Creative Writing
About the Creative Writing Program
Our Creative Writing Program is vibrant and highly successful. We are committed on all levels to developing well-rounded practitioners with substantial backgrounds in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, digital writing practices, hybrid and other experimental forms, book arts, and literary history and theory. Our program hosts a dynamic reading series and opportunities for interaction with visiting authors and scholars.
Undergraduates are introduced to a variety of writing lives through small workshops and intensive focus on their work, while studying the larger ecology of contemporary publishing. In our graduate program, home to Quarterly West and Western Humanities Review, students intensify and deepen their investigation. We offer a modular MFA in Environmental Humanities, the American West, or Book Arts. Many graduates in our PhD Program, which Atlantic Monthly rated as among the top five in the country, publish widely in literary journals, place books before or soon after completing the program, win national and international awards, oversee and participate in a graduate reading series, and go on to find good academic positions.
Our renowned and aesthetically diverse faculty, whose honors include Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, Pushcart Prizes, the Berlin Prize, and other prestigious recognition of their creative work, scholarship, and teaching, includes Katharine Coles, Lindsey Drager, Michael Mejia, Jacqueline Osherow, Paisley Rekdal, and Rone Shavers. Additionally, each year the Creative Writing Program brings in a nationally recognized ESRR Distinguished Visiting Writer to teach graduate and undergraduate workshops and seminars for a half semester or longer.
Contact Information
For questions about the Creative
Writing Program, please contact:
Rone Shavers
Dir., Creative Writing Program (Fall 2024)
rone.shavers@utah.edu
For questions about applying to the Creative Writing Program, contact:
Karli Sam
Graduate Advisor
karli.sam@utah.edu
Graduate Degrees in Creative Writing
We offer two graduate degrees in Creative Writing: An MFA and a PhD that prepares students to pursue careers as teachers of writing. The creative Writing faculty also sponsors an annual Guest Writers Series and the Utah Symposium in Science and Literature.
Graduate students also comprise the editorial staff of Quarterly West and Western Humanities Review, and host the monthly Working Dog readings.
Creative Writing MFA Information
CREATIVE WRITING MFA - Modular Track Information
CREATIVE WRITING PhD Information
English MFA - Creative Writing
The English MFA program in creative writing is small and selective. It gives students the opportunity to study literature, participate in intensive writing workshops, and work in a close community of writers. Studies may focus their literature coursework in any area of English or American literature.
Coursework Requirements
Students will take a minimum of nine courses of at least three credit hours each:
- Four creative writing workshops
- English 7450: Narrative Theory and Practice or English 7460: Theory and Practice of Poetry (depending on the genre of the thesis)
- Four other courses, including at least two literary history courses
MA Thesis & Thesis Defense
During their residence, MFA students are expected to work closely with members of the creative writing faculty and write book-length thesis of publishable quality—a novel, a collection of stories, or a collection of poems.
A complete draft of the thesis should be submitted to the committee chair at least three weeks before the desired defense date. After the thesis has been approved by the chair, a defense date is scheduled and cleared with the other committee members. When the date and time have been set, the student should inform the Graduate Advisor, who will schedule a room for the defense and post an announcement so that the public may attend.
English MFA Timeline
Click on the link below to download a recommended, two-year timeline for an MFA in English from our department.
English MFA - Creative Writing (Modular Track)
The University of Utah Creative Writing Program offers a modular MFA program in poetry, fiction and nonfiction that allows students to take courses in Environmental Humanities, the History of the American West and Book Arts while completing a manuscript in the genre of their choice.
About the Modular Track
The modular MFA is the only MFA program in the nation that allows students to create courses of study that would capitalize on these three distinct areas, to use the historical, aesthetic and cultural knowledge gained from these subjects in their own creative writing. Upon entering the MFA program, students interested in the modular MFA would declare whether they wanted to pursue a single track (MFA with an Environmental Humanities emphasis, for instance) or a multidisciplinary track (MFA with an American West/Environmental Humanities emphasis).
While enrolled in a writing workshop of their choice each semester, students will also take a wide variety of graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses from departments across campus, including History, Communication, Art and Art History, Philosophy and Film, as well as English. These courses include topics such as Environmental Ethics, Film Directors of the American West, Bookbinding, Digital Arts, Global Environmental History, Videogame Studies, Sound Poetry, Artists’ Books, and Art and Architecture of the American West. Students are also encouraged to take our hybrid graduate writing workshop called Experimental Forms in which students combine poetry, fiction, nonfiction and new media in diverse and original ways.
Coursework Requirements
Modular MFA Requirements
Our traditional MFA program requires nine graduate courses, plus six hours of thesis research. Of these nine courses, four are creative writing workshops, one is a theory and practice in the genre of the student’s thesis, and at least four courses are in literary history and special topics.
Our modular MFA program requires the same number of courses and hours of thesis research, but allows students in particular modules (or multi-disciplinary modules) to take courses outside English to fulfill their four literary history/special topics requirements.
Approved Modular Courses
Below is a list of possible approved courses regularly offered at the university in each of the three modules that modular MFA students might take. This list is not exhaustive; modular MFA students are encouraged to research their departments of interest to find other graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses that might apply. Courses not on this list must be pre-approved by both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Director of Creative Writing for the student to receive credit towards her modular MFA degree.
EHUM 6900/005: Environmental Leadership/Orientation Week 0, Fall1
EHUM 101: Foundation in Environmental Humanities Fall1
EHUM 6103: Ecology of Residency (Taft-Nicholson Center - Summer) Fall2
EHUM 6105: EH Writing Seminar Spring1
EHUM 6804: Tertulia - Reading/discussion group - Fall1, Spring 1
Environmental Humanities encourages students to explore courses offered through the College of Humanities. Courses vary semester to semester, year to year. Courses of interest might include:
COMM 6360: Environmental Communication
COMM 7200: Environmental Communication
EHUM 6850: Issues in Environmental Humanities - topic varies according to semester
ENGL 5980: Ecoctriticism
ENGL 6240: Literature of the American West
ENGL 6810: Post-humanist Theory & Practice
ENGL 7700: Seminar in American Studies
ENGL 7850: Digital Humanities
HIST 6380: US Environmental History
HIST 7670: Colloquium in Environmental History
PHIL 5530: Environmental Philosophy
PHIL 6520: Advanced Bioethics
ENGL 6200: Introduction to American Studies
ENGL 7700: Special Topics in American Studies
ARCH 6231: Art and Architecture of the American West
HIST 6910: Special Studies in American History
HIST 7620: Colloquium in the History of the American West
HIST 7870: Colloquium in the American West
FILM 7870: Special Topics in American West Film and Filmmakers
ENGL 7050: Experimental Forms
ENGL 7810: Publications Workshop: Lit and American Studies
ENGL 6680, 7740 or 7720 (whichever number applies):
*Seminar in the Theory and Practice of New Media Writing
*New Media and Poetry
*Sound Poetry
*Critical Studies in Artists’ Books
ARCH 6052: Digital Media
ART 3360: Letterpress Printing
ART 3365: Bookbinding
ART 3630: Digital Studio
ART 4060-065-070: Nonmajor Letterpress II
ART 4075: Nonmajor bookbinding III
ART 4090: Nonmajor Artist’s Books
COMM 6520: Interactive Narrative
COMM 6550: Digital Imaging
COMM 6640: Comm Tech and Culture
COMM 6650: Videogames Studies
COMM 6670: Activism & New Media
COMM 6680: Computer Mediated Communication
COMM 6690: New Media, Special Topics
COMM 7640: New Media, Special Topics
Funding Opportunities
Students interested in pursuing the Modular MFA have the option of applying or being considered for a number of fellowship opportunities. Students primarily interested in Environmental Humanities will be considered for a half-teaching fellowship that will cover half their tuition expenses and fees. Students interested in the American West and/or Book Arts/New Media studies will be eligible to apply for The Center for American West/ J.W. Marriott Special Collections Fellowships after they have been accepted into the MFA program. These fellowships will require that students work as archivists and transcribers in one of four areas: Science and Technology in the West, Multimedia Archives of the West, Utah Oral Histories, and Utah Outdoor Recreation Oral Histories.
Students who are selected for one of these fellowships will receive first-year funding for tuition and fees of up to $12,400 with the possibility of the same amount of funding for a second year. Students who receive the Center for American West/J.W. Marriott Special Collections Fellowship will also be given credit for a one-credit independent study course in Archival Research that will be noted on their transcripts.
Publishing internships also may be made available with FC2, Eclipse, University of Utah Press, Red Butte Press/Book Arts, and other local journals and presses. Credit for internships may fall under the heading of ENGL 7810, the publications workshops for Literature and American Studies.
English PhD - Creative Writing
The English PhD with a specialization in Creative Writing is neither a fine arts degree nor simply a traditional literature PhD with a creative dissertation. The program is designed to help the student become a better writer, as well as a writer who knows the history of his or her chosen genre and who is aware of the critical theory relevant to it.
The PhD is generally recognized as a writer's best preparation for a teaching career at the college or university level. Many colleges cannot afford to hire someone to teach only creative writing; the PhD is strong evidence that the writer can also teach literature courses and that he or she can take a full and active part in the academic community.
Coursework Requirements
Students will take ten courses of at least three credits each:
- English 6480: Introduction to Critical Theory
- At least three workshops (one in a genre other than the dissertation is recommended)
- At least three courses in literary history, including one covering literature before 1700 and one covering literature between 1700 and 1900
- English 7450: Narrative Theory and Practice or English 7460: Theory and Practice of Poetry (depending on the genre of the dissertation)
- One or two electives (depending on the number of workshops taken; one of these courses may be taken in a department other than English, with the prior approval of the Director of Graduate Studies)
Qualifying Examinations
In creative writing, exams focus on the genre (poetry or prose) of the student’s dissertation. Students will be examined in four fields; lists in each field normally include 25-30 major works or their equivalent. Students must complete all required coursework and satisfy the language requirement before scheduling their qualifying exams. Examination lists will be devised by students in consultation with the members of their committee.
- First Historical Period
- The genre from its beginnings until the end of the nineteenth century
- Second Historical Period
- The genre from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present
- Topic or Theme
- Topics or themes are devised in consultation with the student’s supervisory committee, especially the committee chair, and might focus on specific literary, generic, or thematic areas (e.g., history of lyric, gothic literature, graphic novels, the literature of war, queer literature, etc.) or a cultural studies field or otherwise interdisciplinary area (e.g., American studies, digital humanities, film studies, race/ethnic studies, religious studies, gender/sexuality studies, art history, etc.).
- Criticism and Theory
- This list will focus on theoretical questions relevant to the genre or the dissertation.
English Creative PhD Timeline
Click on the link below to download a recommended, two-year timeline for a Creative Writing PhD in English from our department.
