Message from the Director
Thank you for stopping in to look at the New School Writing Program.
The New School
has offered courses in creative writing since 1931, when Gorham Munson, a Manhattan editor, offered
his legendary writing workshop. Over the decades, the creative writing faculty
at The New School has included such outstanding writers as Robert Lowell,
Marguerite Young, Kay Boyle, Frank O'Hara, Anatole Broyard, Richard Yates, May
Sarton, William Goyen, and David Markson, among many others.
In
1996, The New School began offering the master of fine arts degree in creative
writing. This is a full-time, two-year graduate program with concentrations in
poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and writing for children. We
are pleased to note that Poets &
Writers Magazine recently ranked The New School Writing Program as the
third best nationally in the area of nonfiction, and among the top 30
writing programs in the United States.
Classes, readings, and most other activities take place in the
evenings, on the assumption that our students may hold jobs.
For students seeking financial assistance, many partial fellowships are available, awarded on merit for the full two years of the
program. Additionally, specifically for second-year students, Riggio Writing and Democracy Teaching
Assistantships and various faculty Research Assistantships are available.
On
this website, you will find complete information about the MFA course of study,
our distinguished faculty, requirements for admission, and application
materials.
You
will also find information about the numerous literary readings, lectures, and
other public programs presented by the Writing Program. We offer some 50 public
events every semester, featuring some of today's most exciting poets,
biographers, novelists, essayists, critics, and publishers.
Writing
Programs, whatever else they might involve, are communities, and those communities
inevitably emanate from the talent, seriousness, and commitment to teaching of
the faculty. Ours is an active and widely-published faculty, many of whom work
across multiple literary genres and artistic disciplines. This is a faculty galvanized by their New School lives as teachers
and mentors.
The
other crucial component of any great graduate writing program is, of course,
the students. When we started the MFA Program in Creative Writing, one
aspiration was to take full advantage of our fortunate geographical location in
New York City-–home to so many gifted writers and so many vital magazines and
publishers. The achievements of our graduates are so multiform and numerous
that I can only urge you to visit the alumni and friends section of this
website for a suggestion of their books, CDs, stories, poems, and essays, the
notable literary journals they’ve launched, and the lively reading series they
curate.
I am
proud to have been associated with the graduate program in Creative Writing since its inception.
The New School
has been an important institution for the writer's life in New York City for many decades--and now, more
than ever.
All best wishes,
Robert Polito