• Creative Writing Program

    Creative Writing Hero

  • The New School invites you to join a community of diverse writers, become part of New York City’s publishing world, and build a network of support on campus and beyond. Our prestigious MFA Creative Writing program is designed to help you develop your writing in supportive workshops and literature seminars led by an internationally recognized faculty and renowned authors.

  • 40+

    books published annually by alumni and faculty

    60+

    annual writing events, including the National Book Awards Finalist Reading

    93%

    of admitted MFA students awarded merit-based university scholarships (2020–2021)

  • As an MFA student at The New School, you can choose your concentration—in Arts Writing, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Writing for Children and Young Adults—and receive personalized faculty mentorship and faculty and peer critiques. Innovative courses in publishing and multimedia storytelling engage you in the development of literature. Popular graduate minors include Impact Entrepreneurship and Transmedia and Digital Storytelling. Or you can apply to WriteOn NYC!, a New School–funded fellowship program providing MFA students with high-quality teaching experience in area middle schools and high schools. All students benefit from evening classes and events, which enable them to work or attend responsibilities during the day while enrolled in a  full-time program.

  • Related Programs

    Undergraduate and Non-Credit Programs

    In addition to the renowned MFA in Creative Writing, The New School offers other programs and opportunities for writing students. These include noncredit courses and summer intensives, as well as an undergraduate major in the Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students, the Writing and Democracy Honors Program, and undergraduate minors in related fields.

    Summer Writing Intensive
    Continuing Education Courses
    Writing & Democracy Honors Program
    BA in Creative Writing
    Undergraduate Creative Writing Courses



    • The New School's faculty for writing and literature is a veritable who's who of American writers. Core faculty serve as coordinators and advisors for each genre of study offered by the program. The MFA program's extensive roster of full-time, part-time, and visiting faculty members include award-winning poets, novelists, essayists, and visual artists who also work across and between genres.  

    • Creative Writing students can choose one of five concentrations: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Arts Writing, and Writing for Children and Young Adults. They can also choose or add a dual concentration, a three-year program.

    • Creative Writing students come to The New School from across the United States and around the world to live the writer's life in New York City. Evenings with agents and editors, offered exclusively for MFA students, provide informal opportunities to meet publishing professionals.

    • The New School Bookshelf

      We are proud to feature books recently published by The New School's Creative Writing community.

      • The New School Bookshelf - The Friend

        The Friend

        Sigrid Nunez, Faculty
        National Book Award for Fiction
      • The New School Bookshelf - Hurricane Child

        Hurricane Child

        Kacen Callender, MFA '14
        Stonewall Book Award
      • The New School Bookshelf - The Impeachers

        The Impeachers

        Brenda Wineapple, Faculty
        "Vivid and perceptive" The New York Times
      • The New School Bookshelf - The January Children

        The January Children

        Safia Elhillo, MFA '15
        Arab American Book Award
      • The New School Bookshelf - Good Talk

        Good Talk

        Mira Jacob, Faculty and MFA '01
        "[A] showstopping memoir about race in America" Kirkus Reviews

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    • Take The Next Step

    Submit your application

    Undergraduates

    To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

    Undergraduate Adult Learners

    To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

    Graduates

    To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.