the longest island: MFA in Creative Writing

The Creative Writing MFA program at LIU Brooklyn was founded in 2007. It is an intimate, supportive, student-centered community, whose primary goal is to expand and explore the boundaries of poetry and fiction.

This program offers a solid foundation and practice through courses in literature, writing workshops, and writing process and technique courses designed for the aspiring writer. In this vigorous and innovative program, students will have opportunities to work with a host of visiting writers and poets, as well as to participate in the vibrant writing and performing arts communities of both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Students and faculty work closely together on their writing projects, in classroom workshops and at numerous one-on-one meetings. Your final project is a thesis: a book of poems, a collection of stories, autobiographical essays, or a full-length novel. From time to time, the program also includes a teaching component, which allows students to develop skills teaching composition, literature and creative writing.

In the 36-credit program, the focal point of the curriculum is the writing workshop. Students have opportunities to work in poetry, fiction, playwriting, creative non-fiction, and/or cross-genre projects. They explore a wide range of literary styles, from traditional narratives to the experimental, contemplative and avant-garde. In literature and theory classes, students look closely at the links between contemporary writing and literary traditions, writing and theory, and between writing, reading, music, and the visual arts. Students are encouraged to take artistic risks while moving in the context of multiple traditions. A small intimate program setting allows for easy access to, and strong mentoring by faculty members who are deeply committed to their students.

Our students come not only from the US but from all over the world--most recently, students have come to us from Nigeria, Turkey, and Taiwan. We stay in close touch with many of our alumni who go on to publish books, edit literary magazines / journals, curate reading series, and work with small, independent presses.

The MFA program and its faculty have close ties to arts organizations and bookstores in New York City, including The Poetry Project, Poet’s House, Greenlight Bookstore, The Asian American Writers' Workshop, The Belladonna* Collective, The Bowery Poetry Club, and Unnameable Books. We also have close ties with numerous independent publishers and magazines, most notably United Artists Books, Overpass Books, The Otter Magazine, Ugly Duckling Presse, Talisman Books, and Third Floor Apartment Press.

The program publishes two journals currently on hiatus: Brooklyn Paramount (a hand-bound print journal) and the now inactive literary journal visceral brooklyn.