Creative Writing Programs :: NewPages Guide

Murray State University

MFA in Creative Writing

Murray State University

Master of Fine Arts Program

7C Faculty Hall-Dept of English and Philosophy

Murray, KY 42071

Website: www.murraystate.edu/mfa

Program director: Ann Neelon

Program contact: Nita King, Administrative Secretary

Phone: 270-809-4727

Email: msu.mfa@murraystate.edu

Degrees offered: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Genres: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry

Type of program: Low Residency

Length of program: 2 years

Enrollment: 40

Total credits required: 48 Credit Hours

Application deadlines: Rolling Enrollment

Scholarships available: No

Core faculty: Ann Neelon (director), Carrie Jerrell (associate director), Nickole Brown, Christine Hale, Tommy Hays, Lorraine Lopez, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Dale Ray Phillips, Lynn Pruett, Martin Roper, Jeffrey Skinner, Julia Watts

Assistantships: Yes

Publishing/editing courses: Yes

Literary magazine: Yes, New Madrid

Reading series: Yes

Recent visiting writers: Richard Bausch, Linda Bierds, Alice Friman, Holly Goddard Jones, Ilya Kaminsky, Randall Kenan, Beth Lordan, Lee Martin, Scott Russell Sanders, George Singleton

Program description: In the beautiful lakes region of Western Kentucky, something extraordinary is happening. Masters in their craft—some of the most widely respected novelists, poets and essayists working today—are guiding a group of talented and diverse writers in Murray State University's Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing program.  

The primary objective of the low-residency MFA program is to provide advanced instruction to creative writers while allowing them to live where they choose. The MFA is a terminal degree and provides the necessary academic credentials for a writer to teach creative writing at the college or university level. It also provides a foundation in writing that can help prepare graduates for careers in a variety of fields such as writing, publishing, advertising, or teaching at the secondary level. Our foremost goal, however, is to facilitate the growth of writers.  

The select and eclectic students that make up this increasingly competitive MFA program come from Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, Kansas City, Louisville, Conway, Arkansas, and many more American cities and towns, big and small. They are professional journalists, radio announcers, television producers, professors and teachers, horse farmers, web designers, entertainers, parents and friends. They come to Murray State seeking a competitive, low-residency, affordable alternative to the traditional MFA program. They end up finding much more—a world-class faculty and a bubbling cauldron of peer talent, mixed in a package of open-mindedness and artistry that moves.