Quick Facts
48
Credit
Hours
2
Years
to an MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics Degree
to an MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics Degree
3
Literary
Publications
School Literary Publications
In the Kerouac School
Apply to Naropa
Courses You Could Take
in Creative Writing & Poetics
Throughout your two years in the MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics program, the award-winning Jack Kerouac School faculty will support you in discovering both your best creative work and your best self.
Your graduate creative writing program curriculum will include writing workshops, poetics seminars in critical theory and queer literature, professional development in publishing and book arts, contemplative studies, and your final creative thesis. Whatever courses you take, our open-genre approach will challenge you to take radical creative risks.
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 experimentation, 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.
Combined, these innovative aspects of Naropa's MFA program allow you to shape your own aesthetic based on personal and cultural values found in literature, in community, and within yourself. Your final thesis will reflect a vision unique to your experience. Through your writing, you'll find a path into your truest self.
Students Transformed
Superior Writing Craft
Superior
Writing
Craft
Strengthen your craft and technique in a variety of literary genres.
Strengthen your craft and technique in a variety of literary genres.
Foundation in Critical Theory
Foundation in
Critical Theory
Clearly communicate original ideas on a variety of literary texts and topics.
Clearly communicate original ideas on a variety of literary texts and topics.
Awareness of Intersectionality in the Literary Arts
Awareness of Intersectionality in the Literary Arts
Recognize and appreciate intersecting social identities in literature.
Recognize and appreciate intersecting social identities in literature.
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Expression
Discover your full potential as a writer by learning to take creative risks.
Discover your full potential as a writer by learning to take creative risks.
Career Preparedness
Career
Preparedness
Become a published author, writing teacher, translator, or editor.
Become a published author, writing teacher, translator, or editor.
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