Arizona State University

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1985
Location: 
Tempe, AZ
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction
Residency: 
Full
Duration: 
3 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
8-10
Application Deadline: 
January 1, 2024
Application Fee: 
$70
Contact Name: 
Justin Petropoulos
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Sally Ball, Natalie Diaz, Eunsong Kim, Alberto Álvaro Ríos, Safiya Sinclair
Fiction: Matt Bell, Jenny Irish, Tara Ison, Mitchell Jackson, T. M. McNally
Creative Nonfiction: Sarah Viren

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers full funding via teaching assistantships.

The program also offers supplemental funding in the form of university graduate fellowships, and a range of awards and summer opportunities. Potentially, in the second or third year, some students are funded by alternative fellowships via the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 
Other Features: 

This program partners with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing which hosts the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series and the annual Desert Nights, Rising Stars conference. Additionally, the Piper Center offers students a variety of fellowship opportunities each year. The program also partners with the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands, which hosts a range of programs and visitors and offers research and teaching fellowships.

Other features include the MFA Reading Series, an annual lecture series on craft, ASU’s Worldbuilding Initiative, internships with independent press Four Way Books and/or Hayden’s Ferry Review, and a range of community outreach activities.

Graduates: 

Tennison Black, Venita Blackburn, Dexter Booth, Adrienne Celt, Dorothy Chan, Dana Diehl, Matthew Gavin Frank, Caitlin Horrocks, Allegra Hyde, Tayari Jones, Bojan Louis, Hugh Martin, Isle McElroy, Bonnie Nadzam, Kalani Pickhart, Iliana Rocha, Renee Sims