- Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers
The Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers is the oldest low-residency creative writing
Master of Fine Arts program in the United States. Prior to the founding of this program, an MFA in creative writing was earned via standard residential graduate programs that required students to be in residence at an academic institution for the majority of the academic year.Students in the program earn an MFA degree in creative writing over 4-8 semesters. The low-residency model at Warren Wilson requires attendance twice a year (January and July) for ten days of lectures, classes, workshops and readings by both faculty and students. Students are paired with a faculty member who then directs the creative and critical work for the student over the following semester. This model of short residencies followed by a semester of one-on-one work with a faculty member has been the model adopted by most low-residency MFA programs.
History
The Warren Wilson MFA program was founded in 1976 by
Ellen Bryant Voigt atGoddard College . In 1981, Goddard College became fiscally unstable and the the program relocated toWarren Wilson College .The program's faculty and alumni have won the
Pulitzer Prize and theNational Book Award , as well as fellowships from theMacArthur Foundation , the Guggenheim Foundation, and theNational Endowment for the Arts . The alumni of the program have published hundreds of books and won many awards. The program is currently directed by Peter Turchi. [ [http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~mfa/newwebsite/prospectivestudents.php MFA Program website] ] [ [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/880 Academy of American Poets Page for Ellen Bryant Voigt] ] [ [http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2007_p_voigt.html National Book Foundation] ]Faculty
The Warren Wilson MFA program faculty does not remain constant, thus giving students exposure to many writers. Recent faculty of the program include: Betty Adcock, Rick Barot, Andrea Barret,
Charles Baxter , Marianne Boruch, Robert Boswell, Michael Collier,Stephen Dobyns ,Jennifer Grotz , Brooks Haxton, David Haynes, C.J. Hribal, A. Van Jordan, Victor LaValle,Thomas Mallon ,Maurice Manning ,Heather McHugh , Steve Orlen,Danzy Senna ,David Shields , Megan Staffel,Ellen Bryant Voigt ,C. Dale Young ,Dean Young , and others. The list of the faculty over the entire thirty-year history of the program numbers above 150 writers. [ [http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~mfa/newwebsite/facultypastandpresent.php Complete List of Faculty] ]Course of Study
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Alumni
The alumni of the program have published hundreds of books and have won awards, fellowships, and other acclaim for their writing.Fact|date=March 2008
References
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