Writing Programs

Whether you’re looking for a creative writing program that leads to an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree at a US or international school, and whether you want a residency or low-residency program, here you’ll find easily searchable listings of our selection of the most worthwhile programs. The listings include links to author bios and works by each program’s graduates and by current and former faculty members who are published in Narrative.


Location:
Degree:
Season (Northern):
Duration:
University of New Orleans

University of New Orleans

MFA, BA
NEW ORLEANS, LA
The Creative Writing Workshop—Low Residency (CWL) is our nonresident graduate program in fiction writing, nonfiction writing, poetry writing, playwriting, and screenwriting, which culminates in the MFA degree.
Narrative Author Graduates: Lindsay Allen, Skip Horack
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

MA, MFA
CHARLOTTE, NC
The UNC Charlotte English graduate program offers an M.A. in English, an M.A./M.F.A. dual degree in creative writing (with Kingston University London), a certificate in Technical/Professional Writing, and a certificate in Applied Linguistics, as well as an English Education strand of the Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction.
Narrative Author Graduates: Jessica Dionne

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

BA
CHAPEL HILL, NC
The Creative Writing Program, centered in the Department of English and Comparative Literature , offers four different levels of workshops—introductory, intermediate, advanced, and senior—which can lead to graduation with Honors in Creative Writing and/or a Minor in Creative Writing.
Narrative Author Faculty: Jill McCorkle, Reynolds Price (d. 2011)

University of Oxford

University of Oxford

MFA, MST
OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM
The MSt in Creative Writing is a two-year, part-time master's degree course offering a unique combination of high contact hours, genre specialisation, and critical and creative breadth.
Narrative Author Graduates: Cally Fiedorek, Maya Catherine Popa
University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

MFA, BA
PITTSBURGH, PA
Ours is a three-year degree providing students with the time and opportunity to produce a book-length final manuscript. Our graduate writing faculty have distinguished nationally and internationally through numerous publications and awards.
Narrative Author Graduates: Eugene Cross
University of Southern Mississippi

University of Southern Mississippi, Center for Writers

MA, PHD, BA
HATTIESBURG, MS
Between thirty-five and forty students work toward MA and PhD degrees in English, with emphases in fiction or poetry, and each student completes a creative thesis or dissertation to fulfill requirements for the degree.
Narrative Author Graduates: James Kimbrell
University of St. Andrews

University of St. Andrews

MFA, MA, MLITT
ST. ANDREWS, UNITED KINGDOM
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a two-year postgraduate degree, and consists of two distinct phases of study. MFA Year One is taught through technical seminars, workshops, and individual tuition; MFA Year Two consists of two semesters of postgraduate supervision.
Narrative Author Graduates: Andrew Deloss Eaton
University of Stirling

University of Stirling

MLITT
STIRLING, UNITED KINGDOM
Offers the opportunity to produce a body of work—poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction—over the course of a creative and stimulating year. The degree combines intensive writers’ workshops, technique-focused option modules, and one-to-one tuition by the distinguished writers on staff, along with stimulating visits from authors, agents, and publishers.
Narrative Author Graduates: Alistair Daniel
University of Tampa

University of Tampa

MFA, BA
TAMPA, FL
The University of Tampa Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a low-residency program designed to help poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers advance their command of craft through exposure to literature from a writerly perspective and with supportive critique and mentoring.
Narrative Author Faculty: Steve Kistulentz
University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

MA, PHD
KNOXVILLE, TN
Students receive critical feedback on their poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in writing workshops, scrutinize aspects of genre in special topics classes, and investigate larger theoretical and historical contexts for creative work in literature, rhetoric, writing, and linguistics courses.
Narrative Author Faculty: Michael Knight
Narrative Author Graduates: Adam Prince
University of Texas at El Paso

University of Texas at El Paso

MA, BA
EL PASO, TX
The Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso offers a bilingual (English and Spanish) course of study in fiction, poetry, literary translation, and nonfiction. The MFA program requires a forty-eight-hour commitment over the course of three years.
Narrative Author Faculty: Benjamin Alire Saénz
Narrative Author Graduates: Benjamin Alire Saénz
University of Texas, Austin, Michener Center for Writers

University of Texas, Austin, Michener Center for Writers

MFA
AUSTIN, TX
The MFA in Writing is a three-year, full-time residency program, unique in its interdisciplinary focus. While writers apply and are admitted in a primary field of concentration—chosen from fiction, poetry, playwriting, or screenwriting—they have the opportunity to develop work in a second field during their program of study.
Narrative Author Faculty: Lisa Olstein, Laurie Saurborn Young
University of the Arts in Philadelphia

University of the Arts in Philadelphia

BA
PHILADELPHIA, PA
As Creative Writing majors, you will immerse yourselves in poetry and fiction. First-years and sophomores take small, workshop-style courses in both genres. Then, as juniors and seniors, you may choose to focus on the genre that interests you most, taking increasingly advanced workshops culminating in finished portfolios with potential for publication.

Narrative Author Faculty: Stephen Berg, Mara Adamitz Scrupe