university of arizona mfa creative writing

CRTVMFA - Creative Writing

Program description.

Get your B.A. in Creative Writing

About the Major

Study the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction while developing skills for creative written expression.

Learn how to write well-crafted and compelling works of prose or poetry

Work with faculty in small workshop settings

Learn about contemporary prose or poetry

A Creative Writing degree, which is offered by the Department of English, prepares you for a wide range of occupations! Many grads write for business, industry, and marketing; teach; publish their own creative work; or go on for their MFA.

• Speech writer
• Grant writer

Hands-on Learning

As part of your major, you will take numerous workshops to hone your creative writing skills. You can also participate in creative internships at places such as World of Words, Pine Reads Review, Literacy Connects, and KORE Press.

For your major, you will concentrate in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, or just take a mixture. Sample courses include:

• ENGL 201: Introduction to the Writing of Creative Nonfiction
• ENGL 215: Elements of Craft in Creative Writing
• ENGL 304: Intermediate Fiction Writing
• ENGL 373B: Survey of British and American Literature from 1660 to 1865
• ENGL 380: Literary Analysis
• ENGL 409: Advanced Poetry Writing

You will also take at least four writing workshops, in which you draft, analyze, and revise manuscripts in a small-class setting

Ready to learn more?

• See degree requirements
• Learn about the Department of English

Get in touch with an SBS advisor:

Laura Owen [email protected]

Email Laura

Creative Writing, MFA

• Program description
• At a glance
• Degree requirements
• Admission requirements
• Tuition information
• Application deadlines
• Program learning outcomes
• Career opportunities
• Contact information

english, literature, poetry, prose, story

ASU's creative writing program, distinguished by an outstanding faculty whose works have received major national and international recognition, is consistently ranked among top-tier programs in poetry and fiction. The program's curricular strengths, community outreach and close mentorship combine to advance pragmatic, effective outcomes for students, graduates and artist-citizens.

The MFA in creative writing at ASU has always been an unswervingly student-first program. Through small classes, intimate workshops and one-to-one mentoring, the centuries-old apprenticeship model thrives within the New American University. Poets and fiction writers work with outstanding faculty who have published more than 80 books and garnered national and international attention through awards and honors that include:

• Guggenheim, Howard Foundation, Lannan Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and United Artists fellowships
• international Griffin Poetry Prize and Whiting Award
• multiple Pulitzer Prizes
• two medals of achievement from the National Society of Arts and Letters
• two Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets
• Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets

Additionally, in concert with the Master of Fine Arts program, several campus entities contribute to the MFA experience: the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing offers students a wide range of fellowships, support for professional development, and other teaching and leadership opportunities including a Community Outreach Graduate Assistantship. The Center for Imagination in the Borderlands brings writers and other artists for intensive workshops, classes and public events, and offers an artistic development and teaching assistant fellowship and two research assistantships. The Master of Fine Arts program also hosts a newly inaugurated series of craft lectures and an alumni reading series.

Furthermore, students have access to a variety of additional professional development opportunities, including serving on the editorial board of an international literary journal Hayden's Ferry Review, translation experience through the Thousand Languages Project and internships with award-winning independent literary press Four Way Books.

• College/school: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Location: Tempe

48 credit hours including a written comprehensive exam and the required applied project course (ENG 593)

Coursework (39 credit hours)

Other Requirement (6 credit hours) ENG 592 Research (6)

Culminating Experience (3 credit hours) ENG 593 Applied Project (3)

Additional Curriculum Information The creative writing program requires 48 credit hours of study evenly divided between writing courses and literature courses designed to inform that writing.

While students are expected to satisfy these requirements in the genre in which they were accepted, the program encourages cross-genre study, and electives can include courses taken outside of the creative writing program or even outside of the English department.

A written comprehensive exam and an applied project are required.

Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Applicants should have an undergraduate major in English or creative writing; however, exceptional students who do not have either of these undergraduate majors may be admitted on the basis of writing excellence.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program, or a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• graduate admission application and application fee
• official transcripts
• statement of purpose
• resume or curriculum vitae
• three letters of recommendation
• creative manuscript
• proof of English proficiency

Additional Application Information An applicant whose native language is not English (regardless of current residency) and has not graduated from an institution of higher learning in the United States must provide proof of English proficiency . Applications will not be processed without valid proof of English proficiency. Please note that official scores must be sent to ASU in order for the application to be processed.

The personal statement should include the applicant's writing background, intended area of specialization and a brief self-evaluation of recent work (double-spaced, up to three pages or 750 words). The creative manuscript should be up to 20 pages of poetry or up to 30 pages of prose (prose should be double-spaced). Students applying for a teaching assistantship must submit a statement of teaching philosophy and an academic writing sample.

Program learning outcomes identify what a student will learn or be able to do upon completion of their program. This program has the following program outcomes:

• Create original fiction or poetry that incorporates theoretical and foundational literary knowledge.
• Explicate their creative works articulately.
• Analyze and critique the writing of other creative writers.

A Master of Fine Arts in creative writing graduate is prepared primarily for the professional creation of new art, including fiction, poetry and other written forms. In addition to working as novelists, poets and short story writers, graduates go on to careers in education, arts administration, media and entertainment, and in political and community organizations. Career examples include:

• book designer or marketer
• book or magazine editor
• creative writing professor
• essayist or journalist
• grant writer and developer
• literary or events coordinator
• nonprofit administrator
• public relations and communications manager
• screenwriter
• secondary education teacher

Department of English | RBHL 170 [email protected] 480-965-3168 Admission deadlines

• Creative Writing Masters Fine Arts

Application Procedures

Mfa application deadline is  january 1, 2022  (this program admits for fall semester only.).

Justin Petropoulos Program Manager of Creative Writing

Ross Blakley 152 Phone: 480-727-9130 E-mail:  [email protected]

Applicants should have an undergraduate major in English or Creative Writing, with a GPA of 3.00 or above; however, exceptional students who do not have either of these undergraduate majors may be admitted on the basis of writing excellence.

Applicants should  submit all the following materials online  via the  Online Graduate Admissions Application  along with the required application fee.

The application fee online via the Graduate Admissions Application ($70 domestic and $115 international)

Graduate Admissions Application

Personal Statement including your writing background, intended area of specialization, and a brief self-evaluation of recent work, (double-spaced, up to 3 pages or 750 words)

Three letters of recommendation

A personal Résumé or Curriculum Vitae (CV)

A Creative Manuscript Sample: up to 20 pages of poetry or 30 pages of prose (prose should be double spaced)

Please submit all materials for the Teaching Assistant Application packet (complete information available here:  Teaching Assistant application packet ), including  an academic writing sample (10-15 pages, double spaced) along with their statement of teaching philosophy

Note: the Creative Writing Program offers tracks in fiction and poetry; we do not have a creative nonfiction track

Official academic transcripts  must be sent in hard copy  to Admission Services Applicant Processing (see below)

Applications that do not include complete transcripts and the application fee will not be considered.

All application materials must be received by January 1. Selection is based on talent and promise, as demonstrated in the manuscript sample; the academic record; evidence of dedication and potential for growth, from the recommendations and personal statement; and compatibility of the applicant’s goals with the purpose and design of the ASU degree program. In recent years, we have been able to accept the top 3% of applicants.

Transfer of Credits

Subject to the recommendation of the MFA steering committee and the program director, a maximum of nine credit hours taken before admission, not as part of a completed degree at ASU and/or another institution, may be used to fulfill MFA degree requirements. All course work for the ASU Master of Fine Arts in creative writing must be completed within a six-year time limit. Financial aid is not extended beyond the third year.

• English Department
• MFA Creative Writing

Questions? Please contact...

Creative writing, master of fine arts.

This program, which involves completing a creative thesis, allows you to balance academic course work in English with the serious study of creative writing.

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To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units. You must additionally complete:

• All requirements for your specific academic plan(s). This may include a thesis.
• All graduate work with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.
• All work toward the master's degree must be completed within six consecutive years. The six years begins with the semester and year of admission to the program.

Read the full policy here .

Overview Accordion Closed

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Purpose Statement The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing balances the study and practice of creative writing with academic coursework in English. Students participate in writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, undertake coursework in literature, and study critical theory. MFA candidates will present a creative thesis of between 45 to 120 pages, depending on genre.  The MFA Program at Northern Arizona University allows you to:   

• live and write in the beautiful, vibrant city of Flagstaff
• focus on poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction
• participate in intensive writing workshops with dedicated professors

Student Learning Outcomes   Upon completion of the Creative Writing MFA students will be able to:

• Examine, explicate, analyze and evaluate literary texts of considerable difficulty in order to determine the place of the student’s own work within a literary tradition.
• Develop the student’s own critical and aesthetic position, based on recognizing, understanding, and interpreting critical positions and literary arguments of other authors.
• Read and respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to work by other MFA students in order to hone the critical, intellectual, and analytical skills that are crucial to success in a broad range of literary, artistic, cultural and professional fields.
• Investigate the world of literary publishing in order to discover suitable journals, magazines and/or quality trade book publishers to which the student author can submit his/her own finished work.
• Refine skills in drafting, revising and editing in a primary literary genre with the goal of producing a polished creative manuscript of marketable quality.
• public readings,
• interviewing other writers,
• attending outside readings,
• writing book reviews,
• serving on editorial boards, and
• organizing literary events.

Details Accordion Closed

Graduate admission information.

The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College. Admission requirements include the following:

• Transcripts.
• Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.

Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies. Ready to apply? Begin your application now.

International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy .

Additional Admission Requirements

Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

• 2 letters of recommendation
• Writing sample
• Personal statement or essay

Master's Requirements

This Master’s degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:

• Creative Writing courses: 12 units
• Supportive coursework: 12 units
• Electives chosen with your advisor’s approval: 6 to 9 units
• Thesis: 3 to 6 units (if 6 units of thesis are selected, it will reduce the number of units of electives required for the degree)
• 500- and 600-level creative writing courses, some of which may be repeated for 9 units of credit (12 units)
• Coursework in literature, literary criticism, literary theory, and/or readings in creative writing (12 units) 
• Electives chosen with your advisor's approval (6-9 units)
• ENG 699 , for the research, writing, and revision of an approved thesis. Please note: You may end up taking more than the 6 units of thesis credit you can count toward your degree because you must register for it each semester while you are working on your thesis. (3-6 units)
• Note that up to 6 units of 400-level literature courses may count toward degree, with advisor approval

Additional Information

Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

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What You Won’t Learn in an MFA

An mfa can teach you skills, but will it prepare you for a writing career.

By 2018, I had written five books and decided to pursue an MFA in creative writing with a concentration in fiction. For me, earning an MFA gave me the time and space I needed to quit my day job and transition to writing full-time, but that was something I had been building toward for over a decade. Of course, I can’t speak to all MFA programs, but in many cases, they focus almost exclusively on writing skills and don’t give writers the concrete skills they need to make money writing and publishing. I often found myself answering questions for my classmates about what publishing was really like. It simply wasn’t being taught, sometimes because faculty themselves were struggling with how to navigate writing as a business.

An MFA program may be the right choice to help you become a better writer, or because you want the qualification to teach writing at a college; it may not give you insights into navigating the publishing landscape.

Here are some of the professional development skills you may need to gain outside of the classroom on your writing journey.

Getting published

Many MFA programs don’t talk to authors about the good, the bad, and the ugly in both traditional publishing and self-publishing. There is often an assumption that if you’re in an MFA program, you’ll be seeking a traditional publishing deal. But most programs also don’t teach writers the skills to query small presses or agents who can query large presses. Even as self-publishing has become an increasingly popular publishing choice, many MFA programs aren’t giving students a clear picture of what it involves.

Contracting

My MFA program was great, but never once during my studies did I hear anyone talk about how to read, negotiate, or understand a contract. As an indie author, you’ll have fewer contracts to interact with than authors who choose to traditionally publish their work, but contracts will still come up—contracts with designers who are working on your books, contracts with podcasts or magazines publishing excerpts of your work. In my MFA program, students who were publishing were left to talk with each other to try to understand how contracts work. Most writers aren’t legal experts, and we benefit from having either a private attorney or an attorney through an organization such as the Author’s Guild review our contracts. I would love to see MFA programs better prepare writers to navigate these business interactions, to negotiate writing rates, and to understand what rights we may be signing away with a particular contract.

Writing to market

The culture of MFA programs often shames or diminishes the idea of writing to market, and instead prioritizes creating literary art for the sake of art. This is a completely valid way to approach your writing life. However, if your goal is to publish your work and sell books, understanding the market and how to write books that appeal to readers is important. There’s nothing wrong with writing books with mass-market appeal, but, depending on the program you attend, you may not hear that in classes. Especially for writers considering the self-publishing route, learning how to understand current trends and how to write books that connect to them is invaluable.

Writing is your passion, and seeing your name in print might be your dream, but when it happens, your writing also becomes a business. Understanding how to manage a writing business is something that most new writers won’t have a lot of experience with. For example, when you get paid from book sales, speaking arrangements, or most anything to do with your books, taxes aren’t going to be withheld. Instead, you’ll need to put money aside to pay your taxes. MFA programs generally don’t cover these details or highlight the importance of hiring an accountant or tax professional to help you with setting up your writing business. You may need to form an LLC for your self-publishing business, open a business bank account, and file taxes appropriately for your writing work. As a self-published author, you also may need to keep records tracking orders and inventory.

Most authors are not able to make a living from books alone. Many writers are balancing a variety of different content creation and income streams. This may include teaching at a college or university (for which a terminal degree such as an MFA is required), freelance writing, and independent teaching, to name a few possibilities. The more writing programs can give MFA students the tools they need to understand the business side of their work, the more successful they will be.

Sassafras Lowrey writes fiction and nonfiction and was the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for emerging LGBTQ writers.

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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing The Write Stuff for Writers

Credit Hours

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100% online, 8-week courses

Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

Grow Your Writing Passion into a Career with Liberty’s Online MFA in Creative Writing

Many people write creatively, but few hone their skills to develop their writing craft to its highest form. Even fewer learn the other skills it takes to become a successful writer, such as the steps needed to get a book published and into the hands of readers. Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing can help you develop your writing passion into a career so you can set your works free to impact culture and the world.

Employers in every industry need professionals who have strong writing skills, so you can be confident that your ability to write effectively can also help set you apart in your current career. With in-demand writing expertise and the ability to customize your degree with electives in literature or writing practice, Liberty’s online MFA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your professional writing goals.

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or screenwriting. With a work-in-progress approach to writing practice and mentorship from our faculty of experienced writers and scholars, you can learn the specific skills you need to make your writing stand out.

Ranked in the Top 10% of Niche.com’s Best Online Schools in America

• What Sets Us Apart?
• Private Nonprofit University
• 600+ Online Degrees
• No Standardized Testing for Admission
• Transfer in up to 75% of an Undergrad Degree
• Transfer in up to 50% of a Grad/Doctoral Degree

Why Choose Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing?

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is mainly offered in an 8-week course format, and our tuition rate for graduate programs hasn’t increased in 9 years. Through our program, you can study the writing process and develop your creative skills through workshops with experienced writing professionals. With our flexible format, you can grow in your creative writing while continuing to do what is important to you.

As a terminal degree, the online MFA in Creative Writing can also help you pursue opportunities to teach writing at the K-12 or college level. You will gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, publishing, and many other professional writing skills that you can pass on to students. Partner with the Liberty family and learn under faculty who have spent years in the field you love. Your career in professional writing starts here.

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

The MFA in Creative Writing program is designed to help you become an excellent creative writer across the genres of creative fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry. You can learn how to produce aesthetically and culturally engaged creative works while gaining professional knowledge and practice. You will also study foundational contemporary literature so that you have a background in studying important works to draw on for your writing.

To help you in your professional writing, you will also study many essential skills in editing, layout, and the business of publishing so that you can best position yourself for success in the market. Through your creative writing courses and workshops, you can develop your craft so that you will be ready for your thesis project.

Here are a few examples of the skills Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing can help you master:

• Marketing your projects and pursuing new writing opportunities
• Organizing writing and adapting it to different types of writing
• Tailoring writing to specific audiences and markets
• Understanding what makes art effective, compelling, and impactful
• Writing compelling stories that engage readers

Potential Career Opportunities

• Book and magazine writer
• Business communications specialist
• Creative writing instructor
• Publications editor
• Screenwriter
• Website copy editor and writer
• Writing manager

Featured Courses

• ENGL 600 – Editing, Layout, and Publishing
• ENGL 601 – Writing as Cultural Engagement
• ENGL 603 – Literary Theory and Practice
• WRIT 610 – Writing Fiction

Degree Information

• This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
• View the Graduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).
• Download and review the Graduate Manual for MFA .

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.

• Tuition & Aid

Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

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Financial Aid & Scholarships

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Admission Information for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Admission requirements.

• A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
• Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form .
• Creative Writing Sample – A creative writing sample of one creative writing work of at least 2,500 words or a culmination of creative writing samples totaling 2,500 words.*
• Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

*A sample of one or more poems totaling a minimum of 750 words may also be submitted. Song lyrics are not accepted at this time as writing samples.

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

• Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
• Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
• Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
• If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

Dual Enrollment

Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:

• Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
• Cumulative GPA
• A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
• Degree and date conferred (if applicable)

Official College Transcript Policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Admissions Office Contact Information

(800) 424-9596

(888) 301-3577

Email for Questions

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Email for Documents

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Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.

Who May Qualify?

• Active Duty
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/Retirees
• Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees
• Current Department of Defense Employees

Available Benefits:

• Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for graduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who service in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course) *
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

A Master of Fine Arts degree, or MFA, is a terminal degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that you have achieved the highest level of training and skill in your discipline. Like a doctorate, an MFA often allows you to teach courses at the graduate level while also providing many opportunities for scholarship and leadership in education. If you want to grow your creative writing skills to become the best writer you can be, then the Master of Fine Arts can help you get there.

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

With creative writing workshops and a thesis project, you will receive support and guidance to help you become the best writer you can be.

How long will it take to complete the MFA in Creative Writing?

You can complete the MFA in Creative Writing in just 48 credit hours!

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“Community Matters Here”: Inside NC State’s Creative Writing MFA Program

When Meghan Tanaka was preparing to graduate from the University of Mississippi with a double major in English and philosophy in 2020, she knew she wanted to go on to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing with a specialization in poetry. What she didn’t know was which of the hundreds of MFA programs in the United States she should apply to. 

“It was one of my professors who suggested that I apply to NC State,” she recalls. “He recommended it because the program has really good faculty, and also because it’s smaller. Small class size means you get a lot of faculty attention.” 

Tanaka took her professor’s advice, and she’s glad she did. Now in her second year at NC State, Tanaka has flourished in the MFA program . The small classes taught by excellent faculty — including Dorianne Laux, whose sixth book of poetry, Only as the Day Is Long , was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry — are a big reason why, of course. But there’s also one other factor her professor didn’t know about: the sense of community that pervades the program from top to bottom.

“For me, community is what sets this program apart from the others,” she says. “It feels really good to know that you can talk with your professors and your classmates about life and writing and the scary stuff we’re all going through. You’ve got people you can lean on.” (You can read Tanaka’s poem “Stargazer” in the literary journal Pigeon Pages .)

An Unlikely Pairing That Makes Good Sense

Although the casual observer might be surprised to discover an excellent graduate-level arts program at a world-class STEM university like NC State, the pairing actually makes sense when North Carolina’s rich literary history is taken into account. The state has been home to so many respected, beloved writers — including Thomas Wolfe, Zora Neale Hurston, David Sedaris, Jaki Shelton Green, Charles Frazier, Jill McCorkle, Randall Kenan, Lee Smith and Anne Tyler, to name only a very few — that it’s fitting for North Carolina’s largest university to host a program dedicated to continuing that legacy.

It also makes sense for a university whose mantra is Think and Do to feature a program devoted to tangible creative output, informed by a mixture of classroom instruction, peer support and faculty mentorship. The MFA is a two-year, 36-hour program comprising writing workshops, interdisciplinary coursework in academic subjects and a final thesis consisting of a book-length literary work supervised by a faculty advisor. The program has two tracks: fiction and poetry. All students admitted to the program receive full funding in the form of a graduate assistantship.

Since the program enrolled its first cohort of students in 2003, it has earned a national reputation for offering high-quality instruction while welcoming many different styles of writing, says Belle Boggs, director of the program. 

“Thanks to the vision and example of the program’s founders — John Kessel, Wilton Barnhardt, and John Balaban — we’ve been open to and inclusive of and excited about a wide variety of forms and genres since the very beginning,” Boggs says. “That celebration of a diversity of styles — postmodernism, traditional realism, gritty Southern fiction, science fiction — is not something you can get just anywhere. But we’ve been doing that a long time, perhaps longer than any other program out there.” 

The program’s openness to variety and experimentation has made it popular with prospective students, she says. 

Celebration of a diversity of styles — postmodernism, traditional realism, gritty Southern fiction, science fiction — is not something you can get just anywhere.

“Last year we received over 275 applications for 13 spots,” Boggs says. “That means we can be selective in recruiting really amazing, interesting writers who build a great community.” 

One of those new recruits is Rafeeat Aliyu, a first-year fiction writer from Kwara, Nigeria. Aliyu writes speculative fiction in the burgeoning Afrofuturist tradition. (You can see a list of Aliyu’s publications, and find links to many of them online, at her website .)

“I wrote my first story in primary school, about a family of ghosts, from the point of the view of the young ghost daughter,” Aliyu says. “I kept writing, and after undergrad I got a few stories published; but not many Nigerian magazines cater to what I write. Nigerians have always had these weird, fantastical stories about mermaids and things like that, but when it comes to literature, publishers mostly just go for literary fiction — writers like Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.” 

Aliyu heard that Western markets might be more friendly to her work, and in 2018 she met an alum of NC State’s program who told her she should consider applying. Now that she’s been admitted to the program, she’s happy to have found such a welcoming artistic home at NC State. Aliyu is studying under the supervision of speculative fiction writer Cadwell Turnbull, author of the acclaimed new novel No Gods, No Monsters . Turnbull’s fiction has appeared in Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 and The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 .

The Key: Rigor and Nourishment

Over on the poetry track, faculty member Eduardo C. Corral — whose second book, Guillotine , was longlisted for the National Book Award in 2020 — says NC State’s emphasis on community is what drew him here.

“My first book of poetry came out in 2012, and after that I started doing poetry readings at colleges all over the country,” he says. “I did 12 to 15 readings a semester for years. I saw a lot of different programs during that time. But when I came to NC State, right away I noticed that community matters here. And that’s important, because the key to making any writing workshop successful is two words: rigor and nourishment. You have to have both, working in tandem. And that only succeeds if the students respect each other. Community is what makes that kind of respect possible.”

Community is what sets this program apart from the others.

When asked what it’s like to teach poetry at a STEM school, Corral laughingly replies, “The undergrads will catch any mistakes I make in anything having to do with math — especially when it comes to grading! The percentages do have to add up to 100, you know?” 

He goes on to note that scientists and engineers are a naturally inquisitive bunch. “They’re trying to figure out how to make bridges safer, how to make energy systems more environmentally friendly; they’re problem solvers, and that lends itself to writing poetry. The trick is to remind them that there’s no equation for how to write poetry, so they have to draft a new set of questions for every poem. I help them focus on the questions, not just on the solutions.” 

Alumni Making Their Mark

NC State’s MFA program has helped many outstanding writers find their voices. The program’s alumni include:

• Threa Almontaser , whose first book of poetry, The Wild Fox of Yemen , won the 2020 Walt Whitman Award and was recently longlisted for the National Book Award.
• Emily Cataneo and Arshia Simkin , who launched the Redbud Writing Project , an adult education writing school offering classes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry, both in person and online.
• Leila Chatti , whose debut poetry collection, Deluge , was published by Copper Canyon Press and won the Larry Levis Prize from Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Noel Crook , whose debut poetry collection, Salt Moon , won the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award and was published by Southern Illinois University Press. 
• Tyree Daye , whose debut poetry collection, River Hymns , earned the American Poetry Review ‘s Honickman First Book Prize. Daye was also a 2019 recipient of the prestigious Whiting Award in poetry, one of the largest and most prestigious awards given to emerging writers in the United States. Daye’s second poetry collection, Cardinal , was featured on the New York Times list of the best poetry of 2020. 
• Kij Johnson , whose first collection of short stories, At the Mouth of the River of Bees , contained stories that won Nebula and Hugo Awards. Johnson now teaches at the University of Kansas.
• Sarah Grunder Ruiz , whose debut romantic comedy, Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships , comes out this fall with Berkley/Penguin. Sarah teaches in NC State’s First Year Writing Program.
• Alyssa Wong , who as a student in the program won the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction.

Boggs says many of the program’s alumni demonstrate a remarkable commitment to the program even after they graduate. “Alumni frequently come back for readings and workshops, and to mentor our students,” she notes. “For example, Cadwell Turnbull studied in the program under John Kessel and Wilton Barnhardt, and now he’s our newest faculty member. His addition to the program continues their teaching tradition and at the same time brings an important new voice into the program.”

Another alum is Therese Anne Fowler, whose fourth novel, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald , was a 2013 New York Times bestseller and was adapted into the Amazon TV show Z: The Beginning of Everything , starring Christina Ricci. Her latest novel, It All Comes Down to This , will be published in June 2022. 

The program’s famed openness to difference helped Fowler find her way into writing after she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology — not the typical academic preparation for a fiction writer, she notes.

“I came out of the social sciences and did not have a background in reading literature,” Fowler recalls. “For someone like that, who also has the desire to express themselves through fiction writing, it’s important to know you don’t have to be a literary scholar to get into the program.” 

Fowler says the most important thing she got out of the program was learning how to critique her own work. “I think you can learn to write without studying it the way we did in the program,” she says, “but because the workshops require you to assess and deconstruct and analyze other people’s work and then produce some kind of commentary on it, that process taught me how to do that for my own work. And gaining that ability helped me shorten the path from aspiration to success.” 

The Transformative Impact of Philanthropy

As successful as the program and its alumni have been, now it’s poised for even greater success thanks to Tony McLean Brown ’83 and his family, who earlier this year made a $1 million gift to support the MFA program. The gift marks the largest for a humanities department at NC State and one of the largest funded endowments in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

“This gift is transformative,” said Dean Jeff Braden when the gift was announced. “Tony and his family are creating a legacy that will launch the careers of many gifted poets, novelists and other writers for years to come.”

Director Belle Boggs says the Browns’ generous gift will allow the program to greatly expand its efforts to recruit students from diverse backgrounds, likely doubling the impact of the program’s  diversity recruiting efforts.

Our students care deeply about their impact on the community.

Boggs says the Browns’ gift will also support the expansion of the program’s community engagement efforts. “Our students care deeply about their impact on the community,” she says, “and we’re exploring ways to support them in programs of outreach teaching, publishing and literary ventures that will positively affect the literary landscape of North Carolina and beyond.”  

For example, in 2016 poetry students Tyree Daye and Alabama Stone founded a literary outreach program called Street Smarts and the Arts that hosted informal poetry workshops with homeless youth in Raleigh. The program ended when funding cuts shuttered the homeless center where the workshops were held, but Daye and Stone created a record of the participants’ artistic achievements by publishing an anthology of the poetry produced in the workshops. 

The MFA program also sponsors an annual poetry contest and an annual fiction contest , both of which have no entry fee and are open to all North Carolina residents. The fiction contest, which is currently taking submissions, awards two prizes: 

• The James Hurst Prize for Fiction ($500) is awarded to the best unpublished short story of no more than 5,000 words. 
• The Shorter Fiction Prize ($250) is awarded to the best unpublished short story of no more than 1,200 words. 

The postmark deadline for entries in the fiction contest — hard copies only, no electronic submissions — is Oct. 15, 2021. Visit the fiction contest webpage for more details.

For prospective students who are interested in applying to the MFA program, Boggs says the program is first of all looking for students who have extraordinary talent. “But in addition to that talent and spark,” she says, “we also want people who are going to be generous, enthusiastic, constructive, supportive members of our community. We want people who want to be part of a team.”

Boggs says she couldn’t be more happy about having joined this particular team. 

“When I first came here as a visiting writer, not to be corny about it, but I fell in love with the program,” she says. “I love being on a big campus that offers cool events like the AV Geeks at the Hunt Library, lectures about public science, art exhibits, musical performances, so many amazing opportunities — but at the same time we have this small, tight-knit community of writers.”

If its history is any indication, this small program will continue to make a big impact on students, the university, the community and the literary landscape for a long time to come.

This post was originally published in NC State News.

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