Nonfiction (MFA)

Southern New Hampshire University offers a low-residency graduate program in creative writing. A highly focused course of study, the M.F.A. prepares students to write in their chosen genre (fiction or nonfiction) at a professional level. The M.F.A. is also a terminal degree that provides students a foundation from which to prepare (through internships, work experience, and/or allied areas of study) for employment in the fields of teaching and publishing. With four weeklong writing residencies held on Southern New Hampshire University’s Campus and historic Millyard, during two years of mentored correspondence study, the low-residency M.F.A. is also convenient and affordable for working adults. Students study with faculty mentors who are accomplished writers and teachers, participate in lectures, readings, and master classes with visiting writers of national reputation, hone their work through mentor and peer review, read publicly from their own work and meet with publishing professionals in a community dedicated to creative endeavor. Workshop courses run five months and are tailored to students' needs and creative goals. Students work closely with faculty mentors. Individualized study is supplemented with residency periods (seven consecutive days each in June and January) during which mentors and their students meet to review the students' long-term writing projects and to build a community of writers. The second year of the program is devoted to the completion of a manuscript of professional quality, suitable for submission to editors, and a critical essay suitable for submission to literary journals. Graduation is held during the winter and summer residencies following a student's fourth semester. Students who have completed their degree are celebrated as they return for a few days to give public readings and lectures and take part in their graduation ceremony.