university of massachusetts amherst mfa creative writing

MFA Admissions

The MFA for Poets and Writers at UMass Amherst is a three-year residential graduate program that enrolls approximately 10 poets and 10 prose writers each academic year. Admissions are competitive, averaging 450 applicants per year. Admission is based on a faculty committee’s evaluation and Graduate School approval. Applicants are accepted for admission for the Fall semester only.

The community of writers comprising the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass Amherst believes that diversity in all respects makes writers and literature stronger and better. As a program that seeks to nurture the next generation of writers and their work, we are committed to creating a supportive environment for all of our students. We welcome applications from people of color, LGBTQIA students, international students, veterans, first-generation college students, students with disabilities, students from historically underrepresented groups, and everyone who wishes to be among a community of writers that regards contemporary literature as a valuable and dynamic force for humanity in the world.

Important note: Applying for admission to the MFA program and applying for funding to support your time here are two separate processes.  To be eligible for funding, applicants must apply for a graduate Teaching Associate position in the  Writing Program.   The Teaching Associate application must be submitted alongside your program application.

How to Apply

To apply for graduate admission to the MFA, you must submit  an online application to the UMass Graduate School . Your application must include the following:

• Original Manuscript -  This is the most important part of your application. Poetry applicants should submit up to 10 pages of poetry. Prose applicants should submit up to 20–25 pages of prose, which may be short stories, essays, creative nonfiction, an excerpt from a novel or longer work, or some combination of these. Your manuscript must include your name, and prose manuscripts must be paginated and double-spaced.  
• Transcripts -  You must include transcripts from all higher education institutions you’ve attended. While official transcripts are preferred, unofficial transcripts are accepted during the admissions process. If you are admitted, you will be required to submit official transcripts. Transcripts may be sent electronically directly from your institution to  @email .  
• Personal Statement -  Submit a personal statement of no more than one-two single-spaced pages. This statement is your opportunity to provide us with insight into who you are as a person, your goals as a writer, and why you’re interested in the MFA at UMass.  
• Application for a graduate Teaching Associateship in the Writing Program -  The application can be found in  Word format , or in  PDF format . The completed Writing Program application must be uploaded to the "Add Materials" tab in the Graduate Admissions Portal when you submit the rest of your application.  This application must be submitted with your Graduate School application to be eligible for funding.  
• Letters of Recommendation -  Two letters are required, three are allowed. These letters will be made available to the Writing Program for your Teaching Associateship application. If you have additional recommenders who may not be familiar with your creative writing, but are able to speak to your abilities or potential as a teacher, you may submit additional letters. Submission of the application and admission fee will generate an email from the Graduate School to each referee with instructions on how to electronically send their recommendation to the Graduate School.   
• Application Fee -  An $85 application fee is required by the Graduate School upon submission of your application. The Graduate School grants fee waivers only for McNair scholars, or applicants who are eligible for a GRE fee waiver. All fee waiver requests should go directly to the Graduate School.  Please visit their website for more information.

Transfers:  An applicant who is currently enrolled in or has taken classes in another creative writing graduate program must provide at least one letter of recommendation from a faculty member in that program to be admitted into the UMass MFA. Candidates will be asked to provide a statement explaining their wish to transfer to the UMass Amherst MFA.

The UMass Amherst MFA does not consider applications from writers who have completed an MFA in creative writing from elsewhere.

GRE Scores are not required for admission

Application Deadline: December 15

Funding Information

A Teaching Associate (TO) position in the Writing Program provides tuition credit, 95% of the cost of health insurance, and a stipend of approximately $23,050.80 for the 2021–22 academic year. In exchange, the TO teaches three college writing courses per year to UMass undergraduates. Once hired, TOs are eligible for up to 6 semesters of funding. The Writing Program provides substantive training and a supportive work environment, particularly for first-time teachers.  

You  must  submit an application for a graduate Teaching Associate position with the  Writing Program . This application must be uploaded to the “Add Materials” tab in the Graduate Admissions Portal.  This application must be submitted alongside your MFA Graduate School application.

All admitted applicants are considered for MFA fellowships or Graduate School fellowships. Nominations are determined by the faculty. No further application is required.

All additional materials must be uploaded to your application, or sent directly to the Graduate School:  @email

For questions regarding the MFA program and the application process, please contact the MFA Program Coordinator:

Ryan Mihaly @email 413-545-8724 South College E349

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University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Massachusetts, united states.

The MFA for Poets and Writers at UMass Amherst is a three-year program dedicated to writing workshops and the completion of a book-length manuscript in prose or poetry. The program champions the creation of new and important writing, and our acclaimed and aesthetically diverse faculty guide students to find their full range of

artistic and literary potential.

The MFA for Poets and Writers offers:

~ 3 years to focus on your writing.

~ Funding through teaching associateships, which include a full tuition waiver, health benefits, and a stipend of approximately $24,000. Some students receive non-working MFA Fellowships which carry stipends of approximately $26,000. Since 2019, 100% of matriculated students have received either associateships or fellowships for the duration of the three-year program. Paid internship opportunities are also available.

~ 60 hours of highly individualized coursework, including opportunities to take classes through the Five College Consortium (Amherst College, Smith College,

Hampshire College, and Mount Holyoke College) as well as across all the departments of UMass.

~ Teaching opportunities in creative writing, literature, and composition, with renowned teacher preparation.

~ Rural beauty just hours from Boston and New York.

Through the Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts and Action, the MFA offers programming and opportunities for students to develop professional skills in the literary arts. Programs include the Visiting Writers Series, the Writers@Work career forum, and the Juniper Literary Festival. Students gain significant arts management experience working for the Juniper Summer Writing Institute and can expand their teaching portfolio as creative writing instructors at the Juniper Institute for Young Writers and Juniper Young Writers Online teen programs.

Additional internships available with Paperbark Literary Magazine, The

Massachusetts Review, Radius MFA, Disquiet International Literary Program, the University of Massachusetts Press, New England Public Radio, and more.

Contact Information

MFA / English South College, E357 Amherst Massachusetts, United States 01003 Email: [email protected] http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/

Bachelor of Arts in English/Literature +

The department also offers four areas of focus that confer Letters of Specialization: American Studies, Creative Writing, Nonfiction Writing, and Professional Writing and Technical Communication (PWTC). American Studies offers a concentration that enables students to shape an interdisciplinary course of study in American culture, combining courses in literature with courses from other disciplines, such as history, art or Afro-American studies. Creative Writing involves a series of courses, mostly in the form of workshops, that develop students' craft in the writing of poetry, fiction or drama. Nonfiction Writing prepares students for careers in free-lance writing or publishing; it also prepares majors for graduate programs in publishing, nonfiction writing, or rhetoric and composition. PWTC provides practice in professional research and editing, grant writing, software and hardware documentation, report writing, and business communications.

Minor / Concentration in Creative Writing +

Master of fine arts in creative writing +, graduate program director.

• 3 years to focus on your writing

• More than 50 years of history as a literary community

• 60 hours of highly individualized coursework,

including opportunities to take classes through the Five

College Consortium (Amherst College, Smith College,

Hampshire College, and Mount Holyoke College) as well

as across all the departments of UMass

• Teaching opportunities in creative writing, literature,

and composition, with renowned teacher preparation

The community of writers comprising the MFA Program

for Poets and Writers at UMass believes that diversity in

all respects makes writers and literature stronger and

better. As a program that seeks to nurture the next

generation of writers and their work, we are committed

to creating a supportive environment for all of our

students. We welcome applications from people of color,

LGBTQIA students, international students, veterans,

first-generation college students, students with disabilities,

students from all historically underrepresented

groups, and everyone who wishes to be among a community

of writers that regards contemporary literature as a

valuable and dynamic force for humanity in the world.

MFA candidates are funded through a range of teaching

and research appointments, fellowships, and paid internships.

Teaching Associate positions in the University

Writing Program carry a 3-section per year teaching load plus a waiver of tuition and most fees. Approximately 90% of full-time

candidates in the MFA program are funded at a level

sufficient to bring a waiver of tuition and most fees; the

MFA Program also offers several smaller fellowships and

awards each year.

Through the Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts and Action, the program is a hub for readings, festivals, summer writing workshops, forums, and other literary programming. We are pleased to share a home with jubilat, The Massachusetts Review and the University of Massachusetts Press. Through our extensive literary arts internship program, opportunities are available with these and many other local and regional presses, journals, schools, and arts organizations. In addition, MFA candidates run a lively reading series and an online literary journal providing writers with opportunities to exchange new work.

Peter Gizzi

Peter Gizzi is the author of Now It's Dark (Wesleyan, 2020), Sky Burial: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, UK 2020), Archeophonics (Finalist for the National Book Award, Wesleyan, 2016); In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems 1987-2011 (Finalist for the LA Times Book Award, Wesleyan, 2014); Threshold Songs (Wesleyan, 2011); The Outernationale (Wesleyan, 2007), Some Values of Landscape and Weather (Wesleyan, 2003); Artificial Heart (Burning Deck, 1998); and Periplum (Avec Books, 1992). In 2004 Salt Publishing of England reprinted an expanded edition of his first book as Periplum and other poems 1987-92. He has also published several limited-edition chapbooks, folios, and artist books. His work has been translated into numerous languages and anthologized here and abroad.

His honors include the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets (1994) and fellowships in poetry from The Fund for Poetry (1993), The Rex Foundation (1993), Howard Foundation (1998), The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (1999), and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2005). He has twice been the recipient of the Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Poetry at Cambridge University. In 2018, Wesleyan published In the Air: Essays on the Poetry of Peter Gizzi.

He has held residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The Foundation of French Literature at Royaumont, Un Bureau Sur L'Atlantique, the Centre International de Poesie Marseille (cipM), and Tamaas.

His editing projects have included o•blék: a journal of language arts (1987-1993); The Exact Change Yearbook (Exact Change/Carcanet, 1995); The House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer (Wesleyan, 1998); and My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer (Wesleyan, 2008). He served as Poetry Editor for The Nation (2007-2011).

http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/peter-gizzi-english

Noy Holland

Noy Holland is the recipient of the 2018 Katherine Anne Porter Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her short story “Tally” was included in Best American Short Stories, and read by Suzzy Roche at Symphony Space in New York City. Her books include I Was Trying to Describe What It Feels Like, New and Selected Stories; the novel Bird; and three collections of short fiction and novellas-- Swim for the Little One First, What Begins with Bird, and The Spectacle of the Body. She has published fiction and essays in The Kenyon Review, Epoch, Antioch, Conjunctions, The Quarterly, Glimmer Train, Electric Literature, Publisher’s Weekly, The Believer, NOON, and New York Tyrant, among others.

http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/noy-holland

Edie Meidav

She is the author of Kingdom of the Young (2017, Sarabande); Lola,California (Farrar Straus, 2011/12); Crawl Space (Farrar Straus, 2006/7); The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon (Houghton, Mifflin, 2000/1). Honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, Howard Foundation, Whiting Foundation, the Kafka Prize for Best Novel by an American Woman, the Bard Fiction Prize for a writer under 40, creative Fulbrights for work in Sri Lanka and Cyprus, and residencies at Yaddo, Macdowell, Fundacion Valparaiso, Vermont Studio Center and elsewhere. Her work has been called an editors’ pick by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other sites. She has served as a judge for Yaddo, the PEN/Bingham first novel award, the NEA, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and as an editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal as well as a contributing editor at the International Literary Quarterly, while continuing as a senior editor for Conjunctions. She has taught or spoken at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley in California, the Home for Cooperation in Cyprus, and elsewhere. Currently, with MFA writers, she is working on creating the UMass MFA Radio Project, working with New England Public Radio and the Holyoke Care Center to create bridges between MFA writers and the voices of underserved communities.

Her recent or deeper background includes Amherst, Berkeley, Brooklyn, Colombo, Cortona, Foix, Haifa, Havana, Managua, Manhattan, Nicosia, Przmsl, Rhinebeck, Samara, Toronto.

http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/edie-meidav-englishmfa

Sabina Murray

Sabina Murray grew up in Australia and the Philippines. She is the author of seven books of fiction, most recently The Human Zoo. She is also the author of the novel Valiant Gentlemen, a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book, and the short story collection The Caprices, which won the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award. Other published books are Slow Burn, A Carnivore's Inquiry, Forgery, and Tales of the New World. A collection of ghostly fiction, Vanishing Point (TBD), is forthcoming from Grove. Her stories are anthologized in The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction and Charlie Chan is Dead II: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian Fiction. She is the writer of the screenplay for the film Beautiful Country, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. She has written on Sebald for the Writers Chronicle, Wordsworth for the Paris Review blog, time theory and historical fiction for LitHub, Duterte and the Philippines for VICE, Spam (the meat) for The New York Times, and published gothic fiction in Medium. She is a former Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, Bunting Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, N.E.A. Grant recipient, Magdalen College of the University of Oxford Research Fellow, and Guggenheim Fellow. She has received the Samuel Conti Award from the University of Massachusetts and the Fred Brown Award from the University of Pittsburgh. Murray teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/sabina-murray

Jeff Parker

Jeff Parker is the author of the nonfiction book Where Bears Roam the Streets: A Russian Journal (Harper Collins), the novel Ovenman (Tin House), and the short story collection The Taste of Penny (Dzanc). With Pasha Malla, he co-assembled the book of found sports poetry Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion (Featherproof), and with Annie Liontas he edited A Manner of Being: Writers on Their Mentors (UMass Press). His short fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Walrus, and many others. With Mikhail Iossel he co-edited two volumes of contemporary Russian prose in translation, Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia (Tin House) and Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States (Dalkey Archive). He also co-translated the novel Sankya by Zakhar Prilepin from the Russian. He has taught at Eastern Michigan University, the University of Toronto, the Russian State University for the Humanities, and the University of Tampa, and he currently teaches in the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is the cofounder and Director of the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal. Read more about Professor Parker's work at www.thebackoftheline.net.

http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/jeff-parker

Abigail Chabitnoy

Abigail Chabitnoy is a Koniag descendant and member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak. She is the author of In the Current Where Drowning Is Beautiful (forthcoming, Wesleyan 2022) and How to Dress a Fish (Wesleyan 2019), shortlisted for the 2020 International Griffin Prize for Poetry and winner of the 2020 Colorado Book Award, and the linocut illustrated chapbook Converging Lines of Light (Flower Press 2021). She was a 2021 Peter Taylor Fellow at Kenyon Writers Workshop and the recipient of the 2020 Witter Bynner Native Poet Residency at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, CO. Her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Boston Review, Tin House, Gulf Coast, LitHub, and Red Ink, among others. She currently teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts and will be joining the faculty as an assistant professor at UMass Amherst in the fall of 2022. Abigail holds a BA in Anthropology and English from Saint Vincent College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Colorado State University. Find her at salmonfisherpoet.com.

https://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/member/abigail-chabitnoy

Publications & Presses +

The Massachusetts Review

Paperbark Magazine

University of Massachusetts Press

Visiting Writers Program +

Lisa Olstein

Dorothea Lasky

Andrea Lawlor

Gabriel Bump

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Kyle Dacuyan

September 30: Santee Frazier

October 21: Sabina Murray

November 18: Peter Gizzi

December 2: Dinaw Mengestu

September 10: Cynthia Cruz

September 24: Gabriel Bump (MFA '17)

October 29: Maaza Mengiste

November 12: Nathaniel Mackey

September 26: André Alexis and Mona Awad

October 17: Kamila Shamsie (MFA '98)

November 14: Ocean Vuong

Reading Series +

Visiting Writers Series ( http://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/visiting-writers-series )

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University of Massachusetts Amherst MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at University of Massachusetts Amherst. We’ve pulled together some essential information you should know about the master’s degree program in creative writing, including how many students graduate each year, the ethnic diversity of these students, 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 UMass Amherst Cost?

Umass amherst graduate tuition and fees.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, part-time graduate students at UMass Amherst paid an average of $1,673 per credit hour if they came to the school from out-of-state. In-state students paid a discounted rate of $779 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for graduate student.

Does UMass Amherst Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

UMass Amherst 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 UMass Amherst Online Learning page.

UMass Amherst Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

About 60.0% of the students who received their MA in creative writing in 2019-2020 were women. This is less than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Around 10.0% of creative writing master’s degree recipients at UMass Amherst in 2019-2020 were awarded to 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 .

Popular Reports

Compare your school options.

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst , MA

https://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry, CNF

Residency type

Program length, financial aid.

MFA candidates are funded through a range of appointments including Teaching Associate, Teaching Assistant, and Research Assistant position; fellowships; and paid internships. Currently, 100% of full-time candidates are funded at a level sufficient to bring a waiver of tuition and most fees plus an annual stipend of around $24,000. In addition, the MFA Program offers several smaller fellowships and awards each year.

Teaching opportunities

Editorial opportunities.

 One full fellowship as managing editor of jubilat; plus opportunities with The Massachusetts Review, Paperbark, Radius, Slope Editions, and the University of Massachusetts Press

Cross-genre study

• Dorothy Barresi MFA 1985
• Grace Bauer MFA (Poetry) 1987
• Jensen Beach MFA (Fiction) 2011
• Marianne Boruch MFA (Poetry)
• Gabriel Bump MFA (Fiction) 2017
• Heather Christle MFA
• Carson Cistulli MFA 2007
• Michael Earl Craig MFA
• Carol Ann Davis MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Judy Doenges MFA
• Jack Driscoll MFA
• David Feinstein MFA (Poetry) 2016
• Brendan Galvin MFA 1967
• Robert Gibb MFA 1974
• Rachel B. Glaser MFA (Fiction)
• Brian Henry MFA
• Patricia Horvath MFA (Fiction) 2001
• Tim Johnston MFA (Fiction) 1989
• Dorothea Lasky MFA
• Su-Yee Lin MFA (Fiction) 2012
• Bret Lott MFA (Fiction) 1984
• Sara Majka MFA 2013
• Tom McCauley MFA (Poetry)
• David Milofsky MFA
• Nicholas Montemarano MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Brian D. Mooney MFA 1999
• Leigh Newman MFA (Fiction) 2005
• JoAnna Novak MFA (Poetry) 2014
• W. Scott Olsen MFA
• Alexandria Peary MFA (Poetry) 1999
• Nancy Reisman MFA (Fiction)
• David Roderick MFA
• Gerald Shapiro MFA
• Susan Steinberg MFA
• Susan Straight MFA 1984
• Emily Toder MFA
• Natasha Trethewey MFA (Poetry) 1995
• Lee Upton MFA (Poetry) 1981
• Michelle Valois MFA 1999
• Arisa White MFA 2006
• Douglas Whynott MFA 1985
• Wendy Xu MFA 2014
• Xu Xi MFA (Fiction) 1985
• Jung Yun MFA (Fiction) 2007
• Matthew Zapruder MFA (Poetry) 1999

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

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2024 Creative Writing MFA Applicants Forum

By LivingUnderABigRock December 4, 2023 in Literary

Recommended Posts

LivingUnderABigRock

The process begins , figured I would start a thread on here with a story.

I just submitted to one of my top choices with a letter that references another school! It's very brief and the rest of the letter references the correct school, but take this as a sign that mistakes happen and it's okay to give yourself some space! Always have someone else read over your letter and other materials. I must have gone over mine ten times and still missed this, despite checking everything else and keeping a mostly unique letter for each school. Who knows if this will be enough to deny me flat out, I'm sure my very poor writing will be enough lmao!

Either way, best of luck to everyone. December 15th is still a few weeks away, but would love to hear from how everyone's doing and share responses.

P.S: Seems like UTK is the first school most will hear any news about since they have a first and second round system. I have seen some hear on being moved to the second round as early as December 16th. Obviously not an acceptance but a good sign that there is some quality to your writing that a school might be interested in.

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Scribe 291 posts

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Feb 20 2024

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Popular Posts

February 29

Crying in front of two hundred construction workers and I can’t tell them why because they wouldn’t understand. But you people will.  Irvine!

mr. specific

February 20

Got into Michigan! Crazy. Just an email notification. Not complaining, but I thought they'd call. l

jadedoptimist

February 21

Oh my god guys. Oh my god. I'm on the Syracuse waitlist!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone! I guess I'm just going to post my stats and schools... Talking about this process seems to make it a little less scary, and I've found some solace in reading through last year's thread, so it's only proper that I pay it forward.

I'm 22 years old and one year out of undergrad, where I got a BS in biology and minored in CW. I have one short story published in a lit magazine. I've only applied for fully-funded programs, all of them in fiction. Ten total! They're ASU, UMn, UW-M, UW-S, NAU, UNLV, UNLV-R, SFU, BSU, and OSU. 

I'm trying to temper my expectations--I realize it's extremely unlikely that I'll get into any of these programs--but I hope I get at least one 'a!' 

Wishing all of you the best of luck! 

just heard back from poetry faculty at UIUC that i’m on the waitlist!

i didn’t think i had a chance so this is great news!! still waiting to hear back from 7 other schools… wishing everyone so much luck :’)

EDIT: if anyone has any tips on waitlist formalities (i.e following up w/ the school) or any stories about being on MFA waitlists please let me know!

• darr1 , seeleimraum and triciadawn

Applied to 11 programs + a Hail Mary to Stegner and am now just anxiously awaiting results starting next month. I did: Indiana-Bloomington, UW-M, Michener, Zell, Iowa, NYU, Brown, JHU, UVA, Syracuse, Vanderbilt. This is my first year applying. I’m 36 and on my second career and have kids, I have low expectations for this year but also just want to know any information at all so I can know what my next year will look like. 

• BowserNintendo

Hey folks! Excited and scared out of my mind for this process and honored to be in your company. I’m 26, graduated in 2020 with a BA in Education and minor in Asian Studies. Applied to Brown, Cornell, Michigan, Michener, New Writer’s Project, Sarah Lawrence, Iowa, UMass Amherst, and UW-M for fiction and Northwestern for CNF. I have done minor literary stuff (published an essay and short story) but have never held a fellowship, internship, residency, etc or anything of the sort  

0a /0w/0r/10p

Good luck everyone! 

decayingballads21

Hi, all! I thought I'd help keep this thread going too after reading last year's thread! This will be my first year applying after contemplating for years (I've been a Draft lurker since 2016). Applied to Arkansas, Ole Miss, Minnesota State, BU, New School, Columbia, Hunter, and UNCG for fiction. And the usual suspects: Iowa, Michigan, UW-M, NYU. Very excited for results to come out! Best of luck to everyone! 

0a/0w/0r/12p

seeleimraum

~Hi folks, this is my second time applying to poetry MFA programs (first attempt was during undergrad 5 years ago): Iowa, UMichigan, Cornell, Vandy, UOregon, Indiana Univ, UC Irvine, Virginia Tech, UIdaho, UNCG, UMontana, USouth Carolina, UC Boulder.  0a/0w/0r/13p - biting my nails and ordering a weighted blanket in the meantime. Good luck y'all!~

Hey everyone, this is my first time applying as I'm finishing my undergrad this year! I applied in poetry to Cornell, Brown, Michigan, Iowa, Vanderbilt, Michener, Northwestern and Virginia. Good luck all!!!!

Wishing everybody the best this cycle!!

First time applicant, lurked for a couple years now. Have seen enough amazing writers apply multiple years that I’m keeping my expectations healthy 😅 Applying in poetry to Iowa, Michigan, Syracuse, Indiana, Minnesota, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Michener, Arizona, and UC-Irvine.

0a/0w/0r/10p

I see a lot of people applying to UofM I know it's a great program, but does anyone have any insight as to if their admissions team favors in-state residents? I have seen sources say that for undergraduate UofM is twice as likely to admit someone from Michigan rather than an out-of-state student, and I wonder if this carries over in some ways? 

Would be good to know if this is true with other schools as well. Or maybe it would make people more anxious to know that this has an effect! haha

Either way, Best of luck to everyone!

• decayingballads21 and Jim VK

3 hours ago, BasilicaHands said: I see a lot of people applying to UofM I know it's a great program, but does anyone have any insight as to if their admissions team favors in-state residents? I have seen sources say that for undergraduate UofM is twice as likely to admit someone from Michigan rather than an out-of-state student, and I wonder if this carries over in some ways?    Would be good to know if this is true with other schools as well. Or maybe it would make people more anxious to know that this has an effect! haha   Either way, Best of luck to everyone!    

I don’t think location is a factor in MFA admissions. The most important thing is your writing sample. 

bluebikeyikes

Hi everyone! I'm applying to 7 programs for CNF in the U.S.: OSU, SAIC, Wash U., Northwestern (MFA + MA), Oregon State, U. of Pittsburgh, and U. of Washington. I've also applied to all three programs in Canada. Best of luck everyone! 

0A/0W/0R/11P

18 hours ago, bluebikeyikes said: Hi everyone! I'm applying to 7 programs for CNF in the U.S.: OSU, SAIC, Wash U., Northwestern (MFA + MA), Oregon State, U. of Pittsburgh, and U. of Washington. I've also applied to all three programs in Canada. Best of luck everyone!  0A/0W/0R/11P

Hey everyone!  bluebikeyikes, glad to see another CNF applicant. I’m applying to all those US schools as well (just not u Washington)

Best of luck to everybody! 

justasmidge

Also wishing the best for everyone this cycle! 

First time applicant, but if I got in, this would be my second master's. I got my first one ten years ago and am happy to have a career that I love in transportation policy and planning. But I've always loved to write and after attending a few writing workshops last year, I feel it's time to make good on that. What has been fascinating about this admissions process is that there is a lot of camaraderie and a really good spirit of people wanting to help others out. I can certainly say that for public administration back when I was applying in 2012, I didn't know any of my fellow applicants. It is certainly a very welcome difference : D 

I'm specifically applying to NYC-based programs as I'm in a position in my career where I can't leave, both for professional and financial reasons. Thankfully, I'm used to a schedule where chaos reigns as I also was a full-time student with a full-time job during my first master's degree and used to be a campaign organizer where I was working 80+ hour weeks. I know it's going to be a lot but if I get in, I'll figure it out. 

I'm applying to fiction tracks of NYU, Columbia, Stony Brook, Brooklyn, The New School, Sarah Lawrence, Hunter, and City College of New York. 

Does anyone else wish that they could put down musicians as writing influences? I honestly would love to put Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus down because they've really inspired me but I don't want to veer too off course. 

• SarahRuth and triciadawn

2 hours ago, decayingballads21 said: Hey everyone!  bluebikeyikes, glad to see another CNF applicant. I’m applying to all those US schools as well (just not u Washington) Best of luck to everybody! 

Wow, that's great! I'm glad to see another CNF applicant applying to these programs as well!

1 minute ago, bluebikeyikes said: Wow, that's great! I'm glad to see another CNF applicant applying to these programs as well!

Me too!! I haven’t seen many. How are you feeling about your apps and the whole process?? Idk why I’m more nervous bc I feel like there’s less CNF applicants but also feel like everyone’s amazing so idk. I’m scared!! But excited. But scared!

9 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said:   Me too!! I haven’t seen many. How are you feeling about your apps and the whole process?? Idk why I’m more nervous bc I feel like there’s less CNF applicants but also feel like everyone’s amazing so idk. I’m scared!! But excited. But scared!

I'm definitely feeling anxious as well! I only have one app left (U of Washington Bothell) and it's wild to think that OSU might get back to us in as soon as ten days! I'm scared haha. But also excited to meet more amazing writers no matter my next step looks like!

Just now, bluebikeyikes said: I'm definitely feeling anxious as well! I only have one app left (U of Washington Bothell) and it's wild to think that OSU might get back to us in as soon as ten days! I'm scared haha. But also excited to meet more amazing writers no matter my next step looks like!

It’s nice to meet you!! And I wish you the best of luck.

I know I’m literally so nervous about OSU. That’s my top program 😭 fingers crossed for us!!  what are your top programs? 

34 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said: It’s nice to meet you!! And I wish you the best of luck. I know I’m literally so nervous about OSU. That’s my top program 😭 fingers crossed for us!!  what are your top programs? 

It's nice to meet you too! And yes, best of luck, OSU is a great program! I hope we get in : )

Honestly, I would be grateful to get any fully funded offer as I only applied to schools that I'm excited for. Right now, I'm slightly leaning towards Northwestern and U of Washington as they have MFA + MA and I'm interested in integrating critical/theoretical aspects into my writing

On 1/12/2024 at 3:32 PM, justasmidge said: Also wishing the best for everyone this cycle!  First time applicant, but if I got in, this would be my second master's. I got my first one ten years ago and am happy to have a career that I love in transportation policy and planning. But I've always loved to write and after attending a few writing workshops last year, I feel it's time to make good on that. What has been fascinating about this admissions process is that there is a lot of camaraderie and a really good spirit of people wanting to help others out. I can certainly say that for public administration back when I was applying in 2012, I didn't know any of my fellow applicants. It is certainly a very welcome difference : D  I'm specifically applying to NYC-based programs as I'm in a position in my career where I can't leave, both for professional and financial reasons. Thankfully, I'm used to a schedule where chaos reigns as I also was a full-time student with a full-time job during my first master's degree and used to be a campaign organizer where I was working 80+ hour weeks. I know it's going to be a lot but if I get in, I'll figure it out.  I'm applying to fiction tracks of NYU, Columbia, Stony Brook, Brooklyn, The New School, Sarah Lawrence, Hunter, and City College of New York.  Does anyone else wish that they could put down musicians as writing influences? I honestly would love to put Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus down because they've really inspired me but I don't want to veer too off course.   

Hey, fellow NYC schools applicant here! I used to live in the city and I’ve been dying to move back!   

Hi everyone!

Longtime(ish) lurker finally compelled to make an account. It's awfully quiet in here and the wait is grating. I am a first-time applicant to fiction programs. I hope everyone is holding up well. Sending you all good luck!

sunnysequoia

Hello everyone! Lovely to see fellow nonfiction candidates here. I'm nearly 27, five years out of undergrad where I completed my B.A. in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis, and a first-time applicant.

I'm applying to what may be an excessive number of 16 programs LOL. I was torn between pragmatically wanting full funding and the fantasy of pursuing my writing dreams in New York. Even after acknowledging that it wouldn't be smart to pursue an MFA in a program where I'd be worrying about outrageously high living costs and massive debt, I couldn't bring myself to not apply to my New York schools. In the end, I figured I might as well apply, and if I get in, I can decide then whether I can make it work.

My fully funded schools are: UMass Amherst, Rutgers U Camden (full funding available but not guaranteed), U of Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Miami U, U of Minnesota, U of Iowa, Wash U St. Louis, U of Arizona, and Oregon State. The rest are Sarah Lawrence, Hunter College, NYU, The New School, U of San Francisco, and SF State. (I did rule out Columbia due to the enormous class size, lack of funding, and ludicrous $110 application fee. The last was also the case for NYU, and I applied there only after I received a fee waiver for another school. I decided that I wasn't going to apply to two schools with such an exorbitantly high fee that they feel entitled to charge just because they are a private, for-profit university, and I preferred NYU over Columbia.)

I'm three-quarters of the way done with my applications. Only ones left are Rutgers, Hunter, USF, and SFSU with deadlines through mid-February. I'm so mentally checked out at this point that I'm just not stressing over my remaining ones LOL, especially since 3 of them are for non-fully funded programs. I likely won't apply to them on the off chance that I am accepted into any fully funded program before their respective deadlines.

Good luck to everyone in this process!

0a/0w/0r/12p/4 still applying  🙃

• Chex and triciadawn

There was a fiction acceptance in draft just posted, for Ohio state. Does anyone know if fiction, poetry and CNF acceptances come out separately or at the same time? I’m so nervous 

46 minutes ago, decayingballads21 said: There was a fiction acceptance in draft just posted, for Ohio state. Does anyone know if fiction, poetry and CNF acceptances come out separately or at the same time? I’m so nervous 

According to the notification spreadsheet from last year, it looks like results for CNF & poetry came out around the 19th over a few days, with acceptances coming out first, then waitlists, then rejections for all genres on the 25th. No results for fiction acceptances in the spreadsheet, as far as I can see. 

3 hours ago, Chex said: Hi everyone! Longtime(ish) lurker finally compelled to make an account. It's awfully quiet in here and the wait is grating. I am a first-time applicant to fiction programs. I hope everyone is holding up well. Sending you all good luck!  

I know it’s been so quiet this year compared to previous cycles! Best of luck to you too! Where did you apply? 

• Chex and GoldenTree

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UMass Boston

• Creative Writing MFA

Further your commitment to writing as the center of your professional life.

Intensive study and practice of fiction and poetry writing with award-winning and nationally renowned faculty at the most diverse university in new england..

UMass Boston's Creative Writing MFA offers you an intense, 3-year program and focused opportunity to further your commitment to writing as the center of your professional life. Through a combination of mentoring by accomplished faculty in a series of creative writing workshops, courses focused on the study of literature offered through the English MA Program, and electives that include the practice of literary editing, the teaching of creative writing, documentary poetics, the art of memoir, and more—you will have the guidance to develop and shape your work to the full extent of your talent.

All accepted students receive funding. Graduate assistantships offer the opportunity to work with students as teaching assistants and fellows, or in editorial positions with one of our sponsors, including 826 Boston, Hanging Loose Press, Write on the Dot, Consequence Magazine, Breakwater Review, and Arrowsmith Press.

Career Possibilities

Pursue a career as a professional writer, publishing your work in literary journals, magazines. Work as an editor and collaborate with writers to refine their work and shape the final product for publication. These are just a few of the possibilities.

Become a(n):

• Writer/Author
• Literary Agent
• Writing Instructor/Professor

Start Your Application

Plan Your Education

How to apply.

Applicants must meet general graduate admission requirements in addition to the following program-specific requirements:

• A 3.0 GPA overall and in the student’s major
• Three substantive and detailed letters of recommendation, from former teachers familiar with the applicant’s most recent academic and creative work
• A 3-5 page personal statement focusing on the role of the candidate’s reading life in his or her development as a writer. (Note: The general Graduate Admissions application refers to this as a statement of interests and intent. They are one and the same.)
• Applicants must indicate whether they are applying in FICTION or POETRY in their Statement of Purpose. If you want to apply in both genres, include one writing sample in FICTION and one in POETRY and indicate in the Statement of Purpose that the application is for both.
• A writing sample of 10 manuscript pages of poetry or 20 manuscript pages of fiction

Deadlines & Cost

Deadlines: January 15 (priority) for fall. While rare, if space is available, we’ll happily consider applications until June 1 (final deadline).

Application Fee: The nonrefundable application fee is $75. UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Program Cost Information: Bursar's website

Writing Workshops (24 Credits)

Complete one from below four times.

• CW 601 - MFA Poetry Workshop 6 Credit(s) or
• CW 602 - MFA Fiction Workshop 6 Credit(s)

Literature Courses (9 Credits)

Complete three graduate literature courses.

Electives (9 Credits)

Complete three from below.

• CW 605 - Memoir Workshop 3 Credit(s)
• CW 606 - Literary Editing and Publishing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 614 - The Teaching of Creative Writing 3 Credit(s)
• CW 675 - Creative Writing Internship 3 Credit(s)
• CW 697 - Special Topics in Creative Writing 1-6 Credit(s)

Students may elect courses offered by other graduate programs with approval from the graduate program director.

• ENGL 459 Seminar for Tutors may be taken for graduate credit (see Undergraduate Catalog)
• ENGL 675 - Reading and Writing Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 676 - Reading and Writing Fiction 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 681 - Advanced Workshop in Poetry 3 Credit(s)
• ENGL 682 - Advanced Workshop in Fiction 3 Credit(s)

Thesis Courses (6 Credits)

Complete the course below both semesters of the third year.

• CW 699 - MFA Thesis 3 Credit(s)

Graduation Criteria

Complete 48 credits from twelve courses including four writing workshops, three literature courses, three electives, and two semesters of thesis workshops.

The MFA degree requires six semesters of full-time study, with 9 credits required in each of the first four semesters, and 6 credits in the final two semesters, during which students will concentrate on completing a thesis in fiction or poetry under the direction of a faculty member. MFA workshops are limited to 12 students, and seminars are limited to 15. Students have the opportunity to interact with writers in our Global Voices Visiting Writer series (recent visitors have been Raquel Salas Rivera and Carole Maso), and work with visiting prose writers - recently these have included Jane Unrue, ZZ Packer, and Fanny Howe.

Capstone: Completion of an MFA thesis of 48 to 64 pages of poetry or 100 to 200 pages of fiction written under the supervision of a thesis advisor, reviewed by a thesis committee, and subject to a public defense.

Statute of limitations: Five years.

Contact & Faculty

Graduate Program Director John Fulton john.fulton [at] umb.edu (617) 287-6700

English & Creative Writing MFA Department englishmfaprogram [at] umb.edu (617) 287-6702

Fiction Faculty

John Fulton , Program Director & Associate Professor Askold Melnyczuk , Professor Eileen Pollack , Visiting Assistant Professor

Poetry Faculty

Jill McDonough , Professor Shangyang Fang , Associate Lecturer

English Department

Learn more about UMass Boston's English department, our programs, and our faculty.

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Learn more about the faculty, research, and programs that make up our College of Liberal Arts.

Lecturers recount finding community and voice in creative writing MFA programs

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing is an often selective, often two-year degree program that gives writers time to hone their craft under the mentorship of established writers. The program is not offered at Stanford, but many faculty affiliated with the creative writing program pursued an MFA.

The Stanford Daily interviewed Tom Kealey, Sarah Frisch and Sara Michas-Martin from the English department on how their MFA degrees influenced their writing and teaching careers. 

Kealey, author of “The Creative Writing MFA Handbook,” earned his MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Frisch holds an MFA in Fiction from Washington University in Saint Louis. Michas-Martin attended an MFA program at Naropa University before completing the degree in Poetry at the University of Arizona. All three are former Wallace Stegner Fellows.

Each lecturer emphasized the importance of MFAs in surrounding them with a community of writers. 

“Teachers are important for sure, but a workshop is only as strong as your fellow writers in the class,” Kealey said.

“The people you really are going to learn from are your peers,” Michas-Martin said. “Sometimes the conversations that happen in the bar or at someone’s house or at the coffee shop are the ones that will stick with you.” 

An MFA program also gives writers a chance for extensive reading, which can be beneficial for those without a strong literature background. 

“I was able to start to understand the work I was reading in relation to the kind of work I wanted to create,” Frisch said, referencing the Ph.D. literature classes she took during her MFA. 

Frisch also stressed the importance of reading for aspiring writers, with or without intent to pursue an MFA. She advised writers to read every day. “If I’m stuck somewhere in my writing, often the answer is in my reading life, not in my writing life,” Frisch said. 

For students interested in pursuing an MFA, Kealey recommended that they take some time off after their undergraduate studies.

“I think this is true no matter what degree you pursue,” Kealey said. 

Similarly, Frisch has always told people to take a few years before pursuing an MFA program. 

“It makes such a difference to have been writing on your own — finding your voice and your material and then returning to the MFA program,” Frisch said.

Michas-Martin took a year to travel around the world after completing her Bachelor’s degree. “That’s when I decided I really wanted to write … I just knew I loved it,” she said. “So I do think taking time off is really important.”

Lecturers encouraged students to try new things in the MFA program and beyond. “Write as much as you can. Try on voices and styles that you might otherwise not pursue,” Kealey said.

Kealey described writing as a process in which writers discover who they are. “The page reflects ourselves back to us, even if we are clearly inhabiting characters very different from us,” he said. “When we write with honesty, integrity and courage, we generally are delighted by what we discover.”

Kealey, Frisch and Michas-Martin also recognized that an MFA is not for everyone. 

Michas-Martin suggested that students with interdisciplinary minds should pursue multiple interests. “Let’s say you’re a CS major, but maybe you’re also really passionate about fiction. You can hold those two things at the same time,” Michas-Martin said. “And practically, it may be necessary.” 

Interdisciplinarity features in the courses that Michas-Martin teaches at Stanford. She has found that her teaching “feeds” her writing.

Ultimately, Frisch advised young writers to embrace the changes on their journeys in writing and beyond. “Building a life that feels meaningful is going to go a long way,” Frisch said.

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Academic Director

Dave Madden

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

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

Administrative Director

Micah Ballard

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

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

Full-Time Faculty

Laleh Khadivi

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

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

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

• MFA Mills College

D.A. Powell

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

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

Susan Steinberg

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

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

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

Monica West

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

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

Part-Time Faculty

Stephen beachy.

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

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

He's the prose editor of Your Impossible Voice .

• MFA in Creative Writing, Iowa Writers' Workshop

Lewis Buzbee

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

• MFA in Fiction, Warren Wilson College.

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

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

Vanessa Hua

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

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

Miah Jeffra

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

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

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

Kwon’s writing has appeared in The ...

• MFA, Brooklyn College
• BA, Yale University

Lauren Markham

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

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

Ingrid Rojas Contreras

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

Maw Shein Win

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

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

K.M. Soehnlein

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

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

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

Shelley Wong

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

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

Faculty Emeritus

Catherine Brady

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

• MFA in Creative Writing, University of Massachusetts

Aaron Shurin

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

Visiting Faculty

Cristina García

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

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