Master of Fine Arts

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 UMSL 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.

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, The Colorado Review, The Arkansas Review, 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). Our graduates have published five novels, and two of our current students also have published novels. One of our graduates has published a collection of short stories, and five of our graduates have published books of poety, including one published as winner of the Walt Whitman Award given by the Academy of American Poets. Our graduates have won the AWP Intro Journals Project, the Lorian Hemingway short story contest in 2003, the Nelligen prize, and the Margery McKinney prize, among other awards.