nyu creative writing center

Creative Writing

• Finding Books
• Resources by Genre
• Literary journals

NYU Creative Writing Program Reading Series

Organizations for writers.

• The Poets House

Writing events

Literary awards.

• Getting Published
• Citing Sources This link opens in a new window

Contact us via email , text us at 646-265-1342, or schedule an appointment .

The NYU Creative Writing Program hosts a series of public readings by established and emerging writers at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House at 58 West 10th Street. To view the schedule for this semester's readings, visit the full NYU Creative Writing Program website .

You can also find video recordings of NYU Creative Writing Program readings on their YouTube channel and Recent Podcasts & Videos page, and listen to selected readings from 2017 and earlier on the Creative Writing Program's Classic Podcasts page .

• Authors Guild The Authors Guild advocates for the rights of writers by supporting free speech, fair contracts, and copyright. We create community and we fight for a living wage.
• AWP: Association of Writers & Writing Programs AWP provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to writers, college and university creative writing programs, and writers’ conferences and centers. As a national professional association of creative writers and writing programs, AWP brings together independent writers, academic writing programs, journals, presses, and arts organizations, and hosts the largest annual gathering of writers in North America.
• London Writers' Salon A UK-based writing community that offers free online "Writers' Hours" for quiet, focused work every weekday.
• PEN America Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 centers worldwide that make up the PEN International network. PEN America works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others.

Poets House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Our poetry resources and literary events document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, and stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry in culture.  In the summer of 2009, Poets House moved to its permanent home at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City and opened to the public on September 25, 2009.

Throughout its transformations, the heart of Poets House has remained its poetry collection. With over 50,000 volumes of poetry—including books, journals, chapbooks, audio and video tapes, and digital media—our collection is among the most comprehensive, open-access collections of poetry in the United States and is the foundation for all our programs and services.

• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) National Novel Writing Month, often shortened to NaNoWriMo, is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that promotes creative writing around the world. Its flagship program is an annual, international creative writing event in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November.

Looking for award-winning books? Here are some of the websites for major literary prizes and awards, which list current and previous award winners. You can use the Libraries' Catalog to search our collection for titles and/or authors.

• Booker Prize winners The Man Booker Prize "aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland."
• Edgar Award winners An annual award for mystery and detective fiction, presented by the Mystery Writers of America. Use this link to search or browse their database of prize winners.
• Governor General's Literary Awards Each year, the Governor General’s Literary Awards (the GGs) honour the best in Canadian literature. As Canada’s national literary awards, the GGs represent the rich diversity of Canadian literature and its authors, translators and illustrators.
• Hugo Award winners The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention ("Worldcon"), which is also responsible for administering them.
• Lambda Literary Awards The Lambda Literary Awards, presented by the Lambda Literary Association, identify and celebrate the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year.
• National Book Award winners Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
• National Book Critics Circle Awards The National Book Critics Circle awards are given each March and honor the best literature published in the United States in six categories—autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
• Nebula Award winners The Nebula Awards ® are voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
• Otherwise Award The Otherwise Award (formerly the Tiptree Award) is an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.
• Pulitzer Prize winners The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.
• Shirley Jackson Award winners An award for "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic."
• Stoker Awards Each year, the Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work, Dracula.
• Women's Prize for Fiction Formerly known as the Orange Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman.
• World Fantasy Awards Awards for fantasy fiction, presented annually at the World Fantasy Convention.
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• Last Updated: May 2, 2024 10:52 AM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/creative-writing

Creative Writing (MFA)

Program description.

The MFA Program in Creative Writing consists of a vibrant community of writers working together in a setting that is both challenging and supportive. This stimulating environment fosters the development of talented writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The program is not defined by courses alone, but by a life built around writing.

Through innovative literary outreach programs, a distinguished public reading series, an exciting public student reading series, special literary seminars with visiting writers, and the production of a high-quality literary journal, students participate in a dynamic literary community actively engaged in all aspects of the literary arts—writing, reading, teaching, publishing and community outreach. Students also have the opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain; New York University is situated in the heart of Greenwich Village, a part of the city that has always been home to writers.

The MFA in Creative Writing is designed to offer students an opportunity to concentrate intensively on their writing. This program is recommended for students who may want to apply for creative writing positions at colleges and universities, which often require the MFA degree. The MFA program does not have a foreign language requirement.

All applicants to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) are required to submit the  general application requirements , which include:

• Academic Transcripts
• Test Scores  (if required)
• Applicant Statements
• Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
• Letters of Recommendation , and
• A non-refundable  application fee .

See Creative Writing for admission requirements and instructions specific to this program.

Program Requirements

Special project, program information.

Taken in four separate semesters. Students are required to take workshops in the genre in which they were admitted to the program.

Craft courses may be repeated provided they are taught by different instructors.

With the permission of that department and of the director of the CWP. 

Additional Program Requirements

A creative special project in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction consisting of a substantial piece of writing—a novel, a collection of short stories or essays, a memoir, a work of literary nonfiction, or a group of poems—to be submitted in the student’s final semester. The project requires the approval of the student’s faculty adviser and of the director of the CWP.

The MFA degree may also be earned through the Low Residency MFA Writers Workshop in Paris. Under this model, degree requirements remain the same, although Craft courses and Workshops take the form of intensive individualized courses of study with the faculty, including three substantial packet exchanges of student work per semester. All students earning the MFA degree through the low-residency program must also participate in five ten-day residencies in Paris, which involve a diverse series of series of craft talks, lectures, readings, special events, faculty mentorship meetings, and professional development panels.

Sample Plan of Study

Please note : The following is a sample plan of study for a student enrolled in the poetry track. Fiction and creative nonfiction plans of study would parallel the below, substituting the Workshop requirements accordingly (i.e., Workshop in Fiction or Workshop in Creative Nonfiction, respectively).

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

• Graduate students in the Creative Writing Program at NYU work intensively with faculty mentors in writing workshops and individual conferences to learn and master the basic elements of the craft of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.
• Students are expected to read widely and deeply, and to acquire a broad practitioner’s knowledge of literature in their declared concentration (poetry, creative nonfiction, or fiction).
• Students are taught to read carefully and critically, and in doing so learn to read as writers. By studying great novels, poems, and works of literary nonfiction by other writers, students learn how to write their own.
• The two-year program of intensive study culminates in the completion of a creative thesis— a novel, a collection of stories or essays, or a collection of poems. The thesis manuscript, ideally, is a working draft of a first book. Many program alumni go on to publish books and win awards for their writing.

Grading and GPA Policy

Nyu policies, graduate school of arts and science policies, program policies.

To qualify for the degree, a student must have a GPA of at least 3.0, must complete a minimum of 24 points with a grade of B or better, and may offer no more than 8 points with a grade of C (no more than 4 points with a grade of C in creative writing workshops). A student may take no more than 36 points toward the degree.

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

Academic Policies for the Graduate School of Arts and Science can be found on the Academic Policies page . 

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