uc irvine graduate creative writing

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• Major in English
• Minor in English
• Minor in Creative Writing
• Major in Literary Journalism
• Minor in Literary Journalism
• Composition
• Ph.D. Program in English
• MFA Programs in Creative Writing
• Masters of English Program
• Writing Center
• Disability Services Center (DSC)
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• English Majors' Association

Emphasis in Creative Writing

Beginning in the academic year 2020-21, the Department of English will offer a Minor in Creative Writing to all undergraduates across the UCI campus. From the academic year 2020-21 onwards, the Minor will replace the Emphasis in Creative Writing.  Please refer to the following page for more information on the   Creative Writing Minor .

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Appointments

Appointments can be booked for all students (undergraduate and graduate) by visiting   WC Online . WC Online is a writing center tool specifically designed to manage and track appointments. In addition to providing available sessions, whether in person or remotely with writing specialists, peer tutors, graduate writing consultants, or for asynchronous feedback, WC Online also offers text and email reminders. 

For first time users, you will need to register and create an account on WC Online using your UCI email. 

For more information or to resolve technical difficulties, visit the WC Online Manual .

Appointments for Undergraduate Students

The Writing Center provides three kinds of writing support for undergraduate students: appointments with writing specialists, appointments with peer tutors, and asynchronous feedback.

Appointments with Writing Specialists

Writing Specialists provide an in-person (at Science Library 193) or remote 50-minute consultation for in-depth feedback on any kind of writing you’re working on, whether you don’t know where to start, have an outline, have a first draft, or are on the final draft. Writing Specialist appointments are best scheduled well in advance of deadlines as they have limited availability. Sign up for an appointment with a Writing Specialist.

Appointments with Peer Tutors

Peer tutors hold in-person or remote 25-minute appointments where you can get advice about overall writing strategies, general editing, and research strategies. Peer Tutors have both daytime and nighttime hours, as well as locations in the Science Library, Langson Library, and student housing areas. Sign up for an appointment with a peer tutor.

Appointments for Graduate Students

Graduate students can book 50-minute appointments with our Graduate Writing Consultants (GWCs). Our GWCs are experienced graduate students who are able to help you work on a variety of writing concerns and genres, including articles for publication, grant and fellowship application materials, job market materials, and dissertation/theses. Graduate Writing Consultants have both in-person (at Science Library 193) and remote appointments available. Sign up for an appointment with a Graduate Writing Consultant.

We also offer regular writing groups and writing boot camps for graduate students. The writing groups function as accountability spaces to set goals and commit to two hours of drafting writing projects, with time at the end to share progress toward goals. Writing groups do not involve sharing and receiving feedback on your drafted material (please check out the Graduate Writing Consultant appointments for feedback). The best way to view our upcoming writing group times is via Campus Groups. Once you’ve logged in, search for the CEWC/Writing Center’s events or for the “Graduate Writing Group” events (they are visible to all UCI grad students). The remote writing groups require registration on Zoom, but in-person groups only require that you show up at the designated time and location. 

Graduate Writing Boot Camps are multi-day (usually three), intensive programs for graduate students hoping to generate significant progress in drafting long-term, high-stakes projects like dissertations, theses, and articles for publication. In addition to discussions about how to set and achieve realistic goals and making space for writing, the boot camps offer workshops on relevant topics like receiving and incorporating feedback and developing effective long-term writing habits. We run boot camps roughly 2-3 times a quarter; you can view upcoming boot camps on Campus Groups , our calendar, and social media.

• Current Students
• Prospective Students
• Alumni & Friends
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Graduate School Application Bootcamp Sessions

Register for one or all three graduate application bootcamp virtual workshops led by uci graduate student ambassadors.  .

Register for one or all three graduate application bootcamp workshops led by UCI Graduate Student Ambassadors:

MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts

World-Renowned Faculty & Excellent Funding Opportunities

How to Apply

When to apply.

• Applications are accepted for fall quarter only. 
• Applications for Fall 2024 entry will open around October 1, 2023. The deadline to apply with fellowship consideration will be January 5, 2024. There is no benefit in applying early, as the faculty will not begin review of applications until after January 5.
• If you are submitting your application close to the deadline, please be sure to notify your recommenders well in advance so that they may have their letters ready to submit immediately. Review of applications will begin very shortly after the deadline, and while missing letters of recommendation will not disqualify your application, it may put it at a disadvantage.

To apply for our program,  complete the Graduate Division Application .

You must submit: 

• 10-15 pages of poetry
• A maximum of 25 pages of nonfiction
• A maximum of 20 pages or 5000 words of fiction
• The first act or a maximum of 25 pages of a screenplay or play

Include your writing sample in the Additional Information section at the bottom of the Statement of Purpose/Personal History Statement page in your Graduate Division application.

Transcripts demonstrating a B.A. or B.S. degree from an accredited institution, and transcripts from all other colleges attended. Unofficial transcripts can be uploaded to the "Additional Information" section at the bottom of the Statement of Purpose/Personal History Statement page in the Graduate Division website's application form. If admitted, official transcripts will be required from all colleges attended.

• Three letters of recommendation These letters should be provided by instructors or professional contacts who can speak to your ability to succeed in a rigorous graduate program. When you submit your application, your recommenders will receive an email containing a link to upload their letter. Please give them advance notice so that their letters arrive on time and do not delay the review of your application.   
• A personal history statement  Use the personal history statement to tell us about who you are. Use it to give us a sense of where you come from and what has shaped you, particularly as a writer.  
• A statement of purpose and project proposal  In contrast to the personal history statement's look to the past, the statement of purpose is a look to the future. Tell us why you want to study in our MFA program and what you hope to accomplish with a graduate degree in creative writing. You should write it specifically for this application (it cannot be a copied and pasted resume).  Include your project proposal in your statement of purpose, either within the body of the statement or as a separate section. The project proposal should be a brief description of a full-length book, screenplay or play that you anticipate working on if you are accepted into our program.   
• CV A brief outline of your educational and professional history  
• TOEFL or IELTS scores  If you are an international student and your degree is not from a university where the primary language of instruction is English, you must submit either TOEFL or IELTS scores. More admission information for  international students can be found here .  
• The GRE is not required . 

Fee Waivers

The Graduate Division waives a limited number of application fees for applicants who are experiencing financial distress. Graduate Division typically issues all of its waivers one to two months after applications open in October, so interested applicants should submit a request as early as possible in the application period. Learn how to request a fee waiver . 

The CWPA program is unable to offer fee waivers.

Frequently Asked Questions   

Getting accepted.

While all application materials are important, the Admissions Committee gives the most weight to the writing sample. You must submit a polished, effective writing sample to be considered for admission.

No. The faculty do not review applications until after the January 5 deadline, so applying early offers no advantage.

No. We only accept applications for fall quarter enrollment.

No. GRE scores are not reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

We typically issue offers of admission via phone and/or email by mid-March. Refusals of admission are submitted to the Graduate Division soon after admission offers are made, but it can take some time for the Graduate Division to process the refusals and send the official email notification.

Your Writing Sample

No. The admissions committee cannot consider you for admission if you do not submit a writing sample in the primary genre you wish to study.

For prose submissions, please double-space the manuscript.

Please attach it in the Additional Information section at the bottom of the page where you attach the Statement of Purpose and Personal History Statement.

Transcripts and Letters of Recommendation 

No, but they should be submitted as soon as possible after the deadline. Your application will be accepted and reviewed even if all the letters aren't submitted before faculty begin reviewing applications; however, the lack of letters could put your application at a disadvantage. If you plan to submit an application on or near the deadline, notify your letter writers in advance so that will have the letters ready to upload as soon as you submit your application.

Yes, but we will need a copy of your transcript before we are able to make an offer of admission.

You should submit a current, incomplete transcript from your school at the time you submit your application. If you are offered admission and accept, you will resubmit your transcript after your degree has been posted to it.

Letters of recommendation will only be accepted via electronic submission.

After you submit your online application, each of your letter writers will receive an email with a link through which they can upload their letters of recommendation to your file. It is not possible to submit the letters of recommendation before the application is submitted.

Email spam filters will sometimes cull the automated email, so ask your letter writer to check their junk mail folder. If it isn't there, you can log in and resend the letter request email through the application.

Yes. The online application contains instructions on how to submit letters from Interfolio.

Your Personal History Statement and Project Proposal

Generally speaking, use the personal history statement to tell us about who you are. Use it to give us a sense of where you come from and what has shaped you, particularly as a writer. In contrast to the personal history statement's look to the past, the statement of purpose should be more of a look to the future. Tell us why you want to study in our MFA program and what you hope to accomplish with a graduate degree in creative writing.

The project proposal should be a brief description of a full-length book, screenplay, or play that you anticipate working on if you are accepted to our program. The proposal can be as long or short as it needs to be to adequately describe your project. It can either be embedded in the body of the statement of purpose or included in a separate section.

We have no minimum or maximum length requirements, but one to two pages for each document is standard.

If you choose to type the personal history statement and statement of purpose into the text box provided in the online application, you will be limited to 3000 characters. However, if you upload the documents as a Word doc or PDF, there is no limit.

Visit the UCR Graduate Division  for more information about admission.

Questions? Contact us .

• UC Berkeley
• Letters & Science

Creative Writing Minor

Graduate programs, university of california, berkeley graduate admissions office.

http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/prospective/

The University of California, Berkeley does not offer a graduate program in Creative Writing. Below is a list of selected Creative Writing graduate programs offered by other colleges and universities:

Creative Writing graduate programs

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY – Los Angeles, California – Creative Writing M.F.A. at AULA ARIZONA STATE – Tempe, Arizona – Creative Writing M.F.A. at ASU BOSTON UNIVERSITY – Boston, Massachusetts – Creative Writing M.F.A. at BU BROOKLYN COLLEGE – Brooklyn, New York – Creative Writing M.F.A. at BC COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY – New York, New York – Creative Writing M.F.A. at Columbia CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – M.A. in English (Creative Writing Option) at Concordia GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY – Fairfax, Virginia – Creative Writing M.F.A. at GMU GODDARD COLLEGE – Plainfield, Vermont – Creative Writing M.F.A. at Goddard INDIANA UNIVERSITY – Bloomington, Indiana – Creative Writing M.F.A. at IU NEW YORK UNIVERSITY – New York, New York –  Creative Writing M.F.A. at NYU or M.A. in English with Concentration in Creative Writing at NYU SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA – Moraga, California – Creative Writing M.F.A. at SMC SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY – San Francisco, California – Creative Writing M.A. and M.F.A. at SFSU TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY – San Marcos, Texas – Creative Writing M.F.A. at Texas State STANFORD UNIVERSITY Stegner Fellowship – Palo Alto, California UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA – Birmingham, Alabama – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Alabama UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA – Tucson, Arizona –  Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Arizona UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS – Fayetteville, Arkansas – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Arkansas UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Creative Writing M.F.A. Options at UBC UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS – Davis, California – English M.A. with an Emphasis in Creative Writing at UCD UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE – Irvine, California – English M.F.A. in Writing at UCI UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE – Riverside, California – M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts at UCR UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA – Norwich, United Kingdom – Creative Writing M.A. at UEA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA – Gainesville, Florida – Creative Writing M.F.A. at UF UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON – Houston, Texas – M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing and M.F.A. in English: Creative Writing at UH UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO – Moscow, Idaho – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Idaho UNIVERSITY OF IOWA – Iowa City, Iowa – Creative Writing M.F.A. in English at U of Iowa and M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing at U of Iowa UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND – College Park, Maryland – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Maryland UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN – Ann Arbor, Michigan – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Michigan UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA – Missoula, Montana – Creative Writing M.F.A. at U of Montana UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA – Las Vegas, Nevada – Creative Writing M.F.A. at UNLV UNIVERSITY OF OREGON – Eugene, Oregon – Creative Writing M.F.A. at UO WARREN WILSON COLLEGE – Asheville, North Carolina – MFA Program for Writers at WWC

Announcements

• Fall 2024 Course List
• Summer 2024 Course List
• Spring 2024 Course List
• Berkeley Holloway Poetry Series – Spring 2024
• UC Berkeley Lunch Poems 2023-24
• Minor Declaration Form – Must declare no later than term before EGT.

Department of Creative Writing

The Department of Creative Writing at UCR offers the only Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing in the University of California system and the MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts . It is a growing and dynamic program made up entirely of established writers and poets. Courses at UCR are designed for all students in the language arts, and they emphasize developing each student's skills and talents. Through writing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and/or drama, students examine language and meaning both as practitioners and as readers as they develop and hone essential writing techniques.

Every writer needs to develop a critical sense to augment creative ability. For this reason, the Creative Writing Department offers two types of courses. Workshop courses are seminars that focus on writing and on the discussion of student work. Reading courses for writers focus on aspects of literature presented from a writer's point of view. Frequently, they employ writing in imitation as one of several approaches to understanding the craft of writing. Upper-division workshop courses are offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Several reading courses link two genres such as fiction and poetry, and poetry and drama.

Give to Creative Writing Department

Announcements

Katie Ford 's sequence of poems The Anchoress — set as a monodrama by composer David Serkin Ludwig — was performed this summer at Chamber Music Northwest.

Laila Lalami published the New York Times Magazine cover story “A State of Uncertainty” and was named a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard for 2023-2024.

Charmaine Craig ’s  My Nemesis  has been published this year by Grove Press.

Thalia Williamson ’s “The Silent Part” was published this summer in Joyland .

Quyen Pham ’s “Such Good Girls” was published this past spring in Room .

Emily Doyle  published “Thursdays for Haru” earlier this year in the Sun.

Tom Lutz 's  1925 A Literary Encyclopedia  is being published by Rare Bird Lit, and his novel  Archipelago  is coming out from Red Hen Press. His essay "Gravy Donuts" was published in Iowa Review .

Reza Aslan 's  An American Martyr in Persia was longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Beograd Weld Award.

Allison Benis White won the 2022 Pushcart Prize and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award.

Allison Hedge Coke  was a 2022  National Book Award finalist for  Look at This Blue ,  a 2023 finalist for  CLMP Firecracker Award  and  ASLE Best Creative Book of the Year .   Look at This Blue , was awarded the  Emory Elliott Book Award  by CHASS Center for Ideas and Society and Hedge Coke was awarded the  2023 Thomas Wolfe Prize & Lecture  by the University of North Carolina and the [http://Thomas Wolfe Endowment Fund]Thomas Wolfe Society in  fall 2023 .

Susan Straight 's  Mecca was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and named a Top Ten California Book of the Year by the New York Times and one of the best books of 2022 by NPR, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

Juan Felipe Herrera  was a recent recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Award and the LARB/UCR lifetime achievement award. The Fresno Unified School District named its latest school Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary.

Conversations With Steve Erickson has been published by the University Press of Mississippi as part of a series that includes Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, James Baldwin, William Burroughs and Toni Morrison.

Employment Opportunities

None at this time.

Statement of Solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander Community

We are grieved by the recent killings in Atlanta, as well as by all other anti-Asian bigotry and violence, and stand in solidarity with our AAPI colleagues, students, and, more broadly, all AAPI across the nation. We stand against all anti-AAPI hate crimes, discrimination, and dehumanization, knowing that the group Stop AAPI Hate has reported 3,975 hate incidents against Asian Americans between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021.

To take action:

• Educational resources and petitions to sign: HERE .
• Report hate incidents HERE and HERE .
• Attend a bystander intervention training to learn ways to stop anti-Asian American and xenophobic harassment.  [ March 29 at 3 p.m. ] [ April 20 at 2 p.m. ]
• Send a message to elected officials.

To learn more:

• The New Yorker : Ed Park, "Confronting Anti-Asian Discrimination During the Coronavirus Crisis"
• The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans

Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The brutal killings of George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia are part of a pattern of state violence against Black people, which too often remains invisible and unpunished when it is not blamed on the victims themselves.

America’s institutionalized practice of settler colonialism, genocide, slavery, and segregation continues in the form of continued occupation, discrimination, mass incarceration, and racist policing.

The nationwide protests we are witnessing this week are an expression of anger at police violence, a rejection of white supremacy, and a call to our leaders that they live up to the nation's founding proclamation of equality. We demand accountability from the police, disinvestment from law enforcement in favor of education, housing, and community services, and, above all, justice for the victims.

Recognition of Native Lands Statement

We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the original and traditional territory of Tongva people [ Tongva and Cahuilla people] and within Tongva, Cahuilla, Luiseño & Serrano original lands and contemporary territories.

In the spirit of Rupert and Jeanette Costo’s founding relationship to our campus, we would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water and air: the Cahuilla , Tongva , Luiseño , and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present and future. Today this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. Please also visit our university founder's  legacy page, Cahuilla Scholar Rupert Costo ,  California Indian Studies & Scholars Association , UCR's  California Center for Native Nations ,  Native American Student Programs  (NASP), and the page of UCR's  Rupert Costo Chair, Dr. Clifford Trafzer .

Download UCR Native American Student Programs Land Statement

Faculty Publications

Writers Week

UC Davis Cultural Studies

Graduate student spotlight, christine imperial.

Christine Imperial is a PhD Cultural Studies student at UC Davis. As the winner of the 2021 Gournay Prize, her first book "Mistaken for an Empire" was published with Mad Creeks Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University. Imperial holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the California Institute of the Arts. She has forthcoming publications in The Kenyon Review, POETRY, Poets & Writers, and other esteemed journals.

Mistaken for an Empire , published by Ohio State University Press, 2023 “As an adult, [Imperial] attempted what no one else had done: translating[‘The White Man’s Burden’] into Tagalog. These efforts led Imperial to reflect on her many (often disorienting) moves between the U.S. and the Philippines as well as the pain that translating the poem, alongside her own fractured experiences, represented.…Kipling’s ‘burden,’ Imperial suggests, is far more nuanced than many believe.… An intriguing and provocative book.” —Kirkus