors who write on subjects from sports and YA to travel and pop culture.

If you live in Indiana, you can spend a lifetime staying busy with all of the writing opportunities that abound. However, it’s one thing to stay busy. It’s another to write professionally.

Writing Colleges in Indiana Offering Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing Provide a Path to Becoming a Writer

Writing groups, open-mic poetry readings, and local journals that publish your work are all a lot of fun. But there’s a difference between having fun as a creative writer and making a career out of it. That’s where a degree in creative writing, including BFA and MFA options, come into the picture.

When you were a kid maybe you shot hoops with the neighbor down the street. You might’ve thought you were pretty good…until you played the kid who was in a professional league.

It’s the same with creative writing: there are writing groups that meet at the local coffee shop, and then there are college-level writing classes that are taught by successful professional writers and publishers with decades of experience.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Other Bachelor’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Indiana

Butler university.

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Accreditation: HLC

Degree: Bachelor – BA

Private School

• English-Creative Writing track

Franklin College

• Creative Writing

Purdue University-Main Campus

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

Public School

Saint Mary’s College

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

University of Evansville

WILLIAM L. RIDGWAY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Degree: Bachelor – BFA

University of Indianapolis

SHAHEEN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

University of Notre Dame

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

• English-Creative Writing concentration

Valparaiso University

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Other Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Indiana

Degree: Master – MFA

Indiana University-Bloomington

Butler University

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MFA in Creative Writing

A premier program, designed for you.

Our MFA curriculum is customized to fit your artistic and professional interests in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

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A home for writing in the Midwest.

Butler University’s 36-hour MFA in Creative Writing program is supported by a lively Indianapolis literary community. You’ll have opportunities to edit content for our literary magazine , have coffee or a meal with guests of the Visiting Writers Series , and work with top-flight, full-time faculty. The Efroymson Center for Creative Writing, one of the few such dedicated writing centers at any university, provides a cozy home for classes, quiet writing space, or after-hours socializing. Many graduates say they never want to leave the program, noting our emphasis on community over competition.

In addition to building a foundation through graduate workshops in your home genre, you’ll have the opportunity to choose from in-depth elective courses, such as screenwriting, young adult fiction, literary editing, publishing, and teaching creative writing. As a full-time student, you can finish program requirements—10 courses and six hours of formal thesis work—in just two years.

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MFA in Creative Writing FAQs

Butler’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing enhances creative and professional proficiency in the literary arts. Through various fiction and nonfiction writing workshops and enriching lectures by prominent writers and faculty, students are mentored through the diversely creative 36-credit hour program. Butler’s MFA in Creative Writing teaches techniques in all genres and spaces of writing, such as poetry, electives in screenwriting, teaching creative writing, alternative forms, graphic novel, young adult fiction, poetic craft, and literary editing and publishing.

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Our Mission

The Butler MFA Program in Creative Writing is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive learning environment that gives each student the tools with which to build a life as a writer and as a citizen of the literary world. In welcoming writers of diverse backgrounds and experiences, and in emphasizing the value both of intense apprenticeship to the craft of writing and service to the community, we aim to be a program that is reflective of, and responsive to, the larger world of which it is a part.

Experienced Faculty

All our faculty are actively publishing writers with strong regional and national reputations in their fields. We have six full-time tenured faculty in creative writing, who have published more than 20 books and countless shorter works in literary and popular journals.

A Focus on Service

All MFA candidates participate in community service projects. Some mentor high school storytellers through Writing in the Schools, or coach students in grades 3–12 during our summer camps and Bridge Program. Through our Creative Writing for Wellness Initiative, students can also teach in hospitals, senior citizen centers, alternative high schools, and prisons.

Student Success

Our students and alumni are a widely diverse group—in age, genre interests, and professional backgrounds. But they all love writing and enjoy supporting one another, and we don’t mind bragging about them.

Visiting Writers Series

The Butler Department of English regularly hosts public readings and Q&A sessions with some of the most influential people in contemporary literature.

Since opening its doors in December 2011, The Efroymson Center for Creative Writing has hosted MFA courses, poetry luncheons, public readings, and literary discussions. It also provides workspace for visiting writers, students, faculty, and alumni. Formerly an elegant private residence, the building was purchased and remodeled with a $1 million donation from the Efroymson Family Fund.

Efroymson Center for Creative Writing 530 West Hampton Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46208

317-940-8733

Chris Forhan

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Ball State University

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Master of Arts in English

Whether your long-term plans involve the pursuit of an MFA, a PhD, or a career in professional writing or editing, Ball State’s master of arts in creative writing is designed to prepare you for the next step in your writing life. You’ll study with a faculty of accomplished, published authors who’ll help you become a better writer, find a path to publish your work, locate teaching and other job opportunities, and hone your application materials for a terminal degree.

The only one of its kind in Indiana, our MA in creative writing is tailored for two essential purposes:

• Give students considering a master of fine arts or doctorate of philosophy in creative writing a chance to gain teaching experience and hone the critical thinking abilities, writing skills, and writing samples they’ll need to make themselves competitive when applying to MFA and PhD programs.
• Give nontraditional students and those not interested pursing an MFA or PhD the opportunity to develop their writing, critical and creative thinking, and close reading skills in ways they can apply to their current or aspirational careers or their personal goals as writers.

What You Will Learn

• Creative thinking
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• How to research
• How to write in a variety of genres
• The importance of close observation and deep curiosity
• How to teach creative writing effectively
• How to engage in literary editing and publishing as a professional

Learn more about what our graduate-program alumni do.

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We’re asked this question all the time. Our answer: A lot. You will learn skills that transfer across hundreds of possible careers and industries—some of which may not even exist yet. Our graduates go on to work in marketing, publishing, non-profit fundraising, speechwriting, as well as in countless other fulfilling occupations.

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Program Benefits

This program fills a niche in Indiana as the only MA of its kind in the state. It helps students find their next step in graduate school, their careers, and beyond.

The program encourages cross-genre study in:

• creative nonfiction
• screenwriting

As part of our graduate program in creative writing, you will study with highly experienced, well-published, nationally recognized faculty with diverse areas of expertise and a deep commitment to teaching.

Their areas of expertise and interest include:

• creative writing pedagogy
• flash fiction
• memoir and essays
• short and feature-length screenwriting
• film poetry
• hybrid forms
• mixed media and digital media
• literary editing and publishing

Read our faculty bios:

• Prof. Jill Christman
• Prof. Rani Crowe
• Prof. Cathy Day
• Dr. Katy Didden
• Prof. Silas Hansen
• Prof. Sean Lovelace
• Dr. Matt Mullins
• Prof. Mark Neely
• Dr. Sarah Domet

Our department’s teaching assistantships will help you fund your tuition and living expenses while giving you professional experience.

In this program, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in our annual Practical Criticism Midwest conference. You’ll also hear from visiting writers, including those participating in the English Department’s Visiting Writers Series and its annual In Print Festival of First Books .

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Major Requirements

Our MA in creative writing includes courses, workshops, literature classes, electives, and a capstone creative project to round out your degree.

Total Credits

Our hallmark courses include:

• Reading and Writing Across the Genres
• Literary Editing
• Reading as Writers
• Special Topics
• Workshops in all four genres (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting)

For a complete list of all the courses you will take and their descriptions, consult our Graduate Catalog.

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Paying for Your Education

Tuition and Fees

Funding Graduate Study

Ready to apply.

Review our admission requirements, dates and deadlines, and instructions. Then complete our online application.

Applications for the fall semester will be accepted until July 10; applications for the spring semester will be accepted until November 1. To ensure full consideration for academic-year graduate assistantships, applications must be complete by January 31.

More Information

If you would like to learn more about this program or about Ball State Graduate School in general, please complete our online form to request more information. Or if you’d like to speak with someone in our department directly by phone or email, please contact us.

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Fine Arts (MFA)

MFA students in the Fine Arts explore the fundamentals of artistic expression and enhance their creative skills and vision by mastering a specific art medium – ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, or sculpture-wood/studio furniture.

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Program availability.

The Master of Fine Arts in Fine Art at Indiana State University is a traditional, on-campus program offered on the Indiana State University campus in Terre Haute, Indiana. The program is open to U.S. and international applicants who satisfy admission requirements.

Why Earn a Master of Fine Art at Indiana State?

The MFA program allows you to enhance your skills in select art media, including ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and sculpture-wood/studio furniture. The program requires a minimum of 60 credits of studio art classes. Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA throughout the program of study.

Fine Arts MFA students at Indiana State also study art history, art theory and criticism, and the fundamentals of their chosen medium, to prepare for broader art and design career opportunities.

Learn from Our Talented Faculty

Indiana State’s instructors actively create and exhibit artwork in their chosen media. They guide your experiences on trips to museums, galleries, and studios, and they provide instruction and insight for other hands-on learning activities.

Our small class sizes allow for individualized instruction and mentorship from faculty. And, as part of Indiana State’s commitment to experiential learning, you will work and create alongside your instructors throughout the MFA program.

Create Art in Our Art Studios

As an MFA student, you will complete studio art classes in our 70,000-square-foot Fine Arts Building. The fully equipped facility houses graphic design and computer art studios, classrooms, a Media Realization Center, and an art education facility. You will also take art classes in our designated studios for ceramics, drawing, painting, papermaking, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

What You’ll Learn in the Fine Art MFA Program

The MFA expands the artist’s skills in a variety of media. The program includes 60 total credits of coursework for you to refine your skills in a chosen medium. You will learn art history, art theory and criticism, and museology, and you will take studio courses.

Additionally, you will complete a research course that explores the nature and process of creative artistic inquiry; it will include library research tools and extensive independent research on a selected topic leading to a final creative project.

The MFA offers eight concentration options:

• Graphic design
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Sculpture-wood/Studio furniture

You will also complete an exhibition of artwork and creative research at the conclusion of your MFA program. MFA students are responsible for designing the installation and hanging their artwork in a gallery exhibition. The exhibited work must represent an extensive, cohesive body of creative research and include original works created while enrolled in the MFA program.

Fine Art M.F.A.

Financial Assistance and Scholarships

Most students accepted into the MFA program receive some form of financial assistance, which is renewable each year. Students may also apply for graduate assistantships and fellowships. Scholarship awards that waive tuition and fees, exclusive of building and student service fees, are also available.

Career Possibilities for Fine Art MFA Graduates

Many Indiana State MFA graduates are employed by museums, galleries, art administration firms, antique dealerships, corporate collections, and private studios. Additionally, the Fine Art MFA program is an excellent choice for those wishing to pursue further graduate work in art history, museum studies, or art administration.

Meet Kira Enriquez Loya, Chair of the Department of Art and Design

Accreditation.

Indiana State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission .

Admissions Requirements and Instructions

Enrollment is accepted for Fall and Spring semesters. All application materials must be submitted by March 1 to be considered for fall admission and by October 15 for spring admission. Applicants to the Fine Art MFA program are selected for admission on the basis of undergraduate grades, references, significant accomplishments, and a portfolio of 15 images of artwork made by the applicant.

Admission Requirements and Information  

Degree requirement.

Applicants must possess a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field from a regionally accredited institution (for international students, a degree granted by a recognized institution). 

The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is not required for admission to this program.

Statement/CV  

Application should include a 500-word written statement outlining the intended program of study (e.g. painting, ceramics), the intended degree (MFA) to be pursued, experience working in the intended discipline or medium, and goals for graduate study at Indiana State.

Digital Images

Application should include quality digital images in a single Portable Document Format (.pdf) or PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) file, containing 15 different artworks made by the applicant. With each image, applicants must submit caption information: title, year(s) of making, materials, and dimensions (H x W x D in inches).

Employment Verification/Letters of Recommendation

Application should include three formal letters of recommendation. Important: Have the names and email addresses of your references available at the time that you are completing your admission application as you will need to enter them in the online application. Explain to your references that they will receive an email from Indiana State University requesting that they submit a letter of recommendation. Please ensure that your references expect to receive this request. It will be sent to your references immediately upon completing the application.

International Applicants

International applicants must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or provide equivalent evidence of language proficiency.

Application Instructions

The following are application instructions for the Master of Fine Arts in Fine Art degree program at Indiana State University.

How to Apply

Apply online  .

Complete your online application for program admission at apply.indstate.edu/apply/ .

Transcripts  

Submit official transcripts from all colleges previously attended. To be official, transcripts must be sent directly from the college attended to: Graduate Admissions, Indiana State University, Welcome Center, 318 North Sixth Street, Terre Haute, IN, 47809. E-transcripts should be sent to [email protected].  

Application Fee  

Submit a nonrefundable application fee of $45.00 (U.S. citizens and permanent residents) or $65.00 (international students) payable by Visa, MasterCard, or check or money order payable to Indiana State University. Submit payment to: Indiana State University, Graduate Admissions, Welcome Center, 318 North Sixth Street, Terre Haute, IN, 47809. 

Supporting Documentation  

Submit the following as part of the online application process .

• Three letters of recommendation with the names and email addresses of the three individuals
• A 500-word statement of intent as a .doc, .rtf, or .pdf file, outlining the intended program of study (e.g. painting, ceramics), the intended degree (MFA) to be pursued, experience working in the intended discipline or medium, and the goals for graduate study in the Fine Art MFA program.
• A portfolio of quality digital images in either a Portable Document Format (.pdf) or a PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) file, containing 15 different artworks made by the applicant. With each image, applicants must submit caption information: title, year(s) of making, materials, and dimensions (H x W x D in inches).

International applicants must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or provide equivalent evidence of language proficiency. Submit scores to: Indiana State University, Graduate Admissions, Welcome Center, 318 North Sixth Street, Terre Haute, IN, 47809. For important information, see Instructions for International Students .

Applications for Fall admission are accepted through March 1; applications for Spring admission are accepted through October 15. All materials must be received by the deadlines. Applications and application materials received after the deadlines will not be considered for admission.

Once admitted, students receive notification from the University as well as their University ID number needed to activate their University Username on the MyISU Portal [https://isuportal.indstate.edu/]. The Portal offers access to online registration, University records, and other important University services, including email and University announcements.

Note: Returning ISU students must apply for re-admission if they have not attended Indiana State University for more than two calendar years.

Art Studio (MA)

Master's

English (MA)

History (ma).

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• The Writer's Desk
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Writers Speak Wednesday

In Person: Stony Brook Manhattan Campus - 535 Eighth Avenue, Fifth Floor (unless otherwise noted).

In Person: Stony Brook Southampton Campus - 39 Tuckahoe Rd, Southampton.

Streaming: https: www.youtube.com/mfawriting

Spring 2024 - Manhattan

Join our writers speak manhattan mailing list., february 14 - chloe cooper jones - 6pm.

Chloé Cooper Jones is a contributing writer at  The New York Times Magazine . In 2020, Chloé was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing for “Fearing for His Life,” a profile of Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed the killing of Eric Garner. She was the recipient of the 2020 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and the 2021 Howard Foundation Grant from Brown University. Both grants are in support of her book  Easy Beauty , a memoir which finds the author—after unexpectedly becoming a mother—embarking on a journey across the globe to reclaim the spaces, both physical and emotional, that she’d been denied and denied herself. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.  

March 6th - Iain Haley PollocK - 6PM   

Iain Haley Pollock is the author of  Ghost, Like a Place  (Alice James Books, 2018), which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and  Spit Back a Boy  (2011), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.   His poems have appeared in many literary outlets, including  African American Review , American Academy of Poets Poem-a-Day,  American Poetry Review ,  The New York Times Magazine , PoetrySociety.org and  The Progressive . Outside of publishing poems, Pollock performs his work widely, from the Dodge Poetry Festival to libraries and art centers; he curated the Rye Poetry Path, a public poetry installation in Rye, NY; and he serves on the editorial board at Slapering Hol Press and on the board of Tiger Bark Press. Pollock currently directs the MFA Program at Manhattanville College, where he edits the literary journal  Inkwell .

April 3rd - Catherine Lacey - 6PM

Catherine Lacey is the author of five books: Biography of X , Pew , The Answers , Nobody Is Ever Missing , and a short story collection, Certain American States . Her honors include the Brooklyn Book Prize,   a   Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and the   Young Lions Fiction Award from the New York Public Library. Based in Mexico, she is a fellow at the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library for 2023-24 . Her   debut work of nonfiction, The Möbius Book , is forthcoming from FSG, as well as a second short story collection, My Stalkers .

April 17th - John McWhorter - 6PM  

John H. McWhorter teaches linguistics, American Studies, and music history at Columbia University. He is a contributing editor at the  Atlantic  and host of Slate’s Lexicon Valley podcast. McWhorter is the author of twenty books, including  The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America , and  Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English.

April 24th - MFA Student Reading - 6PM

Join us for our end of year reading highlighting current MFA students.

Spring 2024 - Southampton  

Join our writers speak southampton mailing list ., february 21st - vanessa cuti - 6:40pm.

Vanessa Cuti's fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2021 , The Kenyon Review, AGNI, West Branch, Indiana Review, and others. She received her MFA from Stony Brook University and lives in the suburbs of New York. The Tip Line (Crooked Lane, 2023) is her debut novel.

March 20th - Anthony DiPietro - 6:40PM

Anthony DiPietro is a gay sex poet and arts administrator originally from Providence, Rhode Island. He has lived throughout New England and in California, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee. A graduate of Brown University with honors in creative writing, he also earned a creative writing MFA at Stony Brook University. Now deputy director of Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, he resides in Worcester, MA. He composed his 2021 chapbook And Walk Through (Seven Kitchens Press) on a typewriter during the pandemic lockdowns. kiss & release is his debut collection. His writing and readings are featured on his website, www.AnthonyWriter.com.

April 10th - SCOTT CHASKEY - 6:40PM

Scott Chaskey is the author of  Soil and Spirit . He is also the author of a memoir,  This Common Ground: Seasons on an Organic Farm , and a book of nonfiction,  Seedtime: On the History, Husbandry, Politics, and Promise of Seeds . His poetry, first printed in literary journals in the early seventies, has been widely published over four decades. A pioneer of the Community Supported Agriculture ( CSA ) movement, for thirty years he cultivated more than sixty crops for the Peconic Land Trust at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, New York, one of the original  CSA s in the country. He is past president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, and was honored as Farmer of the Year in 2013. He was a founding board member for both the Center for Whole Communities, in Vermont, and Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, in Shelter Island, New York. He taught as a poet-in-the-schools for over two decades, and as an instructor for Antioch International and Friends World College in Southampton. Chaskey lives and works on the east end of Long Island, New York.

May 1st - MFA Student Reading - 6:40PM

Samantha hunt - september 20th - 6 pm, peter markus - october 11th - 6 pm, alan shapiro - november 1st - 6 pm, claudia acevedo quinones - november 15th - 6 pm, student & faculty reading (manhattan) - november 29th - 7 pm, student & faculty reading (southampton) - december 6th - 7 pm, open houses.

With outstanding faculty on two campuses (New York City and Southampton, NY), you'll find the right place to earn your MFA.

With full or part-time student options, you've got time to write.

With New York State tuition plus Graduate Assistant and Teaching Assistant opportunities, you don't need an MBA to pay for your MFA.

Missed or Can't Make the Open House? Sign up for our mailing list.

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University Libraries

Unt special collections 2024 research fellowship awardee - heather myers.

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee

Heather Myers

Project Title

Portraiture and Paper Dolls: A Look at Women’s Lives

Project Description

Heather’s project is an examination of lineage and gender that will focus on material and artifacts like paper dolls. It will be a hybrid essay primarily crafted through collage, or an essay constructed in fragments, that examines the women in Heather’s lineage; she also plans to incorporate visual elements inspired by the artist Patricia Fertel. Through the Patricia Fertel Collection, she will examine femininity, girlhood, and womanhood, along with culture and the preoccupations that shaped women’s lives.

Heather Myers is from Altoona, PA. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from West Virginia University. She is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of North Texas. She was a 2018 AWP Intros Award Winner. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Door=Jar , Keystone: Poets on Pennsylvania , The Journal , Palette Poetry , Puerto Del Sol and elsewhere.

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Sparks Post-MFA Reading ft. Lance Carroll

Time: Wed May 1, 2024, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location: 232 Decio English Commons (View on map )

The Creative Writing Series invites you to come and listen to a reading from 2023 Sparks Prize winner: Lance Carroll

The Sparks Prize is annually awarded to a distinguished graduate of the Creative Writing Program as a post-graduation year of residency and writing time, funded by Nicholas Sparks and judged by an external writer. Based on the quality of writing and the likelihood that the submission will be published or will be developed into a publishable book.

2023 Sparks Prize Judge Tess Gunty selected Carroll's KAIROS as the winning entry. Gunty writes:

"With breathtaking prose, refined pacing, and an undeniable raison d’être, KAIROS sings. Here is a voice determined to excavate interpersonal and institutional hypocrisies with precision and tenderness, generosity and courage. There is no doubt that the author of this work has embarked on an auspicious literary career."

Lance Carroll is a writer who, while born in southern Missouri, has migrated throughout the entirety of the Midwest. He graduated from Shimer College—"the worst school in the country"—where he earned a degree in liberal arts after a year of study in Oxford. At Notre Dame, he has served as the co-editor of fiction for Notre Dame Review and taught classes on nonfiction and speculative fiction. He is working on a hybrid memoir about sexuality and religious experience.

Originally published at english.nd.edu .