Pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing can be an intensely challenging but also rewarding experience, as it teaches you the skills you need in order to hone your craft and become a better and more nuanced writer. If you want to pursue your graduate studies somewhere in the Southeast, here are four MFA programs in the region that you should consider.
University of Georgia
The Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia, housed in the English Department, has faculty devoted to three major genres: fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry, and the department frequently offers courses and seminars on offer from faculty members in other departments. Thus, students in this program receive rigorous training in various aspects of the craft, including style and literary theory, making this program both rigorous and eclectic. Students in the program also have the opportunity to help produce the two literary journals produced at the University of Georgia, Verse and The Georgia Review.
University of Florida
As one of the oldest creative writing programs, the MFA at the University of Florida is an excellent place to pursue graduate study, and students in the program can expect to be treated with respect and to get the kind of support they need in order to become better writers. The faculty in the program are some of the most respected writers, and several have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, while others are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The department is also home to the journal Subtropics, which has published such notable literary luminaries as Anne Carson and Billy Collins.
University of Mississippi
Located in the hometown of the famous author William Faulkner, the MFA Program at the Univeristy of Mississippi offers its students the opportunity to pursue advanced studies in either fiction or poetry. The program is a small one, which allows for a great deal of individual attention to specific students, and students in the program typically work closely with the faculty. They have recently been well-reviewed by both The Atlantic Monthly and Poet and Writers Magazine, so students pursuing their studies here can rest assured that their program is well-known and received in the larger writing community. A number of conferences and centers are also available to supplement students’ studies.
University of Alabama
Students pursuing graduate study in creative writing at the University of Alabama will find themselves immersed in a creative and academic environment designed to be inclusive of various kinds of intellectual and creative diversity. Coursework is offered in a variety of areas, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, and autobiography. The program is flexible, and students can focus on one genre of balance two or more during the course of their program of study. The program does require an oral thesis and defense, and they also give a presentation to their assembled peers and faculty. If you’re looking for a rigorous program, this is definitely the right choice.
Whether you’re interested in poetry or prose or something else altogether, the above schools offer the kind of training that can help to forge talented, gifted writers into great practitioners of their craft.
