Creative writing has been taught at The New School since 1931, when The New School offered one of the first creative writing workshops in the world. We celebrated the 20th anniversary of the MFA program in 2016.
The poets, essayists, memoirists, and novelists who have studied and taught at The New School have been among the most essential writers in American literature, including Robert Frost, W. H. Auden, Robert Lowell, Amiri Baraka, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch,
Stanley Kunitz, Kay Boyle, May Sarton, Horace Gregory, Marguerite Young, William Goyen, Richard Yates, John F. Bardin, Edward Hoagland, David Ignatow, Alfred Kazin, Anatole Broyard, Carolyn Kizer, Daniel Halpern, Carol Muske Dukes, Bernadette Mayer,
Pearl London, David Markson, and Gilbert Sorrentino.
Today, MFA students continue to approach writing as a living art. Our master teachers are themselves preeminent authors. Our graduates are making significant contributions to contemporary literature.