University of Southern Mississippi

MA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1977
Location: 
Hattiesburg, MS
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Cross-Genre
Residency: 
Full
Duration: 
2 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
10-12
Application Deadline: 
February 1, 2024
Application Fee: 
$60
Website: 
https://www.usm.edu/writers
Contact E-mail: 
adam.clay@usm.edu
Contact Name: 
Adam Clay
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Michael Aderibigbe, Angela Ball, Adam Clay

Fiction: J. A. Bernstein, Olivia Clare Friedman

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program is fully funded; it offers competitive assistantships up to $13,000 at the MA level, along with subsidized health insurance, partial support for conference travel and writing expenses, and other award opportunities.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 

Mississippi Review, Product Magazine, Southern Quarterly

Other Features: 

Since 2012, the Visiting Writers Series has included poets Natasha Trethewey, Hanif Abdurraqib, Eduardo Corral, Ada Limón, Natalie, Shapero, Kevin Young, Don Bogen, Alex Lemon, Caki Wilkinson, Adam Vines, Catherine Pierce, Farrah Field, Allan Peterson, and L. Lamar Wilson, as well as fiction writers Jamel Brinkley, Katy Simpson Smith, Justin Torres, Lauren Groff, Mary Miller, Michael Farris Smith, and Peter Orner.

There is also a student reading series and literary salons. Once per semester, a Submit-a-Thon is held where the school funds each student to submit to journals, contests, and conferences.

Application deadlines are February 1 for fall admission funding and October 15 for spring admission funding.

Graduates: 

Michael Knight, Erika Olivia Shoup, Mary Spooner