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Converse University

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  • MFA in Creative Writing (low-res)

  • Contact Information:

  • Mailing Address:

  • 580 East Main Street
  • Spartanburg
  • SC
  • 29302
  • Program Director: Rick Mulkey
  • Program Contact: Sarah Cooper
  • Phone Number: (864) 596-9550 or (864) 596-9685
  • Website: www.converse.edu/mfa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Facebook: Facebook
  • Twitter: Twitter
  • Blog: Blog

  • Program Information:

  • Degree: MFA
  • Type: low-residency
  • Length of Program: 2 years
  • Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young Adult
  • Enrollment: 34
  • Total Credits Required: 48
  • Application Deadlines: February 15 for Summer Residency/Fall semester; October 1 for January residency/Spring Semester
  • Scholarships: yes (see website)
  • Assistantships: yes (see website)
  • Core Faculty: Denise Duhamel, Robert Olmstead, Leslie Pietrzyk, Suzanne Cleary, Rick Mulkey, Marlin Barton, Susan Tekulve, Richard Tillinghast, Jim Minick, C. Michael Curtis, Cary Holladay, Sheila O’Connor
  • Visiting Faculty: Yona Harvey, Robin Black, Randall Kenan, Tessa Fontaine, Juan Morales, Dorianne Laux, Jillian Weise, Brock Clarke, Gary Jackson, Megan Hansen Shepherd, Josh Bell, April Ayers Lawson, and agents from the Bent Agency, Curtis Brown Ltd., Chalberg & Sussman, and Folio Literary Management.
  • Publishing/Editing Courses: yes (see website)
  • Literary Magazine: South 85 Journal

Program description: The MFA in Creative Writing is a two-year co-educational low residency program designed for serious, independent writers seeking advanced instruction in poetry, fiction, young adult fiction, environmental writing, and creative nonfiction through a non-traditional course of graduate study. The program’s emphasis on the mastery and understanding of writing skills and contemporary literature and craft, through the master-writer and apprentice mentoring relationship, offers students a stimulating and individually tailored curriculum of courses and projects.

The degree requires 48 hours of graduate credit completed during four 9-day residencies at Converse College, offered twice annually (summer and in January), four mentoring semesters, a fifth graduating residency, the completion of a substantive critical project, and a book-length creative thesis. An option to pursue study in multiple genres is available. The program offers opportunities to gain editing experience through South 85 Journal and Hub City Press. A limited number of partial scholarships and assistantships are available to second year students.

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Find more great programs at the NewPages Guide to Graduate Creative Writing Programs.