Hunter College MFA in Creative Writing

by Donna Masini

Quite new among creative writing programs, the Hunter College MFA program is in its fifth year and has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting writing programs around—not only in New York City, but nationwide.

Our aim from the beginning was to offer an affordable, ethnically diverse, high-quality MFA program that balances the study of writing, craft, and literature. Ours is a highly competitive program (we enroll only 25-30 students) and has grown out of Hunter's long-standing excellence in teaching undergraduate creative writing, a tradition that has produced an astonishing number of writers publishing with major houses.

Our terminal degree is designed to offer promising writers the opportunity to study and practice the art of writing in small, intensive workshops and seminars in literature. The program curriculum integrates the study of writing and the study of literature, with special attention paid to the craft of writing in specially designed MFA seminars.

In addition to taking poetry or fiction workshops each semester, students work closely with members of the writing faculty on an ongoing, independent project over the course of the degree, culminating in a graduate MFA thesis. We are currently in the process of establishing a non-fiction component to the program and have been, over the years, offering courses in biography, memoir, and other non-fiction forms.

New Program Director

A two-time Booker Prize-winner and winner of two Commonwealth prizes for his highly acclaimed novels, Peter Carey became our new program director this year. Carey, who is originally from Australia, is a perfect fit for Hunter, and the MFA program in particular—a program that boasts students and faculty from around the globe. Says Carey:  "I have finally discovered New York City's best kept secret:  the students in the Hunter College Creative Writing Program. They have a depth of cultural experience, a drive and purpose not easily found in other CW programs. In short, Hunter College is not only a fantastic value, but one of the city's great creative centers."

Carey has been working to build the writing program, to establish the non-fiction component, and to continue Hunter College's literary reading series. He recently invited Ariel Dorfman, Paul Auster and Edith Grossman to discuss Grossman's critically acclaimed new translation of Don Quixote. Upcoming visitors include Robert Hughes and Siri Husdsvedt speaking on Goya, Michael Ondaatje and Anne Carson.

Current Full-Time Faculty

FICTION:

Peter Carey  Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda, The Tax Inspector, The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, True History of the Kelly Gang, My Life As a Fake

Jenefer Shute  Life-Size, Sex Crimes, Free Fall

POETRY:

Meena Alexander  Manhattan Music, River and Bridge, The Shock of Arrival

Jan Heller Levi  Once I Gazed at You in Wonder, A Muriel Rukeyser Reader (Editor)

Donna Masini  That Kind of Danger, About Yvonne

William Pitt Root  Salmondream, Faultdancing, Invisible Quests

NON-FICTION:

Louise DeSalvo  Vertigo, Bad Girl, Casting-Off

Nancy Milford  Zelda:  A Biography, Savage Beauty

Program Coordinator

Elena Georgiou  Mercy, Mercy Me

Visiting Writers have included Mark Doty, Sharon Olds, Phillip Levine, Michael Cunningham, Mona Simpson, Grace Paley, June Jordan, Li-Young Lee, Cristina Garcia, Marie Howe, Tony Hoagland, Brenda Hillman, Daniel Mendelsohn, et al.