Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing

The Creative Writing program at San Diego State University proudly offers a Master of Fine Arts to writers of great promise and commitment. Our campus is situated in the heart of San Diego, the site of early Californian history, and only minutes from the U.S./Mexico border. Inspired by our place in the world, the program provides a rich and diverse experience that goes beyond the classroom and beyond borders. Our global approach is reflected in our coursework and faculty expertise: from literary journals Fiction International and Poetry International to our summer program in Galway, Ireland to our growing number of classes on translation. Housed in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, students enjoy access to a wide range of courses on literature, theory and criticism, genre and literary traditions and movements from around the world. Our three-year program is designed to allow students the space and support to immerse themselves in in-depth study of their chosen genre, Fiction or Poetry. Along the way, there is room for cross-genre study, community involvement, research, and an ever evolving dialogue with their thesis chair. Our goal for each of our students is that they produce a manuscript of fresh and imaginative writing that they can be proud to take into the world. Happily, students have gone on to publish their books, win national prizes for their writing, attract agents and receive book contracts while still in the program. We prepare students for a career in writing as well as teaching, if desired. With training from pedagogy courses, students serve as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) to teach Introduction to Creative Writing and lower-division Rhetoric and Writing classes; practice that has helped alumni land positions at top universities.