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Creative Writing
The MFA in Creative Writing is a three year studio/academic program for students who have shown talent in the writing of fiction, poetry, or literary non-fiction. The program accepts a maximum of 8 students each year, so workshops are small and faculty members work closely with students, providing an unusual degree of both formal and informal mentoring. In addition to workshops in fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction, faculty teach literature courses in contemporary fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction.
Our Visiting Writers Series brings numerous writers to campus for readings and meetings with students. The English Department is also home to the literary journal, Crab Orchard Review, and a limited number of internships with the journal, and with the Writing Baseball, the SIU Press Series, are available. Nearly all students accepted into the MFA Program are awarded financial aid (in the form of teaching assistantships) as well as tuition remission.
The university offers excellent support services for students with disabilities and for non-traditional students, and the campus is exceptionally wheelchair-accessible.
Applicants should request an application from the Graduate Program in English and return it with samples of their work (l0-l5 pages of poetry, l5-30 pages of fiction or non-fiction), transcripts, GRE scores, and letters of recommendation.
Curriculum
Core or Required Courses:
- Writing workshop: four in major genre, one in second genre
- Forms course (contemporary literature): one in major genre
- Thesis: two semesters
The remainder of a student's program is designed in consultation with the Writing Faculty, and may include literature or other university offerings, as well as individually designed independent studies.
Students with teaching assistantships are required to take a course in the teaching of composition. All students must pass an oral examination entailing both course work and a defense of the creative thesis.
Financial Support
SIUC offers a number of competitive fellowships to full-time graduate students. Awards are made by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the Department's Graduate Studies Committee. For further information, contact the Graduate School. Please note that the deadline for applicants for fellowships is January 15.
Most MFA students hold graduate assistantships, which provide stipends for the academic year and full remission of tuition. For 1997-98, the stipend ranged from $8,280 to $9,198 for nine months . The application deadline for admission with assistantship support is February 1, with notification by April 1. Approximately 55 MA/MFA and 35 PhD students held teaching assistantships in 1997-98.
Most graduate assistants are assigned to the University's first-year writing program, in which they have full responsibility for two sections of composition each semester. An extensive series of pre-semester workshops, a semester-long seminar in the teaching of college composition, and a mentor system complement graduate work and assure professional development. In addition, some graduate assistants serve as tutors in the Department's Writing Center, while others are eligible to teach Core Curriculum literature courses and English 119, Introduction to Creative Writing. Limited summer teaching is also available to graduate students.
Internships
A limited number of internships are available with Crab Orchard Review, the literary journal published by the Department and distributed internationally. Normally two graduate assistants per semester serve as paid interns, while others may apply to be editorial apprentices. The English Department also offers editorial internships as English 498, which allows graduate students to work as interns with Writing Baseball, the SIU Press Series, edited by Professor Richard Peterson.
Visiting Writers Series
Our Visiting Writers Series brings numerous writers to campus for readings and meetings with students. Recent guests have included Yusef Komunyakaa, Larry Brown, Eavan Boland, Albert Goldbarth, Mark Doty, Alan Dugan, Stuart Dybek, Nancy Willard, Paul Muldoon, David Wojahn, Hope Edelman, C. K. Williams, and William Kennedy.
The 1998-99 Visiting Writers Series features Nobel Prize Winning poet and essayist, Seamus Heaney, Beth Lordan, Julia Kasdorf, Kevin Stein, Ciaran Carson, Joanna Scott, Marly Swick, Richard Cecil, and Denise Duhamel.
Crab Orchard Review
Crab Orchard Review is published twice per year, under the auspices of the Department of English. This twice-yearly journal features the best in contemporary poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, reviews and interviews. MFA students have opportunities to gain valuable editorial experience working with the journal as interns.
Undergraduate Creative Writing
The English Department also offers an excellent creative writing option for undergraduate students. For more information on this program, see Undergraduate Programs in English at SIUC.
Faculty
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