Mills College MFA :: Creative Writing Programs :: NewPages Guide
Mills College
Master of Fine Arts: Creative Writing, Book Art & Creative Writing
Master of Arts: English & American Literature
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94613
Website: www.mills.edu/english
Program director: Cynthia Scheinberg, Chair of the English Department and Dean of Graduate Literary Studies
Juliana Spahr, Director of Creative Writing
Kathleen Walkup, Program Head, Book Art and Creative Writing
Program contact: Jess Heaney, Coordinator of English Graduate Program
Phone: 510-430-2240
Email: grad_eng@mills.edu
Degrees offered: MFA in Creative Writing, MFA in Book Art and Creative Writing, MA in English and American Literature
Genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction
Type of program: Residency
Length of program: MFA in Creative Writing/MA in Literature: 2-3 year programs
MFA in Book Art and Creative Writing: 2.5 years
Enrollment: 100 graduate students in all programs combined.
Total credits required: 11 or 12.5 (depending on program)
Application deadlines: December 15
Scholarships available: Yes. Need-based scholarships available.
Core faculty: Elmaz Abinader, Diane Cady, Julie Chen, Ajuan Mance, Cornelia Nixon, Sarah Pollock, Patricia Powell, Stephen Ratcliffe, Kathryn Reiss, Kirsten Saxton, Ruth Saxton, Cynthia Scheinberg, Juliana Spahr, Thomas Strychacz, Kathleen Walkup
Visiting faculty: Faith Adiele, Rebekah Edwards, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, Barbara Jane Reyes, Truong Tran
Assistantships: Yes. Two full-tuition assistantships in community poetics and narrative practice awarded each year to incoming students. Partial-tuition assistantships available in composition, literature, and creative writing classrooms; book art studio; the Place for Writers; and for the managing editor of the Mills College literary journal, 580 Split.
Publishing/editing courses: All editorial staff for 580 Split, the Mills College literary magazine, enroll in a partial-credit course on contemporary literary production.
Literary magazine: Yes, 580 Split
Reading series: Yes, Contemporary Writers Series
Recent visiting writers: Ann Carson, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Eileen Myles, Achy Obejas, M. NourbeSe Philip, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Program description: Part of the San Francisco Bay Area’s vibrant literary community, Mills College offers innovative MFA programs that allow you to explore poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and book art—enhancing your creativity and extending the power of words to the world around you. We are an intimate community of writers and scholars, and our alumni maintain strong ties with one another. Graduates of our program regularly publish their work in magazines and journals, present at nationally recognized conferences, perform at local and national venues, and are themselves successful publishers and editors.
The MFA in Creative Writing, with genre emphasis in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction is designed to develop your growth as a writer and reader, enhance your awareness of the contemporary literary field, and highlight opportunities in publishing, teaching, and community work.
The MFA in Book Art and Creative Writing, the first such program in the country, is designed to allow you to develop as both a writer and a visual artist, to enhance your understanding of contemporary writing and its visual forms, and to encourage a deep exploration of the book form in both content and materiality.
The MA in English and American literature is designed to help you develop your critical writing and scholarly research skills essential to a variety of professional paths.
For detailed program information and to learn more about Mills College, visit www.mills.edu/english or contact us at 510.430.3130.