Program Overview
The Creative Writing Program at The City College of New York is in its fourth decade. Since its inception some of the most distinguished writers in America have taught here at our West Harlem campus, including Donald Barthelme, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Marilyn Hacker, William Matthews, Grace Paley and Susan Sontag. The mission of our program is simple: We want every student to find his or her unique voice, whether through fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenwriting, experimental or genre fiction and/or poetry, while simultaneously preparing them for life beyond graduate school as writers, teachers and scholars. Graduates of the Creative Writing Program at The City College of New York have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Fulbright Award, the O. Henry Award, a Grammy Award and more.
The legacy continues with recent alumni having work published by Simon & Schuster, St. Martin’s Press, Ampersand, Lyons Press, as well as having a presence on the New York Times Best Sellers list. In a program curriculum of advanced writing workshops and courses in English and American Literature, our distinguished faculty is dedicated to the intellectual growth and literary success of our students.
Finally, despite its prime location and storied past, the City College’s MFA program is dedicated to remaining at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in New York City. We welcome our MFAs to attend the program at their own pace as full-time or part-time students. We believe in access and opportunity not for just a select few, but for all those who believe in the life of literature and who take the craft of writing seriously.
Feature: ‘The Blue-Collar Harvard’ INSIDE HIGHER ED article features CCNY’s MFA program
Feature: MFA Program Profile: Emily Raboteau on CCNY
Recent MFA project, funded by the LUCE Foundation:
Archives as Muse: A Harlem Storytelling Project
A podcast interview on the MFA Program in Creative Writing on Indoor Voices, Episode 65.
For more information about the MFA in Creative Writing program, course offerings, and distinguished faculty, please visit our CUNY Commons website.