Northwestern's part-time Master of Fine Arts in Prose and Poetry program requires the completion of 15 courses. Students complete writing workshops, a teaching creative writing course, graduate-level literature courses, electives, and a capstone writing course.  Students will choose writing workshops and electives depending on the specialization they declare. The Master of Fine Arts in Prose and Poetry program provides students the opportunity to grow as artists within the specializations of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. A dual-genre specialization is also offered, as well as a publishing and professional development track that combines publishing industry-related instruction with the creative coursework of the writing workshops.

Curriculum

About the Thesis

The final project of the MFA program is a creative thesis, an original work of high literary merit (judged on the basis of art as well as craft). Prose work should be at least 140 double-spaced pages and no more than 170 pages. Poetic work should be between 35-50 single-spaced pages, with each poem on separate pages. The creative thesis is structured and revised under the supervision of a faculty member (or faculty mentor) and a second reader. The project may be one long piece or a series of shorter pieces. It may include or be an expansion of work written during the student's course of study as long as it represents a culminating effort to shape stories, prose pieces, a long piece, or a group of poems into a coherent, self-sufficient work. This large-scale project supplements the smaller-scale study of craft with the invaluable experience of creating a larger work. And for students who plan to pursue book-length publication after graduation, the master's creative thesis may be the first version of a work in progress. (Note: Students may not take writing workshops alongside thesis.)