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  • Writing Can Be Taught: M.F.A. Survey 2014

    It’s pretty safe to say that not only are M.F.A.s everywhere—they’re inextricably woven into the fabric of the contemporary world of American books. Here, we survey the country's M.F.A. scene, looking at funding, post-graduate job opportunities, and more.

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: The Complete Supplement

    Read the complete M.F.A. 2014 package in this Scribd reader.

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: What’s the Big Deal?

    In 2010, it was Téa Obreht (Cornell ’09) with The Tiger’s Wife. In 2011, it was Chad Harbach (Virginia ’04) with The Art of Fielding. In 2012, it was Karen Russell (Columbia ’06) with her Pulitzer-finalist Swamplandia!, and a year or two from now, it will be Garth Hallberg (NYU ’06). Knopf recently purchased the 34-year-old author’s 900-page debut novel, City of Fire, after a bidding war escalated the closing price to nearly $2 million. But how much does an M.F.A. have to do with a writer’s success?

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: Why I Teach Writing: Matthew Shenoda

    I have come to understand that the elements I felt lacking in my own educational experience have been the primary drivers in shaping my pedagogical philosophies as well as classroom and mentoring practices.

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: Why I Teach Writing: René Steinke

    When poet Frank Bidart visited our M.F.A. residency a few years ago, he said he didn’t believe so much in talent anymore, but more in the idea of having a vision and working like hell to realize that vision. That rings true to me. An M.F.A. should create a space where it’s actually possible for all that to begin, both the vision and the work.

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: Why I Teach Writing: Rigoberto González

    I didn’t admit to my family that I was in school to “become a writer” for the duration of my graduate education. As far as they knew, I was in school to “become a teacher,” which was something closer to what they understood and farther from my own fantasy, which was to write those books on the bookstore shelves I was convinced sold enough copies to support an author’s needs and caprices

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: From Workshop Table to Editor’s Desk: M.F.A.s Train Editors

    While many M.F.A. candidates are looking for their future editors through the traditional combo of query letters and blind luck, others might be on track to become those editors.

  • M.F.A. Survey 2014: Agents and Editors Talk M.F.A. Programs

    Many agents and editors use M.F.A. programs as resources for finding new talent. “Like all agents, I probably put Iowa at #1, although given how much commercial fiction I represent, that does not necessarily fit my list,” says Alexandra Machinist of ICM Partners. “I then have positive views of Michigan, Virginia, and Notre Dame. My last one would have to be a tie between Irvine and Johns Hopkins. I have seen amazing material from both, and I see great fiction out of Columbia, but it is inconsistent.”

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