Mfa Programs

Setting the Record Straight on Creative Writing: What We Really Do in School (And It's Not All Recess)

Stephanie Vanderslice | Posted 05.22.2012

Stephanie Vanderslice

Too often, detractors of creative writing as an academic field use a small part of what we do to make a sweeping generalization. So how does an MFA program in creative writing work?

Can Creative Writing Be Taught? Therapy For The Disaffected Masses

Anis Shivani | Posted 03.11.2012

Anis Shivani

Creative writing is a subset of therapy, with the same essential modalities -- except, like everything else in our culture, it comes in a stripped, dumbed down version that partakes little of the rigors of psychotherapy.

Triangulation: Past, Present And Future at California State University, Northridge's Art Department

Lisa Adams | Posted 02.14.2012

Lisa Adams

Triangulation is thoughtfully selected and impeccably installed, making vivid the connections stated in the curatorial essay.

Why MFA Programs Matter

Brian Joseph Davis | Posted 10.17.2011

Brian Joseph Davis

The love-hate relationship between creative writing MFA programs and writers has not changed much since Kurt Vonnegut was playfully piqued by the emerging phenomenon of writing programs in the 1960s.

MFA: Is It Necessary? -- The Debate

Jane Chafin | Posted 09.12.2011

Jane Chafin

A degree is not something I look for when selecting artists for Offramp Gallery. The bottom line is always the work. I look for work that's honest, creative, original, skillfully executed and intensely visual.

The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2011-2012)

Seth Abramson | Posted 06.18.2011

Seth Abramson

The twenty-five programs listed here fully fund a sizable percentage of incoming students, yet still receive less attention from applicants than they deserve.

Penn State To Cut Top-Ranked MFA Program (Updated)

Seth Abramson | Posted 06.06.2011

Seth Abramson

According to Penn State's Daily Collegian, the university is preparing to cut its creative writing MFA program, which offers concentrations in fiction, poetry and nonfiction.

The Top 10 Creative Writing MFA Program Websites

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

Ever since novelist Tom Kealey advised MFA applicants to consider a program's online promotional materials, young writers have been comparing notes about which program websites measure up.

Is American Poetry At A Dead-End?

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

"Is American poetry at a dead-end? Have American poets betrayed the great legacy of modernism? Why or why not?

James Frey and the Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, is again facing scrutiny for a publishing venture -- a scandal that emphasizes the wide gulf between younger and older literary artists.

A Million Exploited MFA's: How James Frey Benefits from MFA Programs' Willingness to Sell Out Their Students

Hillary Rettig | Posted 05.25.2011

Hillary Rettig

Frey's atelier is not all that different from the MFA programs themselves, in that both extract huge amounts of resources from desperate writers in exchange for vivid but undefined promises of success and glory.

Confessions of a Book Slut

Lev Raphael | Posted 05.25.2011

Lev Raphael

For as long as I can remember, I was a monogamous reader. I'd start a book and read it straight through no matter how much time that took. Now I'm a book slut.

The New Face of the Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

There are now too many literary artists, publishers, readings, salons, conferences, creative writing programs, literary magazines, and bohemian coteries for any one person to keep tabs on.

Creative Writing Programs

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

Just as the guild structure was socially conservative--and hence easily superseded when the more progressive market system, flourishing along with the industrial economy, came along--so is the present MFA credentialing system.

Short Stories

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

A short story is like a toothache and you must drill it and fill it. A novel is more like bridgework.

The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2010-2011)

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

These programs fully fund 70% or more of students, yet receive less attention from applicants than they deserve.

Columbia Professor's E-mail to Students Was Pure Fiction

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

Columbia University and Professor Hospital should be looking to their own house rather than sending dodgy communiqués to a smaller, much-better-funded program which is currently enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity and reputation.

The Decline of the New York City MFA

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

New York City MFAs are subject to a vicious circle from which some may not escape.

What's The State Of American Poetry?

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

This seems to be a particularly angst-ridden moment for the followers of American poetry. Is it savagely alive, or is it a moribund corpse, having long been administered last rites?

Six Myths About the Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts

Seth Abramson | Posted 05.25.2011

Seth Abramson

Myth: MFA programs are desperate for tuition dollars, so they'll admit almost anyone. Fact: Portland State's MFA (ranked #52 nationally) is a tougher admit than University of Pennsylvania's undergraduate program.

Are MFA Programs a Waste of Time? Mine Wasn't

Lev Raphael | Posted 05.25.2011

Lev Raphael

I emerged a more experienced and dedicated writer, a better teacher, and someone more determined to make it as an author even in the face of savage criticism.

Writer Wednesday: 11 Of The Best MFA Writing Programs (PHOTOS)

Posted 05.25.2011

Each Wednesday, Twitter users celebrate writing with the hashtag #writerwednesday, usually used to suggest new writers to follow. We've been expanding...

Voice in Fiction: A Favorite MFA/Writing Program Shibboleth

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

I hope I never see the day when I've found my voice. How is it possible to ever find your voice? Voice is mystical. It puts the writer on a pedestal. No writer worth his salt ought to want that.

David Lehman's Incestuous Coterie: Why the New 'Best American Poetry' Sucks Even More Than Its Twenty-One Predecessors

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

For years, the Best American Poetry series has been on a downward slope (using slope in the most generous sense of the word). For its 2009 edition, it seems to have reached a final resting point.

Iowa Writers' Workshop Graduate Spills It All: Interview with John McNally, Author of "After the Workshop"

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Anis Shivani

I thought McNally, because he has experienced the Iowa Writers' Workshop firsthand--and lived to tell the funniest tale ever written about it--would be an ideal subject to interview about a lot of concerns in the writing and publishing industries.