Our Program

The Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine offers a two-year program with emphases in four genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry and popular fiction (as well as possibilities for elective work in other areas including cross-genre, dramatic writing, writing for children, and performance writing).  Our low-residency program offers students the advantage of maintaining their present occupations and living arrangements while participating in a full-time graduate program.

• Students may enter the program twice a year, matriculating in July or January.
  
• Semesters begin with intensive ten-day residencies that include readings, social events, workshops and seminars held at USM's historic Stone House on the beautiful coast of Maine.
  
• After each residency, students write under the guidance of mentors, chosen from our faculty of nationally-renowned writers.
  
• First-semester and second-semester students exchange writing with their mentors through mail or email; these include original work, revisions, and commentary on readings.
  
• Preparing for their post-MFA literary lives, third-semester students work with a mentor to complete a project chosen from among six areas of emphasis: literary craft; critical theory; community service; interdisciplinary artistic collaboration; pedagogy; and publishing.
  
• Working with their final faculty mentor, fourth-semester students assemble and polish a substantial creative thesis in their genre.
  
• Graduating students return for a final residency during which they participate in special seminars and tutorials, give a reading of their work and present a seminar or panel presentation.
  
• Stonecoast alumni stay closely connected with the program through online discussions and networking opportunities.

Related Links:

View more photos of the Stone House, as well as students and faculty at residencies and special events, in our Photo Gallery.

Read more about the Stonecoast creative thesis (M.thesis guidelines) and other academic guidelines in the Student Center.

Visit our Alumni section to learn how Stonecoast fosters a community linked by a shared devotion to the highest literary standards and a holistic commitment to nourishing the whole writer.