Since 1972, the University of Arizona has offered one of the preeminent MFA programs in the country for the study of creative writing. With workshops and craft seminars in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, we offer intensive instruction in literary craft and the study of literature from a writer’s perspective, as well as opportunities to strengthen professional skills and flourish as a wri
ter. The program requires two years in residence, the completion of 36 academic units, including four workshops in one genre and two craft courses. With this in mind, we invite students to develop a course of study parallel to the page, whether it is in the University, the city of Tucson, the Sonoran desert, or beyond. We offer assistantships in arts administration, education, and public programming at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, as well as internships with Kore Press, Chax Press, the POG Collective, the Center for Biological Diversity, The Tucson Weekly, and Biosphere 2. Teaching assistantships in the UA Writing Program are available for more than half of our incoming students, and many returning students teach undergraduate courses in creative writing every semester. The literary community here is strong. Please look into the offerings at the Poetry Center, our partner in many adventures. In addition to the Poetry Center roster, the creative writing faculty curates the UA Prose Series, which brings in four writers a year. MFA students run the Works-in-Progress (WIP) Reading Series at Case Libre en la Solana in downtown Tucson, as well as the Salon Series (conversations about the writing life between students, faculty, and others). The University of Arizona is the home to the Sonora Review, the oldest student-run literary magazine in the country. Every year, the program sends out the Look Book to agents and editors, introducing them to our current graduating class’s work. For more information, please investigate our Student Guide, as well as Alumni News.
