Creative Writing Programs :: NewPages Guide

Pine Manor College

Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program

400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Website: www.pmc.edu/mfa

Program director: Meg Kearney

Program contact: Tanya Whiton

Phone: 617-731-7697/7684

Email: mfa@pmc.edu

Degrees offered: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, & Writing for Young People

Type of program: Low Residency

Length of program: 2 years

Enrollment: 35

Total credits required: 60

Application deadlines: Rolling applications. Applicants who wish to be considered for genre-based fellowships should submit the general application form by the September 13, 2013 postmark deadline.

Scholarships available: The Lee Hope Fellowship for Diverse Voices offers $500 to a first-semester student who begins the program during the summer residency/fall semester. Other limited need-based scholarships are available.

Four fellowships are available for students starting the program during the winter residency/spring semester: the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction, the Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction, the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent, and the Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry. Recipients (except those of the Hope Fellowship) will receive a $1,000 award toward their first semester's tuition.

Core faculty: Kathleen Aguero, Venise Berry, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Amy Hoffman, Steven Huff, Randall Kenan, Robert Lopez, Laura Williams McCaffrey, Jaime Manrique, Anne-Marie Oomen, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Iain Haley Pollock, Sandra Scofield, Mark Turcotte, Sterling Watson, Dave Yoo

Visiting faculty: M. Evelina Galang, Terrance Hayes, Helen Elaine Lee, Dennis Lehane, M.L. Liebler, Grace, Lin, Michael Steinberg, Jacqueline Woodson

Assistantships: Yes

Publishing/editing courses: Yes

Literary magazine: Yes, online journal Solstice

Reading series: Yes

Recent visiting writers: Naomi Shihab Nye, Dorothy Alison, Phillip Lopate, Cornelius Eady

Program description: The Solstice Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College is designed to help students reach their full potential as writers through a demanding curriculum that balances the workshop experience with the study of literary craft, criticism, and theory. The program embraces a wide range of voices and artistic approaches in its faculty and its students, establishing a learning environment that fosters community and celebrates the individual. Working with some of the best writers in the country, students of Pine Manor College's MFA program emerge with a deep, well-rounded knowledge of their art, a strategy for continuing the development of their creative vision, and a supportive circle of peers and mentors.

We are co-educational, inclusive, and affordable; our diverse and dedicated faculty are committed to helping students of all backgrounds achieve their writing goals.