nyu creative writing mfa curriculum

Creative Writing in Spanish (MFA)

Program description.

Due to its location in New York City, home to an important and diverse Latino and Latin American community, NYU is uniquely situated to offer a graduate Creative Writing Program in Spanish. New York has been a meeting point for Spanish and Latin American writers and journalists since the 19th century and a home to many of them. José Martí (Cuba), Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Federico García Lorca (Spain), Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico), Francisco Ayala (Spain), Pedro Pietri (Puerto Rico), Manuel Ramos Otero (Puerto Rico), Manuel Puig (Argentina), and Reinaldo Arenas (Cuba), among many others, have in the past either settled in New York or spent extended periods of time there.

The end of the 20th century has seen this community of writers grow considerably both in visibility and cultural significance. Nowadays many Spanish and Latin American writers, such as Carmen Boullosa (Mexico), Cecilia Vicuña (Chile), Eduardo Lago (Spain), Mercedes Roffé (Argentina), and Roger Santiváñez (Peru) make of New York their temporary or permanent home.

Dada su ubicación privilegiada—la ciudad alberga a numerosas y diversas comunidades latinoamericanas—New York University es el lugar ideal para cursar un programa de escritura creativa en español. Desde el siglo XIX Nueva York viene atrayendo a escritores y periodistas españoles y latinoamericanos, y ha sido lugar de residencia de muchos de ellos. José Martí (Cuba), Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Federico García Lorca (España), Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico), Francisco Ayala (España), Pedro Pietri (Puerto Rico), Manuel Ramos Otero (Puerto Rico), Manuel Puig (Argentina) y Reinaldo Arenas (Cuba), entre otros, vivieron en Nueva York o pasaron allí largas temporadas.

Esta comunidad de escritores ha aumentado considerablemente a lo largo del siglo veinte. Hoy son muchos los escritores hispanos que residen en esta ciudad o que alternan largas permanencias en ella con regresos a sus respectivos países, como Carmen Boullosa (México), Cecilia Vicuña (Chile), Eduardo Lago (España), Mercedes Roffé (Argentina), o Roger Santiváñez (Perú), para nombrar sólo algunos.

All applicants to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) are required to submit the  general application requirements , which include:

• Academic Transcripts
• Test Scores  (if required)
• Applicant Statements
• Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
• Letters of Recommendation , and
• A non-refundable  application fee .

See Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures for admission requirements and instructions specific to this program.

Program Requirements

Master of fine arts thesis.

This program is a two-year program of 32 credits (i.e., eight courses, two per semester) and a creative writing thesis at the end. Workshops will be offered in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, theater, and translation. Additional workshops will be added to the program as needed.

At least two in the field in which the student plans to specialize.

May be in the Creative Writing Program, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, or in another department, with an adviser’s approval.

Additional Program Requirements

Students will also write a thesis with the counsel of a faculty member and a second reader at the second year of their course of study. Students write this final independent project consisting of between 50-80 pages for prose, 40-50 pages for theater or translation (including source and target languages), 30 pages for poetry. This final project may include, or may be an expansion of work begun during previous courses, but it should represent a culminating effort to shape stories, prose pieces, a long narrative, a literary translation or a group of poems into a coherent, self-sufficient work.

Sample Plan of Study

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:

• Learn to write, read, and revise creative pieces including the following genres and forms: Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Theater, Literary Translation, Film Script, Hybrid Writing, Digital Writing. They will become proficient in copy-editing and style editing.
• Gain expertise in selection and organization of materials, and virtually proofreading, copy editing and style editing of literary texts submitted by participating as Committee Members and/or Board Members in the layout and contents supervision of Temporales , our MFA online magazine.
• Be able to teach Language courses in Spanish, including elementary and intermediate levels.
• Be able to study and revise the literary traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as that of Spain, and the USA, including those written and performed in Spanish, English and Spanglish.

NYU Policies

Graduate school of arts and science policies.

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

Academic Policies for the Graduate School of Arts and Science can be found on the Academic Policies page . 

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

• Become A Member
• Remember Me      Forgot Password?
• CANCEL Login

Association of Writers & Writing Programs

• Writing Programs & Pedagogy
• Community & Calendar
• Magazine & Media
• AWP Conference
• Writers' Conferences & Centers
• Guide to Writing Programs

• Advice Articles
• Campus Visit Video Series

NYU Creative Writing Program

New york, united states.

The Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University has distinguished itself for more than three decades as a leading national center for the study of literature and writing. The program enables students to develop their craft while working closely with some of today's finest poets and writers. Students also have an opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain, benefiting from the extensive cultural resources of the University and New York City.

Each year the faculty selects a talented group of writers and offers them rigorous and supportive teaching. Most candidates take one workshop and one other course each semester and complete the program in two years; only one writing workshop may be taken per semester. In the final semester, students present a creative thesis consisting of a substantial body of finished work in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.

The NYU Creative Writing program provides an environment which enables students to work seriously at their craft and, through outreach programs, the literary journal Washington Square, and public readings, bring the art of writing to the larger community of New York City. This is a serious community of writers engaged in an exceptional program of study.

Washington Square is the literary review of New York University's Graduate Creative Writing Program. A biannual literary magazine, it is staffed and edited by CWP students. It includes work by established writers as well as NYU alumni. It sponsors a student reading series open to the public and enables students to experience working on a literary magazine in all phases of its production.

NYU's Creative Writing Program offers a prestigious literary reading series, free and open to the public. (Support is provided by NY Community Trust, the NY State Council on the Arts, Poets & Writers, Inc., Poetry Society of America, the NYU Book Center, and many more.) Guest writers are invited to meet informally with students during their visits. Recent guests have included André Aciman, Kaveh Akbar, Donald Antrim, Amy Bloom, Jericho Brown, Anne Carson, Alexander Chee, Susan Choi, Sandra Cisneros, Lydia Davis, Stuart Dybek, Mark Doty, Deborah Eisenberg, Melissa Febos, Joshua Ferris, Rivka Galchen, Jorie Graham, Terrance Hayes, Marie Howe, Etgar Keret, Maxine Hong Kingston, Rachel Kushner, Dorothea Lasky, Victor LaValle, Kiese Laymon, Jonathan Lethem, Sam Lipsyte, Patricia Lockwood, Layli Long Soldier, Carmen Maria Machado, James McBride, Dinaw Mengestu, Claire Messud, Lorrie Moore, Eileen Myles, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharon Olds, Morgan Parker, Carl Phillips, Claudia Rankine, Karen Russell, Tracy K. Smith, Gary Shteyngart, Edmund White, and Colson Whitehead.

Students may apply for fellowships that involve teaching in literary outreach programs. These programs, which have become national models for excellence in literary outreach, include The Starworks Fellowship Program, The Goldwater Writing Workshop, and the Veterans Writing Workshop.

Contact Information

58 West 10th Street Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House New York New York, United States 10011 Phone: 2129988816 Email: [email protected] https://as.nyu.edu/cwp.html

Minor / Concentration in Creative Writing +

Undergraduate program director.

The Minor in Creative Writing offers undergraduates the opportunity to hone their skills while exploring the full range of literary genres including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The Minor is a sixteen-point credit load consisting of three to four creative writing courses. V39.0815 Creative Writing: Introduction to Fiction & Poetry (or V39.9815 Creative Writing, or equivalent) is generally the foundational course, to be followed by twelve additional points in the form of three higher-level workshops (Intermediate/Advanced/Master Class; four points each) or one higher-level workshop combined with one of our summer intensives (Writers in New York or Writers in Paris; eight points each).

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing +

Graduate program director.

The Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University has distinguished itself for more than two decades as a leading national center for the study of literature and writing. The program enables students to develop their craft while working closely with some of today's finest poets and writers. Students also have an opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain, benefiting from the extensive cultural resources of the University and New York City.

Washington Square Review is the literary review of New York University's Graduate Creative Writing Program. A biannual literary magazine, it is staffed and edited by CWP students. It includes work by established writers as well as NYU alumni. It sponsors a student reading series open to the public and enables students to experience working on a literary magazine in all phases of its production.

NYU's Creative Writing Program offers a prestigious literary reading series, free and open to the public. (Support is provided by NY Community Trust, the NY State Council on the Arts, Poets & Writers, Inc., the NYU Book Center, and many more.) Guest writers are invited to meet informally with students during their visits. Recent guests have included Andre Aciman, Fred Moten, Claire Messud, Carl Phillips, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Ladan Osman, Jenny Offill, Susan Choi, Khaled Mattawa, Layli Long Soldier, Chang rae-Lee, Curtis Sittenfeld, Pamela Sneed, Patricia Lockwood, Melissa Febos, Rachel Cusk, Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, Eliot Weinberger, Douglas Kearney, Kaveh Akbar, and Maggie Nelson, among many others.

Sharon Olds

Sharon Olds is a previous director of the Creative Writing Program at NYU. Her first book of poetry, Satan Says, received the San Francisco Poetry Center Award. Her second book, The Dead and the Living, was both the Lamont Poetry Selection for 1983 and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of The Gold Cell; The Father; The Wellspring; Blood, Tin, Straw; The Unswept Room; Strike Sparks: Selected Poems, 1980- 2002; One Secret Thing; Odes; and most recently, Arias, which was a finalist for the T.S. Eliot Prize. In 2012, her collection Stag's Leap was awarded the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. She received a Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Grant in 1993, part of which was designated for the NYU workshop program at Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island. In 1997, she received the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award. From 1998-2000 she was the New York State Poet Laureate. Professor Olds holds the Erich Maria Remarque Professorship at NYU.

https://as.nyu.edu/cwp/graduate/faculty.html

Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her first novel, White Teeth, was the winner of The Whitbread First Novel Award, The Guardian First Book Award, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and The Commonwealth Writers' First Book Award. Her second novel, The Autograph Man, won The Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize. Zadie Smith's third novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won The Commonwealth Writers' Best Book Award (Eurasia Section) and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, Swing Time, was published in 2016. She is the editor of an anthology of short stories entitled The Book Of Other People and has published several collections of short stories including Martha and Hanwell (2005), and Grand Union (2019), as well as several collections of essays including Changing My Mind (2009), Feel Free: Essays (2018), and the most recent Intimations: Six Essays (2020). She was formerly the New Books columnist for Harper's Magazine. Zadie Smith is a graduate of Cambridge University and has taught at Harvard and Columbia universities. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She became a tenured professor of fiction at NYU in 2010.

Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the bestselling novel Everything Is Illuminated, named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and the winner of numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Prize. His other novels include Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and, most recently, Here I Am. He is also the author of the nonfiction books, Eating Animals, and We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (2019). Foer was one of Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" and Esquire's "Best and Brightest,” and was included in The New Yorker magazine's "20 Under 40" list of writers. He lives in Brooklyn.

Matthew Rohrer

Matthew Rohrer is the author of The Sky Contains the Plans (Wave Books, 2020), The Others (Wave Books, 2017), which was the winner of the 2017 Believer Book Award, Surrounded by Friends (Wave Books, 2015), Destroyer and Preserver (Wave Books, 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), Rise Up (Wave Books, 2007) and A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Satellite (Verse Press, 2001), and co-author, with Joshua Beckman, of Nice Hat. Thanks. (Verse Press, 2002), and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. With Joshua Beckman and Anthony McCann he wrote the secret book Gentle Reader! It is not for sale. Octopus Books published his action/adventure chapbook-length poem They All Seemed Asleep in 2008. His first book, A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver in 1994.

His poems have been widely anthologized and have appeared in many journals. He's received the Hopwood Award for poetry and a Pushcart prize, and was selected as a National Poetry Series winner, and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. Recently he has participated in residencies/ performances at the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle).

Matthew Rohrer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was raised in Oklahoma, and attended universities in Ann Arbor, Dublin, and Iowa City. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at NYU and lives in Brooklyn.

Darin Strauss

Darin Strauss is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Chang and Eng, The Real McCoy, More Than it Hurts You, the NBCC-winning memoir, Half a Life, the comic-book series, Olivia Twist, and most recently the acclaimed novel, The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story (Random House, 2020). A recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Library Association Award, and numerous other prizes, Strauss has written screenplays for Disney, Gary Oldman, and Julie Taymor. His work has been translated into fourteen languages and published in nineteen countries, and he is a Clinical Professor at the NYU Creative Writing Program.

Deborah Landau

Deborah Landau (Director) is the author of four collections of poetry: Soft Targets (winner of the 2019 Believer Book Award), The Uses of the Body and The Last Usable Hour, all Lannan Literary Selections from Copper Canyon Press, and Orchidelirium, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize for Poetry. Her other awards include a Jacob K Javits Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Uses of the Body was featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and included on "Best of 2015" lists by The New Yorker, Vogue, BuzzFeed, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others. A Spanish edition was published by Valparaiso Edici?ones in 2017. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, and The Best American Poetry, and included in anthologies such as Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now, Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation, Not for Mothers Only, The Best American Erotic Poems, and Women's Work: Modern Poets Writing in English. Landau was educated at Stanford University, Columbia University, and Brown University, where she received a Ph.D. in English and American Literature. She is a professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

The Uses of the Body was featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and included on "Best of 2015" lists by The New Yorker, Vogue BuzzFeed, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others. A Spanish edition is forthcoming from Valparaiso Ediciones.

Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Tin House, Poetry, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, selected for The Best American Poetry, and included in anthologies such as Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation, Not for Mothers Only, The Best American Erotic Poems, and Women's Work: Modern Poets Writing in English.

Landau was educated at Stanford University, Columbia University, and Brown University, where she was a Javits Fellow and received a Ph.D. in English and American Literature. She teaches in and directs the Creative Writing Program at New York University, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, sons, and daughter.

Nathan Englander

Nathan Englander's most recent novel is kaddish.com. He is also the author of the Dinner at the Center of the Earth, the collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, as well as the internationally bestselling story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, and the novel The Ministry of Special Cases (all published by Knopf/Vintage). He was the 2012 recipient of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for What We Talk About. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, Vogue, and Esquire, among other places. His work has been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories and numerous editions of The Best American Short Stories, including 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. Translated into twenty-two languages, Englander was selected as one of “20 Writers for the 21st Century” by The New Yorker, received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Malamud Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He’s been a fellow at the Dorothy & Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, and at The American Academy of Berlin. In 2012 Englander's translation of the New American Haggadah (edited by Jonathan Safran Foer) was published by Little Brown. He also co-translated Etgar Keret's Suddenly A Knock at the Door and Fly Already, published by FSG. His play The Twenty-Seventh Man premiered at the Public Theater in 2012, and his new play, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, winner of a 2019 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and the 2020 Blanche and Irving Laurie Theatre Visions Fund Prize, was commissioned by Lincoln Center Theater and was supposed to be running at The Old Globe in San Diego right now—sigh. He is Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University and lives with his family in Toronto.

Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes’s most recent publications include American Sonnets for My Past And Future Assassin (Penguin 2018) and To Float In The Space Between: Drawings and Essays in Conversation with Etheridge Knight (Wave, 2018). To Float In The Space Between was winner of the Poetry Foundation’s 2019 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism and a finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. American Sonnets for My Past And Future Assassin won the Hurston/Wright 2019 Award for Poetry and was a finalist the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, the 2018 National Book Award in Poetry, the 2018 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry, and the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Hayes is a Professor of English at New York University.

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She has published numerous essays and memoirs, novellas, plays, children's and young adult fiction, and dozens of works of short fiction, poetry, and fiction, including We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde (a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize), as well as the New York Times bestsellers The Falls (winner of the 2005 Prix Femina Etranger) and The Gravedigger’s Daughter, A Book of American Martyrs, and the most recent, Hazards of Time Travel, My Life as a Rat, and Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. Her most recent works, published with HarperCollins, include the poetry collection American Melancholy (2021) and a collection of stories The (Other) You (2021). Her next novel Breathe will be published in August 2021. In 2013, she received the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection for Black Dahlia and White Swan. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Catherine Barnett

Catherine Barnett is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, and a Pushcart Prize. Her most recent collection, Human Hours, was published in 2018 by Graywolf Press and received the Believer Book Award in Poetry. She is also the author of Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced (Alice James Books, 2004), winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award, and The Game of Boxes (Graywolf Press, 2012), which received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets for an outstanding second book. Barnett has taught at Barnard, Princeton, and Hunter, and is currently a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU.

Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published to major acclaim in 1993. It has been translated into thirty-four languages and made into a feature film. In 2003, Eugenides received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002). Middlesex also won the WELT-Literaturpreis of Germany and the Great Lakes Book Award, and it was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, France’s Prix Medici, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His third novel, The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011), was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and was named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Republic, Publisher's Weekly, and numerous other publications. His latest book, the story collection Fresh Complaint (FSG, 2017), was a New York Times Notable Book of 2017, and was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, The Guardian, NPR, and others. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Yale Review, Best American Short Stories, The Gettysburg Review, and Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists.” Eugenides is the recipient of many awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and the Henry D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018. He taught creative writing at Princeton for many years before joining the NYU Creative Writing Program as a tenured full professor and the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters. Eugenides has been inducted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters and The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

http://as.nyu.edu/cwp/graduate/Faculty1.html

Katie Kitamura

Katie Kitamura’s most recent novel is Intimacies. Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award, it is a Barack Obama Summer Reading selection and a New York Times Editors’ choice. Her third novel, A Separation, was a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the Premio von Rezzori. She is also the author of Gone To The Forest and The Longshot, both finalists for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award. Her work has been translated into nineteen languages and is being adapted for film and television. A recipient of fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and Santa Maddalena, Katie has written for publications including The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times, The Guardian, Granta, BOMB, Triple Canopy, and Frieze. She teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.

Hari Kunzru

Hari Kunzru is a Clinical Professor in the Creative Writing Program. He holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Oxford University and an MA in Philosophy and Literature from Warwick University. He is the author of five novels, including White Tears, a finalist for the PEN Jean Stein Award, the Kirkus Prize, the Folio Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, One Book New York, the Prix du Livre Inter étranger, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His latest novel Red Pill was published in 2020 by Knopf. He is also the author of The Impressionist, Transmission, My Revolutions, Gods Without Men and a short story collection, Noise. His novella Memory Palace was presented as an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2013. His work has been translated into over twenty languages. His short stories and essays have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Guardian, New York Review of Books, Granta, Bookforum, October and Frieze. He has written screenplays, radio drama, and experimental work using field recordings and voice-to-text software. He has taught at Hunter College and Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. He has been a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. He is a past deputy president of English PEN, a judge for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize and has been a frequent presenter, interviewer and guest on television and radio.

Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine is a recipient of the 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, and the author of six collections including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; three plays including HELP, which premiered in March of 2020 at The Shed, NYC, and The White Card, and the editor of several anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind. She also co-produces a video series, “The Situation,” alongside John Lucas, and is the founder of the Open Letter Project: Race and the Creative Imagination. In 2016, she co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII). In addition to the MacArthur, her numerous awards and honors include the Forward Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. Her most recent book is Just Us: An American Conversation (Graywolf, 2020). A Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Claudia Rankine joined the NYU Creative Writing Program as a tenured Professor in Fall 2021.

Publications & Presses +

Washington Square Review

Visiting Writers Program +

Nick Laird, Nadifa Mohamed, Ocean Vuong, Marie-Helene Bertino, Kiran Desai, Alex Dimitrov, Uzodinma Iweala, David Lipsky, Leigh Newman, Idra Novey, Meghan O'Rourke, Julie Orringer, Jana Prikryl, Jess Row, Nicole Sealey, Parul Sehgal, Brandon Taylor, Hannah Tinti, Phillip B. Williams

Reading Series +

NYU Reading Series ( http://as.nyu.edu/cwp/reading-series.html )

Share this page:

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 by AWP. All rights reserved.

• University Home
• Parsons School of Design
• Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
• College of Performing Arts
• The New School for Social Research
• Schools of Public Engagement
• Parsons Paris
• Continuing and Professional Education
• Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment
• School of Media Studies
• Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs
• Creative Writing Program (MFA)
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA)
• Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students

Creative Writing Program

The New School invites you to join a community of diverse writers, become part of New York City’s publishing world, and build a network of support on campus and beyond. Our prestigious MFA Creative Writing program is designed to help you develop your writing in supportive workshops and literature seminars led by an internationally recognized faculty and renowned authors.

books published annually by alumni and faculty

annual writing events, including the National Book Awards Finalist Reading

of admitted MFA students awarded merit-based university scholarships (2020–2021)

MFA in Creative Writing

As an MFA student at The New School, you can choose your concentration—in Arts Writing, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Writing for Children and Young Adults—and receive personalized faculty mentorship and faculty and peer critiques. Innovative courses in publishing and multimedia storytelling engage you in the development of literature. Popular graduate minors include Impact Entrepreneurship and Transmedia and Digital Storytelling . Or you can apply to WriteOn NYC! , a New School–funded fellowship program providing MFA students with high-quality teaching experience in area middle schools and high schools. All students benefit from evening classes and events, which enable them to work or attend responsibilities during the day while enrolled in a  full-time program.

Related Programs

In addition to the renowned MFA in Creative Writing, The New School offers other programs and opportunities for writing students. These include noncredit courses and summer intensives, as well as an undergraduate major in the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students, the Writing and Democracy Honors Program, and undergraduate minors in related fields. Summer Writing Intensive Continuing Education Courses Writing & Democracy Honors Program BA in Creative Writing Undergraduate Creative Writing Courses

• Meet our faculty

The Writer’s Life in NYC

Creative Writing students come to The New School from across the United States and around the world to live the writer's life in New York City. Evenings with agents and editors, offered exclusively for MFA students, provide informal opportunities to meet publishing professionals.

The New School Bookshelf

We are proud to feature books recently published by The New School's Creative Writing community.

Sigrid Nunez, Faculty

Hurricane Child

Kacen callender, mfa '14.

The Impeachers

Brenda wineapple, faculty.

The January Children

Safia elhillo, mfa '15.

Mira Jacob, Faculty and MFA '01

Events & news.

• Bob McKinnon, Parsons Faculty Member, Debuts New Children’s Book
• The Vera List Center for Art and Politics Presents New School New Books Event Series
• Adrian Madlener, History of Design and Curatorial Studies ’18, Explores Design Through Writing and Research
• The Vera List Center for Art and Politics Hosts Reading Room Featuring Faculty Books
• Richard Barone, School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Faculty Member, Debuts New Book about Music Scene in 1960’s Greenwich Village
• New Faculty Achievements from Across The New School Include Fellowships, Grants, and More

Take The Next Step

• Request Info

Submit your application

Undergraduates.

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduate Program

The Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing MFA is a two-year program that trains students in the three mediums of dramatic writing: playwriting, film and episodic writing.

It is the mission of the department to teach students the basics of dramatic storytelling while preparing them for their futures as professional writers. We believe that cross training writers in more than one medium makes them stronger and more flexible writers.

Students in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing MFA program will take core writing classes, text analysis courses, production process courses and pre-professional training courses.

In the first year, all graduate students take introductory writing classes in the three mediums of playwriting, screenwriting and episodic writing. By the end of their first year they will have written two of the following three original, full-length works; a full-length play, a full-length screenplay or a full-length episodic pilot. Students will also take text analysis, production, lab classes and professional training classes that complement the writing classes.

In the second year, students will take advanced writing classes which lead toward a master's thesis (a full-length dramatic work) in one of the three mediums. In addition to the thesis work, students work on a second full-length project in a different medium. Second-year students may also take special seminars, master classes, workshop classes and colloquia in which guest speakers from the industry discuss their own work and current topics in the entertainment business as they relate to writers. Students may take an optional internship for credit, which is encouraged but not required.

SAMPLE SEQUENCE OF COURSES

*Courses in bold are taken in the semester listed. All other courses have flexibility in terms of when they can be completed.

YEAR ONE - FALL

YEAR ONE - SPRING

YEAR TWO - FALL

YEAR TWO - SPRING

Total Credits Required for MFA Program: 65

Writing seminars - 27 credits, graduate playwriting i (required).

This is an introductory class that explores the basic craft and execution of playwriting based in Aristotelean concepts of dramatic structure. The primary goal is to introduce different strategies for creating dramatic conflict and for sustaining the arc of a play through its rising action, climax, and denouement. By experimenting with various tools and ways of thinking about structure, students will develop their own ways of working, their own strategies for creating and revising, and their own personal goals as writers. Many topics will be covered, but the focus will be on the fundamentals.

GRADUATE SCREENWRITING I (REQUIRED)

This is an introductory class that explores the basic craft and execution of feature length screenwriting. The class will focus on the basics of narrative story telling; structure, theme, plot, character development, film language and format. The class is a mix of lectures, workshopping and assigned readings, with emphasis on applying lessons from the lectures and readings to student work.

GRADUATE EPISODIC/TV WRITING I: SPECS (REQUIRED)

Students will write a “spec” episode of an existing series. They will learn how to write a script for both the half-hour and hour-long format, going from premise line to outline to a fully executed draft.. The purpose of this class is to understand how a series functions and how writing the episodic form differs from other dramatic forms.

GRADUATE PLAYWRITING II

This class is designed to expand on and enhance the concepts and techniques learned in Graduate Playwriting I and to encourage writers to engage the work and the world more critically. While traditional playwriting models will be embraced, alternative narrative modes and avant-garde structures will also be introduced, with further attention to developing the playwright’s unique voice and finding the balance between clarity and subtlety. In addition to completing a full-length play of at least 70 pages, each student is required to read class-wide assignments of dramatic texts, as well as individual assignments suggested by the instructor, tailored to the student’s interests and writing style. Students may, with approval of the instructor, choose to complete or rewrite the play they started in Graduate Playwriting I.

GRADUATE SCREENWRITING II

In this class, students will build on what they've learned in Graduate Screenwriting I and apply it to completing an original, full-length screenplay. The course will review the fundamental components of screenplay writing and structure while exploring specific elements of scene, character, dialogue, theme, etc. that apply to feature screenplay writing. Emphasis will be placed on character as the engine of story. This is a workshop class; work will be presented to the class for analysis and discussion throughout the semester.

GRADUATE EPISODIC/TV WRITING II: PILOTS

Students will write an original pilot. In the lecture component of the class, emphasis will be placed on both pilots and the series that emerge from those pilots. Students will be encouraged to think about the arena of the show, the story engine of the series and character goals both in the pilot itself and across a series.

ADVANCED PLAYWRITING (TAKEN AS GOLDBERG MASTERCLASS IN PLAYWRITING)

This is an advanced class for students who are serious about developing their playwriting skills. Initial class sessions will be devoted to a series of writing exercises to generate ideas, play with content, experiment with structure, and discover what and how students most want to write this semester. This class is about risk and experimentation. Students may begin something and throw it out; they should strive to build a play that excites them and feels truthful and vital.

ADVANCED SCREENWRITING

In this class, students will build on their experience of writing a full-length original screenplay in Screenwriting II and repeat the process with a higher expectation for a completed screenplay. They will also be expected to write faster and end the semester with a rewritten draft of their original screenplay. The course will review the fundamental components of screenplay writing and structure while exploring specific elements of scene, character, dialogue, theme, etc. that apply to feature screenplay writing. This is a workshop class; work will be presented to the class for analysis and discussion throughout the semester.

ADVANCED EPISODIC/TV WRITING - SERIES THESIS

Students will come to class with a pilot they’ve written and hope to expand into a full series. They will then write a detailed description of the remainder of the first season, with attention to character arcs, plot mechanics and story goals. The purpose of this class is to teach long-term story and character development while learning how a pilot should establish the components for a successful series.

Thesis in Playwriting

This is a semester-long, comprehensive class where students are expected to utilize all the tools they have developed in the previous three semesters of study to complete an original, full-length work. Students are required to come into this class with a draft of the play, preferably one developed in Advanced Playwriting or Goldberg Masterclass in Playwriting, that they will work on and complete over the course of the semester. Students who did not take Advanced Playwriting/Goldberg Masterclass must come into the class with a full-length play that they have written somewhere else. As much as continuing to work on a full-length play, this class is about developing a rewriting practice; a process for students to assess their own work, determine to what degree the draft matches or does not match their ideal vision for the play, and from there, use that assessment to help devise a plan for how to make their play match their ideal vision. In the course of the semester this class will explore a number of tools to aid that process of assessment and rewriting, including the use of actors and directors in context of developmental readings.

Thesis in Screenwriting

This is a semester-long, comprehensive class where students are expected to utilize all the tools they have developed in the previous three semesters of study to complete an original, full length work. Special attention will be paid to developing dramatic ideas that are viable, structured, and can sustain themselves as full-length work. Students are required to come into this class with a draft of the screenplay, preferably one developed in Advanced Screenwriting, that they will work on and complete over the course of the semester. Students who are not bringing in a screenplay written in Advanced Screenwriting must come into the class with a feature length screenplay that they have written in any other class, or in their free time.

Thesis in Episodic/TV Writing

Students will take what they have learned in previous classes, placing special emphasis on how a pilot generates long-form story and long-term character development, and write a pilot that incorporates all of these elements. They may have the option, at the instructor’s discretion, of writing a later episode of the same series. The goal of this class is for the student to incorporate all they have learned about story generation as well as long-form story and character development into an original work that shows mastery of the form.

TEXT Analysis Courses - 12 Credits

Comedic strategies (required).

This course examines the essential elements of story telling through the analysis of comedy in theater, film and television and beyond. It is a required class for all first year graduate students. It will focus on comedic works in all mediums of comedy starting after the second world war. The class will demonstrate how comedy is a living, evolving thing that reflects where we are as people.  Popular culture is always telling us something; even when it doesn’t know it’s telling us something.  This course will include works from not only theater, film and television , but also literature, stand-up, improv, sketch and music. Texts and examples will be analyzed for character, story, plot, structure, theme and technique.

DRAMATIC STRATEGIES (REQUIRED)

This course examines the essential elements of story telling through the analysis of dramas in theater, film and television. It is a required class for all first year graduate students. Texts from antiquity to the present from each of the three mediums will be read and analyzed for character, story, plot, structure, theme and technique. 

TEXT ANALYSIS ELECTIVE

The text analysis courses are designed to provide a platform for an in-depth study of how the story is presented. The classes will examine an “anthology” of different works, each selected for a different aspect of storytelling, or it will center around a single storyteller’s (or group of storytellers’) work, exploring how the stylistic choices, themes, and dramatic devices reveal themselves within the body of work. The courses are designed to better help students organize their own narratives by analyzing the techniques employed by various writers in constructing their dramatic works. Courses include Film Story Analysis, TV Story Analysis, and Play Story Analysis. Students may also take relevant courses in the Department of Cinema Studies or the Department of Art and Public Policy, by advisement.

Collaboration: Reloaded

The basis of the course is centered on writers, actors, directors and designers working together and learning to communicate with each other under the tutelage of the Public Theatre’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Suzan­-Lori Parks.

PRODUCTION COURSES - 5-6 CREDITS

*Students are required to take Graduate Drama Lab and one production elective, which can be one of the courses below or other production courses within Tisch by advisement.  

GRADUATE DRAMA LAB (REQUIRED)

In this course, actors and writers will work in close collaboration with each other. They will develop a series of pieces for the stage, and some for the screen. These will be short pieces, some done within one session, and longer works where their development runs over weeks of rehearsal. The course will cover various modes of creative collaboration: writer- generated material, actor- generated material, adaptations developed by the group, and everything in-between. Roles will blur. We expect concepts, text, and performance, to some degree, from everyone in the room. The class will be broken down into a number of working “‘theater companies’”, each of which will work together throughout the term on various projects. The class will also function as a whole in developing longer, possibly full- length work. At the end of the semester, there will be a public showing of the best work from the Creation Heavy Industries Theater Lab.

FUNDAMENTALS OF FILMMAKING

This practical workshop is designed to introduce students to the techniques and theory of developing and producing short film ideas that are shot on digital video and edited digitally on computer using FinalCut Pro Software. The course centers on learning elements of visual storytelling through a spectrum of aesthetic approaches. Working in crews of four, students learn directing, shooting, and editing skills as they each direct three short videos (three to five minutes in length). This course is specifically designed to fulfill the major requirements in production of students not majoring in film and therefore, students who need to fulfill this requirement are given registration priority. 

Loving the Living Playwright

This is a production workshop for playwrights, led by The Public Theater's Master Writer and Visiting Arts Professor at the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing, Suzan-Lori Parks.  Each week playwrights will present bare-bones staged readings, excerpts of their previously written work.  Writers will be paired off, with one writer serving as "playwright" and the other serving as "director." Working with professional actors, you'll be strengthening your writing chops by getting your work on its feet for class discussion and feedback. "Playwright" and "Director" pairings will change weekly, giving each writer multiple opportunities to explore the possibilities of their own written work and, through directing, expand their understanding of the writing and production process.  Fun, lively, and encouraging feedback in a loving, rigorous, moshpit, sandbox atmosphere.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING - 2 CREDITS

Students will focus on professional training specific to one of the three mediums of theater, film and episodic TV writing or an otherwise relevant area of career development. Taken in conjunction with the more broad Business of the Business, this class will provide a more in-depth study in a specialized area to better prepare students for professional work in the arts. Recent topics include Teaching Writing, Writing Grants for Theater, Episodic TV Pitching, and Screenplay Pitching.

BUSINESS OF THE BUSINESS

This course is designed to familiarize students with the basics of the business of writing for theater, film and television.  It will include an overview of the theater, film and television industries; from off-Broadway to Broadway theater, independent to studio film, web to network and cable TV. Case studies and examples from across the three mediums will be used to illustrate financing, development, contracts, rights, unions, production and distribution.  The goal of the course is to give writers a basic understanding of what they need to know to navigate the professional world of the writer.

WRITING ELECTIVES - 12 CREDITS

Below are examples of writing electives we have offered in the past. Course offerings change every semester.  

Masterclass in Screenwriting: Scene Study

This class will focus on the art and craft of scene­writing. Students may write new scenes and/or revise existing scenes within the parameters of the class. The class will also include reading, viewing and discussing produced scenes. Students are expected to write at least 6 new and/or revised scenes by the end of the class with a greater understanding of how different kinds of scenes work. 

Masterclass in TV: Animation

This television workshop course takes students step by step through writing their own spec script for an ongoing half­hour animated TV series. The course will focus on adult animated series and on kids’ series. A half­hour animated drama may be allowable. The influence of anime – along with a mandatory anime viewing list – will be considered and discussed.

The course will go from premise line, to 1­-page outline, to pages, through revision and classroom workshop critiquing. Everyone will be expected to complete a full story and a script. In the latter weeks of the class, many students will start an animated pilot breakdown, which may be revised in a high­level TV class such as Advanced or Thesis. 

Writing Workshop: Late Night Comedy Writing

Joke writers aren't allowed to wait until they feel funny. This intensive introduction to the craft of writing topical jokes exposes students to the rigors of producing news­driven jokes and short comedy pieces on demand. Students will be required to keep abreast of the news and come to class prepared to write jokes and desk­pieces on subjects selected by the instructor. They will create material appropriate for different programs and hosts, including Colbert, Stewart, Fallon, Letterman. Occasional guests from late­night comedy shows may critique student work. The goal is to get fast and steady at joke­writing, while compiling a late­night writing packet to be used to seek work in the field. 

WRITING WORKSHOP: SKETCH COMEDY

This course is a sketch-writing workshop that culminates in a production of the work from this class. A survey of sketch genres and approaches will be integrated with writing assignments keyed to those genres. (The Cold Open, Hi-and-Welcome-Back-to-Another-Episode-of…, desk pieces, remotes, The 2-Minute Short Comedy Film, etc.) along with rewrites of your own original sketches: rewrites that will be done both privately and sometimes collaboratively. The goal is for each student to emerge from the class with several polished sketches. For this class, it helps to have a good sense of humor that you want to get even better at putting down on the page. There will be a lot of group critiquing and occasionally group rewriting. So it helps to stop thinking that your first draft is perfect. Because it isn’t. This can be a pretty wild class, so it also helps not to worry about comedy that goes “too far.” The course may be visited by occasional guest professionals. Improv and stand-up will not be ignored.

WRITING WORKSHOP: CHILDRENS' TELEVISION

From superheroes to talking puppets, television aimed at children and teens continues to capture the hearts of boys and girls around the world. How do these series continue to endure, both in a practical and creative sense? This class will explore writing for kids' programs ­ both animation and live­action for different age groups ­ across the genres of action and comedy. Students will analyze series bibles, premises, outlines, and scripts for existing shows, and ultimately develop and complete a spec from concept to script. 

Writing Workshop: Graphic Novel/Comics

Masterclass across mediums: writing the climate change script.

A 2021 study of more than 10,000 people ages 16-25 revealed that “over 50% of the participants felt sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty about climate change.” Meanwhile, The USC-Good Energy Project study on Climate Silence reports that “less than 0.56% of scripted TV and film between 2016 and 2020 mention the term ‘climate change.’ Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools the activist has. Writing the Climate-Change Script is an elective writing course for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in which participants write a script (minimum of 75 pages) for film, television, or theater on a topic related to climate change (e.g., climate science, climate justice, animal endangerment, indigenous knowledge resources, sea level rise, etc.). In addition to their own project, students will engage in text and film/play/television analysis and evaluate and workshop the work of their peers. Greta Thunberg once said, “Hope is taking action.” This course is an opportunity for storytellers to take action.

WRITING WORKSHOP: THEATRICALITY

In this course, we will explore the properties of theatricality with the goal of becoming more stage conscious readers and makers of plays. This is a course about listening to a medium and building stories that take meaningful advantage of that medium’s unique properties. The course is a laboratory for exploring how the stage represents the world which means that you will regularly be called upon to perform, direct and design your own original work.  

GENERAL ELECTIVES - 6-9 CREDITS

Any additional courses including writing electives, production courses, or internship (description below).

Students experience the profession of the dramatist from “the other side of the desk” by working in a professional organization that develops and or produces the work of dramatists. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to complete an internship and can do so for credit at any point after the first semester. An internship packet will be sent out after registering for DWPG-GT 2300.

Creative Writing (MFA)

Program description.

The MFA Program in Creative Writing consists of a vibrant community of writers working together in a setting that is both challenging and supportive. This stimulating environment fosters the development of talented writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The program is not defined by courses alone, but by a life built around writing.

Through innovative literary outreach programs, a distinguished public reading series, an exciting public student reading series, special literary seminars with visiting writers, and the production of a high-quality literary journal, students participate in a dynamic literary community actively engaged in all aspects of the literary arts—writing, reading, teaching, publishing and community outreach. Students also have the opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain; New York University is situated in the heart of Greenwich Village, a part of the city that has always been home to writers.

The MFA in Creative Writing is designed to offer students an opportunity to concentrate intensively on their writing. This program is recommended for students who may want to apply for creative writing positions at colleges and universities, which often require the MFA degree. The MFA program does not have a foreign language requirement.

All applicants to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) are required to submit the  general application requirements , which include:

• Academic Transcripts
• Test Scores  (if required)
• Applicant Statements
• Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
• Letters of Recommendation , and
• A non-refundable  application fee .

See Creative Writing for admission requirements and instructions specific to this program.

Program Requirements

Special project, program information.

Taken in four separate semesters. Students are required to take workshops in the genre in which they were admitted to the program.

Craft courses may be repeated provided they are taught by different instructors.

With the permission of that department and of the director of the CWP. 

Additional Program Requirements

A creative special project in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction consisting of a substantial piece of writing—a novel, a collection of short stories or essays, a memoir, a work of literary nonfiction, or a group of poems—to be submitted in the student’s final semester. The project requires the approval of the student’s faculty adviser and of the director of the CWP.

The MFA degree may also be earned through the Low Residency MFA Writers Workshop in Paris. Under this model, degree requirements remain the same, although Craft courses and Workshops take the form of intensive individualized courses of study with the faculty, including three substantial packet exchanges of student work per semester. All students earning the MFA degree through the low-residency program must also participate in five ten-day residencies in Paris, which involve a diverse series of series of craft talks, lectures, readings, special events, faculty mentorship meetings, and professional development panels.

Sample Plan of Study

Please note : The following is a sample plan of study for a student enrolled in the poetry track. Fiction and creative nonfiction plans of study would parallel the below, substituting the Workshop requirements accordingly (i.e., Workshop in Fiction or Workshop in Creative Nonfiction, respectively).

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

• Graduate students in the Creative Writing Program at NYU work intensively with faculty mentors in writing workshops and individual conferences to learn and master the basic elements of the craft of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.
• Students are expected to read widely and deeply, and to acquire a broad practitioner’s knowledge of literature in their declared concentration (poetry, creative nonfiction, or fiction).
• Students are taught to read carefully and critically, and in doing so learn to read as writers. By studying great novels, poems, and works of literary nonfiction by other writers, students learn how to write their own.
• The two-year program of intensive study culminates in the completion of a creative thesis— a novel, a collection of stories or essays, or a collection of poems. The thesis manuscript, ideally, is a working draft of a first book. Many program alumni go on to publish books and win awards for their writing.

Grading and GPA Policy

Nyu policies, graduate school of arts and science policies, program policies.

To qualify for the degree, a student must have a GPA of at least 3.0, must complete a minimum of 24 points with a grade of B or better, and may offer no more than 8 points with a grade of C (no more than 4 points with a grade of C in creative writing workshops). A student may take no more than 36 points toward the degree.

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

Academic Policies for the Graduate School of Arts and Science can be found on the Academic Policies page . 

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

15 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2024

May 15, 2024

Whether you studied at a top creative writing university or are a high school dropout who will one day become a bestselling author , you may be considering an MFA in Creative Writing. But is a writing MFA genuinely worth the time and potential costs? How do you know which program will best nurture your writing? If you’re considering an MFA, this article walks you through the best full-time, low residency, and online Creative Writing MFA programs in the United States.

What are the best Creative Writing MFA programs?

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this article, let’s start with the basics. What is an MFA, anyway?

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a graduate degree that usually takes from two to three years to complete. Applications typically require a sample portfolio, usually 10-20 pages (and sometimes up to 30-40) of your best writing. Moreover, you can receive an MFA in a particular genre, such as Fiction or Poetry, or more broadly in Creative Writing. However, if you take the latter approach, you often have the opportunity to specialize in a single genre.

Wondering what actually goes on in a creative writing MFA beyond inspiring award-winning books and internet memes ? You enroll in workshops where you get feedback on your creative writing from your peers and a faculty member. You enroll in seminars where you get a foundation of theory and techniques. Then, you finish the degree with a thesis project. Thesis projects are typically a body of polished, publishable-quality creative work in your genre—fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

Why should I get an MFA in Creative Writing?

You don’t need an MFA to be a writer. Just look at Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison or bestselling novelist Emily St. John Mandel.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of reasons you might still want to get a creative writing MFA. The first is, unfortunately, prestige. An MFA from a top program can help you stand out in a notoriously competitive industry to be published.

The second reason: time. Many MFA programs give you protected writing time, deadlines, and maybe even a (dainty) salary.

Third, an MFA in Creative Writing is a terminal degree. This means that this degree allows you to teach writing at the university level, especially after you publish a book.

Fourth: resources. MFA programs are often staffed by brilliant, award-winning writers; offer lecture series, volunteer opportunities, and teaching positions; and run their own (usually prestigious) literary magazines. Such resources provide you with the knowledge and insight you’ll need to navigate the literary and publishing world on your own post-graduation.

But above all, the biggest reason to pursue an MFA is the community it brings you. You get to meet other writers—and share feedback, advice, and moral support—in relationships that can last for decades.

Types of Creative Writing MFA Programs

Here are the different types of programs to consider, depending on your needs:

Fully-Funded Full-Time Programs

These programs offer full-tuition scholarships and sweeten the deal by actually paying you to attend them.

• Pros: You’re paid to write (and teach).
• Cons: Uprooting your entire life to move somewhere possibly very cold.

Full-Time MFA Programs

These programs include attending in-person classes and paying tuition (though many offer need-based and merit scholarships).

• Pros: Lots of top-notch non-funded programs have more assets to attract world-class faculty and guests.
• Cons: It’s an investment that might not pay itself back.

Low-Residency MFA Programs

Low-residency programs usually meet biannually for short sessions. They also offer one-on-one support throughout the year. These MFAs are more independent, preparing you for what the writing life is actually like.

• Pros: No major life changes required. Cons: Less time dedicated to writing and less time to build relationships.

Online MFA Programs

Held 100% online. These programs have high acceptance rates and no residency requirement. That means zero travel or moving expenses.

• Pros: No major life changes required.
• Cons: These MFAs have less name recognition.

The Top 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs Ranked by Category

The following programs are selected for their balance of high funding, impressive return on investment, stellar faculty, major journal publications , and impressive alums.

FULLY FUNDED MFA PROGRAMS

1) johns hopkins university , mfa in fiction/poetry.

This two-year program offers an incredibly generous funding package: $39,000 teaching fellowships each year. Not to mention, it offers that sweet, sweet health insurance, mind-boggling faculty, and the option to apply for a lecture position after graduation. Many grads publish their first book within three years (nice). No nonfiction MFA (boo).

• Location: Baltimore, MD
• Incoming class size: 8 students (4 per genre)
• Admissions rate: 4-8%
• Alumni: Chimamanda Adichie, Jeffrey Blitz, Wes Craven, Louise Erdrich, Porochista Khakpour, Phillis Levin, ZZ Packer, Tom Sleigh, Elizabeth Spires, Rosanna Warren

2) University of Texas, James Michener Center

The only MFA that offers full and equal funding for every writer. It’s three years long, offers a generous yearly stipend of $30k, and provides full tuition plus a health insurance stipend. Fiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting concentrations are available. The Michener Center is also unique because you study a primary genre and a secondary genre, and also get $4,000 for the summer.

• Location : Austin, TX
• Incoming class size : 12 students
• Acceptance rate: a bone-chilling less-than-1% in fiction; 2-3% in other genres
• Alumni: Fiona McFarlane, Brian McGreevy, Karan Mahajan, Alix Ohlin, Kevin Powers, Lara Prescott, Roger Reeves, Maria Reva, Domenica Ruta, Sam Sax, Joseph Skibell, Dominic Smith

3) University of Iowa

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a 2-year program on a residency model for fiction and poetry. This means there are low requirements, and lots of time to write groundbreaking novels or play pool at the local bar. All students receive full funding, including tuition, a living stipend, and subsidized health insurance. The Translation MFA , co-founded by Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, is also two years long but with more intensive coursework. The Nonfiction Writing Program is a prestigious three-year MFA program and is also intensive.

• Incoming class size: 25 each for poetry and fiction; 10-12 for nonfiction and translation.
• Acceptance rate: 2.7-3.7%
• Fantastic Alumni: Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Joy Harjo, Garth Greenwell, Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor, Eula Biss, Yiyun Li, Jennifer Croft

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued) 

4) university of michigan.

Anne Carson famously lives in Ann Arbor, as do the MFA students in UMichigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. This is a big university town, which is less damaging to your social life. Plus, there’s lots to do when you have a $25,000 stipend, summer funding, and health care.

This is a 2-3-year program in either fiction or poetry, with an impressive reputation. They also have a demonstrated commitment to “ push back against the darkness of intolerance and injustice ” and have outreach programs in the community.

• Location: Ann Arbor, MI
• Incoming class size: 18 (9 in each genre)
• Acceptance rate: 2%
• Alumni: Brit Bennett, Vievee Francis, Airea D. Matthews, Celeste Ng, Chigozie Obioma, Jia Tolentino, Jesmyn Ward

5) Brown University

Brown offers an edgy, well-funded program in a place that only occasionally dips into arctic temperatures. All students are fully funded for 2 years, which includes tuition remission and a $32k yearly stipend. Students also get summer funding and—you guessed it—that sweet, sweet health insurance.

In the Brown Literary Arts MFA, students take only one workshop and one elective per semester. It’s also the only program in the country to feature a Digital/Cross Disciplinary Track.  Fiction and Poetry Tracks are offered as well.

• Location: Providence, RI
• Incoming class size: 12-13
• Acceptance rate: “highly selective”
• Alumni: Edwidge Danticat, Jaimy Gordon, Gayl Jones, Ben Lerner, Joanna Scott, Kevin Young, Ottessa Moshfegh

6) University of Arizona

This 3-year program with fiction, poetry, and nonfiction tracks has many attractive qualities. It’s in “ the lushest desert in the world, ” and was recently ranked #4 in creative writing programs, and #2 in Nonfiction. You can take classes in multiple genres, and in fact, are encouraged to do so. Plus, Arizona’s dry heat is good for arthritis.

This notoriously supportive program is fully funded. Moreover, teaching assistantships that provide a salary, health insurance, and tuition waiver are offered to all students. Tucson is home to a hopping literary scene, so it’s also possible to volunteer at multiple literary organizations and even do supported research at the US-Mexico Border.

• Location: Tucson, AZ
• Incoming class size: usually 6
• Acceptance rate: 1.2% (a refreshingly specific number after Brown’s evasiveness)
• Alumni: Francisco Cantú, Jos Charles, Tony Hoagland, Nancy Mairs, Richard Russo, Richard Siken, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, David Foster Wallace

7) Arizona State University 

With concentrations in fiction and poetry, Arizona State is a three-year funded program in arthritis-friendly dry heat. It offers small class sizes, individual mentorships, and one of the most impressive faculty rosters in the game. Moreover, it encourages cross-genre study.

Funding-wise, everyone has the option to take on a teaching assistantship position, which provides a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a yearly stipend of $25k. Other opportunities for financial support exist as well.

• Location: Tempe, AZ
• Incoming class size: 8-10
• Acceptance rate: 3% (sigh)
• Alumni: Tayari Jones, Venita Blackburn, Dorothy Chan, Adrienne Celt, Dana Diehl, Matthew Gavin Frank, Caitlin Horrocks, Allegra Hyde, Hugh Martin, Bonnie Nadzam

FULL-RESIDENCY MFAS (UNFUNDED)

8) new york university.

This two-year program is in New York City, meaning it comes with close access to literary opportunities and hot dogs. NYU also has one of the most accomplished faculty lists anywhere. Students have large cohorts (more potential friends!) and have a penchant for winning top literary prizes. Concentrations in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction are available.

• Location: New York, NY
• Incoming class size: ~60; 20-30 students accepted for each genre
• Acceptance rate: 6-9%
• Alumni: Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, John Keene, Raven Leilani, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Ocean Vuong

9) Columbia University

Another 2-3 year private MFA program with drool-worthy permanent and visiting faculty. Columbia offers courses in fiction, poetry, translation, and nonfiction. Beyond the Ivy League education, Columbia offers close access to agents, and its students have a high record of bestsellers. Finally, teaching positions and fellowships are available to help offset the high tuition.

• Incoming class size: 110
• Acceptance rate: not publicized (boo)
• Alumni: Alexandra Kleeman, Rachel Kushner, Claudia Rankine, Rick Moody, Sigrid Nunez, Tracy K. Smith, Emma Cline, Adam Wilson, Marie Howe, Mary Jo Bang

10) Sarah Lawrence 

Sarah Lawrence offers a concentration in speculative fiction in addition to the average fiction, poetry, and nonfiction choices. Moreover, they encourage cross-genre exploration. With intimate class sizes, this program is unique because it offers biweekly one-on-one conferences with its stunning faculty. It also has a notoriously supportive atmosphere, and many teaching and funding opportunities are available.

• Location: Bronxville, NY
• Incoming class size: 30-40
• Acceptance rate: not publicized
• Alumni: Cynthia Cruz, Melissa Febos, T Kira Madden, Alex Dimitrov, Moncho Alvarado

LOW RESIDENCY

11) bennington college.

This two-year program boasts truly stellar faculty, and meets twice a year for ten days in January and June. It’s like a biannual vacation in beautiful Vermont, plus mentorship by a famous writer. The rest of the time, you’ll be spending approximately 25 hours per week on reading and writing assignments. Students have the option to concentrate in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Uniquely, they can also opt for a dual-genre focus.

The tuition is $23,468 per year, with scholarships available. Additionally, Bennington offers full-immersion teaching fellowships to MFA students, which are extremely rare in low-residency programs.

• Location: Bennington, VT
• Acceptance rate: 53%
• Incoming class: 25-35
• Alumni: Larissa Pham, Andrew Reiner, Lisa Johnson Mitchell, and others

12)  Institute for American Indian Arts

This two-year program emphasizes Native American and First Nations writing. With truly amazing faculty and visiting writers, they offer a wide range of genres, including screenwriting, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. In addition, each student is matched with a faculty mentor who works with them one-on-one throughout the semester.

Students attend two eight-day residencies each year, in January and July, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At $12,000 in tuition a year, it boasts being “ one of the most affordable MFA programs in the country .”

• Location: Santa Fe, NM
• Incoming class size : 21
• Alumni: Tommy Orange, Dara Yen Elerath, Kathryn Wilder

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

VCFA is the only graduate school on this list that focuses exclusively on the fine arts. Their MFA in Writing offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; they also offer an MFA in Literary Translation and one of the few MFAs in Writing for Children and Young Adults . Students meet twice a year for nine days, in January and July, either in-person or online. Here, they receive one-on-one mentorship that continues for the rest of the semester. You can also do many travel residencies in exciting (and warm) places like Cozumel.

VCFA boasts amazing faculty and visiting writers, with individualized study options and plenty of one-on-one time. Tuition for the full two-year program is approximately $54k.

• Location : Various; 2024/25 residencies are in Colorado and California
• Incoming class size: 18-25
• Acceptance rate: 63%
• Alumnx: Lauren Markham, Mary-Kim Arnold, Cassie Beasley, Kate Beasley, Julie Berry, Bridget Birdsall, Gwenda Bond, Pablo Cartaya

ONLINE MFAS

14) university of texas at el paso.

UTEP is considered the best online MFA program, and features award-winning faculty from across the globe. Accordingly, this program is geared toward serious writers who want to pursue teaching and/or publishing. Intensive workshops allow submissions in Spanish and/or English, and genres include poetry and fiction.

No residencies are required, but an optional opportunity to connect in person is available every year. This three-year program costs about $25-30k total, depending on whether you are an in-state or out-of-state resident.

• Location: El Paso, TX
• Acceptance rate: “highly competitive”
• Alumni: Watch alumni testimonies here

15) Bay Path University

This 2-year online, no-residency program is dedicated entirely to nonfiction. Featuring a supportive, diverse community, Bay Path offers small class sizes, close mentorship, and an optional yearly field trip to Ireland.

There are many tracks, including publishing, narrative medicine, and teaching creative writing. Moreover, core courses include memoir, narrative journalism, food/travel writing, and the personal essay. Tuition is approximately $31,000 for the entire program, with scholarships available.

• Location: Longmeadow, MA
• Incoming class size: 20
• Alumni: Read alumni testimonies here

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs — Final Thoughts

Whether you’re aiming for a fully funded, low residency, or completely online MFA program, there are plenty of incredible options available—all of which will sharpen your craft while immersing you in the vibrant literary arts community.

Hoping to prepare for your MFA in advance? You might consider checking out the following:

• Best English Programs
• Best Colleges for Creative Writing
• Writing Summer Programs
• Best Writing Competitions for High School Students

Inspired to start writing? Get your pencil ready:

• 100 Creative Writing Prompts 
• 1 00 Tone Words to Express Mood in Your Writing
• 60 Senior Project Ideas
• Common App Essay Prompts

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs – References:

• https://www.pw.org/mfa
• The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students , by Tom Kealey (A&C Black 2005)
• Graduate School Admissions

Julia Conrad

With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian from Wesleyan University as well as MFAs in both Nonfiction Writing and Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, Julia is an experienced writer, editor, educator, and a former Fulbright Fellow. Julia’s work has been featured in  The Millions ,  Asymptote , and  The Massachusetts Review , among other publications. To read more of her work, visit  www.juliaconrad.net

• 2-Year Colleges
• Application Strategies
• Best Colleges by Major
• Best Colleges by State
• Big Picture
• Career & Personality Assessment
• College Essay
• College Search/Knowledge
• College Success
• Costs & Financial Aid
• Data Visualizations
• Dental School Admissions
• Extracurricular Activities
• High School Success
• High Schools
• Homeschool Resources
• Law School Admissions
• Medical School Admissions
• Navigating the Admissions Process
• Online Learning
• Outdoor Adventure
• Private High School Spotlight
• Research Programs
• Summer Program Spotlight
• Summer Programs
• Teacher Tools
• Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

• Journals & Series
• Academic Programs
• Composition
• Directories

Quick Links

• Directories Home
• Colleges, Schools, and Departments
• Administrative Units
• Research Centers and Institutes
• Resources and Services
• Employee Directory
• Contact UNLV
• Social Media Directory
• UNLV Mobile Apps

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Program overview.

Named one of the “Five Innovative/Unique Programs” creative writing programs by The Atlantic , the master of fine arts in creative writing is one of two programs offered by UNLV’s Creative Writing International Program with genre concentrations in fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry. By providing an innovative curriculum and fostering an educational environment where students can perfect their art, our graduates become globally-engaged writers that demonstrate socially-engaged and active writing practices.

Program Outcomes

Students receive a strong theoretical foundation in their selected genre concentration, as well as an appreciation for the art and theory across various genres, thereby expanding their creative abilities. Moreover, they develop a nuanced understanding of canonical contexts and the historical evolution of literature, which provides valuable insights into new writing. Through exposure to international writing and literary translation, students cultivate a practical appreciation for diverse linguistic traditions beyond English, enriching their creative perspectives. 

A high percentage of our graduates have widely published fiction, literary nonfiction, journalism, and poetry with mainstream presses, indie presses, and nationally esteemed venues such as:

• W. W. Norton & Company
• Grove Press
• The Best American Poetry
• McSweeney’s
• The New York Times
• The Los Angeles Times

Program Structure

Our students follow a three-year course of study that includes writing workshops, genre forms courses, literature classes, a residency abroad, completion of a literary translation, and completion of a book-length manuscript that meets the standard of publishable works. Students also have the opportunity for teacher training and practical experience in literary publishing.

Additionally, our department, in partnership with the Black Mountain Institute, offers the Doctorate of Philosophy in English with a Creative Dissertation, supported by a graduate assistantship combined with the Black Mountain Institute fellowship.

Program Funding

All MFA students are fully funded by UNLV and the Black Mountain Institute (BMI) for three years of study towards their degrees. 

• Graduate Assistantships of $21,000/year 
• Opportunities for additional funding from BMI
• In-state tuition 
• Student health insurance.

Duties for the Graduate Assistantship are 20 hours per week, usually fulfilled through a combination of teaching, tutoring in the Writing Center, and working for English Department or Black Mountain Institute publications.

Our Faculty

Maile chapman, ph.d..

Wendy Chen, Ph.D.

Claudia Keelan

Roberto Lovato

David Morris, MFA

Douglas A. Unger

The MFA Student Experience

The UNLV creative writing program offers a supportive and immersive experience to its students. From day one, students become part of a vibrant community of writers where creativity thrives and collaboration flourishes. Whether students aspire to publish their writing, pursue further study, or embark on diverse career paths within the literary world, UNLV provides the resources, support, and community they need to thrive and succeed.

Activities and Events With the Black Mountain Institute

The UNLV Department of English has a longstanding relationship with the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute (BMI). This allows our students to receive opportunities to engage in creative and literary activities with visiting BMI fellows in socially meaningful literary events for the city of Las Vegas and its greater community. Recent BMI fellows and national and international award-winning visitors include:

• Percival Everett
• Melissa Febos
• Layli Long Soldier
• Jaquira Díaz
• Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

See the Black Mountain Institute's website for more information.

Academic and Literary Journals

The creative writing concentration helps students develop their writing craft and critical thinking skills through a workshop setting and literature courses. It equips them with professional skills for various industries and prepares them for graduate studies in English and creative writing.

Founded by M.F.A. alumna Kat Kruse in 2010, Neon Lit is a completely student-run reading series featuring writing of students currently in the Creative Writing programs at UNLV. Events are held on the last Friday of each month usually at the Writer’s Block, an independent bookstore and community center in downtown Las Vegas. See Neon Lit’s website and YouTube Channel for more information.

Writing Series

Breakout writers series.

The “Breakout Writers Series” or Emerging Writers Series features writers just emerging on the literary scene. Writers who visit and read for this series are chosen entirely by the students in the M.F.A. and Ph.D. programs.

Alumni Reading Series

The yearly Alumni Reading Series celebrates the literary successes of graduates of the program. Recent alumni readers include Marianne Chan, Jean Chen Ho, Clancy McGilligan, Alissa Nutting, Juan Martínez, Sasha Steensen, and Mani Rao.

Admission Requirements

• Fiction: 20-30 pages
• Literary nonfiction: 20-30 pages
• Poetry: 10-15 pages
• A letter of application to the Graduate Committee detailing a statement of purpose and reasons for choosing UNLV
• Official transcripts from all previously attended colleges or universities 
• Two letters of recommendation

Applicants must choose the International Focus subplan, unless they have already been accepted to the Peace Corps Master's International Partnership program.

International Applicants

Each year, our program admits several international writers with high competency in writing in English that immensely contribute to our literary community. Our diverse student body fosters a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives, creating a dynamic learning environment that prepares graduates for success in the global literary landscape. Furthermore, UNLV's creative writing program values inclusivity and encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds and life experiences to contribute to the vibrant tapestry of voices within our community.