AcademicsGraduate AcademicsCreative Writing & Poetics

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Poetics

Earn your Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Poetics from Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. At JKS, you’ll join a thriving community of writers and artist working across genres and forms in our open-genre program. 

Among the country’s top MFA writing programs, Naropa’s MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics provides the only open-genre degree in the country.  Rooted in the lineage of experimental poetics, writers at the Jack Kerouac School work across artistic disciplines and genres to hone their voices on and off the page. From contemplative to documentary poetics, MFA writers at Naropa work at the cutting-edge of contemporary, experimental forms alongside the traditions of letterpress printing, book arts, and small press publishing. 

Founded in 1974 by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics values the craft and spirit of writing. As the only MFA Creative Writing degree in the United States culminating in critical and creative theses, writers enter the world ready to take their work to the next level from academia to publishing, performance, and community building.

Our graduate creative writing program alumni go on to publish across literary fields, start small presses, pursue PhDs, and careers as professors, publishers, podcasters, artistic rebels, and more.

Discover Career Pathways for Writing & Poetics Graduates

Quick Facts

48

Credits
Hours

2

Years

3

On-Campus or
Online Hybrid
Literary
Publications
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with your counselor

Olivia Phipps

Graduate Admissions Counselor

MFA Creative Writing & Poetics Courses

Throughout your two years in the MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics program, the award-winning Jack Kerouac School faculty support your personal inquiry and voice as you discover your best creative work and your best self.

Our graduate creative writing program curriculum includes writing workshops, critical theory seminars, professional development in publishing and book arts, studies in contemplative writing, and a final critical and creative thesis. Whatever courses you take, our open-genre approach will challenge you to take radical creative risks across genres and forms.

Courses in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Poetics include:

The Naropa Difference

If you’re seeking an MFA in creative writing that encourages cross-genre writing, translation, and experimental forms, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa is the place for you. Our open-genre curriculum promotes radical creativity and instills a culture of curiosity, community, and innovation.

Diverse Faculty

You want an MFA creative writing program with faculty who are not only accomplished writers and teachers, but who will also encourage you to express your own lived experience. Together with program director Anne Waldman, distinguished professor and world-renowned poet and performer, our faculty include accomplished poets and writers from around the country and the world.

To date, Naropa’s graduate creative writing program students have studied with Joy Harjo, Roberto Tejada, Layli Long Soldier, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Tongo Eisen-Martin, and other visiting faculty. Encounters with these gifted writers and performers are a hallmark of Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School.

Writing Community

In an MFA creative writing program, a supportive community of writers is essential. At Naropa, community is fostered through a culture of collaboration over competition. Our greatest concerns are not MFA in creative writing program rankings or how often and where student work is being published. Instead, we are concerned with writers discovering the full expression of their creative capacity.

Naropa’s writing community is strengthened by a rich calendar of events, including our Summer Writing Program, an annual convocation of students, poets, fiction writers, performers, and more. Beyond campus, our community extends into Boulder, a city overflowing with art and intellect.

Open-Genre Curriculum

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Poetics is rooted in Naropa’s mission of contemplative education. The graduate program’s approach explores revolutionary genre bending in the craft of writing, and our inclusion of poetics, unique among MFAs in creative writing, encourages exploration across genres and themes.

Innovative approaches to experimental literature, cross-genre writing, and writing in the expanded field of arts, music, podcasting, and performance in Naropa’s MFA program helps writers shape their own aesthetic and develop their unique critical and creative voices. 

Students Transformed

Student Transformed

What to Expect

Strengthen your craft and technique in a variety of literary genres.
Superior Writing Craft
Clearly communicate original ideas on a variety of literary texts and topics.
Foundation in
Critical Theory
Recognize and appreciate intersecting social identities in literature.
Awareness of Intersectionality in the Literary Arts
Discover your full potential as a writer by learning to take creative risks.
Freedom of
Expression
Become a published author, writing teacher, translator, or editor.
Career Preparedness

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YOU ARE READY.

This is where experiential learning meets academic rigor. Where you challenge your intellect and uncover your potential. Where you discover the work you’re moved to do—then use it to transform our world.

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Naropa Campuses Closed on Friday, March 15, 2024

Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024.  All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.

Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.

Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.

As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.  

Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors.  Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.