The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) at UM-St.
Louis provides opportunities for growth in the writing of
fiction and poetry (with some work in nonfiction) as well
as practical training in literary editing. While normally
a studio/academic program mixing the study of literature
and criticism with workshops and independent study and editing,
the plan of study is flexible and individual. The smallness
of the program fosters a strong sense of each writer’s
identity and ensures close contact between students and
faculty. The program is selective, and only those with some
demonstrated talent in their genre are admitted.
The Degree Program
Students ordinarily specialize in one genre, either fiction
or poetry, and regular workshops in these forms are at the
heart of the degree program. Workshops are also offered
occasionally in creative nonfiction. Five workshops, at
least four in the student’s chosen genre, are required
for the degree, though more may be taken as electives. Students
also take from five to nine courses from a rich array of
other offerings in the English Department, choosing from
graduate courses in literary journal editing; in poetry
and fiction form, theory, and technique; in literature and
literary criticism; in composition theory; and in linguistics.
A creative thesis of three to six hours completes the 39-hour
program. This thesis is an independent writing project under
the guidance of an MFA faculty member. The completed thesis
must be approved of by a committee of the student’s
choice before graduation. All MFA classes are offered in
the evenings after four o’clock during fall and spring
semesters, and occasionally in the summer sessions as well.
Students normally take six hours a semester, though some
take as many as nine and as few as three in certain semesters,
completing the degree in from three to six years.
Early each fall semester, there is a one-day session of
talks and panels and readings that all MFA students are
required to attend.
Although the program is fairly young, its graduates have published well, with fiction and poetry appearing in the New Republic, Alaska Quarterly Review, Greensboro Review, Nimrod, New Letters, Sonora Review, Zyzzyva, Bamboo Ridge, Honolulu, The Missouri Arts Council Writers’ Biennial, River Styx, The Christian Century, Sou’wester, Passionfruit, The Crab Creek Review, Crab Orchard Review. Delmar, Aura, The Distillery, Under The Arch, The Best of Writers at Work, St. Louis, Micro Fiction (Norton), and New Stories From the South 2001 (Algonquin). One of our fiction students has published a novel, three of our poets have published books and chapbooks, and one was a winner in the AWP Intro Journals Project in 2003. One fiction writer won the Lorian Hemingway short story contest in 2003, and two essayists and poets in the program recently received honorable mentions in the AWP project. Two of our fiction writers won Margery McKinney awards for 2005.
The Writing Faculty (go to faculty page)
The full-time writing faculty is a diverse group, widely
published in several literary forms:
Mary Troy, Director, (MFA University of Arkansas) is the author of three short
story collections: Cookie Lily, 2004, The Alibi
Cafe and other stories, 2003, and Joe Baker Is
Dead, 1998. Cookie Lily won the Devil’s
Kitchen Award for the best book of prose in 2004. She has
published stories widely in literary journals and has won
a Nelson Algren award. Her stories are anthologized in American
Fiction and Under The Arch. Her essays have
peared in newspapers and journals, and in the anthology In The Middle of The Middle West.
John Dalton (MFA University of Iowa) is
the author of Heaven Lake, published
by Scribner, and the winner of the Barnes and Noble 2004
Discover Award.
Heaven Lake was also awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize
for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters. John’s short fiction has appeared in Western
Humanities Review, Story, and Alaska Quarterly
Review. He has received a James Michener / Paul Engle
fellowship, and fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center
in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Steven Schreiner (MFA University of Iowa,
Ph.D. Wayne State University) is the author of Too Soon
To Leave, a book of poetry (Ridgeway, 1997). His poems
have appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Missouri
Review, Malahat Review, Indiana Review, Cincinnati Poetry
Review, Colorado Review, Poet and Critic, River Styx,
and other journals. Several ave been nominated for Pushcart
Prizes. He is the current and founding editor of Natural
Bridge
Howard Schwartz (MA Washington University)
has published three books of poems: Vessels, Gathering
the Sparks, and Sleepwalking Beneath the Stars, as
well as several books of fiction, including The Captive
Soul of the Messiah, Adam’s Soul, and The
Four Who Entered Paradise. He has edited a four-volume
set of Jewish folktales for Oxford University Press and
has been awarded a D.H.L. from the Spertus Institute of
Judaic. His book, Tree of Souls, the Mythology of Judaica,
was published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.
Nanora Sweet (PhD University of Michigan)
has published a chapbook of poems, Mix of Securities,
(2005) and has co-edited and published work in Breathing
Out, (2004) a collection of poems by a St. Louis women’s
group, Loosely Identified. Her poems have appeared in Quartet,
Concerning Poetry, Confrontation, Ascent, River Styx, Delmar,
etc. She co-edited Felicia Hermans: Reimagining Poetry
in the Nineteenth Century (2001), and she was a literary
consultant for PBS’s Wishbone.
Eamonn Wall (PhD City University of New
York) is a native of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Ireland.
He is a holder of the Smurfit-Stone Chair at UM-St. Louis.
He has published four collections of poetry: Refuge
at De Soto Bend (2004), The Crosses (2000), Iron Mountain Road (1997), and Dyckman-200th
Street (1994). From the Sin-e Cafe to the Black
Hills, a book of literary and personal essays about
the Irish Diaspora, received the Michael J.Durkan prize
from the American Conference for Irish Studies as the best
book published internationally in the field of Language
& Literature in 2000.
Questions? E-mail Susan
Grant or phone 314/516-5590. Or write:
Susan Grant, Assistant Director, MFA Program
Department of English
University of Missouri-St. Louis
One University Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63121
Campus
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Revised Feb. 2007
