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MA in Creative Writing

• About this Course

About this course

Things you might need for this course, about the provider.

What does University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman, UP) stand for?

The University of the Philippines (UP) is a state university system, founded in 1908. It was established to provide advanced education in Science and Arts, Philosophy, Literature, and Technical training for Filipino students under the Act No. 1870 of the first Philippine Legislature. It has eight constituent universities (Diliman, Los Baños, Manila, Visayas, Open University, Mindanao, Baguio, and Cebu). Aside from the universities, UP has also expanded and added new programs to cater the basic education with UP Integrated School.

University of the Philippines offers a wide array of programs in different fields for undergraduate, graduate, diploma, and certificate courses. The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) awarded the institution’s various programs with Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development. The courses offered by UP vary by campus.

Throughout its history, University of the Philippines upholds its mandate as the country’s state university shaping minds and producing competent students. Notable alumni who graduated from UP include presidents of the Philippines, senators, supreme court justices, and National Artists. The University of the Philippines is one of the top 1000 universities in the world, and is also one of the only three Philippine higher learning institution that is a member of the ASEAN University Network.

University of the Philippines Facts:

UP is one of the top 1000 universities in the world according to the World University Rankings UP held its centennial celebration in 2008 Aside from its quality education, University of the Philippines is also known for its annual Oblation Run where the members of the Alpha Phi Omega organization run completely naked around the university area to expresses the group’s stance on socially relevant issues. Sources: https://www.up.edu.ph/index.php/about-up/university-seal/

3 Best universities for Creative Writing in the Philippines

Updated: February 29, 2024

• Art & Design
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
• Mathematics

Below is a list of best universities in the Philippines ranked based on their research performance in Creative Writing. A graph of 1.38K citations received by 693 academic papers made by 3 universities in the Philippines was used to calculate publications' ratings, which then were adjusted for release dates and added to final scores.

We don't distinguish between undergraduate and graduate programs nor do we adjust for current majors offered. You can find information about granted degrees on a university page but always double-check with the university website.

Please note that our approach to subject rankings is based on scientific outputs and heavily biased on art-related topics towards institutions with computer science research profiles.

1. Ateneo de Manila University

For Creative Writing

2. University of the Philippines Diliman

3. De La Salle University

The best cities to study Creative Writing in the Philippines based on the number of universities and their ranks are Quezon and Manila .

Art & Design subfields in the Philippines

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University of the Philippines Diliman

Literature & writing courses offered at up diliman.

• Quezon City
• Metro Manila
• Philippines

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Content writing course by iim skills, table of contents, top 6 creative writing courses in the philippines.

• Nazima Rizvi
• April 1, 2024
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No one is born with the ability to tell stories, but everyone has one to share. The capacity to communicate through storytelling, poetry and other forms is a skill that may be acquired, refined, and elevated to the level of an art. The majority of us actually have some creativity, albeit it is frequently muted or overlooked because of external factors or other pressing needs. The creative writing courses in the Philippines, being offered by various institutions, provide a window through which we can let our thoughts and emotions out.

Each of us has gone through a range of feelings and has encountered our own set of difficulties. Through lovely expressions and words, creative writing expresses these feelings and emotions. But creative writing is more than just using words and jargon, it is the ability to come up with characters and plots, and be able to place both against a realistic backdrop. Writing using captivating language and judicious use of numerous literary tropes are skills that only experienced creative writers possess.

What is Creative Writing?

Any writing that goes beyond the traditional norms of professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature is considered creative writing. This writing is typically characterized by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, the use of literary tropes, or different poetic traditions.

Benefits of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

·    Building confidence

Writing creatively is a technique that will enable you to fully develop your unique voice and perspective without artificial constraints. You have more freedom to research and voice your opinions on subjects, points of view, philosophies, people, etc. Additionally, doing so will give you more confidence and ease when expressing your viewpoints in other writings.

·    Clarification of Thoughts

You may express your thoughts and emotions more clearly through creative writing. You’ll be able to see things clearly in the workplace and throughout the rest of your life, enabling you to solve challenges in the future.

·    Meeting with Like-Minded people

When one meets other writers, one can pick up different methods and approaches. Meeting like-minded individuals also facilitates the exchange of fresh viewpoints and thoughts on the same subject. While some dissertation writing services allow students to readily express their ideas on paper, others find it difficult or unpleasant to write these essays due to laziness or a lack of writing ability.

·    Improvement in Vocabulary

Writing promotes vocabulary and gives insight into reading and writing processes. Additionally, you will have a thorough understanding of grammar and how to use it in your compositions. Therefore, after being aware of the methods used by an essay writing service, a person will likewise be able to bend and break the laws.

·    Boosting the Imagination

By thinking beyond the box while writing, a person can engage and enhance their creativity. Becoming more adept at identifying alternatives and solutions to challenges, also aids in igniting his imagination.

Eligibility Criteria for Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

It’s a common misconception that you don’t need a degree in creative writing to be a writer, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. For those who are passionate about writing, a creative writing degree is a blessing—not because of the worth of the degree once you’ve earned it, but rather because of the lessons you acquire while doing the course.

A creative writing degree allows you three years to concentrate on your writing, refine your style, and explore the intricacies of this craft. It entails being exposed to a world of excellent reading, which will influence both your artistic vision and your complete worldview.

A creative writing degree is therefore worthwhile if you are serious about improving the caliber of your work. The courses, whether taken at the bachelor’s or master’s level, are meant to give students the necessary skills in their chosen specialty to prepare them for the industry’s high demand and rapid growth.

Higher secondary education, or 10+2, with humanities or the arts as the primary discipline, is required to enroll in a bachelor’s program in Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines. You must possess a bachelor’s degree in the relevant discipline to meet the normal requirements to enroll in master’s level courses at universities overseas. Your advantage will increase if you have a fine arts bachelor’s degree.

How to Improve Your Writing Skills

Many people find writing to be scary, especially those who don’t write often or for a living. The good news is that writing doesn’t have to be painful, and almost anyone can develop their writing skills with a little discipline and openness to learning. Here are four ways you may immediately start honing your writing abilities.

• Writing: Just like anything else, writing requires practice if you want to improve. Regular writing will help you build a distinct style and lessen your dread of the blank page if you want to improve your writing abilities. Therefore, keep writing even if no one reads it. A man becomes flawless through practice.
• Reading: The best writers are avid readers and reading regularly is a simple approach to start improving your writing abilities. Read more difficult material than you usually do, and pay close attention to the sentence structure, word choice, and overall flow of the writing.
• Research: Aside from copying someone else’s work, not doing your homework will quickly damage your credibility. Therefore, be sure to conduct enough study on your subject.
• Journaling: Keeping a journal is a good approach to increasing your sensitivity to your surroundings. Making it a daily habit to write about anything will help you improve your writing. It encourages gathering ideas and introspection, two skills that are essential for creative authors. Additionally, it will boost your self-assurance.

Job Opportunities After Doing Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines.

If you have a passion for creative writing, you’d probably want to pursue a career that would allow you to spend most of your time doing what you love, if not the entire day. There is a potential for an opportunity with every difficulty. For creative authors, there are several employment options available. Innovative writers can currently hold a variety of titles, including:

• Book writer (Author) – By telling a tale or exploring a subject of interest, one can become an author. Depending on the type of tale you want to tell for a specific audience, it could fall under the fiction or non-fiction category.
• Copywriters – Mainly in the field of marketing/advertising field. The job of a copywriter is to create content highlighting the feature of a particular product/ service in a compelling manner for the customer. These people are accountable for writing brochures, publicity letters, product catalogs, circulars,s, etc.
• Article writers – Article writers can write on the subjects of Fashion, food, travel, health, trade, entertainment, sports, education, politics, etc. are just a few of the topics. You can also choose to write for different newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. Publishing a book demands a lot of marketing efforts after you are done writing the book. You have the option of collaborating with a reputable publishing house or self-publishing the book.
• Scriptwriters – The content and tales for movies, plays, television shows, etc. are written by scriptwriters. They do extensive research and work hard to develop a narrative and a storyline for a certain theme or issue. Writing real, original, and well-crafted dialogue can be difficult for screenwriters.

Besides these options, a person can begin their own freelance creative writing portfolios or can choose to write for a newspaper or a digital media outlet. The quality of your work and the professionalism you bring to the table will play a major role in determining your level of success in this field.

Check here the other best courses in the Philippines:

• Content Writing Courses in the Philippines
• Digital Marketing Courses in the Philippines
• Technical Writing Courses in the Philippines

Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

1. iim skills.

IIM SKILLS is a reputable and expert training company for aspiring writers. Their Content Writing Course includes a module on creative writing, including 16 hours of lectures, 60 hours of practical assignments, and free tools worth INR 30,000/. IIM SKILLS also provides coaching on writing and then publishing your first book on Kindle.

• Course Duration

The course is a four-week program along with three months of internship.

The course is priced at 9,893.21   Philippine pesos.

IIM SKILLS students who have graduated from the institute and are leading meaningful lives give great praise to the program. If are looking for assistance to turn your writing into creativity that will create a whole new imaginative world for the reader, then IIM SKILLS  should be on your wish list

Phone: +91 9580 740 740

Email:  [email protected]

2. De La Salle University

On the list of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines, next, we have De La Salle University in Manila. A Master’s in creative writing is offered by the university. Instructions will be mostly by workshops, including weekend workshops off-campus. The students will have the chance to write their own creative works while participating in these workshops alongside skilled professionals.

Key Features

• The Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program at De La Salle University is aimed to assist students who are passionate about writing in enhancing their abilities and becoming successful writers.
• The students are exposed to the theoretical and practical aspects of writing, including the prospects and possibilities of publication and performance.
• Assessment of the learners’ own work under the mentorship of established writers through intensive examination.

Key Information

Duration: Full-time:  12 Months

Language: English

Delivered: On Campus

Disciplines

Creative writing

Tuition Fee: 2,484 Eur/year (3,930 Philippine Pesos)

Program Structure

Courses include:

• Fiction Writing Techniques
• Fiction Writing
• Poetry Writing Techniques
• Poetry Writing
• Playwriting Techniques
• Playwriting
• The Art of Literary Journalism
• Creative Non-fiction

3. University of Philippines, Diliman

Next, on the list of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines, we have the University of Philippines, Diliman. The University’s Department of English and Comparative Literature offers Graduate and Postgraduate programs in Creative Writing in various approaches and techniques in the writing of fiction, poetry, essay, and drama. Young writers’ skills are being honed in these courses by published and multi-award-winning authors who are experts in their field.

Course Checklist

• BA Creative Writing
• MA Creative Writing
• Ph.D. Creative Writing

Course Offerings (Undergraduate and Graduate)

• Introduction to Creative Writing: The workshop approach and the notion of genre in creative writing.
• Creative Writing and Criticism: creative writing-specific criticism theory and practice.
• Fiction I: The craft of fiction, specifically that of the contemporary short story, including an analysis of how its techniques have evolved.
• Fiction II: The emphasis of the student’s fiction writing is on his or her critical and creative range, which is demonstrated in their capacity to depict more complex themes and fictional forms, such as the short novel.
• Poetry I: The craft of poetry, especially modern poetry, as well as an analysis of how its techniques have developed.
• Poetry II: poetry writing with a focus on the student’s critical and creative abilities.
• Playwriting I: The techniques of writing for the stage; the one-act play and various dramatic genres.
• Playwriting II: The three-act play and other long-form dramatic genres.
• Essay: Development of advanced writing skills in several types of formal and informal essays.
• Criticism Workshop: Critical writing workshop covers both evaluations of the performing and visual arts.
• Fiction Workshop I: techniques for using fiction writing approaches, such as the short story, novelette, tale, and non-traditional forms.
• Poetry Workshop I: poetry writing techniques, such as non-conventional forms, oral poetry, and classic lyric and narrative genres.
• Playwriting Workshop I: techniques for using playwriting principles, such as writing for film, television, and radio.
• Playwriting Workshop II: Workshop on playwriting.
• Playwriting Workshop III: Workshop on playwriting.
• Essay Workshop: Essay writing workshops for formal and informal writing.
• Writing for Children Workshop: writing class for young readers.
• Non-fiction Narrative Workshop: Workshop on the nonfiction story.
• Special Problems: Special concerns with translation, creative writing, the arts, etc.
• Creative Writing Thesis: works of creativity or important literary translations.
• Fiction Workshop I: Workshop on the writing of short stories, novels, and special problems in the theory and practice of fiction.
• Poetry Workshop I: Workshop on the writing of lyric poetry, and narrative poetry.
• Doctoral Dissertation.

Duration for Graduation:   4 years

Duration for Masters:   2 years

Tuition Fees for B.A program :    P20,000-25,000 per Semester

Tuition Fees  for the M.A program:    P2,700-7,200 per Semester

For foreign students, Tuition Fee is usually higher.

• Creative Writing Courses in the UK
• Creative Writing Courses in Singapore
• Creative Writing Courses in Amsterdam
• Creative Writing Courses in Scotland
• Creative Writing Courses in Vancouver
• Creative Writing Courses in Wales

4. Ateneo de Manila University

Next, among the list of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines is Ateneo de Manila University which offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in creative writing.

The program aims to produce writers who are skilled in the craft of their chosen genre specialty (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama) while remaining conscious of literature’s place and influence in one’s life and society by combining these methods with the academic study of literary and critical texts, the creative process, and the pertinent contexts that influence literary production.

Peer-to-peer instruction in workshops and apprenticeships with more seasoned writers are both institutionalized.

Areas of Interest

• Creative Writing and Literature
• Genres of Writing
• Philippine Literature
• Theories of Writing
• The Novel and Other Book-length Works

Career Opportunities                                                                                              

Graduates of the BFA in Creative Writing are qualified to work as journalists, screenwriters, producers, and in the media and entertainment industries as well as in academia as language and literature instructors.

In addition to being practitioners of literature, these graduates are also qualified to work in the creative industries, public relations, advertising, and publishing as copywriters and content developers. Graduates are eligible to continue on to law school.

Duration: Four years

Tuition Fees:

80,000 – 90,000 Pesos per Semester

1,60,000- 1,80, 000 Pesos per year

5. Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Philippines

Next, on the list of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines is the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Philippines. Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing is offered by the Faculty of Arts and Letters- Department of Literature. It is a 4-year program that nurtures and guides student writers with emphasis on four major genres:

• Creative nonfiction, and

Students will receive instruction in specialized styles of writing, such as crafting tales for kids, teens, or even people of all ages. The planned goal of program learning for BA Creative Writing majors is the production of a creative writing thesis in the form of a book-length manuscript of a collection of plays, short tales, CNF works, or poetry.

  The Creative writing classes consist of both lecture sessions in which literary models will be analyzed, highlighting the effectiveness of their literary techniques and rhetorical strategies, and

• Workshop sessions, where the lecturer and the peers will critique the students’ creative writing draughts.
• The program also features a significant literary component that will introduce students to literary topics like Philippine literary history.

Duration: 4 years

Tuition Fee: 46,046 Pesos per Semester

Job Opportunities

• Academic and Commercial Publishing Houses
• Business Companies/International Agencies

6. Henry Harvin

Henry Harvin’s Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines empower writers to put their imagination in words using mesmerizing vocabulary. This practical creative writing course has been developed to motivate you about formulating your own endeavors of

• Creative non-fiction
• Poetry, and

Course Features

• 24 Hrs training (8 Hrs writing assignments and +16 Hrs of live sessions)
• Three months paid internship.
• Free access to creative writing tools worth INR20K.
• Regular boot camps spread out throughout the ensuing year.
• Get certification of certified creative writing course from Henry Harwin, Govt Of India Recognized and award-winning institute.
• 100% placement guarantee support for 1- year, post successful completion.
• Get 1-year Gold Membership of Henry Harwin writing academy to the certified creative writing course.

Who can enroll?

• Content Writers
• Digital Marketers
• Professors/ teachers/thinkers
• Housewives/ retired/unemployed individuals.
• Learning period: 24 Hrs
• Total program fee: INR 12,500/-

FAQs on Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

1. how much is the tuition fee for creative writing courses in the philippines.

The tuition fees for creative writing courses in the Philippines totally depend on the institute and the type of training they provide. The course curriculum and content covered and the duration are also the counting factors that affect the fees. You can visit the institute’s website to know about the exact fees.

2. What are the fundamental requirements to become a creative writer?

The prerequisite for being a creative writer is the desire to write and the drive to communicate with words. It is desirable to have critical reading and thinking skills to pursue this career. One should also have an interest in current events and a general thirst for knowledge.

3. How much does a creative writer earn in India?

The average salary for a creative writer is INR 3,60,000/- per annum.

Creative writing can be a lucrative and rewarding career path for those who want to pursue their creativity. Also, creative writing can be an extremely flexible career path. If you want to work as a freelance writer and are interested in exploring, you may choose your own hours, work from home, and select the subjects you want to write about. To enhance your creative writing skills, all you need is persistence and confidence. If you have the required expertise and viewpoint, following your creative instincts and writing can lead to a rewarding life.

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Ph.D. Creative Writing

Ph.d. in creative writing.

A rigorous program that combines creative writing and literary studies, the Ph.D. in Creative Writing prepares graduates for both scholarly and creative publication and teaching. With faculty guidance, students admitted to the Ph.D. program may tailor their programs to their goals and interests.

The creative writing faculty at KU has been widely published and anthologized, winning both critical and popular acclaim. Faculty awards include such distinctions as the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Osborn Award, Shelley Memorial Award, Gertrude Stein Award, the Kenyon Review Prize, the Kentucky Center Gold Medallion, and the Pushcart Prize.

Regarding admission to both our doctoral and MFA creative writing programs, we will prioritize applicants who are interested in engaging with multiple faculty members to practice writing across genres and forms, from speculative fiction and realism to poetry and playwriting/screenwriting, etc.

The University of Kansas' Graduate Program in Creative Writing also offers an  M.F.A degree .

Opportunities

A GTA appointment includes a tuition waiver for ten semesters plus a competitive stipend. In the first year, GTA appointees teach English 101 (first year composition) and English 102 (a required reading and writing course). Creative Writing Ph.D. students may have the opportunity to teach an introductory course in creative writing after passing the doctoral examination, and opportunities are available for a limited number of advanced GTAs to teach in the summer.

Department Resources

• Graduate Admissions
• Graduate Contacts
• Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

Affiliated Programs

• LandLocked Literary Magazine
• The Project on the History of Black Writing
• Center for the Study of Science Fiction
• Ad-Hoc African/Americanists and Affiliates

Degree Requirements

• At least 24 hours of credit in appropriate formal graduate courses beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. At least 15 hours (in addition to ENGL 800 if not taken for the M.A.) of this course work must be taken from among courses offered by the Department of English at the 700-level and above. English 997 and 999 credits cannot be included among the 24 hours. Students may petition to take up to 6 hours outside the Department.
• ENGL 800: Methods, Theory, and Professionalism (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
• The ENGL 801/ENGL 802 pedagogy sequence (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
• Two seminars (courses numbered 900 or above) offered by the Department of English at the University of Kansas, beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. ENGL 998 does not fulfill this requirement.
• ENGL 999, Dissertation (at least 12 hours).

If the M.A. or M.F.A. was completed in KU’s Department of English, a doctoral student may petition the DGS to have up to 12 hours of the coursework taken in the English Department reduced toward the Ph.D.

For Doctoral students,  the university requires completion of a course in responsible scholarship . For the English department, this would be ENGL 800, 780, or the equivalent). In addition, the Department requires reading knowledge of one approved foreign language: Old English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. Upon successful petition, a candidate may substitute reading knowledge of another language or research skill that is studied at the University or is demonstrably appropriate to the candidate’s program of study.

Doctoral students must fulfill the requirement  before  they take their doctoral examination, or be enrolled in a reading course the same semester as the exam. Students are permitted three attempts at passing each foreign language or research skill. Three methods of demonstrating reading knowledge for all approved languages except Old English are acceptable:

• Presenting 16 hours, four semesters, or the equivalent of undergraduate credit, earned with an average of C or better.
• Passing a graduate reading course at the University of Kansas or peer institution (e.g., French 100, German 100, etc.) with a grade of C or higher. In the past, some of these reading courses have been given by correspondence; check with the Division of Continuing Education for availability.
• Passing a translation examination given by a designated member of the English Department faculty or by the appropriate foreign language department at KU. The exam is graded pass/fail and requires the student to translate as much as possible of a representative text in the foreign language in a one-hour period, using a bilingual dictionary.
• Passing a translation examination given by the appropriate foreign language department at the M.A.-granting institution. Successful completion must be reflected either on the M.A. transcript or by a letter from the degree-granting department.

To fulfill the language requirement using Old English, students must successfully complete ENGL 710 (Introduction to Old English) and ENGL 712 (Beowulf).

Post-Coursework Ph.D. students must submit, with their committee chair(s), an annual review form to the DGS and Graduate Committee.

Doctoral students must take their doctoral examination within three semesters (excluding summers) of the end of the semester in which they took their final required course. If a student has an Incomplete, the timeline is not postponed until the Incomplete is resolved. For example, a student completing doctoral course work in Spring 2018 will need to schedule their doctoral exam no later than the end of Fall semester 2019. Delays may be granted by petition to the Graduate Director in highly unusual circumstances. Failure to take the exam within this time limit without an approved delay will result in the student’s falling out of good standing. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

A student may not take their doctoral exam until the university’s Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship requirement is fulfilled (ENGL 800 or equivalent and reading knowledge of one foreign language or equivalent).

Requirements for Doctoral Exams

Reading Lists: 

All students are required to submit three reading lists, based on the requirements below, to their committee for approval. The doctoral exam will be held on a date at least twelve weeks after the approval from the whole committee is received. To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate program coordinator on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy. Students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule the exam at the same time as they finalize the lists.

During the two-hour oral examination (plus an additional 15-30 minutes for a break and committee deliberation), a student will be tested on their comprehension of a literary period or movement, including multiple genres and groups of authors within that period or movement. In addition, the student will be tested on two of the following six areas of study:

• An adjacent or parallel literary period or movement,
• An author or group of related authors,
• Criticism and literary theory,
• Composition theory, and
• English language.

No title from any field list may appear on either of the other two lists. See Best Practices section for more details on these six areas. See below for a description of the Review of the Dissertation Proposal (RDP), which the candidate takes the semester after passing the doctoral exam. 

While many students confer with the DGS as they begin the process of developing their lists, they are also required to submit a copy of their final exam list to the DGS. Most lists will be left intact, but the DGS might request that overly long lists be condensed, or extremely short lists be expanded.

Review of Literature

The purpose of the Review of Literature is to develop and demonstrate an advanced awareness of the critical landscape for each list. The student will write an overview of the defining attributes of the field, identifying two or three broad questions that animate scholarly discussion, while using specific noteworthy texts from their list ( but not all texts on the list ) as examples.

The review also must accomplish the following:

• consider the historical context of major issues, debates, and trends that factor into the emergence of the field
• offer a historical overview of scholarship in the field that connects the present to the past
• note recent trends and emergent lines of inquiry
• propose questions about (develop critiques of, and/or identify gaps in) the field and how they might be pursued in future study (but not actually proposing or referencing a dissertation project)

For example, for a literary period, the student might include an overview of primary formal and thematic elements, of the relationship between literary and social/historical developments, of prominent movements, (etc.), as well as of recent critical debates and topics.

For a genre list, the Review of Literature might include major theories of its constitution and significance, while outlining the evolution of these theories over time.

For a Rhetoric and Composition list, the review would give an overview of major historical developments, research, theories, methods, debates, and trends of scholarship in the field.

For an English Language Studies (ELS) list, the review would give an overview of the subfields that make up ELS, the various methodological approaches to language study, the type of sources used, and major aims and goals of ELS. The review also usually involves a focus on one subfield of particular interest to the student (such as stylistics, sociolinguistics, or World/Postcolonial Englishes).

Students are encouraged to divide reviews into smaller sections that enhance clarity and organization. Students are not expected to interact with every text on their lists.

The review of literature might be used to prepare students for identifying the most important texts in the field, along with why those texts are important to the field, for the oral exam. It is recommended for students to have completed reading the bulk of (if not all) texts on their lists before writing the ROL.

The Reviews of Literature will not be produced in an exam context, but in the manner of papers that are researched and developed in consultation with all advisors/committee members,  with final drafts being distributed within a reasonable time for all members to review and approve in advance of the 3-week deadline . While the Review of Literature generally is not the focus of the oral examination, it is frequently used as a point of departure for questions and discussion during the oral examination.

Doctoral Exam Committee

Exam committees typically consist of 3 faculty members from the department—one of whom serves as the Committee Chair—plus a Graduate Studies Representative.  University policy dictates the composition of exam committees . Students may petition for an exception for several committee member situations, with the exception of  the Graduate Studies Representative .

If a student wants to have as a committee member a person outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and Graduate Studies. Requests for exam/defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status

Remote participation of committee members via technology

Students with committee members who plan to attend the defense via remote technology must be aware of  college policy on teleconferencing/remote participation of committee members .

A majority of committee members must be physically present for an examination to commence; for doctoral oral examinations this requirement is 2 of the 4 members, for master’s oral examinations the requirement is 2 of the 3 members. In addition, it is required that the student being examined, the chair of the committee, and the Graduate Studies Representative all be physically present at the examination or defense. Mediated attendance by the student, chair and Grad Studies Rep is prohibited.

The recommended time between completion of coursework and the doctoral examination is two semesters.

Final exam lists need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 12 weeks prior to the prospective exam date. This includes summers/summer semesters. The lists should then be submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Reviews of Literature need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 3 weeks prior to the exam date. Failure to meet this deadline will result in rescheduling the exam. No further changes to lists or Reviews of Literature will be allowed after official approval. The three-week deadline is the faculty deadline--the last date for them to confirm receipt of the ROLs and confer approval--not necessarily the student deadline for submitting the documents to the faculty. Please keep that timing in mind and allow your committee adequate time to review the materials and provide feedback.

Students taking the Doctoral Exam are allowed to bring their text lists, the approved Reviews of Literature, scratch paper, a writing utensil, and notes/writing for an approximately 5-minute introductory statement to the exam. (This statement does not need to lay out ideas or any aspect of the dissertation project.)

Each portion of the oral examination must be deemed passing before the student can proceed to the Review of the Dissertation Proposal. If a majority of the committee judges that the student has not answered adequately on one of the three areas of the exam, the student must repeat that portion in a separate oral exam of one hour, to be taken as expeditiously as possible.  Failure in two areas constitutes failure of the exam and requires a retake of the whole.  The doctoral examining committee will render a judgment of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory on the entire examination. A student who fails the exam twice may, upon successful petition to the Graduate Committee, take it a third and final time.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the exam. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The doctoral oral examination has the following purposes:

• To establish goals, tone, and direction for the pursuit of the Ph.D. in English for the Department and for individual programs of study;
• To make clear the kinds of knowledge and skills that, in the opinion of the Department, all well-prepared holders of the degree should have attained;
• To provide a means for the Department to assess each candidate’s control of such knowledge and skills in order to certify that the candidate is prepared to write a significant dissertation and enter the profession; and
• To enable the Department to recommend to the candidate areas of strength or weakness that should be addressed.

In consultation with the Graduate Director, a student will ask a member of the Department’s graduate faculty (preferably their advisor) to be the chairperson of the examining committee. The choice of examination committee chair is very important, for that person’s role is to assist the candidate in designing the examination structure, preparing the Review of Literature (see below), negotiating reading lists and clarifying their purposes, and generally following procedures here outlined. The other three English Department members of the committee will be chosen in consultation with the committee chair. (At some point an additional examiner from outside the Department, who serves as the Graduate School representative, will be invited to join the committee). Any unresolved problems in negotiation between a candidate and their committee should be brought to the attention of the Graduate Director, who may choose to involve the Graduate Committee. A student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the examining committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

Reading Lists

Copies of some approved reading lists and Reviews of Literature are available from the Graduate Secretary and can be found on the U: drive if you are using a computer on campus. Despite the goal of fairness and equity, some unavoidable unevenness and disparity will appear in the length of these lists. It remains, however, the responsibility of the examining committee, and especially the student’s chair, to aim toward consonance with the most rigorous standards and expectations and to insure that areas of study are not unduly narrow.

To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate secretary on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists and reviews of literature. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy.

Comprehension of a literary period (e.g., British literature of the 18th century; Romanticism; US literature of the 19th century; Modernism) entails sufficient intellectual grasp of both the important primary works of and secondary works on the period or movement to indicate a student’s ability to teach the period or movement and undertake respectable scholarship on it.

Comprehension of an author or group of related authors (e.g., Donne, the Brontës, the Bloomsbury Group, the Black Mountain Poets) entails knowledge, both primary and secondary, of a figure or figures whose writing has generated a significant body of interrelated biographical, historical, and critical scholarship.

Comprehension of one of several genres (the short story, the lyric poem, the epistolary novel). To demonstrate comprehension of a genre, a student should possess sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge, both primary and secondary, of the genre to explain its formal characteristics and account for its historical development.

Comprehension of criticism and literary theory entails a grasp of fundamental conceptual problems inherent in a major school of literary study (e.g., historicist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist, etc.). To demonstrate comprehension of that school of criticism and literary theory, a student should be able to discuss changes in its conventions and standards of interpretation and evaluation of literature from its beginning to the present. Students will be expected to possess sufficient depth and breadth of theoretical knowledge to bring appropriate texts and issues to bear on questions of literary study.

Comprehension of composition theory entails an intellectual grasp of fundamental concepts, issues, and theories pertaining to the study of writing. To demonstrate comprehension of composition theory, students should be able to discuss traditional and current issues from a variety of perspectives, as well as the field’s historical development from classical rhetoric to the present.

Comprehension of the broad field of English language studies entails a grasp of the field’s theoretical concepts and current issues, as well as a familiarity with significant works within given subareas. Such subareas will normally involve formal structures (syntax, etc.) and history of the English language, along with other subareas such as social linguistics, discourse analysis, lexicography, etc. Areas of emphasis and specific sets of topics will be arranged through consultation with relevant faculty.

Ph.D. candidates must be continuously enrolled in Dissertation hours each Fall and Spring semester from the time they pass the doctoral examination until successful completion of the final oral examination (defense of dissertation).

• Students enroll for a minimum of 6 hours each Fall and Spring semester until the total of post-doctoral exam Dissertation hours is 18. One hour each semester must be ENGL 999. In order to more quickly reach the 18-hour minimum, and to be sooner eligible for GRAships, it is highly recommended that students enroll in 9 hours of Dissertation in the Spring and Fall semesters. 
• Once a student has accumulated 18 post-doctoral exam  hours, each subsequent enrollment will be for a number of hours agreed upon as appropriate between the student and their advisor, the minimal enrollment each semester being 1 hour of ENGL 999.
• A student must be enrolled in at least one hour of credit at KU during the semester they graduate. Although doctoral students must be enrolled in ENGL 999 while working on their dissertations, per current CLAS regulations, there is no absolute minimum number of ENGL 999 hours required for graduation.
• Students who live and work outside the Lawrence area may, under current University regulations, have their fees assessed at the Field Work rate, which is somewhat lower than the on-campus rate. Students must petition the College Office of Graduate Affairs before campus fees will be waived.

Please also refer to  the COGA policy on post-exam enrollment  or the  Graduate School’s policy .

As soon as possible following successful completion of the doctoral exam, the candidate should establish their three-person core dissertation committee, and then expeditiously proceed to the preparation of a dissertation proposal.  Within the semester following completion of the doctoral exam , the student will present to their core dissertation committee a written narrative of approximately  10-15 pages , not including bibliography, of the dissertation proposal. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to take the review , students will work with their committee chair and the graduate program coordinator to schedule the 90-minute RDP. Copies of this proposal must be submitted to the members of the dissertation committee and Graduate Program Coordinator no later than  three weeks prior  to the scheduled examination date.

In the proposal, students will be expected to define: the guiding question or set of questions; a basic thesis (or hypothesis); how the works to be studied or the creative writing produced relate to that (hypo)thesis; the theoretical/methodological model to be followed; the overall formal divisions of the dissertation; and how the study will be situated in the context of prior scholarship (i.e., its importance to the field). The narrative section should be followed by a bibliography demonstrating that the candidate is conversant with the basic theoretical and critical works pertinent to the study. For creative writing students, the proposal may serve as a draft of the critical introduction to the creative dissertation. Students are expected to consult with their projected dissertation committee concerning the preparation of the proposal.

The review will focus on the proposal, although it could also entail determining whether or not the candidate’s knowledge of the field is adequate to begin the composition process. The examination will be graded pass/fail. If it is failed, the committee will suggest areas of weakness to be addressed by the candidate, who will rewrite the proposal and retake the review  by the end of the following semester . If the candidate abandons the entire dissertation project for another, a new RDP will be taken. (For such a step to be taken, the change would need to be drastic, such as a move to a new field or topic. A change in thesis or the addition or subtraction of one or even several works to be examined would not necessitate a new proposal and defense.)  If the student fails to complete the Review of the Dissertation Proposal within a year of the completion of the doctoral exams, they will have fallen out of departmental good standing.  For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

After passing the Review of the Dissertation Proposal, the student should forward one signed copy of the proposal to the Graduate Program Coordinator. The RDP may last no longer than 90 minutes.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the review. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The Graduate Catalog states that the doctoral candidate “must present a dissertation showing the planning, conduct and results of original research, and scholarly creativity.” While most Ph.D. candidates in the Department of English write dissertations of a traditional, research-oriented nature, a creative writing candidate may elect to do a creative-writing dissertation involving fiction, poetry, drama or nonfiction prose.  Such a dissertation must also contain a substantial section of scholarly research related to the creative writing.  The precise nature of the scholarly research component should be determined by the candidate in consultation with the dissertation committee and the Graduate Director. Candidates wishing to undertake such a dissertation must complete all Departmental requirements demanded for the research-oriented Ph.D. degree.

Scholarly Research Component (SRC)

The Scholarly Research Component (SRC) of the creative-writing dissertation is a separate section of the dissertation than the creative work. It involves substantial research and is written in the style of academic prose. It should be 15-20 pages and should cite at least 20 sources, some of which should be primary texts, and many of which should be from the peer-reviewed secondary literature. The topic must relate, in some way, to the topic, themes, ideas, or style of the creative portion of the dissertation; this relation should be stated in the Dissertation Proposal, which should include a section describing the student’s plans for the SRC. The SRC may be based on a seminar paper or other work the student has completed prior to the dissertation; but the research should be augmented, and the writing revised, per these guidelines. The SRC is a part of the dissertation, and as such will be included in the dissertation defense.

The SRC may take two general forms:

1.) An article, publishable in a peer-reviewed journal or collection, on a specific topic related to an author, movement, theoretical issue, taxonomic issue, etc. that has bearing on the creative portion. The quality of this article should be high enough that the manuscript could be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication, with a plausible chance of acceptance.

2.) A survey . This survey may take several different forms:

• A survey of a particular aspect of the genre of the creative portion of the dissertation (stylistic, national, historical, etc.)
• An introduction to the creative portion of the dissertation that explores the influences on, and the theoretical or philosophical foundations or implications of the creative work
• An exploration of a particular technical problem or craft issue that is salient in the creative portion of the dissertation
• If the creative portion of the dissertation includes the results of research (e.g., historical novel, documentary poetry, research-based creative nonfiction), a descriptive overview of the research undertaken already for the dissertation itself
• A combination of the above, with the prior approval of the student’s dissertation director.

The dissertation committee will consist of at least four members—two “core” English faculty members, a third faculty member (usually from English), and one faculty member from a different department who serves as the Graduate Studies representative. The committee may include (with the Graduate Director’s approval) members from other departments and, with the approval of the University’s Graduate Council, members from outside the University. If a student wants to have a committee member from outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and the Office of Graduate Studies. Requests for defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status.

The candidate’s preferences as to the membership of the dissertation committee will be carefully considered; the final decision, however, rests with the Department and with the Office of Graduate Studies. All dissertation committees must get approval from the Director of Graduate Studies before scheduling the final oral exam (defense). Furthermore, any changes in the make-up of the dissertation committee from the Review of the Dissertation Proposal committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Once the dissertation proposal has passed and the writing of the dissertation begins, membership of the dissertation committee should remain constant. However, under extraordinary circumstances, a student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the dissertation committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

If a student does not make progress during the dissertation-writing stage, and accumulates more than one “Limited Progress” and/or “No Progress” grade on their transcript, they will fall out of good standing in the department. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices

Final Oral Exam (Dissertation Defense)

When the dissertation has been tentatively accepted by the dissertation committee (not including the Graduate Studies Representative), the final oral examination will be held, on the recommendation of the Department. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to defend the dissertation, students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule it.

Although the dissertation committee is responsible for certification of the candidate, any member of the graduate faculty may be present at the examination and participate in the questioning, and one examiner—the Graduate Studies Representative—must be from outside the Department. The Graduate Secretary can help students locate an appropriate Grad Studies Rep. The examination normally lasts no more than two hours. It is the obligation of the candidate to advise the Graduate Director that they plan to take the oral examination; this must be done at least one month before the date proposed for the examination.

At least three calendar weeks prior to the defense date, the student will submit the final draft of the dissertation to all the committee members (including the GSR) and inform the Graduate Program Coordinator. Failure to meet this deadline will necessitate rescheduling the defense.  The final oral examination for the Ph.D. in English is, essentially, a defense of the dissertation. When it is passed, the dissertation itself is graded by the dissertation director, in consultation with the student’s committee; the student’s performance in the final examination (defense) is graded by the entire five-person committee

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the defense. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student defenses but not others

These sets of attributes are adapted from the Graduate Learner Outcomes that are a part of our Assessment portfolio. “Honors” should only be given to dissertations that are rated “Outstanding” in all or most of the following categories:

• Significant and innovative plot/structure/idea/focus. The writer clearly places plot/structure/idea/focus in context.
• Thorough knowledge of literary traditions. Clear/flexible vision of the creative work produced in relation to those literary traditions.
• Introduction/Afterword is clear, concise, and insightful. A detailed discussion of the implications of the project and future writing projects exists.
• The creative dissertation reveals the doctoral candidate’s comprehensive understanding of poetics and/or aesthetic approach. The application of the aesthetic approach is innovative and convincing.
• The creative dissertation represents original and sophisticated creative work.
• The creative dissertation demonstrates thematic and/or aesthetic unity.

After much discussion about whether the “honors” designation assigned after the dissertation defense should be for the written product only, for the defense/discussion only, for both together, weighted equally, or eradicated altogether, the department voted to accept the Graduate Committee recommendation that “honors” only apply to the written dissertation. "Honors" will be given to dissertations that are rated "Outstanding" in all or most of the categories on the dissertation rubric.

Normally, the dissertation will present the results of the writer’s own research, carried on under the direction of the dissertation committee. This means that the candidate should be in regular contact with all members of the committee during the dissertation research and writing process, providing multiple drafts of chapters, or sections of chapters, according to the arrangements made between the student and each faculty member. Though accepted primarily for its scholarly merit rather than for its rhetorical qualities, the dissertation must be stylistically competent. The Department has accepted the MLA Handbook as the authority in matters of style. The writer may wish to consult also  the Chicago Manual of Style  and Kate L. Turabian’s  A Manual for Writers of Dissertations, Theses, and Term Papers .

Naturally, both the student and the dissertation committee have responsibilities and obligations to each other concerning the submitting and returning of materials. The student should plan on working steadily on the dissertation; if they do so, they should expect from the dissertation committee a reasonably quick reading and assessment of material submitted.

Students preparing their dissertation should be showing chapters to their committee members as they go along, for feedback and revision suggestions. They should also meet periodically with committee members to assess their progress. Prior to scheduling a defense, the student is encouraged to ask committee members whether they feel that the student is ready to defend the dissertation. Ideally, the student should hold the defense only when they have consulted with committee members sufficiently to feel confident that they have revised the dissertation successfully to meet the expectations of all committee members.

Students should expect that they will need to revise each chapter at least once. This means that all chapters (including introduction and conclusion) are shown to committee members once, revised, then shown to committee members again in revised form to assess whether further revisions are needed, prior to the submitting of the final dissertation as a whole. It is not unusual for further revisions to be required and necessary after the second draft of a chapter; students should not therefore simply assume that a second draft is necessarily “final” and passing work.

If a substantial amount of work still needs to be completed or revised at the point that the dissertation defense is scheduled, such a defense date should be regarded as tentative, pending the successful completion, revision, and receipt of feedback on all work. Several weeks prior to the defense, students should consult closely with their dissertation director and committee members about whether the dissertation as a whole is in a final and defensible stage. A project is ready for defense when it is coherent, cohesive, well researched, engages in sophisticated analysis (in its entirety or in the critical introduction of creative dissertations), and makes a significant contribution to the field. In other words, it passes each of the categories laid out in the Dissertation Rubric.

If the dissertation has not clearly reached a final stage, the student and dissertation director are advised to reschedule the defense.

Prior Publication of the Doctoral Dissertation

Portions of the material written by the doctoral candidate may appear in article form before completion of the dissertation. Prior publication does not ensure the acceptance of the dissertation by the dissertation committee. Final acceptance of the dissertation is subject to the approval of the dissertation committee. Previously published material by other authors included in the dissertation must be properly documented.

Each student beyond the master’s degree should confer regularly with the Graduate Director regarding their progress toward the doctoral examination and the doctorate.

Doctoral students may take graduate courses outside the English Department if, in their opinion and that of the Graduate Director, acting on behalf of the Graduate Committee, those courses will be of value to them. Their taking such courses will not, of course, absolve them of the responsibility for meeting all the normal departmental and Graduate School requirements.

Doctoral students in creative writing are strongly encouraged to take formal literature classes in addition to forms classes. Formal literature classes, by providing training in literary analysis, theory, and/or literary history, will help to prepare students for doctoral exams (and future teaching at the college level).

FALL SEMESTER            

• GTAs take 2 courses (801 + one), teach 2 courses; GRAs take 3 courses.
• Visit assigned advisor once a month to update on progress & perceptions. 1st-year advisors can assist with selecting classes for the Spring semester, solidifying and articulating a field of specialization, advice about publishing, conferences, professionalization issues, etc.

SPRING SEMESTER

• GTAs take 2 courses (780/800/880 + one), teach 2 courses. GTAs also take ENGL 802 for 1 credit hour. GRAs take 3 courses.
• Visit assigned advisor or DGS once during the semester; discuss best advisor choices for Year 2.

SUMMER SEMESTER

• Enroll in Summer Institute if topic and/or methodology matches interests.
• Consider conferences suited to your field and schedule; choose a local one for attendance in Year 2 and draft an Abstract for a conference paper (preferably with ideas/materials/ writing drawn from a seminar paper).  Even if abstract is not accepted, you can attend the conference without the pressure of presenting.
• Attend at least one conference to familiarize yourself with procedure, network with other grad students and scholars in your field, AND/OR present a paper.

FALL SEMESTER

• Take 2 courses, teach 2 courses.
• Visit advisor in person at least once during the semester.

WINTER BREAK

• Begin revising one of your seminar papers/independent study projects/creative pieces for submission to a journal; research the journals most suited to placement of your piece.
• Begin thinking about fields and texts for comprehensive examinations.
• Choose an advisor to supervise you through the doctoral examination process.
• Visit assigned 1st-year advisor in person at least once during the semester (at least to formally request doctoral exam supervision OR to notify that you are changing advisors).
• Summer teaching, if eligible.
• Continue revising paper/creative writing for submission to a journal.
• Begin reading for comprehensive exams.
• Attend one conference and present a paper. Apply for one-time funding for out-of-state travel  from Graduate Studies .
• Teach 2 courses; take 997 (exam prep).
• Finalize comps list by end of September; begin drafting rationales.
• Circulate the draft of your article/creative piece to your advisor, other faculty in the field, and/or advanced grad students in the field for suggestions.
• Revise article/creative piece with feedback from readers.
• Teach 2 courses; take 997 or 999 (dissertation hours). Enroll in 999 if you plan to take your comps this semester, even if you don’t take them until the last day of classes.
• Take comps sometime between January and May.
• Summer teaching, if available.
• Submit article/creative work for publication.
• Continuous enrollment after completing doctoral exam (full policy on p. 20)
• Research deadlines for grant applications—note deadlines come early in the year.
• Attend one conference and present a paper.
• Teach 2 courses, take 999.
• Compose dissertation proposal by November.
• Schedule Review of Dissertation Proposal (RDP—formerly DPR).
• Apply for at least one grant or fellowship, such as a departmental-level GRAship or dissertation fellowship. (Winning a full-year, non-teaching fellowship can cut down your years-to-degree to 5 ½, or even 5 years.)
• Conduct research for and draft at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Conduct research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Revise & resubmit journal article, if necessary.
• Attend 1st round of job market meetings with Job Placement Advisor (JPA) to start drafting materials and thinking about the process.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter, if teaching (1-2 chapters if not).
• Visit dissertation chair  and  committee members in person at least once during the semester.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 chapters if not teaching).
• Apply for a departmental grant or fellowship, or, if already held, try applying for one from outside the department, such as those offered by KU’s Hall Center for the Humanities or the Office of Graduate Studies. For  a monthly list of funding opportunities , visit the Graduate Studies website.
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
• Attend job market meetings with JPA in earnest.
• Apply for external grants, research fellowships, postdoctoral positions with fall deadlines (previous fellowship applications, your dissertation proposal, and subsequent writing should provide a frame so that much of the application can be filled out with the “cut & paste” function).
• Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 if not teaching).
• Visit dissertation chair and committee members in person at least once during the semester.
• Polish dissertation chapters.
• Apply for grants and fellowships with spring deadlines.
• Defend dissertation.

Creative Writing Faculty

• Associate Professor

• Professor of English & Environmental Studies

• Assistant Professor

Graduate Student Handbook

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Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies

The UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) is a unit dedicated to furthering UST’s role in the development of a national literature through programs, projects and activities that will both nurture literary writers and literary scholars in the Thomasian Community, and encourage their interaction with other writers and artists in the country.

Services offered

The CCWLS serves the Thomasian community and the larger literary community through its various programs, projects and activities.

Administrators and Staff

CRISTINA PANTOJA-HIDALGO, PhD Director

Fictionist, non-fictionist, critic, scholar, author of more than 35 books, editor of many others

Winner, Gawad Francisco Balagtas for Fiction (UMPIL), the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel; and several National Book Awards

AUGUSTO ANTONIO A. AGUILA, PhD Co-Director

Author:  The Heart of Need and Other Stories; Carnival of Hate and Other Stories; short stories and literary essays in  Fastfood Fiction 2, Esquire Magazine, Philippiniana Sacra,  and  Leap Plus Magazine

RALPH S. GALAN Assistant Director

Poet, critic, translator, editor

Author:  The Southern Cross and Other Poems; Discernments: Literary Essays, Cultural Critiques, and Book Reviews; From the Major Arcana;  Sa Pagitan ng Buhay at Iba Pang Salin ; et al.

Winner of several national literary awards for poetry

AUGUSTO ANTONIO A. AGUILA, PhD Resident Fellow

MA. AILIL B. ALVAREZ   Resident Fellow

Poet, essayist, critic

Author:  Uncertainties: An Amateur Scholar’s Forays into Criticism; essays in anthologies like  Kritik/Critique ; papers presented in national and international conferences

JOYCE L. ARRIOLA, PhD Resident Fellow

Vision & Mission

The UST Center for Creative Writing and Studies ground was established in the First Semester of 1999, with Dr. Ophelia A. Dimalanta as Director, and with offices at the ground floor of St. Raymond’s Building. She subsequently recommended the appointment of the following:

Joselito B. Zulueta – Deputy Director

Erlita Mendoza – Administrative Secretary

Ferdinand B. Lopez – Program Officer

Francisco Sionil Jose – Senior Associate

Cirilo Bautista – Senior Associate

Rebecca Añonuevo – Junior Associate

Mike Coroza – Junior Associate

Ramil Gulle – Junior Associate

Ralph Galan – Junior Associate

The Director reported directly both to the Rector and the Secretary General. From then till 2004, the above-mentioned officers, under Dr. Dimalanta’s leadership conducted annual writers’ workshops, edited the bi-annual literary journal  T o mas,  held literary forums, and other literary activities.

In 2005, the CCWS was placed under the Office for Research and Development, and the positions of “Senior Associate” and “Junior Associate” were changed to “Senior Consultant-Researcher” and “Junior Associate Researcher,” but its activities remained basically the same.

In the summer of 2008, the CCWS ceased to be operational, and Dr. Dimalanta was named UST Writer-in-Residence.

On June 15, 2012, the new Rector, Rev. Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy,O.P., appointed Dr. Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo Director of the UST Center for Creative Writing, and approved the changing of  its name to The UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies.

The CCWLS’s specific mission is the nurturing of literary writers and literary scholars, who through their work, will contribute to the development of Philippine literature.

The UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) is an integral part of the University of Santo Tomas, and committed to furthering the   University’s objectives as a globally recognized Catholic institution of higher learning. The CCWLS envisions itself as a center dedicated to the reaffirmation of the university’s important role in the nation’s literary history through the creation of a culture of literary excellence within the Thomasian community, and through the cultivation of an awareness of the University’s rich literary traditions.

The CCWLS’s long-term objective is the restoration of the literary pre-eminence enjoyed by the University in the ‘50s and the ‘60s through the following:

• the development of a faculty tradition of excellence in creative writing and literary studies;
• the strengthening of the creative writing and the literature academic programs to attract more writers and literary scholars;
• the establishment of linkages with other creative writing centers or institutes in the country and writers’ organizations abroad;
• the collaboration with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) to interest literary agents in representing Philippine authors, in particular UST-based authors, so that they might be published abroad.
• to serve as a hub for literary activities which will draw other writers (including non-Thomasians) to the CCWL;
• to take an active role in the revitalization of the M.A. Creative Writing Program and in the establishment of a B.A. Creative Writing Program;
• to open the annual creative writing workshop and the journal  Tomas  to non-Thomasian writers, both established and emerging, in order to further enrich the University’s literary culture.
• to reorganize the CCWLS by identifying writers among the full-time faculty members who may serve as Resident Fellows and part-time faculty members who may serve as Associates; and to formalize the criteria for the selection of such writers and the bases for their reappointment;
• to organize the new offices identified by the Office of the Rector for the use of the CCWLS in such a way that they will serve not just as a work place for the CCWLS’ Resident Fellows and Associates, but as a convenient and pleasant meeting place for other UST writers, including student writers;
• to put in place programs, projects and activities that will harness the talents of  Thomasian writers among faculty, students and alumni as part of the effort to turn the CCWLS  into a literary hub.
• to mount a campaign among groups of students identified as possibly being interested in becoming creative writers (e.g., Literature majors, Journalism majors) in order to create an awareness of the CCWLS and its activities and the University’s Creative Writing programs;
• to collaborate with student groups or faculty organizations interested in improving their creative writing skills through the holding of short on-campus workshops and/or lectures;
• to enter into joint projects or activities with colleges or student organizations involved in the arts;
• to collaborate closely with the UST Publishing House in the development of creative writing works and works of literary scholarship for publication;
• to create an online presence through a CCWLS website and a CCWLS Facebook account, to be maintained by one of the CCWLS fellows or associates;
• to mount a media campaign (including through social network sites) that will publicize the   revitalization of the Center and create interest in its activities;
• to attend/participate in literary activities sponsored by creative writing centers or creative writing institutes in other universities (e.g. Likhaan: the UP Institute of Creative Writing, the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center of De La Salle University, the Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Insitute of Silliman University); and to initiate collaborative projects and activities with them;
• to turn the literary journal  Tomas  initially into a peer-reviewed journal, and eventually  into an ISI journal.

Programs/Projects/Activities

1. The Annual Summer Writers’ Workshop

Although the reorganization of the CCWLS had not yet been formalized, a team formed by myself with the approval of the Dean of Faculty of Arts & Letters held a UST Writers’ Workshop in the summer 0f 2012, with his college as sponsor. It was convened by myself and coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Ralph Galan. The teaching panel was composed of members of the UST faculty whose works have been published as books or produced on stage or for the movies, namely: Asst. Prof. Eros Atalia, Assoc. Prof.  Nerisa Guevara, Mr. Lito Zulueta, and Mr. Joselito de los Reyes.

2.  The Literary Journal Tomas

After the blessing of the new offices on January 22, 2013, the first issue of the revived literary journal  Tomas  (with myself as editor-in-chief and Assoc. Prof. Ralph Galan as managing editor) was launched January 22. In keeping with the policy of prioritizing the nurturing of Thomasian writers, only contributions by Thomasian writers (faculty, alumni, graduate students) were solicited.

3.  “USTINGAN”

This program consists of informal forums or round table discussions designed to put Thomasian writers and other members of the Thomasian   community in contact with writers from outside the University.

4. Brushes with Words and Chords

This collaborative production, begun by the old CCWS, used to bring together writers, musicians and visual artists.

5. Book  Launchings

The CCWLS collaborated with the UST Publishing House to organize a book signing for  Stella and Other Friendly Ghosts  by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo (UST, 2012) at the Philippine International Book Fair on September 15, 2012.

The CCWLS also collaborated with Philippine PEN and the  Varsitarian  to launch  Poems and Pictures  by SEA Write Awardee Marne Kilates (UST, 2012) on September 29, 2012. This event was coordinated by Mr. Joselito Zulueta.

6. Seminars for Graduating Literature and Journalism Majors

The CCWLS plans to design a seminar for this purpose, but to include the graduating Journalism majors as well, and to involve other writers in the faculty, like Dr. Rebecca Añonuevo, Dr. Michael Corroza, and Dr. Augusto Aguila. The seminar will be held annually, during the Second Semester.

7.  Outreach

This is a continuation of a program begun by the old CCWS, involving sending resident fellows to serve as panelists at the PAMIYABE Creative Writing Workshop of Holy Angels University in Angeles City, Pampanga.

National Symposium on Translation  

The CCWLS, in collaboration with LIRA plans to hold a national symposium on literary translation in September 2013. Plans are yet to be finalized

1.  Lectures by Visiting Writers/Literary Scholars

The CCWLS collaborated with the Faculty of Arts & Letters, the Third Year AB Literature Class and   Varsitarian in hosting Fil-Am fictionist Sabina Murray, as part of the Filipino-American Writers and Scholars Lecture Series. This took place on February 18, 2013. 

2.       Coffee, Tea and We

The CCWLS plans to hold small, short literary during which one young UST writer and one young writer from another university will read from their work, and then participate in an informal exchange with members of invited UST classes or organizations. The exposure/exchange is expected to widen the literary horizons of both readers and audience.

Contact Information

Office address, telephone numbers.

• Ground floor, Benavides Building University of Santo Tomas España Boulevard, Sampaloc, Manila 1015, Philippines
• +63-2-3406-1611 local 8281
• +63-2-8786-1611 local 8281
• +63-2-8553-1611 local 8281
• +63-2-8880-1611 local 8281
• [email protected]

The University of Santo Tomas is one of the leading private research universities in the Philippines and is consistently ranked among the top 1000 universities in the whole world. With academic degrees and research thrusts in the natural, health, applied, social, and sacred sciences, as well as business and management, the University continuously strives to make a positive impact on the society.

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What to Know About Creative Writing Degrees

Many creative writing degree recipients pursue careers as authors while others work as copywriters or ghostwriters.

Tips on Creative Writing Degrees

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Prospective writing students should think about their goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Many people see something magical in a beautiful work of art, and artists of all kinds often take pride in their craftsmanship. Creative writers say they find fulfillment in the writing process.

"I believe that making art is a human need, and so to get to do that is amazing," says Andrea Lawlor, an author who this year received a Whiting Award – a national $50,000 prize that recognizes 10 excellent emerging authors each year – and who is also the Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

"We all are seeing more and more of the way that writing can help us understand perspectives we don't share," says Lawlor, whose recent novel "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl" addresses the issue of gender identity.

"Writing can help us cope with hard situations," Lawlor says. "We can find people who we have something in common with even if there's nobody around us who shares our experience through writing. It's a really powerful tool for connection and social change and understanding."

Creative writing faculty, many of whom are acclaimed published authors, say that people are well-suited toward degrees in creative writing if they are highly verbal and enjoy expressing themselves.

"Creative imaginative types who have stories burning inside them and who gravitate toward stories and language might want to pursue a degree in creative writing," Jessica Bane Robert, who teaches Introduction to Creative Writing at Clark University in Massachusetts, wrote in an email. "Through formal study you will hone your voice, gain confidence, find a support system for what can otherwise be a lonely endeavor."

Read the guide below to gain more insight into what it means to pursue a creative writing education, how writing impacts society and whether it is prudent to invest in a creative writing degree. Learn about the difference between degree-based and non-degree creative writing programs, how to craft a solid application to a top-notch creative writing program and how to figure out which program is the best fit.

Why Creative Writing Matters and Reasons to Study It

Creative writers say a common misconception about their job is that their work is frivolous and impractical, but they emphasize that creative writing is an extremely effective way to convey messages that are hard to share in any other way.

Kelly Caldwell, dean of faculty at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, says prospective writing students are often discouraged from taking writing courses because of concerns about whether a writing life is somehow unattainable or "unrealistic."

Although creative writers are sometimes unable to financially support themselves entirely on the basis of their creative projects, Caldwell says, they often juggle that work with other types of jobs and lead successful careers.

She says that many students in her introductory creative writing class were previously forbidden by parents to study creative writing. "You have to give yourself permission for the simple reason that you want to do it," she suggests.

Creative writing faculty acknowledge that a formal academic credential in creative writing is not needed in order to get writing published. However, they suggest, creative writing programs help aspiring authors develop their writing skills and allow space and time to complete long-term writing projects.

Working writers often juggle multiple projects at once and sometimes have more than one gig, which can make it difficult to finish an especially ambitious undertaking such as a novel, a play for the screen or stage, or a well-assembled collection of poems, short stories or essays. Grants and fellowships for authors are often designed to ensure that those authors can afford to concentrate on their writing.

Samuel Ace, a published poet and a visiting lecturer in poetry at Mount Holyoke, says his goal is to show students how to write in an authentic way that conveys real feeling. "It helps students to become more direct, not to bury their thoughts under a cascade of academic language, to be more forthright," he says.

Tips on Choosing Between a Non-Degree or Degree-Based Creative Writing Program

Experts note that someone needs to be ready to get immersed in the writing process and devote significant time to writing projects before pursuing a creative writing degree. Prospective writing students should not sign up for a degree program until they have reached that sense of preparedness, warns Kim Todd, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and director of its creative writing program.

She says prospective writing students need to think about their personal goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Aspiring writers who are not ready to invest in a creative writing degree program may want to sign up for a one-off writing class or begin participating in an informal writing workshop so they can test their level of interest in the field, Todd suggests.

How to Choose and Apply to a Creative Writing Program

In many cases, the most important component of an application to a writing program is the writing portfolio, writing program experts say. Prospective writing students need to think about which pieces of writing they include in their portfolio and need to be especially mindful about which item they put at the beginning of their portfolio. They should have a trusted mentor critique the portfolio before they submit it, experts suggest.

Because creative writing often involves self-expression, it is important for aspiring writing students to find a program where they feel comfortable expressing their true identity.

This is particularly pertinent to aspiring authors who are members of minority groups, including people of color or LGBTQ individuals, says Lawlor, who identifies as queer, transgender and nonbinary.

How to Use a Creative Writing Degree

Creative writing program professors and alumni say creative writing programs cultivate a variety of in-demand skills, including the ability to communicate effectively.

"While yes, many creative writers are idealists and dreamers, these are also typically highly flexible and competent people with a range of personal strengths. And a good creative writing program helps them understand their particular strengths and marketability and translate these for potential employers, alongside the more traditional craft development work," Melissa Ridley Elmes, an assistant professor of English at Lindenwood University in Missouri, wrote in an email.

Elmes – an author who writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction – says creative writing programs force students to develop personal discipline because they have to consistently produce a significant amount of writing. In addition, participating in writing workshops requires writing students "to give and receive constructive feedback," Elmes says.

Cindy Childress, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayatte and did a creative writing dissertation where she submitted poetry, says creative writing grads are well-equipped for good-paying positions as advertising and marketing copywriters, speechwriters, grant writers and ghostwriters.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual compensation for writers and authors was $63,200 as of May 2019.

"I think the Internet, and writing communities online and in social media, have been very helpful for debunking the idea that if you publish a New York Times Bestseller you will have 'made it' and can quit your day job and write full time," Elmes explains. "Unless you are independently wealthy, the odds are very much against you in this regard."

Childress emphasizes that creative writing degree recipients have "skills that are absolutely transferable to the real world." For example, the same storytelling techniques that copywriters use to shape public perceptions about a commercial brand are often taught in introductory creative writing courses, she says. The ability to tell a good story does not necessarily come easily to people who haven't been trained on how to do it, she explains.

Childress says she was able to translate her creative writing education into a lucrative career and start her own ghostwriting and book editing company, where she earns a six-figure salary. She says her background in poetry taught her how to be pithy.

"Anything that we want to write nowadays, particularly for social media, is going to have to be immediately understood, so there is a sense of immediacy," she says."The language has to be crisp and direct and exact, and really those are exactly the same kind of ways you would describe a successful poem."

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1 MA Degrees in Creative Writing in Philippines for 2024

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MA Degrees in Creative Writing

Many creative writing programs supplement classroom instruction with interactive hands-on events, so students can see writing in action. Students are encouraged to attend theater performances, poetry readings, film screenings and prose performances throughout the surrounding community.

Many love the good people of the Philippines and their lifestyles. Studying here also could help you learn mingling with the culture of the people as you undertake your university course in Local College University, State University and College or the University of the Philippines. Philippines is the third largest English speaking country in the world which will make things easier for international students.

An MA is a master’s degree awarded to students that have completed a program studying humanities or fine arts subjects such as history, communications, philosophy, theology or English. A Master of Arts degree typically requires coursework, research and written examinations.

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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

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Our series of subject-based handbooks (PDF format; $4.99 each) provide information and advice from authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers. Now available: The Poets & Writers Guide to Publicity and Promotion, The Poets & Writers Guide to the Book Deal, The Poets & Writers Guide to Literary Agents, The Poets & Writers Guide to MFA Programs, and The Poets & Writers Guide to Writing Contests.

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Research newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications that consistently publish book reviews using the Review Outlets database, which includes information about publishing schedules, submission guidelines, fees, and more.

Well over ten thousand poets and writers maintain listings in this essential resource for writers interested in connecting with their peers, as well as editors, agents, and reading series coordinators looking for authors. Apply today to join the growing community of writers who stay in touch and informed using the Poets & Writers Directory.

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Find information about more than two hundred full- and low-residency programs in creative writing in our MFA Programs database, which includes details about deadlines, funding, class size, core faculty, and more. Also included is information about more than fifty MA and PhD programs.

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Every day the editors of Poets & Writers Magazine scan the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know.

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MFA Programs Contact Form

Help us keep this database current. If you have updated information on one of the programs listed in the MFA database, let us know.

MFA Programs Database

• Help Keep This Database Current

Our MFA database includes essential information about low- and full-residency graduate creative writing programs in the United States and other English-speaking countries to help you decide where to apply.

Adelphi University

Poetry: Jan-Henry Gray, Maya Marshall Prose: Katherine Hill, René Steinke, Igor Webb

Albertus Magnus College

Poetry: Paul Robichaud Fiction: Sarah Harris Wallman Nonfiction: Eric Schoeck

Alma College

Poetry: Leslie Contreras Schwartz, Jim Daniels, Benjamin Garcia Fiction: Karen E. Bender, Shonda Buchanan, Dhonielle Clayton, S. Kirk Walsh Creative Nonfiction: Anna Clark, Matthew Gavin Frank, Donald Quist, Robert Vivian

American University

Poetry: Kyle Dargan, David Keplinger Fiction: Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Stephanie Grant, Patricia Park Nonfiction: Rachel Louise Snyder

Antioch University

Poetry: Victoria Chang Prose: Lisa Locascio

Arcadia University

Poetry: Genevieve Betts, Michelle Reale Fiction: Stephanie Feldman, Joshua Isard, Tracey Levine, Eric Smith Literature: Matthew Heitzman, Christopher Varlack, Elizabeth Vogel, Jo Ann Weiner

Poetry: Genevieve Betts, Michelle Reale Fiction: Stephanie Feldman, Joshua Isard, Tracey Levine, Eric Smith

Arizona State University

Poetry: Sally Ball, Natalie Diaz, Alberto Álvaro Ríos, Safiya Sinclair Fiction: Matt Bell, Jenny Irish, Tara Ison, Mitchell Jackson, T. M. McNally Creative Nonfiction: Sarah Viren

Ashland University

Poetry: Aria Aber, Dexter Booth, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Adam Gellings, Tess Taylor, Vanessa Angélica Villareal

Fiction: Kirstin Chen, Brian Conn, Edan Lepucki, Sarah Monette, Nayomi Munaweera, Vi Khi Nao, Naomi J. Williams, Kyle Winkler

Nonfiction: Cass Donish, Kate Hopper, Lauren Markham, Thomas Mira y Lopez, Lisa Nikolidakis, Terese Mailhot, Kelly Sundberg

Augsburg University

Poetry: Michael Kleber-Diggs Fiction: Stephan Eirik Clark, Lindsay Starck Nonfiction: Anika Fajardo  Playwriting: Carson Kreitzer, TyLie Shider, Sarah Myers Screenwriting: Stephan Eirik Clark, Andy Froemke

Ball State University

Poetry: Katy Didden, Mark Neely Fiction: Cathy Day, Sean Lovelace Nonfiction: Jill Christman, Silas Hansen Screenwriting: Rani Deighe Crowe, Matt Mullins

Bard College

Jess Arndt, Shiv Kotecha, Mirene Arsanios, Hannah Black, Trisha Low, Christoper Perez, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Simone White

Bath Spa University

Poetry: Lucy English, Carrie Etter, Tim Liardet, John Strachan, Samantha Walton, Gerard Woodward Fiction: Gavin James Bower, Celia Brayfield, Alexia Casale, Lucy English, Nathan Filer, Aminatta Forna, Maggie Gee, Samantha Harvey, Philip Hensher, Steve Hollyman, Emma Hooper, Claire Kendal, Kate Pullinger, C.J. Skuse, Gerard Woodward Nonfiction: Celia Brayfield, Richard Kerridge, Stephen Moss Scriptwriting: Robin Mukherjee

Poetry: Lucy English, Carrie Etter, Tim Liardet, Gerard Woodward Fiction: Gavin James Bower, Celia Brayfield, Nathan Filer, Aminatta Forna, Maggie Gee, Samantha Harvey, Philip Hensher, Claire Kendal, Kate Pullinger, Gerard Woodward Nonfiction: Richard Kerridge, Stephen Moss

Bay Path University

Mel Allen, Leanna James Blackwell, Jennifer Baker, Sari Botton, Melanie Brooks, María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, Áine Greaney, Shahnaz Habib, Jessica Handler, Ann Hood, Susan Ito, Karol Jackowski, Yi Shun Lai, Anna Mantzaris, Meredith O’Brien, Lisa Romeo, Kate Whouley

Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College

Poetry: Jennifer Chang, Michael Dumanis, Randall Mann, Craig Morgan Teicher, Mark Wunderlich Fiction: Peter Cameron, Jai Chakrabarti, Stacey D’Erasmo, Monica Ferrell, Rebecca Makkai, Stuart Nadler, Téa Obreht, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Katy Simpson Smith, Taymour Soomro Nonfiction: Garrard Conley, Sabrina Orah Mark, Spencer Reece, Lance Richardson, Shawna Kay Rodenberg, Hugh Ryan, Greg Wrenn

Binghamton University

Poetry: Tina Chang, Joseph Weil Fiction: Amir Ahmdi Arian, Thomas Glave, Leslie L. Heywood, Claire Luchette, Liz Rosenberg, Jaimee Wriston-Colbert, Alexi Zentner Nonfiction: Amir Ahmdi Arian, Leslie L. Heywood

Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University

Poetry: Julie Hensley, Young Smith Fiction: Julie Hensley, Nancy Jensen, Robert D. Johnson Nonfiction: Nancy Jensen, Robert D. Johnson, Evan J. Massey

Boise State University

Poetry: Martin Corless-Smith, Sara Nicholson, Taryn Schwilling Fiction: Mitch Wieland (Director), Anna Caritj Creative Nonfiction: Chris Violet Eaton, Clyde Moneyhun

Boston University

Poetry: Andrea Cohen, Karl Kirchwey, Robert Pinsky Fiction: Leslie Epstein, Jennifer Haigh, Ha Jin

Boston University—MFA in Literary Translation

Odile Cazenave, Yuri Corrigan, Margaret Litvin, Christopher Maurer, Roberta Micaleff, Robert Pinsky (advising), Stephen Scully, Sassan Tabatabai, J. Keith Vincent, William Waters, Dennis Wuerthner, Cathy Yeh, Anna Zielinska-Elliott

Bowling Green State University

Poetry: Abigail Cloud, Amorak Huey, Sharona Muir, F. Dan Rzicznek, Larissa Szporluk, Jessica Zinz-Cheresnick Fiction: Joe Celizic, Lawrence Coates, Reema Rajbanshi, Michael Schulz

Brigham Young University

Poetry: Kimberly Johnson, Lance Larsen, Michael Lavers, John Talbot Fiction: Chris Crowe, Ann Dee Ellis, Spencer Hyde, Stephen Tuttle Nonfiction: Joey Franklin, Patrick Madden

Brooklyn College

Poetry: Julie Agoos, Ben Lerner Fiction: Joshua Henkin, Madeleine Thien Playwriting: Dennis A. Allen II, Elana Greenfield

Creative Writing and Literature

Students enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program in Creative Writing & Literature will develop skills in creative writing and literary analysis through literature courses and writing workshops in fiction, screenwriting, poetry, and nonfiction. Through online group courses and one-on-one tutorials, as well as a week on campus, students hone their craft and find their voice.

What are you looking for?

Suggested search, ph.d. in creative writing and literature, about the ph.d. track in creative writing and literature.

The Ph.D. program provides dual emphasis in literature and creative writing, culminating in the dissertation, which combines critical analysis with creative originality. Doctoral candidates not only read and write texts as finished products of scholarship in researching their creative work’s literary and historical milieu, but also consider the text as writers create it, then compose texts as writers, a process that goes to the source of the study of literature and of literature itself. This integration of literature and creative writing is reflected in the structure of the dissertation, which introduces the creative work within a context of critical inquiry, bringing together the examination and embodiment of the literary act, a new model of scholarship and creative innovation.

For complete information, please visit  https://dornsife.usc.edu/cwphd .

Requirements for admission to study in the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing and Literature include:

• B.A. degree in any area of study
• GPA, undergraduate and graduate (if applicable)
• Creative writing sample (25 pages of prose or 10-12 pages of poetry)
• Critical writing sample (10-25 pages)
• Statement of purpose (no more than three pages)
• Three letters of recommendation
• Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework

Application deadline: December 1

For More Information:

>> See Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature Website <<

Potential applicants may contact:

Janalynn Bliss, Graduate Coordinator

Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature Department of English Taper Hall 431 University of Southern California University Park Campus Los Angeles, CA 90089-0354

(213) 821-0477

Contact Details

Usc department of english.

3501 Trousdale Parkway Taper Hall of Humanities 404 Los Angeles, CA 90089-0354

Office Hours

Monday – Friday

8:30am- 5pm

Times may adjust in accordance with university holidays.

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8 Best Creative Writing Courses in The Philippines

Creative writing is one of the most exciting as well as rewarding skills that has the power to execute an idea and transform one’s moods or notions in one read. but, it requires a great understanding of the subject to dig into the people’s hearts and make them feel your words. there are a number of creative writing courses in the philippines you can opt for in order to master creative writing skills..

Have you ever considered creating a story using your imagination while it’s raining at a resort, after reading a book, or watching a movie?  Yes, a majority of us did and several of us also had bought a pen and paper to write. However, as soon as you started writing, you realized the story doesn’t flow as fascinatingly as it did in your head.

You start to wonder what you’re missing when you see the grammar, and sentences in the text are not flowing smoothly. The missing part is your creative writing skills. Your writing abilities prevent you from reproducing the amazing effect that your mind has so eloquently imagined in that story.

To arouse a reader’s emotions, a writer must use his imagination and inspiration and master writing skills. It could be fiction, nonfiction, a movie script, or a poem, creating writing skills helps in developing your writing and conversational skills. Being able to speak and write in poetic language has the power to win or break hearts.

Learning creative writing also improves your ability to express yourself and sharpen your mind.  If you are one of those who have always wanted to make the most of your writing skills then taking a course on creative writing is the best option to consider.

What is Creative Writing?

Many people believe that writing is a talent, one either possesses or does not possess. To an extent, this is true, since some people are naturally talented and others learn and master their abilities. The desire to write creatively starts within and grows into something much more attractive and knowledgeable. 

It is such a beautiful and bountiful world, allowing a creative brain to make the most of its creativity, which in turn would assist in the development of knowledge.  The world’s best plays, books, articles, fiction, drama, and non-fiction are merely examples of authors’ and playwrights’ creative writing skills.  

A skilled writer may uniquely reveal life’s realities. Through them, the truth of life can be communicated clearly, and straightforwardly. A creative writer once came up with the phrase saying  “An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away” which would never have achieved fame if it had just been put down as Eat Fruit every day.

By combining the phrase with Doctor, he implied a dignified manner of eating apples. Creative writing understands and promotes hard truths in a style that can inspire learners and readers. To become a successful writer, one must have more than talent. Talent to be able to write.

There are many brilliant writers in the field but very few have the desire to work on their craft. And some individuals aspire to become authors and put in time and effort to improve their writing skills.  

Creative Writing in Psychology

Creative writing is frequently used in psychology as a form of treatment that fosters self-expression develops self-awareness and produces literary output. Creative writing can be very distinctive and experimental. Several creative writing approaches are used to make the writing process more efficient. 

Importance of Creative Writing Course

Creative writing has many benefits; if you are interested in creative writing, it may relate to you:.

• It’s a great way to express yourself, you can even solve problems with creative writing just by asking questions and starting to come up with solutions.  
• The more you read,  the more creatively you can write. It helps in understanding.    
• Creative writing can serve as an anti-depressant for many. Develop personality, identity, and way of thinking.  
• Creative writing helps you write professional writing, one of the most in-demand skills in the world today.   
• Creative writing skills can create a variety of career opportunities where you can work as a content writer, editor, or copywriter for MNCs and SMEs, and NGOs.

  Types of Creative Writers

• Authors:  They write novels, stories, articles, short stories, columns, and essays.  
• Ghost Writers : They write everything from novels, stories, articles, and blogs, but to individuals, brands, and organizations. They do not take credit for their work.  
• Content writers: They write specifically on a topic, subject idea, or business. They charge their work based on niche.  
• Freelancers write blogs, articles, and stories and charge on an assignment basis.
• Copywriters specifically write for marketing campaigns, slogans, and other marketing-related assignments for companies.  
• Scriptwriters specialized in writing plays, and film scripts and work for theatres, movies, series, etc.  

Techniques of Creative Writing 

Follow other writers of your niche: .

By merely reading the work of other writers of similar niches, you can get smarter at your writing. That’s because reading others’ work exposes you to various writing approaches and inspires you to write new things. There are many books, blogs, and videos available for creative writing like fiction, nonfiction, novels, poetry, and so on.  

Go Wild with Your Imagination:

Creative writing is all based on imagination, so leave your horses loose and run through a world of no rules. And start creating an engaging story in a distinctive setting and with believable people playing at your fingertips. You can even create a language also like in the famous Sci-fi movie Avatar in 2009. The Navi language was fictionally created. You can also give try on creating a language that people would believe existed.  

Recognize Yourself as a Writer:

The best creative writers have distinctive writing styles . Research other creative writers for inspiration to create your writing style. Your writing style should be appropriate for the niche in which you want to specialize like comics, novels, and so on.  

Why Do You Wish to Publish Your Work? Ask Yourself:

You write because writing is your passion, it’s the love of your life to write and let your audience read and praise your creativity. So publishing your creative piece of work is for your audience. You must be attentive to your reader’s preferences so you can compose your work that resonates with your reader.  Authors of best-selling books closely analyze their reader’s interests by using several analytical tools. 

Engage Your Reader from the Start to the End:

To keep your reader interested throughout your work, you must hook them from the beginning itself.  They won’t continue reading the story if the first few pages bore them, they’ll just stop reading after that.  

You May Also Want to Explore Some Other Best Courses in the Philippines:

• Content Writing Courses in the Philippines
• Digital Marketing Courses in the Philippines
• Technical Writing Courses in the Philippines

8 Best Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

Rank# 1. creative writing courses in the philippines, 1. iim skills.

IIM SKILLS is one of the top leading institutes that offers one of the best creative writing programs along with many other skill development courses. They are well known for their online training. The creative writing course is one of their very popular programs which is a 4-week-long course.

It includes 16 hours of lectures, 60 hours of practical assignments, and several tools. The course comes with 10+ hours of internship lectures. They offer authorized certifications after the course is finished. The students are well-trained under industry specialised mentors.

The students are offered access to the tools and are given practical assignments for better understanding and practical learning. They offer confirmed job placements to their students. After completing the course, they offer internships that help students to gain practical knowledge.

Even after finishing the course, IIM SKILLS offer career guidance to their students in making the right career choices in their fields. If you enjoy writing and are interested in showcasing your talents, then this course is for you. Among the other types of writing, they also offer training in writing blogs, e-books , business listings, and press releases.  

Their Content Writing Course Offers the Following:  

• Introduction to content writing
• WordPress web development
• Digital content
• Copywriting
• Marketing collaterals
• Email writing
• Social media writing
• Video scripts
• Creative writing
• Business listing
• Legal writing
• Technical 101
• Content marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Freelance writing
• Resume writing

The course will help you to develop the habit of writing regularly and gain confidence in your writing skills that are easy to understand. 

IIM SKILLS CONTENT WRITING COURSE MODULES & CONTENT

More professional courses from iim skills:.

• Digital Marketing Course
• Technical Writing Course
• Financial Modeling Course
• Business Accounting And Taxation Course
• CAT Coaching

Contact: +919580740740,  [email protected]

Learn more about the best Creative Writing Courses in Amsterdam

Rank# 2. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

2. coursera creative writing master class course.

Have you read the famous book – The Handmaid’s Tale By Margaret Atwood?  The course is instructed by the author herself in the Master class for Creative Writing. This course is for experienced writers looking to enhance their writing skills  The creative writing courses in the Philippines unfold into 23 videos highlighting the importance of the following areas:    

• Introduction  
• Getting Started as a Writer  
• Story and Plot  
• Structuring Your Novel  
• Who tells the story  
• Case Studies  
• Bringing characters to life 
• Character creation  
• Overcoming  roadblocks  
• Writing Dialogues  
• Reveling sensory imaginary  
• Prose Structure  
• Time in Fiction  
• Importance of the first five pages of your book  
• Writing middle and end  
• Revision of works  
• Writers Objectives  
• Speculative Fiction
• Inspiration from Handmaid’s Tale  
• Accuracy of research  
• Writers Path  
• Parting Words  
• Dealing with Negative reviews after publishing. 

Rank# 3. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

  This creative writing course by Udemy lets learners develop their portfolios with sample works. The course helps you create a digital portfolio easily.  Here, learners create their work on fiction, drama, poetry, and non-fiction which serve as your sample work. The course aims to familiarize the genres of writing and apply creative techniques for writing. 

The course ends with the submission of a writing assignment to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the writer. The course also offers you a public platform where you can share your work and develop confidence.  

The Course Comes Into 43 Video Lessons and 37 Online Quizzes Over the Following Topics: 

• About the course  
• Creative Non-Fiction 
• Create your  Digital Portfolio 

Rank# 4. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

4. writing ad copy – linkedin  .

  The writing Ad copy online course is great for you to create ad copy to convey your company or brand to attract traffic and convert them to leads.  This course teaches important rules for writing ads for social media platforms.  

The Course Covers the Following:

• Rules of Ad Copy 
• Advertising Goals  
• How to write Ads for websites, email marketing, and social media platforms  
• Understand your audiences
• Creating personas  and target audiences  
• Dos and Don’ts when writing ads.  

Also Read: Creative Writing Courses in Singapore

Rank# 5. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

5. coursera.

  This course is best for writers willing to learn scriptwriting skills for television or web series. The instructor effectively focuses on breaking down the creative process into small components stretched into 20 weeks. Learners will be able to learn a structured process to develop a script.  

The course has 95% positive ratings and many learners reported this case as an eye-opening learning experience. The course comes into weekly parts as below:

Highlights of Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

Week 1 Creating Idea

Week 2 Pitching Logline and Dramatic Question  

Week 3 Create your characters  

Week   4 Three-Act Structure  

Week 5 Screenplay and Formatting  

Week 6 Screenplay  

Week 7 Act One

Week 8 Writing the Final Part  

Week 9 Table reading  

Week 10 Act two 

Week 11- 14 Writing Pages  

Week 15 Table read of Act one and Two  

Week 16 -17 writing pages  

Week  18 Writing page for Final Act  

Week 19 Table reading of the Entire script  

Week 20 Synopsis  

Rank# 6. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

6. secret sauce of great writing – udemy.

  This free beginner-level course is excellent for identifying your weaknesses and learning to combine the four main concepts of writing –  Simplicity, Clarity, elegance, and evocativeness to your writing.  

This Free Course Covers the Following Topics:

• The Secret sauce of Flair  
• Flairs Crucial ingredients  
• Power of Simplicity, Clarity, Elegance, and Evocativeness 

Must check the best Creative Writing Courses in Scotland

Rank# 7. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

7. seth godin’s freelancer course – udemy.

  This course from Udemy has a star rating of 4.8 and more than 26k students enrolled. The course is for freelancers of beginner and intermediate levels to learn to make creative work for businesses and increase their clientele. The course is expensive and covers interesting topics to learn as a freelancer.  

Section 1 How to Move up. 

Section 2 Building Assets (forms of merits and ranking yourself) 

Section 3 Choose your customers  

Section 4 Strategies 

Section 5 Art of Storytelling

Section 6 Choosing the right business 

Section 7 Knowing your worth, Pricing, or working for free  

Section 8 Branding yourself  

Section 9 Reputation  

Section 10 Promotion  

Section 11 Define communities, organize and connect  

Section 12 Leveraging your publishing platform  

Section 13 Selling and Buying  

Section 14 Stepping into the market 

Section 15 Making time and becoming a Pro  

Section 16  Bonus Q/A session  

Rank# 8. Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

8. best o nline creative writing courses wesleyan university- creative writing specialization .

  The course offered by Wesleyan University on Coursera is best for beginners looking to improvise their plot structuring, write scenes and revise their work through a 21-point checklist. The course focuses on the difference between a plot and a story.

The Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines Cover the Following:

• Structuring  and Organizing your plot to the story  
• Key elements of a scene  
• A 21-point checklist for editing your work  
• ABDCE Structure 

Tips On How to Choose An Online Creative Writing Course 

There is a plethora of online writing courses available on various learning platforms, and choosing the right one will help you learn the right skills among them is often a difficult decision to make since it involves money, time, and effort. So, here are my top tips for choosing an online writing course.  

  Identify Your Goal

Since creative writing is a wide field of sturdy, so you should be very clear about where exactly you want to plow into. For example, you might want to polish your grammar skills, learn about copywriting , want to learn to write a novel, freelance, and so on.    

As you might have read above many of the courses picked are offered free on good learning platforms. So, before you decide on a course, just go through the course highlights and then choose if those concepts are maybe available on free courses. However, if you want to learn an advanced course like I mentioned for Scriptwriters, then definitely go for it.  

Check your Online Tutor

Doing a background check on the instructor is important. You must check if the tutor is actively publishing high-quality content and not just basic ideas and concepts. And if you can access the instructor during the course lastly, scroll down the page of the webpage and go through the reviews from other learners about the instructor. 

The Flexibility of the Course

 If you are already working or studying, you must also check the schedules of online courses like weekends and weekends and if you can accommodate their schedule.  

Certification

If you are interested in enrolling in a course with a view to career progress in a prospective job then choosing a course with certification and accreditation is a must. This way you can make it easier for your prospective HR manager or employer to verify your skills and offer you that job.  

Some Best books by Authors in the Philippines  

• Trashed By Mia Hopkins  
• Jar of Hearts  By  Jennifer Hillier  
• The Farm by Joanne Ramos  
• When the Elephants Dance  By  Tess Uriza Holthe  
• Everlasting Nora  By Marie Marinda Cruz  

Also Read: Creative Writing Courses in the UK

Creative Writing as a Career  

Creative Writers are skilled in writing, reading, proofreading, researching, and communicating. They can pursue several roles in fields like marketing, education, business, media, and communications. It depends upon the niche they want to apply the skill.  

Top Jobs for Creative writers:

• Journalist 
• Freelance writer  
• Social Media and Content Manager  
• Public Relations Officer (PRO) 
• Copywriter  
• Creative Director
• Marketing  Specialist  
• Writing Tutor 

Difference Between Technical  Writing and Creative Writing 

  difference between academic writing and creative writing .

Academic Writing is less imaginative, more factual, and standardized.  The writer has to uphold the gathered data and facts. Academic writing demands citing from trusted sources to support the hypothesis. Academic writing is done mostly for academic content. On the other hand, Creative writing is informal and personal.

There are no established guidelines to follow Unlike Academic writing, the writer does not have to cite any source nor show any supporting evidence. The writer is free to express his imagination provided with unique content that grabs a reader’s attention from start to end.  Stories, Dramas, fiction, Podcasts, poetry, and journals are all great examples of creative writing.

FAQs About Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines

Q1. is creative writing difficult to learn .

Since it takes a long time to acquire and perfect the craft of writing, creative writing is a challenging genre for many students to master.  

Q2. What is the most important element in creative writing? 

As creative writing is based on imaginative writing, the mood and mindset of the writer play a crucial role in creating a piece of work.    

Q3. Is English considered a high-rated skill in the Philippines?

Yes, English is the first language in the Philipines and creative writing is a high-rated skill. Most Filipinos speak English very fluently. And there are several high-rated freelancers in the country. 

Conclusion About Creative Writing Courses in the Philippines:

All you need is patience and optimism to learn creative writing skills. Once you learned the skill and start writing, you will be able to unlock many job opportunities, and if you already run a business, you can also expand it over various digital media platforms and increase global clientele.    

Happy Learning!  

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Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Get a ph.d. in creative writing and literature.

Admission to the creative writing program is extremely competitive, with up to 20 new students across the two genres selected each year from the hundreds of applications received from around the world. The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

Overview of Admissions Requirements

Minimum requirements for admission.

• M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing  
• 3.5 GPA in graduate studies 

Application Deadline

The admissions deadline for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature is January 15.

For more admissions information, visit the How to Apply web page for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.  

History of the Creative Writing Program

Over the years many more internationally acclaimed writers have made the Program their home, including Mary Gaitskill, Richard Howard, Howard Moss, Linda Gregg, Adam Zagajewski, Daniel Stern, David Wojahn, Edward Hirsch, Alan Hollinghurst, Mark Strand, David Wagoner, Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Claudia Rankine, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Doty and Ruben Martinez.

Current faculty includes Erin Belieu, Robert Boswell, Audrey Colombe, Chitra Divakaruni, Nick Flynn, francine j. harris, Antonya Nelson, Alex Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Brenda Peynado, Martha Serpas, Roberto Tejada, and Peter Turchi.

Quick Links

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Graduate Curricular Specializations

Financial Aid

How to Apply

Inprint Student Writing Awards

PhD in Creative Writing

Program overview.

The PhD in Creative Writing and Literature is a four-year course of study. Following two years of course work that includes workshop, forms classes, pedagogical training, and literature, students take exams in two areas, one that examines texts through the lens of craft and another that examines them through the lens of literary history and theory. Recent examples of the genre area include Comic Fiction, History of the Love Lyric, and Fantasy; recent examples of the scholarly area include History of the Novel, 20th Century American Poetry, and Modern & Contemporary British Fiction. In the first two years, students take three courses per semester; the teaching load throughout the program is one class per semester. Every PhD student has the opportunity to teach creative writing, with many also teaching literature classes. Most students are funded by teaching, with two or three at a time funded by editorial work at  The Cincinnati Review or Acre Books, and others funded in their dissertation year by college- or university-level fellowships. Fifth-year support, while not guaranteed, has generally been available to interested students in the form of student lecturerships, which carry a 2-2 load. The Creative Writing PhD at the University of Cincinnati has maintained over the last decade more than a 75% placement rate into full-time academic jobs for its doctoral graduates. Two-thirds of these positions are tenure-track.

Application Information

• Exam Areas and Committee
• Doctoral Candidacy Form
• Foreign Language
• Exam Procedures
• Dissertations
• Applying for Fifth-Year Funding
• Working for The Cincinnati Review
• Teaching Opportunities
• All Creative Writing Graduate Courses
• Archive of Technique & Form Courses

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

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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.

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• 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

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• 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 .

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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.

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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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Catching Up with Ph.D. Candidate Natalie Vaughan-Wynn

Since joining the University of Washington Ph.D. in Geography program in autumn 2020, Natalie Vaughan-Wynn has been deeply involved in research, writing, teaching and collaborations across campus. One of Natalie's doctoral supervisory committee co-chairs (along with Professor Sarah Elwood), Professor Vicky Lawson describes Natalie as "a remarkable, caring and creative scholar and a wonderful human. She is conducting deeply ethical research that foregrounds relations of respect and co-creation with native thinkers/activists and that centers crucial questions about the entanglements of federal food policy and ancestral foodways. Furthermore, both Natalie's research and teaching center questions of food sovereignty in the US. It is a real joy to work with Natalie and to learn from her wisdom, ethics and politics." These commitments have contributed to many accomplishments along the way, and this spring Natalie reflects on these and other achievements just over the horizon. Along with sharing details about publishing an article, helping to organize a symposium, presenting at a conference, and more, here Natalie also offers advice to undergraduates who may be interested graduate school or food geographies.

On co-authoring " Digital food apartheid: The uneven food geographies of Seattle in the era of Amazon " with Professor Jin-Kyu Jung in Environment and Planning F

This paper, published in March 2024, "begins by tracing our food system through the lens of racial capitalism so we can see long-standing entanglements between food, race, and capitalism with newer, digitally mediated food geographies. We see this operationalized in contemporary U.S. government food assistance programs by examining the food stamp program’s evolution from paper (coupons) to plastic (EBT cards) and then to the COVID-era implementation of the Online Grocery Purchase Program (OPP). Theorizing these programs in conversation with Black Digital Geographies scholarship is what I term ‘digital food apartheid,’ a separating apparatus that produces inequalities concerning food that are mediated by, reified through, or materialized from data or digital infrastructure." For more about this research, check out UW Bothell News!

MAPPING A DIGITAL DIVIDE IN FOOD ACCESS

On bringing the Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ” Indigenous Foods Symposium (May 3-4, 2024) to life

Last year, Natalie attended as a guest and "was blown away by the knowledge and commitment of those who were both engaged in research and accountable to their communities." Now on the planning committee for the event, Natalie comments "Living Breath is a reminder that - though the entanglements between 'the academy' and Indigenous peoples is historied and complex - those of us here who are attentive to these complexities can carve out space that aligns with our commitments as co-learners with our communities… the idea of research with, by, and for, rather than on/about/without. I was already connected to many in attendance, but wanted to deepen that connection. This is what led me to join; I voiced my interest, connections, and capacity to the existing core committee, all of whom I deeply admire, and was welcomed with open arms."

The symposium planning committee " is composed of Indigenous women who represent interdisciplinary academic fields of study and philanthropy in the Northwest Coast; women who are committed to Indigenous food sovereignty and environmental justice, and whose lived and scholarly experiences, personal passions, and academic research are firmly grounded in their homelands and communities." Natalie's participation is described in the following bio :

"Natalie Vaughan-Wynn (Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Registered Descendant) is a Ph.D. Candidate in the University of Washington’s Geography Department and is working toward her Certificate in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her educational path entails a G.E.D., attending the same college with her mom at the same time, and a graduate degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.

Work centered on food justice and sovereignty over the last 15 years has brought her to West Africa, where she worked with the Indigenous Hausa people to facilitate village-to-village agricultural knowledge sharing, to Oxfam, as part of a farmworkers’ rights campaign, and to a research institute engaged in international conversations around food and hunger.

Specific ways that food is part of her life include Big Leaf Maple sugaring, foraging and fishing with her husband and son, and frequently shared meals with friends and family."

On preparing a presentation for the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference (June 5-8, 2024)

For this conference, Natalie's project "examines the recent expansion of the legal mechanism known as '638' authority through which Tribal Nations may assert greater self-determination over food-related programs. Six years of legislative advocacy by the Native Farm Bill Coalition has created a pathway within the 2018 Farm Bill for Nations to contract with the USDA to self-administer programs, including the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), a commodity food program relied on by 92,000 Native households. FDPIR 'commods' typically include shelf-stable, preservative-heavy, transportation-tolerant foods destined for (often) rural reservation distribution sites. Currently, 15 pilot programs are reconfiguring FDPIR to suit their specific contexts through inclusion of traditional foods, procurement from Tribal producers and more. Through visits, interviews, and archival research, I add to the growing work that describes how, despite innumerable disruptions to Native foodways, Tribal expressions of food sovereignty can be leveraged through, and outside of, entanglements with federal policy."

Natalie notes that attending the conference "will be especially meaningful to me because one of my mom’s cousins is a former NAISA President. My academic journey, which has felt circuitous at times,  feels like it is coming full circle. Of course I’m looking forward to hearing from those engaged with Indigenous-oriented research from all over the world, but I’m also looking forward to the little things, like seeing everyone’s dress and the food (maybe those things aren’t so little after all…). Though we have Sami family friends and an open invitation to join the reindeer herding that happens every summer, we’ve yet to make this happen. I’ve seen the midnight sun (my husband grew up in Alaska) but I have never been as far north as the Arctic Circle… Norway is a first for me!"

Reflections on teaching experience & professional development

"Of the 14 quarters I’ve taught or TA’d so far, half have been through the Program for Writing Across Campus . Megan Callow , the current director of this program, has become a phenomenal mentor of mine. This work, along with my job as a Graduate Peer Tutor in the Odegaard Writing and Research Center (OWRC) and my participation in a Graduate Research Cluster focused on Indigenous Writing Praxis, have given me so many opportunities in terms of professional development. Even more important, the relationships built in these spaces have opened doors for interdisciplinary collaborations. For example, I was first connected to English Ph.D. Candidate and current Humanities Washington Fellow Taiko Aoki-Marcial by Mandy Macklin , the OWRC Director. Taiko and I developed a workshop for the OWRC around decolonial writing strategies for tutors. This evolved into a workshop that we are facilitating for faculty at South, Central, and North Seattle Community College [in May 2024]."

Advice for Future Graduate Students

"I think any advice I have for potential graduate students is the same that I have for life in general. The first bit is from my Mom. She really hammered home the idea that time goes by whether you’re simply working or working towards something. The second is a Hausa proverb. I actually included this in my grad school application and it still rings true for me. It translates to “good relationships depend on feet.” Literally in Hausaland it is customary to begin the day by visiting neighbors. Here, I adapt this wisdom (so, no knocking on doors at 6 a.m.) and instead think of its essence as the idea that regular energy expenditure, even if quotidian, is required in order to be in relation."

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UH professor brings home Pulitzer Prize for true crime memoir

A University of Houston professor with a Ph.D. and several novels under her belt can add a new title to her extensive resume: Pulitzer Prize winner.

Cristina Rivera Garza, director of the creative writing program in Hispanic Studies at UH, was announced as a winner on May 6 in the memoir or autobiography category. She won for her 2023 genre-bending true crime memoir Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice .

The book recounts Garza's return to Mexico City 30 years after the murder of her younger sister, Liliana Rivera Garza, in 1990. Liliana Garza was 20 at the time and was studying architecture. The book addresses issues including gendered violence in Mexico, intimate partner violence and corruption.

Cristina Garza was born and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and moved to the United States in 1989. She earned her Ph.D. in Latin American history from UH in 1995 and has since become a lauded voice in both Mexican and international literary circles for her poetry, short stories and novels.

In 2020, she returned to Mexico City, where she began digging through letters and diary entries penned by her sister. 

"I got access to, in a way, instructions that she left for me about how to go about telling the story of her life," Garza told the New York Times in 2022.

Incredibly, the release of the memoir may have led to a breakthrough in the case. Shortly after the book's publication in Spanish in 2022, Garza received an emailed tip that the suspect had been living in Southern California under an assumed name and had died in 2020, the same year Garza began work on the project.

"I believe that this award belongs rightfully to Liliana," Garza said in a story about her Pulitzer win on the UH website . "This is a book that I wrote with my sister. It’s not just a book about her."

In addition to her Pulitzer, Garza has also won six of Mexico's highest literary awards, was a 2023 finalist for the National Book Awards, and won a MacArthur Fellowship grant in 2020 for fiction.

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2024 Doti Awards Honor Graduate Students in Education and English The annual award acknowledges outstanding academic accomplishment, scholarly and creative work and service by graduating master's and doctoral students.

Chapman University has announced the recipients of the 2024 James L. Doti Outstanding Graduate Awards, the university’s highest honor for graduate students.

This year’s honorees are Katelyn Kitchens, a doctoral candidate in education , and Audrey Fong, a candidate for a dual Master of Arts in English and Master of Fine Arts in creative writing .

The Doti Awards are bestowed annually to an outstanding graduating master’s and doctoral student with a distinguished record of academic accomplishment, scholarly/creative activity and/or service. The award recipients’ names are permanently inscribed on the Doti Award trophy, which incorporates artist Nick Hernandez’s sculpture Emergence, on display in Argyros Forum. The recipients receive a desk-size copy of the trophy with a cash award of $1,000 and are recognized at their college’s commencement ceremony.

Katelyn Kitchens, Ph.D. Education, Attallah College of Educational Studies

Attallah’s faculty say Kitchens is a brilliant and exceptionally outstanding doctoral student. The faculty describes them as a highly ethical, committed and intellectually rigorous scholar-activist and teacher.

Kitchens successfully defended their Ph.D. dissertation in March 2024 on “New Ways of Being White: White Families Striving to Cultivate Antiracist Familial Cultures,” an expansive work based on a critical ethnographic study of white families committed to raising anti-racist children. The work is important, theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous. Their chosen dissertation topic reflects their long-standing commitment to anti-racism. As a white person, Kitchens has personal experience with whiteness studies and engaging with others in anti-racist work.

Within the doctoral program, they developed a strong foundation in the theories that frame their work, including Marxist humanism, critical pedagogies and theories of whiteness. Kitchens also has strong instincts toward decolonizing and humanizing praxis. They are well recognized among faculty and peers as highly ethical and collaborative and evidence a commitment to the growth and learning of all those around them. Kitchens is especially committed to equity for racialized students and to the preservation and restoration of the cultural strengths, epistemologies and resources of historically oppressed communities.

These strengths, along with their excellent writing skills, have led to a significant record of emerging scholarship, research and teaching pursuits. Currently, Kitchens is co-authoring several research manuscripts. Kitchens has already published an impressive six publications (one is in press) and is planning a book based on their dissertation. Their scholarship is highly collaborative with Indigenous colleagues and other people of color, evidencing allyship with these communities. Kitchens’ numerous presentations at conferences and community settings exemplify a keen awareness and commitment to engage with the community beyond the academy.

Kitchens is also a gifted educator of children and adults. They have taught numerous courses in higher education, and faculty are certain that this has included challenging coursework, high expectations and humanizing pedagogy. A faculty mentor shared that conversations with Kitchens revealed their tremendous love and empathy for all peoples.

It’s notable that in a world where Indigenous communities are often wary of the dominant group, Kitchens has been invited to teach and work at an Indigenous tribal school. They recognize and value the opportunity that has been given to them and are continuously reflecting on their responsibility as a white person to that community and its peoples. Kitchens’ previous work in Montessori schools has also provided important insights into humanizing, democratic and life-giving pedagogies that inform their development. Furthermore, Kitchens has a strong social justice background. They served on the Montessori for Social Justice Board of Directors for five years.

At Chapman, Kitchens has been an active member of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project, supported guest talks and co-led teach-ins during the Black Lives Matter protests. Attallah faculty believe Kitchens is an outstanding student with a brilliant future ahead.

Audrey Fong, MA/MFA English and Creative Writing, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Wilkinson’s faculty say Fong’s academic excellence and professional leadership are exceptional. She has used the dual program to set her own ambitious professional path. Importantly, Fong has used her own ongoing learning growth to contribute to the university and to the larger literary culture. She is the only graduate student who has taught Asian American Studies at Chapman University, and she’s also a graduate student instructor in English. She continues to open students to new ideas and texts and also works with Stephanie Takaragawa, associate professor of sociology, across disciplines on a variety of projects and programming.

Fong’s creative and scholarly achievements are unusually strong for a graduate student. She has presented at the Asian American Studies Conference and the College English Association Conference, in addition to others. She will present again this spring at the Asian American Studies Conference and is making a name for herself in that field. She also has a chapter forthcoming in an anthology about food and memory, an essay published in the literary journal South Dakota Review, and she’s placed several interviews with Asian American writers in Adroit Journal.

This important cultural work and her entrepreneurial spirit led Fong to found her own journal, Soapberry Review. Anna Leahy, director of the MFA in creative writing program, shared that she is awestruck by Fong’s ability to launch this project while excelling at all the other work we expect of graduate students and instructors. This project focuses on reviews of books and interviews with Asian American writers, filling a void in literary culture rather than replicating existing projects. Fong has encouraged other MFA students and alumni to read Asian American books and submit reviews for publication at Soapberry Review.

Faculty point to Fong’s mature understanding of a scholar-writer’s practice. She has a keen ability to turn conference presentations into journal publications, a professional practice that few graduate students in the humanities recognize and embrace. Also, she turns practical experience — the marketing internship with Red Hen Press and the social media work at UCI — into original intellectual and cultural production. She recognizes that her accomplishments as a scholar-writer have the power to change culture.

To continue honing her craft, Fong is entering the Ph.D. program at the University of Southern California, another program that combines creative writing and literature. Wilkinson’s faculty is convinced that will lead to even more achievement.

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