The MFA Program in Writing is a two-year residency program that offers a degree with specializations in fiction and poetry. It is designed for students who are interested in innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to narrative and poetics. The program is also distinguished by its commitment to community building, alternative forms of literary distribution, and transborder exchange.
The MFA program is small, with typically eight new students admitted each year. The intimate nature of the program allows students to work very closely with the writing faculty, as well as to receive support in the form of Research Assistantships and/or Teaching Assistantships.
The MFA in Writing is part of the Department of Literature, which also offers a doctoral program in literature that emphasizes cultural studies, gender studies, postcoloniality, and critical theory. The MFA is a terminal degree and has no progressive relation to the PhD program.
The MFA program co-exists with a thriving undergraduate writing major, and benefits from a long-established reading series and the university’s Archive for New Poetry, which holds the papers of George Oppen, Lyn Hejinian, Susan Howe, Alice Notley, James Schuyler, Ron Silliman, and many other important figures. With strong ties to the Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance, and Music Departments, and situated on one of the top-rated science campuses in the country, the program encourages its students to generate writing informed by other disciplines and media. In recognition of the diverse community we serve, our location on the border with Mexico, and the resources offered by our faculty, we look forward to offering bilingual workshops in Spanish and English as the program develops.
The MFA Program in Writing at UCSD offers students a unique opportunity to develop as writers in a community that integrates a multiplicity of collaborative, interdisciplinary, and theoretical approaches by which to complete a literary project.
SARAH SHUN-LIEN BYNUM
Professor of Writing
Director of MFA Program