northern michigan university mfa creative writing

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Northern Michigan University

Michigan, united states.

The MA in English with an Emphasis in Writing is intended for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and technical and professional works. The degree is also intended for prospective teachers of writing. The core courses in the program are the writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and technical and professional writing. Each student plans an individual course of study with the Director of Graduate Studies to include writing workshops in at least 2 of the 4 workshop areas. Since the department regards as axiomatic that there is an intimate link between good reading and good writing, literature courses are a necessary and vital part of the degree.

The MFA program in creative writing offers talented writers the opportunity to meet high literary standards in their own work as well as sharpen their critical acumen in a formal academic setting. The three-year program offers three tracks: poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction.

Application packet must include: application forms, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and writing sample (poetry, a minimum of 10 pages; fiction, a minimum of 20 pages, maximum of 30 pages; creative nonfiction, a minimum of 20 pages, maximum of 30 pages). Three copies must be submitted; copies are nonreturnable. We begin reading applications February 15. For an application packet, contact Director, MFA Program in Creative Writing, English Dept., Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, MI 49855.

Faculty members encourage students to submit their outstanding writing for publication, and our students and recent graduates have published their work in American Poetry Review, Country Journal, Michigan Natural Resources, Mid-American Review, the Third Coast, and Midwest Quarterly. The English Department publishes the literary quarterly Passages North, which in 1998 was listed in "Fifty Best Fiction Markets" by the Writers' Digest. The MA in English program presently has between 50 and 60 active candidates. The MFA in poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction has 18 active candidates.

Marquette, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is a city of 23,000 on the scenic south shore of Lake Superior. The area is noted for its forests and lakes and its clean, natural environment.

Contact Information

1401 Presque Isle Ave Department of English Marquette Michigan, United States 49855 Phone: (906) 227-2711 Email: [email protected] https://nmu.edu/english/mfa-program

Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing +

Northern Michigan University's English Writing Major enables students to acquire a solid background in literature while preparing for careers that require regular, extensive writing as part of professional duties.

Bachelor of Arts in English/Literature +

Minor / concentration in creative writing +, master of arts in creative writing +, graduate program director, master of fine arts in creative writing +, austin hummell.

Poppy; The Fugitive Kind, winner of Contemporary Poetry Series prize

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/AustinHummell.shtml

Beverly Matherne

La Grande Pointe, Le blues braillant, and French translation of The Salt Kingdom by Stanley Kunitz

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/BeverlyMatherne.shtml

Ronald Johnson

Anthon Chekhov: A Study of the Short Fiction, Silver Thaw

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/RonaldJohnson.shtml

Paul Lehmberg

In the Strong Woods: Alone in the North Country

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/PaulLehmberg.shtml

Matthew Frank

Barolo, Pot Farm, Sagittarius Agitprop, The Morrow Plots

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/KateMyersHanson.shtml

John Smolens

The School Master's Daughter, The Anarchist, Cold, The Invisible World, and Free and Clear,

http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/English/SiteSections/FacultyAndStaff/JohnSmolens.shtml

Publications & Presses +

Passages North

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Northern Michigan University MA in Creative Writing

Creative Writing is a concentration offered under the writing studies major at Northern Michigan University. Here, you’ll find out more about the major master’s degree program in creative writing, including such details as the number of graduates, ethnicity of students, related majors and concentrations, and more.

You can jump to any section of this page using the links below:

• 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 Northern Michigan University Cost?

Northern michigan university graduate tuition and fees.

Out-of-state part-time graduates at Northern Michigan University paid an average of $804 per credit hour in 2019-2020. The average for in-state students was $588 per credit hour. The following table shows the average full-time tuition and fees for graduate student.

Does Northern Michigan University Offer an Online MA in Creative Writing?

Online degrees for the Northern Michigan University 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 Northern Michigan University Online Learning page.

Northern Michigan University Master’s Student Diversity for Creative Writing

Male-to-female ratio.

Women made up around 71.4% of the creative writing students who took home a master’s degree in 2019-2020. This is higher than the nationwide number of 66.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Of those graduates who received a master’s degree in creative writing at Northern Michigan University in 2019-2020, 14.3% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 24%.

*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 .

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Northern Michigan University

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MFA Program

Poetry: Austin Hummell, Patricia Killelea Fiction: Jon Billman, Jennifer A. Howard, Monica McFawn Nonfiction/Hybrid: Matthew Gavin Frank, Rachel May

The program offers full funding. The program offers teaching and graduate assistantships to its incoming students.

Passages North

The program also offers a concentration in mixed and hybrid writing for students who work in or across multiple genres, as well as special topics classes in screenwriting, image and text, and experimental writing.

The program hosts a Visiting Writers Series, and generous travel funding and summer research grants are available, as well as field writing residencies in a lighthouse on Lake Superior.

The Department of English offers the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing for students committed to pursuing the writing life. This three-year degree provides advanced graduate-level coursework in writing, language, literature, as well as studies in a related field.

Workshops in poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction are at the heart of the creative writing program, while courses in the Reading as Writers and Topics in Advanced Writing series enable writers to explore a variety of issues relating to contemporary themes in American and world literature. The program encourages experimentation across genres, fostering the discovery of new and varied forms for a developing voice.

Our program is committed to the goal of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of departmental operations. Diversity, here, includes but is not limited to: race, indigeneity, gender identity, sexual orientation, caste, religion, cultural/educational background, (dis)ability, nationality, and socioeconomic status.

Please view our  graduate handbook  for more information.

Requirements for the MFA Degree

The MFA thesis, completed in the spring of your third year in the program, is a book-length manuscript suitable for publication. The minimum length for prose is 120 pages and the minimum length for poetry is 50 pages. (Some students, in consultation with their advisors, have completed multi-genre theses.) Feel free to consult the bound MFA theses on the bookshelf in the Assistant Director's office in 112 Pillsbury.

Class of 2024: Your thesis is due to your committee on Monday, April 22, 2024. Please work out specific arrangements (e.g. time, format) with your committee.

The MFA booklist will consist of 20 books of your choice, books that have been particularly influential or useful to you in the composition of your work. The list must include at least one book from each genre. The booklist should be assembled during your first and second years in the program. Strive for a balanced list, keeping classic as well as contemporary works in mind. Please keep your thesis advisor updated on your progress assembling the booklist.

Class of 2024: Your booklist is due to your committee on Monday, April 29, 2024.

During the fall of your third year, in the context of the thesis seminar, you'll devise a topic for your MFA essay (see below). During early spring of your third year, you'll consult with your thesis advisors about the MFA essay. In April of your third year, one week after the due date for the MFA thesis, you must give the completed essay, along with the booklist, to your thesis director and second reader, in preparation for your defense. Note: no changes to the thesis or other materials may be made between the date when you hand them in and the defense. Commentary and feedback on the MFA essay will take place within the context of the defense.

What should the MFA essay look like? This is a literary essay, personally voiced and intellectually rigorous. It is 2,500–3,500 words long (10–15 pages, double-spaced). It should focus on a specific topic (e.g. structure in experimental fiction; trauma and memoir; urban settings in contemporary poetry) as evidenced in your booklist and in your own work. You do not need to admire all of the works on your list; nor are you expected to discuss all twenty selections from your booklist in your essay. The essay is not a "hoop" through which you must jump, it can serve as both a preface to your thesis and as a way of reflecting on your own writing process and on the place of your own work within a larger tradition.

Class of 2024: your booklist and essay are due to your committee on Monday, April 29, 2024.

Thesis defense

The MFA defense will take place in May. Students who are deemed not ready to defend will be discouraged from doing so. At the defense, you will read briefly from and discuss your creative work (for about 30 minutes) and then field questions from audience members (30 minutes) about your thesis. The first portion of your defense is open unless otherwise requested. The second portion of your defense (60 minutes) will consist of you and your committee members only; this portion is closed to the public. Your committee will ask questions about the thesis, booklist and essay. After a brief private discussion with each other, your committee members may either sign off on the thesis as is, or ask for revisions to the thesis–or the essay.

MFA Thesis Defenses will take place May 6-10, 2024.

The Thesis is due April 22, 2024. The MFA essay and booklist are due April 29, 2024.

Thesis advising

At least two faculty members of your choice will work with you as advisors on your final manuscript.

• In some circumstances, you may be able to petition by letter to the Director of the Creative Writing Program to have an affiliate faculty member serve as your second reader. Approval will rest on your previous coursework experience with the instructor and whether funds are available to pay them for the additional work.
• If you choose to have two co-advisors , one of the two must be a member of the creative writing faculty; the other may be a faculty member of any department. You will divide your four thesis credits (and the workload) between your co-advisors; often, this means you will work with one advisor in the fall semester (for two credits), and the other advisor in the spring (for two credits).

It is your responsibility to seek out faculty who you think will be the most supportive of you as a writer, regardless of department.

Note: Mentorship is a mutual endeavor. Make use of faculty office hours to introduce yourself to potential advisors.

• English Department
• MFA Creative Writing

Questions? Please contact...

Creative writing, master of fine arts.

This program, which involves completing a creative thesis, allows you to balance academic course work in English with the serious study of creative writing.

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To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units. You must additionally complete:

• All requirements for your specific academic plan(s). This may include a thesis.
• All graduate work with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.
• All work toward the master's degree must be completed within six consecutive years. The six years begins with the semester and year of admission to the program.

Read the full policy here .

Overview Accordion Closed

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Purpose Statement The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing balances the study and practice of creative writing with academic coursework in English. Students participate in writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, undertake coursework in literature, and study critical theory. MFA candidates will present a creative thesis of between 45 to 120 pages, depending on genre.  The MFA Program at Northern Arizona University allows you to:   

• live and write in the beautiful, vibrant city of Flagstaff
• focus on poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction
• participate in intensive writing workshops with dedicated professors

Student Learning Outcomes   Upon completion of the Creative Writing MFA students will be able to:

• Examine, explicate, analyze and evaluate literary texts of considerable difficulty in order to determine the place of the student’s own work within a literary tradition.
• Develop the student’s own critical and aesthetic position, based on recognizing, understanding, and interpreting critical positions and literary arguments of other authors.
• Read and respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to work by other MFA students in order to hone the critical, intellectual, and analytical skills that are crucial to success in a broad range of literary, artistic, cultural and professional fields.
• Investigate the world of literary publishing in order to discover suitable journals, magazines and/or quality trade book publishers to which the student author can submit his/her own finished work.
• Refine skills in drafting, revising and editing in a primary literary genre with the goal of producing a polished creative manuscript of marketable quality.
• public readings,
• interviewing other writers,
• attending outside readings,
• writing book reviews,
• serving on editorial boards, and
• organizing literary events.

Details Accordion Closed

Graduate admission information.

The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College. Admission requirements include the following:

• Transcripts.
• Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.

Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies. Ready to apply? Begin your application now.

International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy .

Additional Admission Requirements

Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

• 2 letters of recommendation
• Writing sample
• Personal statement or essay

Master's Requirements

This Master’s degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:

• Creative Writing courses: 12 units
• Supportive coursework: 12 units
• Electives chosen with your advisor’s approval: 6 to 9 units
• Thesis: 3 to 6 units (if 6 units of thesis are selected, it will reduce the number of units of electives required for the degree)
• 500- and 600-level creative writing courses, some of which may be repeated for 9 units of credit (12 units)
• Coursework in literature, literary criticism, literary theory, and/or readings in creative writing (12 units) 
• Electives chosen with your advisor's approval (6-9 units)
• ENG 699 , for the research, writing, and revision of an approved thesis. Please note: You may end up taking more than the 6 units of thesis credit you can count toward your degree because you must register for it each semester while you are working on your thesis. (3-6 units)
• Note that up to 6 units of 400-level literature courses may count toward degree, with advisor approval

Additional Information

Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

Availability Accordion Closed

Department of English

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MFA in Creative Writing online

Meditate and create.

• Immerse yourself in a mentorship-based program with online residencies
• Use meditation and self-care as tools to access your creative imagination
• Choose an emphasis in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or dual genre
• Complete a book-length manuscript with professional support
• Grow and thrive in our close-knit, inclusive literary community
• Federal financial aid typically covers tuition and up to $10,000 towards living expenses for US students

Explore the program

“What a wonderful rarity, an MFA that puts creative process before product, focusing on the writer before the creative work. I’m excited about MIU’s new program!”

– N.J. Campbell, author of Found Audio , No. 1 on the Chicago Tribune’s Ultimate Summer Reading List, 2017 , named a Writer to Watch by Publisher’s Weekly .

Writing as a process of discovery

This formerly low-residency program is now fully online, with online residencies to give you a similar level of personal connection.

Get started by contacting Adriene

Contact Adriene >

International applicants may connect with us through our international inquiry form .

Next entry: Aug 2024 Apply Now > Next entry: Aug 2024 Apply Now >

“Go within and scale the depths of your being from which your very life springs forth.”

– Rainer Maria Rilke

– Hertha D. Sweet Wong, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley, author of Sending My Heart Back Across the Years: Tradition and Innovation in Native American Autobiography ( Oxford University Press), co-editor of Family of Earth and Sky: Indigenous Tales of Nature from around the World (Beacon Press). Read more of this interview with author Linda Egenes.

Transform & thrive in our creative community

“If you or anyone you know wants to dive into creative writing and periodically drop in on a fascinating, artsy little meditation town in Iowa, check out this unique MFA in Creative Writing!”

– Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Senior Editor at Smithsonian Magazine

Write a book with professional support

Reading & literature

“Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.”

– Virginia Woolf

We’ll guide you from writer to author

What can you do with your MFA?

Sample a Free Creative Writing Class

Please fill out the form below, and we’ll contact you about joining one of our creative writing webinars.

Meet our featured MFA faculty

Nynke Passi Program director

Nynke Passi holds a graduate degree from SF State University and has been published in CALYX , Gulf Coast , Red River Review , Poetry Breakfast , The Anthology of New England Writers , River of Earth & Sky (Blue Light Press), Carrying the Branch (Glass Lyre Press), and more. A Pushcart nominee, she was a finalist in the 2014 Jeffrey E. Smith Editor’s Prize of The Missouri Review . She is Associate Professor and founding faculty of MIU’s creative writing programs.

Jennifer Espinoza

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet living in California. She is the author of THERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and I’m Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019). She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of California at Riverside.

Ben McClendon

Ben McClendon earned his PhD in English from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, specializing in Creative Writing (Poetry) and Rhetoric / Composition. He also studied Creative Writing and English Education at Northern Arizona University. Ben’s poetry can be found in literary journals such as Rattle , Indiana Review , The Chariton Review , Stirring , Zone 3 , and Redivider .

Sasha Kamini Parmasad Fiction & Poetry

Sasha Kamini Parmasad (MFA in Creative Writing, Columbia University) was awarded first place in the annual Poetry International Competition. Author of the poetry collection No Poem (Yuganta Press), she has designed and taught academic and creative writing courses in programs at Columbia University. Her work is included in Modern English Poetry by Younger Indians (Sahithya Akademi).

Susan Smith Daniels Fiction & Creative Nonfiction

Susan Smith Daniels earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University and is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Her novel, The Genuine Stories , published by New Rivers Press, was the winner of the Fairfield University Book Prize. Her memoir, The Horse Show Mom’s Survival Guide: For Every Discipline , was published by The Lyons Press.

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz Creative Nonfiction

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz (Masters in Journalism, U. C. Berkeley) was a senior editor at The Atlantic before becoming senior editor at Smithsonian Magazine , where she edits features about science, history, and culture. Her writing has been published in The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine , The Chicago Tribune , and more. Her essay “Arab Music” appeared in The Lonely Planet travel series.

Linda Egenes

Linda Egenes is the author of over 500 articles and six books, including Visits with the Amish: Impressions of the Plain Life (University of Iowa Press, 2010) and The Ramayana: A New Retelling of Valmiki’s Ancient Epic (TarcherPerigee, division of Penguin Random House, 2016) co-authored with Kumuda Reddy, M.D.

Rustin Larson Poetry

Rustin Larson (MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College) is a seven-time Pushcart nominee whose fiction has appeared in Delmarva Review, Wapsipinicon Almanac, and The MacGuffin . His poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Iowa Review, North American Review, and Poetry East . He is author of Bum Cantos (Blue Light Press), The Philosopher Savant (Glass Lyre Press), and Crazy Star (Loess Hills Press).

All Department Faculty

Featured courses

• Advanced Creative Process – Exploring the Leaping Imagination

The first residency starts with the heart of writing – the creative process itself. Poet Alan Shapiro said that writing allows us to focus on the “right here, right now, the deep joy of bringing the entire soul to bear upon a single act of concentration.” Panel discussions, seminars, and workshops explore the inner world of the imagination and techniques to access the leaping mind.

Every Page a Pulse – Imagine the Unimaginable, Say the Unsayable

This online course explores the ineffable force at the heart of great writing. Seminars examine Bly’s poetics of the deep image, Rilke’s idea of the combinatorial nature of creativity, and Lorca’s “Theory and Play of the Duende,” teaching you how to mine rich and complex material that is “in [your] veins” and “surges up from the soles of [your] feet.”

• Writing Pedagogy – The Theory of Teaching Creative Writing

This online course offers a theoretical and historical background to different conventional and cutting-edge pedagogies from the fields of creative writing and composition studies, examining innovative models of teaching creative writing not limited to the workshop model.

• The Socially Conscious Writer – Writing Outreach

Poets and writers are the voice of the future and can bring about positive change in the world. This online course explores social values and ethical dilemmas in the literary arts, stimulating social awareness and engagement.

All courses may include

• Residencies
• Advanced Narrative – Transformational Storytelling in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry
• Unwrapping Form – Lyric Association, Braiding, Borrowing, and Experimentation
• The Writing Life
• The Journey from Writer to Author
• Online courses
• The Writer and the Self – Consciousness and Creative Process
• Literature and the Self – Literary Techniques that Expand Awareness
• Every Page a Pulse – Nurturing the Unimaginable and Saying the Unsayable
• Literary Theory for the Creative Writer
• The Writer in the World – Professional Development, Publication, and Presentation
• The Writer Online – Social Media Marketing and Strategy
• Creative writing mentorships
• Advanced Poetry Mentorship
• Advanced Fiction Mentorship
• Advanced Creative Nonfiction Mentorship
• Advanced Multi-Genre Mentorship
• Advanced Creative Writing Mentorship
• Reading & craft analysis mentorships
• Advanced Process Mentorship in Poetry
• Advanced Process Mentorship in Fiction
• Advanced Process Mentorship in Creative Nonfiction
• Advanced Process Mentorship in Multiple Genres
• Advanced Process Mentorship – Writing a Critical Introduction to the MFA Thesis

To graduate, students must also satisfy the general requirements for a master’s degree

Cost & Aid, 2024-25

Us mfa in creative writing, additional information.

Personal Expenses and Travel

Federal Student Loans

Education Tax Incentives

Loan Repayment Options

Income-Based

Income Contingent

Income Sensitive

Entrance requirements

• Hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in any field
• Apply for admission Apply for admission
• Completion of the MIU admissions process, including submitting official transcripts, a recommendation, all materials, and an interview

Additional requirements

• Portfolio: Applicants must present a portfolio of original creative work in a specific genre of emphasis: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or dual genre. The required length is 20–25 pages of prose (double-spaced) or 10–15 pages of poetry (single-spaced, one poem to a page). A dual genre application should include portfolios in two genres with a total length of 20–25 pages. Excerpts from longer work should start with the first chapter and include a brief synopsis. The admission portfolio should showcase the range and potential of the project the applicant plans to work on in the program. Please note that the quality of the admission portfolio is the key deciding factor in our admission process.
• Statement of Purpose: Applicants must present a statement of purpose (500–1,000-words, typed, double-spaced) outlining their relationship to their chosen genre(s) and their own writing process, as well as their reasons for applying to our program.
• Sample Academic Essay or Craft Analysis: Applicants must present a 750-word (3-page) academic essay demonstrating critical thinking. If possible, the applicant can submit a craft analysis essay exploring the mechanics of craft in a literary work; however, a regular academic essay is also acceptable.
• Three Letters of Recommendation by individuals who know you in a professional and/or academic setting.
• Interview with MFA Program Director and department faculty – The online interview with the MFA Program Director and English department faculty will be scheduled at the end of your application process once all of your other materials have been submitted.
• Résumé (optional) – If you want, you have the opportunity to provide additional information in an up-to-date résumé. Here you can include your degrees, relevant coursework, attendance of summer writing programs or conferences, TA experience, professional work experience, publications, and other awards and accomplishments.

Before your first class

All MIU students practice the Transcendental Meditation ® technique. If you have not learned it yet:

• Once accepted as a US student, the cost of TM instruction is covered through a grant offered by MIU
• Students are required to learn the TM technique before starting the first class
• Contact your admissions counselor for details
• Find information on the TM technique or search for a TM teacher at TM.org

Featured event: faculty reading at Café Paradiso Our English department offers quarterly readings at local venues. Our winter reading was held at Café Paradiso in Fairfield, Iowa. Participating faculty were Dylene Cymraes, Terry Fairchild, Rustin Larson, Ben McClendon, Sasha Parmasad, Nynke Passi, Stuart Tanner, and Leah Waller.

Get your questions answered and download our free booklet.

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Our next entries: Aug 2024 and Feb 2025

Northern Michigan University

Marquette , MI

https://www.nmu.edu/english/graduate-program-application-checklist

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry, CNF

Residency type

Program length, part-time study.

Yes, but unusual

Financial Aid

Funding is available through graduate and teaching assistantships

Teaching opportunities

Editorial opportunities.

Yes, Passages North .

Cross-genre study

• Lisa Fay Coutley MA (CNF) 2007, MFA (Poetry) 2010
• Amanda Giracca MA (Fiction) 2009
• L. E. Kimball MFA (Fiction) 2014
• John LaPine MA (Poetry/CNF) 2017
• Brenna Womer MFA (Fiction/Poetry/CNF) 2019

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Please send all inquiries to english-graduate@wmich.edu .

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a 48-hour degree program for students who wish to become professional writers of playwriting, fiction, or poetry. The program requires students to take two sections of ENGL 6100: Literary Forms (one in and one out of genre), twelve hours of workshop in their genre, three to six hours of workshop out of their genre, three to six hours for thesis writing, and eighteen hours of elective credit, six of which must be from literature courses. The Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing does not require a GRE.

Graduates from the MFA program pursue their writing careers in a variety of ways. Sometimes they decide to teach the craft of writing at the college or university level, and many of our students go on to doctoral study in prestigious programs such as those at the University of Georgia, the University of Iowa, the University of Houston, and Ohio University.

The MFA meets the minimal academic qualification appropriate for those who wish to teach the craft of writing at the college or university level. 

How to apply

Find forms and other helpful information for your graduate program.