The MFA Program in Creative Writing consists of a vibrant community of writers working together in a setting that is both challenging and supportive. This stimulating environment fosters the development of talented writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The program is not defined by courses alone, but by a life built around writing.
Our renowned faculty are Catherine Barnett, Jeffrey Eugenides, Nathan Englander, Jonathan Safran Foer, Terrance Hayes, Edward Hirsch, Katie Kitamura, Hari Kunzru, Nick Laird, Deborah Landau, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharon Olds, Claudia Rankine, Matthew Rohrer, Zadie Smith, Darin Strauss, and Ocean Vuong. Visiting faculty members in 2021-2022 will include Kiran Desai, Alex Dimitrov, Uzodinma Iweala, David Lipsky, Leigh Newman, Meghan O’Rourke, Julie Orringer, Nicole Sealey, Parul Sehgal, Hannah Tinti, and Phillip B. Williams.
Through innovative literary outreach programs, a distinguished public reading series, an exciting public student reading series, special literary seminars with visiting writers, and the production of a high-quality literary journal, students participate in a dynamic literary community actively engaged in all aspects of the literary arts—writing, reading, teaching, publishing and community outreach. Students also have the opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain; New York University is situated in the heart of Greenwich Village, a part of the city that has always been home to writers.
Over recent years, program alumni have received many of the nation's most distinguished literary honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, The MacArthur Fellowship, The National Endowment of the Arts Literary Fellowship, The Wallace Stegner Award, The Whiting Award, the Yale Series of Younger Poets, and the National Poetry Series, among many others. NYU CWP alumni include Aria Aber, Amir Ahmadi Arian, Julie Buntin, Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Isabella Hammad, Ishion Hutchinson, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Raven Leilani, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Maaza Mengiste, John Murillo, Gregory Pardlo, Morgan Parker, Nicole Sealey, Solmaz Sharif, Peng Shepherd, Ocean Vuong, Jenny Xie, and Javier Zamora.
The annual application deadline is December 18. We do not require GRE test scores. For further information about how to apply, please visit the GSAS Application Resource Center's useful online publication, "Application Requirements and Deadlines for Departments and Programs." Specific departmental requirements can be found here. You may also contact the Creative Writing Program at (212) 998-8816 or creative.writing@nyu.edu
INFORMATION SESSIONS
We held an information session on October 21, which included a program overview of the Full-Residency MFA and a general outline of the admissions process by our Director Deborah Landau and Graduate Program Manager Zachary Sussman, followed by a brief Q&A. This will be the only session held for the Fall 2022 admissions cycle.
We do not hold information sessions for our Low-Residency MFA program, but are happy to answer any questions via email at creative.writing@nyu.edu. For those who were unable to make the last session date/time, please also feel free to send any questions about our program to the email above.