mfa creative writing children's literature

MFAC MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults

A low-residency MFA

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Young readers matter

That's why Hamline offers one of only three nationwide programs devoted exclusively to writing for children and young adults.

Whatever your chosen format or genre may be—whether it’s picture books, young adult fantasy, graphic novels, or something else—you'll have the opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty members who are themselves award-winning authors.

Twice a year, you will join other students and faculty for in-depth lectures, workshops, and readings devoted to writing for children and young adults. Faculty, visiting writers, and graduating students give readings, deliver lectures, and conduct seminars that provide real-world tools for success.

Through the MFAC, you will join a community of learners who offer direction, camaraderie, and support for one another throughout the program and well after it’s ended. You will also take advantage of the Twin Cities' many publishing houses.

What will it take?

Mfa in creative writing for children and young adults overview, start dates and application deadlines.

Applications are processed on a rolling basis. Applications submitted and files completed after deadlines may be reviewed if space permits and enough time exists for an application review.

We strongly encourage international students to submit all application materials two months before the priority deadline.

Application deadlines

• March 1: For summer residency (July) start. If you miss the priority deadline, the final deadline is May 15.
• September 1: For winter residency (January) start. If you miss the priority deadline, the final deadline is November 1.

Hamline’s low-residency program model

Complete the program fully online or hybrid (completing some work in-person and some online). Twice per year, you will participate in residences, which you can attend virtually or in person. Residencies are eleven days long and take place in January and July.

See our program details page for an in-depth understanding of our residency model. 

Time to complete the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults

Earn your degree in two years—four semesters and five residencies.

How to apply to the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults

Please submit the materials below to apply for admission to the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.

• Online application (no fee for US residents).
• To prepare, please consult the questions in advance.
• Critical essay: Three- to four-page critical essay, double-spaced, focusing on an element of craft or a particular subject in a children's or YA book that impressed you. For example, you could focus on the ways in which an author developed the characters in a picture book.
• Creative writing sample: Submit either 20 pages (double-spaced) of prose or poetry written for children or young adults OR two picture book manuscripts. Your submission may include more than one piece or genre, provided that they are fully realized pieces and do not exceed the 20-page total limit.
• Official transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate work. If your transcripts are in a language other than English, you must submit both the original and an official or certified course-by-course English translation. Official transcript of a bachelor's degree must be from a regionally accredited college or university. This should be sent directly from the institution to Graduate Admission or provided in a sealed, signed envelope. Official electronic copies should be emailed to  [email protected] . You do not have to provide transcripts for courses taken at Hamline University.
• Two letters of recommendation written by people unrelated to you who are familiar with your academic, artistic, and/or professional qualifications.
• Additional materials you wish the admission committee to consider, such as letters of recommendation or previously published work.

APPLY 

Transferring to Hamline's MFAC program

Hamline's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) welcomes students who want to transfer from similar programs (i.e., other MFAC programs or MFA programs with a concentration in writing for children and young adults). Because of the variety of programs from which you might transfer, please contact the Office of Graduate Admission at [email protected]  and we can discuss your previous coursework and how it may transfer into Hamline's program. Please be prepared to supply a copy of your transcript to facilitate the process.  View Hamline's transfer policy

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Formats and genres for all readers and writers

Before coming to Hamline, pursuing a career in publishing seemed an impossible dream. However, after two years learning from the best in the business and growing alongside a cohort of like-minded peers, I had the skills to transform my passion for children's literature into a career. In the five years since graduation, I have written and published books, taught students of my own, and opened a bookstore where I now get to share the books I studied at Hamline with young readers on the daily. And I can say with absolute certainty that my time at Hamline is to thank for all of it.

Our low-residency MFA in Writing for CYA faculty

Learn from award-winning teachers and mentors.

Here is just a sample of the awards and recognitions of our faculty.

national Ambassador for Young People's Literature

2023-2024: Meg Medina 2016-2017: Gene Luen Yang

Newbery medal

2019: Meg Medina,  Merci Suárez Changes Gears 2018: Erin Entrada Kelly, Hello Universe 2017: Kelly Barnhill, The Girl Who Drank the Moon 2016: Matt de la Pena, Last Stop on Market Street

Newbery honor Award

2020: Erin Entrada Kelly, We Dream of Space   2008:   Gary Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars 2005:   Gary Schmidt, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

National Book Award finalists

2022: Kelly Barnhill,  The Ogress and the Orphans 2019: Laura Ruby, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All  2017: Elana K. Arnold, What Girls Are Made Of  2017: Laurel Snyder, Orphan Island 2015: Laura Ruby, Bone Gap 2014: Eliot Schrefer, Threatened 2013: Anne Ursu, The Real Boy 2013: Gene Yang, Boxers & Saints 2012: Eliot Schrefer, Endangered 2009: e. lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks 2006: Gene Yang, American Born Chinese

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award 

2022: Brandy Colbert, Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (winner) 2018: Dashka Slater, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives (finalist)

Michael L. Printz award for excellence in Young Adult Literature

2017: Nina LaCour, We Are Okay 2016: Laura Ruby, Bone Gap  2006: Gene Yang, American Born Chinese

Michael L. Printz Honor Award

2022: Eliot Schrefer, The Darkness Outside Us 2020: Gene Yang, Dragon Hoops 2019: Elana K. Arnold, Damsel 2009: e. lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks 2008:   Gary Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

Pura Belpré award

2021: Lilliam Rivera, Never Look Back  (finalist) 2014: Meg Medina, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass  (winner)

View full list

Read more about our faculty

Get in-depth experience with visiting writers, editors, and publishers

Hamline’s MFAC program is deeply connected to the literary community and will connect you to writers beyond our faculty, including editors, publishers, and literary agents.

View our faculty, staff, and visiting experts page to see a sampling of professionals who have shared their knowledge and expertise with us during past residencies.

Join an alumni community of published, award-winning authors

Books published.

Hamline MFAC alumni have traditionally-published books for pre-K through YA, through many of the major publishing houses.

From a Newbery Honor, to two Minnesota Book Awards, to the Scott O'Dell Award, Hamline MFAC graduates are celebrated across genres.

The Storyteller's Inkpot

An intimate look at the hamline mfac.

Join faculty, students, and graduates of Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults in this online forum to discuss the program, books, writing, the creative process, kid lit, and more.

Explore how we make your MFA in YA Writing degree affordable

Your MFA is a cost-effective investment for your career, with affordable tuition at our prestigious, private, nonprofit university.

Scholarships and Assistantships

Hamline provides more scholarships than many other schools. Find out if you are eligible for one of several scholarships, tuition discounts, or assistantships.

Financial Aid

We want you to succeed without breaking the bank just as much as you do. Explore our competitive financial aid options for your master’s degree.

MFAC moments, big and small

Celebrating the mfac community's big (and not-so-big) wins, as seen through our social.

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Creative writing, start your application.

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Attend an info session

Curious about Hamline's MFA in Writing for Children & YA program? Attend an information session to learn more. 

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Children & young adults

The Writing for Children and Young Adults (WCYA) track is one of the only programs of its kind on the West Coast. It boasts a faculty of some of the most successful, cutting edge authors and professionals in children’s literature, all dedicated to fostering each writer’s unique voice.

The MFA program consists of five 10-day residencies, in early January and early August, and five distance semesters. Students work throughout with the award-winning authors on our faculty; during the final semester each student concentrates on editing the final stages of their manuscript.

There is no formula to writing compelling work for children and young adults; the program is dedicated to fostering each writer’s unique voice and craft. The WCYA track is a safe place to challenge yourself to write without fear and from your deepest creative self. We are all writers here. We all have a voice that needs to be heard.

Faculty in the writing for children and young adults concentration

Our faculty are creators and editors of award-winning, New York Times bestselling, and groundbreaking books of literary and commercial quality for children and young adults.

The New School News

• In the Headlines

The Creative Writing Program’s Writing for Children and Young Adults Concentration Specializes in the Form and Function of Crafting Stories for Young Readers

Alumni of the Writing for Children and Young Adults program have recently racked up a number of remarkable achievements. Last week, the National Book Awards finalists were announced, and among the selections in the Young People’s literature category was King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, MFA Creative Writing ‘14. Janae Marks’, MFA Creative Writing ’10, debut From the Desk of Zoe Washington has been earning stars and stellar reviews.  Soon after graduation, Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, both MFA Creative Writing ’12, created a book development company, Cake Literary, which has led to the publication of many new voices in middle grade, teen, and women’s fiction; in addition their own book “Tiny Pretty Things” has just been turned into an hour-long drama series on Netflix. Corey Ann Haydu, MFA Creative Writing ’12, a popular YA and middle-grade author has just published the first two books of her new chapter book series, Hand-Me-Down Magic, this summer. 

General interest in the field of young adult and children’s literature has grown steadily — fueled by the success of juggernauts like the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games franchises, along with stand-alone bestsellers like The Hate You Give , Children of Blood and Bone , and Love, Simon . But MFA writing programs at only a handful of universities, including The New School’s Creative Writing Program , offer concentrations for authors targeting this age group. “Good writing is good writing, but there are very specific craft choices that come up when writing for different ages,” says Caron Levis, faculty member and program coordinator for the Writing for Children and Young Adults concentration. “Everything has its own format or issues you have to be aware of, from picture books, which have a very specific form, to writing for teens, which is an ever-shifting area in terms of content and craft, so being in a program where you are in a workshop full of people immersed in the same world you are is invaluable.” 

Although a program focused solely on writing for young readers may sound highly specific, there is incredible variety within the concentration. “Because the concentration covers a wide range of topics and age groups, I’ve loved learning more about writing for the different age groups within the larger Children and Young Adults category,” says, Isabella Hendricks, MFA Creative Writing ’21. “We have picture book, middle grade, and YA writers in the cohort, and I think that studying all of these categories strengthens your writing, regardless of which age group, or groups, you’re primarily writing for. It’s also great to have a group that is not just passionate about writing for young people but is also avidly reading what’s out there. Everyone is well-versed in children’s and young adult lit and, as a result, is critiquing each other’s work from a perspective informed by the genre.” 

With only ten to 15 students selected every year for the program, each cohort is able to develop and create a strong community that supports them through their time at the university and beyond. “Our faculty of authors and editors, who are highly active in the field, bring their knowledge and experience to the program; in addition, as our students go into publishing world, they discover that their community of fellow writers, is just as essential to their writing and careers,” says Levis.  

This access to a writing community was a strong draw for Eleanor Owens, MFA Creative Writing ’21. “I believe one of the most important things I possibly could have gotten out of The New School’s MFA program is the group of like-minded writers who have critiqued me, recommended incredible books, pushed me to grow, and changed me in ways I’m sure I’m still not aware of,” says Owens. “When I applied to MFA programs, the only ones I applied to were in-residency for this exact reason. I ended up choosing The New School because it offered me a significant scholarship, has an incredible reputation, and is based in New York City, so it was hard to beat its access to book events and author interviews.”

The program has also been successful in attracting authors interested in expanding the diversity and inclusiveness of children’s books. “What has been historically lacking in the field of children’s literature is greater and authentic diversity, inclusion, and representation of all children and their experiences,” says Levis. “There have always been amazing books, but there haven’t always been books everyone can see themselves in them. A lot of our alumni are contributing to shifting that whether that’s through their own writing, as editors, or being an active part of the We Need Diverse Books movement; many people come to the program with a specific interest in writing books for communities of readers that have been under or incorrectly represented.”

For Levis, who is also a social worker, the children’s book community’s willingness and desire to address social issues like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo are crucial to their work. “Children’s writers often consider how stories can support children and young adults navigate their worlds,” she says. “That can happen through a super silly book or one that tackles tough and fierce themes.  For young people, reading the right book at the right time can have significant impact on their lives. Writers in this program understand that, and that’s what brings them here.”

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Undergraduate.

To apply to any of our Bachelor's programs (Except the Bachelor's Program for Adult Transfer Students) complete and submit the Common App online.

Graduates and Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctural, Professional Studies Diploma, Graduates Certificate, or Associate's programs, or to apply to the Bachelor's Program for Adult and Transfer Students, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Creative Writing Program

The New School invites you to join a community of diverse writers, become part of New York City’s publishing world, and build a network of support on campus and beyond. Our prestigious MFA Creative Writing program is designed to help you develop your writing in supportive workshops and literature seminars led by an internationally recognized faculty and renowned authors.

books published annually by alumni and faculty

annual writing events, including the National Book Awards Finalist Reading

of admitted MFA students awarded merit-based university scholarships (2020–2021)

MFA in Creative Writing

As an MFA student at The New School, you can choose your concentration—in Arts Writing, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Writing for Children and Young Adults—and receive personalized faculty mentorship and faculty and peer critiques. Innovative courses in publishing and multimedia storytelling engage you in the development of literature. Popular graduate minors include Impact Entrepreneurship and Transmedia and Digital Storytelling . Or you can apply to WriteOn NYC! , a New School–funded fellowship program providing MFA students with high-quality teaching experience in area middle schools and high schools. All students benefit from evening classes and events, which enable them to work or attend responsibilities during the day while enrolled in a  full-time program.

Related Programs

In addition to the renowned MFA in Creative Writing, The New School offers other programs and opportunities for writing students. These include noncredit courses and summer intensives, as well as an undergraduate major in the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students, the Writing and Democracy Honors Program, and undergraduate minors in related fields. Summer Writing Intensive Continuing Education Courses Writing & Democracy Honors Program BA in Creative Writing Undergraduate Creative Writing Courses

• Meet our faculty

The Writer’s Life in NYC

Creative Writing students come to The New School from across the United States and around the world to live the writer's life in New York City. Evenings with agents and editors, offered exclusively for MFA students, provide informal opportunities to meet publishing professionals.

The New School Bookshelf

We are proud to feature books recently published by The New School's Creative Writing community.

Sigrid Nunez, Faculty

Hurricane Child

Kacen callender, mfa '14.

The Impeachers

Brenda wineapple, faculty.

The January Children

Safia elhillo, mfa '15.

Mira Jacob, Faculty and MFA '01

Events & news.

Stories of Power and Transformation: A Conversation on Memoir

• Bob McKinnon, Parsons Faculty Member, Debuts New Children’s Book
• The Vera List Center for Art and Politics Presents New School New Books Event Series
• Adrian Madlener, History of Design and Curatorial Studies ’18, Explores Design Through Writing and Research
• The Vera List Center for Art and Politics Hosts Reading Room Featuring Faculty Books
• Richard Barone, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Faculty Member, Debuts New Book about Music Scene in 1960’s Greenwich Village
• New Faculty Achievements from Across The New School Include Fellowships, Grants, and More

Take The Next Step

• Request Info

Submit your application

Undergraduates.

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

NOTICE: NOTIFICATION — DATE

Writing for Children & Young Adults

Writing for children & young adults.

Email School of Writing

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

Virtual Info Session: Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing

“I have SUCH fond memories of my time at Spalding. The faculty was smart and engaged. The students were diverse and eager — and thoughtful. The conversations we had made me remember again why I do the work I do. The vibe was like family. I felt SO at home there, I have to say. All these years later, it really stays with me.”

— Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming , winner of the National Book Award, Newbery Honor Medal, and Coretta Scott King Award

Unlike other graduate creative writing programs, at Spalding, we give writing for children and young adults the same respect and equal access we grant to every other genre. Writing for children and YA is fully integrated into the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, and students are given full access to the learning opportunities that come when you explore across genres. That exposure and experience will make you a better writer—period. Within the genre, we give equal weight to audience considerations and serious study of craft.

Our prize-winning faculty includes, among others, Lesléa Newman, author of more than 70 books, including the classic Heather Has Two Mommies ; and Leah Henderson, author of award-winning middle grade novels and picture books including The Magic in Changing Your Stars , a SCBWI Golden Kite Award finalist, and A Day for Rememberin’ , a Junior Library Guild selection. They write picture books, middle-grade, and YA; they work in fiction, historical nonfiction, poetry, and children’s theatre. All are dedicated, caring teachers. Visit our faculty page to read more.

“As a visiting lecturer, it was a privilege to be part of this passionate writing community. I wish I’d had access to such a rich and varied program when I was an aspiring writer. The faculty is nurturing and consummately qualified, the students enthusiastic and dedicated.”

— Pam Muñoz Ryan, author of more than 40 books including Echo , the recipient of the Kirkus Prize and the Newbery Honor, Esperanza Rising , and Becoming Naomi Léon

Our students and alums have published with top children’s publishers including Scholastic, Candlewick and Simon and Schuster/Atheneum. They’ve won prestigious awards including the E.B. White Honor Book Award and the Nautilus Award. They’ve been named to top lists by ALA and Publishers Weekly; they’ve sold film rights and audiobook rights; they’ve developed successful careers as authors in the schools. And they are equipped to move into new territory if they like: some have published adult fiction, produced plays, and even won national screenwriting competitions.

MFA students who come to Spalding already having published a book may apply for an accelerated course of study.

Our spring and summer residencies are timed to work with teachers’ schedules.

“When I think back on my time at Spalding, here’s what I remember: The hotel where the program held their conference was exquisite, the Hot Brown sandwich was ambrosial, but the thing that really enamored me the most was the kindness and inquisitiveness of the brilliant student writers and teachers.”

— Kwame Alexander, Author of The Crossover , Newbery Medal Winner

Past visiting writers include:

• Newbery Medal winner Kwame Alexander ( The Crossover )
• National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson ( Brown Girl Dreaming )
• National Book Award finalist Randy Ribay ( Patron Saints of Nothing )
• Newbery Honor winner Pam Muñoz Ryan ( Esperanza Rising )
• Newbery Medal winner Jack Gantos ( Dead End in Norvelt )
• Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan ( Sarah, Plain and Tall )
• Newbery Medal winner Nancy Willard ( A Visit to William Blake’s Inn )
• Naomi Shihab Nye ( Sitti’s Secrets )
• Lisa Rowe Fraustino ( Ash )
• Donna Jo Napoli ( Stones in Water )
• Daniel Handler a.k.a Lemony Snicket ( A Series of Unfortunate Events )

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How to Apply

Children's literature: writing for children (mfa).

Please  visit the program page  to learn about curriculum, faculty, careers, and more! To request more information about this degree, please  fill out our form . Questions? Contact admissions via email or at 617-521-2915.

To get started on your application, click the link below:

• Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children Fall 2024

Fall 2024 applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis. Spring 2025 applications will become available by September 2024.

Please allow at least three business days for received documents to be reflected on your application status page.

To access the application, use a newer version of Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Users will not be able to access forms through Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8 on Windows XP.

Application Requirements

All candidates are required to submit the following materials:

• A completed application form. Be sure to review your completed form carefully and provide your electronic signature.
• Statement of purpose. In  no more  than 500 words, reflect on your personal writing process. Address your goals as a writer, your publishing history, and any works in progress.
• Writing Portfolio: 15-20 pages of creative work for children or young adults.
• Current résumé or C.V.
• Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate-level courses taken, including official transcripts from all study-abroad programs. *  Official transcripts can be mailed to the address below or emailed to  [email protected] . For transcripts to be official, they must come directly from your college/university or sent through a service such as National Student Clearinghouse or Parchment. There is no section in the application to upload transcripts because transcripts uploaded by the applicant are considered unofficial.
• Two academic or professional letters of recommendation. ​Applicants who have earned their bachelor's degree within the past five years must submit at least one academic recommendation. However, it is strongly recommended that all applicants submit two academic recommendations. Supplemental letters may be submitted to  [email protected] if desired. We do  not accept recommendations from those who have a personal relationship with you (such as family members, doctors, or clergy).
• A non-refundable application fee of $35
• Interview (strongly recommended). After your application has been submitted and all materials, including all of your transcripts, have been received, we will reach out to you to schedule your interview . Travel to Boston is not required; interviews are available via phone as well as in person.
• Upon admission, an International Student Supplement Form (ISSF), along with accompanying financial support documents.
• An official TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo score (Simmons' TOEFL code is 3761) - required only of applicants with a first language other than English; can be waived for applicants who hold a degree from a university where English was the primary language of instruction.

When mailing materials to our office, please be sure to use the exact mailing address below:

Simmons University Graduate Studies Admission 300 The Fenway Boston, MA 02115-5898

If you have any questions about your application, please do not hesitate to contact our office by phone at 617-521-2915 or by  email .

Application Deadlines

Fall (september).

• Priority Deadline: February 1
• Rolling admission after priority deadline.

Summer (for all applicable)

• Final Deadline: May 1

Spring (January)

• Priority Deadline: October 15

Simmons welcomes applications from international students. As you prepare your application for admission, please review both the program-specific admission requirements associated with your graduate program of interest, along with the additional details below:

English Language Proficiency

The faculty require that all prospective students for whom English is not the first language and who have not previously completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at an institution where English is the primary language of instruction achieve a satisfactory score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language® (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Test of English as a Foreign Language® (TOEFL) Simmons Code: 3761

Contact your nearest English language testing center or:

TOEFL® Educational Testing Service P.O. Box 6151 Princeton, NJ 08541-7100 USA Email: [email protected] Website: www.ets.org/toefl

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

Find your nearest testing center and upcoming test dates on the IELTS website: https://www.ielts.org

Information about the Duolingo English Test can be found by visiting their website .

Required Academic Records

Applicants are required to submit all post-secondary transcripts to be considered for admission (including schools where no degree or certificate was earned by the student). All transcripts need to be official (signed in original ink and stamped with a seal) academic records.

In order to ensure that all transcripts and applications are being evaluated accurately, we require non-US or Canadian transcripts to be evaluated by an organization that is a member of the  National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES)  such as  WES ,  The Evaluation Company , or  IEE . Evaluations should include English translations and U.S. equivalencies of all transcripts are required for  all  transcripts from colleges and universities outside the United States and Canada. Notarized translations, as well as photocopies or facsimiles are not acceptable. Evaluations must be sent directly from the evaluation service (not from the applicant). In the U.S., academic records or mark sheets are called "transcripts" (this is the term used throughout this web site).

Required Standardized Test Results

Please review carefully the program-specific admission requirements associated with your graduate program of interest. Some programs require the submission of official standardized test scores or proof of registration for one of the following standardized tests: Graduate Record Exam (GRE), Miller Analogies Test (MAT), or MTEL® (Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure). If test scores are required for your program, plan ahead to allow plenty of time to take the test and receive your scores. Further information about these tests can be found below:

Graduate Record Exam (GRE) Simmons Code: 3761

GRE, Educational Testing Service P.O. Box 6000 Princeton, NJ 08541-6000 USA Telephone: 609-771-7670 Website: www.gre.org

Miller Analogies Test (MAT) Simmons Code: 1226

Pearson MAT Customer Relations 19500 Bulverde Road, Ste. 201 San Antonio, Texas 78259 USA Telephone: 800-622-3231 Email: [email protected] Website: www.milleranalogies.com

Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure® (MTEL) Simmons Code: 44

Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure® Evaluation Systems Pearson P.O. Box 660 Amherst, MA 01004-9013 USA Telephone: 413-256-2892 Website: http://www.mtel.nesinc.com/

Applications for admission are accepted on a rolling basis until the relevant priority deadline:

Fall Semester (September) Master's, EdS, or Certificate Program: August 1

Doctoral Program: February 1

Spring Semester (January) Master's, EdS, or Certificate Program: December 15

Doctoral Program: September 1

Summer Semester (May) Master's, EdS, or Certificate Program: May 1

Doctoral Program : December 1

To ensure adequate time for review, international applicants are encouraged to submit all application materials at least two months in advance of the relevant application deadline listed above. Please allow ample time for the pace of international postal services, obtaining visa documents, arrival in the U.S., and transitioning to a new environment.

Application materials should be submitted using the exact address below. Please be sure to include "Graduate Studies Admission" in the address of any items submitted by mail to ensure receipt by our office.

Graduate Studies Admission Simmons University 300 The Fenway Boston, MA 02115-5898 USA

Required Financial Documentation

Upon acceptance, international students must also submit an International Student Supplement Form (ISSF) indicating the source(s) of funding to be used to meet the tuition and living expenses associated with attending Simmons. We ask that you apply to the program only if you are reasonably certain that you will be able to meet the financial obligations.

When you are preparing the International Student Supplement Form (ISSF) documentation, please arrange with your bank, sponsor, and/or government to provide an official statement indicating that you have sufficient funds in a bank for these educational expenses and/or that your tuition and expenses will be paid by your sponsor(s) or government. All documents must be no more than one year old, have been prepared specifically for Simmons University, be in English, and show funds in U.S. dollars ($). Simmons cannot issue a Form I-20 until the required financial documents have been received.

Visa Requirements and Full-Time Academic Status

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How to Write and Publish Children's Books

Creative Writing MFA Programs

Should I get an MFA in writing for children? The age-old question! I have been meaning to tackle creative writing MFA programs for longer than I’ve had the blog. Tons of writers have asked me: is it worth it to get an MFA? Does that catch your eye in a query? Is the actual curriculum going to take my writing to the next level?

My Experience in Creative Writing MFA Programs: A Caveat

As many of you know, I recently completed my MFA. Before I can speak about the MFA experience in general, I have to speak about my MFA experience, which was not altogether positive. I mean no disrespect to the hard-working directors, professors, advisers, and students at the University of San Francisco. However, I want to be truthful. And the truth is, I often felt like a pariah in my program on two counts: as a children’s writer and as a publishing industry insider.

First, there were a lot of people there (all writing serious adult fiction) who didn’t get children’s books. My first workshop started with someone saying: “Well, I never expected profundity from a children’s manuscript.” (There were a few genre writers in the program who, I think, got a bit of the same snobby treatment because they weren’t writing literary fiction.) Obviously, mine was not an MFA in writing for children, so take this with a grain of salt.

That’s fine, though. There’s a well-known bias against kidlit in adult literary circles and I don’t waste my time defending my profession to people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

Second, though, and more problematic, is that I worked in publishing and concerned myself with ideas of market and audience and sales hooks and all that unsavory business. I can’t help it. As an agent, saleability and hook is just how I think. People were very quick to brand me a corporate sellout. (The battle of business vs. art rages on in creative writing MFA programs, as you can imagine.) More on that later.

While I did have trouble fitting in, for the above reasons, I can say that I found workshop useful and that I met one of my dear mentors through the program. I also either started or finished several manuscripts over the course of the two-year MFA, and improved with each one. How much of this was the program and how much was it my growing experience in agenting and publishing? Hard to say. How much of it was the MFA and how much of it was my own writing habits? Also hard to say.

Are Creative Writing MFA Programs Worth It? It Depends On What You Want Out of It

One of my issues with creative writing MFA programs is that it seems like a lot of students go there and buy the scaffolding to allow themselves to finish a manuscript. I’m the opposite, and ridiculously self-driven. I’d written something like four manuscripts and gotten an agent before entering the program, so I couldn’t relate to the majority of students who seemed to be there to finish a book for the first time in their lives.

A lot of people work well under pressure or deadline, and most of my peers seemed to be paying for the experience of a structured, two-year plan to finish. If you’re having problems executing a book, this might actually be the perfect fit for you: a completed manuscript is the “thesis” of most creative writing MFA programs, it’s a graduation requirement.

Another issue is that the professors and directors treat the MFA as an artistic cocoon. Writers are there to write and think about art and craft (which is great, don’t get me wrong), but the program doesn’t teach the industry or the business…you know, all the stuff that, ideally, happens after you finish your magnum opus.

I think it’s perfectly fair to focus on the gestation of the manuscript during the MFA, but the truth is, the publishing industry exists, and it’s a business. And no matter how much (the majority of) the students rant and rave against traditional publication, I know most of them are interested in actually getting their work published, paid for, and read widely.

Do You Want a Creative Focus or a Practical Focus?

Some creative writing MFA programs are great about informing their students of the ins and outs of the publishing process. Mine was not. Not only is industry talk relegated to one dreary afternoon — the “Life After the MFA” workshop — but it’s actually frowned upon in the classroom and socially. I asked one of my advisers, point blank: “How many of our alums actually get their books published?” She frowned and said: “Not many.”

Nobody is going to pay back their student loans with their contributor’s copies from the Small Time Literary Review (the only payment you get from most journals and magazines), but a lot of MFA students act as if this is the right and noble thing to do. The tortured/starving/pissed-off artisté cliche is alive and well. Lots of MFA alums, even in MFA in writing for children programs, have told me that the exact same vibe exists across the country. There are some more practical programs. If this is your mindset, you’ve been warned, and you’d do well to find one of those.

How Much Support to Expect From An MFA Program

My beef with MFA programs isn’t really what happens during them — all that focus on craft and writing is a beautiful thing — but what happens after. There’s precious little information about publishing to guide your next steps, and not a lot of empathy for those dreaming of publication with a big house. A lot of students in my program actually come back and audit classes after graduation to feel the community of the MFA again, since it’s the first time they’ve had a critique group or felt like a real writer.

The same students who need a MFA program to finish a book are also relying on their MFA program to be their only workshop opportunity, their legitimacy. And that’s an expensive way to learn how to write a manuscript (some advice on how to finish writing a novel here). Last I checked, anyone can form a critique group, it’s just a matter of initiative and a little elbow grease to find the right people. I was in a critique group before and after my creative writing MFA, so the idea of workshop wasn’t totally revolutionary to me, either.

But if MFA programs had to start tallying up their publication stats — much like undergraduate universities advertise their job placement percentages for recent grads — a lot of them would be in trouble. Because for most programs, the stats aren’t good. The truth is, an MFA does not guarantee publication, because nobody and nothing in life (except worldwide celebrity) can guarantee a book deal. So MFA faculty and directors have taken the focus entirely off publication and put it on the writing journey.

If Your Goal is Writing, Go For It. If Your Goal Is Publication, You May Want To Look Elsewhere…

That way, the MFA process itself is fulfilling because there’s not quantifiable end goal. There’s no pressure. I totally get where the MFA programs are coming from with this. But I still think it’s detrimental to the writers, who now have two years of fuzzy writerly feelings and no idea what to do next.

To tell you the whole, honest truth: seeing that you have an MFA in a query letter doesn’t really impress me, unless you went to a really high-profile school. I’ve read the writing coming out of my MFA program and some of the work from second year students wasn’t much better than what I see from rank beginners in my slush. I’m not trying to be mean, at all. But I judge writing professionally, every day, and most of the work I saw wouldn’t pass muster.

I do wonder if I would’ve had the same experience if I’d gone to a program specifically targeted to children’s writers. If I could go back in time, I’d probably apply to Vermont ( website ). There are other programs that have MFA in writing for children programs. Hamline ( website ), Simmons ( website ) and the New School ( website ) come to mind.

Decide What You Want, Then Decide If a Program Fits

Though, to be honest, I don’t know if I’d get a creative writing MFA if I had it to do all over. I’m not sure the whole experience — the nitty gritty writing mixed with the high-brow attitude — is a fit for me, as a person.

At the end of the day, I think I’ve learned so much more about writing by simply working in the industry than I ever did in the classroom. I also learned a whole lot by reading, and not just the same old short stories that seem to be part of every writing curriculum. I mean reading in my chosen genre, thousands and thousands of books above and beyond what I was assigned, because that’s just what I do.

My approach (work in publishing, become an agent, read thousands of books) isn’t realistic for everyone, but since I started in publishing at the same time that I started my MFA, I can’t tell which influence is really responsible for what I know now. I am a better writer than I was two years ago (in all my spare time — ha!), but I think that came from a wide mix of experiences, not the least of which is putting my butt in the seat and actually, you know, writing .

If I was running my own program — and several agents and I have discussed this fantasy because we get frustrated with the output from today’s MFA programs — I’d run a mix of MFA and MBA, much like suggested in this cheeky little article .

As a freelance novel editor , I have actually been called a “one-woman MFA program.” Kim’s words, not mine. If you’re looking for that comprehensive novel focus without going back to school, hire me.

55 Replies to “Creative Writing MFA Programs”

Great article. I’ve been investigating education in order to look into doing freelance editing. . . So I’ve come across the MFA a few times. Thank you for your article. Love your honesty!

What a great article. I also love your honesty. I tweeted this, but I’ll also stick the link here. My favorite answer to the MFA question is always this amazing poem by Marge Piercy: http://bit.ly/5rmE9a

This was an informative trip through the MFA experience. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing. Ideally, I would love to have the opportunity to earn an MFA. The reality is, I come from the schools of OJT and Hard Knocks, and will probably never again have a chance to enroll in the program. But after 15 years in the military, an MA and an MS, I wouldn’t trade my life experiences for the opportunity. The generous online community of publishing professionals continue to add to my writer’s toolbox. Give me a couple of years to break through and I’ll let you know if all that works. I may find myself jumping in line for an MFA.

I’ve been looking into some programs as well. I didn’t want to do a full MFA program, so I’ve been considering taking a course at the Institute for Childrens Lit.

Have you heard about this program? Would it be worth it or should I just spend the time doing a full MFA?

http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/

I liked this comment from the article you linked to: “Is there a sort of shame in Academia that goes along with getting paid to write? Is the act of writing less pure if you are rewarded with readers and money?”

I can’t help but wonder if those in academia soon learned they had no audience, got bitter about the fact that no one cared about their Very Important Work, and so had to turn the idea of not getting published or paid into a cause in order to feel better about reality. Just a theory.

Thanks for the honest evaluation, Mary! I can tell I would not enjoy being a part of that type of writer community. The kidlit world is so much more supportive that I’m not sure I could stomach the pretentiousness elsewhere.

I like what I hear about Vermont and Hamline. Let me know if you ever hear anything about the University of British Columbia’s program. I’ve noticed they teach a children’s lit and an editing/publishing class from time to time. I agree I would probably fit in better in a program dedicated exclusively to children’s literature, but UBC has me curious because the residency is optional.

Thanks for your thoughts, your trademark frankness, and for the links to the MFA programs. Your insider knowledge and perspective are priceless. I’m so glad you choose to share them.

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Thank you for answering a nagging question that’s be haunting me daily. As an aspiring author with no formal training, I couldn’t help but wonder should I head down the MFA road. Your insight certainly helps in determining what’s best for me. I had narrowed my considerations to programs that had a focus on kidlit, and specifically Vermont and UCLA’s extension program (which offers a certificate program and can be done online). Your insight is certainly more valuable than any brochure or information session wooing me with the promise of a literary utopia. On behalf of aspiring authors desperately seeking answers everywhere, THANKS!

An MFA combined with an MBA sounds like a brilliant program! My university English department was bad enough as far as high-brow literary elitism. It was such a turn-off I switched to psychology. There’s a LOT more to being a writer than perfect prose. Thanks, as always, for pulling back the wool. Until there’s such a program, all we can do is self-educate!

This is such a timely post for me. I was just talking yesterday to my boss about going back to school for an MFA. Very interesting perspective, thanks!

I totally got this post! I attended my first writer’s conference last winter. In the first read and critique session, the writer’s were asked to state their genre and education level. Most had MFA’s and wrote literary fiction and I found myself the only one who answered, “Young Adult. No MFA.” I caught the haughty looks and eye rolls.

As we went around the room and read our first five pages, I was struck by how beautifully crafted the writing sounded but for the most part their stories lacked voice and soul, and how much alike they sounded in their quest to impress each other. My intimidation lessened after each read. I can truly say, I didn’t hear a single publish-worthy piece.

I learned a valuable lesson in that session. Sometimes the disciplined novice who dives in and writes from the heart is better off staying away from these programs and learning the craft part on their own from the many resources available. The big question is, can you learn voice and soul in these programs?

Brilliantly written! Hooray for your thoughtful honesty. That these programs don’t teach the business of writing is a tragedy. The goal of an education is to help further your career. These programs aren’t cheap and yet you are not taught how to recoup that investment. I’ve met with MFA grads who didn’t even know what a query letter was. I was floored (and sad for them).

Thank you to AS for the tweet and the link. This was well worth the read! I’ll be passing it along.

THANK YOU! This answered so many of my questions! I’ve been throwing the MFA idea back and forth and wondering if it’s worth it. This post was very helpful in telling me what actually is accomplished through an MFA. Thanks!

I am not at all “literary.” My degree is in French and Spanish, and they made us study “Siglo de Oro” (Golden Age) literature in Spanish. My thought every class was, why on Earth would anyone want to write just to write beautifully, without any particular meaning. For me, writing’s about saying something. If I wanted pretty pictures, I’d go to an art gallery.

Since I’ve started taking my writing seriously, I’ve worried I wouldn’t fit in at most MFA’s. Vermont is actually one of my favourite programs to daydream about. Children’s Writing AND translation. Le sigh!

As a recent graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, I can assure you that there is a HUGE difference in programs that are tailored to teaching the craft of writing for children and young adults. There is no elitism there; there are as many people who are interested in learning how to craft a brilliant picture book as there are in writing young adult contemporary novels.

Quite frankly, I have told many people that the decision to attend VCFA was the second-best decision I have ever made (the first one was marrying my husband). While an MFA from VCFA doesn’t assure publication, I honestly feel what I learned in my two years there would have taken me a dozen years to learn on my own. I was mentored by generous and talented women and men–all of whom have won or were nominated for prestigious awards including the Newbery, the National Book Award, and the Governors’ General Award. While that recognition gives validation to their writing, they were all talented teachers as well. I will be forever grateful to them for what they taught me, both directly on my manuscripts, and indirectly, through their own writings.

And while there is the same emphasis on teaching craft at VCFA (rather than the business side of publishing), there is also a large network of well-published alumni, who are gracious about sharing their experiences and knowledge post-graduation.

While entering an MFA program is not for everyone, I highly suggest looking into Vermont College if you are considering MFAs.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m sorry that your MFA experience was mixed. I agree that an MFA isn’t a prerequisite for publication. My educational background (and student debt) is in law and journalism, and both have been a blessing to me in writing fiction as well as navigating publishing.

Thanks for mentioning the VCFA program! With the disclaimer that I’m no official spokesperson, I’d like to add that writing for young readers is our enthusiastic focus. Those of us who teach are actively and successfully publishing for young readers. We are bestsellers and award winners. We’re teaching because we love it and care about our students and their work.

No degree program can guarantee success in a given field (and definitions of “success” vary wildly), but a remarkable number of our graduates go on to publish. Others are well published when they arrive and seek to take their craft to the next level or try a format new to them (such as picture book writers who want to dive into writing novels).

The program is structured to each individual’s needs. For example, they all are expected to read broadly and in a way that informs their work, but every graduate’s final bibliography will be unique.

Moreover, our graduates make up one of the most congenial and active networks in the youth publishing.

All that said, I don’t consider it my principle task to babysit anyone through crafting a manuscript. As you say, they can do that on their own. Rather, I hope to contribute to their craft development, helping them build and further develop skills that will serve them over a writing lifetime.

Mary, Thanks for the great post. I actually did the MFA at Vermont, and really did love it. I learned so much and I know it took my writing to a new level.It probably rank as two of my best years. I will always covet those years. However, I totally agree with you on your beef about what comes next. Other than a quick afternoon of what to do next, we were given a piece of paper, a pat on the back and told good luck out there in the big bad world. For some of us they were already for publishing, too many were quickly disheartened that two years of hard work didn’t net better result and for some of us we walked away with a profound feeling that there was a ton more to learn, and yes, I was in the last category. I think what everyone should remember when taking an MFA if you are open to the process it will take your level to the next level, but it is just a step on a journey and you got to keep working for that next step. There is always a ton more to learn.

I’m shocked MFA programs (or at least the one you attended) don’t focus more on the business side of things. People who get degrees in other artistic fields – like interior design, for instance – spend close to half their time in business-related classes, because when all is said and done, that’s what they’ll be doing: running a business.

Same with writing. I suppose if all you’re interested in doing is living in a dingy apartment with nothing but a desk and a typewriter and living off second-rate booze, you won’t need the business sense. But I have yet to meet a writer who had no goal to publish.

Heh, I’m not cool enough to hang with the MFA crowd, but I have friends with MBAs who will point-blank say, don’t waste your time getting one if you want to start your own business. Same sort of thing. Real-world applications, what?

I love college, but, with a lot of (if not most) degrees, I think it’s something you do to enrich yourself as a person, not necessarily a means to an ends. (Especially at the price of tuition these days. Starting your life 100,000k in the hole is a pretty big impediment.)

Wow! What a post. Glad to hear from an insider. After careful consideration, I’ve chosen to pursue a masters in CW simply because I love to write. However, I must admit that in recent weeks I’ve explored other options. Public Admin. because I’m in that industry. I looked into masters for being a reading specialist in ed. I was really torn over the decision. A masters in any of those will help me move up and on, maybe. The CW masters will allow me to pursue teaching in college, I think. Not too concerned with it at the moment. I found a small school that seems to really fit me right now. And I’m really looking forward to it. Not for putting it on a query letter or anything like that. I just want to keep learning and pursuing this stuff/writing with quality feedback. I believe each of us has to run our own race. Find your own path in life. What works for one may not work for another and vice versa! Follow your heart and trust your instincts and keep moving forward. Thanks for your thoughts on MFA. I remember discussing this with you in June at the NJ conference. I haven’t forgotten that what I right is not your thing. I just check in to your blog ’cause I enjoy the info. and your thoughts on the topics.

A great post, and so honest. I just finished my MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University (UK). Like some of the Vermonters, I have to say the program was one of the best things I ever did with my life. But I hear some of your comments, especially about people using the course’s structure to force them to complete a novel. As someone more dedicated to writing, that was frustrating at times. Also, the people in my program used to laugh at our adult creative writing counterparts–they seemed so literary and so unhappy! However, my program was truly focused on good writing, literary or not. Publication was also emphasized quite a bit. We had a semester long class taught by an industry professional (a children’s lit book scout). And even though the program has only been running for just over five years, Bath Spa very much brags about their publishing track record.

I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I can easily imagine it. But there are amazing programs out there.

Ugh! I know. I just took my first pre-req class for the MFA ( I graduated with an accounting degree ) and the professor asked me what book I was reading. I told her I was reading Nicholas Sparks. I thought she was going to spit on me, kick me out, or slap me across the face. She replied she would never read the garbage on the top sellers list. I stifled a laugh. Some people just don’t get it. Who cares if you right a hundred stories you find great. Who are you reaching with your writing? No one. I have only taken one class and I dread showing up every week. It is awful, but I promised my dad I’d get my masters. I pray this will be worth all the frustration.

Thanks for sharing. I needed to know I’m not the only one screaming inside at professors that walk around with their nose in the air.

THANK YOU for this. i applied to a handful of MFA programs last year, and was only accepted to one. that one did not offer funding, so i didn’t accept. a year after applying, i have adapted a novel from an 8-page story i submitted with my applications and can’t imagine not working on this project, which i absolutely adore, even through these mind-numbing revisions. 🙂

i struggled for a while over whether or not to reapply this year, but i’m glad i didn’t. while i still love the idea of an MFA with all that time to read and write and gain built-in critique partners, i don’t think it’s for me. i also had concerns about children’s lit not being taken seriously. like you, i’m pretty self-driven and have learned SO much simply through reading and writing. and friends who have been through MFA programs haven’t exactly given them a glowing recommendation, which was another thing to think about. but that is not to say i think the MFA is a bad idea, because i don’t think that at all. i think it can be really great – i just don’t think it’s for everyone.

Thank you! You just saved me $25,000! I actually applied and was accepted for an MA in Creative Writing four years ago (I couldn’t afford an MFA program at the time) but when I got pregnant with baby #5, I declined admission. I’ve been pining after that coveted higher degree ever since. I really, really wanted the MFA! But the money! Argh!

I already have my first book deal. I have nine other completed manuscripts (I know! I know! How do I find the time to write with 5 kids???) I don’t have an agent yet, but I haven’t really looked very hard.

What I basically got from your blog is that I’d be wasting a lot of time and money on an MFA. I am not into artsy fartsy “literary” writing (or in other words writing for sake of writing.) I want to be published! And someday down the road I’d actually like to make a profit doing it.

So I thank you from the bottom of my wallet. And I’m sure my husband, who would have had to pay for my education, will thank you, too! Love your blog! BTW – Hope you don’t mind, I put a link to your blog on my new site. You’re one of my favs. (Can 40+ year old mothers of 5 say that?)

Oh my goodness it’s like you have been eavesdropping on my conversations throughout and after my undergrad – about why I hated creative writing majors (I was one) and why I did not want to get my MFA. By the way, I’m fairly new, but I absolutely love this blog.

I had been considering an MFA not because I need the structure to finish a manuscript, but because I want to become a better writer. But when I visited MFA program websites I kind of got the same vibe you discussed here. I’ll guess I’ll just keep reading and writing and the improvement will come in time.

I have wondered whether the MFA is a necessity to get published. It’s nice to hear that it doesn’t have to be. I spent 6 years in college (completely different fields) and while I did learn a lot, I definitely did notT learn how to really judge my own work or to promote it — you have to have skin in the game to do that! I hear that Mountain Dew ad in my head now, too. Thanks for the post.

Celebrity status is a sure-fire way to get published?! And it’s taken you this long to mention this? All I need is some J-cup fun bags and to sleep with a famous golfer/footballer…

Seriously, though, this was a REALLY interesting article. I’d wondered myself about MFAs and this echoes what I’ve heard other people say. I love that you’re willing to say things that might p*ss people off.

Uhh…the MFA/MBA combo is actually a fabulous idea. I can actually see the value in that. I think what MFA programs need to realize is that they need to offer writers something they can’t get anywhere else. I attended a workshop for Hamline University, and while I was impressed with their staff and the workshop was enjoyable, they did not convince me that it would be worth 30k. I asked one of the faculty “What can I get from this program that I can’t get in any other way?” She tripped over her words a little, “It really jump starts you…There are so many things you can learn much quicker that might take you years of making mistakes.” Well maybe, maybe not, but either way, a “jump start” is not worth that much cash.

My husband has an MBA from a top five school. Whoop-dee-doo, even he admits that he didn’t learn much that anyone can’t learn in the real world. What you pay for in B-school is networking, access to jobs and companies and recruiters who only search for employees at these business school. More than half of his time in B-school was spent networking because everyone knows that in business it’s not so much about what you know, but who you know. MFA programs could take a lesson from this. The programs should have, not just one or two, but dozens of networking events with industry professionals, critique sessions with agents and editors, real valuable time that other writers would kill for. If publishing is a business like any other, then after you’ve become a great writer, it’s helpful to have a few connections. I know in the end it’s all about the writing, but what does it matter if you can’t get anyone in the industry to read it?

Thank you for being so honest about your experience. I have considered an MFA from time to time and ultimately have decided against it. I think it is like you said, an opportunity to finish a book and be in workshop. I’ve done those things for much less moolah.

You have certainly answered my questions. My writing has improved greatly just by continuing to write and attending writer conferences and workshops (your Learning Annex class being one of them!). Thanks so much for a much needed and well parsed post.

I did the same course as Anne above – the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa. It sounds as though it is the course the person in your link is looking for! 50/50 craft and business. We did practice query letters, we discussed what different imprints specialise in, we met visiting agents/editors/authors who were all expected to sit in the pub with us after the lecture and give us further insights. Would I have been published without the course? Maybe, but I do think it gave me a fast-track.

I think that whether or not we go the MFA route, the most important thing is still read a lot, write a lot .

Thanks for this interesting post. 🙂

PS… and learn about the publishing industry! I can’t imagine being on this journey sans equipping myself with knowledge about how the industry works.

Love your honesty and really appreciate this post. I have been wondering for a while if that kind of an education would really be worth while, considering the cost. But after reading your post I know I couldn’t deal with the snobbery of it all anyway.

I appreciate your honest view.

I was told by a MFA mature student ‘friend’, that I cannot call myself a writer because I am not qualified. She has yet to complete a novel. I have finished one adult, one children’s and am in the middle of two others that compliment them. Agreed, I am not published, but I have written them.

Both of us would have to go through edits and travel the road, Hope to be Published. The difference will be the initials after our names. Mine would be ITHADIMW (I Tried Hard And Did It My Way), and hers would be IAQ (I Am Qualified). *smile*

Seriously, the platform building and marketing are a HUGE part of writing life nowadays. I would have thought it ought be part of the curriculum.

Interesting post.

Ugh…I felt the same frustration with my Fine Arts program…I was looked down upon by the majority of faculty and students because of my goal of becoming an illustrator. They were all about the process, not the end product, and it seemed like so much pretentious, elitist bs to me.

I also write, and I’m glad to know that not having an MFA on my query letter doesn’t say lack of commitment to my craft. I’ve learned so much from hangin’ with other writers, having an awesome crit group, reading as much as I can, and of course, following Mary’s blog!!

Great post, Mary!!

I have heard this over and over again, and had the same experience in achieving my BA in CW. We had one tiny mention of publishing at the end of our thesis class. I knew more than my profs on the subject. However I disagree that “There’s precious little information about publishing to guide your next steps, and not a lot of empathy for those dreaming of publication with a big house.” The Internet makes this completely untrue. There are writing communities online even for snooty post-MFA-style writers, and the wealth of info on how to sub is invaluable.

There are no good excuses anymore.

While I agree with Mary’s concerns about MFA programs in general, I did the MFA in Children’s Lit at Hollins University down in Roanoke, VA, and it has some real strengths. First, it is a summer residential program (6 weeks each summer for 3 summers). You just go down an absolutely bury yourself in Kid Lit for six weeks with other people who love Kid Lit. Really, really fun. Second, it is pure Kid Lit program, so you don’t encounter any snootiness. Third, it has a writing and an academic thread, so even as a writer, you take a lot of “study of children’s lit” classes, which I loved, and thought were really helpful for realizing just where kid lit came from, where it is now, and where it is going (and where I fit in). I agree that it could have done more practical/professional coaching, but there was never any sense that “one should not soil one’s mind with those considerations right now.” People just didn’t take themselves that seriously. Essential for me as a writer? Absolutely not. Fun and inspiring and useful? Yes. If you have the time and means, look into it, but don’t think you are handicapped if you don’t.

An MFA is, and really always has been, a luxury product — you’ll never get your money out of it. My profs always told me point blank I couldn’t hope to get a job with the degree (it was an MA in Creative Writing, back then), and I took them at their word. Still, there are good things to be said for having two full years to do nothing but stare out a window, dream, write, and think about literature with no distractions (it really IS an ivory tower). I remember that period as incredibly intense and exciting, but practical? Real world? Hardly.

As I read your post, I thought over and over, “Wow, that’s not my experience.” My MFA experience was great. Like Ginger said, it was the second best decision of my life. I am a nurse who wrote for a hobby. I always wanted to be a better writer. Thanks to my MFA, I am a better writer. Like Ginger, I went to Vermont College of Fine Arts.

I’m not published yet, but when I do get published, I will have VC and all of its people to thank for it. Not only did they teach me about the craft, but they provided friendship, support, and continuing opportunities to network within the industry to get published. Editors and agents tell alums they will read our works simply based on the fact that we graduated from Vermont College. My VC classmates and friends support me in my endeavors more than any writing group ever could (no offense to my writing group friends–it’s just a different kind of relationship). My MFA provided me with a whole lot more than a chance to finish a manuscript and be in a workshop. It changed my writing and it changed my life.

The decision to get an MFA in creative writing isn’t an easy one to make. You have to weigh in so many factors–can you dedicate the time and money that you need to your education? What do you want to do with your degree when you are finished? (Many VC alums teach with their degrees.) There are many other personal factors to consider as well. In the end, for me, I took a chance and committed myself to the program, and it was one of the best decisions of my life.

I can’t speak to the other programs–I only know Vermont’s program. If you’re interested in working with highly renowned authors and top-notch teachers, if you’re interested in meeting other people as dedicated to learning about writing for children and young adults as you are, and if you want to part of a community that will embrace and support you through the rest of your writing career, check out VCFA. It’s worth it.

I’m in an MFA program, and I’m finding that I’m way more experienced than everyone else. I’ve written upwards of ten novels (most of them are trunk novels, but great practice) and just seems bizarre to me that most of the people in my program have maybe one or two. It just makes me think, they’re writers, why aren’t they writing like crazy like I always have?!

Can agents PLEASE make that program?!!! I’ve always wanted a MBA and MFA…this would make all my dreams come true. 😀

I’m feeling slightly smug that my suspicions of an MFA are true…(garnered from my interactions with open houses and MFA graduates)

But yes, you guys would make bank with an MFA/MBA…just sayin’

Thank you for the great post. I’m also sorry to hear that you had some bad experiences with your MFA program. I spent four years researching and debating whether I * needed * an MFA. What tipped the scales was visiting Vermont College for its special weekend dedicated to edgy writing for kids (from picture books through YA). There was magic in that room, and I knew immediately that I had to be part of it.

Although I’m still paying off my MFA loans (I graduated in 2006) and will be for many years, the experience was one I wouldn’t trade for anything. I think there are many importance differences between what Vermont offers and a traditional MFA program.

First, Vermont offers a low-residency program, which means that students visit the campus for about 11 days each semester, using that time for lectures, workshops, readings and building community. The rest of the six-month semester is spent at home, working one-on-one with a publishing author who also happens to be an incredible teacher. This structure is more attuned to a regular “working writer’s” schedule. In fact, the program is designed to allow working people to participate. (I worked while earning my degree and also have a family.)

The other special component, of course, is the focus on writing specifically for children and teens. I’m proud that Vermont was the first university in the US to offer this kind of program. Many have followed, including Hamline University in St. Paul. I was able to serve as a graduate assistant at its first residency in January 2007 and it is a great program (started by some teachers who were involved in the Vermont program).

I feel sad that some here have commented that people with MFAs are haughty and look down at others. I can say that I don’t feel 1) I’m better than anybody because I have an MFA or 2) that you have to have an MFA to be published.

Still, I spent so much time, money and effort to get an MFA because I wanted to immerse myself in learning to write for young people. I wanted to experiment, make mistakes and grow as a writer. Reading and writing under the guidance of such a smart, fun and loving community changed my writing–but it also changed my life.

I agree that more should be done to teach MFA students about the business side of publishing, but there are also many resources online and elsewhere that offer that kind of information.

This post really resonated with me. I’m a YA writer in a traditional (albeit low-residency) MFA program. During my first year, I got in a somewhat heated e-mail debate with my (amazing) mentor about the merits of “commercial” versus “literary” fiction. (My take: Isn’t the ideal both literary and commercial? His take: That’s nearly impossible.) While there’s definitely been some skepticism about the genre of my YA novels, most writers have come around once they read the work; in fact, I see myself as a sort of ambassador to the ivory-tower literary types about the awesomeness of the YA world.

That said, I’m a teacher, and I’m required to take classes to keep up my certificate. There are easier ways of doing this than pursuing and MFA, but I’m enjoying the work (work I was doing anyway, writing novels and reading like crazy), and it’s nice to have that practical professional purpose as well. I didn’t need the program to write–I had several desk-drawer manuscripts before I even started–but it does help clear need-to-write time. I’ve found it’s much easier to tell people I can’t do something because I have “homework” than because I want to read or work on my novel. I wish we didn’t live in a world where the necessity of homework is more understandable than the necessity of art, but for the most part we do. I agree with everything in this post, but I will add this: the MFA is one of the few places where people have permission to do something that, yes, may have no practical purpose in the world (writing a whole bunch of stuff that likely won’t ever reach the public eye). It’s kind of a leap of faith. But isn’t that what writing is too?

I’m still thinking about this post and responses. I wanted to add a couple of things:

1. Mary, I think your idea of having MFA programs publish their “placement” stats is a good idea. How many students are published 5 years after graduation? 10 years?

I’ve been able to teach writing at two universities because of my MFA. Sadly, I could have probably earned more PER HOUR working at Mickey D’s. (Also, sadly, I do not have the proper degree to be a substitute teacher in my local schools…although it’s different for friends in other states.) With nationwide budget cuts, there are fewer and fewer full-time or tenure-track college teaching positions available. (I also found it very difficult to keep up with my novel-writing when I was teaching full-time, but some people can do it.) However, it would be good for MFA programs to report these stats, too. Or even, where are the grads? Publishing? Teaching? Editing? Freelancing, etc.

2. The other point I wanted to add was whether having an MFA means anything to an agent or editor. If I were an editor or agent, an MFA mention would mean to me that the querier was serious about her writing and a writing career. In this imaginary position, would I sign a writer who had an MFA but a terrible story idea and poor writing? Of course not. The writing and the story are what matter. The MFA is one way to seriously commit to improving your writing. Other people make that serious commitment on their own, without the support of a program, and that’s fine.

I’ll say this: I know lots of published kid lit writers: Some with MFAs, some without. All of them worked hard to improve their craft and story-telling skills. There’s no free ride for anybody. For me, an MFA was a tool to getting to where I want to go, and that was a gift to myself.

Thanks so much for posting this. I encountered a lot of this “kidlit is sub-par” attitude during my undergraduate work.

My fiance directed me to an article about children’s/YA MFA programs, fortunately, though, and I’m starting at VCFA in January. I can’t wait! I think it’s so important to be around people who value your writing. Whether or not they write the same thing is usually immaterial, but if I’d ended up going to a “literary” MFA program, I know I would’ve been snubbed.

Again, thanks for sharing your experience!

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Thanks so much for this piece! I’ve always wanted to teach writing, but everyone requires MFA’s, so every so often I toy with the idea of getting one. I’m usually stopped by the cost, combined with the true lack of fab salaries for instructors. But another thing that stops me is, frankly, the curriculum.

Writing, discussing writing, critiquing writing…it’s what I do every day in my life as a full-time author. I pulled together an amazing writing group, the Rebel Writers…we’re all novelists and have met for 10 years now. And I’m also fortunate to have developed a wide-ranging bunch of author friends who are my go-to people when I’m stuck, or just need someone writerly to hang with. And, like you, I’m self-motivated to finish what I start. But still, I wish I could teach some day. Sigh. The answer for me seems to be offering writing workshops directly to aspiring authors, avoiding colleges and universities completely. Turns out, that’s not so hard to do! Just find a space to meet, make up that flier, and go for it. It’s a great option for a published author, and I’m now finding this fun and rewarding.

I so agree with you about the whole business side of things. Maybe back in the 80’s we could focus on our art and leave the biz to our publishers and agents, but these days? You’d better know how to pitch, and position yourself and MARKET. I wish they’d now teach that stuff not only at the MFA but at the BA level. It’s now as essential as voice and character development.

Excellent perspective on your experience. Thanks for sharing, Mary?

Thank you so much for posting this! I’ve been trying to figure out whether an MFA program would be a good avenue for me (like you, I’m self motivated and don’t have a problem getting my butt in a chair and finishing a novel). I write YA and am looking into Vermont but I shudder at the thought of racking up more student loans. It’s good to hear an insider’s perspective on how much clout an MFA carries in the publishing world –which, apparently, isn’t much. I guess the hardest part is deciding whether I can improve as much as I’d like to just from reading fiction and reading craft books.

Either way –you’ve given me a lot to think about. Thankees!

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Thank you for being so frank. I’m currently-as in just this week-debating whether or not I want to go for an MFA. I am currently a senior Communication: Mass Media & English: Creative Writing major, and on track to graduate this spring. I never considered an MFA because I couldn’t afford to take out more loans, but I found fully funded MFA programs to apply for. I ran an this past my creative writing advisor. She expressed the same concerns-just for me getting in too-because I am a young adult writer and I don’t see myself wanting to come out of that genre. She told me an MFA wasn’t necessary, I had already completed a novel manuscript in three months. However, if I were to look for a program, I should look for genre based programs. You’d be happy to know that in an undergraduate, semester pioneer novel writing workshop, the young adult genre was welcome and they also taught us about query letters and finding agents. What’s your advice to a soon to be graduate, who has already written a novel, editing, and hoping to get published someday? Should I enter the work field? My old plan was to get an internship at a publishing house. Should I work a regular job, and hope I can get my novel published? Or pursue an MFA to better my writing skills?

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More Children’s and YA Writing M.F.A. Programs: M.F.A. Update Fall 2014

Aspiring authors of children’s lit (YA, middle grade, and picture books) have far fewer choices when it comes to graduate work than their counterparts in the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry genres. In addition to Simmons College, which is the big player in the field of children's writing M.F.A.s , here are quick looks at a few of the other top choices.

Vermont College of Fine Arts

Vermont College of Fine Arts was the first college in the country to offer an M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults. The program was founded in 1997, and has since graduated New York Times –bestselling authors, National Book Award finalists, and Newbery and Caldecott medal winners. The two-year low-residency program combines 10-day intensive residencies on campus with six-month semesters of self-directed study, during which students work closely with a faculty mentor on a project of their own design. The faculty to student ratio is 5:1, and perhaps because the program is low-residency, VCFA has a diverse and impressive list of writers on staff—including M.T. Anderson and Matt de la Peña. In addition to merit—and need-based scholarships, VCFA offers a number of additional awards to help supplement tuition fees.

The New School

Writing for children is one of four concentrations offered by the New School’s M.F.A. program. Unlike many of the programs profiled here, the New School’s is a two-year full-time residency program that requires students to live and study in New York City. Students must complete 36 credits to graduate; courses are composed of literature seminars, writing workshops, and the Writer’s Life Colloquium, which requires students to engage with New York City’s vibrant literary community. The New School’s writing program also runs a first-rate reading series, orchestrates networking opportunities, and has an extensive web of successful alumni. Recent publications from alumni of the writing for children M.F.A. include Corey Ann Haydu’s Life by Committee , and David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing .

Hollins University

Unlike the Hollins University M.F.A. program for writers of adult literature, the M.A. and M.F.A. programs in children’s/young adult literature are summer-based. “Our summer structure is particularly designed to accommodate students who have full-time jobs and cannot take a year or two off to complete a degree,” says Amanda Cockrell, the program director. “It also lets us draw faculty from institutions all over the country to teach for us, as well as working writers who could not commit to a longer program.” Graduate students complete this unique course of study over three to five summers, during which they spend a month on the Hollins campus in Roanoke, Va., attending lectures by visiting writers like Alison Lurie and Nancy Willard. In addition to the M.F.A. in children’s literature, Hollins also offers a certificate in children’s book illustration.

Spalding University

Like many M.F.A. programs in writing for children and young adults, Spalding’s is two years and low-residency, featuring the signature 10-day on-campus intensives. But Spalding offers the option of traveling not just to Louisville, Ky., to study craft with first-rate writers of children’s lit and the program cohort—but to cities abroad, including Athens, Rome, and Paris. Admission is competitive, and Spalding has consistently been ranked as a top 10 low-residency program by Poets & Writers —to sweeten the deal, students can also enjoy visiting lectures by such luminaries as Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) and Naomi Shihab Nye.

Pine Manor College

Pine Manor College launched the Solstice Low-Residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2006; writing for children and young adults was one of the four concentrations originally offered, along with poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Founding director Meg Kearney, who writes poetry as well as literature for children and teens, says that she couldn’t imagine starting an M.F.A. program that doesn’t offer a focus on young people’s literature. The program involves five 10-day residencies spread across two years of study, and cross-genre work is encouraged. The children’s and YA track is the second most popular genre at Pine Manor, after fiction. Kearney describes it as “sub-cross-genre,” meaning that students in the children’s lit track can work on picture books and middle-grade fiction, for example, and that a workshop might be composed of students working on projects targeted toward different age groups.

Hamline University

Graduate students enrolled in Hamline’s two-year low-residency M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults visit the St. Paul, Minn., campus twice a year for 11-day intensives, combining that work with snail mail and email correspondence with faculty and peers throughout the rest of the year. The curriculum offers a holistic approach to the writing of children’s and YA literature, including coursework on the business of publishing, the writing process, and the writer’s life, as well as elements of craft and form, and the history of writing for children. Residencies are structured around topics like setting, plot, and theme/vision, and students are encouraged to pursue their specific interests during their individualized study away from campus. Faculty includes standouts like Gene Luen Yang and Liza Ketchum; alumni have been published by a mix of small and large publishing houses.

For more on the topic of M.F.A. Programs in Writing for Children, see these two stories:

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Nurture your writing to its fullest potential.

Lesley University's celebrated low-residency MFA program nurtures and challenges your creative potential. Attend nine-day residencies in the literary mecca of Cambridge. Pursue interdisciplinary study as a spur for fresh ideas. Cultivate mentor relationships with prize-winning writers. Graduate with the work and connections to publish, win literary prizes and fellowships, and find teaching positions or work related to your writing.

Program Summary

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

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

Program Structure

Low-Residency Program

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

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

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

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

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

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

Graphic Novels & Comics

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

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

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

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

Learn more about the Graphic Novels & Comics curriculum . 

Nonfiction & Memoir

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

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

Cindy House Rachel Manley Kyoko Mori Pamela Petro Janet Pocorobba

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

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

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

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

Erin Belieu Steven Cramer Joan Houlihan Kevin Prufer

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

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

Writing for Stage and Screen

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

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

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

Jami Brandli Barry Brodsky Ellen Lewis Cassie Seinuk Sinan Ünel

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

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

Writing for Young People

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

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

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

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

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

Why We Write

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

Aqueela Culbreath-Britt ’18

Axie Oh's 'Rogue Heart'

Katie Cotugno ’15

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

MFA in Creative Writing on Facebook #LesleyMFA

Writing books for kids who don't read books

Celeste Mohammed's 'Pleasantview' of Trinidad

Residencies in Cambridge, MA

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

Interdisciplinary Study

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

Study Abroad in Wales

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

Christine Bess Jones ’16

The 10 best us cities for creative workers.

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Shakespeare documentarian at National Press Club

Top Ranking MFA Programs

Tracey Baptiste

Leland Cheuk ’08

Making hard science easy

Sara Farizan ’10

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Janet Pocorobba

Professor and Director, MFA in Creative Writing

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

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

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

Carl Antonowicz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MFA in Creative Writing Faculty

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

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

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

Learn more about Tracey Baptise on her website .

Erin Belieu

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

Jami Brandli

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

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

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

An interview with Jami Brandli

Barry Brodsky

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

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

Steven Cramer

Professor, Creative Writing

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

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

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

Tony Eprile

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

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

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

Laurie Foos

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

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

Joan Houlihan

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

Cindy House

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

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

Rachel Kadish

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

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

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

Hester Kaplan

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

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

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

Michelle Knudsen

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

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

Ellen Lewis

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

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

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

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

Michael Lowenthal

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

Chris Lynch

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

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

Rachel Manley

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

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

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

Pamela Petro

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

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

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

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

Cynthia Platt

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

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

Kevin Prufer

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

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

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

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

Connect with Kevin through his website .

Jason Reynolds

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

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

Cassie Seinuk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MFA in Writing

"Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon." —Jippensah Ikku

On this Page

About the Program

Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, literary translation, hybridization: No matter your interest, we nurture and inspire each student’s unique vision.

Key Information

Residency Dates & Locations

• Winter 2025: January 3 – 11, 2025 Valencia, California
• Summer 2025: June 24 – July 2, 2025 Valencia, California

Admissions Info » Contact our admissions team at [email protected] .

How will your VCFA experience change you?

Our students tell us that the MFA in Writing program is nothing less than transformative, that after two years they re-enter the world redefined and changed. What was once a fledgling writing practice is now an integral and dynamic part of who they are as artist-writers. VCFA’s insistence on full immersion in words, writing, and literature equips our students with the tools they need to face the human experience head-on and transform life into art.

Limitless Possibilities, Boundless Opportunities

One-on-one mentoring is the backbone of VCFA’s unparalleled writing program. Students work individually with teachers who are also esteemed working writers, bringing each student’s talent into full bloom. Through this collaboration, students’ art, craft, and aesthetic evolve exponentially. More than any other program—low-residency or traditional—our MFA in Writing offers study options for students who wish to explore the intersections of various forms and disciplines, as well as the opportunity to concentrate in a single genre. And, we offer a rarity in low-residency programs: an MFA in Literary Translation.

VCFA Information Sessions

• Overview of VCFA programs
• What does low residency look like at VCFA?
• What is expected in a typical semester?
• What is residency?
• Learn more about our faculty mentorship model
• First steps for preparing your application
• Financing your MFA overview

Visit the event page to learn more and RSVP.

Experience VCFA’s low-residency model.

VCFA’s academic calendar is divided into two semesters per year: a summer and winter semester respectively. Each semester begins with a 9-day residency that offers writers  a vibrant time of workshops, lectures, discussions, and readings by faculty, graduating students, and distinguished visiting writers.

Residencies offer a student-centered learning environment that honors diverse perspectives and voices. This close community of writers challenges, inspires, and affirms. During residencies, students and faculty convene together and have ample opportunities for informal exchange over meals or at events, creating powerful relationships and artistic support systems that last long past graduation.

At each residency, students are paired with a faculty advisor and develop an individualized semester study plan based on their goals and intensive dialogue with faculty mentors. 

In addition to their Writing community, students are on campus with our five other MFA programs during residency: Film, Graphic Design, Music Composition, Writing for Children & Young Adults, and Visual Art. Each writer will have the opportunity during residency for interdisciplinary study, work, and networking. 

Upon completion of the two-year program, students will have attended five unique and invigorating residencies that guide their creative work while offering minimal disruption to their professional life and personal schedule.

The MFA in Writing program offers hybrid residencies for all students, meaning that students may elect to participate in person or remotely. Workshops and other residency events are hybrid, meaning some faculty and students will be online and others will be in person. Writing students are required to select a residency mode three months prior to the residency. The number of faculty who participate remotely will be determined by the number of students who elect to participate remotely. The entire staff and faculty of VCFA remain jointly committed to supporting these hybrid residencies and the needs of the students and faculty. It is important to note that all participating students and faculty are required to participate fully in all events at each residency, regardless of whether they are in person or remote.

WINTER 2024 WORKSHOP OFFERINGS

Semester work.

Mentorship & Individualized Study

Following each residency, students return home and devote at least 25 hours per week to their studies. Our 5:1 student-faculty ratio maximizes individual attention and fosters close relationships.

The semester’s main focus is creative work, supplemented by a substantial reading list and critical analysis. Students engage remotely with their faculty advisors through monthly exchanges of creative and critical work and ongoing dialogue about their process and development. Our mentorship model provides more individualized feedback on student writing than most traditional classroom programs. Faculty advisors tailor feedback and critique to meet students’ individual needs, while maintaining an academic rigor that has marked our program’s success.

EXPLORE, EXPERIMENT, EXPAND

First and foremost, being a writer means you are a lifelong student of the human condition. That exploration can take many forms—Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Literary Translation—or an exciting engagement in which forms intersect, creating new hybrids, new ways of looking at who we are.

At VCFA, no matter which path you choose, exemplary writers, thinkers, and teachers will accompany you on your journey. And with opportunities to intern with our renowned literary magazine, Hunger Mountain Review , you will gain professional publishing experience.

It's the best of worlds—the modern classroom and the age-old experience of apprenticeship—a serious, personal, and thrilling way to learn.

Hasanthika Sirisena

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction/cnf].

Chachi Hauser

Faculty, mfa in writing [cnf].

Clint McCown

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction].

Patrick Madden

Faculty, mfa in writing [cnf/hybrid forms].

Natasha Sajé

Faculty, mfa in writing [poetry/cnf].

Tarfia Faizullah

Faculty, mfa in writing [poetry], visiting poet, summer 2016.

Adam McOmber

Faculty co-chair, mfa in writing [fiction/hybrid forms]; editor in chief, hunger mountain review.

Philip Metres

Faculty, mfa in writing [poetry].

Samuel Kọ́láwọlé

Nance Van Winckel

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction/poetry].

Fernando A. Flores

Sue William Silverman

Faculty co-chair, mfa in writing [cnf/hybrid forms]; postgraduate writers' conference.

Betsy Sholl

Connie May Fowler

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction/cnf]; director, novel retreat.

Harrison Candelaria Fletcher

Ellen Lesser

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction]; director, postgraduate writers' conference.

David Wojahn

Faculty, mfa in writing [poetry]; postgraduate writers' conference.

Clifford Thompson

Faculty, mfa in writing [cnf/ hybrid forms]; postgraduate writers' conference.

Barbara Hurd

Wanjikū Wa Ngūgī

Miciah Bay Gault

Faculty, mfa in writing [fiction]; novel retreat.

Robin MacArthur

Leslie Ullman

Richard Jackson

Program faculty.

Laura Warrell

Faculty, novel retreat; visiting alumnx fiction writer, winter 2023.

Emily Bernard

Visiting writer, winter 2020.

Diana Goetsch

Yusef Komunyakaa

Visiting poet, winter 2022.

Maggie Nelson

Visiting writer, winter 2017.

Dionne Irving

Visiting writer, mfa in writing, visiting writers, my faculty mentors were amazing—brilliant artists and writers, and supportive, thoughtful mentors who challenged and inspired me., alumnx stories, allison hong merrill, 2018 mfa in writing, ann dávila cardinal, 2007 mfa in writing, literary journal.

Hunger Mountain Review is an annual print journal of the arts, housed at VCFA. We publish fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art, graphic design, young adult/children’s writing, and literary miscellany.

By the Numbers

Frequently asked questions, what is your teaching philosophy.

There is no “one way” to write in our program. The MFA in Writing recognizes that writing approaches and styles are as diverse as our students themselves, and we value and encourage differences while emphasizing a common pursuit of excellence.

The two years students spend in this program invigorate a lifelong commitment to writing and reading. We seek to provide a foundation from which students can continue to refine their craft and expand their knowledge of literature. In addition, our program helps students develop lasting writing practices and processes while becoming part of a close community of writers that acts as a support system for years to come.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a distinct and valued genre at VCFA. We believe that all voices, styles, and subject matter are equally valid in the search for emotional and artistic truth. The work of our faculty and visiting writers embodies the broad range of approaches open to our CNF students.

We teach personal, meditative, and lyric essays; the memoir; immersion writing; hybrid and experimental forms; as well as the traditional, more formal essay. Students explore the self within the context of family dynamics and childhood, the natural world, travel, place, and spiritual, social and cultural issues. We work with students individually to discover their most profound work in a safe and nurturing environment.

Meet our CNF faculty !

Henry James once wrote that the house of fiction has many windows. These words could serve as a statement of purpose for the fiction faculty at VCFA.

We teach all forms and style—novels, novellas, short stories, story collections, and flash fiction. Our fiction faculty has, as a whole, published work in every genre, and our aesthetic tastes are eclectic. We aim to help students find a unique voice and vision. We encourage exploration and inventiveness, while emphasizing craft, structure, and the necessity of reading widely and critically.

Meet our fiction faculty !

At VCFA, we understand that we are catalysts to a process that will continue well beyond a writer’s time in our program; we seek to help foster a productive and enduring life of writing and reading poetry.

We encourage exploration and innovation. We also facilitate exposure to elements of craft, literary history, and contemporary poetry. In addition, we encourage our poets to familiarize themselves with the kinds of poems they want to write in a given semester: narrative poems, lyric or meditative poems, poems written in traditional forms as well as in experimental modes, longer works such as suites and sequential poems, and hybrid forms such as “off the page” poetry which combine writing with art and photography.

We also encourage poets to familiarize themselves with translation whether or not they choose to participate in our more structured translation option. Our residencies in Slovenia and Cozumel often present, among many other benefits, opportunities to collaborate directly with poets writing in another language.

Meet our poetry faculty !

What can I expect from workshop?

The creative writing workshop is a core component of the residency experience, one that all students fully participate in. We offer a wide array of workshops, including manuscript-based, theme-based, cross-genre, generative, experimental, hybrid, and more. Workshops are led by one or two faculty members and typically include between six to eight students. Our small workshops allow for optimum creativity and encourage participants to explore with new eyes and open minds their chosen genre(s). These art-based laboratories are dynamic, safe spaces in which to learn, experiment, grow.

What is the difference between the Critical Thesis and the Creative Thesis?

The Critical Thesis, completed by the end of your third semester, focuses on close, critical reading on a topic of your choosing. You will have plenty of time to learn the craft of writing a critical essay as you move through the program. Your Creative Thesis, completed by the end of your fourth semester, is a book-length collection of original work (short stories, a novel, poems, essays, or memoir) completed or substantially revised while in the program.

2022-2023 Graduate Course Catalog > Programs of Study > Department of Children's Literature > Writing for Children (MFA)

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Writing for Children (MFA)

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Description

In its unique design, the MFA program combines creative work and the engaged critical study and analysis of literature for children and young adults. Students examine transformative works from folklore, fantasy, nonfiction, poetry, and realism as rich contexts to developing their individual artistic visions and voices. Small group critiques, individualized mentorships, and grounding in the publishing industry fortify each student’s career development as a writer. MFA students join in some core courses with MA and dual degree students to learn from colleagues from across professions. Thus, four of the literature-focused core classes in the MFA program will include teachers, librarians, editors, illustrators, academics, whereas the writing courses and mentorship sequence put writers into discussions with other writers.

Learning Outcomes

Students leave Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing for Children with an extensive theoretical context and a broad knowledge of contemporary literature for children and young adults. In graduating, they have

• Developed a critical voice and demonstrated the capacity for original argument;
• Analyzed literature for children and young adults;
• Assessed and interpreted scholarship in the field of children’s and young adult literature;
• Applied critical perspectives across genres in children’s and young adult literature;
• Understood historical works, contexts, and influences in the field;
• Valued the diversities of human experiences (re)presented in literature for children and young adults and in the scholarship in the field;
• Demonstrated individual and collaborative leadership;
• Experimented with writing across genres;
• Evaluated and provided meaningful feedback on manuscripts-in-development; and
• Completed two original creative projects.

Requirements for entry into program

Admission to the MFA program requires a baccalaureate degree preferably with academic work in literature for young people and in creative writing from an accredited institution. However, the program is also open to those with practice or study in elementary or secondary education, fine arts, or social sciences and who have demonstrated engagement with creative writing and literature for children and young adults. The application should include official transcripts of all degree work, two letters of recommendation, and, for international students, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Applicants must submit a writing portfolio not to exceed 20 pages as well as a statement of purpose that reflects on their writing process. This statement should address the applicant’s goals as a writer, his/her publishing history and/or any works in progress. An interview, though not required, is strongly recommended.

Degree Requirements

MFA students must complete 32 credits of graduate coursework to qualify for the MFA degree.

Graduate students in the MFA (Writing for Children) degree program typically carry between eight and ten credits in the fall, spring, and summer semesters after an initial semester of eight credits. Students considering registering for more than ten credits per term must consult with the graduate program director.

Required and Elective Courses (32 credits)

Elective credits:

The remaining 16 credits are completed by drawing from a variety of two- and four-credit elective courses.  Electives cover a range of academic and professional interests.  See the list of general electives above in the Department page .  A student's academic advisor will be an invaluable partner in determining which electives to take to meet the student's immediate interest and to build their professional portfolio.

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Hamline University, MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults

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MFA Program

Elana K. Arnold, Swati Avasthi, Coe Booth, Lisa Jahn Clough, Brandy Colbert, Tae Keller, Erin Entrada Kelly, Minh Lê, Meg Medina, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Ruby, Aisha Saeed, Eliot Schrefer, Dashka Slater, Sherri L. Smith, Laurel Snyder

The program offers partial funding.

The program offers many scholarships, including the Herman W. Block Annual Memorial Scholarship ($5,000); the T.A. Barron Bi-Annual Fellowship for Excellence in Fantasy Writing for an Incoming Student ($2,500); the T.A. Barron Annual Fellowship for Excellence in Fantasy Writing for a Current Student ($5,000); the Walden Pond Press Annual Scholarship ($2,500); the Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors Bi-Annual Scholarship ($2,000); the Anne Tews Schwab Bi-Annual Award for Excellence in Critical Writing ($1,000); the Frances and Kermit Rudolf Annual Nonfiction Scholarship ($1,000); the Brandon Terrell Annual Memorial Scholarship ($2,500); and merit scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,000.

Water~Stone Review ;  rock, paper, scissors

Students attend two 11-day residencies each year, in January and July, at the Hamline University campus in Saint Paul. Over the semester following, they work one-on-one from home with a faculty advisor. The program focuses on writing for children & young adults.

Students can study the following genres: Picture Book, Early Reader, Middle-Grade and Young Adult Fiction (this includes realistic; historical; speculative fiction—fantasy, science fiction—hybrid; mystery), Nonfiction, Poetry and Verse Novel, Graphic Novel and Comics.

The priority deadline is September 1 and final deadline is November 1 for the winter start. The priority deadline is March 1 and final deadline is May 15 for the summer start.

Megan Atwood, Cheryl Bardoe, Daniel Bernstrom, Sherryl Clark, Molly Beth Griffin, Erin Berger Gindlesberger, Ann Matzke, Loretta Ellsworth, Bonnie Sue Hitchcock, Justina Ireland, Lily LaMotte, Aimee Lucido, Tracy Nelson Maurer, Kalena Miller, Lisa Frankel Riddiough, Barbara Carroll Roberts, Melissa Savage, Caren Stelson, Melanie Sumrow, Jamie Swenson, Blair Thornburgh, Kim Tomsic, Hebah Uddin (as Karuna Riazi), Elizabeth Verdick, Alicia D. Williams

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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 2024-25

• Nonrefundable application fee: $40
• New student nonrefundable deposit: $500
• Technology fee: $650 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

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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

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Children’s book writing and illustration m.f.a., dance m.f.a., master of fine arts in children’s literature, playwriting m.f.a., screenwriting m.f.a..

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MFA in Writing

Welcome. The MFA Program in Writing welcomes brave and innovative writers and encourages the formation of mutually-supportive, inspiring literary communities. The program is small, with typically 4 to 8 new students admitted and funded each year. The intimate nature of the program allows students to work very closely with writing faculty and each other within the quarterly cross-genre workshop.

The MFA program is a two-year full-time, in-person program foregrounding the interconnectedness of literary arts practice, modes of production and distribution, and the rigorous study of literatures, arts, and cultures. The program offers the option of extending to a third year; the majority of students choose to do so.

All graduate writing workshops are cross-genre and often interdisciplinary, investigating and often undermining a studio-versus-academic distinction in advanced literary education. Moreover, the program encourages interdisciplinary research and holistic approaches to teaching and learning. Therefore, teaching creative-critical reading and writing skills as a Teaching Assistant is a popular choice among all Writing students in the MFA program, most of whom are eligible for scholarships and fellowships in addition to union-represented compensation for Teaching Assistant work.

Program participants are encouraged to focus exclusively on writing, teaching, research, and art-making during their residency, allowing writers to integrate pedagogical training and artistic practice as a way to prepare for future scholarly endeavors while creating a book-length work of literature. To that end, each quarterly cross-genre workshop discusses writing-in-progress and published works in terms of poetics, prosody, and literary conventions alongside the interrelationship between aesthetic intervention/ experiment and radical social change across cultures, nations, regions, and movements.

While each writer’s extra-departmental coursework is flexible, program participants are expected to take five workshops. The cross-genre workshops function less as editorial sessions or as explications of craft techniques than as vibrant skill-sharing intellectual roundtables. UCSD’s writers generate dazzlingly diverse collaborations in writing and literary/arts events, many of which result in various forms of publication. Both faculty and graduate projects tend to repurpose, interweave, hack, and muddle generic categories and/or radically elasticize their conventions.

UC San Diego is a tier-one research university respected internationally for untangling mysteries and manifesting world-altering possibilities in the arts, humanities, and sciences. The MFA in Writing is part of the Department of Literature, a world literature department with a focus on critical theory, social justice, and cultural, ethnic, and gender studies, where faculty members work in multiple languages, geographies, and historical periods. All graduate writing workshops are offered in English, but program participants may work with Literature and extra-departmental faculty on bilingual or multilingual projects, including works in translation.

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• ‘Red Wedding’: Storied Stanford Creative Writing Program Laying Off Lecturers

The university says creative writing faculty recommended returning its Jones Lectureships to their “original intent” as short-term teaching appointments for talented writers. A lecturer of 20 years said he thinks there’s a “peasants and lords issue” in the program.

By  Ryan Quinn

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Stanford University is laying off its current Jones Lecturers.

Some Stanford University lecturers are likening it to the “red wedding” in Game of Thrones —a massacre of characters by their supposed allies amid what had been billed as a celebratory feast.

Last Wednesday, a dean, a senior associate dean and a co-director of Stanford’s storied and popular creative writing program held a Zoom meeting with the program’s 23 Jones Lecturers, according to some of those lecturers, who were chosen from the ranks of those who have held the university’s prestigious Stegner Fellowship for writers.

The university leaders complimented the Jones Lecturers over Zoom. “They praised us to the moon,” Tom Kealey, a lecturer for two decades, told Inside Higher Ed . “Endlessly” praised was how Edward Porter, a lecturer of eight years, put it.

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Then, Kealey said, the leaders announced they would all be losing their jobs within the next two academic years. “The worst part is to be praised while you’re being fired,” Porter said. According to notes he took of the meeting, Nicholas Jenkins, the program’s co-director, said something to the effect of “you’re excellent, but others will be excellent in the future.”

There was an added sense of betrayal. The deans—Debra Satz, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Gabriella Safran, senior associate dean of humanities and arts—said this wasn’t their decision, according to Kealey. In Medium posts on the ordeal, he wrote that they said it came from “the senior professors of creative writing.”

“These are literally our teaching colleagues of the last five to 15 years,” Kealey wrote. “And they decided in a previous secret meeting to fire all 23 of their junior colleagues.” In another post, he wrote that “it was only the MALE professors who voted to fire us.” ( Inside Higher Ed reached out Tuesday to some of the male creative writing professors on Tuesday, but received no responses.)

In an unsigned announcement last Wednesday on the university’s website, Stanford said it is returning to the “original intent of the Jones Lectureships: one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal for a limited term.” That announcement said the recommendation came from faculty members on a “Working Group of Creative Writing Academic Council faculty,” but it didn’t name them.

Satz, Safran and Jenkins said in an emailed joint statement to Inside Higher Ed that "this change will again allow Stegner Fellows the opportunity to apply to be Jones Lecturers once they have completed their fellowships. Jones Lecturers will have one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal for up to four additional years."

While it’s no longer rare for non-tenure-track faculty members to be laid off by higher education institutions facing budget woes, Stanford is a wealthy institution and creative writing is, by its own admission, a popular program.

“We have a large number of fully enrolled classes, many with significant waitlists and some where the waitlists are longer than the enrollment roster,” Jenkins said in a February 2023 article on the university’s website. He also said, “We’re in a remarkable period of hiring during which we’re fortunate enough to be bringing to campus an extraordinarily talented array of significant artists and teachers.”

But the lecturers say they’re the ones teaching most of the creative writing classes for undergraduates, and that their years of experience improve teaching. Kealey said some lecturers teach five classes a year; others teach four. He wrote on Medium of the senior creative writing professors that “the 10 of them … taught 13 undergraduate classes last year (and 19 overall, less than two classes taught per professor).”

The leaders said during the Zoom meeting the decision wasn’t about money, according to Porter. “It’s maddening to have outstanding enrollment and be phased out anyway,” he said. While the university has said it wants to simply return the Jones Lectureships to the short stints they used to be, Kealey suggests the tenured professors in his department had other motives.

“I think there’s a peasants and lords issue here,” Kealey said.

A Long Time Coming?

In 1946, Wallace Stegner, who would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Angle of Repose , founded Stanford’s creative writing program. The Stegner Fellowships are named in his honor.

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E. H. Jones, who had an oil fortune, funded the fellowships and also established the connected Jones Lectureships, according to the university’s announcement from last week. It said these were meant to be “limited, fixed-year teaching appointments, allowing exceptional Stegner Fellows some time and support to prepare a manuscript for publication, hone their teaching skills and transition to a longer-term teaching career elsewhere.”

But “over time this framework of term-limited appointments was not followed,” the university said. It did not say when that change occurred. It might have had something to do with Eavan Boland.

Boland, an Irish poet, led the creative writing program for 20 years until her sudden death in 2020. “Eavan was just a fierce defender of the program,” Kealey said. He said her death “was a great loss to all of us.”

When Boland joined the program, Kealey said, it had maybe 20 or 25 classes. But Boland wanted every student who so desired to be able to take a creative writing class. Kealey said lecturers went to residence halls in early years to speak with students about the program. Over about 15 years, Kealey said, the program grew to offer about 120 classes.

Porter said Boland “developed a large cadre of about 20 to 25 lecturers.” Even though they were on one-year contracts, Porter said, they kept getting renewed. He said it’s true that Boland did move the lectureships away from their original intent—but that it was beneficial for students, teaching and the program.

“There are a lot of human skills to playing this game, and those don’t come in a year,” Porter said. “We have letters, testimonials from students about how much we’ve meant to them. We’re also very available to them—we talk to them outside of class, there’s a sense of continuing mentorship if they want it.”

Now, Porter said, “there is at least the appearance” of the university creating “artificial scarcity,” suggesting there’s no room for the new, younger Stegner Fellows writers to get a leg up by becoming Jones Lecturers “because these crusty old folks are hogging up all the real estate.” Safran, the senior associate dean, said, per Porter’s meeting notes, that “in some years few or no Stegners were able to advance.”

Kealey said, “There’s no shortage of space for new Stegner Fellows to be hired into the Jones Lectureships, but, I don’t know, the professors wanted to do a scorched earth with this, and that’s what they’ve done.”

The lecturers said they pushed for, and received, raises from the university in September 2023. “Exactly a year later we’re all fired,” so “connect the dots here,” Kealey said. “I think the lords didn’t like that—didn’t like the peasants speaking up.”

Porter talked about “balancing one set of values against the other.” He said the tenured or tenure-track “creative writing faculty doesn’t teach many classes and many of them are not involved—they don’t care about the undergraduates. It’s not their job to care; it’s their job to write books, be famous and raise money, and that’s very necessary.”

And part of the purpose of the Jones Lectureship program is to give new writers a step up. But Porter worries about the other side of the equation being lost. “It’s our job to care about the undergrads,” he said.

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Nearly eight million borrowers remain in limbo following the court’s decision Wednesday.

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