best low residency mfa programs in creative writing

15 Best Low Residency MFA Programs

Author: Natalie Harris-Spencer Updated: February 18, 2023

The best low residency MFA programs offer you a more cost-effective way to complete a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. The difference between a low residency and a fully remote program is that you’ll be expected to stay on campus for short periods throughout the year, giving you greater flexibility than if you’d have either been living on campus, or full-time in front of a computer screen.

What can you expect from the best low residency MFA programs?

These programs will force you to juggle your writing time around your day job , family, and cats, while still plunging you into that writers’ life you so crave. In many ways, they’re harder than the traditional brick-and-mortar school program, in that they give you a truer flavor of what it’s like to pursue a writing career with a million other things going on in your life. They’re also far more immersive than an online-only program.

You’ll be hit with a combination of remote and in-person learning. A typical school year comprises two semesters, of which there is usually a 10-day intensive residency on campus per semester (so, two residencies per year, for two years). The time in between residencies is remote i.e. spent from your writing desk at home, where you will be paired with a mentor or smaller groups of writers. In fact, the 1:1 mentorship is a huge benefit of a low residency MFA program ; you’ll get closer attention than you would if you were in a traditional college class.

The best low residency MFA programs will offer a variety of genres , including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, popular fiction, scriptwriting, literary translation, graphic novels and comics, and writing for young people, while some allow for a dual-genre path.

While MFAs are not cheap, low residency programs are certainly on the more affordable side. Read on for 15 best low residency MFA programs, listed in alphabetical order.

1. Antioch University

Offered by AU Los Angeles, Antioch University’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program is dedicated to the education of literary and dramatic artists, community engagement, and the pursuit of social justice. It offers two, 10-day residencies in June and December.

2. Bard College

Bard College offers MFAs for artists in a variety of disciplines, not just writing. Each summer session runs for eight intensive weeks (there is no winter residency), and does not follow the traditional semester schedule. Most students receive some amount of financial aid, making it an attractive option for candidates.

3. Bennington College

Bennington College is widely regarded as one of the best low residency MFA programs in the United States. Residencies take place in picturesque Vermont, and their prestigious faculty includes many multi-published authors and literary prizewinners. You can elect to pursue a dual-genre path. Bennington’s residencies take place in January and June.

4. Cedar Crest College

This pan-European MFA offers a single 15-day residency at the beginning of July that rotates between Dublin, Ireland, Barcelona, Spain, and Vienna, Austria, with new locations coming soon. Unlike other programs, you’ll only attend three residencies in total, and you won’t go to the university campus in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But…you get to travel to Europe.

5. Goucher College

The only program dedicated solely to nonfiction writing, this low residency MFA attracts applicants and faculty interested in pursuing narrative, memoir, personal essay, and literary journalism. Literary agents and editors attend the two 10-day residencies in Baltimore, Maryland, and there are sponsored trips to New York to meet top publishing professionals.

6. Institute of American Indian Arts

Now in its tenth year, the emphasis with this particular Creative Writing MFA is on Native writers, voices, texts, and experience, although applications are open to all. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it offer two 8-day residencies in January and July.

7. Lesley University

While the nine-day residencies take place in the “literary mecca” of Cambridge, Massachusetts, there’s also the opportunity for students to study abroad at a 12-day residency in rural Wales. Lesley has relationships with literary agencies and presses , so that you get a fast-track into publishing on submitting your thesis when you graduate.

8. Lindenwood University

Located in St. Charles, Missouri, Lindenwood University is unique in that there is no formal residency requirement: you can take classes fully on campus, online, or choose the low residency model. The program is more affordable than others due to its flexibility, and offers financial aid to teachers and candidates over the age of sixty.

9. New York University

Based on NYU’s campus in Paris, France, there are five, 10-day residencies held in January and July. This is one of the more expensive programs, with limited funding available. However, its faculty line-up is always incredible, and you’re paying for the prestige of Paris.

10. Pacific University

Based in Portland, Oregon, Pacific University’s MFA program places a strong emphasis on craft . It offers multiple full and partial merit-based scholarships to qualifying candidates. Residencies are in January and June.

11. Sewanee School of Letters

The model at Sewanee School of Letters in Tennessee is slightly different: you complete a single, six-week residency over the summer , which in turn is spread over the course of three to five summers, making it more affordable than other low residency programs.

12. University of New Orleans

Despite positioning itself as online MFA, the University of New Orleans is actually low residency, in that it offers a month-long residency every summer at various international locations, including Ireland and Italy.

13. University of Southern Maine (Stonecoast)

My alma mater . Stonecoast at USM offers two 10-day residencies in January and July, alongside a concurrent writers’ conference, in the picturesque town of Freeport, Maine. Its popular fiction program is especially popular with writers of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, and its WISE program (writing for inclusivity and social equity) is at the heart of its ethos. In my humble opinion, it will always be one of the best low residency MFA programs.

14. Vermont College of Fine Arts

Another Vermont entry: proof that this beautiful state inspires creativity. Residencies are nine days and take place in December and July, with past residencies going further afield: Slovenia, Puerto Rico, Cozumel, Mexico, Rome, and Asheville, North Carolina. Literary translation and dual-genre paths are available.

15. Warren Wilson College

Established in 1976, Warren Wilson is the original low residency MFA program, introducing the format to North America and the rest of the world. Consequently, it’s on the pricier end, but there are multiple grants and financial aid available. It offers two, 10-day residencies in January and July near the wonderful town of Asheville, North Carolina, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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Here at Aspiring Author , we love recommending bestsellers and fawning over hot new releases. On this real time recommended reading list, you will find a list of top rated books on the publishing industry, craft, and other books to help you elevate your writing career.

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A Guide to Low-Residency MFAs

With the next MFA application season just around the corner, it’s time to start seriously thinking about programs. Writers—are you considering the low-residency option? For those of us anchored into a job, with family, or simply unable to relocate, low-res programs are proving to be a great opportunity to earn your degree.

It’s fair to say that a low-res program may prepare you more quickly for the true world of writing—one in which your writing time must be structured around your job, family, and other commitments. There is no bubble here. Although you’ll meet for residencies (usually held twice a year), for the most part, you’re working on your own.

That being said, one of the biggest benefits to a low-res program is close mentorship. The faculty to student ratio is 5:1 or less for most programs. Mentors create customized reading lists for each student and critique larger volumes of work monthly. So despite the lack of time in physical classrooms, you still receive an extensive amount of support.

Several low-res programs are also now offering a dual-genre degree option for students who want to explore more than one interest. And for those of you who love to travel—many programs provide residencies abroad. You can gather stamps on your passport while participating in intensive workshops in countries such as Spain, Italy, or Slovenia.

So you’re interested. How do you choose which program to go for? I’ve listed some programs below that caught my eye for at least one reason, if not more—whether it be affordability, faculty, or the opportunity for travel or dual-genre studies. Enjoy!

by Julia Mucha

Bard College

Location : Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

Faculty : Renee Gladman, David Levi Strauss, and others.

Annual Tuition : $16,470

Bard’s tuition isn’t the lowest, but it’s worth mentioning this program because over 90% of their students receive at least one type of grant aid (fellowship, scholarship, or both). Their residency is eight weeks and held every summer.

Bennington College

Location : Bennington, Vermont

Faculty : Amy Hempel, Benjamin Anastas, April Bernard, Susan Cheever, David Gates, Major Jackson, Alice Mattison, and others.

Annual Tuition : $19,900

Bennington is consistently ranked as one of the top low-residency programs and has an incredible faculty. They also offer dual-genre degrees. Grants are awarded to exceptional applicants.

Cedar Crest College

Location : Allentown, Pennsylvania

Faculty : Keija Parssinen, Alison Wellford, Robert Antoni Dinaw Mengestu, and others.

Annual Tuition : 12,150 plus $2,750 for each residency (which includes accommodations and activity expenses).

This program offers dual-genre studies. The three required residencies, which are fifteen days each, are held each summer in Europe. Location rotates between Barcelona, Dublin, and Vienna, so you actually won’t be spending much if any time at their home campus.

Institute of American Indian Arts

Location : Sante Fe, New Mexico

Faculty : Jon Davis, Sherman Alexie, Melissa Febos, Pam Houston, Lidia Yuknavitch, Santee Frazier, and others.

Annual Tuition : $12,000

While this program is open to everyone, it does maintain a Native American and First Nations emphasis. They boast an incredible faculty and astoundingly low tuition.

Lesley University

Location : Cambridge, Massachusetts

Faculty : Tony Eprile, Laurie Foos, Rachel Kadish, Hester Kaplan, Michael Lowenthal, and others.

Annual Tuition : $24,000

Lesley offers several merit scholarships that cover up to $15,000 of the total cost. They also highlight interdisciplinary studies, and students gain experience in teaching, publishing, literary non-profits, and community writing groups. Another plus? Each summer they offer a ten-day residency in Wales.

Lindenwood University

Location : St. Charles, Missouri

Faculty : Tony D’Souza, Wm. Anthony Connolly, Zachary Tyler Vickers, Nicole McInnes, Kali VanBaale, and others.

Annual Tuition : $10,872

This school offers a half-tuition waiver to students who are at least sixty years old. Primary and secondary education teachers also receive a discounted tuition. You can meet for the residency either at their campus or choose to complete the program fully online.

University of New Orleans

Location : New Orleans, Louisiana

Faculty : Fredrick Barton, Barb Johnson, Joanna Leake, and others.

Annual Tuition: $12,500

This program offers a residency in Europe each summer for one month. In the past, residencies have taken place in Ireland, Scotland, and Italy. The University of New Orleans has consistently been ranked as one of the most affordable schools in the country.

Sewanee School of Letters

Location : Sewanee, Tennessee

Faculty : Jamie Quatro, Michael Griffith, John Ernest, Nickole Brown, and others.

Annual Tuition : $5,707

This program has an interesting model—you take a combination of writing workshops and classes in literary criticism and history. The residencies are held each summer, and the degree takes four to five summer sessions to complete. Since the program is spread out over four to five years, the tuition is remarkably affordable.

Pacific University

Location : Portland, Oregon

Faculty : Chris Abani, Steve Amick, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Claire Davis, Dorianne Laux, and others.

Annual Tuition : $17,646

This prestigious school offers two Pearl Scholarships worth $7,500 to students entering their MFA program. Partial, merit-based scholarships are available as well.

Vermont College of Fine Arts

Location : Montpelier, Vermont

Faculty : Trinie Dalton, Matthew Dickman, Abby Frucht, Connie May Fowler, and others.

For those of you who love to travel, VCFA offers residencies abroad in Slovenia and Puerto Rico. Dual-genre and translation studies are also available. There are multiple scholarship options available to help offset the tuition.

Warren Wilson College

Location : Asheville, North Carolina

Faculty : Andrea Barrett, Robert Boswell, Karen Brennan, Liam Callanan, Christopher Castellani, and others.

Annual Tuition : $17,350

As one of the older and more prestigious programs on this list, tuition is higher. However, multiple scholarships and grants available that can cover up to fifty percent of tuition. All financial aid is based on need.

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Creative Writing Online MFA

The Creative Writing Workshop Online MFA is our non-resident graduate program in fiction writing, nonfiction writing, and poetry writing, which culminates in the MFA degree. The Online MFA is taught by the same award-winning faculty of writers as the resident program. 

About Creative Writing Online MFA

How it works.

UNO's innovative Online MFA program gives students from all over the world a chance to study with our award-winning faculty through online courses in spring and fall semesters. A highly ranked studio/research program, UNO's MFA degree trains students through writing workshops and literary studies. With 45 required hours, students can complete the degree by going full time for 5 semesters. Students also have the ability to go part time if work and or other obligations do not allow for full time study. As all Online MFA students pay "in state" tuition, and are not responsible for "non-resident" fees, UNO's program remains one the most flexible and affordable options for serious writers to earn the terminal degree in their field.

How It's Different

Unlike many Low Residency or distance learning MFA programs in which students are paired with a single faculty member for the duration of their studies, UNO's Online MFA is organized into standard semesters, providing students the benefit of exposure to a variety of professors in each genre over the course of their studies as well as continuous interaction with their classmates. Strong, often life-long writing relationships result from this approach, so that students leave the program with a writing community to support their growth after graduation.

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• UNO Graduate School
• Creative Writing Workshop (Resident) MFA
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The MFA Program for Writers

The Nation’s Premier Low-Residency MFA Program

Now in its fifth decade, the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College , established in 1976 by master poet and teacher Ellen Bryant Voigt, continues to set the standard for the innovative model it pioneered. This rigorous, nurturing, and highly-selective four – semester graduate program, with study tracks in fiction and poetry, combines ten-day residencies on campus each January and July with five-month nonresident semesters in which students work individually with the country’s finest fiction writers and poets.

Our nationally-recognized MFA faculty encompass a range of aesthetics, and include Pulitzer and National Book Award winners, national and state poets laureate, and NEA, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and MacArthur fellows. Residency lectures and readings are free and open to the public.

Our diverse and close-knit student body come from all over the world, and from a variety of disciplines and occupations. MFA program alumni have won countless major awards and have published well over a thousand books . Application deadlines are March 1 and September 1 via Submittable on the MFA program website .

I am grateful for what the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson offers all its students: the knowledge that allows us to become better and more ambitious readers and writers, and the connection to a community of other writers who will help us continue pursuing our interests throughout our lives. Rose McLarney (Warren Wilson BA, 2003; MFA 2010; Beebe Fellow 2010-11)

An Advantage for Undergraduates

Creative Writing majors at the undergraduate level benefit from the opportunity to attend January residency lectures and readings and to work with graduate-student mentors.

And each academic year, an MFA faculty member is in residence on the Warren Wilson campus for a week to teach undergraduate classes, present a workshop and a reading, and to meet with senior creative majors one-on-one.

More Information

Learn More About the MFA Program Requirements

Rose McLarney (BA ’03; MFA ’10; Beebe Fellow 2010-11), pictured with Matthew Olzmann (MFA ’09; 2012-13 Beebe Fellow) in Pew Library on the Warren Wilson campus

I am honored to serve as Director of the MFA Program for Writers, which has such an illustrious history and has launched the careers of so many talented writers worldwide, and which offers a vibrant, world-class education focused on artistry, rigor, community, and the possibilities of the imagination.

Dr. Gary Hawkins (MFA, 1995)

Gary Hawkins is a 1995 alumnus of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Dr. Hawkins writes poems, writes on modern and contemporary poetry, and writes and presents on the scholarship of teaching and learning. His debut book of poems, Worker, was published in 2016.

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Creative Writing, Low Residency MFA

New England College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is a transformative learning experience for writers. The program delivers a rigorous, individualized curriculum in five dynamic genres: poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Writing for Stage and Screen, and Dual Genre.

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Assistantships, scholarships, and program details.

• Jennifer Militello Named New Hampshire's Next Poet Laureate

Application Requirements

Recognition and rankings, recent visiting artists, notable alumni, degree requirements, frequently asked questions, contact the creative writing department, graduate admission.

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Jennifer Militello 603.428.2309 [email protected]

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Program Overview

The MFA in Creative Writing at New England College, founded in 2002, is one of the country’s oldest and most highly esteemed low residency programs. We boast a small and selective program that allows us to sustain a close-knit, supportive community. Students are individually mentored by accomplished, award‐winning faculty members who are among the most compelling writers in their genres and who are also known for their excellence in teaching.

Students are offered the opportunity to work on the literary project of their choice during their time in the program, with cross‐genre writing, hybrid forms, and fluidity in genre encouraged.

• Four-semester, 64-credit MFA program
• Low residency model
• MFA residencies in Henniker, New Hampshire, twice a year

2025 Residencies

Winter: January 7–12 Summer: July 10–20

Available Genres

• Writing for Stage and Screen

Additional Opportunities

• Teaching assistantships
• One-on-one mentorship

Hear about NEC’s MFA in Creative Writing

Teaching Assistantships and Scholarships

The NEC MFA offers several merit-and need-based financial assistance packages.

Full Teaching Assistantships Full Teaching Assistantships cover the full cost of tuition. The teaching load for full teaching assistants is four courses per year.

Partial Teaching Assistantships Partial Teaching Assistantships provide partial tuition for students. The teaching load for part-time teaching assistants is one to three classes per year.

The Joel Oppenheimer Scholarship The Joel Oppenheimer scholarship is awarded to an MFA student whose writing sample demonstrates outstanding literary achievement and exceptional promise.

The Joel Oppenheimer Scholarship is awarded in memory of the distinguished Black Mountain poet, Joel Oppenheimer, who taught at New England College from 1982 to 1988. He lived among the poets and artists of Greenwich Village, and was a columnist for The Village Voice from 1969 to 1978 before settling in Henniker, New Hampshire, where he was a popular presence in the local community. His most important publications include Collected Later Poems of Joel Oppenheimer (1997); Names and Local Arbitrations (1988); Drawing from Life: A Selection of Joel Oppenheimer’s “Village Voice” Columns (1997); Don’t Touch the Poet: The Life and Times of Joel Oppenheimer (1998); Just Friends: Friends and Lovers Poems , 1959–1962 (1980); New Spaces Poems 1975–1983 (1985); and Poetry: The Ecology of the Soul (1983).

Pilgrim Plus Scholarship New England College provides NEC alumni with a 25% tuition discount applied to graduate level classes across a wide range of graduate programs.

For additional information and assistance with program tuition and financial aid, you may contact Student Financial Services at 603.428.2226 or [email protected] .

Complete this application if you would like to be considered for a teaching assistantship.

Program Details

Upon graduation from the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, students will be able to:

• Produce and revise original works of literature through an exploratory process culminating in the completion of a substantial body of high‐quality literary work.
• Engage in rigorous critical discourse surrounding their own writing and the writing of others while developing an in-depth understanding of the writer’s craft and its use in the writing process.
• Locate their writing in historical, theoretical, and cultural contexts through an understanding of the movements that influence the writing, reading, and critical reception of literary works.
• Actively engage in academic, geographic, and cultural literary communities as they contribute to the advancement of the literary arts.
• Demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and discipline necessary for a successful postgraduate professional life in creative writing.

Allison Titus

Allison Titus has written three books of poems, a novel, and several chapbooks. Her newest book is called HIGH LONESOME . Her honors include poetry fellowships from the NEA, Yaddo, and the Donaldson Writer-in-Residence program at William & Mary, and her work has appeared in A Public Space , Tin House , The Believer Magazine,  and Ninth Letter , among other places. She is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology THE NEW SENT(I)ENCE: Revisioning the Animal in 21st Century Poetry , a collection of writing/manifesto that centers the nonhuman animal’s agency, consciousness, and creaturehood.

Andrew Morgan

Andrew Morgan is a professor, poet, editor, and volunteer whose work can be found in magazines such as Conduit ,  Verse ,  Slope ,  Stride ,  Fairy Tale Review , New World Writing ,  Post Road, Pleiades  (as part of a “Younger American Poets” feature)   and is the recipient of a  Slovenian Writer’s Association Fellowship, which sponsored a month-long writing residency in the country’s capital city of Ljubljana. Currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at New England College, his first book, Month of Big Hands , was published by Natural History Press in 2013.

Anna Qu is a Chinese-American writer. Her debut memoir, Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor was published in 2021 by Catapult . Publisher’s Weekly hailed the memoir as “the arrival of a new voice,” and Time has called it a must-read for the summer. Her work has appeared in the  Threepenny Review, Lumina, Kartika, Kweli, and Vol.1 Brooklyn , among others. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and teaches workshops at Catapult and Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop.

Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities  (BOA Editions, 2017) , which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. Bloodaxe Books has just released the UK edition. He is also the author of four chapbooks, most recently You MUST Use the Word Smoothie (Sundress Publications, 2019) and GESUNDHEIT!  (with Sam Herschel Wein and out now from Glass Poetry Press). His work appears in many publications, including  Poetry , Poem-a-Day, The Best American Poetry (2015 and 2019), and The Best American Nonrequired Reading (2017). He has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a PhD from Texas Tech University. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence and co-runs the journal, Underblong. He lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug, Mr. Rupert Giles.

Chika Unigwe

Chika Unigwe was born in Enugu, Nigeria. She was educated at UNN and KUL (Belgium) and earned her PhD from Leiden University, Holland. Widely translated, she has won many awards for her writing. Her books include  The Middle Sister ,  On Black Sisters’ Street,  and  Better Never than Late . She is Creative Director of the Awele Creative Trust, and she was a judge for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. In 2016–2017, she was Bonderman Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University.

David Ryan is the author of  Animals in Motion: Stories  (Roundabout Press) and  Malcolm Lowry’s  Under the Volcano:  Bookmarked . His fiction appears in the 2022 and 2023 O. Henry Prize anthologies, The 2023 Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize (Spain/UK), Threepenny Review, Fiction, The Georgia Review, Harvard Review, New England Review, Conjunctions, Bellevue Literary Journal, Fence, Kenyon Review, New Letters, Esquire, Tin House, BOMB , and elsewhere. His work has been anthologized in  Flash Fiction Forward  (W. W. Norton),  Boston Noir 2: The Classics  (Akashic), and  The Mississippi Review: 30 Years . His nonfiction appears in  The Paris Review, Tin House, BOMB, Bookforum, The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Fiction  ( Oxford University Press ), and others. A recipient of a MacDowell fellowship and Connecticut State Arts grants, he’s a co-founding editor of  Post Road Magazine , where he currently edits the Fiction and Theatre sections.

Jennifer Militello

Jennifer Militello is the author of the poetry collection The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021) and the memoir Knock Wood (Dzanc Books, 2019), winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize. She is also the author of four previous collections of poetry, including A Camouflage of Specimens and Garments (Tupelo Press, 2016), called “positively bewitching” by Publishers Weekly  and Body Thesaurus (Tupelo Press, 2013), named one of the best books of 2013 by Best American Poetry . Her poems and nonfiction have appeared in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, POETRY , and Tin House .

Paige Ackerson-Kiely

Paige Ackerson-Kiely is the author of three collections of poetry— In No One’s Land (Ahsahta, 2007); My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta, 2012); Dolefully, A Rampart Stands (Penguin, 2019); and other works of poetry and prose. Her poems have appeared in numerous national and international journals, and she’s received grants and fellowships from Poets & Writers , Boomerang, Vermont Arts Council, and others. Paige is especially interested in the prose poem and is currently at work on a collection concerned with middle age and the history of transportation. She lives in New York City and directs the MFA in Writing Program at Sarah Lawrence College.

Tara Ison is the author of three novels: A Child out of Alcatraz , The List , and Rockaway ; the essay collection Reeling Through Life: How I Learned to Live, Love, and Die at the Movies ; and the short story collection Ball . Her work has appeared in Tin House, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Salon, Black Clock, O, the Oprah Magazine, Electric Lit, and several anthologies. She is the recipient of multiple Yaddo fellowships, the PEN Southwest Award for Creative Nonfiction, and two NEA fellowships. She is also the co-writer of the cult classic movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead . Ison is a Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

Jennifer Militello Named New Hampshire’s Next Poet Laureate

Militello’s five-year term as Poet Laureate begins in April 2024. She will serve as an ambassador for poets in the Granite State and elevate the visibility and value of poetry in New Hampshire.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to serve poetry and poets here in New Hampshire,” stated Militello. “I can’t wait to connect with writers and readers, students and teachers, as I move into this incredible role. And I feel fortunate to have the continued support of New England College as an institution that values the creative arts.”

Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus III is the author of The Cage Keeper and Other Stories;   Bluesman;  and the New York Times bestsellers, House of Sand and Fog , The Garden of Last Days (soon to be a major motion picture) and his memoir, Townie , a #4 New York Times bestseller and a New York Times “Editors Choice.” His work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best Spiritual Writing anthologies, and his novel House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His novella collection, Dirty Love , was published in the fall of 2013 and has been listed as a New York Times “Notable Book,” a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2013 “Notable Fiction” choice from The Washington Post , and a Kirkus  “Starred Best Book of 2013.” His new novel, Gone So Long , was published in 2018 (W.W. Norton). Mr. Dubus has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over 25 languages, and he teaches full-time at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Fontaine, a modern dancer, and their three children.

Carmen Maria Machado

Carmen Maria Machado grew up in a household where storytelling was always present and has been writing her whole life. She learned about stories through reading, as well as oral tradition in her family. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts.

Carmen is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House;  the graphic novel The Low, Low Woods;  and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties . She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of “The New Vanguard,” one of “15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.”

Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker , the New York Times , Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best American Nonrequired Reading , and elsewhere. She lives in Philadelphia and is the former Abrams Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was named one of the best of the year by Library Journal , Coldfront , and the Academy of American Poets. He is also the author of the collection The Tradition (2019), which was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award and the winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His poems have appeared in BuzzFeed , The Nation, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Time, The Pushcart Prize Anthology , and several volumes of The Best American Poetry anthologies. He is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University in Atlanta.

Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous , out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 30 languages worldwide. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur “Genius” Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds , a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.

Vuong’s writings have been featured in The Atlantic , Granta , Harpers , The Nation , New Republic , The New Yorker , The New York Times , The Village Voice , and American Poetry Review , which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker—alongside Hillary Clinton, Ban Ki-Moon, and Angela Merkel—Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue , Interview , Poets & Writers , and The New Yorker .

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.

Vievee Francis

Vievee Francis is the author of The Shared World , which is forthcoming from Northwestern University Press; Forest Primeval (TriQuarterly Books, 2015), winner of the 2017 Kingsley Tufts Award; Horse in the Dark (Northwestern University Press, 2012), winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize; and Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006). Her work has appeared in numerous print and online journals, textbooks, and anthologies, including Poetry , Best American Poetry 2010 , 2014 , 2017 , 2019 , and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry . She has been a participant in the Cave Canem Workshops, a Poet-in-Residence for the Alice Lloyd Scholars Program at the University of Michigan, and teaches poetry writing in the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop (USA, UK, and Barbados). In 2009 she received a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award, and in 2010, a Kresge Fellowship. She is the recipient of the 2021 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry.

Victoria Chang

Victoria Chang’s most recent book of poems is With My Back to the World (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2024). Her prior book of poetry is The Trees Witness Everything (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021. Her book of poems, OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also a finalist for the Griffin International Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as longlisted for the National Book Award. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and Director of Poetry@Tech.

The NEC MFA program looks forward to your application. Though we have year-round rolling admissions, please note the preferred deadlines below which allow us to give an application our fullest consideration.

Preferred Deadlines

• Summer: May 1
• Winter: November 1

Personal Essay: 1–4 pages Applicants should address their preparation for graduate work as writers and scholars, the vision and goals they have for themselves and their work as writers looking to undertake a graduate degree program, and any other information pertinent to their application process.

Writing Sample: 10–15 pages in poetry; 20–25 pages in prose and Writing for Stage and Screen Applicants should submit a sample of creative work in the genre for which they are applying. Dual genre applicants should submit a sample that contains both genres of interest, with a shorter sampling of their secondary genre focus included. Prose should be double-spaced; poetry may be single-spaced.

Two Letters of Recommendation Letters of recommendation should address an applicant’s potential for rigorous creative and critical work at the graduate level.

Please have recommenders send letters to your counselor or [email protected] .

Official Transcripts Applicants must submit proof that they have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Rare exceptions may be made for individuals who can show a high level of professional achievement.

Official transcripts are legal documents and must be sent from the institution to your counselor or [email protected] .

For additional Admissions questions, please contact the Graduate Admissions Office at [email protected] or 603.428.2252 .

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New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as a leading college in the state, as acknowledged by Intelligent.com , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

NEC Ranked Leading College in New Hampshire

New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as a leading college in NH, as acknowledged by EduRank , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

New England College in New Hampshire has earned recognition as one of the best colleges in New Hampshire, as acknowledged by Academic Influence , a credible source for evaluating higher education programs.

Tara Betts | Dr. Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit (Trio House Press, 2016), Arc & Hue (Willow Books, 2009),  7 x 7: Kwansabas (Backbone Press, 2015) and The GREATEST!: An Homage to Muhammad Ali (Argus House, 2013).

Catherine Kyle | Catherine Kyle is a writer, teacher, and scholar based in Seattle. She is the author of the poetry book Shelter in Place (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), along with six shorter collections. She teaches literature and creative writing at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Melissa Cahnmann-Taylor  | Professor of TESOL and World Language Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia, Dr. Cahnmann-Taylor’s honors include a 2017 Richard Ruiz Scholar-Artist Residency Award (Guanajuato, MX), 2015 Beckman Award for Professors Who Inspire, a 2013–2014 Fulbright Award (Oaxaca, Mexico), three NEA Big Read Grants (Jeffers 2015, Poe 2016, Hua 2018), top Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes, a Jewish Currents Prize, first place in Anthropology and Humanism poetry prize, a Leeway Poetry Grant, and several Pushcart Prize nominations.

Cole Phillips | Writer and educator living in coastal Maine and teaching in New Hampshire at Manchester Community College. His work has been featured in New World Writing , Juked , Post Road , Green Mountains Review , and elsewhere and has been longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions. He was a semi-finalist for the 2021 River Styx Microfiction Contest. He is the author of Standish Blue (Ghost City Press) and is the prose editor for Malasaña .

Kimberly Priest | Kimberly Ann Priest is the author of Slaughter the One Bird (Sundress Publications, 2021), finalist in the American Book Awards, and the chapbooks The Optimist Shelters in Place (Small Harbor Press, 2022),  Parrot Flower (Glass Poetry Press, 2021), Still Life   (PANK, 2020) , and  White Goat Black Sheep (FLP, 2018).

Reverie Konieki | A voice can be singular, yet also belong to all the bodies and experiences it connotes. Language is where we construct the common dream of the human experience yet fail at ultimately allowing one to fully experience the body of another. My artistic aim is to explore these seemingly contradictory aspects of the physical and metaphysical with wonder.

Creative Writing: Single-Genre, MFA

Creative writing single-genre core.

36 credits in

EN 5311 - Mentorship Study: Creative Writing

16 credits in

EN 6411 - Residency Study: Creative Writing

12 credits in

EN 7051 - Mentorship Study: Thesis Development

En 7130 - final residency: lecture, public reading, and thesis defense, creative writing course map.

• Creative Writing: Single-Genre, MFA Course Map  

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