new york university mfa creative writing application

• Skip to Main
• Program of Study
• Course Offerings

Program in Creative Writing

as.nyu.edu/cwp Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, New York, NY 10011-8702 • 212-998-8816

Professor Landau

The New York University Program in Creative Writing, among the most distinguished programs in the country, is a leading national center for the study of writing and literature. The undergraduate and graduate programs provide students with an opportunity to develop their craft while working closely with some of the finest poets and novelists writing today. The creative writing program occupies a lovely townhouse on West 10th Street in the same Greenwich Village neighborhood where so many writers have lived and worked. The Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House allows writers—both established and emerging—to share their work in an inspiring setting.

The program's distinguished faculty of award-winning poets and prose writers represents a wide array of contemporary aesthetics. Our instructors have been the recipients of Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur Genius, Guggenheim, and NEA fellowships, National Book and National Book Critics Circle awards, Pushcart Prizes, the Whiting Writer's Award, and more.

Undergraduates are encouraged to attend the program's reading series, which brings both established and new writers to NYU. Writing prizes, special events, and our undergraduate literary journal,  West 10th , further complement our course offerings and provide a sense of community for undergraduate writers. If you have questions about the minor in creative writing, please contact us at  [email protected] .

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), Carmen Valle (Puerto Rico), 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), Carmen Valle (Puerto Rico) 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.

MFA in Creative Writing

At Adelphi University, we offer residencies in New York City and semester-long creative mentorships with accomplished and devoted faculty.

Our MFA in Creative Writing program allows you to tailor a flexible and practical curriculum to your artistic goals. In addition, to help with tuition, all accepted students will receive partial scholarships.

Each step of the way, our NYC Creative Writing program aims to prepare you for the life of a working writer, especially as you navigate today’s shifting and vital literary landscape.

• Graduate Student Admissions

Writing in New York City

We see the writer’s life as an ongoing conversation and adventure. At the five-day New York City residencies in August and January , you’ll work closely with distinguished writers, and you’ll also be introduced to editors, literary agents and leaders at literary nonprofits. Our August residency will be held at the Center for Fiction in downtown Brooklyn. We offer concentrations in Fiction, Poetry and Creative Nonfiction, with workshops that culminate in the final thesis course, in which students complete a book-length manuscript. You may choose to focus on any one genre; you may design a path that explores two or more genres; or you may decide to work in a hybrid form.

Our MFA in Creative Writing program focuses intently on craft, with an emphasis on revision and close reading. We also offer practical guidance in publishing, teaching and building a sustainable life as a writer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse writing community, and our goal is to help you find your own best approach to craft.

What are the benefits of a low-residency MFA?

A low-residency MFA Creative Writing program takes into account the complexity of each writer’s life and welcomes students who may have demanding work schedules or family obligations. This academic framework includes in-person learning at the intensive five-day residencies in New York City, and—during the semester—with small online classes and individualized mentorship. By the end of the two-year, 39-credit program, you’ll complete a thesis, your own book-length manuscript.

Why choose to do your MFA at Adelphi University in New York?

The low-residency structure, which features exciting and innovative creative writing residencies in New York City, is a convenient option for students who may already have established careers in other fields, or who aren’t able to relocate to pursue an advanced degree.

Also, Adelphi’s MFA is one of the most affordable low-residency programs at a private university. To help with tuition, all accepted students will receive partial scholarships.

The low-residency program is a transformation of Adelphi’s long-standing traditional MFA program, whose alumni have gone on to publish books, found literary organizations and enter publishing and teaching careers.

Adelphi’s faculty are accomplished, award-winning writers who are active in the literary world, and they are devoted and innovative teachers.

Our MFA in Creative Writing program features our core creative writing faculty:  Jan-Henry Gray ,  Katherine Hill ,  Maya Marshall ,  Igor Webb , and  René Steinke . They are joined every year by distinguished guest writers as well as visitors from the literary and publishing world.

Meet Our MFA in Creative Writing Faculty

Dedicated and successful writers themselves, our MFA faculty are all gifted teachers and highly skilled mentors for our writing students. Their goal is to help each student explore — and perfect — their own literary style and voice.

Jan-Henry Gray

Assistant Professor

He has received fellowships from Kundiman  and  Undocupoets as well as awards from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Juniper Summer Writing Institute and the Academy of American Poets. In 2019, he co-organized Writers for Migrant Justice, a nationwide reading and fundraiser for Immigrant Families Together. He also served as a mentor for the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, a teaching artist for City Lore (New York City) and a co-curator for Meanwhile (Chicago). Born in the Philippines and raised in California, he currently lives in New York.

Katherine Hill

Associate Professor

Maya Marshall

René Steinke

Professor, Director

I came to Adelphi for my MFA in Creative Writing because even though I’d been working as a journalist before I joined the program, I wanted to learn the art of storytelling from a different perspective. I’m happy to say the program has made me a more confident storyteller.

The Residency, “Manhattan Week”

The residencies  take place over five days in mid-August and mid-January, when students meet with the creative writing faculty, guest writers and New York-based literary and publishing professionals. Students reside in a local NYC hotel for the duration of the residency. In addition to workshops, lectures, individual conferences, publishing presentations and readings, faculty and students meet together for meals, and there is also time set aside for connecting with peers.

Our August residency will be held at the Center for Fiction in downtown Brooklyn.

Fall and Spring Semesters

Our MFA Creative Writing curriculum offers you the chance to chart your own path. You can choose to focus on writing a novel, for instance, or you may choose to write poetry one semester and nonfiction the next, as you work toward a thesis that combines both. Our program also offers practical courses in helping you create a working writer’s life, with guidance in publishing, teaching, literary advocacy and creating your own literary community.

Program Info

Application requirements.

We accept applications on a rolling basis, but those received by April 15 will be considered for funding. June 1 is the general deadline for those who wish to begin the program in August.

Applicants should submit the following:

• Online application form . The $60 fee is waived for this program.
• One letter of reference from an academic or professional contact who can tell us about your work ethic and your ability to engage with others within an academic/artistic community
• Final transcript stating bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year institution
• Official transcripts from all institutions attended
• Personal statement: Tell us something about your writing life and what you hope to accomplish during the program. Tell us what you have read, are now reading and what you intend to read. Describe your current literary interests, your current or future challenges, and anything else you think is important for us to know about you. Please limit your essay to 1,000 words.
• Poetry: 10–15 pages (approximately a dozen poems).
• Fiction: Maximum of 30 pages, double-spaced, which can consist of one or more stories or part of a novel. If an excerpt from a longer work is submitted, please include a one-paragraph description of the work as a whole.
• Creative nonfiction: Maximum of 30 pages, double-spaced, which can consist of one or more pieces or part of a longer work. If an excerpt from a longer work is submitted, please include a one-paragraph description of the work as a whole.
• Mixed-genre work: Maximum of 30 pages, double-spaced.

Related Programs

Awards & recognition.

Upcoming Events

Program Director

• [email protected]
• 516.877.4027
• Harvey Hall 213

Graduate Admissions

• Mon, Tues, Wed, Thu: 8:30 am – 6:00 pm Fri: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
• Current Students
• Parents & Families
• Alumni & Friends
• Local Community
• Student Profile
• Apply for Aid 
• Billing 
• Loans 
• One-Stop Student Services 
• Pay Your Bill 
• Refunds 
• Scholarships & Grants 
• Tuition & Costs 
• Tuition Insurance 
• Add/Drop a Course 
• Change Major/Minor 
• Course Search 
• Degree Audit 
• Enrollment/Degree Verification 
• Forms & Guidance 
• Register for Classes 
• University Bulletin (Course Catalog) 
• Academic Calendar 
• Academic Petitions 
• Academic Resources 
• Advisement 
• Final Exams 
• General Education 
• Grading Policies 
• International Services 
• Learning & Writing Centers (Tutoring) 
• Mentoring 
• Study Abroad 
• Assistive Technology 
• Bridges to Adelphi (Neurodiversity) 
• Housing Accommodations (Section 504) 
• Learning Disability & ADHD Support 
• Student Access Office 
• Athletics (Adelphi Panthers) 
• Bookstore 
• Clubs & Activities (MyAULife) 
• Commuter Student Services 
• The Delphian (Student Newspaper) 
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging 
• Dining Services & Meal Plans 
• Interfaith Worship 
• Locker Rentals 
• Lost & Found 
• Multicultural Center 
• Residential Life & Housing 
• Student & Community Engagement 
• Career & Professional Development 
• Internships 
• Job Search (Handshake) 
• Leadership & Development 
• On-Campus Jobs 
• Prep for Success (Kaplan Career Core) 
• Care Team 
• Community Concerns & Resolution 
• Conduct & Community Standards 
• Report Harassment 
• Title IX 
• Apply to Graduate 
• Commencement 
• Health Insurance & Waiver 
• Health Portal 
• Health Services Center 
• Immunization Requirements 
• Infectious Disease Prevention (COVID-19) 
• Mental Health Counseling & Support 
• Mindfulness Center 
• Nutritionist/Dietitian 
• Panther Pantry & Food Insecurity 
• Recreation & Fitness 
• University Libraries 
• My Library Account 
• Library Services 
• Clery Act 
• Emergency Notifications (RAVE) 
• Parking 
• Report Suspicious Behavior (BIT Team) 
• Shuttle Schedule 
• Help Desk (Tech Support) 
• Linkedin Learning 
• Technology Services 
• Disclosures & Info 
• Student Consumer Info 
• Student Disclosure 
• Academic Catalog 
• Financial Scholarly Support 
• Curriculog 
• Library 
• Navigate 
• OARAA 
• Provost 
• Research & Sponsored Programs 
• Administrative Calendar 
• Alice Brown Early Learning Center (Childcare) 
• Brand & Style Guide 
• Community Discounts 
• Emergency Notification (RAVE) 
• Faculty Payroll & Course Load 
• Faculty Senate 
• FCPE 
• Human Resources 
• LinkedIn Learning 
• Paid Time-Off 
• Public Safety & Transportation 
• Technology 
• Share Your News or Story 
• University News 
• University Events 
• Administrative Calendar
• Accounts Payable 
• Benefits 
• Concerns and Resolutions 
• Contracts 
• Handshake / Post Jobs 
• Staff Council 
• Parents & Families Info
• Career Services
• High School Programs
• Tuition & Financial Aid
• FERPA 
• General Education Requirements 
• Registrar 
• Paying a Bill 
• Accessibility Office 
• Availability of Employees 
• Campus Map 
• Handbooks & Brochures 
• Health Services 
• Parents & Families Association 
• Athletics 
• Performing Arts Center 
• Adelphi Gold 
• Discounts & Benefits 
• Jobs at Adelphi 
• Networking 
• Order a Transcript 
• Performing Arts Center
• Camps 
• High School Programs 
• Pre-College Programs 
• Art Exhibitions 
• Adult Fitness Program 
• Gym Membership 
• Continuing Education & Professional Development 
• Community Auditing Program 
• Credit for Prior Learning 
• Breast Cancer Hotline & Support Program 
• Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders 
• Institute for Parenting 
• Literacy Center 
• Mental Health Services 
• Social Training Center 
• Become a Mentor 
• Center for Nonprofit Leadership 
• Reserve Event Space 

You are now leaving the Adelphi University website...

Adelphi is not responsible for the content of third-party sites. External sites may have different Privacy and Security policies than Adelphi University. You should review the policies of any third-party website before you provide personal or confidential information.

Go back Continue

Beginning Monday, May 13th, City College will reopen with classes resuming and following exam schedules along with adjustments to accessing campus. Learn more >>

The College

• Mission, Vision & History
• Offices and Services
• Administration
• City College and CUNY Policies
• Campus Map & Directions
• Land Acknowledgement
• CCNY in the News
• Shuttle Bus Service
• Schedule a Tour

Schools & Divisions

• The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
• CUNY School of Medicine
• Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
• School of Education
• The Grove School of Engineering
• Division of Humanities and the Arts
• Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at Center for Worker Education (CWE)
• Division of Science

Lifetime & Experiential Learning

• Graduate Studies Overview
• Continuing & Professional Studies
• International Studies & Study Abroad

Academic Planning

• Areas of Study
• General Education Curriculum
• Academic Calendar
• Courses / Bulletins
• Academic Affairs

Information For

• Admissions Overview
• Freshman Students
• Transfer/Second Degree Students
• Graduate Students
• Returning to College
• Visiting Students/Non-Degree
• Continuing Education
• Explore CCNY
• ACE Program
• MyCity VIP Portal

Visit Our Campus

• Campus Tours
• Information Sessions

Related Links

• Financial Aid
• Tuition and Fees
• Campus Housing
• International Students
• Honors Programs
• Research Overview
• The Office of Research
• Research Compliance & Ethics
• College Research Council

Discoveries in Actions

• Centers and Institutes
• QC-ALERT Programs
• Undergraduate Research

Faculty & Staff Experts

• By Area of Expertise
• View All Faculty & Staff

Campus Life

• Student Life
• Student Housing
• Benny's Campus Store

Student Services

• Student Affairs
• Health & Wellness
• The AccessAbility Center/Student Disability Services
• Safety Services
• LGBTQ+ Student Center
• CCNY Navigate
• Immigrant Student Resource and Research Center

Support CCNY

• How to Make a Gift
• CCNY Giving: Make-A-Will
• Types of Gifts
• 2023-2024 NYS Charitable Tax Contributions Credit

CUNY Related Links

• CUNY Portal
• Loaner Devices
• Discrimination and Retaliation Reporting Portal

Faculty & Staff

• Faculty / Staff E-Mail (Legacy - Webmail)
• Faculty / Staff E-Mail (New Outlook 365)
• Password Reset
• Content Editor
• Grants Management System
• Visual Course Roster
• Work Orders
• Employee Timesheets
• Student E-Mail
• Degreeworks / FACTS
• City Central

Creative Writing, Master of Fine Arts

The Master in Creative Writing, (MFA)  is a 42 credit program, which prepares students to be professionals in dissecting contemporary, modern, and classic literature as well construct literature pieces of their own.

Our students are published in literary journals and by publishers. Students often explore jobs in teaching from middle school to graduate level.

The MFA in Creative Writing offers students a chance to improve their stories, poems, scripts and non-fiction writing.  The ideal students are those passionate about improving their creative writing skills and would like to explore becoming a writer.

Additional Requirements:

Program Director:  Professor Michelle Valladares [email protected]  

Last Updated: 03/05/2024 16:08

• View Calendar

• Search Search Search …
• Search Search …

The City College of New York MFA in Creative Writing

A home for writers in harlem.

Essay by Emily Raboteau in Orion Magazine

MFA Fall Application Deadline Extended until March 1

Launch for Emily Raboteau’s new book, ‘Lessons for Survival’

Our mfa program is dedicated to diversity, excellence and inclusion. we help emerging writers find their voice, polish their craft, and enter the contemporary publishing landscape. .

Writing Faculty

The distinguished faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing program has included Gwendolyn Brooks, Donald Barthelme, Joseph Heller, Grace Paley, Susan Sontag, Marilyn Hacker, and Michelle Wallace, to name a few.

For Students

Stay informed about program requirements, deadlines, application process, course listing, and graduation.

In The Press

‘the blue-collar harvard’.

Fledgling authors from underrepresented backgrounds and nontraditional students are turning to graduate creative writing programs at the City University of New York to tell their stories.

by Sara Weissman , Inside Higher Ed,  June 22, 2021

The class for the creative writing master of fine arts program at City College of New York this past spring was its largest yet — enrollment jumped from 120 students in the fall to 140 this spring. There were 105 students enrolled in fall 2019.

What makes the CCNY MFA in Creative Writing Different from other programs?

“Diversity. We’re located in Harlem. Our unofficial tagline is “Ten times the diversity for one tenth the price,” because we’re also comparatively affordable”…

MFA Program Profile: Emily Raboteau on CCNY Publisher’s Weekly, May 2015

We have students of all backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, and age. No one group is the majority, and therefore none of the work is treated like minority literature. There are radical implications for the kinds of work our students are putting out into the world for it to be nurtured, respected, celebrated, and intelligently critiqued in the classroom.

IndoorVoices Podcast interviews the Director:

Episode 65: michelle valladares on ccny’s creative writing mfa.

By Kathleen Collins, October 18, 2021

In Spring 2021, the Creative Writing MFA at City College saw an unprecedented enrollment spike. It’s not exactly clear why it occurred, but Director Michelle Valladares has some ideas about that. She has lots of ideas, in fact, about unique and exciting ways to grow the program even more while still maintaining a manageable cohort size…

Testimonials

What alumni are saying.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Mostly dividing his time between New York City and Tehran, Iran, Salar regularly publishes personal essays and short stories, plus numerous translations of other authors that appear in journals across the world.

A professor at the City University of New York’s CITY COLLEGE campus in Harlem, he teaches workshops in the English Department’s MFA program and also serves as Director of Undergraduate Creative Writing. Website: salarabdoh.com

Author Website

Spring 2020

Spring 2019

She has been anthologized in Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond, and The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry by Indians . Her honors include a Pushcart Prize Nomination and she was awarded “The Poet of the Year” by the Americas Poetry Festival of New York. She is currently working on a book about faith called Searching for Tara.

Naima’s second novel,  Didn’t Never Know , is the story of the integration of a public high school in a small Southern town, which sets off a chain of events that bonds two families together in unexpected and complicated ways over the course of their lives. It is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing.

Naima’s stories and essays have appeared in the  New York Times , the  Rumpus ,  Aster(ix) ,  Kweli ,  The Paris Review Daily , and elsewhere. She has taught writing to students in jail, youth programs, and universities. Naima is currently visiting faculty at the MFA program at City College in Harlem and Antioch University in L.A.

Creative Writing, M.F.A

School of humanities and social sciences, program overview.

This small, highly personal two-year program confers Master of Fine Arts degrees in fiction, playwriting, and poetry. It offers single-discipline and inter-genre workshops, literature seminars, small-group reading tutorials, and one-on-one tutorials, all of which emphasize relationships between students and eminent faculty. Additionally, students have the opportunity to work on our literary journal, The Brooklyn Review , and give public readings and performances in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The program offers fellowships and prizes. Students may also teach undergraduate courses for the English Department.

Where You'll Go

Our graduates have had their work published widely and have won competitions sponsored by the Iowa Review , the Colorado Review , the Mississippi Review , and Zoetrope, among many others. They have had books published, received major prizes, founded presses and literary journals, and been included in numerous anthologies, including The Best New Young Poets , Best American Short Stories , Best American Nonrequired Reading , O. Henry , and Pushcart . Our playwrights have won Obie Awards, Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Pulitzer Prize; started theater companies; and had their plays produced in the United States and abroad.

Program Details

The program information listed here reflects the approved curriculum for the 2023–24 academic year per the Brooklyn College Bulletin. Bulletins from past academic years can be found here .

Program Description

Our small, highly personal two-year program confers a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing in fiction, poetry, or playwriting. The program offers single-discipline and inter-genre workshops, literature seminars, small-group reading tutorials, and one-on-one tutorials, which all emphasize relationships between eminent faculty members and students. Additionally, students have the opportunity to work on The Brooklyn Review and give public readings/performances in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The program offers some fellowships as well as prizes and a winter writing residency at the Espy Foundation in Oysterville, Washington. Students may also teach undergraduate courses for the English Department.

Our graduates have had their work published widely and have won competitions sponsored by the Iowa Review, the Colorado Review, the Mississippi Review , and Zoetrope. They have been included in The Best New Young Poets anthology and The Best American Short Stories . Our playwrights have won Obies, started theater companies, and had their plays produced here and abroad.

Matriculation Requirements

Fiction and Poetry: Applicants must offer at least 12 credits in advanced courses in English. Thirty pages of original fiction or 20 pages of original poetry must be submitted for evaluation.

Playwriting: Applicants must offer at least 12 credits in advanced courses in English or theater. One original full-length play or two or more original one-act plays must be submitted for evaluation.

Applicants who do not meet course requirements but whose manuscripts show unusual talent are considered for admission. Manuscripts should be submitted directly to the deputy chair in the English Department at the time of application. Applications are not considered for spring semester admission.

Foreign applicants for whom English is a second language are required to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of 650 on the paper-based test or 280 on the computer-based test or 114 on the internet-based test before being considered for admission.

General matriculation and admission requirements of Graduate Studies are in the chapter “Admission.”

Program Requirements (36 Credits)

Thirty-six credits are required for the degree: 24 credits in the respective creative writing specialization, plus 12 credits in literature courses.

Students may substitute for no more than two such courses any two 7000-level courses from the departments of Art; History; Modern Languages and Literatures; Philosophy; Speech; Television, Radio and Emerging Media; or Theater, or the Conservatory of Music, or another department with the approval of the deputy chair for graduate studies (these courses may also be taken through e-permits at other CUNY branches, including the Graduate Center, or through individual or small group tutorials). Students may substitute one writing workshop or tutorial outside of their major writing specialization for one literature course.

Permission to register for any of these substitute courses may be required from the graduate deputy chair of the appropriate department.

A substantial manuscript must be submitted and filed according to instructions available from the deputy chairperson. Students specializing in fiction or poetry must submit original creative writing, in publishable form, such as a novel or collection of stories or poems. Students specializing in playwriting must submit a full-length play or a number of one-act plays, in producible form, that would constitute a theatrical production. In cooperation with the Theater Department, efforts are made to produce the student’s major work.

Students choose a specialization in one of the following:

Playwriting

Recommendations.

Students are urged to take one workshop, one tutorial, and one literature course each semester in order to complete the program in four semesters. A reading knowledge of a foreign language is strongly recommended.

Student Learning Outcomes

Department goal 1: read and think critically..

Program Objective 1: Learn to read literature with a focus on the ways in which form serves content.

Program Objective 2: Use close reading effectively to identify literary techniques, styles, and themes.

Program Objective 3: Learn to read and comment constructively and critically on the creative writing of peers in the workshop context.

Department Goal 2: Understand how language operates.

Program Objective 1: Demonstrate knowledge of literary tropes and techniques (for example: metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, word play, and sonic effects such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, and rhythm, etc.)

Department Goal 3: Express ideas–both orally and in writing–correctly, cogently, persuasively, and in conformity with the conventions of the discipline.

Program Objective 1: Create original examples of creative writing that demonstrate complexity through attention to rhetoric, syntax and tone.

Program Objective 2: Comment and write cogently and persuasively about classmates’ writing in the workshop context.

Program Objective 3: Demonstrate the ability to respond to constructive criticism from instructor and peers by effectively revising writing assignments.

Program Objective 4: Demonstrate the ability to use the currently accepted conventions of standard English mechanics and grammar, with an eye toward how those standards can be stretched in order to achieve innovative modes of expression.

Department Goal 4: Conduct research.

Program Objective 1: Learn how to research and seek out historical and contemporary literary voices relevant to their individual voice.

Program Objective 2: Make use of the opportunities that Brooklyn College and New York City afford by attending readings, plays, literary panel discussions, and submitting to literary magazines.

Outcomes for demonstrating achievement of objectives

Written work (including poems/stories/plays, in-class writing exercises, short written reflections on literary techniques used by published writers, workshop responses for peers, revised writing samples, etc.)

Contributions to class discussions and workshops

Attendance at readings, panels, performances or a related research project (such as researching literary magazines/submitting one’s work); documented via written summary of the activity handed into instructor

Admissions Requirements

• Fall Application Deadline—January 15
• Spring Application Deadline—The program does not accept applications for spring

Supporting Documents for Matriculation

Submit the following documents to the Office of Graduate Admissions:

• Transcripts from all colleges and universities attended. Applicants who earned a bachelor’s degree outside the United States need to submit a Course by Course International Transcript Evaluation. See Graduate Admissions for more information.
• Two letters of recommendation.
•  A manuscript of original work in your intended genre (for fiction, about 30 pages; for poetry, about 20 pages; for playwriting, one full-length play, or two or more one-act plays).
• A personal statement (one–two pages).

Required Tests

• F-1 or J-1 international students must submit English Proficiency Exam. TOEFL- 79, IELTS- 6.5, PTE- 58-63, Duolingo 105-160.

Refer to the instructions at Graduate Admissions .

Geoffrey Minter

3149 Boylan Hall E: [email protected] P: 718.951.5000, ext. 3651

Or contact:

Office of Graduate Admissions

222 West Quad Center 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210 E:  [email protected] P: 718.951.4536

Office Hours

Mondays–Fridays, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

To make an appointment with a graduate admissions counselor, visit:

BC Admissions Appointment Tool

Specializations

English  7910X  to be taken in the first semester. English  7912X  to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English  7911X  once in the second semester; English  7913X  to be taken two times in the second year, but not more than once in any semester.

Joshua Henkin, Coordinator

The M.F.A. fiction specialization at Brooklyn College is a two-year course that maintains an enrollment of 30 students. While every member of the ongoing and visiting faculty works according to their methods, we are united in our conviction that newer writers need a balance of encouragement and serious, thoroughly considered feedback.

The curriculum is designed sequentially. Students take a workshop every semester. The specialization typically offers two traditional short fiction workshops and one novel-writing workshop in the fall and three short fiction  workshops in the spring. The novel-writing workshop is meant to address the particular needs of students who are writing novels and who would prefer to receive input on longer sections than a traditional workshop allows.

First-year students take a craft course in the short story in the fall and a reading seminar in the spring. The reading seminars, led by faculty members, discuss classic and contemporary literature from a writer’s point of view. If a traditional literature course is devoted, for instance, to understanding why Faulkner and García Márquez are considered great writers, the reading seminars are more concerned with how writers like Faulkner and García Márquez achieved their effects.

Second-year students take, along with their workshops, a one-on-one revisions/thesis tutorial in the fall and in the spring. The first is devoted to helping students with work that has already been discussed in their workshops, the second to helping them look over what they’ve done during their time at Brooklyn College, toward the completion of their theses. Both represent the specialization’s desire to give each student individual attention outside of the workshops.

We who teach in the fiction-writing specialization do so in part because we want not only to be useful to younger writers but to know them. We care about each student we admit. We are trying, to the best of our abilities, to maintain the M.F.A. program we wish had been available to us.

Over the course of the last decade, our graduates have published more than 50 books, including Helen Phillips’s The Need  (Longlisted for the National Book Award); R.O. Kwon’s  The Incendaries  (National Bestseller and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award for Best First Book and finalist for the  Los Angeles Times  Best First Book Prize); Garrard Conley’s  Boy Erased  ( New York Times  Bestseller; adapted for film starring Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Lucas Hedges); Jai Chakrabarti’s  A Play for the End of the World  (Longlisted for the PEN Faulkner Award, winner of the National Jewish Book Award); Thomas Grattan’s  The Recent East (Longlisted for the PEN Hemingway Award) and Robert Jones Jr.’s  The Prophets  (National Book Award Finalist and  New   York Times Bestseller).

English  7932X  to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English  7933X  to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.

The playwriting specialization at Brooklyn College was started over 30 years ago by Jack Gelber, one of America’s most important experimental writers. Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney continued that tradition for a 20 year period, while seeking to embrace the widest definition of that concept. Now, Dennis A. Allen II and Sibyl Kempson are serving as interim leaders of this innovative course of study.

The playwriting specialization is dedicated to the proposition that writing for the theater is not a business of finished thought and dead rules. Rather, we endeavor to pursue kinds of writing that involve an ongoing conversation with theater of the past and (hopefully) the future. To this end, we encourage our M.F.A. playwrights to become students of the theater in every sense: to follow the current scene as well as study the classics from as many traditions as possible; to study the techniques of making theater as well as theory; and lastly, to become as well-read as possible in all the written arts, with special emphasis on what is most contemporary, most challenging, most alive. It is our conviction that each generation must reinvent a theater appropriate to the time; a theater the time deserves; a theater that refuses to settle for the merely tendentious, and the dreary dead hand of the already known.

We are looking for aspiring writers who follow the theater because they love theater and all that pertains to theatricality. Theatricality diversely considered, rotated in four-dimensional space. We are looking for writers unwilling to settle for less. We believe the gathering of diverse people, ideas, and cultures strengthens both our insights into the work we present on stage and our relationships with each other.

Talk to a Playwright

If you have questions you would like to ask students in the specialization, feel free to contact the following:

• Frank Boudreaux
• Leslie Gauthier

English  7922X  to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester; English  7923X  to be taken four times, but not more than once in any semester.

Julie Agoos, Coordinator

Since its inception, the Brooklyn College Master of Fine Arts specialization in poetry has balanced a firm grounding in the history and tradition of the craft with cutting-edge experimental writing. Moderately priced and highly selective, this two-year specialization offers intensive workshops (limited to 10 students), private tutorials, and courses in the history and craft of the genre.

Attracting a diverse student body from all across the country, it has graduated such writers as John Yau, Sapphire, Paul Beatty, David Trinidad, Star Black, Karen Kelley, Tom Devaney, and Anselm Berrigan. Brooklyn’s “experimental tradition” is best exemplified by the late-modernist masters John Ashbery and Allen Ginsberg, both of whom taught in the specialization. Other teachers have included Mark Strand, William Matthews, Ann Lauterbach, Douglas Crase, David Shapiro, C. K. Williams, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, Joan Larkin, and, more recently, Ron Padgett Joshua Clover, Marjorie Welish, and LaTasha N. Diggs.

At present, the permanent staff includes Julie Agoos, author of  Echo Systems  (2015),  Property  (2008),  Calendar Year  (1996), and  Above the Land  (1987), for which she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award; Ben Lerner, author of  The Lichtenberg Figures  (winner of the Hayden Carruth Award from Copper Canyon Press, a Lannan Literary Selection, and one of 2004’s best books of poetry, according to  Library Journal ),  Angle of Yaw  (Copper Canyon, 2006, and a finalist for the National Book Award and the Northern California Book Award), and  Mean Free Path  (Copper Canyon, 2010); and Mónica de la Torre, author of  Repetition Nineteen  (Nightboat, 2020),  The Happy End/All Welcome (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2017),  Public Domain (Roof Books, 2009), and  Talk Shows  (Switchback Books, 2006).

Recent alumni of the M.F.A. poetry specialization have received such major recognitions as selection for The National Poetry Prize Series ( Courtney Bush , i love information , selected by Brian Teare, NY:  Milkweeds, 2023), the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry ( Sahar Muradi , OCTOBERS , selected by Naomi Shahib Nye, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023), and the 2022 APR/Honickman First Book Prize ( Chelsea Harlan , Bright Shade , selected by Jericho Brown, Philadelphia: The American Poetry Review, 2022). Others have received international honors for poetry and journalism ( Mohammed El-Kurd,  RIFQA , Haymarket Books, 2022, Winner of The Calgary Peace Prize); for translation  (Matthew Reeck , winner of the 2020 Albertine Prize for “Muslim”: A Novel , by Zahia Rehmani, Deep Vellum, 2019); for YA fiction ( Victoria Bond , winner of the 2020 John Steptoe/Coretta Scott King New Talent Author Award for Zora and Me (trilogy), with illustrator TR Simon, MA:  Candlewick Press, 2020, 2018, 2011); and for books on art (John Yau, Please Wait by the Coatroom:  Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art , Black Sparrow Press, 2023, deemed a “revelatory volume” by Publishers Weekly, among other ravishing reviews). Our alumni currently occupy major Fellowships at the New York Public Library (Alexandra Kamerling, 2023 NYPL Dance Research Fellow), and the Library of America (Susana Plotts-Pineda, 2023 Latino Fellow), and have written, directed, and premiered feature film documentaries ( Jodie Childers , with Dan Messina, director and cinematographer of Down by the Riverside , 2023 World Premiere, Woodstock Film Festival;  Tom Devaney ,  Bicentennial City , Green House Media, 2020). Recent and forthcoming publications include Claire DeVoogd , VIA (Winter Editions, 2023), Anselm Berrigan , Pregrets (Black Square Editions, 2021), Katherine Duckworth , Slow Violence (NY:  Beautiful Days Press, 2023), Marcella Durand, To Husband Is to Tender (Black Square Editions, 2021), Tom Devaney , Getting to Philadelphia (Hanging Loose Press, 2020), Tom Haviv , Flag of No Nation (Jewish Currents, 2019), Gracie Leavitt , Livingry (Nightboat, 2018), Kennia Lopez , The Exodus (Tolson Books, 2020), Chime Lama , Sphinxlike (Finishing Line, 2023), Sharon Mesmer , Greetings from My Girlies Leisure Place (Bloof Books, 2015),  Jed Muson , Commentary on the Birds (Rescue Press, 2023), Joshua Wilkerson , Meadowlands/Xanadu/American Dream, Beautiful Days Press, 2022),  John Yau , Tell It Slant , Omnidawn, 2023);  Charles Theonia , Gay Heaven Is a Dance Floor but I Can’t Relax , Archway Editions (March, 2024), and Zohra Saed  with  Sahara Muradi , eds., One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature (AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2022).

Talk to a Student

If you have questions you would like to ask students in the specialization, feel free to contact any of the following, all of whom are currently or recently enrolled:

• Jackie Braje
• Melina Casados
• Anneysa Gaille
• Monique Ngozi Nri
• Suchi Pritchard

Departmental Information

Application process, how do i apply.

For comprehensive application information and the link to the online application, visit the  Admissions page .

What is your rate of acceptance?

In recent years, we have received approximately 500 applications for 15 spots in fiction, approximately 120 applications for 10 spots in poetry, and approximately 70 applications for five spots in playwriting.

When will I find out if I was accepted?

Though it varies year to year, we plan to notify applicants in March and early April. We appreciate your patience.

Do you require the GRE?

I’m not sure if i have the 12 credits of advanced english requested on your admissions page. what should i do.

As per our Admissions page, “Applicants who do not meet course requirements but whose manuscripts show unusual talent are considered for admission.”

May the 30-page fiction manuscript consist of multiple works?

Yes, your 30-page fiction manuscript may come in any form you wish (short stories, excerpt(s) from a novel, flash fiction, or any combination of the above, up to 30 pages). We simply recommend that you send in whatever you think is your very strongest work.

How should the 20-page poetry manuscript be formatted?

You may format your poetry as you see fit. Please do not exceed 20 pages.

What should be in the personal statement?

Your one- to two-page personal statement should serve as a way for us to get to know you and come to understand why you want to pursue an M.F.A. at Brooklyn College.

Who should write my recommendation letters?

Your two recommendation letters should come from people familiar with your writing, such as professors, mentors, and/or employers.

How should recommendation letters be submitted?

They should be submitted online (this will be an option when you’re completing the online application). For more information, refer to the  Supporting Documents  page.

Do I need to send in transcripts from all of the institutions where I took undergraduate classes?

We require transcripts from all colleges and universities that you attended.

What is an official transcript?

Transcripts must arrive in envelopes sealed by the institution’s registrar office. Your college institution should mail transcripts to the Brooklyn College Office of Admissions.

I am an international student. Is it true that I have to have my international transcripts evaluated before my application will be complete?

Yes (though please note that students who received degrees from universities in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom are exempt from this requirement). For all other international applicants, see more information about the required international transcript evaluation.

Do international students with undergraduate degrees from U.S. universities need to take the TOEFL?

Once you have received a B.A. from a U.S. university, you no longer need to submit your TOEFL scores to apply to the M.F.A. program.

May I apply to two different genres?

No, you may only apply to one genre per year.

What are the program codes for Fiction, Playwriting, and Poetry?

• Fiction—324
• Playwriting—325

Is there any way I can check my application status online?

Yes. Once you’ve completed your application, you may  check online for status updates .

I was not accepted to your program. Can you provide feedback on my application?

Because of the large number of qualified applicants, we may not be able to accept very strong candidates, nor can we offer specific feedback on individual applications. Note that the manuscript is by far the most important element of the application. We encourage interested applicants to reapply in the future.

How do I reapply?

As per the  Graduate Admissions Office website , “To reapply, you need to complete and submit a new  graduate degree application  online. You do not need to resubmit any supporting documents (i.e. transcripts, letters of recommendation) if you applied within the last two years.” The $125 application fee is waived for re-applicants for up to one year. (If you applied for fall 2014 entry, for instance, you may reapply for fall 2015 without paying an additional fee.) You must send a new personal statement and manuscript to the Department of English each time you reapply.

Getting to Know the Program

Do you hold an open house.

Yes. Information will be available soon.

May I speak to a current or recent student?

Yes. Please see the student and alumni lists within each specialization.

May I come and visit an M.F.A. class?

In most cases, prospective students are permitted to visit classes once they’ve been accepted into the program.

Can you send me printed materials about the M.F.A. program?

Comprehensive information about our program, including the online application, is available on our website and on the more general Brooklyn College website under “Graduate Programs” and “Admissions.”

May I take a class in the Brooklyn College M.F.A. program as a nonmatriculated student?

Because of the small size of our program, only students matriculated in our M.F.A. program may take our graduate creative writing classes.

Where can I obtain information pertaining to international students?

The  Brooklyn College Office of International Student Services  will assist you with immigration issues, financial aid, and housing.

Financial Information

What is the cost of tuition.

Up-to-date tuition information is available on the  Bursar’s website .

How many credits are required for the M.F.A. program?

Unlike other masters students, M.F.A. students take a nine-credit-per-semester load. Tuition should be calculated based on nine credits per semester.

Do you offer funding?

Yes. In addition to the salary for teaching undergraduate composition, our graduate students are eligible to receive some departmental funding. There is no special application for this funding; all admitted students will be considered automatically. The Office of Financial Aid primarily helps students obtain federal student loans and, if they are eligible, Work-Study funding. All students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) , which can be submitted online.

Do you offer teaching opportunities?

Yes. Students who wish to teach while they are enrolled in the M.F.A. program, but who don’t have prior composition teaching experience at the college level, are required to take English 7506, Practicum in Teaching College-Level Composition (which counts toward the M.F.A. degree requirements as an elective). The course includes a tutor-internship in an instructor’s classroom. After completing 7506, students may be assigned to teach their own section of a composition course, English 1010 or English 1012. The salary for one section of English 1010 or English 1012 is $6,875. Students may teach for up to three years, starting while they are students in the program and continuing after they graduate. There are also teaching opportunities at other CUNY schools.

I am an international student. How would this affect my employment opportunities at the university?

International students on F-1 Student Visas are permitted to work or teach up to 20 hours per week while they are in the program, and eligible to continue doing so, full-time, for one year after graduation, if the work is in the field for which they received the degree.

Do you offer a part-time, low-residency, or online option?

Do you offer a health insurance plan.

Health insurance is available via the  New York State of Health Insurance Exchange , as per the Affordable Care Act, where you can search for insurance plans.

• Brooklyn College students are profiled in  Poets & Writers ‘ “MFA Nation” feature .
• Fiction student Jai Chakrabarti talks about his M.F.A. experience in  Litbridge’s  “Interview with Brooklyn College.”
• Fiction director Josh Henkin discusses the Brooklyn College M.F.A. as part of  The Coffin Factory ‘s “MFA Corner.”
• Flavorwire’ s list of  “The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America”  ranks Brooklyn College at #3.
• The  Masters Review Blog   profiles the Brooklyn College M.F.A. program .
• The New York Times  profiles playwriting director Mac Wellman in two articles:  “Mac Wellman, a Playwriting Mentor Whose Only Mantra Is Oddity”  and  “At Brooklyn College, Learning From Mac Wellman.”
• Brooklyn Magazine ‘s list of  “The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture”  features M.F.A. fiction alumni Halimah Marcus and Ben Samuel, playwriting alumnus Scott Adkins, and faculty members Ben Lerner (poetry) and Erin Courtney (playwriting).
• Ploughshares  explores the Brooklyn writing scene in its  “Literary Boroughs” feature .

From the Literary Scene:

• The Brooklyn Review
• Recommended Reading
• Poets & Writers Daily News

Program Awards

2019–20 program awards.

Zoya Haroon received the 2020 Ross Feld Award.

Chelsea Baumgarten received the 2020 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2020 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Taylor Clarke, DJ Kim, and Sally Helm (fiction, first year); David Olesky, Elizabeth Robau, and Jessica Shabin  (fiction, second year); Noelle Viñas (playwriting, first year); Michael Shayan (playwriting, second year); Chime Lama and Peter Soucy (poetry, first year); and Alexandra Kamerling and Kennia Lopez (poetry, second year).

2018–19 Program Awards

Nalea Ko received the 2019 Ross Feld Award.

Jill Winsby-Fein received the 2019 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2019 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Chelsea Baumgarten, Avi Cummings, and Adrienne Wong (fiction, first year); Drew Pham, Erica Recordon, and Wesley Straton  (fiction, second year); Nazareth Hassan (playwriting, first year); Arika Larson (playwriting, second year); Kennia Lopez and Charles Theonia (poetry, first year); and Adam Bangser and Henry Peterson (poetry, second year).

2017–18 Program Awards

Sameet Dhillon received the 2018 Ross Feld Award.

Jenzo Duque received the 2018 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2018 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Jivin Misra, Erica Schecter, and Wesley Straton (fiction, first year); Sam Baldassari, Maddie Crum, and Alyssa Northrop  (fiction, second year); Eri Borlaug (playwriting, first year); Jerry Lieblich (playwriting, second year); AJ Stoughton and Oscar Vargas (poetry, first year); and Laura Amelio and Marko Gluhaich (poetry, second year).

2016–17 Program Awards

Alexander Celia received the 2018 Ross Feld Award.

Alexandra Kessler received the 2017 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2017 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Sandra Hong, Jess Silfa, and Stephen Snyder (fiction, first year); Joyce Li, Anna Marschalk-Burns, and Jon Sands (fiction, second year); Jerry Lieblich (playwriting, first year); Zach Rufa (playwriting, second year); Erika Kielsgard and Amanda Killian (poetry, first year); and Jenny Stella and Mike Smith (poetry, second year).

2015–16 Program Awards

Alexander Kessler received the 2017 Ross Feld Award.

Jane Pek received the 2017 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2016 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Isabella Moschen, Kristen Olds, and Kelly Suprenant (fiction, first year); Nate Bethea, Casey Gonzalez, and Eric Boehling Lewis (fiction, second year); Corinne Donly (playwriting, first year); Paul Hufker (playwriting, second year); Rami Karim and Leah Williams (poetry, first year); and Courtney Bush and Stacy Skolnik (poetry, second year).

2014–15 Program Awards

Jacob Kaplan received the 2015 Ross Feld Award.

Lindsay Whalen received the 2015 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2015 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Heloise Cormier and Paul Hufker (playwriting); Tom Haviv, Emily Heilker, James Loop, and Sahar Muradi (poetry); and Ben Cake, Molly Dektar, Eve Gleichman, Jacob Kaplan, Ilana Papir, and Jane Pek (fiction).

Courtney Bush received the 2015 Creative Writing Scholarship for Poetry. Mike Mikos received the 2015 Creative Writing Scholarship for Playwriting. Lisa Skapinker Metrikin received the 2015 Creative Writing Scholarship for Fiction.

2013–14 Program Awards

Marie Avetria received the 2014 Ross Feld Award.

Amanda DeMatto received the 2014 Carole and Irwin Lainoff Prize.

The 2014 Himan Brown Awards in Creative Writing went to: Heloise Cormier and Frances Koncan (playwriting); Georgia Faust, Sahar Muradi, Liz Roberts, and Ryan Schaefer (poetry); and Alice Broussard, Eve Gleichman, Laura Horley, Laura Macomber, Matthue Roth, and Joshua Sperling (fiction).

James Loop received the 2014 Creative Writing Scholarship for Poetry. Mike Mikos received the 2014 Creative Writing Scholarship for Playwriting. Molly Dektar received the 2014 Creative Writing Scholarship for Fiction.

Selected Student Publications

Greg ames, m.f.a. fiction 2002.

• Buffalo Lockjaw , 2009

Mark Ari, M.F.A. Fiction 1985

• The Shoemaker’s Tale , 2000

Rilla Askew, M.F.A. Fiction 1989

• Strange Business , 1992
• The Mercy Seat , 1997
• Fire in Beulah , 2001
• Harpsong (Stories and Storytellers Series), 2007
• Kind of Kin , 2013

Paul Beatty, M.F.A. Poetry 1989

• Big Bank Take Little Bank , 1991
• Joker Joker Deuce , 1994
• The White Boy Shuffle , 1996
• Tuff , 2001
• Slumberland , 2008
• The Sellout , 2015

Lauren Belski, M.F.A. Fiction 2010

• Whatever Used to Grow Around Here , 2012

Adam Berlin, M.F.A. Fiction 1991

• Headlock , 2000
• Belmondo Style , 2004
• Both Members of the Club , 2013
• The Number of Missing , 2013

Anselm Berrigan, M.F.A. Poetry 1998

• They Beat Me over the Head With a Sack , 1998
• Integrity & Dramatic Life , 1999
• Zero Star Hotel , 2002
• Some Notes on My Programming , 2006
• To Hell With Sleep , 2009
• Free Cell , 2009
• Notes from Irrelevance , 2001
• Loading , 2013
• Primitive State , 2015
• Come in Alone , 2016

Marie-Helene Bertino, M.F.A. Fiction 2007

• Short story: ‘North Of’, 2008
• Safe As Houses , 2012
• 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas , 2014

Star Black, M.F.A. Poetry 1984

• October for Idas , 1997
• Double Time , 1997
• Balefire , 1999
• Ghostwood , 2003
• Velleity’s Shade , 2010

Victoria Bond, M.F.A. Poetry 2005

• Zora and Me (co-author), 2010

Thomas Bradshaw, M.F.A. Playwriting 2004

• Play: ‘Strom Thurman is Not a Racist’, 1985
• Play: ‘Cleansed’, 1985
• Play: ‘Phophet’, 2006
• Play: ‘Purity’, 2007
• A new play for the anthology , 2008
• Play: ‘Southern Promises’, 2008
• Play: ‘The Bereaved/Mary’, 2009
• Play: ‘Intimacy’, 2014
• Play: ‘Dawn’, 2010

Joanna Cantor, M.F.A. Fiction 2011

• Alternative Remedies for Loss , 2018

Maisy Card, M.F.A. Fiction 2010

• These Ghosts Are Family , 2020

Bryan Charles, M.F.A. Fiction 2003

• Grab On To Me As Tightly As If I Knew The Way , 2006
• Pavement’s Wowee Zowee (33 1/3) , 2010
• There’s a Road to Everywhere Except Where You Came From: A Memoir , 2010

Erin Courtney, M.F.A. Playwriting 2003

• Play: ‘Demon Baby’, 2006
• Play included in anthology of 7 edgy works, 2008

Amanda Davis, M.F.A. Fiction 1998

• Circling the Drain , 2000
• Wonder When You’ll Miss Me , 2003

Molly Dektar, M.F.A. Fiction 2015

• The Ash Family , 2019

Tom Devaney, M.F.A. Poetry 1998

• The American Pragmatist Fell In Love , 1999

Heidi Diehl, M.F.A. Fiction 2011

• Lifelines , 2019

Marcella Durand, M.F.A. Poetry 1995

• Western Capital Rhapsodies , 2001
• Traffic & Weather , 2008
• Area , 2008

Juliet Escoria, M.F.A. Fiction 2011

• Black Cloud , 2014
• Witch Hunt , 2016
• Juliet the Maniac , 2019

Amy Fox, M.F.A. 2005

• Screenplay: ‘Heights’, 2005
• Screenplay: ‘Equity’, 2016

James Franco, M.F.A. Fiction 2010

• Palo Alto: Stories , 2010
• Strongest of the Litter : (The Hollyridge Press Chapbook Series), 2012
• 113 Crickets: Summer 2012 , 2012
• Actors Anonymous , 2013
• Directing Herbert White : Poems, 2014
• A California Childhood , 2014
• Straight James / Gay James , 2016

Elizabeth Gaffney, M.F.A. Fiction 1997

• Metropolis: A Novel , 2005
• When The World Was Young , 2015

Sean Garritty, M.F.A. Poetry 2006

• Lie Nearest Truth , 2011

Thea Goodman, M.F.A. Fiction 1995

• The Sunshine When She’s Gone , 2013

CJ Hauser, M.F.A. Fiction 2009

• The From-Aways , 2014

Elliott Holt, M.F.A. Fiction 2006

• Short story: ‘Fem Care’, 2011
• You Are One of Them , 2013

Andy Hunter and Scott Lindenbaum, M.F.A. Fiction 2008

• Electric Literature (Founders) , 2009

Tanwi Nandini Islam, M.F.A. Fiction 2009

• Bright Lines , 2015

Amelia Kahaney, M.F.A. Fiction 2006

• The Brokenhearted , 2013

Andrew Kaufman, M.F.A. Poetry 1986

• Earth’s Ends , 2004
• Both Sides of the Niger , 2013

John M. Keller, M.F.A. Fiction 2004

• A Bald Man With No Hair and Other Stories , 2012
• Know Your Baker , 2013
• The Box and the Briefcase, the Moleque and the Old Man and the First Coming of the Second Son of God , 2014
• Abracadabrantesque , 2015
• Johnny Allan , 2019

Stellar Kim, M.F.A. Fiction 2005

• Short story: ‘Findings and Impressions’, 2007

Suki Kim, M.F.A. Fiction 1997

• The Interpreter , 2003
• Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite , 2014

Amy King, M.F.A. Poetry 2000

• Antidotes for an Alibi , 2006
• I’m The Man Who Loves You , 2007
• Slaves to Do These Things , 2009
• I Want to Make You Safe , 2011

Kristen Kosmas, M.F.A. Playwriting 2011

• The Mayor of Baltimore and Anthem , 2013

R.O. Kwon, M.F.A. Fiction 2008

• The Incendiaries , 2018

Gracie Leavitt, M.F.A. Poetry 2011

• Monkeys, Minor Planet, Average Star , 2014

Marlene Lee, M.F.A. Fiction 2010

• The Absent Woman , 2013

Halimah Marcus, M.F.A. Fiction 2012

• Short story: ‘Swimming’, 2010

Sharon Mesmer, M.F.A. Poetry 1990

• The Empty Quarter , 2000
• Half Angel Half Lunch , 2002
• In Ordinary Time , 2005
• The Virgin Formica , 2008

Emily Mitchell, M.F.A. Fiction 2005

• The Last Summer of the World , 2007
• Viral: Stories , 2015

Cristina Moracho, M.F.A. Fiction 2008

• Althea & Oliver , 2014

Stephen Motika, M.F.A. Poetry 2010

• Western Practice , 2012

Christina Olivares, M.F.A. Poetry 2010

• No Map of the Earth Includes Stars , 2015

Jeffrey Oliver, M.F.A. Fiction 2002

• Failure to Thrive , 2011

Helen Phillips, M.F.A. Fiction 2007

• Short story: ‘Twenty Tales of Natural Disaster’, 2010
• And Yet They Were Happy , 2011
• Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green , 2012
• The Beautiful Bureaucrat , 2015
• Some Possible Solutions , 2016
• The Need , 2019

Sapphire, M.F.A. Poetry 1995

• American Dreams , 1996
• Push , 1997
• Black Wings & Blind Angels , 2000
• The Kid: A Novel , 2012

Sara Shepard, M.F.A. Fiction 2005

• The Visibles , 2009
• Everything We Ever Wanted , 2011
• The Perfectionists Series , 2014-2015
• Pretty Little Liars Series , 2006-2014
• The Lying Game Series , 2010-2013
• The Heiresses , 2014
• The Amateurs , 2016

Mohan Sikka, M.F.A. Fiction 2006

• Short story: ‘Uncle Musto Takes A Mistress’, 2007
• Short story: ‘The Railway Aunty’, 2009

Lysette Simmons, M.F.A. Poetry 2013

• Dear Robert , 2013

David Trinidad, M.F.A. Poetry 1990

• Monday, Monday , 1985
• November , 1986
• Hand Over Heart , 1994
• Three Stories , 1998
• Plasticville , 2000
• Phoebe 2002: An Essay in Verse , 2003
• The Late Show , 2007
• Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry , 2007
• By Myself, An Autobiography , 2009
• Dear Prudence: New and Selected Poems , 2011
• Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera , 2013
• Notes of a Past Life , 2016

Jenny Williams, M.F.A. Fiction 2011

• Short story in Battle Runes: Writings on War , 2011
• The Atlas of Forgotten Places , 2017

John Yau, M.F.A. Poetry 1978

• Radiant Silhouette: New and Selected Work , 1974-1988, 1989
• Forbidden Entries , 1992
• Edificio Sayonara , 1992
• A.R. Penck , 1993
• In the Realm of Appearances: The Art of Andy Warhol , 1993
• Hawaiian Cowboys , 1994
• Berlin Diptychon: Poems , 1995
• The United States of Jasper Johns , 1997
• My Symptoms , 1998
• Randy Hayes: The World Reveiled , 2000
• Borrowed Love Poems , 2002
• My Heart Is That Eternal Rose Tattoo , 2002
• Ing Grish , 2005
• Paradiso Diaspora , 2006
• The Passionate Spectator: Essays on Art and Poetry , 2006
• A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns , 2008
• Further Adventures in Monochrome , 2012

Young Jean Lee, M.F.A. Playwriting 2005

• Play: ‘The Appeal’, 2006

Julie Agoos

Julie Agoos is professor and coordinator of the Poetry specialization. Agoos, who received her M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, publishes widely in journals and is the author of three collections of poems,  Property  (Ausable/Copper Canyon, 2008),  Calendar Year  (Sheep Meadow, 1996), and  Above the Land  (Yale University Press, 1987), for which she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Her latest book  Echo System  was published in 2015.

Anselm Berrigan

Anselm Berrigan ’98 M.F.A. is the author of five books of poetry, most recently the book-length poem  Notes from Irrelevance  (Wave Books, 2011). Other titles include  Free Cell  (City Lights, 2009),  Some Notes on My Programming  (Edge, 2006), and  Zero Star Hotel  (Edge, 2002).  Skasers , a book jointly written with poet John Coletti, was be published in 2012 by Flowers & Cream Press. He is the current poetry editor for  The Brooklyn Rail  and a member of the subpress publishing collective. From 1998 to 2007 he worked for The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in various capacities, including a stint as artistic director from 2003 to 2007. Berrigan is also co-chair of Writing at the Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts, Bard College’s interdisciplinary summer M.F.A. program.

Erin Courtney

Erin Courtney’s play  I Will Be Gone , directed by Kip Fagan, premiered at Actors Theater of Louisville, Humana Festival in 2015. Her play  A Map of Virtue,  produced by 13P and directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, won a special citation OBIE in 2012. She has written two operas with Elizabeth Swados,  The Nomad  and  Kaspar Hauser : Both were commissioned and produced by The Flea Theater. Her play  Honey Drop  was developed at The Atlantic Theater, the Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizons Superlab, and New Georges. Her other plays include  Alice the Magnet, Demon Baby, Quiver and Twitch , and  Black Cat Lost . She is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a member of the Obie Award–winning playwright collective 13P, and the co-founder of the Brooklyn Writer’s Space. Courtney teaches playwriting at Brooklyn College, where she earned her M.F.A. with Mac Wellman. She earned B.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She has been a member of New Dramatists since 2012 and is a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow.

LaTasha Diggs

A writer, vocalist and performance/sound artist, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of  TwERK  (Belladonna, 2013). Diggs has presented and performed at California Institute of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, The Museum of Modern Art, and Walker Art Center and at festivals including: Explore the North Festival, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Hekayeh Festival, Abu Dhabi; International Poetry Festival of Copenhagen; Ocean Space, Venice; Poesiefestival, Berlin; and the 2015 Venice Biennale. As an independent curator, artistic director, and producer, Diggs has presented events for BAMCafé, Black Rock Coalition, El Museo del Barrio, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, and the David Rubenstein Atrium. Diggs has received a 2020 C.D. Wright Award for Poetry from the Foundation of Contemporary Art, a Whiting Award (2016) and a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship (2015), as well as grants and fellowships from Cave Canem, Creative Capital, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, among others. She lives in Harlem.

Myla Goldberg

Myla Goldberg is the best-selling author of  Bee Season ,  Wickett’s Remedy , and  The False Friend . Her short stories have appeared in  Harper’s,  and she is an occasional contributor to NPR. She teaches at various M.F.A. programs and leads writing workshops in and around New York City.

David Grubbs

David Grubbs, associate professor in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, has released 11 solo albums and appeared on more than 150 commercially released recordings. He is known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations with writers such as Susan Howe and Rick Moody, and with visual artists such as Anthony McCall, Angela Bulloch, Cosima von Bonin, and Stephen Prina. His work has been presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, the Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou. Grubbs was a founding member of the groups Gastr del Sol, Bastro, and Squirrel Bait, and directs the Blue Chopsticks record label. He is currently completing the book  Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, The Sixties, and Sound Recording  for Duke University Press. Grubbs was a 2005–06 grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and has been called one of two “Best Teachers for an Indie-Rocker to Admire” in the  Village Voice  and “le plus Français des Américains” in  Libération.  He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago.

Joshua Henkin

Joshua Henkin , professor and coordinator of the fiction specialization, is the author of the novels Swimming Across the Hudson , a  Los Angeles Times  Notable Book;  Matrimony , a  New York Times  Notable Book; and  The World Without You , which was named an Editors’ Choice Book by  The New York Times  and  The Chicago Tribune  and was the winner of the 2012 Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish American Fiction and a finalist for the 2012 National Jewish Book Award. His short stories have been published widely, cited for distinction in  Best American Short Stories , and broadcast on NPR’s “Selected Shorts.” His reviews and essays have appeared in  The New York Times , the  Los Angeles Times ,  The Wall Street Journal ,  The Boston Globe , the  Chicago Tribune , the  San Francisco Chronicle , and elsewhere.

Lisa Jarnot

Lisa Jarnot is the author of four books of poetry and a biography,  Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus  (University of California Press). Her  Joie de Vivre: Selected Poems 1992–2012  was published by City Lights in 2013.

Associate Professor Ben Lerner is the author of three books of poetry:  The Lichtenberg Figures  (2004),  Angle of Yaw  (2006), and  Mean Free Path  (2010), all published by Copper Canyon Press. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry and the Northern California Book Award, a Fulbright Scholar in Spain, and a Howard Foundation Fellow. In 2011 he became the first American to win the Preis der Stadt Münster für Internationale Poesie for the German translation of  The Lichtenberg Figures . His first novel,  Leaving the Atocha Station  (Coffee House, 2011) won  The Believer  Book Award and was a finalist for the  Los Angeles Times  Book Award for First Fiction and the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award. It was named one of the best books of the year by  The New Yorker ,  The Guardian ,  The New Statesman ,  The Boston Globe ,  The Wall Street Journal ,  The New Republic , and  New York Magazine , among many others. His recent criticism can be found in  Art in America ,  boundary 2 , and  Critical Quarterly , where he also serves as poetry editor.

Fiona Maazel

Fiona Maazel is the author of the novels  Last Last Chance . (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and  Woke Up Lonely  (Graywolf, 2013). She is a 2008 National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree and winner of the Bard Prize for fiction in 2009. Her work has appeared in  Anthem, Bomb, Book Forum, Boston Book Review, The Common, Conjunctions, Fence, Glamour, The Millions, Mississippi Review, N+1, The New York Times, The NY Times Sunday Book Review, Salon, Selected Shorts, This American Life, Tin House, The Village Voice, The Yale Review , and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn.

Ernesto Mestre

Ernesto Mestre is the author of two novels,  The Lazarus Rhumba  and  The Second Death of Unica Aveyano . His fiction has been collected in various anthologies, including  Best American Gay Fiction 1996 ,  A Whistler in the Nightworld: Short Fiction from the Latin Americas , and  Cubanisimo!: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature .

Meera Nair’s debut collection,  Video , received the Asian-American Literary Award for Fiction in 2003. She has published fiction in  The Threepenny Review  and  Calyx , and in the anthology  Charlie Chan Is Dead . She is at work on her first novel, which will be published by Pantheon.

Sigrid Nunez

Sigrid Nunez has published six novels, including  A Feather on the Breath of God ,  The Last of Her Kind , and, most recently,  Salvation City . She is also the author of  Sempr e  Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag.  Among the journals to which she has contributed are  The New York Times ,  Threepenny Review, Harper’s ,  McSweeney’s ,  Tin House, The Believer , and  Conjunctions.  Her honors and awards include four Pushcart Prizes, a Whiting Writer’s Award, a Berlin Prize Fellowship, and two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters: the Rosenthal Foundation Award and the Rome Prize in Literature. She has taught at Amherst College, Smith College, Columbia University, and the New School, and has been a visiting writer or writer in residence at Baruch College, Vassar College, Boston University, and the University of California at Irvine, among others. She has also been on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and of several other writers’ conferences across the country.

Jenny Offill

Jenny Offill’s novel,  Last Things , was chosen as a notable or best book of the year by  The New York Times , the  Village Voice,  and the  Guardian  (U.K.), and was a finalist for the  Los Angeles Times  First Book Award. She is also the editor, along with Elissa Schappell, of two anthologies,  The Friend Who Got Away  and  Money Changes Everything . She has written one children’s book,  17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore , and has two more forthcoming from Random House. She received a NYFA fellowship in fiction in 2008 and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University from 1991 to 1993. Her flash fiction is featured in the anthology  Long Story Short  (UNC-Press, 2009).

Julie Orringer

Julie Orringer is the author of a novel,  The Invisible Bridge,  and an award-winning story collection,  How to Breathe Underwater,  which was a  New York Times  notable book and was named Book of the Year by the  LA Times  and the  San Francisco Chronicle.  Her stories have appeared in  The Paris Review, The Yale Review,  and  The Washington Post,  and have been widely anthologized; she has received fellowships from the New York Public Library, Stanford University, The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is working on a new novel.

Helen Phillips

Helen Phillips is the author of the novel-in-fables  And Yet They Were Happy  (Leapfrog Press, 2011), which was a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, a finalist for the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize, and declared a notable collection of 2011 by The Story Prize. Her second book,  Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green  (Random House Children’s Division/Delacorte Press, 2012), is a children’s adventure novel, and has been published internationally as  Upside Down in the Jungle  (Chicken House UK, 2012; Chicken House Germany, 2013). She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, the Italo Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction,  The Iowa Review  Nonfiction Award, the  DIAGRAM  Innovative Fiction Award, the  Meridian  Editors’ Prize, and a Ucross Foundation residency. Her work has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts in fall 2012. She has been published in  Tin House, BOMB ,  Mississippi Review,  and  PEN America , among many others. A graduate of Yale and the Brooklyn College M.F.A. program, she is an assistant professor of creative writing at Brooklyn College. Named one of the Breakout Brooklyn Book People of 2011 by  The L Magazine , Helen (born and raised in Colorado) now lives in Brooklyn with her husband, artist Adam Douglas Thompson, and their baby girl.

Madeleine Thien

Madeleine Thien is the author of four books, including  Dogs at the Perimeter , and a story collection,  Simple Recipes . Her most recent novel,  Do Not Say We Have Nothing , was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize; and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction. The novel was named a  New York Times  Critics’ Top Book of 2016 and longlisted for a Carnegie Medal. Madeleine’s books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and her essays and stories have appeared in  The New York Times ,  The Guardian ,  Brick ,  The Sunday Times ,  frieze ,  Granta , and elsewhere. Her first libretto will premiere with Vancouver City Opera in 2021.

Mónica de la Torre

Mónica de la Torre ’s is the author, most recently, of  Repetition Nineteen , a book of poems and prose (Nightboat, 2020). Her other poetry books include  The Happy End/All Welcome  (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2017)  Public Domain  (Roof Books, 2009) and  Talk Shows  (Switchback Books, 2006). Two Spanish-language collections of poems,  Acúfenos  (Taller Ditoria, 2006) and  Sociedad Anónima  (UNAM/Bonobos, 2010), were published in Mexico. She is a member of the women’s collective whose eponymous book,  Taller de Mecanografía , appeared in 2011 from Tumbona Ediciones. She has translated an array of poets from the Spanish including Gerardo Deniz, Lila Zemborain, and Amanda Berenguer. Her latest translation is  Defense of the Idol  by Chilean modernist Omar Cáceres (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018). Born and raised in Mexico City, she has lived in New York City since the 1990s, where she frequently writes about art and collaborates with other writers and artists. She served as  BOMB Magazine ’s senior editor from 2007–16, and has taught poetry and translation at Columbia, Brown, and Bard’s M.F.A. programs.

Ellen Tremper

Ellen Tremper , professor and chair of the English Department, received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Specializing in 19th- and 20th-century British poetry and fiction, she has published many articles on Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and children’s literature, and is the author of  “Who Lived at Alfoxton?”: Virginia Woolf and English Romanticism  (Bucknell University Press) and  I’m No Angel: The Blonde in Film and Fiction , which was published by the University of Virginia Press in 2006.

Mac Wellman

Mac Wellman, professor and coordinator of the playwriting specialization, received his M.A. from the University of Wisconsin. His recent work includes The Difficulty of Crossing a Field  (Montclair, 2006) and  1965 UU  (Chocolate Factory, 2008). His most recent collection of plays is  The Difficulty of Crossing a Field  (University of Minnesota Press, 2008). Four other collections of his plays have been published:  The Bad Infinity  and  Cellophane  (PAJ/Johns Hopkins University Press), and  Two Plays  and  The Land Beyond the Forest  (Sun & Moon). He has written a volume of stories,  A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds  (Trip Street Press, 2008), as well as three novels:  Q’s Q  (Green Integer, 2006),  Annie Salem  (Sun & Moon 1996), and  The Fortuneteller  (Sun & Moon, 1991). His recent books of poetry are  Miniature  (Roof Books, 2002),  Strange Elegies  (Roof Books, 2006), and  A Shelf in Woop’s Clothing  (Sun & Moon, 1990). In 1997 he received the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award. In 2003 he received his third Obie, for lifetime Achievement ( Antigone, Jennie Richee  and  Bitter Bierce  all cited). In 1990 he received an Obie (Best New American Play) for  Bad Penny ,  Terminal Hip  and  Crowbar . In 1991 he received another Obie for  Sincerity Forever . He has received numerous honors, including both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships. In 2004 he received an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. He is the Donald I. Fine Professor of Playwriting at Brooklyn College. Currently, he is working on two plays for chorus:  The Invention of Tragedy  (Classic Stage Company) and  Nine Days Falling  (Stuck Pigs Company, Melbourne, Australia).

The Support You’ll Find

Brooklyn College is an integral part of the cultural and artistic energy of New York City. Our faculty members in English offer incomparable expertise and tremendous talent, and each brings a unique perspective to their teaching and mentoring in and out of the classroom.

Eric Alterman

Sophia Bamert

Matthew Burgess

Monica De La Torre

Joseph Entin

Nicola Masciandaro

Simanique Moody

Jonathan Nissenbaum

Tanya L. Pollard

Karl T. Steel

Dorell Thomas

Internships and Employers

Brooklyn College creative writing alumni have found employment with many organizations, including:

• BRIC (Arts and Media in Brooklyn)
• Central Casting
• New York City Department of Education
• New York University

Student Resources

Take the Next Step

Request Info Visit Our Campus Apply Now

Brooklyn. All in.

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.

School of Media Studies | Creative Writing Program Recognition Ceremony and Receptions

• 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
• Alexandra Kleeman, SPE Assistant Professor of Writing, Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction

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.

• About Hunter
• One Stop for Students
• Make a Gift

MFA Creative Writing

Fiction | creative nonfiction | poetry.

1. Meet these academic requirements You need a Bachelor's degree in any discipline and an unofficial transcript.

2. Submit your very best work It cannot be emphasized enough that this is the single most important element of your application. We don't admit people based on their grades or their letters of recommendation. It's of course nice to have good grades and people who already love your work, but it's the writing sample that makes a successful application.

If you're a poet, send us up to 10 pages of poetry.

If you're a fiction writer, send us 20-25 pages: a short story, the start of a novel, or several short stories that total 20-25 pages. More than 25 pages won't help your cause.

If youre applying to our creative nonfiction program, send us no more than 20 pages of prose, which can be an essay or an extract from a longer piece.

All the Fiction and Creative Nonfiction pages you send us must be double-spaced and in a twelve-point font. Poetry may be single-spaced or double-spaced.

Before writing it, view or attend one of our Open Houses . Read this website, familiarize yourself with who the faculty are, and tell us something about why this program and these writers are what you seek in an MFA.

4. Submit your application through the online portal . When you do, simply follow the instructions. You can call Graduate Admissions at 212-396-6049 for assistance. Submit the application form and all other application materials, including scans of your unofficial college transcripts. The admissions code is 523. There is no specialization code. In its place, please specify your genre.

Online applications must be submitted no later than February 1.

You'll need two Letters of Recommendation, both of which need to be submitted online by your recommenders no later than February 1. Instructions for how to do this are in the online application form.

When the online application form asks which other colleges you're applying to, if you don't list any colleges we'll assume you've applied to lots but would rather not say. If you are applying only to Hunter please write "Hunter Only." When we ask you what other colleges you have applied to we would really like to know.

The GRE is not required for the Creative Writing MFA program.

5. Wait and See We usually begin interviewing applicants we're considering admitting in early to mid March. If you're among that group, we'll be in touch to schedule a zoom interview. This process continues into early April until we fill all available slots.

We'll tell you if you've been admitted, and a more formal acceptance from the graduate school will follow in the fullness of time.

MFA in Creative Writing

A home for writers in harlem.

For more than four decades, City College has been a home for writers in Harlem. Since its inception, some of the most distinguished writers in America have taught here at our West Harlem campus, including Donald Barthelme, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Marilyn Hacker, William Matthews, Grace Paley and Susan Sontag. Our MFA Program in Creative Writing is dedicated to diversity, excellence and inclusion . The mission of our program is simple: We want every student to find his or her unique voice, whether through fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenwriting, experimental or genre fiction and/or poetry, while simultaneously preparing them for life beyond graduate school as writers, teachers, scholars, and more.

Our recent award-winning graduates include Hasanthika Sirisena, Lisa Ko and Brendon Kiely. New York Times Bestsellers and Pulitzer Prize winners include Walter Mosley, Oscar Hijuelos, and Ernesto Quinonez. In small workshops, craft courses and literary analysis, our students immerse themselves in their writing. Meanwhile, they discover a thriving community through literary magazines, public readings and visiting writers.

“Our MFA program is dedicated to diversity, excellence and inclusion. We help emerging writers find their voice, polish their craft, and enter the contemporary publishing landscape.”

We welcome our MFA students to attend the program at their own pace, either full-time or part-time. We believe in access and opportunity not for just a select few, but for all those who are committed to their creativity, literature and who take the craft of writing seriously.

Finally, despite its prime location and storied past, the City College’s MFA program is dedicated to remaining at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in New York City. We welcome our MFAs to attend the program at their own pace as full-time or part-time students. We believe in access and opportunity not just for select few, but for all those who believe in the life of literature and who take the craft of writing seriously.

Fall Application Deadline: February 15 Extended to March 1st APPLY ONLINE Visit our full program site here

In the press.

‘The Blue-Collar Harvard’

Fledgling authors from underrepresented backgrounds and nontraditional students are turning to graduate creative writing programs at the City University of New York to tell their stories.

by Sara Weissman,  Inside Higher Ed,   June 22, 2021

The class for the creative writing master of fine arts program at City College of New York this past spring was its largest yet — enrollment jumped from 120 students in the fall to 140 this spring. There were 105 students enrolled in fall 201

What makes the CCNY MFA in Creative Writing Different from other programs?

“Diversity. We’re located in Harlem. Our unofficial tagline is “Ten times the diversity for one tenth the price,” because we’re also comparatively affordable”…

MFA Program Profile: Emily Raboteau on CCNY Publisher’s Weekly, May 2015

We have students of all backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, and age. No one group is the majority, and therefore none of the work is treated like minority literature. There are radical implications for the kinds of work our students are putting out into the world for it to be nurtured, respected, celebrated, and intelligently critiqued in the classroom.

IndoorVoices Podcast interviews the Director: Episode 65: Michelle Valladares on CCNY’s creative writing MFA

By Kathleen Collins, October 18, 2021

In Spring 2021, the Creative Writing MFA at City College saw an unprecedented enrollment spike. It’s not exactly clear why it occurred, but Director Michelle Valladares has some ideas about that. She has lots of ideas, in fact, about unique and exciting ways to grow the program even more while still maintaining a manageable cohort size…

What Alumni Are Saying

Michelle Valladares Assistant Professor & Director of MFA in Creative Writing Location: Room 6/219 Phone: 212-650-6694 [email protected]

Orange Alert

Creative writing m.f.a. program, three-year m.f.a. in creative writing.

The three-year M.F.A. program in Creative Writing gives promising fiction writers and poets an opportunity to practice and study their art with dedicated fellow writers. We accept six students in fiction and six students in poetry each year. We have no non-fiction track. All students receive a full tuition waiver and a yearly stipend (currently $20,000 per year). All students have undergraduate teaching duties in their second and third years.

The M.F.A. program is committed to creating a supportive environment for its students. As a program that aims to nurture new voices, we particularly want to welcome writers from underrepresented communities. We encourage people of color to apply. We believe a program is at its best when it is comprised of strong writers from a full spectrum of backgrounds and experiences. Our program strives to be a comfortable and supportive environment for POC-identified students, LGBTQ+ students, international students, veterans, first-generation college students, disabled students, and for everyone who chooses to join us.

Read our Statement of Solidarity .

Some notable books by recent alumni

“Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear,” by Mosab Abu Toha ’23 (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award)

“Chain Gang All-Stars,” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ’16 (longlisted for the National Book Award)

“House of Cotton,” by Monica Brashears ’22

“Grace Engine,” by Joshua Burton ’19

“Tomb Sweeping,” by Alexandra Chang ’18

“Their Divine Fires,” by Wendy Chen ’17

“How It Works Out,” by Myriam Lacroix ’20

“Last Acts,” by Alexander Sammartino ’18

“Songs on Endless Repeat,” by Anthony Veasna So ’20

“We’re Safe When We’re Alone,” by Nghiem Tran ’20

During its nearly 50-year history, the creative writing program has produced an outstanding array of writers whose work has been published by major presses and magazines and won prestigious awards. Distinguished alumni include George Saunders, Lily King, Tom Perrotta, Julia Alvarez, Cheryl Strayed, M.T. Anderson, Daniel Chaon, Rebecca Curtis, Keith Gessen, Jay McInerney, Deb Olin Unferth, and Claire Messud.

M.F.A. in Creative Writing

The three-year M.F.A. program in Creative Writing gives promising fiction writers and poets an opportunity to practice their art with dedicated fellow writers.

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

Kanbar Institute of Film & Television Graduate Film

Be a part of the next wave..

The Graduate Film program is an intensive three-year conservatory in the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television that trains students in the art of cinematic storytelling. We focus on helping writer/directors develop a narrative voice and the technical virtuosity to express that voice in cinema.

Students learn by doing, in the classroom and on set. They write, direct, and produce multiple films and exercises, shooting and crewing on each other's projects. Our students transition into the professional world with a reel of short films that showcase their talent, a feature film script, and a range of highly sought technical skills.

The Graduate Film Program offers a stimulating, challenging, and diverse creative community in the heart of Greenwich Village. Our faculty are working professionals who are committed to developing the next generation of filmmakers.

My students teach me.

Artistic Director