New Writers Project M.F.A.
The New Writers Project at the University of Texas at Austin is a small, fully-funded , three-year studio MFA program within the large and highly-ranked Department of English. We offer our students close mentorship, literary community, and teaching and editing experience. Working in concert with our partner MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers , we provide our students an artistically adventurous and intellectually rigorous terminal degree, with courses taught by both experienced and accomplished resident faculty and esteemed visitors.
The New Writers Project core faculty in fiction are Edward Carey, Oscar Cásares, Peter LaSalle, Elizabeth McCracken, and Deb Olin Unferth. Our core faculty in poetry are Lisa Olstein, Roger Reeves, and Jennifer Chang.
For more information about the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing and how to apply, please visit the New Writers Project website .
New Writers Project M.F.A. in Creative Writing
The New Writers Project at the University of Texas at Austin is a small, fully-funded, three-year studio MFA program within the large and highly-ranked Department of English. We offer our students close mentorship, literary community, and teaching and editing experience. Working in concert with our partner MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, we provide our students an artistically adventurous and intellectually rigorous terminal degree, with courses taught by both experienced and accomplished resident faculty and esteemed visitors.
The New Writers Project core faculty in fiction are Edward Carey, Oscar Cásares, Bret Anthony Johnston, Peter LaSalle, Elizabeth McCracken, and Deb Olin Unferth. Our core faculty in poetry are Lisa Olstein, Roger Reeves, and Jennifer Chang.
PLAN OF STUDY
The MFA program requires a total of 48 hours of coursework, typically fulfilled through 16 three-credit courses, which students take across three years (six semesters, three courses per semester). Our students take several different kinds of courses and seminars to fulfill the course requirements. Writing workshops are the most important part of your coursework and are meant to provide a supportive and challenging environment in which you receive and provide constructive criticism. Our students also take Literature for Writers/Studies seminars offered by NWP faculty and visiting writers. Covering a wide range of topics, these seminars involve significant critical reading, writing, and analysis from a practitioner’s point of view.
In addition to the MFA programs’ workshops and seminars, students find a wide variety of graduate literature courses available through the Department of English. NWP students regularly enroll in non-creative writing graduate courses, and while Ph.D. students typically make up the majority of students in these classes, students will also find other writers as well as students from other departments (Comparative Literature, Art History, Anthropology, American Studies, etc.) in these courses. According to their particular interests and research, NWP students also take courses (mostly graduate, but occasionally undergraduate) in other departments university-wide.
Each student earning an MFA is required to complete a master’s thesis, a significant collection of polished creative work representative of your time in the program. For some students, it will be a book-length manuscript (novel, story, or poetry collection); for others, it will be a substantive body of work not yet in manuscript form. Decisions about the nature of your thesis will be made in consultation with your thesis advisor. Although students may decide to take organized coursework every semester, students in their final year of the program typically enroll in thesis hours, which provide dedicated time for students to prepare their theses.
The New Writers Project discourages its students from switching genres or degree programs, since this may lead to additional coursework and/or extended enrollment. We expect our students to submit their Thesis in the genre (fiction or poetry) they specified in their applications. Students who wish to change genres before or during their study need the approval of two members of the creative writing faculty and the director of the New Writers Project.
All students in the New Writers Project receive three years of full funding through a combination of teaching assistantships (TA), assistant instructorships (AI), and fellowship support. The complete package includes full tuition remission, health insurance, and a salary or fellowship stipend. In addition to providing funding, these appointments offer invaluable opportunities for our students to gain creative and professional development.
During the first two years of the program, students serve as teaching assistants for survey courses in American, British, and World Literature in the Department of English . During their final year, the funding package is as follows: for one semester, students TA or AI in a Creative Writing course; for the other semester, students receive a full fellowship equivalent to one semester of TA salary. The fellowship comes with no responsibilities other than to concentrate on the thesis.
The 9-month TA stipend for the 2024-2025 academic year is $20,760. The 9-month AI stipend for for the 2024-2025 academic year is $22,995. UT provides all eligible Academic Graduate Student employees with 100% premium support for AcademicBlue SHIP , the student health insurance plan. You can learn more about UT Academic Graduate Student Employee insurance options here.
In recent years, we have been able to award all NWP students $4,000 of total summer funding through the generous support of the Crawley Research Grant program and through the Department of English. While this funding is renewed annually, we anticipate its continuation. UT alumnus John Crawley created the grant as his way of giving back to the creative writing program that influenced his student life and future career.
In order to remain in the MFA program and to maintain their funding package, students must be making adequate progress toward their degree. This includes maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA; fulfilling core requirements in a timely fashion; and adhering to the university’s codes of conduct, academic integrity, and compliance and ethics guides, including not behaving in a manner that impedes, interferes with, or disrupts any University teaching, research, administrative, learning, or other authorized activity. Failure to meet any of these standards may result in non-renewal of funding or termination from the program.
Renewed on a semester-by-semester basis, financial support via fellowship and employment as a TA/AI is contingent upon making adequate progress toward the degree and upon fulfilling the TA/AI responsibilities to the satisfaction of supervising faculty and the Graduate Advisor. Additionally, TA/AI appointments require students to maintain full-time graduate student status and availability for work onsite in Austin, TX, at UT Austin main campus.
Each year, several contests and awards are available to our students:
Keene Prize for Literature
Available to all currently enrolled UT students, this annual prize in creative writing accepts submissions in fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction prose. The winner receives $50,000, and three runners-up divide another $50,000. Established through an estate gift from UT graduate E.L. Keene, the Keene Prize stands as the most generous student-writing award in the country.
Michael Adams Thesis Prize
The Michael Adams Prize, selected by distinguished external judges, gives yearly awards to one fiction and one poetry thesis. The award typically comes with a $1,000 to $2,000 prize.
Andrew Julius Gutow Academy of American Poets Prize
As one of the Academy of American Poets University and College Poetry Prizes, the Andrew Julius Gutow Academy of American Poets Prize recognizes the achievement of an undergraduate and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. Each winner will receive $100 and a one-year membership to the Academy of American Poets. Winners 23 years old or younger will also be considered for the Academy’s Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award. The winner of the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award will receive $1000.
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BAT CITY REVIEW
Students in the New Writers Project can gain editing experience with Bat City Review , the UT literary journal run entirely by UT graduate students. The English Department offers a graduate course titled "Practicum in Editing", which serves as an introduction to editing and managing a literary journal.
Issue 18 of Bat City Review is available now .
Past Bat City Review contributors include Tomaž Šalamun, Dara Wier, James Tate, Patricia Lockwood, Noelle Kocot, Zachary Schomburg, Matthew Zapruder, Mary Jo Bang, Maurice Manning, Colm Tóibín, Stephen Dunn, Aimee Bender, George Saunders, H.L. Hix, Dorianne Laux, Terrance Hayes, Ron Savage, Denise Duhamel, Marilyn Hacker, Ben Lerner, C.K. Williams, Thylias Moss, Craig Arnold, G.C. Waldrep, Shane McCrae, James Gendron, Donald Revell, Terese Svoboda, Khaled Mattawa, Tracy K. Smith, and Anthony Doerr.
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University of Texas at Austin / The New Writers Project
Texas, united states.
The New Writers Project is a Creative Writing Program at The University of Texas at Austin that offers a three-year Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry and fiction. Our program is complemented by a nationally-renowned department of literature, the UT's Department of English, and one of the world's largest archives for twentieth-century literature, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
All of our students receive full funding for their studies through teaching assistantships, fellowships, and grants. These funding opportunities serve to supplement the academic and scholarly training that students receive in graduate courses. During their five semesters of teaching assistantships, M.F.A. candidates receive experience teaching both literature and creative writing at the college level.
Contact Information
204 W. 21st Street Stop B5000, CAL 226 Austin Texas, United States 78712 Email: [email protected] https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/nwp/
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing +
Graduate program director.
The New Writers Project is a Creative Writing Program at The University of Texas at Austin that offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry and fiction. Our program is complemented by a nationally-renowned department of literature, the UT English Department, and one of the world's largest archives for twentieth-century literature, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
All of our students receive full funding for their studies through teaching assistantships, fellowships, and grants. These funding opportunities serve to supplement the academic and scholarly training that students receive in graduate courses. During their three semesters of teaching assistantships, M.F.A. candidates receive experience teaching both literature and creative writing at the college level.
Oscar Cásares
Author of Brownsville (stories), Amigoland (novel), and Where We Come From (novel).
https://www.oscarcasares.com/
Peter LaSalle
Author of four short story collections and Strange Sunlight
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/english/faculty/tbw59
Elizabeth McCracken
Author of Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry, The Giant's House, Niagara Falls All Over Again, Thunderstruck & Other Stories
elizabethmccracken.com
Deb Olin Unferth
Author of Minor Robberies (stories), Vacation (novel), and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War (memoir), Wait Till You See Me Dance (stories), I, Parrot (graphic novel), and Barn 8 (novel).
Lisa Olstein
Author of Radio Crackling, Radio Gone; Lost Alphabet; Little Stranger, Late Empire, Pain Studies, Climate, and Dream Apartment.
https://www.lisaolstein.com/
Roger Reeves
Author of King Me, Best Barbarian, and Dark Days
Edward Carey
Author of nine illustrated books for adults and children, including Little, The Iremonger Trilogy, and Edith Holler.
edwardcareyauthor.com
Jennifer Chang
Author of The History of Anonymity and Some Say the Lark.
John Pipkin
Author of Woods Burner and The Blind Astronomer's Daughter.
https://www.johnpipkin.com/
Publications & Presses +
Bat City Review
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University of Texas James Michener Center Fully Funded MFA in Creative Writing
University of texas james michener center.
University of Texas James Michener Center based in Austin, TX offers a fully funded MFA in creative writing. The MFA program is a three-year, fully funded residency program with a unique interdisciplinary focus. While writers apply and are admitted in a primary genre—fiction, poetry, playwriting, or screenwriting—they also study a secondary genre during their time in Austin. Michener Fellows completed three workshops in a primary field and two in a secondary field. All admitted students receive a fellowship of $29,500 per academic year, plus total coverage of tuition.
- Deadline: Dec 01, 2024 (Confirmed)*
- Work Experience: Any
- Location: North America
- Citizenship: Any
- Residency: United States
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The 10 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in the US
The talent is there.
But the next generation of great American writers needs a collegial place to hone their craft.
They need a place to explore the writer’s role in a wider community.
They really need guidance about how and when to publish.
All these things can be found in a solid Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree program. This degree offers access to mentors, to colleagues, and to a future in the writing world.
A good MFA program gives new writers a precious few years to focus completely on their work, an ideal space away from the noise and pressure of the fast-paced modern world.
We’ve found ten of the best ones, all of which provide the support, the creative stimulation, and the tranquility necessary to foster a mature writer.
We looked at graduate departments from all regions, public and private, all sizes, searching for the ten most inspiring Creative Writing MFA programs.
Each of these ten institutions has assembled stellar faculties, developed student-focused paths of study, and provide robust support for writers accepted into their degree programs.
To be considered for inclusion in this list, these MFA programs all must be fully-funded degrees, as recognized by Read The Workshop .
Creative Writing education has broadened and expanded over recent years, and no single method or plan fits for all students.
Today, MFA programs across the country give budding short story writers and poets a variety of options for study. For future novelists, screenwriters – even viral bloggers – the search for the perfect setting for their next phase of development starts with these outstanding institutions, all of which have developed thoughtful and particular approaches to study.
So where will the next Salinger scribble his stories on the steps of the student center, or the next Angelou reading her poems in the local bookstore’s student-run poetry night? At one of these ten programs.
Here are 10 of the best creative writing MFA programs in the US.
University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
Starting off the list is one of the oldest and most venerated Creative Writing programs in the country, the MFA at the University of Oregon.
Longtime mentor, teacher, and award-winning poet Garrett Hongo directs the program, modeling its studio-based approach to one-on-one instruction in the English college system.
Oregon’s MFA embraces its reputation for rigor. Besides attending workshops and tutorials, students take classes in more formal poetics and literature.
A classic college town, Eugene provides an ideal backdrop for the writers’ community within Oregon’s MFA students and faculty.
Tsunami Books , a local bookseller with national caché, hosts student-run readings featuring writers from the program.
Graduates garner an impressive range of critical acclaim; Yale Younger Poet winner Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Cave Canem Prize winner and Guggenheim fellow Major Jackson, and PEN-Hemingway Award winner Chang-Rae Lee are noteworthy alumni.
With its appealing setting and impressive reputation, Oregon’s MFA program attracts top writers as visiting faculty, including recent guests Elizabeth McCracken, David Mura, and Li-young Lee.
The individual approach defines the Oregon MFA experience; a key feature of the program’s first year is the customized reading list each MFA student creates with their faculty guide.
Weekly meetings focus not only on the student’s writing, but also on the extended discovery of voice through directed reading.
Accepting only ten new students a year—five in poetry and five in fiction— the University of Oregon’s MFA ensures a close-knit community with plenty of individual coaching and guidance.
Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
Cornell University’s MFA program takes the long view on life as a writer, incorporating practical editorial training and teaching experience into its two-year program.
Incoming MFA students choose their own faculty committee of at least two faculty members, providing consistent advice as they move through a mixture of workshop and literature classes.
Students in the program’s first year benefit from editorial training as readers and editors for Epoch , the program’s prestigious literary journal.
Teaching experience grounds the Cornell program. MFA students design and teach writing-centered undergraduate seminars on a variety of topics, and they remain in Ithaca during the summer to teach in programs for undergraduates.
Cornell even allows MFA graduates to stay on as lecturers at Cornell for a period of time while they are on the job search. Cornell also offers a joint MFA/Ph.D. program through the Creative Writing and English departments.
Endowments fund several acclaimed reading series, drawing internationally known authors to campus for workshops and work sessions with MFA students.
Recent visiting readers include Salman Rushdie, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, and others.
Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)
Arizona State’s MFA in Creative Writing spans three years, giving students ample time to practice their craft, develop a voice, and begin to find a place in the post-graduation literary world.
Coursework balances writing and literature classes equally, with courses in craft and one-on-one mentoring alongside courses in literature, theory, or even electives in topics like fine press printing, bookmaking, or publishing.
While students follow a path in either poetry or fiction, they are encouraged to take courses across the genres.
Teaching is also a focus in Arizona State’s MFA program, with funding coming from teaching assistantships in the school’s English department. Other exciting teaching opportunities include teaching abroad in locations around the world, funded through grants and internships.
The Virginia C. Piper Center for Creative Writing, affiliated with the program, offers Arizona State MFA students professional development in formal and informal ways.
The Distinguished Writers Series and Desert Nights, Rising Stars Conference bring world-class writers to campus, allowing students to interact with some of the greatest in the profession. Acclaimed writer and poet Alberto Ríos directs the Piper Center.
Arizona State transitions students to the world after graduation through internships with publishers like Four Way Books.
Its commitment to the student experience and its history of producing acclaimed writers—recent examples include Tayari Jones (Oprah’s Book Club, 2018; Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2019), Venita Blackburn ( Prairie Schooner Book Prize, 2018), and Hugh Martin ( Iowa Review Jeff Sharlet Award for Veterans)—make Arizona State University’s MFA a consistent leader among degree programs.
University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
The University of Texas at Austin’s MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, maintains one of the most vibrant, exciting, active literary faculties of any MFA program.
Denis Johnson D.A. Powell, Geoff Dyer, Natasha Trethewey, Margot Livesey, Ben Fountain: the list of recent guest faculty boasts some of the biggest names in current literature.
This three-year program fully funds candidates without teaching fellowships or assistantships; the goal is for students to focus entirely on their writing.
More genre tracks at the Michener Center mean students can choose two focus areas, a primary and secondary, from Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting, and Playwriting.
The Michener Center for Writers plays a prominent role in contemporary writing of all kinds.
The hip, student-edited Bat City Review accepts work of all genres, visual art, cross genres, collaborative, and experimental pieces.
Recent events for illustrious alumni include New Yorker publications, an Oprah Book Club selection, a screenwriting prize, and a 2021 Pulitzer (for visiting faculty member Mitchell Jackson).
In this program, students are right in the middle of all the action of contemporary American literature.
Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
The MFA in Creative Writing at Washington University in St. Louis is a program on the move: applicants have almost doubled here in the last five years.
Maybe this sudden growth of interest comes from recent rising star alumni on the literary scene, like Paul Tran, Miranda Popkey, and National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed.
Or maybe it’s the high profile Washington University’s MFA program commands, with its rotating faculty post through the Hurst Visiting Professor program and its active distinguished reader series.
Superstar figures like Alison Bechdel and George Saunders have recently held visiting professorships, maintaining an energetic atmosphere program-wide.
Washington University’s MFA program sustains a reputation for the quality of the mentorship experience.
With only five new students in each genre annually, MFA candidates form close cohorts among their peers and enjoy attentive support and mentorship from an engaged and vigorous faculty.
Three genre tracks are available to students: fiction, poetry, and the increasingly relevant and popular creative nonfiction.
Another attractive feature of this program: first-year students are fully funded, but not expected to take on a teaching role until their second year.
A generous stipend, coupled with St. Louis’s low cost of living, gives MFA candidates at Washington University the space to develop in a low-stress but stimulating creative environment.
Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
It’s one of the first and biggest choices students face when choosing an MFA program: two-year or three-year?
Indiana University makes a compelling case for its three-year program, in which the third year of support allows students an extended period of time to focus on the thesis, usually a novel or book-length collection.
One of the older programs on the list, Indiana’s MFA dates back to 1948.
Its past instructors and alumni read like the index to an American Literature textbook.
How many places can you take classes in the same place Robert Frost once taught, not to mention the program that granted its first creative writing Master’s degree to David Wagoner? Even today, the program’s integrity and reputation draw faculty like Ross Gay and Kevin Young.
Indiana’s Creative Writing program houses two more literary institutions, the Indiana Review, and the Indiana University Writers’ Conference.
Students make up the editorial staff of this lauded literary magazine, in some cases for course credit or a stipend. An MFA candidate serves each year as assistant director of the much-celebrated and highly attended conference .
These two facets of Indiana’s program give graduate students access to visiting writers, professional experience, and a taste of the writing life beyond academia.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)
The University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program cultivates its students with a combination of workshop-driven course work and vigorous programming on and off-campus. Inventive new voices in fiction and poetry consistently emerge from this two-year program.
The campus hosts multiple readings, events, and contests, anchored by the Zell Visiting Writers Series. The Hopgood Awards offer annual prize money to Michigan creative writing students .
The department cultivates relationships with organizations and events around Detroit, so whether it’s introducing writers at Literati bookstore or organizing writing retreats in conjunction with local arts organizations, MFA candidates find opportunities to cultivate a community role and public persona as a writer.
What happens after graduation tells the big story of this program. Michigan produces heavy hitters in the literary world, like Celeste Ng, Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Kostova, Nate Marshall, Paisley Rekdal, and Laura Kasischke.
Their alumni place their works with venerable houses like Penguin and Harper Collins, longtime literary favorites Graywolf and Copper Canyon, and the new vanguard like McSweeney’s, Fence, and Ugly Duckling Presse.
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
Structure combined with personal attention and mentorship characterizes the University of Minnesota’s Creative Writing MFA, starting with its unique program requirements.
In addition to course work and a final thesis, Minnesota’s MFA candidates assemble a book list of personally significant works on literary craft, compose a long-form essay on their writing process, and defend their thesis works with reading in front of an audience.
Literary journal Great River Review and events like the First Book reading series and Mill City Reading series do their part to expand the student experience beyond the focus on the internal.
The Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer Series draws exceptional, culturally relevant writers like Chuck Klosterman and Claudia Rankine for readings and student conversations.
Writer and retired University of Minnesota instructor Charles Baxter established the program’s Hunger Relief benefit , aiding Minnesota’s Second Harvest Heartland organization.
Emblematic of the program’s vision of the writer in service to humanity, this annual contest and reading bring together distinguished writers, students, faculty, and community members in favor of a greater goal.
Brown University (Providence, RI)
One of the top institutions on any list, Brown University features an elegantly-constructed Literary Arts Program, with students choosing one workshop and one elective per semester.
The electives can be taken from any department at Brown; especially popular choices include Studio Art and other coursework through the affiliated Rhode Island School of Design. The final semester consists of thesis construction under the supervision of the candidate’s faculty advisor.
Brown is the only MFA program to feature, in addition to poetry and fiction tracks, the Digital/Cross Disciplinary track .
This track attracts multidisciplinary writers who need the support offered by Brown’s collaboration among music, visual art, computer science, theater and performance studies, and other departments.
The interaction with the Rhode Island School of Design also allows those artists interested in new forms of media to explore and develop their practice, inventing new forms of art and communication.
Brown’s Literary Arts Program focuses on creating an atmosphere where students can refine their artistic visions, supported by like-minded faculty who provide the time and materials necessary to innovate.
Not only has the program produced trailblazing writers like Percival Everett and Otessa Moshfegh, but works composed by alumni incorporating dance, music, media, and theater have been performed around the world, from the stage at Kennedy Center to National Public Radio.
University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)
When most people hear “MFA in Creative Writing,” it’s the Iowa Writers’ Workshop they imagine.
The informal name of the University of Iowa’s Program in Creative Writing, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop was the first to offer an MFA, back in 1936.
One of the first diplomas went to renowned writer Wallace Stegner, who later founded the MFA program at Stanford.
It’s hard to argue with seventeen Pulitzer Prize winners and six U.S. Poets Laureate. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is the root system of the MFA tree.
The two-year program balances writing courses with coursework in other graduate departments at the university. In addition to the book-length thesis, a written exam is part of the student’s last semester.
Because the program represents the quintessential idea of a writing program, it attracts its faculty positions, reading series, events, and workshops the brightest lights of the literary world.
The program’s flagship literary magazine, the Iowa Review , is a lofty goal for writers at all stages of their career.
At the Writers’ Workshop, tracks include not only fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction, but also Spanish creative writing and literary translation. Their reading series in association with Prairie Lights bookstore streams online and is heard around the world.
Iowa’s program came into being in answer to the central question posed to each one of these schools: can writing be taught?
The answer for a group of intrepid, creative souls in 1936 was, actually, “maybe not.”
But they believed it could be cultivated; each one of these institutions proves it can be, in many ways, for those willing to commit the time and imagination.
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MFA in Creative Writing
Degree Requirements | Getting Started | Institution and Advisor | FAQs
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) offers a bilingual, fully-online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. The goal of this unique bilingual program is to prepare writers for the publishing marketplace and for teaching and editing careers, both in the United States and Latin America.
Degree Requirements
The degree plan consists of 42 credits of coursework, followed by 6 credits of thesis during which the student completes a publishable manuscript in poetry or fiction. Refer to the Online MFA Curriculum page for a listing of available courses and course descriptions. Spanish is not a requirement for admission.
Many online MFA in Creative Writing courses are open to cross-campus enrollment. Check with your program advisor prior to registering for any of cross-campus courses to ensure they apply toward your degree program, and non-UTEP students who want to take MFA courses must get permission from the MFA Advisor.
To view Online MFA in Creative Writing program courses currently open for cross-campus registration, go to the Student Portal Course Schedule and select Creative Writing-Bilingual (MFA) from the Finish@UT Program menu, or search for a specific course name/number. UTEP students should refer to the UTEP Course Schedule and register directly through your home campus.
Getting Started
Interested in applying? Be sure to review the Online MFA Application Process , Application Check List , and FAQs . If you have any questions regarding the application process after reviewing this information, please contact Coordinator of Graduate Enrollment, Sally Vasko .
Refer to the Student Support section of our website for additional information on cross-campus registration and course access.
Institution and Program Advisor
Degree Awarded: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Program Advisor:
Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny
Please send program-related questions to [email protected] .
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to questions such as, "Do I need to know Spanish to be admitted into the program?" and, "Who do I contact about financial aid?" on the MFA Online website .
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IMAGES
COMMENTS
In his final years, he and his wife, Mari Yoriko Sabusawa, moved to Austin, TX, where they endowed the Texas Center for Writers, a three-year MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas. The first cohort of Michener Fellows graduated in 1996. After Mr. Michener's death in 1997, the Center was renamed in his honor.
MFA in Writing. Michener Fellows enroll in three courses, totaling nine hours, each Fall and Spring semester. There are no summer classes. The 54-hour degree plan includes workshops and studies or seminar courses in the primary and secondary genre (s), a range of electives, and a third-year thesis in the primary genre.
The New Writers Project at the University of Texas at Austin is a small, fully funded, three-year studio MFA program within the large and highly-ranked Department of English.We offer our students close mentorship, literary community, and teaching and editing experience. Working in concert with our partner MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, we provide our students an artistically ...
The New Writers Project at the University of Texas at Austin is a small, fully-funded, three-year studio MFA program within the large and highly-ranked Department of English. We offer our students close mentorship, literary community, and teaching and editing experience. Working in concert with our partner MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, we provide our students an artistically ...
Apply - Michener Center for Writers. Applications for Fall 2025 entry to the Michener Center are now open. The deadline to apply for Fall 2025 is December 1st, 2024, at 11:59 pm CT. Applying to graduate programs at UT-Austin is a multi-step process. We recommend reviewing this page in full well in advance of the deadline.
The MFA program requires a total of 48 hours of coursework, typically fulfilled through 16 three-credit courses, which students take across three years (six semesters, three courses per semester). Our students take several different kinds of courses and seminars to fulfill the course requirements. Writing workshops are the most important part ...
The New Writers Project at the University of Texas at Austin is a small, fully-funded, three-year studio MFA program within the large and highly-ranked Department of English.We offer our students close mentorship, literary community, and teaching and editing experience. Working in concert with our partner MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, we provide our students an artistically ...
The MFA program requires a total of 48 hours of coursework, typically fulfilled through 16 three-credit courses, which students take across three years (six semesters, three courses per semester). Our students take several different kinds of courses and seminars to fulfill the course requirements. Writing workshops are the most important part ...
The Michener Center for Writers is a Masters of Fine Arts program in fiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin.It is widely regarded as one of the top creative writing programs in the world. Bret Anthony Johnston is the current director of the program. Previously, James Magnuson ran the program for more than 20 years.
The New Writers Project - Creative Writing MFA program from University of Texas at Austin offers students close mentorship, a literary community, and teaching and editing experience. The NWP works in concert with its partner M.F.A. program, the Michener Center for Writers, to provide an artistically adventurous and intellectually rigorous ...
The New Writers Project is a Creative Writing Program at The University of Texas at Austin that offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry and fiction. Our program is complemented by a nationally-renowned department of literature, the UT English Department, and one of the world's largest archives for twentieth-century literature ...
The University of Texas at Austin offers a three-year fully funded MFA in creative writing within the large and highly-ranked Department of English. Concentrations in poetry and fiction only. Students take several different kinds of courses and seminars to fulfill the course requirements. Writing workshops are the most important part of the ...
Yes. Michener Center Fellows complete a Master's Degree during their time at the Center, so all applicants must possess a Bachelor's Degree. Applicants with a Bachelor's Degree in progress must complete their degree before the first semester of the program (i.e. applicants for Fall 2024 must possess a Bachelor's Degree by Summer 2024).
University of Texas James Michener Center based in Austin, TX offers a fully funded MFA in creative writing. The MFA program is a three-year, fully funded residency program with a unique interdisciplinary focus. While writers apply and are admitted in a primary genre—fiction, poetry, playwriting, or screenwriting—they also study a secondary ...
Lindsey graduated from UT-Austin in 2021 with Bachelor Degrees in Linguistics and English Literature, as well as a Certificate in Creative Writing. J Evan Parks is a writer and creative currently living in Austin, TX. He is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied both English and Japanese, and was inducted into the ...
University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) Visitor7, Knight Library, CC BY-SA 3.0. Starting off the list is one of the oldest and most venerated Creative Writing programs in the country, the MFA at the University of Oregon. Longtime mentor, teacher, and award-winning poet Garrett Hongo directs the program, modeling its studio-based approach to one-on ...
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) offers a bilingual, fully-online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. The goal of this unique bilingual program is to prepare writers for the publishing marketplace and for teaching and editing careers, both in the United States and Latin America. ... Austin, Texas 78701-2982. (512) 499-4200
Resident Faculty. By any measure, by every measure, the writing faculty at the University of Texas is extraordinary. Our writers are internationally renowned, lauded by critics and embraced by readers and audiences around the world. Our fiction writers and poets have written internationally bestselling novels, award-winning story collections ...
The New Writers Project only admits students for the fall semester. Admissions for Fall 2024 will open in August 2023. Please see How to Apply and Admissions FAQ for more details. We are a fully funded program. Please see our program description for more information about funding. When reviewing your application, we consider all elements in the ...
Kenneth L. Untiedt, PhD, Texas Tech University, Literature of the American West, 20th-Century American Literature; Kevin West, PhD, Indiana University, World Literature (European), Literature and Religion; Assistant Professors. Bridget Adams, PhD, Florida State University, Creative Writing; Jason L. McIntosh, PhD, University of Nebraska at ...
The Michener Center for Writers MFA in Writing is a three-year, fully funded residency program with a unique interdisciplinary focus. While writers apply and are admitted in a primary genre—fiction, poetry, playwriting or screenwriting—they also study a secondary genre during their time at the University of Texas at Austin.
The W's MFA in Creative Writing expects around 28 students for the fall semester, as it kicks off its 10 th year. The program is a hybrid between online and in-person classes. Much of the course load is achieved through synchronous online classes during the regular semester.
Every year, our alumni publish books with major publishers, and they produce work for prestigious stages and small and big screens. We are unabashedly proud of our graduates and the vital work they're bringing into the world. Our M.F.A. candidates have come from places as varied as western India, South Korea, eastern Europe, and northern Idaho.
The Souvenir Museum, a short story collection, was published in 2021. Deb Olin Unferth is the author of six books, most recently, the novel Barn 8 (Graywolf 2020) and the story collection Wait Till You See Me Dance (Graywolf 2017). Her fiction and essays have appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Granta, Vice, the New York Times, and ...