The UNO Creative Writing
Workshop is an
interdisciplinary graduate program in fiction writing, nonfiction
writing, poetry writing, play writing and screen writing. Its curriculum
requires forty-five credits of graduate work, culminating in a
creative thesis and leading to the MFA degree.
The Creative Writing
Workshop's distinguished faculty comes
from the English Department as well as the Department of Film,
Theatre and Communication Arts. Representing
over twenty-five states and three countries, our students hail
from a wide variety of graduate and undergraduate institutions.
While some come directly from undergraduate programs,
many find their way to the CWW at other stages of their
lives. The wide range of their experiences, both personal and professional,
add to the cultural diversity of the program. And this eclectic
mix, combined with New Orleans' long tradition of embracing the
arts, makes for workshops that are lively and constructive, and
which produce impressive creative work.
Writer-in-residence
Joseph Boyden's second novel, Through Black Spruce is
slated for international release in fall 2008.
Alumna and writer-in-residence
Amanda Buege-Boyden's second
novel, Babylon Rolling, is due out in August of 2008.
Every year, CWW
students serve as first-round judges for the Tennessee
Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival One-Act Play Contest.
In exchange for this work, they receive free admission to all
the festival's panels. Additionally, they may select a master class
to attend, where they can study in a small group with fiction writers
such as Richard Ford, Robert Olen Butler, Dorothy Allison and Michael
Cunningham. Playwright Christopher Durang has taught a master class
as has essayist/film maker Andrei Codrescu.Poets, such as Dana Goia,
Donald Justice, Elton Glaser and Gerald Stern have read their work
on campus, as have novelists Richard Ford, Bobbie Ann Mason, Robert
Olen Butler and Dennis Williams.
In
the CWW, the spirit is one of cooperation rather than competition.
While many MFA programs have had to increase the number of
students in their workshops in order to stay afloat, we are
committed to keeping classes small. These small classes make
it possible for our teachers to tailor their approaches
to the particular needs of the individual. The program is
a close-knit community in which students know their teachers
and each other, read each other's work, and contribute to
one another's growth as writers.
CWW
students and alumni have a history of producing award-winning
material. For example, CWW students have won the National
Student Play Writing Award an unprecedented two times: Shirley
Sergent for "Father's Prize Poland China" and Rebecca
Basham for "Lot's Daughters." Both plays were performed
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. To find out what
kind of work our students and alumni are producing now, check
out our CWW News page.
We offer admission only
in the fall semester, and our deadline for applications is February
1st. To
apply, simply follow the links on our Admissions page.
