Graduate Programs in Creative Writing

Learn about our top-ranked M.F.A. in Creative Writing program.

graduate students sit around a table in a classroom

Exploring the Power and Craft of Creative Writing

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing offers advanced poets and fiction writers three years of fully-funded support and community in Oxford, Mississippi, the South’s greatest literary town.

We accept four poets and four fiction writers each year, boasting a 3:1 professor-student ratio. Admitted students work closely with our distinguished faculty in collaborative and intensive workshops; literature, form, and craft courses; and a thesis year that culminates with a finished, polished manuscript in poetry or prose.

In our program, we strive to provide the groundwork and the seeds to help our students grow in their writing long after their time in Oxford. We’re so proud of the sheer number of Mississippi MFA alumni who have gone on to publish and win awards for their writing, including the Pushcart Prize, the Stegner Fellowship, and the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Our graduates’ books have been featured in the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, and more. Many of our alumni are now teaching writing all over the country, and several have gone on to editorial and publishing jobs as well.

We take great pride in our program, our writing community, and of course, our students. 

Meet our Graduate Creative Writing Faculty

Our creative writing teachers includes poets, novelists, and storytellers, and also screenwriters, memoirists, worldbuilders, food essayists, eco-writers, and more. In addition to our acclaimed and bestselling core faculty, our department annually includes a new Grisham Writer-in-Residence, an emerging writer who teaches one course per semester and is involved in our closeknit creative-writing community.

Jerriod Avant

Jerriod Avant

  • Writer-in-Residence
Matthew Bondurant

Matthew Bondurant

  • Professor of English
Beth Ann Fennelly

Beth Ann Fennelly

  • Distinguished Professor of English
Tommy Franklin

Tommy Franklin

  • Associate Professor of Fiction Writing
Melissa Ginsburg

Melissa Ginsburg

  • Director of Graduate Creative Writing Programs and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing
Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

  • Professor of English and Creative Writing
Sheila Sundar

Sheila Sundar

  • Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing
Michael Wang

Michael Wang

  • Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing

A Community of Creatives

Photo of LaToya Watkins

Grisham Writers-in-Residence

John and Renée Grisham Writers-in-Residence are emerging writers selected by internal nomination on the strength of their writing. They teach one class each semester and are involved in our close-knit creative writing community.

US Poet Laureate Ada Limon Speaks at a podium on a darkened stage.

Dynamic Readings with Celebrated Authors

Each year we bring to campus a diverse array of internationally renowned writers. In recent years, Ada Limon, Ha Jin, Claudia Rankine, Rita Dove, Kiki Petrosino, Shane McCrae, Jennifer Egan, Craig Santos Perez, Tyehimba Jess, and many others have visited. Each year, we also host literary agents for student consultations and pitch sessions.

Student Amelie Ng Pavel reads original work at MissReads event.

Share Your Story

Our long-running series MissReads gives our graduate student creative writers the opportunity to read to a robust audience from the department, university, and community.

Bondurant Hall

Yalobusha Review: Our Graduate Student Literary Journal

The Yalobusha Review is a literary journal of new writing, founded in 1995 and fully edited by our graduate creative writing students. The YR is proud to showcase emerging writers from around the world and from Mississippi.

student between bookshelves at local bookstore Square Books

The South's Greatest Literary Town

For decades, William Faulkner called Oxford home, and today it is home to the celebrated independent bookstore Square Books. The community regularly hosts literary events, such as the Oxford Conference for the Book and Thacker Mountain Radio Hour. These are just some of the reasons why UM English is an ideal place to study literature and creative writing.

Melissa Allee Ginsburg

Meet the Director of the M.F.A. Program

Melissa Allee Ginsburg

Director of Graduate Creative Writing Programs and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing

  • Hone Your Craft

    The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing offers advanced poets and fiction writers three years of fully-funded support and community in Oxford, Mississippi, the South’s greatest literary town.

    Learn More About How to Apply

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