university of california irvine creative writing mfa

• Current Students
• Prospective Students
• Alumni & Friends
• Faculty & Staff

Application Deadline: January 15

Michael Ryan

• © 2023 The Regents of the University of California |
• Privacy & Legal Notice |
• Email FPS Support

• Chancellor’s Message

Print Options

2023-24 edition, writing (writing).

WRITING 30. The Art of Writing: Poetry. 4 Units.

Beginners' workshop in the writing of poetry, evaluation of student manuscripts, and parallel readings.

Prerequisite: Satisfaction of the UC Entry Level Writing requirement.

Repeatability: May be taken for credit 2 times.

WRITING 31. The Art of Writing: Prose Fiction. 4 Units.

Beginners' workshop in fiction writing, evaluation of student manuscripts, and parallel readings.

WRITING 40. Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric. 4 Units.

Introduction to the principles of rhetoric through readings and writing assignments across a range of genres, including fiction, non-fiction, journalism and academic essays. Rigorous instruction in composition and style, including organization, paragraph development, sentence-level mechanics.

Prerequisite: AC ENG 20C and AC ENG 22A . AC ENG 20C with a grade of C- or better. Placement via the UC Irvine Writing Placement Process.

Grading Option: Letter Grade only.

Overlaps with WRITING 45 , WRITING 40A .

WRITING 40A. Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric with Lab. 6 Units.

Introduces the principles of rhetoric through readings and writing assignments across a range of genres. Rigorous instruction in composition and style. Designed for students seeking additional English language support.

Overlaps with WRITING 40 , WRITING 45 .

WRITING 45. Intensive Writing. 6 Units.

Critical reading and analysis conducted through literary, academic, journalistic, and fictional genres with additional instruction in paragraph development and sentence-level mechanics. Students analyze and apply rhetorical principles in a range of writing assignments.

Overlaps with WRITING 40 , WRITING 50 .

WRITING 50. Critical Reading and Rhetoric. 4 Units.

Critical reading and analysis conducted through literary, academic, journalistic, and fictional genres. Students analyze and apply rhetorical principles in a range of writing assignments. Letter Grade with P/NP Option.

Overlaps with WRITING 45 .

WRITING 60. Argument and Research. 4 Units.

Intensive instruction in research methods, argumentation, and rhetorical invention. Readings selected from current nonfiction and materials located by students from the University library’s holdings, to include databases across a range of disciplines.

Prerequisite: WRITING 45 or WRITING 50 or AP English Language and Composition or AP English Literature and Composition. WRITING 45 with a grade of C or better. WRITING 50 with a grade of C- or better. AP English Language and Composition with a minimum score of 4. AP English Literature and Composition with a minimum score of 4

WRITING 90. Intermediate Poetry Writing. 4 Units.

Intermediate workshop in the writing of poetry, evaluation of student manuscripts, and parallel readings.

Prerequisite: WRITING 30 or WRITING 31

WRITING 91. Intermediate Fiction Writing. 4 Units.

Intermediate workshop in the writing of fiction, evaluation of student manuscripts, and parallel readings.

WRITING 101W. Undergraduate Seminar: Applications in Literary Theory and Criticism for Creative Writing. 4 Units.

Readings in literature, with discussions and written rhetorical responses on their making.

Prerequisite: ( WRITING 30 or WRITING 31 ) and ( WRITING 90 or WRITING 91 ) and ( WRITING 30 or WRITING 31 or WRITING 90 or WRITING 91 or ENGLISH 16 or ENGLISH 17 ). Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.

Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.

WRITING 110. Short Story Writing. 4 Units.

Three-hour workshop in short fiction; discussion of student writing and of relevant literary texts.

WRITING 111. Poetry Writing. 4 Units.

Three-hour advanced poetry writing workshop; discussion of student writing and of relevant literary texts.

WRITING 113. Novel Writing. 4 Units.

Three-hour advanced workshop in fiction writing; discussion of student writing and of relevant literary texts.

WRITING 139W. Advanced Expository Writing. 4 Units.

Study of rhetoric, disciplinary genres, and modes of knowledge production; practice in writing effective prose. Essays of varying lengths, totaling at least 4,000 words.

Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.

Restriction: Upper-division students only.

WRITING 197. Writing Internship . 2-4 Units.

Internships focused on writing. In consultation with a faculty advisor, students create a course from response essays, research essays, and assessment project data. Internships may include editing and publication projects, supervised teaching and tutoring assignments, community literacy projects.

Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of the lower-division writing requirement.

Grading Option: Pass/no pass only.

Repeatability: May be taken for credit 3 times.

WRITING 250A. Graduate Writers' Workshop (Fiction). 4 Units.

Graduate fiction workshop open to students enrolled in the MFA program in Writing.

Grading Option: Satisfactory/unsatisfactory only.

Restriction: Graduate students only.

WRITING 250B. Graduate Writers' Workshop (Fiction). 4 Units.

WRITING 250C. Graduate Writers' Workshop (Poetry). 8 Units.

Graduate poetry workshop open to students enrolled in the M.F.A. Programs in Writing.

WRITING 251A. Writing in Conference (Fiction). 4 Units.

WRITING 251B. Writing in Conference (Fiction). 4 Units.

WRITING 251C. Writing in Conference (Poetry). 8 Units.

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

2023-2024 Catalogue

A PDF of the entire 2023-2024 catalogue.

University of California Irvine

Irvine , CA

http://www.humanities.uci.edu/english/programs/mfa.php

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length, financial aid.

Financial assistance for students in the Program is available in the form of Tuition Fellowships (for out-of-state students) and Teaching Assistantships. All students are supported equally, to foster an atmosphere of community not competition.

Teaching opportunities

Teaching is part of the program

• Andrew Altschul MFA (Fiction) 1997
• Ramona Ausubel MFA (Fiction) 2008
• Jen Beagin MFA
• Aimee Bender MFA 1997
• Abbie J. Bergdale MFA
• L. Annette Binder MFA 2011
• Belle Boggs MFA (Fiction) 2002
• Michael Chabon MFA (Fiction) 1987
• Joshua Ferris MFA (Fiction) 2003
• Richard Ford MFA (Fiction) 1970
• Elton Glaser MFA (Poetry) 1972
• Glen David Gold MFA
• Barbara Haas MFA (Fiction)
• David Hernandez MFA (Poetry) 2009
• Karen Holmberg MFA (Poetry) 1995
• Garrett Hongo MFA (Poetry) 1980
• Michael Jaime-Becerra MFA (Fiction) 2001
• Louis B. Jones MFA (Fiction) 1989
• Elizabeth Kadetsky MFA
• Tim Keppel MFA (Fiction) 1981
• Yusef Komunyakaa MFA (Poetry) 1980
• Michelle Latiolais MFA (Fiction/Poetry) 1988
• Leila Mansouri MFA (Fiction)
• Maile Meloy MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Aaron Steven Miller MFA 2006
• Janice Obuchowski MFA (Fiction) 2010
• Ismet Prcic MFA
• Doug Ramspeck MFA (Fiction) 1978
• Amanda Rea MFA
• Sherod Santos MFA
• Patty Seyburn MFA (Poetry)
• Matt Sumell MFA
• Grace Talusan MFA
• Héctor Tobar MFA (Fiction)
• Katherine Vaz MFA (Fiction)
• Connie Voisine MFA
• Allison Benis White MFA (Poetry) 1999

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

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

Jump to navigation Skip to content

Search form

• P&W on Facebook
• P&W on Twitter
• P&W on Instagram

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.

Find a home for your poems, stories, essays, and reviews by researching the publications vetted by our editorial staff. In the Literary Magazines database you’ll find editorial policies, submission guidelines, contact information—everything you need to know before submitting your work to the publications that share your vision for your work.

Whether you’re pursuing the publication of your first book or your fifth, use the Small Presses database to research potential publishers, including submission guidelines, tips from the editors, contact information, and more.

Research more than one hundred agents who represent poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, plus details about the kinds of books they’re interested in representing, their clients, and the best way to contact them.

Every week a new publishing professional shares advice, anecdotes, insights, and new ways of thinking about writing and the business of books.

Find publishers ready to read your work now with our Open Reading Periods page, a continually updated resource listing all the literary magazines and small presses currently open for submissions.

Since our founding in 1970, Poets & Writers has served as an information clearinghouse of all matters related to writing. While the range of inquiries has been broad, common themes have emerged over time. Our Top Topics for Writers addresses the most popular and pressing issues, including literary agents, copyright, MFA programs, and self-publishing.

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.

Find a home for your work by consulting our searchable databases of writing contests, literary magazines, small presses, literary agents, and more.

Poets & Writers lists readings, workshops, and other literary events held in cities across the country. Whether you are an author on book tour or the curator of a reading series, the Literary Events Calendar can help you find your audience.

Get the Word Out is a new publicity incubator for debut fiction writers and poets.

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.

Let the world know about your work by posting your events on our literary events calendar, apply to be included in our directory of writers, and more.

Find a writers group to join or create your own with Poets & Writers Groups. Everything you need to connect, communicate, and collaborate with other poets and writers—all in one place.

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.

Whether you are looking to meet up with fellow writers, agents, and editors, or trying to find the perfect environment to fuel your writing practice, the Conferences & Residencies is the essential resource for information about well over three hundred writing conferences, writers residencies, and literary festivals around the world.

Discover historical sites, independent bookstores, literary archives, writing centers, and writers spaces in cities across the country using the Literary Places database—the best starting point for any literary journey, whether it’s for research or inspiration.

Search for jobs in education, publishing, the arts, and more within our free, frequently updated job listings for writers and poets.

Establish new connections and enjoy the company of your peers using our searchable databases of MFA programs and writers retreats, apply to be included in our directory of writers, and more.

• Register for Classes

Each year the Readings & Workshops program provides support to hundreds of writers participating in literary readings and conducting writing workshops. Learn more about this program, our special events, projects, and supporters, and how to contact us.

The Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award introduces emerging writers to the New York City literary community, providing them with a network for professional advancement.

Find information about how Poets & Writers provides support to hundreds of writers participating in literary readings and conducting writing workshops.

Bring the literary world to your door—at half the newsstand price. Available in print and digital editions, Poets & Writers Magazine is a must-have for writers who are serious about their craft.

View the contents and read select essays, articles, interviews, and profiles from the current issue of the award-winning Poets & Writers Magazine .

Read essays, articles, interviews, profiles, and other select content from Poets & Writers Magazine as well as Online Exclusives.

View the covers and contents of every issue of Poets & Writers Magazine , from the current edition all the way back to the first black-and-white issue in 1987.

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.

In our weekly series of craft essays, some of the best and brightest minds in contemporary literature explore their craft in compact form, articulating their thoughts about creative obsessions and curiosities in a working notebook of lessons about the art of writing.

The Time Is Now offers weekly writing prompts in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. Sign up to get The Time Is Now, as well as a weekly book recommendation for guidance and inspiration, delivered to your inbox.

Every week a new author shares books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired and shaped the creative process.

Listen to original audio recordings of authors featured in Poets & Writers Magazine . Browse the archive of more than 400 author readings.

Ads in Poets & Writers Magazine and on pw.org are the best ways to reach a readership of serious poets and literary prose writers. Our audience trusts our editorial content and looks to it, and to relevant advertising, for information and guidance.

Start, renew, or give a subscription to Poets & Writers Magazine ; change your address; check your account; pay your bill; report a missed issue; contact us.

Peruse paid listings of writing contests, conferences, workshops, editing services, calls for submissions, and more.

Poets & Writers is pleased to provide free subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine to award-winning young writers and to high school creative writing teachers for use in their classrooms.

Read select articles from the award-winning magazine and consult the most comprehensive listing of literary grants and awards, deadlines, and prizewinners available in print.

• Subscribe Now

University of California, Irvine

• Printable Version
• Log in to Send
• Log in to Save

MFA Program

Poetry: Natalie Shapero, Monica Youn Fiction: Michelle Latiolais, Claire Vaye Watkins

The program is fully funded through teaching assistantships and tuition fellowships.

This program features the MFA Reading Series.

The application deadline for the program in fiction is December 13. The application deadline for the program in poetry is January 17.

• UC Berkeley
• Letters & Science

Creative Writing Minor

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

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

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

Creative Writing graduate programs

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

Announcements

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

Department of Creative Writing

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

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

Give to Creative Writing Department

Announcements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Employment Opportunities

None at this time.

Statement of Solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander Community

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

To take action:

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

To learn more:

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

Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

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

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

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

Recognition of Native Lands Statement

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

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

Download UCR Native American Student Programs Land Statement

Faculty Publications

Writers Week

MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts

World-Renowned Faculty & Excellent Funding Opportunities

Recognition of Native Lands Statement

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

In the spirit of Rupert and Jeanette Costo’s founding relationship to our campus, we would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water and air: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present and future. Today this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands.

Department of English

You are here

Mfa in creative writing.

Our innovative MFA program includes both studio instruction and literature courses. Writers can take workshop courses in any genre, and they can write a thesis in fiction, nonfiction, poetry or “hybrid” (multi-genre) form. In the second year, they teach popular Creative Writing courses to Davis undergraduates under faculty supervision, gaining valuable experience and sharing their insight  and enthusiasm with beginning practitioners.

Questions? Contact: [email protected]   (530) 752-2281

Admissions and Online Application

Events, Prizes, and Resources

At UC Davis, we offer you the ability to fund your MFA. In fact, all students admitted to the program are guaranteed full funding in the second year of study, when students serve as teachers of Introduction to Creative Writing (English 5) and receive, in exchange, tuition and health insurance remission as well as a monthly stipend (second year students who come to Davis from out of state are expected to establish residency during their first year). We have a more limited amount of resources – teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and out of state tuition wavers – allocated to us for first year students, but in recent years, we’ve had excellent luck funding our accepted first years. We help students who do not receive English department funding help themselves by posting job announcements from other departments during the spring and summer leading up to their arrival. We are proud to say that over the course of the last twenty years, nearly every incoming student has wound up with at least partial funding (including a tuition waiver and health insurance coverage) by the time classes begin in the fall.

We have other resources for students, too – like the Miller Fund, which supports attendance for our writers at any single writer’s workshop or conference. Students have used these funds to attend well-known conferences like AWP, Writing By Writers, and the Tin House Conference. The Davis Humanities Institute offers a fellowship that first year students can apply for to fund their writing projects. Admitted students are also considered for University-wide fellowships.

Cost of Attendance

The M.F.A. at Davis is a two-year program on the quarter system (our academic year consists of three sessions of ten-week courses that run from the end of September until mid-June). The program includes classes and a thesis project. It requires diverse, multidisciplinary study and offers excellent mentorship.

Writers concentrate in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or “hybrid” (multi-genre) forms. They take at least four graduate workshops, and they’re required to take one workshop outside their primary genre (many of our students choose to take even more). Writers at Davis also take graduate courses in literature from abundant options, including the program’s Seminars for Writers. Writers can also take graduate courses in literary study taught by scholars in the English Department. And many of our writers enroll in courses relevant to their work in other departments like art history, comparative literature, linguistics, and performance studies.

At the end of the first year, writers form a thesis committee with a Director and two additional readers from the faculty. In the second year, writers at Davis concentrate on Individual Study units with these mentors, working closely with their committee to create a book-length creative work. Writers present their projects at intimate, intense, celebratory defense in May with all members of their committee in attendance.

We’re a new MFA, but we’ve been a successful and respected Creative Writing Program since 1975—a “sleeper” program, as one guide to MFA programs called us. The people who founded the CW program at UC Davis were all lovers and teachers of literature, and chose to call the program an MA, rather than an MFA because they wanted to ensure that the degree would not be seen as a “studio” degree but one in which the study of literature was integral.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s, most often under the leadership of Jack Hicks and Alan Williamson, the program emphasized writing on the American West and the wilderness. Our high profile faculty included Sandra McPherson, Gary Snyder, Sandra Gilbert, Clarence Major, Katherine Vaz, Elizabeth Tallent, Max Byrd, and Louis Owens.

We also created an introductory sequence of workshops taught by graduate students, which has become one of the highlights of the program for the second years who teach the courses and the undergraduates who take them. There’s more to teaching these courses than learning to teach; teaching helps our writers understand their own writing in ways that no other aspect of a writing program can do. Pam Houston joined the program in the early 2000’s and she led a faculty that included Lynn Freed and Yiyun Li. As an MFA, we remain a place that values sustained literary study as core to the making of art, but we’re also allowing our vision of genre to expand and embrace the other arts and media.

The town of Davis began as "Davisville," a small stop on the Southern Pacific railway between Sacramento and the Bay Area.  Some of our graduate students choose to live in Sacramento or the Bay Area, making use of the commute-by-train option, which is still very much in place.  For those commuting by car, Davis is a 15-25 minute drive from Sacramento and a 60-90 minute drive from the Bay Area.

Students also choose to live in Davis itself, which CNN once ranked the second most educated city in the US.  Davis is a college town of about 75,000 people. Orchards, farms and ranches border it on all sides. The town boasts a legendary twice-weekly farmers market (complete with delicious food trucks and live music). Bike and walking paths lead everywhere (many students prefer not to own a car while they are here) and there are copious amounts of planned green space in every subdivision. The flatness of the land makes Davis ideal for biking, and the city over the past 5 decades has installed bike lanes and bike racks all over town. In fact, in 2006,  Bicycling Magazine , in its compilation of "America's Best Biking Cities," named Davis the best small town for cycling. Packed with coffee houses, bookstores, and restaurants that serve cuisine from every continent, Downtown Davis has a casual vibe. It’s a great place to hole up and write. Davis is filled with hard wood trees, and flower and vegetable gardens, and wild ducks and turkeys walk the campus as if they own the place. It’s a gentle place to live. Although summers get quite hot, the other three seasons are mild, and each, in their own way, quite beautiful. For more about the town, check out the Davis Wikipedia page .

Woodland and Winters, two small towns close by to Davis, are also options for housing—and they’re good options for those who are not so desirous of the college town scene.  Yet another option is to live in the scenic rural areas Davis is surrounded by.

To the west of Davis, Lake Berryessa and the Napa valley are close by.  To the east, the Sierra mountains are close by; Reno and Tahoe are just a couple hours drive in that direction. 

Creative Writing

Contact creative writing.

400 Humanities Gateway Irvine, CA 92697

See the humanities in action

Copyright © 2023 UC Regents. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy

click here to read it now

Read this week's magazine

What You Won’t Learn in an MFA

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

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

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

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

Getting published

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

Contracting

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

Writing to market

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

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

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

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

• You are a subscriber but you have not yet set up your account for premium online access. Contact customer service (see details below) to add your preferred email address and password to your account.
• You forgot your password and you need to retrieve it. Click here to retrieve reset your password.
• Your company has a site license, use our easy login. Enter your work email address in the Site License Portal.

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

Credit Hours

View Courses

100% online, 8-week courses

Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Choose Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing?

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

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

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

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

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

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

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

Potential Career Opportunities

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

Featured Courses

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

Degree Information

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

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

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

• Tuition & Aid

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

All Tuition & Fees

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Financial Aid Forms & Eligibility

Scholarship Opportunities

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

Admission requirements.

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

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

Preliminary Acceptance

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

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

Dual Enrollment

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

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

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

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

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

Official College Transcript Policy

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

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

Admissions Office Contact Information

(800) 424-9596

(888) 301-3577

Email for Questions

[email protected]

Email for Documents

[email protected]

Liberty University Online Admissions Verification

1971 University Blvd.

Lynchburg, VA 24515

Ready to Apply?

Submit your application online or over the phone.

Apply by phone: (800) 424-9595

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

Who May Qualify?

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

Available Benefits:

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

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

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

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

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

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

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

Inner Navigation

• Why Choose Liberty?
• What Will You Study?
• Admission Information

Have questions?

Are you ready to change your future?

Apply FREE This Week*

Request Information

*Some restrictions may occur for this promotion to apply. This promotion also excludes active faculty and staff, military, non-degree-seeking, DGIA, Continuing Education, WSB, and certificate students.

Request Information About a Program

Request info about liberty university online, what program are you interested in, choose a program level.

Choose a program level

Bachelor’s

Master’s

Certificate

Select a Field of Study

Select a field of study

Select a Program

Select a program

Next: Contact Info

Legal full name.

Enter legal full name

Legal Last Name

Enter legal last name

Enter an email address

Enter a phone number

Full Address

Enter an address

Apt., P.O. Box, or can’t find your address? Enter it manually instead .

Select a Country

Street Address

Enter Street Address

Enter State

ZIP/Postal Code

Enter Zip Code

Back to automated address search

Start my application now for FREE