
Judith Baumel, professor in the Department of English, loves Italy. She loves the history, the language and running into a new village nearly every five miles that is unlike any village she's encountered before.
Prepare yourself for today’s dynamic literary world by working in multiple literary genres—and by making vital literary and professional connections.
Our unique (actually unique!) curriculum will prepare you for today’s dynamic literary world by requiring in-depth practice across genres. Our faculty members include award-winning poets, novelists, and writers of short fiction and creative nonfiction. Our small class sizes ensure that faculty members work closely with each student. And our events program and online presence engage students in the extraordinarily open-ended possibilities of contemporary online writing.
Our program is designed so students experience multiple genres and experiment with hybrid literary forms. Our aim is to offer a full immersion in what we call “literature in motion”—in the boundary-fluid nature of literary production. The workshop experience helps students gain confidence and acquire mastery in more than one genre, and our literature courses expose students to works from a variety of literary traditions.
Because we are committed to maintaining our identity as an intimate, practical, and cutting-edge program, we admit a small number of students each year so that each student can work closely and directly with our award-winning faculty. Our curriculum emphasizes genre fluidity, and our faculty members publish in multiple genres.
Our Professional Development Practicum introduces students to literary agents, publishers, and other professionals in the literary and arts community. And active engagement with leading literary organizations such as PEN America, Cave Canem Foundation, Inc., and Kundiman —as well as free membership for all students in AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs—ensures that our students have a rich experience of literary citizenship.
Adelphi University will offer the MFA in Creative Writing as a low-residency program effective Fall 2023. This means you will find our program more convenient and more flexible than ever—a combination of online, in-person and one-to-one instruction at our Manhattan Center.
Adelphi’s low-residency Creative Writing MFA is a two-year, 39-credit program ideal for students seeking multi-genre graduate coursework to study and write fiction, nonfiction, poetry and other emerging genres.
You’ll hone your literary craft in workshops and one-to-one mentorships, study the literatures of the world and begin to actively prepare for various careers in creative writing, literature, publishing and beyond. Each step of the way, our program prepares you for the life of a working writer—able to navigate today’s vibrant and shifting literary landscape.
The benefits of our low-residency program:
Be a part of our literary community and forge bonds at Adelphi.
Small groups of students, working together with great writers and published authors, create an ideal atmosphere for artists to thrive, grow and find their own voices.
Judith Baumel, professor in the Department of English, loves Italy. She loves the history, the language and running into a new village nearly every five miles that is unlike any village she's encountered before.
MFA Faculty Member Marcos Gonsalez’s Memoir Won Rave Reviews
Pedro’s Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land, a memoir by Marcos Gonsalez, PhD, about growing up Latino in rural America, got rave reviews from The New York Times. He is one of several award-winning faculty members set to teach the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program in Manhattan in 2023,
Igor Webb, PhD, another professor who will teach the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program in Manhattan, published Buster Brown’s America, a collection of essays exploring literature and the pandemic, in 2021.
Also among the young cohort of writers teaching the MFA in Creative Writing, Katherine Hill has published two novels, A Short Move (2020) and The Violet Hour (2013), and mentors high school girls interested in writing via Girls Write Now.
The priority application deadline for Fall admission is January 15. Applications received after the priority deadline will be reviewed on a space-available basis.
Applicants should submit the following: