Fairfield University

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
2008
Location: 
Fairfield, CT
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Residency: 
Low
Duration: 
2 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
13
Application Deadline: 
Rolling Admissions
Application Fee: 
$65
Contact E-mail: 
Contact Name: 
Carol Ann Davis
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Carol Ann Davis, Celeste Doaks, Bill Patrick
Fiction: Rachel Basch, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Eugenia Kim, Phil Klay, Karen Osborn
Nonfiction: Sonya Huber, Phil Klay, Dinty W. Moore, Adriana Páramo, Bill Patrick, Ana Maria Spagna
Screenwriting: Sharbari Ahmed, Kate Clark, Shelley Evans, Jennifer Vanderbes

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers graduate assistantships, grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities, and internships.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 
Other Features: 

The program also offers degrees in playwriting and screenwriting, as well as a cross-genre class in story mapping. Concentrations are offered in publishing and editing, spiritual writing, and literary health and healing.

Students attend two nine-day residencies each year, in July and December, on Enders Island, off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut. Residencies are occasionally available abroad in Florence, Italy, and Galway, Ireland.

Prior Learning Credit toward the degree is offered for applicants with significant publications.

The program offers pedagogy development and teaching assistantship positions at the Fairfield University Writing Center; internships at the literary magazines Brevity, Causeway Lit, and Dogwood; and internships with faculty members who run small presses.

The program awards the biennial Alumni Book Prize, open only to current students and alumni; the winner receives $1,000 and a publishing contract with New Rivers Press.

The priority application deadline is October 15 for the December residency and April 15 for the July residency.

Graduates: 

Chris Belden, David Fitzpatrick, Colin Halloran, Deb Henry, Elizabeth Hilts, Annabelle Moseley, Sally Nacker, A. J. O’Connell