• About Hero

    About

  • The New School has been a vital center for writing since 1927, when Gorham Munson—a New York City editor, literary critic, and close friend of Marianne Moore, Hart Crane, and William Carlos Williams—offered his first workshop in creative writing. Over the years, our writing and literature faculty has included many of America's most acclaimed poets, novelists, and nonfiction writers.

  • History

    History

    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.

  • Administration & Leadership

    Faculty - Teacher laughing

    Directors, Chairs, and Coordinators
    John Reed, Director, Creative Writing Program
    Mark Bibbins    , Poetry Coordinator
    Laura Cronk, Chair of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program
    Caron Levis, Writing for Children and Young Adults Coordinator
    Helen Schulman, Fiction Chair

    Program Staff
    Lori Lynn Turner, Associate Director of Administration

  • About the University

    Studying at the MFA Program means being part of a progressive, socially engaged, and close-knit community at The New School. Writing students have access to the resources of a renowned university that serves as a hub for groundbreaking ideas and the people that generate them.
    • University Center Exterior

      Campus Information

      Our campus in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village allows you to study and live in one of the most vibrant and diverse cities in the world. Take advantage of the infinite opportunities to work alongside leading professionals, experience groundbreaking work, and absorb diverse cultural and educational opportunities.

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    • Male student in class

      Mission & Vision

      The New School's mission is to prepare students to understand, contribute to, and succeed in a rapidly changing society, thus making the world a better and more just place. As a university where design and social research drive approaches to studying issues of our time, we seek to provide students with the tools needed to grapple with complex problems facing society and to pursue more fluid and flexible career pathways.

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    • 100 Years New

      100 Years New

      A century ago, a few progressive scholars and thinkers founded what would become The New School. Discover some of the pioneers, movements, and events that collectively tell our story of creative and intellectual innovation. Explore the university's legacy and learn how 1919 was the start of something new.  

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  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.