The MFA Program for Writers
The Nation’s Premier Low-Residency MFA Program
Since 1976, the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College continues to set the standard for the innovative low-residency model it pioneered. This rigorous, nurturing, and highly-selective four–semester graduate program, with study tracks in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, combines ten-day residencies on campus each January and July with five-month nonresident semesters in which students work individually with the country’s finest writers.
Why study at Warren Wilson?
- Internationally-Recognized Faculty: Our internationally-recognized MFA faculty encompass a wide range of aesthetics, and have included Pulitzer, National Book Award, Whiting, and Nobel winners, national and state poet laureates, and NEA, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and MacArthur fellows.
- Successful Alumni: MFA alumni have won countless major literary awards and have published well over 1500 books. Many alumni have gone on to teach creative writing and have become important literary citizens in the field.
- Commitment to Inclusive Excellence: Since its founding, the MFA Program was designed for workers, caretakers, and students of diverse backgrounds, supporting them with need-based scholarships, the flexible low-residency model, and specific student communities within the program.
Deadlines
Application Deadlines for the MFA program are March 1 and September 1.
Meet Our Faculty
Rita Banerjee, Ph.D.
Director, MFA Program for Writers
“I am honored to serve as Director of the MFA Program for Writers, which has such an illustrious history and has launched the careers of so many talented writers worldwide, and which offers a vibrant, world-class education focused on artistry, rigor, community, and the possibilities of the imagination.”
“My trajectory as a writer so much maps onto my trajectory as a man in the world and as a father. Warren Wilson was important for a lot of those things, and even for the mistakes I made. Warren Wilson was an important part of me resolving and learning to deal with some of those things.”
Reginald Dwayne Betts ’10
(he/him)
Poet, Lawyer, and Founder & CEO of Freedom Reads