M.F.A. in Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Program in Creative Writing & Translation
One of the nation’s oldest MFA programs, and one of the “Top Five Most Innovative”
(The Atlantic Monthly), we offer degree tracks in Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Translation.
Recent graduates have won the Stegner Fellowship, the £15,000 BBC International Short
Story Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship, and Fulbright Fellowships, among others. Learn more...
About
For over fifty years, the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing and Translation has served as a preeminent training ground for some of the nation’s best writers.
Established in 1966, ours is one of the oldest MFA programs in the nation and one of the most innovative, offering degree tracks in poetry, fiction, and literary translation.
Our 60-hour curriculum enhances the typical workshop experience with coursework in craft and literary studies so that students develop their own creative voices alongside a deep understanding of the great writers and works that have come before them. Our small class sizes and dedicated faculty—award-winning writers themselves—guarantee that students receive hands-on attention through their four years of study.
Our MFA is designed to be a true terminal degree. Graduates leave our program prepared for all aspects of the writing life.
Admission to our program is highly selective. From the hundreds of applications we receive each year, we admit up to five students in each genre. While students pursue a single degree track in poetry, fiction, or translation, our four-year curriculum enables them to explore outside of their own concentration, with workshops and craft courses in other genres.
Each semester, our Walton Reading Series brings in established authors who offer a public reading and hold one-on-one conferences with students. Past visitors have included Colum McCann, A. E. Stallings, Khaled Mattawa, Franz Wright, Marian Schwartz, and William Gay. In addition, our Distinguished Readers Series lures true literary luminaries to campus for a public reading and private MFA events: W. S. Merwin, Shahrnush Parsipur, Robert Hass, Joyce Carol Oates, Zadie Smith, and Claudia Rankine to name a few.
Thank you for visiting our website. We invite you to explore the information herein—from our distinguished alumni to our current events—and become part of the rich tradition of creative writing at the U of A.
PROFILES
Anna Vilner graduated from the Program in Creative Writing and Translation in 2020
with an MFA in literary translation. She is now pursuing a PhD in comparative literature
at the University of Texas-Austin, where she focuses on 20th c Latin American literature
as well as translation studies. Anna is especially interested in narratives that explore
questions of exile/belonging and the construction of cultural memory. In addition
to her research, she is currently at work on translating a book of crónicas by the
Argentine author Hebe Uhart. Her translations can be found in The Offing, World Literature Today, The Massachusetts Review, Columbia Journal, and The Common.
Originally from Louisiana, Brody Parrish Craig is a southern writer who upheaves expectations
to open spaces for connection, unlearning & change. They completed their M.F.A. in
poetry at the Program of Creative Writing and Translation in 2017. Brody Parrish Craig is
the author of Boyish, the winner of the 2019 Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook Contest and editor of TWANG, a regional collection of transgender, gender nonconforming & nonbinary creators
tied to the south/midwest which received an Artists 360 award in 2018. Their poems
appear in journals such as Gigantic Sequins, Hobart, Typo, Muzzle Magazine, and New South Journal, amongst others. They recently returned to writing creative nonfiction and have published
their first essay in just femme and dandy. Their full-length poetry collection, The Patient Is An Unreliable Historian, is forthcoming from Omnidawn Publishing in 2024.
J. Bailey Hutchinson graduated in 2019 with an MFA in poetry from Program in Creative
Writing and Translation. Her debut poetry collection, Gut, winner of the 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, was described by prize judge Patricia
Smith as a “rapturous
and addictive” read. Her work often blurs the line between personal and speculative narratives, depicting regional landscapes, residents, and folklore with a lyricism both playful and Gothic in nature. Her poems have been published in journals such as Ninth Letter, Beloit, Muzzle Magazine, BOAAT, and more. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she works as an associate editor for Milkweed Editions.
Elizabeth DeMeo is an Editor at Tin House, where she acquires fiction and literary
nonfiction. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas, where she
was Managing Editor of the Arkansas International and Director of the Arkansas Writers in the Schools program. Authors she’s worked
with include Raymond Antrobus, Destiny O. Birdsong, Ethan Chatagnier, Talia Lakshmi
Kolluri, Jo Lloyd, Rachel Long, Oindrila Mukherjee, Nina Mingya Powles, Ben Shattuck,
Bianca Stone, and Jane Wong. Originally from New Hampshire, she currently lives in
Baltimore, Maryland. More information about her and her work is available at elizabethdemeo.com.