Our MFA program is dedicated to diversity, excellence and inclusion. We help emerging writers find their voice, polish their craft, and enter the contemporary publishing landscape.
Writing Faculty
The distinguished faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing program has included Gwendolyn Brooks, Donald Barthelme, Joseph Heller, Grace Paley, Susan Sontag, Marilyn Hacker, and Michelle Wallace, to name a few.
For Students
Stay informed about program requirements, deadlines, application process, course listing, and graduation.
CCNY MFA
In The Press
‘The Blue-Collar Harvard’
Fledgling authors from underrepresented backgrounds and nontraditional students are turning to graduate creative writing programs at the City University of New York to tell their stories.
by Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2021
The class for the creative writing master of fine arts program at City College of New York this past spring was its largest yet — enrollment jumped from 120 students in the fall to 140 this spring. There were 105 students enrolled in fall 2019.
What makes the CCNY MFA in Creative Writing Different from other programs?
“Diversity. We’re located in Harlem. Our unofficial tagline is “Ten times the diversity for one tenth the price,” because we’re also comparatively affordable”…
MFA Program Profile: Emily Raboteau on CCNY
Publisher’s Weekly, May 2015
We have students of all backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, and age. No one group is the majority, and therefore none of the work is treated like minority literature. There are radical implications for the kinds of work our students are putting out into the world for it to be nurtured, respected, celebrated, and intelligently critiqued in the classroom.
IndoorVoices Podcast interviews the Director:
Episode 65: Michelle Valladares on CCNY’s creative writing MFA
By Kathleen Collins, October 18, 2021
In Spring 2021, the Creative Writing MFA at City College saw an unprecedented enrollment spike. It’s not exactly clear why it occurred, but Director Michelle Valladares has some ideas about that. She has lots of ideas, in fact, about unique and exciting ways to grow the program even more while still maintaining a manageable cohort size…