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Vermont College of Fine Arts

Vermont, united states.

The Master of Fine Arts in Writing is a low-residency, two-year program, offering concentrations in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and translation. Intensive 10-day residency periods are followed by six-month non-resident study projects. Immersed in a stimulating environment, students develop working relationships with more experienced poets, fiction, and creative nonfiction writers. The emphasis throughout all aspects of the program is on student writing and the study of contemporary letters. Post-Graduate Semester and One-Year Intensive Post-Graduate Studies options offer graduates of writing programs an opportunity to broaden their studies in specific areas of interest.

Residencies take place in December/January and June/July on the Vermont College of Fine Arts campus. During the residency, each student participates in small, faculty-guided workshops in which student work is carefully examined. Daily seminars, lectures, and discussions as well as readings by faculty and visiting writers from all over the country afford students ongoing formal and informal exchange. Also during the residency, students, in concert with faculty, design a semester-long course of study. As a summation of the work of residencies and semester projects, graduating students, under the guidance of faculty, give lectures and public readings of their work during the final residency. The low student/faculty ratio (5 to 1) ensures close attention to the developing skills and talents of each writer.

The non-resident six-month semester project focuses on the student's own writing. Reading and critical study components appropriate to individual backgrounds, interests, and needs expand writing skills and critical judgment. Each faculty member supervises five students through correspondence during the semester. Students submit packets of work-in-progress, revisions, and brief essays five times throughout the semester. A dialogue concerning issues of craft, criticism, and aesthetics becomes the working medium for study and growth. Students and faculty submit written evaluations of the work, which become a part of the student's record and narrative transcript. At the beginning of the next semester, the student returns to campus to attend residency lectures and readings, and to plan for the next semester. Through the four semester projects, students take an active role in shaping their own curricula, while participating in a sustained dialogue with experienced writers of national reputation.

Criteria for the granting of the degree include general creative writing ability, understanding of literature, familiarity with contemporary letters, and experience in applied criticism. The student's record must include evidence of the following: full participation in five residencies; successful completion of four semester projects; presentation of a lecture during the final residency; an original book-length manuscript of high quality; a substantial critical thesis; work with at least two faculty members during the student's tenure in the Program; and broad reading in literature and contemporary letters.

The Program is dedicated to alternative, hands-on education. The study of writing should resemble the work patterns of professional writers, since fruitful learning occurs both on and off campus. Residencies and faculty-guided semester projects encourage student writers to develop independent work habits and are designed to serve writers who have jobs, families, and other responsibilities, as well as conventional students. Students also have the option of attending residencies in Slovenia and Puerto Rico.

Contact Information

36 College Street MFA in Writing Montpelier Vermont, United States 05602 Phone: 802-828-8839 Email: [email protected] http://vcfa.edu/writing

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing +

Graduate program director.

The Master of Fine Arts in Writing is a low-residency, two-year program, offering concentrations in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and writing for children. Intensive 10-day residency periods are followed by six-month non-resident study projects. Immersed in a stimulating environment, students develop working relationships with more experienced poets, fiction, creative nonfiction writers, and writers of children's literature. The emphasis throughout all aspects of the program is on student writing and the study of contemporary letters. Post-Graduate Semester and One-Year Intensive Post-Graduate Studies options offer graduates of writing programs an opportunity to broaden their studies in specific areas of interest.

Residencies take place in January and June/July on the Vermont College of Fine Arts campus. During the residency, each student participates in small, faculty-guided workshops in which student work is carefully examined. Daily seminars, lectures, and discussions as well as readings by faculty and visiting writers from all over the country afford students ongoing formal and informal exchange. Also during the residency, students, in concert with faculty, design a semester-long study project. As a summation of the work of residencies and semester projects, graduating students, under the guidance of faculty, give lectures and public readings of their work during the final residency. The low student/faculty ratio (5 to 1) ensures close attention to the developing skills and talents of each writer.

The non-resident six-month semester project focuses on the student's own writing. Reading and critical study components appropriate to individual backgrounds, interests, and needs expand writing skills and critical judgment. Each faculty member supervises five students through correspondence during the semester. Students submit packets of work-in-progress, revisions, and brief essays. A dialogue concerning issues of craft, criticism, and aesthetics becomes the working medium for study and growth. Students and faculty submit written evaluations of the work, which become a part of the student's record and narrative transcript. At the beginning of the next semester, the student returns to the campus to attend residency lectures and readings, and to design a new project. Through the four semester projects, students take an active role in shaping their own curricula, while participating in a sustained dialogue with experienced writers of national reputation.

The Program is dedicated to alternative, hands-on education. The study of writing should resemble the work patterns of professional writers, since fruitful learning occurs both on and off campus. Residencies and faculty-guided semester projects encourage student writers to develop independent work habits and are designed to serve writers who have jobs, families, and other responsibilities, as well as conventional students.

Richard Jackson

Dispatches: Prose Poems, The Heart as Framed: New and Select Poems, Those Shadowy Reflections: Prose Poems, Where the Wind Comes From, Broken Horizons, A Bridge of Voices: Poems & Interviews with Slovene Poets (ebook)

The Heart’s Many Doors: American Poets Respond to Metka Krasovec’s images responding to Emily Dickinson, Traversings (poems), Out of Place, Retrievals, Resonance, Last Voyage: Selected Poems of Giovanni Pascoli (translation), Potovanje Sonca (Journey of the Sun) by Alexsander Persolja, Half Lives: Petrarchan Poems, Unauthorized Autobiography: New and Selected Poems, Svetovi narazen, Heartwall, Heart’s Bridge, Alive all day

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/richard-jackson

Clint McCown

Mr. Potato Head vs. Freud: Lessons on the Craft of Writing Fiction, Music for Hard Times: New & Selected Stories, The Dictionary of Unspellable Noises: New & Selected Poems 1975-2018, Total Balance Farm (poems), The Weatherman (novel), Haints (novel), Dead Languages (poems), The Weatherman (novel), War Memorials (novel)

The Member-Guest (novel-in-stories), Wind Over Water (poems),

Sidetracks (poems)

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/clint-mccown

Betsy Sholl

House of Sparrows, Otherwise Unseeable, Rough Cradle,

Late Psalm, Don’t Explain, The Red Line, Pick a Card, Rooms Overhead, Appalachian Winter, Changing Faces

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/betsy-sholl

Sue William Silverman

Crayon Colors for Serial Killers, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, If the Girl Never Learns (poetry), The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew,

Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir, Hieroglyphics in Neon (poetry), Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/sue-william-silverman

Leslie Ullman

The You That All Along Has Housed You: A Sequence, Library of Small Happiness (craft), Progress on the Subject of Immensity, Slow Work through Sand, Dreams by No One’s Daughter, Natural Histories

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/leslie-ullman

Nance Van Winckel

The Many Beds of Martha Washington (poems), Our Foreigner (poems), Ever Yrs (novel/scrapbook), Boneland: Linked Stories, Pacific Walkers (poems), No Starling (poems), Beside Ourselves (poems), Curtain Creek Farm (stories), A Measure of Heaven, After a Spell (poems), Quake (stories), Limited Lifetime Warranty (stories), The Dirt (poems), Bad girl, with Hawk (poems)

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/nance-van-winckel

David Wojahn

For the Scribe, World Tree, Interrogation Palace, Spirit Cabinet, Strange Good Fortune: Essays on Contemporary Poetry, The Falling Hour, Late Empire, Mystery Train

Glassworks, Icehouse Lights

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/david-wojahn

Connie May Fowler

A Million Fragile Bones (memoir), How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, The Problem with Murmur Lee, When Katie Wakes (memoir), Remembering Blue, Before Women Had Wings, River of Hidden Dreams, Sugar Cage

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/connie-may-fowler

Ellen Lesser

The Blue Streak (novel), The Shoplifter’s Apprentice (stories), The Other Woman (novel)

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/ellen-lesser

Patrick Madden

Disparates (essays), Sublime Physick (essays), After Montaigne: Contemporary Essayists Cover the Essays, Selected Poems of Eduardo Milan, Quotidiana (essays)

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/patrick-madden

Natasha Sajé

The Future Will Call You Something Else, Special Delivery (poems), Terroir: Love, Out of Place (prose), Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory (prose), Vivarium (poems), Bend (poems), Red Under the Skin (poems)

http://www.vcfa.edu/writing/faculty/natasha-saj%C3%A9

Geoff Bouvier

Glass Harmonica, Living Room

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/geoff-bouvier/

Tarfia Faizullah

Registers of Illuminated Villages, Seam

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/tarfia-faizullah/

Melissa Faliveno

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/melissa-faliveno/

Harrison Candelaria Fletcher

Finding Querencia: Essays From In Between, Presentimiento: A Life in Dreams, Descanso for My Father: Fragments of a Life

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/harrison-candelaria-fletcher/

Fernando A. Flores

Valleyesque: Stories, Tears of the Trufflepig, Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/fernando-a-flores/

Miciah Bay Gault

Goodnight Stranger

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/miciah-bay-gault/

Barbara Hurd

The Epilogues: Afterwords on the Planet, Tidal Rhythms: Change and Resilience at the Edge of the Sea, Listening to the Savage: On River Notes and Half-Heard Melodies, Stepping into the Same River Twice, Walking the Wrack Line: On Tidal Shifts and What Remains, Entering the Stone: On Caves and Feeling Through the Dark, The Singer’s Temple (poems), Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination, Objects In This Mirror

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/barbara-hurd/

T. Geronimo Johnson

Welcome to Braggsville (novel), Hold It ‘Til It Hurts (novel)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/t-geronimo-johnson/

Negesti Kaudo

RIPE: Essays

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/negesti-kaudo/

Samuel Kolawole

The Road to Salt Sea (forthcoming 2022)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/samuel-kolawole/

Brian Leung

All I Should Not Tell (novel), Ivy vs. Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands!, Take Me Home (novel), Lost Men(novel), World Famous Love Acts, Not Another Feel-Good Singles Book (nonfiction humor)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/brian-leung/

Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian (essays), Dead Low Tide (novel), Ancient Highway (novel), The Difference Between Women and Men (stories), Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life (memoir), A Song I Knew by Heart (novel), A Year in Place (stories), The Hunt Club (novel), Fathers, Sons, and Brothers (essays), How to Get Home (stories), Reed’s Beach (novel), Jewel (novel), A Dream of Old Leaves (stories), A Stranger’s House (novel), The Man Who Owned Vermont (novel)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/bret-lott/

Robin MacArthur

Heart Spring Mountain (novel), Half Wild: Stories

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/robin-macarthur/

Adam McOmber

Fantasy Kit (novel), The Ghost Finders (novel), Jesus and John (novel), My House Gathers Desires: Stories. The White Forest: A Novel, This New & Poisonous Air: Stories

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/adam-mcomber/

Philip Metres

Shrapnel Maps (poems), The Sound of Listening (essays), Pictures at an Exhibition: A Petersburg Album (poems), Sand Opera (poems), I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky (Cotranslator with Dimitri Psurtsev), Compleat Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Poetic Texts of Lev Rubinstein (Cotranslator with Tatiana Tulchinsky), A Concordance of Leaves (poems), abu ghraib arias (poems), Ode to Oil (poems)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/philip-metres/

Wanjiku wa Ngugi

Seasons in Hippoland (novel), The Fall of Saints (novel)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/wanjiku-wa-ngugi/

Elena Passarello

Animals Strike Curious Poses (novel), Let Me Clear My Throat (essays)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/elena-passarello/

Dominant Genes (novel), Blue-Skinned Gods (novel), Marriage of a Thousand Lies (novel), I Once Met You But You Were Dead (novel)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/sj-sindu/

Hasanthika Sirisena

Confessions of a Dark Tourist (essays), Every Day People, The Color of Life (short story anthology), The Other One (stories)

https://vcfa.edu/faculty-staff/hasanthika-sirisena/

Publications & Presses +

Hunger Mountain

Visiting Writers Program +

Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Kaveh Akbar, Alison Bechdel, Emily Bernard, Dominic Bucca, Mary Cappello, Joy Castro, Alexander Chee, Chen Chen, Mojie Crigler, Kyle Dargan, Tere Davila, Jaquear Diaz, Danielle Evans, Tarfia Faizullah, Dewaine Farria, Fernando A. Flores, Vievee Francis, Diana Goetsch, James Hannaham, Terrance Hayes, Yuri Herrera, Garrett Hongo, Major Jackson, Laurie Jean, Tyehimba Jess, T. Geronimo Johnson, J. Kates, Sydney Lea, Victor LaValle, Jeffrey Thomas Leong, Ada Limon, Carmen Maria Machado, Terese Marie Mailhot, Lauren Markham, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Khaled Mattawa, Jamaal May, Richard Michelson, Maggie Nelson, Aimee Nezhukumatathi, Jenny Offill, Tommy Orange, Wendy C. Ortiz, Jericho Parms, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Emily Raboteau, Mary Ruefle, Liara Tamani, Liza Nash Taylor, Clifford Thompson, Kristin Valdez Quade, Laura van den Berg, Jerald Walker, Amy Wallen, Wendy S. Walters, Sunil Yapa, Paul Yoon

Reading Series +

VCFA MFA in Writing Readings ( http://vcfa.edu/programs-faculty/writing/visiting-faculty )

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September 05, 2018 News » Education

The VCFA Master's for Children's Writing Has Become a Powerhouse 

Published September 5, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. | Updated September 5, 2018 at 11:05 a.m.

• Jeb Wallace-brodeur
• A lecture in the College Hall Chapel for the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts

During the first of two tours in Afghanistan, JP McCormick was preparing to fly home from a dusty airfield in Kandahar when he discovered his passion for writing children's fiction.

"I was exhausted, I was spent," recalled McCormick, whose tattooed arms reflect his years in the U.S. Army. "I was a rifle platoon leader, so ... I had to stay strong and look strong and capable for my men. I was out walking on the airfield, and there was this little old Russian lady who was selling this tray of old Soviet army crap from the Soviet-Afghan war. And there was this little stuffed mouse. And my heart broke. I made it three steps, and then I spun on my heel and was like, 'How much?' I had to have this little guy, and I had to get him out of Afghanistan.

"Twenty dollars later, this little guy is wrapped up in my rucksack, and that's when the stories really began to whisper to me," he recalled. "They came in the form of animals, and they grew and grew and grew. At the time, it was a way for me just not to lose my mind."

A year later, with his future wife's encouragement, McCormick started writing. "The stories and the promise of them ... sustained me and fueled me," he said. But, after six or eight years of writing on his own, he decided, "I needed outside help." He googled "MFA children's literature."

That's how McCormick, who currently works at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, ended up spending 10 days this past July on the campus of Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. He's a second-semester student in the college's low-residency program in Writing for Children & Young Adults , which was the first of its kind in the nation.

WCYA is one of nine degree tracks offered by decade-old VCFA, which grants MFAs in creative writing, film, music composition, visual art and graphic design. Like the regular writing MFA, the program in children's writing predates the school itself; it was established in 1996, when Vermont College was still part of Norwich University. Over the past two decades, it's amassed a formidable national reputation.

Since 2008, VCFA's overall enrollment has nearly doubled (from 220 to 380), while WCYA's has increased from 55 to 80, according to VCFA founding and current president Thomas Christopher Greene. While the college as a whole currently sits at No. 147 on U.S. News & World Report 's list of Best Fine Arts Programs, Publishers Weekly singled out the kid-lit program as a "top choice" in 2014.

The program's website offers a 28-page list of alumni publications, some of which have earned hefty honors. In 2017, the five finalists for the National Book Award included WCYA grad Ibi Zoboi and her former faculty adviser there, Rita Williams-Garcia.

WCYA's alumni roster also includes National Book Award finalist Debby Dahl Edwardson; Jandy Nelson, winner of the American Library Association's prestigious Michael L. Printz Award; Printz Honor winner Julie Berry; and best-selling YA novelists Ally Condie and Lauren Myracle. Printz Honor winner A.S. King is on the faculty, while the list of visiting writers offers a who's who of kid lit: Katherine Paterson, Philip Pullman, Maggie Stiefvater.

In WCYA's student body, "you'll find people just starting out and New York Times best-sellers who want to focus on their craft," said YA novelist Nova Ren Suma, who joined VCFA's faculty in 2016.

Suma is based in Philadelphia, but she, like McCormick, came to Montpelier in July for the 10-day residency — one of two annual meet-ups for VCFA's low-residency students and faculty. The rest of the semester, students work online with a faculty adviser, consulting via phone or Skype and turning in "packets" that include original work and critical responses to readings. Eventually, they'll produce critical and creative theses, before capping their experience with a graduate lecture and reading.

Each January and July, students flock to campus for small-group workshops with faculty, one-on-one meetings, lectures and readings. (Many of the last two are open to the public.) Far from formal or academic, the tone of WCYA's July 2018 residency was celebratory, and sometimes downright quirky.

On July 12, at her morning lecture in the chapel of stately College Hall, faculty member Amanda Jenkins made attendees raise their hands and say, "I solemnly promise to make sure the reader knows where the blankety-blank they are at the beginning of every scene."

Later in the day, graduating student Jessica W. Lee delivered a polished lecture on developing strong characters, a process she described as "get[ting] lost inside the messy, exhilarating darkness of your true self." When she ended it by asking the audience to engage in a five-minute meditation "to connect with your true self," you could have heard a pin drop in the stillness.

If the students were eager to connect with their true selves, they were also eager to connect with one another — and to enthuse about the program. "This is a remarkable place — the word 'remarkable' really doesn't do it justice," McCormick said. Rhonda DeChambeau, a second-year student from Massachusetts, called WCYA "amazing, magical."

Over lunch at Café Anna — named for College Hall's legendary resident ghost — Suma said VCFA was her first choice for a teaching job because she was "so drawn to this particular program" after seeing its effects on her writer friends.

An acclaimed author of moody literary novels with surreal elements, such as her best-seller The Walls Around Us , Suma contrasted the program with her own MFA experience at Columbia University. There, "the vibe was very competitive," and many of her classmates stopped writing after graduation. Here, Suma said, "there's support, there's investment in your work, there's a sense of community. We're building lasting relationships with these writers."

DeChambeau echoed that assessment: "Everybody is very warm and welcoming. There's an amazing level of talent here. People are very supportive of each other."

VCFA also offers respected MFAs in general writing and publishing (including a resident program). Why does children's writing get its own track?

Well, for one thing, there's plenty of demand. Ann Dávila Cardinal is the college's director of student recruitment and the author of a YA horror novel set in Puerto Rico, forthcoming from Tor Teen. "Writing for children and young adults is just booming," she said in her office, near the vertiginous summit of College Hall. "In the literary world, genre writers are kind of ghettoized. [Here,] there's not that judgment."

Suma agreed that, in most MFA programs, kid lit "would be sidelined." While acknowledging the stereotypes about writing for young people — that it's easy to toss off, or the province of fusty librarians — she described it as a field of immense potential: "There's an openness that doesn't exist in my experience of writing for adults. In terms of experimentation ... I think the writing we're seeing is so extraordinary and so brave. We know the value of what we're doing."

DeChambeau learned for herself that children's books aren't child's play when the program encouraged her to branch out from writing YA into targeting younger age groups. "Everybody thinks writing a picture book is an easy thing," she said. It wasn't. "It really opened my eyes."

Greene, who has overseen the growth of VCFA's operating budget from $5 million to $12 million, called WCYA "currently the greatest single incubator of talent in the writing-for-children-and-young-adults world."

He minimized his own role in building the program, saying, "Most of what I do is hire really good people and get out of the way. The leadership for this program really has been through the faculty. They've been able to attract top talent, and diverse talent."

"Diversity" is a watchword in today's kid-lit world, with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books focusing on the rarity of historically marginalized voices in libraries and children's publishing. In addition to standard writing-craft topics, the lectures at VCFA's July residency addressed questions of how to make kids' books more inclusive. "I'm Not Your Diversity Valet," proclaimed the title of Kekla Magoon's faculty lecture. Fellow faculty member Cori McCarthy spoke on "Gender Unbound: Crafting Binary and Nonbinary Characters for Evolving Generations."

In 2016, WCYA alumni launched the Young Writers Network, a northern New England "mentoring network" that connects the program's grads with kids who are "underrepresented in children's literature as a whole," according to its mission statement. Said Greene, "This is a small place that's having a really outsized impact on the larger culture."

WCYA accepts 50 to 60 percent of its applicants, said Cardinal, and about half of students receive financial aid from VCFA to handle the tuition of $11,882 per semester (plus a room-and-board fee of $877 per residency). New York literary agent Barry Goldblatt funded a $5,000 scholarship to encourage students of color to apply.

No literary agents or editors spoke at the July residency, and no lectures were devoted to pitching or publicizing books, in a marked contrast to the average writers' conference. "We keep [publishers and agents] out a little bit," said Greene. "We want the students to focus on their writing and getting better, and not necessarily on getting a book deal." Suma concurred: "The main focus is craft. I save industry talk for the fourth semester."

While publishing pros may not hold court at VCFA, they show a keen interest in the program's grads, said Cardinal, who recalls agents asking her, "'You went to VCFA? I read everything that comes from there.' It opens doors, the reputation," she added.

Tirzah Price, a 2015 WCYA grad based in Michigan, has also seen how the VCFA name piques agent interest. "I truly believe that having my MFA from VCFA helped immensely in the querying process," she wrote in a Facebook message. When Price spoke with prospective agents on the phone, all "were very curious about the program and students" and "had very nice things to say," she recalled.

But more important than name recognition, Price believes, is "the huge alumni network that gets you connections and contacts." And it's a strong network, as Bobi Martin, an Arizona-based writer of numerous science books for elementary schoolers, can attest.

When Martin graduated from WCYA in 1999, "Nothing like it existed," she said. In July, she was back on campus to attend her first residency in 19 years as a graduate assistant, serving as a "go-between" and helping new students acclimate. "We make sure everybody feels connected — one of the great strengths of this program," she said.

VCFA offers mini-residencies for alumni and other ways to stay in touch. In online groups, Martin said, she networked with the grads who came after her: "I never felt disconnected. You just naturally form friendships and strong connections."

"Graduates are the best advertisement for the program," said Suma.

Of course, no MFA is a passport to fame, fortune or National Book Award nominations. Not all of her fellow grads have had success stories, Martin noted: "Some people will never sell a book. You have to bring your own commitment."

McCormick isn't short on that. At the July residency, he was busy workshopping the story that grew out of his purchase of the "little guy" on Kandahar Airfield. His elevator pitch? "A young and bookish mouse in Kandahar has to come out of his shell ... and strikes out with his friends to find the most precious and valuable book in all of Afghanistan before the Taliban can find and destroy it."

McCormick acknowledged that "a lot of people run around cheerleading and whatnot: 'VCFA's so great!'" His job with the State Department tends to make him skeptical, he said, "always questioning, always evaluating." But when it comes to this program, he's convinced, "This is the real deal."

The original print version of this article was headlined "Majoring in Minors"

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Vermont College of Fine Arts MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Here, you’ll find out more about the major master’s degree program in creative writing, including such details as the number of graduates, ethnicity of students, related majors and concentrations, and more.

If there’s something special you’re looking for, you can use one of the links below to find it:

• Graduate Cost
• Online Learning
• Student Diversity

Featured Programs

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

MFA in Creative Writing - Online

Embrace your passion for storytelling and learn the professional writing skills you'll need to succeed with our online MFA in Creative Writing. Write your novel or short story collection while earning a certificate in the Online Teaching of Writing or Professional Writing, with no residency requirement.

MA in English & Creative Writing

Refine your writing skills and take a step toward furthering your career with this online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.

Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction

Harness your passion for storytelling with SNHU's Mountainview Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction. In this small, two-year creative writing program, students work one-on-one with our distinguished faculty remotely for most of the semester but convene for weeklong intensive residencies in June and January. At residencies, students critique each other's work face-to-face, meet with major authors, agents and editors and learn how to teach at the college level.

How Much Does a Master’s in Creative Writing from VCFA Cost?

Vcfa graduate tuition and fees.

In 2019-2020, the average part-time graduate tuition at VCFA was $880 per credit hour for both in-state and out-of-state students. Information about average full-time graduate student tuition and fees is shown in the table below.

Does VCFA Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

VCFA does not offer an online option for its creative writing master’s degree program at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the VCFA Online Learning page.

VCFA Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

Of the students who received their master’s degree in creative writing in 2019-2020, 75.3% of them were women. This is higher than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Of those graduates who received a master’s degree in creative writing at VCFA in 2019-2020, 14.4% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 24%.

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online

More about our data sources and methodologies .

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Looking to talk to a living, breathing person, interested in finding services and programs designed just for you, writing for children & young adults (mfa) | master’s degree, vermont college of fine arts, description.

The first Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in the country to focus exclusively on writing for young readers, the Writing for Children & Young Adults program is a diverse and dynamic community of writers.

Master's Degree

Blended delivery, prerequisites.

Bachelor's Degree

Estimated Time to Completion

Full-Time: 2 years

Night/Weekend Offerings

Not offered

Cost Total Cost $55,135

Tuition (semester) $12,238, housing & meals (semester) $1,170.

Cost information is approximate, please visit the program's website for the most up to date information available.

Financial Assistance

Grants & scholarships.

Vermont College of Fine Arts accepts Veterans Benefits. Some scholarships are also available by program.

State or Local Grant Private Grant Other Grant State or Local Scholarship Private Scholarship Other Scholarship Veteran Educational Assistance Program Department of Defense (DoD) Tuition Assistance State or Local Military Assistance Institutional Scholarship

Vermont College of Fine Arts participates in the federal student aid loan programs (Federal Direct Stafford Loan and Federal Direct Grad PLUS).

Federal Unsubsidized Loan Private Loan Other Loan Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan

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Vermont College of Fine Arts–Writing

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MFA Program

Poetry: Richard Jackson, Philip Metres, Tomás Q. Morín, Natasha Sajé, Betsy Sholl, Leslie Ullman, Nance Van Winckel, David Wojahn

Fiction: Connie May Fowler, T. Geronimo Johnson, Ellen Lesser, Brian Leung, Bret Lott, Clint McCown, Adam McOmber, Hasanthika Sirisena, Nance Van Winckel

Creative Nonfiction: Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, Connie May Fowler, Barbara Hurd, Bret Lott, Patrick Madden, Elena Passarello, Natasha Sajé, Sue William Silverman, Hasanthika Sirisena

The program offers fellowships and merit awards .

Hunger Mountain Review

Students attend two nine-day residencies each year, in July and January. Concurrent virtual residencies are also offered, along with overseas and domestic residencies held in unique cities of literary merit. The primary summer residency is held on the campus of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO, and the primary winter residency is held on the campus of Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA.

For Summer/Winter, the priority scholarship deadline is February 1; the final deadline is April 1. For Winter/Summer, the priority deadline is August 1; the final deadline is October 1.

Daniel Abbott, Kelly Beard, Nickole Brown, Dominic Bucca, Ann Davila Cardinal, Sion Dayson, Miciah Bay Gault, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Allison Hong Merrill, Bob Hicok, Marya Hornbacher, LeAnne Howe, Wally Lamb, Robin MacArthur, Jo-Ann Mapson, Sarah McCraw Crow, Jennifer McGaha, Robin Oliveira, Melissa Pritchard, Donald Quist, Maureen Seaton, Tim Seibles, Mahtem Shiferraw, Liza Nash Taylor, Kali White VanBaale, Neela Vaswani, Michelle Webster-Hein, Jonathan White, Laura Warrell

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

Written by Jennifer Williams

Vermont is home to a lot of writers. It’s funny – even official government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracking job market trends shows Vermont in the number two spot among states with the highest concentration of writers and authors.

What is it about little ‘ol Vermont that gives rise to so much writing talent?

It can’t just be some combination of quaint small town charm, striking fall colors, or the scenic splendor of places like Lake Willoughby, Quechee Gorge, and the Champlain Islands that make for great writing material. There has to be something beneath the surface of it all that stirs the hearts of people compelled to write.

And, while the state’s panoramic backdrop is certainly impressive, it’s not nearly as impressive as the writers who’ve found a home here.

Some of the American Literary Greats Touched the Landscape of Virginia, If Only for a While

Sinclair Lewis , a renowned novelist, was born in Minnesota but spent much of his life in Vermont. In the summer months, he and his wife stayed at their 300-acre homestead, Twin Farms, in Barnard. He wrote a total of 24 novels and more than 70 short stories and plays and is best remembered for his works Main Street and It Can’t Happen Here. In 1926, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith, but he declined to accept the award and was the first to ever do so. Sinclair disagreed with the sentiment that a contest should praise one book or writer over another, and he also didn’t feel that any one person or committee was competent enough to choose a best novel.

Chris Bohjalian , a long-time Lincoln resident, is another literary giant to hail from Vermont. His prospectus includes over 20 best-selling fiction books, three of which have been made into movies, and a slew of literary accomplishments. Some of the awards he’s accumulated include the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers, the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls , and Best Lifestyle Column for Idyll Banter by the Vermont Press Association. Many of his writings have also been chosen for Best Books of the Year by organizations like The Washington Post, Library Journal, and Bookpage.

Vermont’s exquisite backdrop has been a vacuum-like force bringing writers here for centuries and its unique diversity an added boon for literary expressionism. Today, large cities like Burlington are still hotspots of meaningful connection for up-and-coming writers.

Ultimately, though, it’s earning a degree in creative writing that will bring out what you have to offer. It’s the process of earning a BA or BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in creative writing that makes the writer, not the holding of the degree. And for eager grad students interested in an MA or the lauded MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in creative writing, that process holds the real possibility of bringing out greatness.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” ~ Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

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

By now, you’ve realized that a writing career isn’t accomplished by following a prescriptive, predetermined path. There’s no rigid outline that’s going to promise you success. A career in writing is simply not as traditional as most other professions. Writing is more like a literary expression of an author’s thoughts, feelings, passions, and convictions. It’s something unique that the writer creates from deep within, so unique, in fact, that no two writers take the same approach. You’ll find that your journey as a writer emerges as you get to know yourself.

Developing yourself as a writer, then, means you’ll need an outlet for self-reflection – a place where you can question your thoughts, challenge your ideas, and find your direction. Getting involved with your local writing community is the best way to accomplish this.

The League of Vermont Writers is a group committed to providing a supportive environment for all who share a love of the written word. They host open mic nights where you can get your work heard and critiqued, as well as live author events where you get a chance to meet-and-greet with published authors. The League of Vermont Writers also hosts quarterly programs where you can network and promote your work, interact with other writers, and learn more about the process of getting published. Meetings are rotated to different locations throughout the state but typically include Burlington and Rutland. The group also offers writing workshops that cover topics like character development, book proposals, and publishing.

The Burlington Writers Workshop is another resource you’ll want to check out. Through virtual and in-person workshops in Burlington, Montpelier, and Middlebury, you’ll have the opportunity to network with professional writers and participate in workshop events with peer critique. Panel discussions, group readings, and open mic nights are added benefits you don’t want to miss. The Lit Group is a subgroup which puts on book reading workshops and panel discussions once a week to help writers learn more about the publishing process. Its publication, Cold Lake Anthology, comes out every year and exclusively features the writings of Vermont authors.

Be sure to check out your local literary circulars, too. The Green Mountains Review is a literary print magazine that publishes poetry, essays, fiction, and creative nonfiction. This is a highly respected publication which has been recognized by The Boston Globe as a top-ten literary magazine in New England. Written work from this journal is regularly selected for prestigious awards like Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, and Pushcart Prize .

Another esteemed publication to follow is the New England Review, a quarterly publication of Middlebury College. It publishes mainly poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, and travelogues but is always on the lookout for fresh talent pushing the boundaries of convention. If your submission is selected for publication, you’ll receive a rate of $20 per page as well as two print copies and a 1-year subscription. The New England Review will be publishing an issue in December of 2023 that is exclusively dedicated to emerging writers, so if you’ve never been published before, it’s an excellent opportunity to get your work out there.

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

At the end of the day though, it’s a formal education in creative writing that’s going to set you up for success. It’s the final piece that hardens you to criticism, gives you the experience to know you can start from nothing again and rebuild, while helping foster connections and comradery that will last your whole life. A degree in creative writing is what distinguishes the professionals from the amateurs in this field – and it’s worth every bit of the effort it takes to earn.

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

Goddard college.

Accreditation:  NECHE

Degree: Bachelor – BFA

Private School

• Creative Writing (Drama, Poetry, Fiction, Hybrid Forms, Creative Nonfiction and Memoir)

Northern Vermont University

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Degree: Bachelor – BFA, BA

Public School

• BFA - Creative Writing
• BA - English-Writing concentration

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

Bennington college.

Degree:  Master – MFA

• Writing (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Dual-Genre)
• Creative Writing (Fiction, Poetry, Playwriting, Screenwriting, Libretto Writing, Television Writing, Graphic Novel Scriptwriting, Cross-Genre and Hybrid Forms, Creative Nonfiction and Memoir)

Vermont College of Fine Arts

• Writing, Writing for Children and Young Adults

A Conversation on Craft with Harvard Review's Editor, Christina Thompson

Drafting, revising and returning: a conversation on splinters with leslie jamison, keep writing, eventually good things will happen for you: a conversation with caleb curtiss, * * * 2023 katherine paterson prize * * * writing for children and young adults, writing a sequel to a pulitzer-winning book: an interview with andrew sean greer, the seasons as creative guidance: a conversation with jacqueline suskin, self-contradiction and the amorality of beauty within atrocity: an interview with jehanne dubrow, reckoning with the archive: a conversation with jami nakamura lin, poetic forms in removal acts : a conversation with erin marie lynch, the threads that hold us together: a conversation with ross gay, howard frank mosher fiction prize winner 2023, hunger mountain creative nonfiction prize 2023, katherine paterson prize for writing for children and young adults 2023, ruth stone poetry prize 2023, fighting the good fight: a conversation with allison wyss, a glowing box full of shards: a conversation with christine sneed, memoir in flash: a conversation with jennifer lang, family secrets, wonder, and 3 x 5 cards: a conversation with david mas masumoto, the urgency of reading: a conversation with peter orner, puerto rico has never determined its own destiny: robert lopez on erasure, invisibility, and claiming his own history in nonfiction, the language of visual art: when words aren’t (or are) enough in conversation with courtney faye taylor, gabrielle bates, and monica ong, the whole experience is fluidity: a conversation with chachi d. hauser, quiet acts of bravery: a conversation with travis baldree, the language of awe: an interview with e.j. koh, the art side: an interview with morgan talty, boldness: an interview with michael chang, howard frank mosher fiction prize winner, ruth stone poetry prize winner, hunger mountain creative nonfiction prize winner, hunger mountain translation prize winner, refuse to be done: a conversation with matt bell, an interview with sarah margaret henry, ross gay’s book of delights and jericho parms’ craft module: forms of joy.

Hunger mountain is created by the faculty and students in the Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

The editors share VCFA’s belief that the arts are central to the human experience and have the ability not only to reflect reality but also to create it. Our masthead changes annually, and our revolving list of faculty editors and contest judges reach into their diverse literary communities to help make them part of ours. This allows for aesthetic flexibility, guided by our steady ethics: promoting voices that have gone unheard, expanding our representation and scope,and critically examining our contemporary culture and our field. We value vulnerability, adventure, and accessibility. Our student readers are the future of the literary world, and all of us take great pride in discovering new voices, as well as publishing the freshest work from established artists.

Past contributors to Hunger Mountain include Elizabeth Acevedo, Dilruba Ahmed, Pinckney Benedict, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Destiny O. Birdsong, Robin Black, Ron Carlson, Hayden Carruth, Lucy Corin, Kwame Dawes, Matthew Dickman, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Santee Frazier, Terrance Hayes, Robin Hemley, Bob Hicok, Tony Hoagland, Lily Hoang, Pam Houston, Major Jackson, W. Todd Kaneko, Maxine Kumin, Dorianne Laux, Kelly Link, Robert Lopez, Sidney Lea, Michael Martone, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gregory Orr, Ann Pancake, Carl Phillips, Jordy Rosenberg, Tomaž Šalamun, Charles Simic, Jake Skeets, Patricia Smith, James Tate, Paul Tran, Jean Valentine, L. Lamar Wilson, Tiphanie Yanique, and many others. Hunger Mountain was started in 2002 by founding editor Caroline Mercurio Spitzer through a generous donation from a Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing alumnx. The journal has since thrived with the assistance of MFA in Writing faculty and ongoing support from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, VCFA alumnx, subscribers and friends. Miciah Bay Gault served as editor in chief from 2009-2018. Erin Stalcup served as editor in chief from 2018-2021, and the journal is now run by faculty and students in VCFA’s MFA in Writing Program with faculty member Adam McOmber as editor in chief.

Adam McOmber

Editor in chief & fiction editor.

Adam McOmber is the author of three novels, The White Forest (Touchstone), Jesus and John (Lethe), and The Ghost Finders (JournalStone), as well as two collections of short stories: My House Gathers Desires (BOA) and This New & Poisonous Air (BOA). His new collection of queer flash and experimental fiction, Fantasy Kit, will be published by Black Lawrence Press in June 2022. He is currently working on a queer erotic revision of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles that will be published by Lethe Press in digital monthly installments starting in September 2021. His work has been included in The Year’s Best Speculative Gay Fiction and Best Microfiction and shortlisted for Best American Fantasy and Best Horror of the Year. His stories have appeared recently in Conjunctions, Kenyon Review, Fairy Tale Review, and Diagram. Adam is editor-in-chief of Hunger Mountain Review at VCFA. Adam is an Ohio native, now residing in Los Angeles. He teaches in the Writing program at University of California Los Angeles and in the MFA in Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is on the faculty of the VCFA Novel Retreat and serves as one of its manuscript mentors.

Brian Leung

Fiction editor.

Brian Leung, author of All I Should Not Tell,   World Famous Love Acts , Lost men , and Take me Home , is a past recipient of the Lambda Literary outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize. Other honors include the Asian-American Literary Award, Willa Award, and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Brian’s fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in Story , Ocean State Review , Numero Cinq , Crazyhorse , Grain , Gulf Coast , Kinesis , The Barcelona Review , Mid-American Review , Salt Hill , Gulf Stream , River City , Runes , The Bellingham Review , Hyphen , Velocity , The Connecticut Review , Blithe House Quarterly , Indiana Review , Crab Orchard Review , and Crowd . He is Core Faculty at Vermont College of Fine Artes and a Professor of Creative Writing at Purdue University. His forthcoming title is A Terrifying Brush with Optimism: New and Selected ( Sarabande, Nov. 2024).

Chachi D. Hauser

Nonfiction editor.

Chachi D. Hauser (she/they) is a writer and filmmaker. Chachi’s debut book,  It’s fun to be a person I don’t know  was published in March 2023 by the University of Nebraska Press in their American Lives Series. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her essays have appeared in  Lit Hub, Prairie Schooner, swamp pink (formerly Crazyhorse), Hobart, The Writer’s Chronicle , among others. Chachi is one of the producers of Hollow Tree , a feature documentary about three young women coming of age into a new climate reality in Louisiana, which premiered at the 2022 New Orleans Film Festival (Jury Award, Audience Award). Chachi was selected for the 2019 Sundance Talent Forum, 2019 Southern Producers Lab, 2020 The Gotham Documentary Lab, among others. She graduated with honors in film studies from Wesleyan University and completed her MFA in creative writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Chachi was born in NYC and is now based between New Orleans and Paris. Her writing and filmmaking explore topics of gender, environment, identity, family, and the imagination (personal and collective) with a passion for exploring the wild // fluid // in-between places.

Tarfia Faizullah

Poetry editor.

Tarfia Faizullah is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages  (Graywolf, 2018) and Seam (SIU, 2014). Her writing has appeared widely in the US and abroad in the Daily Star, BuzzFeed, Hindu Business Line, Huffington Post, Ms . magazine, the New Republic , the Nation , Oxford American, Poetry magazine, and the Academy of American Poets website, as well as in the anthology Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket, 2019) and the television show PBS News Hour . The recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, three Pushcart prizes, and other honors, Faizullah presents work at institutions and organizations worldwide, and has been featured at the the Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Fulbright Conference, the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice, the Radcliffe Seminars, New York University, Barnard College, University of California Berkeley, the Poetry Foundation, the Clinton School of Public Service, Brac University, and elsewhere. Faizullah’s writing has been translated into Bengali, Persian, Chinese, and Tamil, and was included in the theater production Birangona: Women of War . Her collaborations include photographers, producers, composers, filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists, resulting in several interdisciplinary projects, including an EP, Eat More Mango. In 2016, Harvard Law School included Faizullah in their list of 50 Women Inspiring Change.

Myrth Killingsworth

Co-managing editor & hybrid editor.

Myrth Killingsworth (she/they) is a queer writer based in northern New Mexico. Her work has appeared in the tiny journal , The Cafe Irreal , Tupelo Quarterly , and Sunspot Lit . Myrth is currently working on a hybrid novel about the dance between freedom and care in the realms of parenthood, bodies, and art.

Montserrat Andrée Carty

Interviews editor.

Montserrat (Montse) Andrée Carty is a writer and visual artist. In addition to writing and making photos, she hosts the podcast Musings of the Artist and is the Interviews Editor for Hunger Mountain. She is currently a MFA in Writing candidate at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is working on a hybrid memoir on home and belonging.

Yetta Rose Stein

Co-managing editor & associate poetry editor.

Yetta Rose Stein reads and writes in Livingston, Montana. She is a graduate of Hellgate High School. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Adelaide Literary Magazine, Another Chicago Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere. She is a founding member of the Mug Club and is on the board of Montana's Intermountain Opera. She is currently focused on writing poems about time and grass.

Stephen Welter

Associate editor at-large.

Stephen Welter is a writer based in Taos, New Mexico. He holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BS in Environmental Geochemical Science from the State University of New York. His work has been published in Tupelo Quarterly , and he has served as senior proofreader for Hunger Mountain . Stephen is currently working on a metaphysical autobiography about love and transfinite spaces.

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

The mfa program for writers.

In 1976, Ellen Bryant Voigt, renowned poet and master teacher, founded the nation’s first low-residency creative writing program. In 1981, the program relocated from Vermont’s Goddard College to one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, Warren Wilson College.  Today, forty-five years after its inception, the prestigious MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College remains one of the top writing programs in the nation.  Students of the program range in age from their early twenties to mid-sixties, in profession from teacher and journalist, doctor and bartender, to lawyer and lumberjack, and join us from all over North America, Europe, and Asia.  Our faculty have won virtually every major honor in the country, including MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, Pulitzer Prizes, and the National Book Award.  Several have served as state poets laureate, and two have been named national poets laureate.  Our alumni have published hundreds of books, and their work has been featured in The New Yorker  and on the front page of  The New York Times   Book Review .

About the Program

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

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

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

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

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

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

Degree Requirements

The student’s record must indicate the following:.

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

The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College

701 Warren Wilson Rd. Swannanoa, NC 28778 [email protected]     (828) 771-3715

STUDENT ACCOUNTS       STUDENT ACCESS       FACULTY ACCESS

Finding Your Voice and Crafting Stories that Ignite the Soul with Sue William Silverman Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing

Sue William Silverman joins the Writing Your Resilience Podcast to talk about the power of creative nonfiction, how to use metaphor, masks, and language to harness its power, and how this work can lead to personal growth. As you listen along, here are a few questions to ponder: Which of your stories yearn to be told?  How do you uncover their many emotional truths? What do those truths look like on the page and sound like when you read them out loud?  Sue’s Bio:  Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry. Her most recent book is Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. Her previous book, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences," won the gold star in Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year Award and the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature. Other works include Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, which was made into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, which won the AWP Award; and The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew. She is faculty co-chair of the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Episode Highlights:  4:00 Why We Write Creative Nonfiction  8:00 Metaphors in Creative Nonfiction Writing  24:00 Using Masks to Externalize the Narrator and Connect with Their Voice  30:00 Writing, Creativity, and Emotional Truth  36:00 Creative Nonfiction Writing and Personal Growth  42:00 Writing, Memoir, and Essay Collections. 48:00 Writing, Resilience, and Self-Expression Resources Mentioned During This Episode “Innocence & Experience: Voice in Creative Nonfiction” by Sue William Silverman “INTERVIEW & REVIEW: Sue William Silverman, Author of Acetylene Torch Songs”  Connect with Sue:  Website: www.SueWilliamSilverman.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SueWilliamSilverman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suewilliamsilverman/ Connect with your host, Lisa: Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less: https://lisacooperellison.com/newsletter-subscribe/ Website: https://lisacooperellison.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisacooperellison/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColPDzpoQlVktIv7-f7ObRg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisacooperellison/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-ellison-b5483840/ Sign up for Psychology of Character Development for Memoirists: https://janefriedman.com/the-psychology-of-character-development-for-memoirists-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/ Produced by Espresso Podcast Production: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com

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Good School? VCFA??

• Vermont College of Fine Arts

By DancesWithDogs March 7, 2012 in Literary

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DancesWithDogs

thanks in advance for any takers.

My sister applied and was accepted to the Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Creative Writing. I'm very supportive of her pursuits, but just worry about her school selection.

Has anyone heard of this school? is it a good school? I read that it sorta encourages distance learning. Is that typical? Or does that signify a cash-cow scenario? (i come from a very typical type of grad school-- Public Policy, so I am not accustomed to the idea of GRE not required, but open to it)

any thoughts, ideas, opinions? Thanks a lot!

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Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) has a great program. Some people aren't familiar with VCFA because it's a limited residency program, but it is among the best.

Poets & Writers ranked it #1 among low-residency programs in 2011: http://www.pw.org/co...idency_programs

I graduated with a dual-genre MFA in Creative Writing (CNF & Poetry) from VCFA and continue to be impressed by by both the faculty and the students.

VCFA requires that students to be on campus for 10-days of intense workshops, readings, lectures, and other community events each semester. During those residencies, students interview faculty members and are then assigned one based on their faculty preferences.

The student and faculty member then work one one one during the residency to devise a study plan, bibliography, and assignment goals that the student will complete after he/she returns home. In this way, the program is highly individualized (and as you noted, able to be completed at a distance).

It also encourages students to adopt certain lifestyle habits of working writers, as one needs to be self-movitivated, organized, and directed to succeed. This is not to say that each writer isn't strongly supported by his/her faculty member and student community after returning home, but ultimately, one's success in this program requires an added level of responsibility in setting a schedule and protecting writing space within the changing demands of everyday life.

You can read more about the residencies and how they work on the VCFA website: http://www.vcfa.edu/...ng/how-it-works

If you're still wondering about the credibility of the program, you might want to take a few minutes to scroll through the faculty bios. http://www.vcfa.edu/...g/faculty-staff

My first semester of studying poetry at VCFA, I had the privilege and pleasure of working with Betsy Sholl. At that time, she was the Poet Laureate of Maine.

I didn't intend to write so much, but in reading your post, I definitely wanted to acknowledge your concerns and also help assure you that Vermont College of Fine Arts is a legitimate, and also exceptional, program.

Best wishes,

Patrick Ross

You're a great brother to look out for your sister and ask this question. I'm in my second semester at VCFA in their Writing program and love it, but I'll confess when I first started researching MFA programs I wasn't that familiar with it and was a bit skeptical as a result. I was also surprised that I didn't need a GRE, but that seems typical with MFA programs. Frankly, it's hard for me to imagine what a GRE score would bring to an MFA admissions office; for a low-residency MFA program, they need to know that 1) you can write, and 2) you can work without an instructor standing over your shoulder.

I first had to learn about low-residency programs, and lenegary does a great job of describing how VCFA works, which I think structurally is not unlike other low-res programs. I know that VCFA was a pioneer in the format, however. I love the low-res format for three reasons: 1) I'm a working professional, and couldn't possibly go to a full-year on-campus program. 2) I can't imagine anything at a traditional MFA program rivals the intensity of learning and bonding that you find in a 10-day residency. 3) I am loving the individual attention I get from my semester advisor--detailed critique of my work, advice and guidance on what to read and how to grow my craft, and regular support to help stay motivated.

When I first settled on low-res I was focused first on Bennington, largely because I had heard of it. VCFA only offers MFA programs; Bennington has a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs. I believe Bennington also has a great program--it's also ranked high in Poets & Writers and has great faculty, just as VCFA does--but when I was accepted to both I looked at each more carefully. I found VCFA's administration and faculty far more responsive to me as a potential student, and I found as I spoke to alums that VCFA has a large and passionate alumni network, which includes highly talented and accomplished writers. I can now attest to this community, most recently when I was one of 10,000 attending the annual AWP writer's conference in Chicago and was overwhelmed by all of the VCFAers I met and connected with there. I know I made the right choice with VCFA.

Your sister needs to decided if VCFA is right for her. What I can tell you is she'll get an outstanding education, from excellent faculty, in a nurturing environment, and a long history of graduating stellar writers.

Hey lenegary, Patrick,

thanks so much for the info! I really appreciate it! My lack of familiarity with 'away' schools is... rather vast and well, its easy to distrust things you don't understand.

The input was so helpful! I appreciate it!

DWD, I'm glad this was useful. And Lené, it's good to cross paths with you as well!

• 6 years later...

CulturalCriminal

I know this is an older thread, but it seemed relevant to my own question:

Do low-res MFA grads get jobs teaching? 

I already have an MA in Lit and am currently lucky enough to have a full load as a lecturer, but I like the idea of getting an MFA so I can sharpen my creative writing skills and get to work with certain faculty (low-res). However, I also feel that getting another degree needs to eventually help me at least get the bump to Senior Lecturer. 

So, would adding a lowres MFA actually help at all with the details we all wish we could not deal with—getting better job stability and pay?

• 4 months later...

Anastasia Beaverhausen

On 9/23/2018 at 11:14 AM, CulturalCriminal said: I know this is an older thread, but it seemed relevant to my own question: Do low-res MFA grads get jobs teaching?  I already have an MA in Lit and am currently lucky enough to have a full load as a lecturer, but I like the idea of getting an MFA so I can sharpen my creative writing skills and get to work with certain faculty (low-res). However, I also feel that getting another degree needs to eventually help me at least get the bump to Senior Lecturer.  So, would adding a lowres MFA actually help at all with the details we all wish we could not deal with—getting better job stability and pay?

An MFA is a terminal degree, so you could become a tenured professor w your MFA.  If that helps!

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Goddard College

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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

We believe in the power of your imagination. Since 1976, when Goddard College launched the nation’s first low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program , we have provided an enduring creative home for writers like you. Our goal is to help you find, refine, and share your words with the world.

Unlike many conventional MFA programs, we welcome writers in a variety of genres, including libretto, television writing, and the graphic novel, as well as creative nonfiction, poetry, dramatic writing, fiction, speculative fiction, and hybrid forms.

We support you in determining your artistic direction and work with you to individualize the course of study that will enable you to fulfill your dreams. We’ll provide the structure, deadlines, and guidance you need from professional mentors who are working writers in your chosen genre.

you’ll be inspired and energized, with a reading list designed specifically for you and a comprehensive plan to produce your creative thesis. During the semester, you’ll stay in close contact with your advisor as you produce monthly packets of work.

By the time you graduate, you not only will have accomplished your goal of finishing your book, play, script, or libretto, but you also will have radically transformed your sense of confidence and purpose as a writer.

About Goddard

Education for real living, through the actual facing of real life problems

• The Goddard Difference

Our philosophy starts with the idea experience and education are intricately linked

The MFA in Creative Writing Program supports students writing in the following genres:

• Creative Nonfiction / Memoir
• Playwriting
• Libretto Writing
• Screenwriting
• Television Writing
• Graphic Novel Scriptwriting
• Cross-Genre / Hybrid

Program Details

Monthly “packet exchanges” allow you to sustain an ongoing dialogue with your faculty advisor about your work throughout the semester. Every packet contains your work — creative pages, critical essays, and/or other degree requirements. Packets also include a process letter in which you raise any artistic concerns or questions about your work and life as a writer.

You’ll submit four written packets to your advisor each semester, on specific due dates, and your advisor will respond with detailed margin notes, a comprehensive response letter, and an engaging dialogue about how your critical explorations can assist you in bringing your creative work closer to your vision. In addition, you’ll engage in a “virtual packet” midway through the semester, consisting of a one-hour virtual meeting or phone call with your advisor.

Core Curriculum

The core focus of your MFA studies is your creative work. The intellectual rigor you gain through reading and critical analysis will help you develop your craft and voice. You’ll have many opportunities to share your work in readings and workshops, and you’ll deepen what you’ve learned by applying it in your Teaching Practicum.

Creative Work

Your thesis project consists of a complete book, play, script, or libretto. To help you progress toward that goal, you’ll be expected to engage actively in creative writing throughout each semester. Our students are encouraged to experiment with different genres and methods at each residency and during their first semester, and by their second semester, select a particular genre for their final thesis and concentration.

By the end of your final semester, you are expected to produce a unified creative thesis of professional quality, conforming to standard industry length. You will share an excerpt from this work at a public reading during your commencement residency.

Critical Writing

Close reading is the foundation of the critical work you’ll do at Goddard. Close reading means avidly exploring the construction of the text and moving beyond general impressions to note specific authorial choices and to consider their implications.

Each semester you will work with your advisor to create a reading list that reflects the themes, technical/craft issues, and literary traditions you choose to explore in depth. Your selections will be informed by your own personal experiences, educational background, and reading habits, with attention to such factors as gender, genre, and multiculturalism.

In response to your reading, over the course of your MFA you’ll complete 45-60 annotations, two five-page critical papers, and one twenty-page critical paper.

Teaching Practicum

As a terminal degree, the MFA in Creative Writing is a credential for faculty positions in higher education. To offer you the skills necessary to confidently enter the classroom as a teacher of creative writing, you are also required to complete a “teaching practicum,” as described in the next section.

Unique among MFA programs, Goddard has created a model that gives you:

• the freedom to shape the creative writing course that best serves your goals
• your choice of location and student populations
• your choice of craft topics
• an opportunity to expand your resume
• a way to give back to your community

With a minimum of just three students, our students have offered creative writing courses at colleges, grade schools, retirement communities, libraries, juvenile detention centers – even coffee shops!

Publishing Opportunities

You can be involved in all aspects of publishing, from editing to layout, with these opportunities:

• The Pitkin Review: the literary journal written and edited by Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing students
• Clockhouse : the national, Pushcart-mentioned literary journal, edited and published by Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing alumni
• The Writer in the World: the Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing blog for students and alumni

Visiting Writers & Professionals

At residencies, you’ll meet a diverse range of visiting writers and professionals from the worlds of book publishing, theater, and film and television production.

• Our  Visiting Writers Series  is one of the most anticipated aspects of each residency. Recent guest writers include Chris Abani, Lynda Barry, Nilo Cruz, Meghan Daum, Mary Gaitskill, Pablo Medina, Dinaw Mengestu, Ruth Ozeki, and Dani Shapiro.
• Our Visiting Professionals Series will introduce you to professionals from the publishing and production industries. Recent guests include editors and agents from Penguin/Tarcher, Hawthorne Books, Janklow & Nesbit, Feminist Press, Simon & Schuster, and Copper Canyon Press.
• Our  Alumni Readers Series  celebrates the professional achievements of our alumni. Recent alumni readers include Mark Doty, Justin Hall, Cara Hoffman, Simone John, Matthew Quick, and Selah Saterstrom.
• Our  Playwrights’ Enrichment Series  is unique among MFA writing programs. Once a year, on our Vermont campus, we welcome a visiting luminary from theatre or film. Recent guests include playwrights, librettists, and dramaturgs, as well as literary managers and directors from theatrical powerhouses, such as The Public Theater, HowlRound, Lark Theater, Dramatists Guild, Eugene O’Neill Theater, and the Sundance Institute.

Social Justice Book Club

We are a community of creative writers who are also serious readers—readers who want to be engaged, entertained, and enlightened. We come from a rich array of backgrounds and experiences.

It is this diversity that makes the residency a special place where we can explore books about race, gender, immigration, sexuality, or other topics related to social justice. The resulting conversations allow us to develop our identities—that is, who we are and what we want to say as writers in the world.

Some of the books the SJBC has chosen recently are:  Between the World and Me  by Ta-Nahisi Coates,  Good Kings, Bad Kings  by Susan Nussbaum,  All the Names  by Dinaw Mengestu,  Fun Home: A Tragicomedy  by Alison Bechdel, and  Night Sky with Exit Wounds  by Ocean Vuong.

Latest Posts

Alumni Mwalim Daphunkee Professor Peters

Faculty Member Louise Glück

Keynote Speaker Dharna Noor Addresses Climate Change

Pandemic Theater? A Goddard Playwright Adjusts

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Important Announcement

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The Board of Directors for Goddard College have made the difficult decision to close the college at the end of the 2024 Spring term.  

Current Goddard students will have the opportunity to complete their degrees at the same tuition rate through a teach-out with like-minded institution, Prescott College . Updates and scholarship funds will be available in the coming weeks and months. Information will be posted to www.goddard.edu . 

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Home » Academic Programs » Creative Writing, B.F.A.

Creative Writing, B.F.A.

Indulge your passion for words while building strategic skills for your future in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Vermont State University. Work closely with professors who share your love of the literary craft as you develop your voice through poetry and a variety of prose forms. You’ll also sharpen your analytical skills as you dive into literary theory and analysis.

At the same time, build practical experience in publishing, editing, website design, and digital marketing through coursework, internships, and working with fellow students to produce the nationally-recognized Green Mountains Review. You’ll graduate brimming with inspiration and equipped with job-ready skills for careers in education, writing, publishing, editing, marketing, and anywhere else careful thought and well-crafted words are needed.

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Affordability and costs, financial aid and scholarships.

We understand that the cost and value of your education is important to you. That’s why we’re committed to being one of the most affordable colleges in Vermont and why more than 80% of our students receive aid. We're here to help you fit this program into your unique financial picture. Contact this program's Admissions Counselor any time to discuss what types of financial aid are right for you.

Tuition, Fees, and Program Costs

Combined with scholarships and aid, a Vermont State education is within reach for students from all financial backgrounds. Speak with our Admissions Counselor to estimate what your true out-of-pocket costs might be for this program.

For complete information on tuition and fees across all programs and locations, as well as indirect costs of attendance, visit the complete tuition and fees page .

Why Study Creative Writing at Vermont State?

Program highlights.

• Real-World Publishing Experience:  Graduate with a strong writing portfolio and solid publishing experience. Through internships with our nationally recognized Green Mountains Review literary journal and work on our undergraduate student literary journal, Pamplemousse, you’ll gain experience and skills in every area of publishing and production, from editing to layout to marketing. 
• Thriving Literary Community:  Find inspiration and friendship in a community of fellow writers. Take part in open mic nights, chapbook publishing, readings and lectures by visiting writers, and serious study and discussion of our discipline. The internationally known Vermont Studio Center, just minutes from the Johnson Campus, presents a regular reading series for the many resident and visiting writers hosted at the center each year. 
• Pathway to Teaching:  You can combine your Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with our Secondary Education program and be eligible to pursue endorsement for secondary education teacher licensure.  
• Award-Winning Faculty:  Get expert instruction and career guidance from faculty who have earned recognition for both their teaching and writing. Your instructors bring a wealth of experience, from publishing books and essays, to working as a journalist, to managing and editing publications.  
• In-Demand Skills:  Maybe a best-selling book is in your future? In the meantime, don’t worry about earning a paycheck. You’ll graduate with well-developed skills in communication, research, marketing, teamwork, and analysis — five of the most in-demand soft skills among employers, according to recent research from LinkedIn. There is no shortage of jobs you can get with a creative writing degree. 

Academic Experience

What You’ll Learn  

During the Creative Writing B.F.A. program at Vermont State, you’ll develop in three distinct areas that combine to give you a great foundation for many career directions. 

• As a creative writer: You’ll practice the craft in a number of genres with the support and mentorship of experienced faculty who will help you hone your style. By the time you graduate, you will have created a nearly book-length manuscript in your genre of choice. 
• As a reader: You’ll grow in your ability to analyze, interpret, savor, and explain literature. Your study of theory and close reading of texts will broaden and sharpen your thinking in any context. 
• As a professional: You’ll gain experience with the basic elements of production and publishing, including using the modern tools of digital media. You will understand how to make a living as a writer or editor in areas like journalism, marketing, and publishing. 

Outside the Classroom, In the Community  

As a student in the program, you’ll get to share your writing and engage in the production and publishing process through: 

• The Green Mountains Review: This award-winning literary magazine publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, literary essays, interviews, and book reviews by both well-known writers and promising newcomers. In one of your required courses, you’ll work with fellow students over the course of a semester to produce an issue of the journal. This means that, before you even graduate, you will have your name on the masthead of a journal cited as one of the top literary magazines in New England. 
• Pamplemousse : Choose to work on our undergraduate student literary journal and learn to do everything from writing and editing work for publication to soliciting submissions and meeting publication deadlines. Pamplemousse publishes high-quality, forward-thinking, innovative, and well-crafted writing in many genres and styles. 

Internships: Gain industry experience, forge career connections, and enhance your skills for the job market during a summer internship placement.

Special Facilities

• The perfect setting: ​ Fuel your inspiration and find creative solitude in the picturesque mountains, forests, and valleys of Vermont.  
• Digital labs: Take your creativity into the 21st century. Get access to computer labs where you’ll find iMacs equipped with Adobe Creative Suite and other digital media tools. 

Sample Courses

• Gateway to Literature 
• History and Art of Publishing 
• Creative Writing 
• Form & Theory 

Related Programs

• Animation & Illustration, B.F.A.
• Communications, B.A.
• Literature & Writing, B.A.
• Theater Arts, B.A.

Student Stories

John and Olivia McDonough met in the creative writing program. They both went on to earn their M.F.A. degrees in writing and married each other. Their wedding was officiated by one of their professors.

“I was blown away by the number of world-class writers I was exposed to and worked with in the classroom. That stands out as one of the most valuable things for me as I move forward in life as a writer,” John said. “Meeting high-caliber writers…clarified and distilled the work of being a writer. I gained a good understanding of how to cultivate creativity in everyday life,” Olivia said. John and Olivia McDonough

Meet Our Faculty

Castleton Campus

Jensen Beach

Associate professor.

Johnson Campus

Jeff Higgins

Randolph Campus

Andrea Luna

Lyndon Campus

Ready to Take the Next Step?

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