MFA Program for Poets & Writers
Encyclopedia
The MFA
Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
is a graduate creative writing program.
and is part of the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
.
, George Saunders
, Tomaž Šalamun
, Eleni Sikelianos
, Thomas Sayers Ellis
, William H. Gass
and David Ohle. MFA students in the graduate creative writing program have the opportunity to participate in both the Mohawk Trail Writers in the Schools program and the Literary Arts and Outreach Internship Program.
, the National Book Award
, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
, the Pushcart Prize
, and the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets
. MFA faculty have also received many fellowships from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts
and The John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation.
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
is a graduate creative writing program.
History
The MFA Program for Poets & Writers was founded in the 1960s by poet Joseph LanglandJoseph Langland
Joseph Langland was an American poet.-Life:He was raised in Northeastern Iowa on the family farm. Langland received both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the University of Iowa. He served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman during World War II...
and is part of the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
.
About
The program sponsors regular readings by creative writers and poets through its Visiting Writers Series. Recent visitors to the MFA Program for Poets & Writers include Russell EdsonRussell Edson
Russell Edson is an American poet, novelist, writer and illustrator, and the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson....
, George Saunders
George Saunders
George Saunders is a New York Times bestselling American writer of short stories, essays, novellas and children's books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's and GQ, among other publications...
, Tomaž Šalamun
Tomaz Salamun
Tomaž Šalamun is a Slovenian poet. He was born in 1941 in Zagreb, Croatia, and raised in Koper, Slovenia. He has published 39 collections of poetry in his native Slovenian language. Šalamun spent two years at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop in the 1970s and has lived for periods of time in...
, Eleni Sikelianos
Eleni Sikelianos
-Life:She was raised in California. She graduated from the Naropa Institute with an M.F.A.She taught at Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City and teaches Literature and Bard College's Clemente Program. She co-ran the Wednesday Night Readings at the St. Mark's Poetry Project in St....
, Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet, photographer, and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, and a core faculty member of the Lesley University Low Residency MFA Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
, William H. Gass
William H. Gass
William Howard Gass is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, and former philosophy professor. He has written two novels, three collections of short stories, a collection of novellas, and seven volumes of essays, three of which have won National Book Critics Circle Award...
and David Ohle. MFA students in the graduate creative writing program have the opportunity to participate in both the Mohawk Trail Writers in the Schools program and the Literary Arts and Outreach Internship Program.
Events
- The Annual Juniper Literary Festival. Recent festival particants include Charles SimicCharles SimicDušan "Charles" Simić is a Serbian-American poet, and was co-Poetry Editor of the Paris Review. He was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.-Early years:...
, Zoe HellerZoë HellerZoë Kate Hinde Heller is an English journalist and novelist.-Early life:Heller was born in North London as the youngest of four children of German-Jewish immigrant Lukas Heller, who was a successful screenwriter. Her mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport...
, James WoodJames WoodJames Wood was an officer of the U.S. Continental Army during the American Revolution and the 11th Governor of Virginia.-Personal life:...
, Simon ArmitageSimon ArmitageSimon Armitage CBE is a British poet, playwright, and novelist.-Life and career:Simon Armitage was born in Marsden, West Yorkshire. Armitage first studied at Colne Valley High School, Linthwaite, Huddersfield and went on to study geography at Portsmouth Polytechnic...
, John AshberyJohn AshberyJohn Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
and Mark Ford. The festival is co-sponsored by The Valley Advocate and the Council of Literary Magazines and PressesCouncil of Literary Magazines and PressesThe Council of Literary Magazines and Presses is an American organization of independent literary publishers and magazines. It was founded in 1967 by Robie Macauley, Reed Whittemore ; Jules Chametzky ; George Plimpton ; and William Phillips as the...
, with cooperation from Bard CollegeBard CollegeBard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
's Ashbery Resource Center, a project of The Flow Chart Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets. It is also supported by the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Vice Provost for Research, Department of English, Arts Council, and Alumni Association. - The Juniper Summer Writing Institute and The Institute for Young Writers. Recent summer institute participants include Grace PaleyGrace PaleyGrace Paley was an American-Jewish short story writer, poet, and political activist.-Biography:Grace Paley was born in the Bronx to Isaac and Manya Ridnyik Goodside, who anglicized the family name from Gutseit on immigrating from Ukraine. Her father was a doctor. The family spoke Russian and...
, Dean YoungDean Young (poet)Dean Young is a contemporary American poet in the poetic lineage of John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and Kenneth Koch. Often cited as a second-generation New York School poet, Young also derives influence and inspiration from the work of André Breton, Paul Éluard, and the other French Surrealist poets,...
, Matthew ZapruderMatthew ZapruderMatthew Zapruder is an American poet, editor, translator, and professor. His second poetry collection, The Pajamaist , won the 2007 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was chosen by Library Journal as one of the top ten poetry volumes of 2006...
, Padgett PowellPadgett PowellPadgett Powell is an American novelist in the Southern literary tradition. His debut novel, Edisto , was nominated for the American Book Award and was excerpted in The New Yorker. Powell has written four more novels—including Edisto Revisited , a sequel to his debut, Mrs...
, Mark DotyMark DotyMark Doty is an American poet and memoirist.-Biography:He was born in Maryville, Tennessee, earned his Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and received his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Goddard College in Vermont.In 1989, his partner Wally Roberts tested...
, James TateJames Tate (writer)James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, Dara WierDara WierDara Wier is an American poet and the author of eleven books of poetry, including most recently SELECTED POEMS from Wave Books. Awards include the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from the American Poetry Review, Pushcart Prize, San Francisco Poetry Center Prize. Her work is in Best American Poetry...
, Amy HempelAmy HempelAmy Hempel is an American short story writer, journalist, and university professor at Brooklyn College.-Life:Hempel was born in Chicago, Illinois...
, Christine SchuttChristine SchuttChristine Schutt is an American novelist. Schutt received her BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MFA from Columbia University...
, Kelly LinkKelly LinkKelly Link is an American editor and author of short stories. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and realism...
, Brian EvensonBrian EvensonBrian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Washington . After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University...
, Kate BernheimerKate Bernheimer- Works :Kate Bernheimer's first two novels, The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold , were published by Fiction Collective 2. Amongst her other work, her short-story collection Horse, Flower, Bird was published in Fall 2010 by Coffee House Press...
, Srikanth Reddy and Matthea HarveyMatthea HarveyMatthea Harvey is a contemporary American poet, writer and professor. She has published three collections, most recently, Modern Life , which earned her the 2009 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award, and a New York Times Notable Book...
.
Grants
- The program has recently benefitted from several grants awarded by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
.
Current faculty and staff
- Noy HollandNoy HollandNoy Holland is an American writer and National Book Award nominee. She is married to the writer Sam Michel.-Literature-related:...
's first book, The Spectacle of the Body (Knopf), was nominated for the National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
. She is also the author of the book, What Begins With Bird (FC2). Her short stories have appeared in Story Quarterly, Glimmer TrainGlimmer TrainGlimmer Train is an American literary journal founded in 1990 in Portland, Oregon. It is published quarterly.-Past contributors:* Brad Barkley* Charles Baxter* Ron Carlson* Greg Downs* Peter Selgin* Andre Dubus III* Aaron Gwyn* Noy Holland...
, Conjunctions, Noon, Black Warrior Review, Open City and The Quarterly. Noy Holland is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell ColonyMacDowell ColonyThe MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. In addition to being an Associate Professor in The MFA Program for Poets & Writers, she is the director of the Writers in the Schools Project and co-directs The University of Massachusetts' Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts and Action. She is married to fellow writer Sam Michel, who also teaches in The MFA Program for Poets & Writers. Padgett Powell on Noy Holland: "If you could breed a writer out of FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
by John Hawkes, and put it in a female frame, you might have Noy Holland."
- Sabina MurraySabina MurraySabina Murray is an award-winning Filipina American screenwriter, and a novelist currently a Professor in the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.-Background and career:...
is the author of Slow Burn (Ballantine, 1990), A Carnivore's Inquiry (Grove/Atlantic, 2004) and The Caprices (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), which won the 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionPEN/Faulkner Award for FictionThe PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to...
). She has held several important fellowships, including the Michener Fellowship at The University of Texas and the Bunting Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University. Her stories have appeared in The New England Review, Ontario Review, and Ploughshares. Sabina Murray is the author of the screenplay The Beautiful CountryThe Beautiful CountryThe Beautiful Country is a 2004 Vietnam-related drama film set in 1990. It is directed by Hans Petter Moland and starring Damien Nguyen, Nick Nolte, Bai Ling, Chau Thi Kim Xuan, Tim Roth, Anh Thu, Temuera Morrison and John Hussey...
, which stars Nick NolteNick NolteNicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
. Terrence MalickTerrence MalickTerrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
commissioned The Beautiful Country project. She is married to the poet John Hennessey.
- James TateJames Tate (writer)James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
's books of poetry include Return to the City of White Donkeys (Harper Collins, 2004); Memoir of the Hawk (Ecco Press, 2001); Shroud of the Gnome (1997); Worshipful Company of Fletchers (1994); Selected Poems (1991); Distance from Loved Ones (1990); Reckoner (1986); Constant Defender (1983); Riven Doggeries (1979); Viper Jazz (1976); Absences (1972); Hints to Pilgrims (1971); The Oblivion Ha-Ha (1970); and his first book, The Lost Pilot (1967), which was selected by Dudley Fitts for the Yale Series of Younger Poets. He is also the author of prose works: Lucky Darryl (1977), Hottentot Ossuary (1974), Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee (2001) and The Route as Briefed (1999). He has received the National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Poetry, the Wallace Stevens Award, a GuggenheimGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
Foundation fellowship and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. James TateJames Tate (writer)James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
edited The Best American Poetry 1997 and is a Chancellor of The Academy of American PoetsAcademy of American PoetsThe Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
.
- Dara WierDara WierDara Wier is an American poet and the author of eleven books of poetry, including most recently SELECTED POEMS from Wave Books. Awards include the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from the American Poetry Review, Pushcart Prize, San Francisco Poetry Center Prize. Her work is in Best American Poetry...
is the author of several books of poetry, including Reverse Rapture (2005), Blue for the Plough (1992), Hat on a Pond (2002), Voyages in English (2001), Our Master Plan (1998), The Book of Knowledge, (1988), All You Have in Common (1984), The 8-Step Grapevine (1980) and Blood, Hook & Eye (1977). Her tenth book of poetry, Remnants of Hannah, is forthcoming (2006). She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim FoundationJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationThe John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
and the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. She has received the Jerome Shestack Prize, the Pushcart Prize and was a Phi Beta Kappa award finalist. Her work has been anthologized in The Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize Anthology. Dara Wier is the director of The MFA Program for Poets & Writers and co-directs The University of Massachusetts' Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts and Action. John Vernon on Dara Wier: "A Sappho of decomposition, Dara Wier will not provide the solace for which you may have been looking but within my American reading she is one of the most original female poets since Sylvia Plath." John AshberyJohn AshberyJohn Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
on Dara Wier: "It may not be for the faint of heart—most intense experiences aren't—but those who stay with it will find themselves face to face with a world whose eerily sharp focus suggests recent satellite photographs of Mars. And they will never be the same again."
- Chris BachelderChris BachelderChris Bachelder is an American writer, e-book pioneer and frequent contributor to the publications McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and The Believer.Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he grew up in Christiansburg, Virginia...
is the author of Bear v. Shark: The Novel and U.S.! (Bloomsbury Press). He is a contributor to McSweeney's Quarterly ConcernTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly ConcernTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern is a literary journal, first published in 1998, edited by Dave Eggers. The first issue featured only works rejected by other magazines, but thereafter the journal began to include pieces written with McSweeney's in mind. McSweeney’s has since published works by...
and The BelieverThe Believer (magazine)The Believer is a United States literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture. Founded and designed in 2003 by the writer and publisher Dave Eggers, it is edited by Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits and Ed Park...
. His e-book, Lessons in Large-Market Freelance Virtual Tour Photography, was published by Future Profits Now, the business and technology publication line of McSweeney'sMcSweeney'sMcSweeney's is an American publishing house founded by editor Dave Eggers.Apart from its book list, McSweeney's is responsible for four regular publications: the quarterly literary journal,...
Books. Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
on Chris Bachelder: "Like the wonderful Bear vs. Shark, U.S.! is a mad contraption of a novel, an encyclopedia of all our rich American armamentarium of bullshit, cant, ad copy and hyperbole (including the blurbs on book jackets). But this one carries secret reserves of heartbreak and ruefulness that propel it farther and deeper into the reader's imagination. We need novelists like Chris Bachelder who can, with a microfine sense of humor and a tragic sense of history, almost make it all make sense. We're lucky to have him." Chris Bachelder will join the creative writing faculty at The University of Massachusetts in Fall of 2006.
- Peter GizziPeter GizziPeter Gizzi is an award-winning American poet and renowned editor of the American poet Jack Spicer. He attended Brown University, New York University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.-Life and career:...
is the author of Some Values of Landscape and Weather, Artificial Heart, and Periplum and other poems 1987-92. He has published several limited-edition chapbooks, folios, and artist books. His work has been translated into several languages. Peter Gizzi's honors include the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American PoetsAcademy of American PoetsThe Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
(1994) and fellowships from the Howard Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, and The John Simon GuggenheimGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
Memorial Foundation. He has held residencies at The MacDowell ColonyMacDowell ColonyThe MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, The Foundation of French Literature at Royaumont, Un Bureau Sur L'Atlantique, and the Centre International de Poesie Marseille (cipM). His editing projects have included o•blék: a journal of language artsO-bleko•blék: a journal of language arts was a small literary magazine founded by Peter Gizzi who co-edited it with Connell McGrath. The magazine published a number of poems often not in the mainstream but recognized for their excellence...
, The Exact Change Yearbook, and The House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack SpicerJack SpicerJack Spicer was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer won the American Book Award for poetry.-Life and work:...
.
- Anthony GiardinaAnthony GiardinaAnthony Giardina is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and playwright. Anthony Giardina started his professional career as an actor. He switched to playwriting, and eventually began writing novels....
is the author of Men With Debts, A Boy's Pretensions and The Country of Marriage. His plays have been produced at, among other places, the Manhattan Theater Club in New York, the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven and the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to Harper's, EsquireEsquire (magazine)Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, GQ and The New York Times MagazineThe New York Times MagazineThe New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
. Giardina's latest novel, White Guys, was recently published by Farrar, Straus and GirouxFarrar, Straus and GirouxFarrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...
. He is currently on tour. He has been interviewed and reviewed by, among others, Beatrice, Robert Birnbaum, and The New York Times.
- Sam MichelSam MichelSam Michel is an American author. He is married to the writer Noy Holland. They live in western Massachusetts with their two children.-Publications:...
- Brad LeithauserBrad LeithauserBrad E. Leithauser is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher. After serving as the Emily Dickinson Lecturer in the Humanities at Mount Holyoke College and visiting professor at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, he is now on faculty at The...
is a visiting writer and professor from Mount Holyoke CollegeMount Holyoke CollegeMount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
. He is the author of numerous books of fiction, poetry and essays. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
and is a former TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine writer. He is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship and the Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
.
Faculty awards
The faculty at this graduate creative writing program have received many awards, including the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to...
, the Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
, and the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
. MFA faculty have also received many fellowships from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
and The John Simon Guggenheim
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
Memorial Foundation.
Alumni
- Sascha Akhtar
- Rick AlleyRick AlleyRick Alley is an American poet. He is the author of the book, Talking Book of July . He grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia and studied at both the Old Dominion University and at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Amherst, Massachusetts...
- Benjamin Balthaser
- Dorothy BarresiDorothy Barresi-Life:She was raised in Akron, Ohio. She teaches in the English Department at California State University at Northridge, where she is Chair of the Creative Writing Program....
- Grace BauerGrace BauerGrace Bauer is an American poet. She lives in Nebraska, grew up in Pennsylvania and has also lived in New Orleans, Montana, Virginia and Massachusetts.-Education and Awards:...
- Eric BausEric BausEric Baus is an American poet. He is the author of The To Sound, winner of the Verse Prize and the Greenwall Fund of the Academy of American Poets, and Tuned Doves....
- Steven Lee Beeber
- Ben Bennani
- David Berman (singer)David Berman (singer)David Berman is an American poet, cartoonist, and singer-songwriter best known for his work with indie-rock band the Silver Jews.-Beginnings:...
- Jedediah BerryJedediah BerryJedediah Berry is an American writer. He is the author of a novel, The Manual of Detection .-Background and education:Berry was born in Randolph, Vermont, and spent his childhood in Catskill, New York. He attended Bard College, and earned a graduate degree from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers...
- Lisa Beskin
- Noah Blaustein
- Marianne BoruchMarianne BoruchMarianne Boruch is an American poet. She graduated from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1979, and after teaching at Tunghai University in Taiwan, and at the University of Maine at Farmington, went on to develop the MFA program in creative writing at...
- Kathryn Burak
- Debra Carney
- Robert Casper
- Dan Chelotti
- Carson CistulliCarson CistulliCarson Cistulli is an American poet, essayist and English professor. His works of poetry include Some Common Weaknesses Illustrated, Assorted Fictions, and A Century of Enthusiasm.- Early Years :...
- Carrie St. George Comer
- Gillian ConoleyGillian ConoleyGillian Conoley is an American poet, the author of seven collections of poetry. Her work has been anthologized widely, most recently in Norton’s American Hybrid, Counterpath’s Postmodern Lyricisms, Mondadori’s Nuova Poesia Americana , and Best American Poetry...
- Michael Earl CraigMichael Earl CraigMichael Earl Craig is an American poet from Livingston, Montana. Craig is the author of Can You Relax in My House , Yes, Master , and Thin Kimono .-External links:** at Muumuu House...
- Leslie Dauer
- Carol Ann Davis
- Mike DockinsMike DockinsMike Dockins is an American poet. He is the author of Slouching in the Path of a Comet, published in 2007 by Sage Hill Press. The book has been critically well-received. His poem "Dead Critics Society" was selected for inclusion in 2007's Best American Poetry Anthology, edited by Heather McHugh,...
- Molly Dorozenski
- Frances Driscoll
- Kelly Everding
- Dennis Finnell
- Mary Fister
- Michelle Fogus
- Melissa S. Ford
- Chris Gompert
- Kevin GoodanKevin GoodanKevin Goodan is an American poet and professor. His most recent book is Winter Tenor . His first book, In the Ghost-House Acquainted, won a New England/New York Award from Alice James Books, as well as the 2005 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award...
- Noah Eli GordonNoah Eli GordonNoah Eli Gordon is an American poet. Gordon was educated at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He currently teaches at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Gordon currently writes the chapbook review column for the book review publication Rain Taxi...
- David GrahamDavid Graham (American poet)David Graham is an American writer married to the artist Lee Shippey. He has published six collections of poetry, as well as poetry and short stories in numerous literary magazines. Born and raised in Johnstown, New York, he has taught English at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin since 1987, where...
- James Grinwis
- Christian HawkeyChristian HawkeyChristian Hawkey is an American poet.-Life and work:Christian Hawkey graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst....
- Aaron Hellem
- Brian HenryBrian HenryBrian Henry is an American poet, translator, editor, and literary critic. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.-Education:Henry completed a BA at the College of William and Mary and an MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst....
- Amy Hoffman
- Christopher HowellChristopher HowellChristopher Howell is an American poet, editor, and educator. He has published eight books of poetry.Born in Portland, Oregon, Howell served as a journalist for the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He earned a B.S. from Oregon State University in 1968, an M.A...
- Christopher Janke
- Jessica Jopp
- Tom KealeyTom KealeyTom Kealey is an American writer and Jones Lecturer in fiction at Stanford University.-Books:* .* Coyotes won the 2005 Joseph Henry Jackson Award from the San Francisco Foundation.-Other publications:...
- Mary KoncelMary KoncelMary Koncel is an American poet who has published two books of poetry.She was born and raised in Chicago and holds a BFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago and MFA in English from MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She now lives in Worthington,...
- Laurie KutchinsLaurie Kutchins-Life:She grew up in Wyoming. She graduated from Carleton College, and from the University of Massachusetts Amherst's MFA Program for Poets & Writers.She is an Associate Professor in the English Department at James Madison University...
- Dorothea LaskyDorothea LaskyDorothea Lasky is an American poet. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri on March 27, 1978. Lasky earned her BA in Classics and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst's MFA Program for Poets & Writers, and her Ed.M...
- Kelly Le FaveKelly Le Fave-Childhood and personal life:Le Fave was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Virginia and Maryland. She has also spent time living in Western Massachusetts...
- Sueyeun Juliette Lee
- Susannah Lee
- Lesle LewisLesle LewisLesle Lewis is an American poet and professor. She is author of three poetry collections, most recently lie down too, winner of the 2010 Beatrice Hawley Award,...
- Eric Lorberer
- Valerie MartinValerie MartinValerie Martin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has also taught at Mount Holyoke College, Loyola University New Orleans, The University of New Orleans, The University of Alabama, and Sarah Lawrence College, among other institutions. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for...
- David MilofskyDavid MilofskyDavid Milofsky is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is the author of four novels: A Friend of Kissinger, Playing from Memory, Eternal People and Color of Law. In addition to writing fiction, he works regularly as a journalist...
- Nicholas MontemaranoNicholas MontemaranoNicholas Montemarano is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. He is the author of the short story collection If the Sky Falls and the novel A Fine Place. His fiction has been published widely in magazines such as Esquire, Zoetrope: All-Story, Tin House, DoubleTake, The...
- Nick Moudry
- Erin Murphy (poet)Erin Murphy (poet)-Publications - Books:* Dislocation and Other Theories * Science of Desire , a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize.* Too Much of this World , winner of the Anthony Piccione Poetry Prize....
- Ethan PaquinEthan PaquinEthan Paquin is an American poet and a native of New Hampshire. He grew up in Londonderry, New Hampshire. He earned a BA in English/Writing from Plymouth State College in Plymouth, New Hampshire, and his MFA in Creative Writing from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers, University of Massachusetts,...
- Peg Peoples
- Joe PerniceJoe PerniceJoe Pernice is an American indie rock musician and writer, who has fronted several bands, including the Scud Mountain Boys, Chappaquiddick Skyline and the Pernice Brothers....
- Mike Perrow
- Carol PotterCarol PotterCarol Potter is an American poet and professor. Her most recent collection of poems is Otherwise Obedient , which was a 2008 Lambda Literary Award finalist...
- John Richard Reed
- Nancy ReismanNancy ReismanNancy Reisman is an American author. She teaches creative writing at Vanderbilt University.-Education:Reisman received her M.F.A. from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.-Awards:...
- Andrew Michael Roberts
- David RoderickDavid RoderickDavid Roderick is an award-winning American poet, who is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro...
- Pat SchneiderPat SchneiderPat Schneider is an American writer, poet and editor.-Biography:Schneider was educated at Central College in Missouri, and earned her MA from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. In 1979 she became a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of...
- Kamila ShamsieKamila ShamsieKamila Shamsie is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language. She was brought up in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School....
- Sejal ShahSejal ShahSejal Shah is an Indian cinematographer. He has worked on a number of Bollywood films and adverts.-Career:Shah has done more than 200 commercials,including for major brands such as Indian Oil , Sprite , Royal Stag , Hyundai , Ford Endeavour ,and Nokia ,His Debut Feature,Silence Please.....
- Gerald ShapiroGerald ShapiroThis article is about the author. Gerald Shapiro was an American writer who had published three prize-winning books and was Cather Professor of English at the University of Nebraska. He was also a reader for Prairie Schooner. He lived in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, the writer Judith...
- Karen Skolfield
- Judith Slater
- Susan Steinberg (author)
- Susan StraightSusan StraightSusan Straight is an American author and National Book Award finalist.-Background:Susan Straight has published six novels, a novel for young readers and a children's book...
- Michael TeigMichael TeigMichael Teig , is an American poet and a founding editor of the American literary journal, jubilat.Born and raised in western Pennsylvania in the City of Franklin, Teig holds a bachelor's degree in English from Oberlin College and a master of fine arts degree in Creative Writing from the University...
- Carl Tillona
- William TremblayWilliam TremblayWilliam Tremblay is an American poet, novelist, and Colorado State University Professor Emeritus.Born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, Tremblay received an B.A in English Literature and an M.A. in American Literature from Clark University, and he received a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the...
- Natasha TretheweyNatasha TretheweyNatasha Trethewey is an American poet who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her 2006 collection, Native Guard.Trethewey was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. She earned the A.B. in English from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in poetry from Hollins University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from...
- Lee UptonLee UptonLee Upton is an American poet, fiction writer, literary critic, and a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.-Life:...
- Sara Veglahn
- Diane WaldDiane WaldDiane Wald is an American poet. Her most recent poetry collection is Wonderbender . She has published poems in literary journals and magazines including The American Poetry Review, Skanky Possum, Fence, The Hat, Verse, and The Paterson Review. She was born in Paterson, New Jersey. She earned a B.A....
- Ellen Doré WatsonEllen Doré WatsonEllen Doré Watson is an American poet, translator and teacher.Watson is author of five collections of poems, most recently, Dogged Hearts . Her book, Ladder Music, was a New York/New England Award winner from Alice James Books...
- Kami Westhoff
- Timothy A. Westmoreland
- Douglas WhynottDouglas WhynottDouglas Whynott is an American writer who has written and published four critically acclaimed books. Whynott's first book took ten years to get published. In the meantime, he tuned pianos to make money.-Career:...
- Mark WisniewskiMark WisniewskiMark Wisniewski is an American author. He is the author of the novel, Confessions of a Polish Used Car Salesman, and the poetry collection One of Us One Night. He is a two-time finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Prize for short fiction. He is a frequent contributor to the Missouri Review and a...
- David Wright (writer)David Wright (writer)David Wright is an American writer who grew up in Borger, Texas. He holds a B.A. from Carleton College, and an M.F.A. from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also studied at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales...
- Xu XiXu XiXu Xi, Xu Xi, Xu Xi, (originally named Xu Su Xi(许素细) (born 1954) is an English language novelist from Hong Kong.She is also the Hong Kong regional editor of Routledge's Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literature (second edition, 2005) and the editor or co-editor of the following anthologies of Hong...
- Matthew ZapruderMatthew ZapruderMatthew Zapruder is an American poet, editor, translator, and professor. His second poetry collection, The Pajamaist , won the 2007 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was chosen by Library Journal as one of the top ten poetry volumes of 2006...
Periodical publications
- jubilatJubilatjubilat is a widely-distributed American poetry journal published by the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst...
- The Massachusetts Review
- Crate
UMass MFA Program-related projects
Literary Magazines, Journals and websites run by current and former students- Glitter Pony Magazine
- Audio Blog
- Verse
- Kulture Vulture
- Mustachioed
- Slope
- Slope Editions
- Conduit
- Wave Poetry
- Brain Case Press
- The Chuckwagon
- The Creative Writing Handbook by MFA alum Tom Kealey.
- Corollary Press