college of charleston creative writing

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

Association of Writers & Writing Programs

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

• Advice Articles
• Campus Visit Video Series

College of Charleston

South carolina, united states.

The MFA Creative Writing Program at the College of Charleston, a two-year residential program, offers advanced degree training in creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry writing and features separate curriculum emphases: Studio and Arts & Cultural Management. The MFA workshops are the backbone of the program, taught by a highly distinguished, award-winning writing faculty. Students learn the history and traditions associated with literature, learn theoretical and formal approaches to the craft of writing, and receive intensive peer and faculty feedback as they compose and revise their thesis—a full-length manuscript.

Application deadline: January 15

Contact Information

66 George Street Department of English Charleston South Carolina, United States 29424-0001 Phone: 843-953-5665 Email: [email protected] http://english.cofc.edu/graduate-programs/master-fine-arts-creative-writing/index.php

Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing +

Undergraduate program director.

Founded in 1770, the College of Charleston is a public liberal arts college that offers a BA in English with a Concentration or Minor in Creative Writing.

With a three-course sequence in poetry and fiction (beginning, intermediate, advanced), the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program also offers courses in creative nonfiction, flash fiction, writing the novel, literary publishing and editing, reading for writers, and special topics courses in creative writing. Students can enroll in an independent study or the Bachelor's Essay of their design to complete a creative project.

Master of Fine Arts in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction +

Graduate program director, gary jackson.

Born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, Gary Jackson is the author of the poetry collections origin story (University of New Mexico Press, 2021) and Missing You, Metropolis (Graywolf Press, 2010), which received the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. He’s also the co-editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry (Blair Publishing, 2021). His poems have appeared in numerous journals including The Sun, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Copper Nickel. The recipient of Cave Canem and Bread Loaf fellowships, he’s also been published in Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology and was featured in the 2013 New American Poetry Series by the Poetry Society of America. He’s an associate professor in English and creative writing at the College of Charleston where he’s currently the Director of Undergraduate Creative Writing and teaches in the MFA program and serves as the associate poetry editor at Crazyhorse.

Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fourteen books, most recently the nonfiction collection Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian (Crossway 2013) and the novel Dead Low Tide (Random House 2012). Other books include the story collection The Difference Between Women and Men, the nonfiction book Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life, and the novels Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and A Song I Knew by Heart. His work has appeared in, among other places, The Yale Review, The New York Times, The Georgia Review, Vanity Fair Online and in dozens of anthologies.

Born in Los Angeles, he received his BA in English from Cal State Long Beach in 1981, and his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1984, where he studied under James Baldwin. From 1986 to 2004 he was writer-in-residence and professor of English at The College of Charleston, leaving to take the position of editor and director of the journal The Southern Review at Louisiana State University. Three years later, in the fall of 2007, he returned to The College of Charleston and the job he most loves: teaching.

His honors include being named Fulbright Senior American Scholar and writer-in-residence to Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, speaking on Flannery O’Connor at The White House, and having served as a member of the National Council on the Arts from 2006 to 2012.

Malinda McCollum

Malinda McCollum is the author of The Surprising Place, winner of the Juniper Prize for Fiction. Her stories have appeared in The Paris Review –– which awarded her the Plimpton Prize –– McSweeney’s, ZYZZYVA, Epoch, and elsewhere. Her stories have also been anthologized in The Paris Review Book of People with Problems and The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us.

McCollum has been the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a Stegner fellowship at Stanford University. She’s a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has taught at the University of Iowa, Johns Hopkins University, and Stanford University. She is an Assistant Professor and an editor at Crazyhorse.

https://malindamccollum.com

Emily Rosko

Emily Rosko's newest poetry collection is Weather Inventions (University of Akron Press, 2018). She is the author of two previous award-winning poetry collections: Prop Rockery, winner of the 2011 Akron Poetry Prize, and Raw Goods Inventory, winner of the 2005 Iowa Poetry Prize. Raw Goods Inventory also received the 2007 Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers from Shenandoah. Her other honors include: the Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from Poetry magazine, and a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri and a M.F.A. from Cornell University. Her poems have been included in a variety of literary journals, such as Antioch Review, AGNI, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Denver Quarterly, New American Writing, Pleiades, and West Branch. Her pedagogical essays on poetic craft have been anthologized in Poets on Teaching: A Sourcebook and The Working Poet II. She is the editor of A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line (University of Iowa Press 2011) and is poetry editor for Crazyhorse.

https://www.erosko.com

Anthony Varallo

Anthony Varallo is the author of a novel, The Lines (University of Iowa Press), as well as four short story collections: This Day in History, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award; Out Loud, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; Think of Me and I’ll Know (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly Books); and Everyone Was There, winner of the Elixir Press Fiction Award. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker “Daily Shouts,” One Story, The Sun, STORY, Gulf Coast, New England Review, Harvard Review, AGNI, and elsewhere. He earned his MFA from the University of Iowa/Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has received an NEA Fellowship in Literature. Currently he is a professor of English at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, where he teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and serves as the fiction editor of Crazyhorse.

Jonathan Bohr Heinen

Jonathan Bohr Heinen began working on literary magazines as an assistant for Cimarron Review. He has since served as managing editor for Blue Mesa Review, senior managing editor for Iron Horse Literary Review, associate fiction editor for Q Avenue Press, and has worked as a publishing consultant for the Lighthouse Writers’ Workshop’s Lit Fest and the Tomales Bay Workshops Writers Conference. Currently, he is the managing editor for Crazyhorse at the College of Charleston. His writing has appeared in The Florida Review, Arroyo, Cimarron Review, The Boiler, among others, and has received special mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology. Beyond his writing and editing, he is a staff member at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

Publications & Presses +

Visiting writers program +.

Beth Bachmann, Hadara Bar-Nadav, Charles Baxter, Mary Biddinger, Venita Blackburn, Stephanie Burt, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Jennifer Chang, Oliver de la Paz, Tarfia Faizullah, Sarah Gorham, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Patricia Hampl, Adam Johnson, T. Geronimo Johnson, Donika Kelly, Rebecca Lee, Dana Levin, Rebecca Makkai, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Emily Nemens, Julie Orringer, Christine Schutt, Kevin Simmonds, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Natasha Trethewey.

Reading Series +

Dorothea Benton Frank Writing Series ( https://english.cofc.edu/graduate-programs/master-fine-arts-creative-writing/How%20to%20Apply%20%20/index.php )

Share this page:

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 by AWP. All rights reserved.

The official news site of the College of Charleston.

Caffeine fueled words: a creative story.

For most people with her workload, a steady stream of caffeine is a necessity. So, it’s a good thing that Laura Westby Cannon ’09 is a co-owner of a coffeehouse.

Her schedule on Wednesdays, her busiest day, illustrates her breakneck pace. She opens up the Orange Spot Coffeehouse in North Charleston’s eclectic Park Circle neighborhood at 5 a.m. She works the espresso machine, takes orders from customers looking for a morning pick-me-up, and makes sure the place is humming along until 11 a.m.

By noon, she’s got to make it down to the College’s downtown campus – that includes finding one of those mythical downtown parking spots – for a graduate assistantship that lasts until 4 p.m. She gets an hour break, and then it’s off to more than six hours of writing workshops and poetry survey classes. She wraps up her day at about 10 p.m.

Somewhere in there, she’s still got to find time to work on her novel.

“I have to have a very regimented schedule,” she says. “But it’s a means to an end and I’m able to do what I love and am passionate about.”

Cannon is one of 12 writers in the College’s new M.F.A. program in creative writing, which held its first classes in the fall of 2016. It’s the College’s first and only terminal degree program to date, and has already proven a valuable gateway for Cannon and others into the literary world.

“Our horizons have been expanded,” she says.

Cannon graduated from the College in 2009, majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing, but she didn’t immediately pursue an M.F.A. workshop outside of Charleston. She opted instead to start up the Orange Spot with her husband, Matthew, and friend Julie Simuang in 2013.

English professor Bret Lott helped launch the College’s M.F.A. program in creative writing, which enrolled its first students in fall 2016. ( Photos by Mike Ledford .)

The small cinderblock coffeehouse isn’t much larger than a couple of rooms in a Charleston carriage house, but its quirky decor, excellent coffee and tasty brunches quickly made it a go-to spot for java lovers in North Charleston and surrounding areas. Among the regulars was one of Cannon’s former English professors, Bret Lott .

Lott and his faculty colleagues had been trying to launch a creative writing M.F.A. program for many years, but creating the College’s first terminal degree program – that is, one above the master’s level that allows for recipients to pursue tenure-track positions at universities – didn’t come easy.

The first big break came in 2001, when the College took over production of Crazyhorse , a world-renowned literary journal founded in 1960 in Los Angeles by poet Thomas McGrath and included works from Pulitzer Prize–winning authors such as John Updike.

Then, Lott says, about five years ago, the College created a committee to explore the possibility of creating an M.F.A. program. It looked plausible, so the department aimed to accept its first dozen students for the fall 2016 semester.

Lott was at the Orange Spot when he told Cannon about the program. She’d been in his undergraduate workshop classes and he recalled one of her essays, “Danger in the Valley,” about growing up in North Dakota.

“I remembered her from my classes that even then, she had something that was really on the ball,” he says. “She has a really good voice for storytelling.”

Cannon blustered at first because the M.F.A. program focused on fiction and she prefers writing nonfiction. But Lott persisted, telling her that both forms of writing employ the same tools. “I told  her the things we’re teaching here will apply to your creative nonfiction as well,” he says.

Cannon – with the support of her husband and business partner – decided to take Lott up on his offer and applied to the program. She was not only accepted into the program, but was one of two students in the program to receive the Woodfin Scholarship, a $5,000 award given to the two best creative writing portfolios submitted by students accepted into the M.F.A. program.

The scholarships, the other of which was awarded to Nick Plasmati, were made possible through the extraordinary generosity, vision and goodwill of an alumnus and are designed to attract the very best writers from across the country to come study at the College. These awards, which help to offset tuition costs, will be available for renewal for the second year of study.

After only one semester, Cannon could tell she’d grown as a writer, even finding a new love for fiction. And she’s embarked on writing a novel about shifting family dynamics through traumatic experiences. The plot follows two children transitioning to adulthood after their father sustains a brain injury that affects how his body and mind age, putting extra pressure on their mother. But Cannon admits she’s already making big structural revisions based on feedback and techniques she’s learned in her workshops. 

“I want to explore lost childhood, a family unit’s response to unexpected tragedies like this and the question of how to care for both parents in these types of situations as they age,” she says. “That’s the crux, but we’ll see what happens.”

The new program has also afforded Cannon new ways to interact with the creative communities in Charleston and across the country. She certainly engages with writers and creatives at her coffee house in North Charleston, but through the M.F.A. program, she’s been able to go on retreats across the country with other writers, attend literary conferences in Washington, D.C., and sit in on campus talks through the College’s Crazyhorse Lecture Series.

Among the professional writers who have embraced the program is popular Lowcountry fiction author Dorothea Benton Frank (and the parent of two CofC alumni), who has hosted the College’s M.F.A. writers on several occasions. “These experiences weren’t possible before this program was here,” says Cannon.

Lott says that Cannon’s growth as a writer – and that of all the students in the program – is astounding. It’s a little different from undergraduate workshops, where students have to balance writing with assignments and classes in other disciplines. In the master’s program, he and his fellow M.F.A. professors get to see what happens when a dozen writers sit together and hammer away at the creative writing process for 15 hours a week.

“Just to bring seven people, ten people into a room and concentrate on one thing and focus on it for a semester, and see how much can happen,” he says. “This is a cool thing … who knows what we will have at the end of two years?”

Cannon says that everyone in the program, from the writers to the professors, shares a passion for writing. That passion has drawn them together for constructive workshops and pizza parties at the Orange Spot after a long week. And it’s pushed her to sip a cup of coffee before each 15-hour Wednesday.

“Passion plays a big part in this program,” she says.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Related posts.

Letter From President Andrew T. Hsu: Guiding Lights

Five Questions for Ann Pryor ’83, Vice President of Alumni Affairs

News From Around the Cistern

Department of English

Welcome to the Department of English at the College of Charleston!

The study of English is fundamental to a liberal arts and sciences education. English faculty teach students to read perceptively and critically; to understand the historical, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of language and literature; and to write with clarity and precision. We offer courses in composition, creative writing, film, literature, and rhetoric. 

English majors benefit from small class sizes, individual attention from instructors, and unique opportunities for independent research, internships, and study abroad. Majors pursue concentrations in Literature and Film , Creative Writing , or Writing, Rhetoric, and Publication . Those who wish to teach at the secondary level can pursue a combined major in English and Secondary Education .

Our faculty possess expertise in a wide range of specializations within English studies and publish widely with top academic and literary presses and in leading journals.

• Twitter Facebook Pinterest
• Virtual Tour
• Applications
• Entering Class Stats
• Accreditation
• Faculty Composition
• Distance Learning
• International
• Tuition And Fees
• Room And Board
• Financial Aid
• Graduation & Retention
• Return On Investment

College of Charleston MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at College of Charleston. We’ve gathered data and other essential information about the master’s degree program in creative writing, such as diversity of students, how many students graduated in recent times, and more.

If there’s something special you’re looking for, you can use one of the links below to find it:

• Graduate Cost
• Online Learning
• Student Diversity

Featured Programs

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

MFA in Creative Writing - Online

Embrace your passion for storytelling and learn the professional writing skills you'll need to succeed with our online MFA in Creative Writing. Write your novel or short story collection while earning a certificate in the Online Teaching of Writing or Professional Writing, with no residency requirement.

MA in English & Creative Writing

Refine your writing skills and take a step toward furthering your career with this online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.

Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction

Harness your passion for storytelling with SNHU's Mountainview Low-Residency MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction. In this small, two-year creative writing program, students work one-on-one with our distinguished faculty remotely for most of the semester but convene for weeklong intensive residencies in June and January. At residencies, students critique each other's work face-to-face, meet with major authors, agents and editors and learn how to teach at the college level.

How Much Does a Master’s in Creative Writing from C of C Cost?

C of c graduate tuition and fees.

Out-of-state part-time graduates at C of C paid an average of $1,506 per credit hour in 2019-2020. The average for in-state students was $574 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for graduate student.

Does C of C Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

Online degrees for the C of C creative writing master’s degree program are not available at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the C of C Online Learning page.

C of C Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

Women made up around 66.7% of the creative writing students who took home a master’s degree in 2019-2020. This is about the same as the countrywide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

None of the creative writing master’s degree recipients at C of C in 2019-2020 were awarded to racial-ethnic minorities*.

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online

More about our data sources and methodologies .

Popular Reports

Compare your school options.

Creative Writing Graduate Programs in South Carolina

1-4 of 4 results

College of Arts and Sciences - University of South Carolina

• Columbia, SC ·
• University of South Carolina ·
• Graduate School
• · Rating 4.5 out of 5   2 reviews

University of South Carolina ,

Graduate School ,

COLUMBIA, SC ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 4.5 stars.

Featured Review: Current Master's student says My academic program has given me many opportunities to become a social worker post-graduation. The College of Social Work is great. .

Read 2 reviews.

College of Charleston School of Education, Health, and Human Performance

• Charleston, SC ·
• College of Charleston ·

Blue checkmark.

College of Charleston ,

CHARLESTON, SC ,

Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts

• Conway, SC ·
• Coastal Carolina University ·

Coastal Carolina University ,

CONWAY, SC ,

Emerson College

• Graduate School ·
• · Rating 4.73 out of 5   63

College of Health and Social Sciences - San Francisco State University

• San Francisco State University ·
• SAN FRANCISCO, CA
• · Rating 4 out of 5   1

American University

• WASHINGTON, DC
• · Rating 4.48 out of 5   152

School of the Arts - Converse University

• Spartanburg, SC ·
• Converse University ·

Converse University ,

SPARTANBURG, SC ,

Lam Family College of Business

• · Rating 3.67 out of 5   3

School of Public Service and Administration - Anderson University - South Carolina

• Anderson University - South Carolina ·
• ANDERSON, SC

Southern California Institute of Architecture

• LOS ANGELES, CA
• · Rating 4.56 out of 5   9

Showing results 1 through 4 of 4

Best Creative Writing colleges in South Carolina 2024

Best creative writing colleges in south carolina for 2024.

University of South Carolina-Columbia offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a very large, public, four-year university in a midsize city. In 2022, 6 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 6 Master's degrees.

College of Charleston offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a large, public, four-year university in a midsize city. In 2022, 4 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 4 Master's degrees.

Converse University offers 2 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a small city. In 2022, 18 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 14 Master's degrees, and 4 Bachelor's degrees.

Coastal Carolina University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a large, public, four-year university in a small city. In 2022, 10 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 10 Master's degrees.

Anderson University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a small city.

Bob Jones University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a small city.

Limestone University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a outlying town.

List of all Creative Writing colleges in South Carolina

Jump to navigation Skip to content

Search form

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Register for Classes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Subscribe Now

College of Charleston

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

MFA Program

Poetry: Emily Rosko Fiction: Bret Lott, Malinda McCollum, Anthony Varallo

The program offers partial funding through graduate assistantships, graduate awards, and the Woodfin and James Banks fellowships.

Students also have the opportunity to earn an Arts & Cultural Management Graduate Certificate credential alongside the MFA degree. The Arts & Cultural Management curriculum offers training in entrepreneurial skills that support a public/nonprofit mission of the arts.

• About WordPress
• Get Involved
• WordPress.org
• Documentation
• Learn WordPress

Creative Writing Program College of Charleston

Congratulations to the Class of 2024!!

MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN CREATIVE WRITING

The MFA Creative Writing Program at the College of Charleston provides advanced degree training in fiction or poetry writing. With separate curriculum emphases in Studio and Arts & Cultural Management, our program offers workshops taught by award-winning faculty. Immerse yourself in the history and traditions of literature, join a community of writers, and receive valuable feedback to craft your thesis—a full-length manuscript.

WHY GET YOUR MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING AT THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON?

Our program is situated in one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world, a vibrant literary community. You'll also have the opportunity to contribute to swamp pink , our premier literary journal. Benefit from engaging with renowned visiting writers and editors, expanding your understanding and knowledge. At the College of Charleston, you'll receive an education in writing that will shape your future. 

Learn the ins and outs of the M.F.A. program

Those choosing to pursue the Studio emphasis will follow the traditional M.F.A. program model of workshops and literature courses. You’ll also select electives in creative writing. This will prepare you for a life in letters, for careers in editing and publishing, and for additional advanced degree work in related humanities-based disciplines.

The MFA degree with a Studio emphasis is a 36-credit hour program that combines a traditional approach to the creative, the scholarly, and the practical. To earn the degree, students must complete:

• 12 credit hours of M.F.A. Workshops in their primary genre (fiction or poetry)
• 12 credit hours of Literature course electives
• 6 credit hours of Creative Writing course electives
• 6 credit hours of thesis, working under the mentorship of a faculty advisor
• Final thesis and an oral defense

Creative Writing electives include courses, such as: Reading for Writers; Publishing Practicum; Special Topics in Creative Writing, Craft and Form courses, and the MFA Workshop in the other genre. There are no period requirements for the Literature course electives. Literature courses are offered through the joint College of Charleston/Citadel M.A. in English program.

If you choose the Arts & Cultural Management emphasis, you will take workshops and a creative writing elective, but also take courses through the Graduate Certificate in Arts and Cultural Management. This includes topics like in arts advocacy, organization leadership, fundraising and resource management, marketing/audience development, educational programming, and social justice engagement in the arts.

The MFA degree with an Arts & Cultural Management emphasis is a 36-credit hour program that allows students to also earn a Graduate Certificate in Arts & Cultural Management. To earn the master’s degree and certificate, students must complete:

• 15 credits hours of Arts & Cultural Management (ARCM) courses
• 3 credit hours of a Creative Writing course elective

Students who are interested in the M.F.A. degree with the ARCM curriculum emphasis will need to apply to the Arts & Cultural Management Graduate Certificate program after they have been officially admitted to the M.F.A. program. For questions concerning ARCM, please contact Dr. Hsin-Ching Wu, ARCM Director ([email protected])

To complete your M.F.A. degree, all students are required to write and revise a creative thesis of “near publishable” quality. The M.F.A. thesis is a sustained piece of imaginative writing of literary merit. Students must complete their thesis in their primary genre they applied to the program in. If a student wishes to change their primary genre, they must reapply to the M.F.A. program in the next application cycle. The thesis may consist of a collection of poems, short stories, a novella, a novel or a novel excerpt. Typically, a thesis for poetry is 48-64 pages and for prose is at least 100 pages.

M.F.A. students enroll in thesis hours (6 credits) during the fall and spring semesters of their second year of study. Students work with a set M.F.A. thesis advisor and select a second reader from the English / Creative Writing graduate faculty whose expertise aligns with the student’s creative work. The MFA student and the thesis advisor will meet as necessary during the academic year to discuss and evaluate the student’s ongoing writing and revising progress.

At the beginning of the academic year, the MFA Program Director determines an internal thesis deadline (typically around March 15th) for students to turn in their complete thesis manuscripts to their thesis committee and then to prepare for the oral defense, which are typically held in April. After the thesis defense, MFA students must format their manuscript according to the   Graduate School’s thesis guidelines   and submit it to the Graduate School for approval.

Degree requirements include:

• a minimum 36 credit hours with an average of "B” or better
• 12 hours of coursework in the M.F.A. core workshops in a primary genre emphasis (either fiction or poetry)
• a thesis (a collection of poems, short stories, or a novel)
• an oral defense

The most important element of an education in writing is the quality of the faculty and staff. Students attending the College of Charleston’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing program benefit from its distinguished faculty. Their wisdom, expertise, and love of the word show in their mentorship of students. Our faculty are nationally and internationally acclaimed writers who have long been practicing and professing the art. Faculty include:  

• Gary Jackson     
• Bret Lott  
• Malinda McCollum    
• Emily Rosko    
• Anthony Varallo
• Jonathan Bohr Heinen    

In addition, faculty and staff have served in various capacities, from first readers to editors with literary journals such as  The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, Ploughshares, Epoch, Cimarron Review, Ironhorse Literary Review, Blue Mesa Review,  and, of course,  swamp pink  and  Crazyhorse .  

This level of expertise brings with it a deep knowledge of the writing and publishing process. 

CAREERS & OUTCOMES

The MFA is the terminal degree in the field. In addition to pursuing careers in teaching, our graduates are prepared to seek jobs in publishing, editing, marketing, advertising, and arts administration. Our graduates may also pursue further studies in Ph.D programs in Creative Writing and English Literature.

I feel so lucky to be in a space full of such incredible writers, in a city brimming with artistic inspiration, and at a new job abundant with opportunities to better the campus community. I feel immensely proud. Annie Grimes, ‘24

HOW TO APPLY

The MFA program priority application deadline is January 15, 2024 for entrance into the program in Fall 2024.

Prospective students applying to the MFA program in Creative Writing MUST do so by first accessing the   Graduate School application site .  

Required Application Materials for the MFA program in Creative Writing:

· A Baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher learning with a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 2.500 on a 4.000 scale.

· A creative writing sample in the genre of application that demonstrates skill and promise for further development in the art. Fiction samples may include one short story, several short stories, or a section of a novel, and must not exceed 30 pages in length. Poets should send no more than 10 pages of poetry.

· A statement of purpose (300-500 words). Applicants should discuss: their writing style, as well as literary influences; how the College/program will support these goals; and what the applicant believes they will contribute to the program.

· Three letters of recommendation. Each referee should be as specific as possible in addressing the applicant’s motivation and ability to successfully complete a graduate degree.

The M.F.A. Creative Writing program awards several merit-based fellowships, which have been made possible by the extraordinary generosity, vision, and good will of alumni of the College of Charleston:

THE WOODFIN FELLOWSHIPS: The fellowship award is $10,000 total for the recipients’ two years in the MFA program. Typically, Woodfin Fellows also are awarded a renewable 10-hour Graduate Assistantship ($6,300/yr.), usually to work as an Editorial Assistant at swamp pink. Each year, two Woodfin Fellowships are awarded to one incoming fiction writer and one incoming poet whose application and creative writing sample demonstrates exceptional skill and promise.

THE JAMES L. “JIM” BANKS III MEMORIAL ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP: The Banks Scholarship is $5000 total, divided across the recipient’s two years in the MFA program. Every other year, the Banks Scholarship is awarded to a student who plans to enroll in the Studio curriculum emphasis, who has a minimum cumulative 3.5 GPA, and whose application and creative work demonstrates excellence and the ability to tap into the universal human experience. THE LISA PEREA HANE ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP: The Hane Scholarship is approximately $6,000 total, divided across the recipient’s two years in the MFA program. Every other year, the Hane Scholarship is awarded to a student who has a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA, and whose application and creative work demonstrates exceptional skill and promise. GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS Graduate assistantships are one-year positions that require students to work either 20 hours per week (at an annual stipend of $12,600) or 10 hours per week (at an annual stipend of $6,300). The MFA program awards a limited number of competitive Graduate Assistantships to work as an Editorial Assistant at swamp pink literary journal based on the merit of a student’s creative writing sample, statement of purpose, GPA, and professor recommendations. Recipients of graduate assistantships must be enrolled full time in the program and in good academic standing.

Admitted students can apply for graduate assistantships in other departments and offices on campus as well, such as the Avery Research Center, the Honors College, and the Arts & Cultural Management department.

GRADUATE SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS Students accepted into the MFA in Creative Writing program who meet the academic criteria will be nominated for competitive scholarships and fellowships offered by the Graduate School. These scholarships and fellowships are awarded for academic excellence and are made by the discretion of the Graduate School Dean.

• Globe TUFTS.EDU
• Info Policies
• log-in Logout Alert: Unable to connect to Destiny One Course Management. alert-triangle-small
• log-in Login
• shopping-cart Cart Alert: Unable to connect to Destiny One Course Management. alert-triangle-small 0
• request-information Request Info

Something went wrong!

The course was not removed from your cart due to an error.

Please try again later.

Creative Writing: Fiction - C

Eng 0005 - c, course description, affiliated with:.

School of Arts and Sciences

View Cart & Proceed to Checkout

Please select one of the following options to continue: