Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences

Low-Residency MFA In Creative Writing

Nikky Finney, National Book Award-winning poet, named Distinguished Writer in Residence for Lesley's June 2012 creative writing residency.Nikky Finney, National Book Award-winning poet, joins the MFA Creative Writing Program as Distinguished Writer in Residence for the June 2012 residency.

 

The MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University takes your writing as seriously as you do, working with you to turn your promise into settled accomplishment in one of five program concentrations:

  • Fiction
  • Nonfiction
  • Poetry

View courses and requirements

 

studentsUnique interdisciplinary component

Lesley's interdisciplinary component is among the program's key distinctions. It is designed to serve your own drive and imagination. Interdisciplinary projects can enhance your writing through independent studies; help you toward a future as a public writer through internships, teaching assistantships, and other real-world literary experiences; and encourage in-depth work in more than one literary genre. Learn more about Interdisciplinary Studies options.

Guidance from prize-winning writers

Celebrated practitioners of the art they teach, your Lesley faculty mentors are passionate writers and teachers. Aesthetically diverse, they cohere around a teaching philosophy both rigorous and generous with constructive criticism. Learn more about the Creative Writing faculty.

Harvard SquareA setting that energizes writers

Lesley's is one of the few low-residency programs in a major literary city: Cambridge, Massachusetts, an indisputable epicenter of writing and publishing.

Low-residency: community and individual attention

At our nine-day residencies, you join an artistic community in craft seminars, workshops, readings, and publishing-related events. During the semesters, working one-on-one with a faculty mentor, you develop your talent through the best relationship for mastering the art of writing: the dialogue between aspiring and experienced writer. Learn more about the residencies.

 
updated 02/23/12 | 03:45 PM
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Highlights
  • Sara Farizan's ('12) as yet untitled YA novel is tentatively scheduled to be published by Algonquin Books in Fall 2013.
  • Writing for Stage and Screen faculty Kate Snodgrass won the 2012 Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence.
  • Laura Wainwright's book of essays about Martha's Vineyard, Home Bird: Four Seasons on Martha's Vineyard, is available from Vineyard Stories.
  • Claudia Rueda's ('10) latest picture book, Huff and Puff, has been published by Abrams. Her picture book NO is the recipeint of Italy's Nati per Leggere (Born to Read) Award. 
  • Charlene Donaghy's ('10) ten-minute play, "Who You Got to Believe," is included in The Best American Short Plays (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2011).
  • Michael Graves' ('07) collection of stories, Dirty One, is available from Chelsea Station Editions. He is also a finalist for the 24th Lambda Literary Awards.
  • Melanie Henderson's ('10) Elegies for New York Avenue, won the 2011 Main Street Rag poetry award (Main Street Rag Press).
  • Poets & Writers magazine names Lesley in the top ten low-residency writing programs.
  • The Creative Writing MFA Handbook cites Lesley as one of "the more distinguished low-residency programs."

 

See all alumni & student achievements...