university of virginia mfa creative writing faculty

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The Graduate Program

At a time of rapid transition in the field of literary and cultural studies, we are intent upon sustaining our offerings in traditional historical periods, elaborating those in diverse world literatures, and engaging fully with the spectrum of current theoretical concerns. The University of Virginia is also widely recognized as a leader in digital humanities, an area for which much of the initiative comes from faculty and graduate students in the English department. We take pride in offering graduate study superintended by an internationally renowned faculty.

The Master of Arts  Program provides advanced training in literary studies, preparing students for either admission to Ph.D. programs or careers in a variety of fields that require intellectual ingenuity, skills in writing or research, or training in literary criticism and theory. Those who wish to pursue doctoral degrees regularly gain admission to other fine programs. Those seeking careers immediately following the MA have found jobs in secondary teaching, technology, the public sector, business, publishing, and higher education. The MA degree may be completed in three full semesters, though students opting to write an MA thesis often take a fourth semester. 

Students may also opt to complete an MA on a part-time basis, so long as they complete the degree within five years. Some students take a full load in their first semester and then finish the degree as a part-time student, but other schedules are possible.  Some sample MA timelines may be found here .

Note: The funding of an MA degree can be challenging, as few sources of scholarship support are currently available, either at UVA or nationally. This is a matter of much current concern and discussion in graduate education circles.  (See the description, below, of our MA Teaching concentration, a partly funded degree.) Funding issues may impinge on a student’s decision to study full or part time, in that many students take loans that require them to maintain full-time status. All students with loans should contact their lenders directly to understand any implications part-time status might have for them.  Moreover, part-time UVA students are currently not eligible to receive student wages, so may not hold student jobs at the university (though this policy is under review and may change). UVA Student Financial Services can help students understand if part-time status is the right financial choice for them.

In addition to our regular MA, we offer an  MA in English with a Concentration in Teaching Literature and Writing . This two-year program provides specialized training in teaching, and, in the second year, teaching opportunities and financial support (tuition, fees, one-person health insurance coverage, and a salary per course). In cooperation with the Law School, we offer an interdisciplinary  MA in Law and Literature . Our  BA/MA program  enables selected UVa undergraduates to take graduate courses in their fourth year and go on to complete the MA degree the following year. Interested MA students may choose to earn a graduate certificate in American Studies , Africana Studies , Gender Studies , Environmental Humanities , or  Digital Humanities .  The MA in English is a terminal degree; UVa MA students who apply to the PhD program compete with other transfer applicants. 

The PhD program , with its coursework, exams, guided dissertation research, and training in teaching, places graduates in college and university research and teaching positions, in secondary education, and in academic administration, as well as in positions in publishing, consulting, the public sector, private foundations, and journalism—everywhere that research skills, rigorous analysis, and good writing are valued. In addition to their specialized research, interested PhD students may choose to earn a graduate certificate in Premodern Cultures and Communities , American Studies ,  Gender and Sexuality Studies , Africana Studies , Environmental Humanities , or  Digital Humanities . Financial support, including health insurance and tuition remission, is awarded to all PhD students from the first through the sixth year of study. As part of their package, PhD students teach one course per semester in years two through four and in year six of the program.  The fifth year of study is a fully funded year dedicated entirely to writing the dissertation without teaching obligations. Beyond the sixth year, students in good standing may receive tuition remission, fees, and a salary in consideration for teaching. Government loans and work-study funding are also available. Students typically complete the doctoral degree in six to seven years. 

The English Department makes every effort to place its students and has a good record of doing so. Recent recipients of the PhD have found teaching positions at such institutions as Williams College, Illinois, Ohio Wesleyan, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Bowdoin, Clemson, Iowa, McGill, Nevada, MIT, Dartmouth, Bowling Green, New Mexico State, Penn, North Carolina, Rutgers, Fordham, Tufts, Arizona, Wake Forest, and Berkeley. Find more information about placement and careers in and outside of academia here .

 The University library system is a resource of many dimensions. The  Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library holds a number of remarkable collections of American and British literature. Most noteworthy is the Barrett Library, one of the finest research collections in the world for American literature, including rare books and manuscripts of Cabell, Cather, Crane, Cummings, Eliot, Frost, Harte, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Holmes, Howells, James, Twain, Wharton, and Whitman. Manuscripts in the collection include  The Red Badge of Courage , the 1860  Leaves of Grass , and  The Sun Also Rises . Other collections of note include the William Faulkner Collection, the unique Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels, the Wagelin Collection of American Poetry, the Taylor Collection of American Fiction, and the Tunstall Collection of Poetry.  Alderman Library, the largest circulating library on Grounds, is an excellent research facility with a standard working collection suitable for advanced studies across the humanities.  The library's online holdings and well-staffed  Scholars' Lab  provide access to a large collection of literary works and advanced computer techniques for working with the texts.  In addition, Clemons Library holds an abundant collection of video material and a well-equipped media center. The Department itself is the home of three prize-winning journals:  New Literary History , an internationally respected journal of theory and interpretation;  Studies in Bibliography , the premier international journal of analytical bibliography and textual study; and  Meridian , a student-edited journal of writing.

Students with physical or learning disabilities which may require reasonable accommodation at the University should contact  Brad Holland, Coordinator of  Services for Students with Disabilities .  Information about the larger University and Charlottesville communities may be found  here .

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only.  The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at  http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php .

Creative Writing

• [email protected]
• (434) 924-6074

The UVA Creative Writing Program offers one of the best MFA programs in the country, along with undergraduate English concentrations in poetry and literary prose and elective coursework.

Explore Creative Writing Events

Creative writing stories.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks at UVA on the Future of Reparations and the Power of Writing

Author, journalist and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates, spoke on Friday, March 8, to a UVA audience and to attendees of the ninth annual conference of the African American Intellectual History Society hosted by the University’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies.

https://as.virginia.edu/ta-nehisi-coates-speaks-uva-future-reparations-and-power-writing

Poetic Unity: 'A Standing Witness' Examines Our Nation’s Recent History Through a Cycle of Songs

Rita Dove was on sabbatical from the University of Virginia English department when Richard Danielpour emailed the U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner. The Grammy Award-winning composer wanted to discuss collaborating on A Standing Witness, a cycle of songs that covers 50 years of American history, with original music set to poems as lyrics. The project was no small task. And Dove says that, at first glance, it seemed outside her wheelhouse.

https://www.c-ville.com/poetic-unity

History and Poetry Meet in ‘A Standing Witness’

Some of the most important events of the past six decades will play out in the University of Virginia’s Old Cabell Hall on March 21 and 23.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/history-and-poetry-meet-standing-witness

Department of English

College of humanities and sciences, creative writing faculty.

Students work closely with outstanding writers to strengthen their craft, develop their literary aesthetics, and enrich their understanding of existing traditions.

Geoff Bouvier, PhD

[email protected]

Creative Writing

Gretchen Comba, MFA

Teaching Professor

and Associate Chair

[email protected]

20th/21st Century

Gregory Donovan, PhD

[email protected]

Kathleen Graber, MFA

and Director, MFA in Creative Writing

[email protected]

Sonja Livingston, MFA

Associate Professor

[email protected]

Clint McCown, MFA

[email protected]

Jessica Hendry Nelson, MFA

Assistant Professor

[email protected]

SJ Sindu, PhD

[email protected]

creative writing

David Wojahn, MFA

[email protected]

Creative Writing (M.F.A.)

Campus:   Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus,  Instructions: Residential/On Campus

Program Overview

Our three-year M.F.A. degree offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction, and all students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year. We encourage cross-genre experimentation, offer additional courses in creative nonfiction, playwriting, new media creative writing, and literary editing, and all students have the opportunity to teach creative writing and composition, as well as serve as editors of our literary journal,  The New River Journal .

Why choose this program?

Our three-year M.F.A. degree offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction, and all students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year. We encourage cross-genre experimentation, offer additional courses in creative nonfiction, playwriting, new media creative writing, and literary editing, and all students have the opportunity to teach creative writing and composition, as well as serve as editors of our literary journal, The New River Journal .

In the years since the program started, we’ve been consistently ranked among the top 30 programs in the country by Poets & Writers in their  M.F.A. rankings .

The faculty members in our creative writing program at Virginia Tech are accomplished, prize-winning, innovative, and diverse: Ed Falco ,  Evan Lavender-Smith ,  Khadijah Queen ,  Lucinda Roy , Sophia Terazawa , and Matthew Vollmer .

Our program is small—we admit 4–5 students a year in each genre—and we pride ourselves on the diversity and rigor of our program, our respect for our students’ voices, our financial support for our students, the individual attention students receive from faculty, and our robust  Visiting Writers Series . 

Our  students  and  alumni  are exceptional; they have  published books , received prestigious awards and fellowships for their writing, and gone on to further success as writers, teachers, and professionals.

All students have the opportunity to to hold editorial positions and gain publishing experience working on the digital journal, The New River Journal .

Emily Morrison Prizes in Fiction and Poetry, and other M.F.A. writing awards offered each year.

What You'll Study

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing is designed to be completed in three years. Students may specialize in Fiction or Poetry. A minimum of 49 hours is required for this terminal degree. A series of creative writing workshops, courses in form and theory, new media writing, composition pedagogy, and literature and theory electives are designed for students wishing to pursue careers as writers or writer/scholars at the college level. Students also have the opportunity to work as editors on The New River: a Journal of Digital Writing and Art . A creative thesis, a written final exam, and an oral defense are required.

The 49 hours required for the degree must be distributed as follows:

• Creative Writing Workshops: 15 hours (6704/Fiction, 6714/Poetry, 6724/Playwriting, 6734/Creative Nonfiction, 6744/New Media Writing); at least 9 hours must be in the designated specialty; students are encouraged to explore other genres in 6 hours of workshops.
• Form and Theory Courses: 6 hours (5734/Form and Theory of Fiction, 5744/Form and Theory of Poetry).
• GTA Training and Composition Pedagogy: 3 hours.
• Creative Writing Pedagogy and Practicum: 3 hours.
• Editing a Literary Journal (5774): 6 hours 
• Research & Thesis (5994): 6 hours; a book-length creative thesis (a collection of poetry; a collection of short stories, or a novel)
• Graduate English courses: 9 hours; students may use an independent study in Editing a Digital Journal to help fulfill this requirement.

Admissions Requirements

• Minimum GPA 3.0 (4 Scale)
• TOEFL/ IELTS score Required  (If Applicable)

Learn more 

Tuition and Fee

Tuition & Fee Rates

Funding Opportunities

The Department of English has a limited number of  graduate assistantships and fellowships  available for students applying for full time study on the Blacksburg Campus. Entering students can apply for such funding as part of their admissions application.  No separate application  required.

• All students equally and fully funded through Graduate Teaching Assistantships.
• GTA-ships include tuition remission, health insurance, and stipends of more than $20,000 per year for all three years of the program

Find out what loans are available as a graduate student and other opportunities.

How to Apply?

Visit the Admission Requirements page for information on how to apply, including requirements, deadlines, and application fee.

Course List

Course List 

Plan of Study

Download Plan of Study

Applications Deadlines

Deadline is Jan. 15, 2024. 

Visit Campus

Visit Campus / Attend an Open House

Contact Program Leader

Matthew Vollmer 431 Shanks Hall  540-231-8322 [email protected]

Contact Program Specialist

Marie Trimmer Graduate Programs Coodinator 310 Shanks Hall 540-231-4659  [email protected]

Meet Our M.F.A. Students

Our Students

Current Students

• Visiting Writers Series
• Meet Our Graduates
• M.F.A. Bookshelf
• Graduate School
• Forms and Documents
• Time Table of Classes
• Add/Drop Online

Matthew Vollmer 431 Shanks Halll 540-231-8322l [email protected]

Faculty In Creative Writing

• --> General Item Ed Falco -->
• --> General Item Khadijah Queen -->
• --> General Item Evan Lavender-Smith -->
• --> General Item Lucinda Roy -->
• --> General Item Matthew Vollmer -->
• --> General Item Sophia Terazawa -->

Literary Awards 

• Creative non-fiction nomination
• Emily Morrison prize for fiction
• Emily Morrison prize for poetry 

Faculty Bookshelf

Recent Academic News

• --> Article Item Students Participated in 2023 Women’s and Gender Studies Undergraduate and Graduate Conference , article -->
• --> Article Item Faculty Members Awarded Research Grants from CLAHS in 2022-2023 , article -->
• --> Article Item Faculty Awarded Funding Through New Faculty Mentoring Grant Program , article -->

News Stories

Related Programs

English (M.A)  

Rhetoric and Writing (Ph.D.)

Explore Hollins

Creative Writing M.F.A.

This extremely well-funded two-year creative writing M.F.A. program, whose home is the Jackson Center for Creative Writing , emphasizes an individualized approach. To the 20-24 Creative Writing M.F.A. students enrolled in the program, books are essential nourishment, and reading them is inextricable from writing them.

The creative writing (M.F.A.) students, like the professors, are unusually committed to a diversity of voices and literatures, contemporary and across the ages. They work successfully in and across every genre, including poetry, short fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction.

Students and professors at Hollins enjoy an intimate, supportive community with amazing guest readers and opportunities for editorial experience, introducing and giving public readings, writing-based service work in the community, travel and research funding, and time to read and write. In addition, our beautiful location in Roanoke, Virginia offers an excellent setting to recharge, with the city’s small-scale, bustling culture, where it’s easy to explore the wildness of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains right from your door.

Our Faculty

Our professors don’t just teach — they create. They’re accomplished writers in their own fields — novelists, poets, essayists, and so much more. If we teach you anything, it’s to be you. Learning from professionals who have been there helps you grow that much more.

This two-year creative writing M.F.A. program, whose home is the Jackson Center for Creative Writing, emphasizes an individualized approach. The 20-24 students enrolled in the program have a strong interest in and aptitude for writing and literary study. They work successfully in every genre, including poetry, short fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction.

$22,760 for 2023-24

• Nonrefundable application fee: $40
• New student nonrefundable deposit: $500
• Technology fee: $600 per year
• Health services: $395 per year

Louis D. Rubin Jr. Writer-In-Residence

Each spring, Hollins hosts a distinguished writer-in-residence who works with graduate and selected undergraduate students. Louis D. Rubin Jr., the nation’s best-known scholar and publisher of southern literature, founded Hollins’ renowned creative writing program.

Great Authors Go to Hollins

The Hollins creative writing M.F.A. program has one of the highest publishing records of any graduate school in the country. Among the many outstanding writers who have graduated from the creative writing program are:

• Pulitzer Prize winners  Annie Dillard ,  Henry Taylor , and  Natasha Trethewey
• Novelists and story writers  Madison Smartt Bell ,  Kiran Desai,   Tony D’Souza ,  David Huddle ,  Adam Ross , and  Jill McCorkle
• Poets and essayists  Adrian Blevins ,  Jenny Boully ,  Scott Cairns ,  Wyn Cooper ,  Kevin Prufer , and  Mary Ruefle
• Novelists and memoirists  Richard McCann  and  Karen Salyer McElmurray
• Photographer  Sally Mann
• Filmmaker  George Butler
• Non-fiction author  Beth Macy

Books by Hollins authors

Upload Image in Upper Single Testimonial block

The Roanoker magazine says:

“The Roanoke Valley has a history of being writer-friendly, primarily because of the presence of Hollins University, which has been called ‘Pulitzer U.’ Annie Dillard, Henry Taylor, and most recently, U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey have won the U.S.’s top writing prize.”

Select link in Lower Single Testimonial block

Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest Announces 2024 Winners

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Hollins Welcomes Acclaimed Poet Nickole Brown as 2024 Writer-in-Residence

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Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest Honors Seven Young Writers

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From a Thesis on Storytelling to Chronicling Arts and Culture, Lindsey Hull…

With so many possibilities to consider, choosing a college is a decisi…

Hollins Mourns the Loss of Celebrated Professor, Author, and Scholar R.H.W….

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Professor Emerita's New Book Centers on “What's Remembered, What's Ob…

Award-winning poet and novelist Pablo Medina promises that "you'll be …

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Meghana Mysore M.F.A. '22 Awarded Steinbeck Fellowship

When first asked about earning a prestigious Steinbeck Fellowship, Meg…

Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest Recognizes Six Young Writers

A Florida student has captured the top honor in Hollins University’s…

Hollins Professor R. H. W. Dillard Revisits His Connection To Cult Classic …

When Hollins Professor of English R. H. W. Dillard was just a grad stu…

New Hollins Professor, Poet/Novelist Candice Wuehle, To Bring Focus On Genr…

Candice Wuehle seems like the perfect fit to teach English and creativ…

Award-Winning Author Scott Blackwood Joins Hollins as Distinguished Profess…

For author Scott Blackwood, one word comes to mind when asked about Ho…

Hollins 2021-22 Reading And Lecture Series To Feature Pulitzer-Winning Poet…

"In person" is back in session at Hollins, and not just for classes ei…

From Graduation to Publication: Debut Books by New Creative Writing M.F.A. …

Poets Maddie Gallo and Gabriel Reed became close friends after they en…

M.F.A. in Creative Writing Alumna Welcomes Launch Of Debut Novel “Led…

Anna Caritj M.F.A ’16 never imagined that the manuscript she started…

Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco Talks About Reading For Hollins …

It’s not every day that a presidential inaugural poet gives a readin…

Hollins Professor Jessie Van Eerden Celebrates Launch of Award-Winning Four…

When it comes to writing, some projects are well worth the wait. Autho…

Hollins Announces Six Winners of the 57th Annual Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest

Whoever said poetry doesn’t pay must’ve never applied to a poetry …

London Calling: Through an Internship Abroad, a Senior “Storyteller” Fu…

When a high school English teacher who also happens to be an alumna of…

English and Creative Writing Professor's Artistic Journey Brings “Voi…

When Professor of English and Creative Writing T.J. Anderson III is as…

Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop Hosts Winter Recharge Weekend, Jan. 29-31

Offering both manuscript and "write now" workshops, the Tinker Mountai…

“Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir” by Natasha Trethewey M.A….

The American Library Association (ALA) has announced that Memorial Dri…

New Memoir by Natasha Trethewey M.A. '91 Earns Praise and Inspires Dialogue

“To survive trauma, one must be able to tell a story about it,” wr…

Marilyn Chin Named Louis D. Rubin Jr. Writer-in-Residence for 2021

An award-winning author whose books have become Asian American classic…

For the Stephensons, the Hollins Experience Is a Family Affair

From his service as a U.S. Army officer and a career teaching high sch…

Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest Recognizes Seven Young Writers

A South Carolina student has captured the top honor in Hollins Univers…

Poliner Selected as Finalist for the 2019 Algren Award

Elizabeth Poliner, associate professor of English and creative writing…

With Gratitude To Her Parents and Professors, Yitazba Largo-Anderson '19 Fi…

When deciding on a college, Yitazba Largo-Anderson ’19 needed to loo…

Hollins Partners With City of Roanoke For Art By Bus, Writer By Bus Program…

Hollins is helping promote the value of public transportation to the R…

Championed by Dedicated Volunteers and Hollins Writers and Artists, Artemis…

Few publications have celebrated the prodigious talents of Southwest V…

Hollins Announces Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest Winners

"Ode to My Mother's Ex-Boyfriend, Ending in a Bushel of Strawberries" …

Hollins Professor to Keynote POW/MIA Awareness Day Ceremony

Hollins University Professor of English Marilyn Moriarty will deliver …

“LeVar Burton Reads” Spotlights New Short Story by Karen Bender

The podcast hosted by the star of Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generatio…

2018 Grad Wins Hallberg Award for Creative Nonfiction

Rachael Walker ’18 has been named the recipient of the Fourth Annual…

Hollins to Launch Creative Writing Major in 2018-19

Hollins University has long earned its place on the literary map, prod…

Natasha Trethewey M.A. '91 Receives Heinz Award

Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey …

Hollins Author Is Finalist for Library of Va. Literary Award

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Hollins Professor's Novel Wins Kafka Prize

As Close to Us as Breathing, a novel by Associate Professor of English…

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Lee Smith Remembers Creative Writing Program Founder Louis Rubin

Acclaimed author Lee Smith '67 pays tribute to Louis D. Rubin, Jr., fo…

Hollins Professor's New Novel Garners Considerable Attention

The author of one of the country's most-talked-about new novels also h…

Hollins Writers Make National Book Awards Shortlists

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Hollins Graduate Natasha Trethewey Named U.S. Poet Laureate

Hollins University alumna and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Tret…

R. H. W. Dillard, Wilson Museum Honored by Arts Council of the Blue Ridge

Professor of English R.H.W. Dillard (pictured) and the Eleanor D….

Will Schutt M.F.A. '09 Wins Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition

Poet Will Schutt, who received his MFA in creative writing from Hollin…

Hollins Appoints Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing

Hollins University has named author and professor Carrie Brown as dist…

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Hollins Writers Karen Osborn and Shelby Smoak Win Gold IPPY Awards

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Karen McElmurray Selected as Hollins' Writer-in-Residence for 2014

Award-winning fiction and creative nonfiction author Karen Salyer McEl…

Will Shutt MFA '09 Receives Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly

Poet Will Schutt, who earned his MFA in creative writing from Hollins…

Jackson Center for Creative Writing to Co-Sponsor Largest Literary Conferen…

The Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University is joini…

Tinker Mountain Writers' Workshop/Online Introduces New Eight-Week Session

Hollins University’s Tinker Mountain Writers’ Workshop/Online (TMW…

Two Hollins Alumni Among Best New Poets for 2013

Meighan L. Sharp M.F.A. ’11 and Chad Temples M.F.A. ’08 are two of…

Two Hollins Authors Are Among This Year's “Best New Poets”

S.H. Lohmann ’08, M.F.A. ’12 and Brittney Scott M.F.A. ’10 are t…

Carrie Brown Named Finalist for the Library of Virginia's 2014 Fiction Awar…

Distinguished Visiting Professor of Creative Writing Carrie Brown’s …

Hollins Professor Wins Faulkner-Wisdom Competition Award

Hollins University Professor of English Marilyn Moriarty is the winner…

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Virginia Tech

MFA in Creative Writing

Why Virginia Tech?

July 1, 2020 By VTCWMFA

Our 3-year MFA program is consistently ranked among the top MFA programs in the country. We offer tracks in poetry and fiction, encourage cross-genre writing, and fully fund all students with stipends of $20,000+.

VIRGINIA TECH VISITING WRITERS SERIES 2023-2024

August 31, 2023 By Matthew Vollmer

2022-2023 Faculty and Alumni Publications

July 24, 2023 By Florence Gonsalves

Welcome, Class of 2026!

June 9, 2023 By Florence Gonsalves

August 31, 2023 Matthew Vollmer

July 24, 2023 Florence Gonsalves

Faculty Books: Alumni Books: Community Events & Readings:

June 9, 2023 Florence Gonsalves

Jesus Govea Jesus Govea is a writer from Chicago, Illinois. He received his B.A in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. He has been published in Poetry, Respect the Mic: […]

Congratulations to the Class of 2023!

Visiting Writers Series 2022-2023

September 2, 2022 Shannon Sullivan

Craft talk and Reading with Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

October 19, 2021 VTCWMFA

FREEDOM REVOLUTIONS: Reading with Lucinda Roy and Bessie Flores Zaldivar

October 13, 2021 VTCWMFA

Virginia Tech Visiting Writers Series 2021-22

September 30, 2021 VTCWMFA

Congrats Alum! Shaina Phenix: WICW Fellow 2021-2022.

July 31, 2021 VTCWMFA

Khadijah Queen Wins 2021 William Carlos Williams Award

June 21, 2021 VTCWMFA

Click here to read one of the winning poems

MFA Bookshelf

8 Lessons From Nikki Giovanni

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Writing, MFA

• Program Overview
• Reading Series
• Financing Your Education
• How to Apply

Academic Director

Dave Madden

Dave Madden is the author of The Authentic Animal: Inside the Odd and Obsessive World of Taxidermy , as well as a collection of short stories. His essays have appeared in Defector ,  the Guardian , Lit Hub , Harper's , Creative Nonfiction , and elsewhere. He's received fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference.

• PhD (Creative Writing), University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Administrative Director

Micah Ballard

Author of four full-length collections of poetry, The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press, 2016), Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books, 2011), nominated for a California Book Award, and Parish Krewes (Bootstrap Press, 2009), and over a dozen small books, including Muddy Waters (State Champs, 2022), Selected Prose (2008-19) (Blue Press, 2020), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books, 2019), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter, 2014), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2006) and Negative...

• MA in Poetics, New College of California
• MFA in Poetics, New College of California

Full-Time Faculty

Laleh Khadivi

Laleh Khadivi is the author of The Kurdish Trilogy which includes The Age of Orphans  (2009),  The Walking (2013), and A Good Country   (2017).

Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in the LA Times , San Francisco Chronicle , VQR , and The Sun .

She has worked as a documentary filmmaker since 2000 and her films have been screened in festivals and on various cable networks. 

• MFA Mills College

D.A. Powell

D. A. Powell's books include Cocktails (Graywolf, 2004) and Chronic (Graywolf, 2009), both finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, and Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys (Graywolf, 2012), winner of the 2013 Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. Powell's awards include the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, Kingsley Tufts Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and the California Book Award. He has taught at Columbia University, University of Iowa, and...

• MA, Sonoma State University
• MFA, Iowa Writers' Workshop

Susan Steinberg

Susan Steinberg is the author of four books of fiction: Machine (Graywolf Press), Spectacle (Graywolf Press), Hydroplane (FC2), and The End of Free Love (FC2).

The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a United States Artists Fellowship, Professor Steinberg has also been awarded the Pushcart Prize and a National Magazine Award. Her stories have appeared in McSweeney's , Conjunctions , The Gettysburg Review , American Short Fiction , Boulevard , Quarterly West , Denver Quarterly , The ...

• MFA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art

Monica West

Monica West is the author of Revival Season , which was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a Barnes and Noble Discover selection, and short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. She received her BA from Duke University, her MA from New York University, and her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. She has received fellowships and funding from Kimbilio Fiction, Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Bread Loaf.

• Iowa Writers' Workshop, MFA in Creative Writing, 2017
• New York University, MA in English and American Literature, 2003
• Duke University, BA in English Literature, 1999

Part-Time Faculty

Stephen beachy.

Stephen Beachy is a past winner of the Michener Award in fiction. He is the author of several novels and two novellas, including The Whistling Song , Distortion , Some Phantom/No Time Flat ,  boneyard , and Glory Hole . 

His work has also been published in High Risk 2 , New York Times Magazine , Bomb , and Best Gay American Fiction 1996 .

He's the prose editor of Your Impossible Voice .

• MFA in Creative Writing, Iowa Writers' Workshop

Lewis Buzbee

Author of novels  Bridge of Time (2012),  The Haunting of Charles Dickens (2010), winner of the Northern California Book Award, an Edgar Award nominee, and a Judy Lopez memorial Honor book,  Steinbeck's Ghost (2008) which was a Smithsonian Notable Book, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Children's Book of the Year, and the winner of the Beatty Award from the California Library Association, and  Fliegelman's Desire (1990); stories, After the Gold Rush (2006); and nonfiction...

• MFA in Fiction, Warren Wilson College.

Kate Folk is the author of Out There (Random House '22), a finalist for the California Book Award in First Fiction. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker , The New York Times , Granta , One Story , McSweeney's Quarterly Concern , and Zyzzyva , among others. A 2019-2021 Wallace Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University, she's also received support from MacDowell, Willapa Bay AiR, the Headlands Center for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She...

• University of San Francisco, MFA in Creative Writing, 2011
• New York University, BA in Individualized Study, 2007

Vanessa Hua

Vanessa Hua is an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of the national bestsellers A River of Stars and Forbidden City, as well as Deceit and Other Possibilities, a New York Times Editors Pick. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as awards from the Society of Professional...

• UC Riverside, MFA in Creative Writing, 2009
• Stanford University, MA in Media Studies, 1997
• Stanford University, BA in English, 1996
• Creative Nonfiction

Miah Jeffra

Miah Jeffra is the author of four books, most recently The Violence Almanac (finalist for several awards, including the Grace Paley and St. Lawrence Book Prizes) and the novel American Gospel , winner of the Clark-Gross Award, and is co-editor of the anthology Home is Where You Queer Your Heart . His work can be seen in StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, The North American Review, DIAGRAM, storySouth, and many others. Miah is the co-founder of the Whiting Award-winning queer and trans literary...

• California Institute of the Arts, MFA
• San Francisco State University, MA
• Oglethorpe University, BA
• Creative nonfiction
• Visual culture

R. O. Kwon’s Exhibit, a novel, will be published in May 2024 with Riverhead. Kwon’s nationally bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries , has been translated into seven languages and was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. The Incendiaries was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award. Kwon and Garth Greenwell co-edited the bestselling Kink, a New York Times Notable Book and recipient of the inaugural Joy Award.

Kwon’s writing has appeared in The ...

• MFA, Brooklyn College
• BA, Yale University

Lauren Markham

Lauren Markham writing regularly appears in outlets such as Guernica, Harper's, Orion, Zyzzyva, Freeman's, Lithub, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine and VQR, where she is a contributing editor. She is the author of The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life, which was the winner of the 2018 Ridenhour Book Prize, the Northern California Book Award, and a California Book Award Silver Prize; it was also named a Barnes & Noble Discover...

• Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing, 2010

Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Professor Ingrid Rojas Contreras is the author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree (Doubleday, 2018) a silver medal winner in first fiction from the California Book Awards, and a New York Times editor's choice. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Cut, The Believer, and elsewhere. Her memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds (Doubleday, 2022) is a story about her grandfather, a curandero from Colombia who it was said had the power to move clouds. It was named a TIME best book of...

Maw Shein Win

Maw Shein Win's most recent poetry collection is Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn) which was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and CALIBA's Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. Win's previous collections include Invisible Gifts and two chapbooks Ruins of a glittering palace and Score and Bone . Win’s Process Note Series features poets and their process. Win often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other...

• CSU Long Beach, BA in English, Concentration in Creative Writing

K.M. Soehnlein

K.M. (Karl) Soehnlein is the recipient of a Lambda Literary Award (novel); IPPY Award (LGBTQ+ Fiction); the Henfield Prize (short fiction); and the SFFILM/Rainin Filmmaking Grant (screenwriting).

He is the author of the novels Army of Lovers (2022), The World of Normal Boys (2000), You Can Say You Knew Me When  (2005), and Robin and Ruby (2010). He has been published in the nonfiction anthologies, Who's Yer Daddy: Gay Men Write about their Mentors and Forerunners; Girls Who Like Boys Who Like...

• San Francisco State University, MFA in Creative Writing, 1996
• Ithaca College, BS in Cinema Production, 1987
• Personal essays
• Screenwriting
• Playwriting

Shelley Wong

Shelley Wong is the author of As She Appears (YesYes Books, 2022), longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.  Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, New England Review, and The New Republic. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize and fellowships, residencies, and support from Kundiman, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Montalvo Arts Center, and Headlands Center for the Arts. She has received an...

• The Ohio State University, MFA in Creative Writing
• UC Berkeley, BA in English
• Asian American literature
• LGBTQ literature

Faculty Emeritus

Catherine Brady

Former president, AWP. The Brenda Ueland Prose Prize and the Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Prize. Author of three short story collections: The End of the Class War (1999), finalist for the 2000 Western States Book Award, Curled in the Bed of Love (2003), winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and The Mechanics of Falling (2009), winner of the Northern California Book Award for Fiction; a biography: Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA ...

• MFA in Creative Writing, University of Massachusetts

Aaron Shurin

Aaron Shurin is the author of fourteen books of poetry and prose, most recently The Blue Absolute , from Nightboat Books. Other works include: Flowers & Sky: Two Talks (Entre Rios Books, 2017), The Skin of Meaning: Collected Literary Essays and Talks (University of Michigan Press, 2015), and two books from City Lights: Citizen (poems, 2012) and King of Shadows (essays, 20008). His writing has appeared in over forty national and international anthologies, from The Norton Anthology of Postmodern...

Visiting Faculty

Cristina García

Cristina García is the author of seven novels: Dreaming in Cuban, The Agüero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, King of Cuba, and, most recently, Here in Berlin; two Latinx anthologies: Cubanísimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature and Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature ; and a collection of poetry, The Lesser Tragedy of Death. García’s work has been nominated for a National Book Award and...

• MA, International Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
• BA, Political Science, Barnard College, 1979

• M.F.A. in Creative Writing
• Graduate Students

Creative Writing Faculty

Mark Brazaitis

Professor; creative writing coordinator.

(304) 293-9707

[email protected]

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Brian Broome

Assistant professor.

[email protected]

Glenn Taylor

Associate professor.

[email protected]

Jenny Johnson

[email protected]

Mary Ann Samyn

[email protected]

Christa Parravani

(304) 293-9701

[email protected]

MFA Faculty & Staff

Amy Quan Barry , Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English, Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowship Program (MFA: University of Michigan) is the author of the poetry collections Auction , Asylum ,  Controvertibles ,  Water Puppets , and  Loose Strife , as well as the novels  She Weeps Each Time You’re Born ,  We Ride Upon Sticks , which was awarded the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and the 2022 release  When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East . Barry is one of a select group of writers to receive NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction. She is Forward Theater’s first ever Writer-in-Residence, and her first play production, The Mytilenean Debate , was staged in spring 2022.

FACULTY EMERIT

Jesse Lee Kercheval , Zona Gale Professor of English Emerit (retired) was the founding director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing from 1994–2010. She is the author of the 15 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction in English. Her most recent title is the poetry collection, America That Island Off the Coast of France . Her translations of the Uruguayan poet Circe Maia have appeared in Agni , the Gettysburg Review , the American Poetry Review , jubilat and Pleiades among other magazines, and she is the editor of América Invertida: an Anthology of Younger Uruguayan Poets , published by the University of New Mexico Press. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Radcliffe Research and Study Center at Harvard.

Judith Claire Mitchell , Professor Emerit (retired) served for many years as Director of the Creative Writing Program. She is the author of the novels A Reunion of Ghosts (2015) and The Last Day of the War (2004). Her stories and poetry appear in anthologies and literary magazines such as Best of the Fiction Workshops , Shaping the Story , Behind the Short Story , Barnstorming , The Iowa Review , Prairie Schooner , StoryQuarterly , and others.

Lorrie Moore , Delmore Schwartz Professor Emerit in the Humanities (retired) is the author of the short story collections Self-Help , Like Life , Birds of America , Bark , and two volumes of  Collected Stories plus the novels Anagrams , Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? , and A Gate at the Stairs . Her work appears in The New Yorker , The New York Review of Books , The New York Times , Paris Review , and many other literary publications. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Ronald Wallace , Felix Pollak Professor Emerit of Poetry & Halls-Bascom Professor Emeritus of English (retired) is the founder of both the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Program in Creative Writing and the University of Wisconsin Press’s Wisconsin Poetry Series. He is the author of twelve books, the most recent of which is For a Limited Time Only . He has published poetry and stories in The New Yorker , The Atlantic , The Nation , Poetry , Paris Review , and many other literary publications.

Creative Writing, MFA

Publishing Laboratory Enjoys a Relationship with Harpercollins, the World’s Second-Largest English Language Publisher

2 Literary Magazines & 1 Literary Book Imprint - We Offer Graduate Students Experience Working for All 3

Writers’ Week is a Literary Festival Featuring a Diverse Lineup of Writers

STUDY OF CREATIVE WRITING PREPARES STUDENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS. OUR ALUMNI ARE:

Graduates have published books with top commercial, university and independent presses, garnering critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Many have careers as technical writers. Most importantly, they learned the skills and habits to pursue a satisfying and sustainable writing life.

The MFA is a terminal degree and qualifies graduates to teach at the university level. We provide teaching assistantships and pedagogical training. Our graduates go on to teach writing and publishing throughout the country.

Our graduate students gain hands-on experience in the editing, design, production and marketing of books and magazines and go on to careers as agents, marketing coordinators, art directors, managing editors, and small press publishers.

Generate complex, original writing of literary merit and personal value

Utilize form, style, and technique in effective and sophisticated ways

Critically analyze literary works

Articulate your own evolving aesthetic as a writer

“ I gained valuable teaching experience, served as managing editor of Ecotone, and relished my time with mentors who encouraged and challenged me. Simply put, it changed my life. ”

A Community of Writers

Our MFA program joins students who share a common passion and faculty members who provide critical support of their work. The faculty of the Department of Creative Writing view MFA students as colleagues-in-the-making. To help initiate them into the profession, we offer a series of panels and workshops designed to address practical issues that lie outside the scope of the writing workshop.

Apprenticeship Leading to Publishable Quality Manuscript

The MFA at UNCW is a 48-hour apprenticeship, requiring a total of 21 hours of writing workshops, 21 hours of literature or other elective courses, and 6 thesis hours, leading to completion and defense of a substantial book-length manuscript of literary merit and publishable quality.

While students apply in poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, and focus primarily on that genre, some cross-genre study is required. Coursework in editing and publishing is offered through our Publishing Laboratory. Experience in magazine and book production is also offered in conjunction with our imprint Lookout Books and with Ecotone and Chautauqua , our department's national literary magazines.

SAMPLE COURSES

Admission deadlines & requirements, information: mfa creative writing.

• Complete applications are considered for admission as a group, after the published deadline.
• All application and supporting documents must be received by the published deadline.

Coordinator

• Dr. Melissa Crowe 910-962-3436 [email protected]  

Location/Delivery Method

• Main Campus

Concentrations

• Creative Non-Fiction

Deadlines (11:59 p.m. EST)

• Fall 2024:   January 15, 2024

Transcripts

• One official transcript is required from each U.S. post-secondary institution attended. Refer to the Getting Started page for international transcript instructions.

Test Scores

• None Required

Recommendations

Additional requirements.

• Upload Supplemental Documents After Application Submission
• Writing Sample: A typed manuscript in the applicant’s primary genre, labeled “poetry,” “fiction" or “creative nonfiction”: 10 pages of poetry, 30 pages of fiction or 30 pages of creative nonfiction (double-spaced prose, single-spaced poetry). The manuscript should demonstrate mastery of basic craft and unmistakable literary promise. Applicants are advised not to apply with a mixed-genre manuscript.
• Essay:  An essay (300-500 words) on the applicant’s goals in pursuing the MFA, including previous educational experience.
• Assistantship Essay: If you are interested in being considered for an assistantship in the Creative Writing classroom, or in the Publishing Laboratory (or both), please include a brief (one- to two-page) supplemental statement of relevant experience and interest. (If interested in both, upload a single combined essay.) 

Explore More Program Details

Learn more about the Department

Related Programs

Publishing, post-baccalaureate certificate.

Students seeking to enroll in the MFA publishing certificate program must first complete the introductory course, CRW 520, The Publishing Process.

Filmmaking, MFA

UNCW’s MFA in filmmaking is an immersive three-year terminal degree program. The comprehensive curriculum includes multi-modal (narrative, documentary, and experimental) workshops in cinematography, screenwriting, editing, sound design, producing, and directing, as well as courses in cinema history, analysis and aesthetics.

English M.A.

For lovers of literature, writing, film or the English language, studying English means doing what you love most.

Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

This certificate is designed for students already enrolled in a graduate degree program at UNCW, as well as professionals not seeking a degree. The program provides the opportunity to gain substantial training in women's and gender studies as a supplement to departmental degrees and careers.

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Information Session: MFA Programs in Creative Writing

• Post author By 46797344
• Post date April 5, 2024

Write of Passage 2024: Creative Writing MFA Student Reading

Admin options.

This event is part of UCF Celebrates the Arts 2024. 

Write of Passage 2024 showcases the work and talent of the Spring 2024 graduating students of UCF’s creative writing MFA graduate program.

This reading will feature works by Justin Ahlquist, Camila Cal Mello, Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira, Kristi Dao, Colleen Dieckmann, Kianna Greene, Michelle Munoz, Spencer Reynolds, Jessa Santiago, Dani Sarta and Nicholas Stovel.

Arrive early to enjoy a showcase of other projects from the English department, including:

• The Florida Review , UCF’s international literary journal
• The Cypress Dome , UCF’s undergraduate student literary journal
• Writers in the Sun, UCF’s visiting writers’ series
• UCF Creative Writing Faculty Book Display
• Zeppelin Books and Burrow Press Display

One of Central Florida’s favorite new traditions celebrates ten years!   UCF Celebrates the Arts is an immersive and dynamic cultural extravaganza that fuses creativity, innovation and community engagement. This annual festival showcases the artistic prowess of UCF’s faculty and students and invites the broader community to enjoy performances, exhibitions, presentations and interactive experiences. With a focus on accessibility, partnership and diverse offerings, UCF Celebrates the Arts is a unique opportunity for the community to experience the creative side of UCF’s innovative spirit. Events will be held April 3-14 at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Learn more at   arts.cah.ucf.edu/celebrates .

Event Registration

Tickets: FREE