University of Missouri, St. Louis - MFA Creative Writing Posted on April 25th
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) at UM-St. Louis provides opportunities for growth in the writing of fiction and poetry (with some work in nonfiction) as well as practical training in literary editing. While normally a studio/academic program mixing the study of literature and criticism with workshops and independent study and editing, the plan of study is flexible and individual. The smallness of the program fosters a strong sense of each writer’s identity and ensures close contact between students and faculty. The program is selective, and only those with some demonstrated talent in their genre are admitted.
The Degree Program
Students ordinarily specialize in one genre, either fiction or poetry, and regular workshops in these forms are at the heart of the degree program. Workshops are also offered occasionally in creative nonfiction. Five workshops, at least four in the student’s chosen genre, are required for the degree, though more may be taken as electives. Students also take from five to nine courses from a rich array of other offerings in the English Department, choosing from graduate courses in literary journal editing; in poetry and fiction form, theory, and technique; in literature and literary criticism; in composition theory; and in linguistics. A creative thesis of three to six hours completes the 39-hour program. This thesis is an independent writing project under the guidance of an MFA faculty member. The completed thesis must be approved of by a committee of the student’s choice before graduation. All MFA classes are offered in the evenings after four o’clock during fall and spring semesters, and occasionally in the summer sessions as well. Students normally take six hours a semester, though some take as many as nine and as few as three in certain semesters, completing the degree in from three to six years.
Early each fall semester, there is a one-day session of talks and panels and readings that all MFA students are required to attend.
Although the program is fairly young, its graduates have published well, with fiction and poetry appearing in the New Republic, Alaska Quarterly Review, Greensboro Review, Nimrod, New Letters, Sonora Review, Zyzzyva, Bamboo Ridge, Honolulu, The Missouri Arts Council Writers’ Biennial, River Styx, The Christian Century, Sou’wester, Passionfruit, The Crab Creek Review, Crab Orchard Review. Delmar, Aura, The Distillery, Under The Arch, The Best of Writers at Work, St. Louis, Micro Fiction (Norton), and New Stories From the South 2001 (Algonquin). One of our fiction students has published a novel, three of our poets have published books and chapbooks, and one was a winner in the AWP Intro Journals Project in 2003. One fiction writer won the Lorian Hemingway short story contest in 2003, and two essayists and poets in the program recently received honorable mentions in the AWP project. Two of our fiction writers won Margery McKinney awards for 2005.
