School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Modeled on studio art training, SAIC’s two-year MFA in Writing program celebrates writing as art, and offers a fresh alternative to workshop-driven writing programs. One-on-one graduate projects with stellar faculty are the heart of our curriculum, leaving room for longer, wilder, and more ambitious work. Students tap the unique potential of transdisciplinary writing in an art school, connected with a world-class art museum. Our writers cross freely between poetry, fiction, playwriting/screenwriting, nonfiction, comics and text as art. Electives are offered in painting, performance, film, sound, fashion, and photography, among others. Writing students who demonstrate a studio practice can apply for studio space and exhibit in the annual MFA Thesis Exhibition in the School's Sullivan Galleries. Graduating writers can present their work in our reading series and our capstone gala.