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INSIDE THE RESIDENCY

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Photo by Stacy Anderson

The Warren Wilson Low-residency MFA Program, located outside of Asheville in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, offers disciplined writers a unique and practical format that enables our students to simultaneously pursue a degree in creative writing, while still maintaining the responsibilities of adult life. 

An alternative to the wholly residential workshop, the program is structured to meet students' needs, to help them recognize specific strengths and address specific weaknesses in their work, and to encourage them to see themselves as active participants in the creation and study of literature. 

Every six months, students from across the globe gather here on campus to form a cohesive, non-competitive community that offers camaraderie, direction, and inspiration. The four-semester course of study toward the Master of Fine Arts degree is carried out by alternating on-campus residency sessions with semesters of independent study under close faculty supervision.  The residencies, attended by all faculty and students, are ten days long and take place two times a year, once in early January, and once in early July. 

Readings, lectures, classes, workshops, meetings, informal exchange, and conferences all aide in fostering a strong sense of community among peers.  In the classes and team-taught workshops, students will find an an environment that is non-competitive, while our low student-faculty ratio (never more than 5:1) insures that each student will receive personalized attention that will help provide direction for the semester. 

Following the residency, correspondence between the student and  the faculty supervisor occur at regular, contracted intervals. This individualized course of study and thorough engagement with faculty, occurring within the context of one's ongoing adult life, make the Program useful to writers at all stages of their development.