vanderbilt university creative writing mfa

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, fully funded creative writing mfa programs.

I'm super into writing, and I wanna pursue an MFA in creative writing after I finish my undergrad. Are there any fully funded MFA programs out there that I should be considering? Thanks in advance!

Hey there! It's awesome that you're passionate about writing and want to pursue an MFA in creative writing. There are quite a few fully-funded MFA programs you can consider. When a program is fully-funded, it typically means that accepted students receive a stipend or tuition waiver, allowing them to complete the program without incurring any additional debt. Keep in mind, however, that the level of funding and resources may vary among different programs and institutions. Here are some prominent fully-funded MFA programs in creative writing:

1. University of Iowa – Iowa Writers' Workshop: This is one of the most prestigious creative writing programs in the United States and offers full funding for all students.

2. Cornell University: Cornell's MFA program is highly regarded and offers full funding, including a stipend, to all its students.

3. Vanderbilt University: Vanderbilt offers full funding, which includes tuition waivers and stipends, to all MFA students in creative writing.

4. University of Texas at Austin – Michener Center for Writers: This program offers generous fellowships to all its students, making it highly sought after.

5. University of Michigan: The MFA program at the University of Michigan offers full funding through a combination of teaching assistantships and fellowships.

6. The Ohio State University: The creative writing program at Ohio State provides full funding and support for its MFA students.

These are just a few examples, but there are many other fully-funded MFA programs out there. When looking at different programs, be sure to research the faculty, the program's reputation, the alumni network, and professional development opportunities in addition to funding. This will help you find the program that's the best fit for your writing goals and aspirations. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Vanderbilt University

Nashville , TN

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/creativewriting/

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length, financial aid.

Every student in the MFA program receives full-tuition, health insurance, and a stipend. Students can also receive travel grants to attend the Association of Writers & Writing Program conference, academic conferences, writing workshops and residencies.

Teaching opportunities

Second and third-year students teach an introductory creative writing workshop in their genre or conduct tutorials with Creative Writing undergraduate students.

Editorial opportunities

The inaugural issue of Nashville Review, a literary journal edited by students in the MFA program, appeared in Spring 2010. The online journal pays contributors to publish fiction and nonfiction, poetry and comics, music (lyrics and tunes) and paintings, drawings, and photography as cover art. The Review also publishes interviews with established writers, artists, and musicians, along with essays, reviews, and translations.

Cross-genre study

Yes, by discretion of the instructor.

• Matthew Baker MFA (Fiction) 2012
• Rebecca Bernard MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Destiny O. Birdsong MFA (Poetry) 2009
• Claire Burgess MFA (Fiction) 2011
• Tiana Clark MFA (Poetry) 2017
• Lee Conell MFA (Fiction) 2015
• Jill Schepmann MFA (Fiction) 2012
• D. J. Thielke MFA (Fiction) 2013

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

• Interesting for you
• My settings

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing program of the Vanderbilt University has been a vital part of the Department of English for nearly a century.

Vanderbilt University Multiple locations Nashville , Tennessee , United States Not ranked Studyportals University Meta Ranking 4.7 Read 3 reviews

Each year, a small, select class of talented writers of fiction and poetry enroll in Vanderbilt University three-year, fully-funded M.F.A. in Creative Writing program. We invite you to join us as we continue to build upon the tradition of excellent writing at Vanderbilt.

Our faculty of distinguished creative writers works closely with eighteen M.F.A students—half of whom work in poetry, and half in prose—who are enrolled in the program at any one time. Since each class contains only six students, admission is highly competitive, and no one’s work gets lost or overshadowed.

The M.F.A program has been ranked among the top 15 M.F.A Programs in the country by Poets and Writers magazine, ahead of many better-known graduate programs. We earn high marks for the quality of our prize-winning faculty, for Nashville’s affordable cost of living, and for the financial support we give our students.

M.F.A. Program Features

• A full, three-year 12-month funding package for every M.F.A. student.
• Opportunity for second year students to teach an introductory creative writing workshop
• Opportunity to serve on the editorial board of Nashville Review
• The Gertrude and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Series. Each semester, this program invites distinguished writers for readings and discussions with students. In some years, a distinguished writer in residence visits for a semester and teaches a workshop in his or her genre. 
• A supportive atmosphere in which to write: Nashville is a place that respects creative activity. All over town people are busy making things—writing songs and playing music as well as creating art. Vanderbilt’s 350-acre, tree-filled campus—located less than a mile from downtown and just a few blocks from Music Row—is a registered National Arboretum. Vanderbilt’s campus may be peaceful and beautiful, but the action isn’t far away.
• Students in the M.F.A. program work harmoniously and productively with students and faculty in the English Department’s doctoral program. The Department of English Graduate Reading Series, which takes place in the spring, features the work of one M.F.A. student and one Ph.D. student. The English Department’s faculty welcomes M.F.A. students into their literature classes.

Accreditation

Vanderbilt’s MFA Program has been ranked among the top 15 MFA Programs in the country by Poets and Writers magazine—ahead of many better known, better established graduate programs. It earned high marks for the quality of its prize-winning faculty, for the affordable cost of living, and for the financial support it gives for students. It ranks number one for selectivity.

Programme Structure

Courses include:

• Special Topics in Creative Writing
• Graduate Fiction Workshop
• Graduate Poetry Workshop
• Graduate Nonfiction Workshop
• Literature and the Craft of Writing
• Teaching Creative Writing

Key information

• 36 months

Start dates & application deadlines

• Apply before 2024-12-01 00:00:00

Pass IELTS with Swoosh English! Sign up for a free writing masterclass or claim your exclusive 25% Studyportals discount and accelerate your preparation by taking a course designed by experts to get you the results you need.

Disciplines

Academic requirements.

We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme.

English requirements

Student insurance.

Make sure to cover your health, travel, and stay while studying abroad. Even global coverages can miss important items, so make sure your student insurance ticks all the following:

• Additional medical costs (i.e. dental)
• Repatriation, if something happens to you or your family
• Home contents and baggage

We partnered with Aon to provide you with the best affordable student insurance, for a carefree experience away from home.

Starting from €0.53/day, free cancellation any time.

Remember, countries and universities may have specific insurance requirements. To learn more about how student insurance work at Vanderbilt University and/or in United States, please visit Student Insurance Portal .

Other requirements

General requirements.

• Statement of purpose (no more than 3-5 pages)
• Creative Writing Sample: If your primary interest is fiction, please provide a fiction writing sample, double spaced, of no more than 25 pages—short story or novel excerpt acceptable. If your primary interest is poetry, please provide a poetry sample of up to 15 pages
• Three letters of recommendation
• Unofficial college transcript(s)
• Graduate School Application Fee of $95
• Applicants whose native language is not English either must have received a degree at an English-speaking university or must submit TOEFL scores
• The M.F.A program does not require GRE scores

Tuition Fee

International, living costs for nashville.

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

In order for us to give you accurate scholarship information, we ask that you please confirm a few details and create an account with us.

Scholarships Information

Below you will find Master's scholarship opportunities for Creative Writing.

Available Scholarships

You are eligible to apply for these scholarships but a selection process will still be applied by the provider.

Read more about eligibility

• missing or incomplete ?"> Missing or incomplete content
• wrong or outdated ?"> Wrong or outdated content

Other interesting programmes for you

Our partners.

Go to your profile page to get personalised recommendations!

Department of English

2024-2025 gertrude and harold vanderbilt reading series.

Posted by vineslt on Friday, September 6, 2024 in spotlight .

  2024-2025 Gertrude and Harold Vanderbilt Reading Series

The Vanderbilt Department of English and Creative Writing Program is pleased to announce the Gertrude and Harold Vanderbilt Reading Series 2024-2025. Click here for the official press release with more details about this year’s series.

All readings begin at 7:00 pm on Thursdays.

♦ September 12: Paisley Rekdal, Poetry, Buttrick Hall 102

Paisley Rekdal is the author of essays and poetry including Animal Eye, Imaginary Vessels, Nightingale, and West: A Translation, longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award in Poetry and winner of the 2024 Kingsley Tufts Prize. Her newest works of nonfiction include a book-length essay, The Broken Country: On Trauma, a Crime, and the Continuing Legacy of Vietnam and Appropriate: A Provocation . She guest edited Best American Poetry 2020 . Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, The New Republic, Tin House , the Best American Poetry series, and on National Public Radio. Her work has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, a Civitella Ranieri Residency, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Pushcart Prizes (2009, 2013), Narrative ‘s Poetry Prize, and the AWP Creative Nonfiction Prize. She is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah. Between 2017-2022, she served as Utah’s Poet Laureate, receiving a 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She currently serves as poetry editor for High Country News .

♦ September 26: Ilya Kaminsky, Poetry, Buttrick Hall 101

Ilya Kaminsky is the author of Deaf Republic , The New York Times’ Notable Book, and Dancing In Odessa , and co-editor and co-translated many other books, including Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, In the Hour of War: Poems from Ukraine , and Dark Elderberry Branch: Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva . He is the recipient of The Los Angeles Times Book Award, The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The National Jewish Book Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, The Whiting Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, Lannan Fellowship, Academy of American Poets’ Fellowship, NEA Fellowship, and Poetry magazine’s Levinson Prize. His poems have been translated into over twenty languages, and his books are published in many countries. In 2019,  Kaminsky was selected by BBC as “one of the 12 artists that changed the world.” He currently teaches in Princeton and lives in New Jersey.

♦ September 26: Katie Farris, Poetry, Buttrick Hall 101

Katie Farris is the author of Standing in the Forest of Being Alive and boysgirls . She is also the author of the chapbook, A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving . Her work has been published in American Poetry Review, Granta, McSweeneys, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Paris Review , and Poetry . Farris also is the award-winning translator of several books of poetry from French, Ukrainian, Chinese, and Russian, including Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poems and Prose . Her awards include The Pushcart Prize, Orison Prize, and Anne Halley Prize from Massachusetts Review. In addition to her poetry and translations, Farris also writes prose about cancer, the body, and its relationship to writing, such as in her recent, widely circulated essay in Oprah Daily. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Brown University, and currently lives and teaches in New Jersey.

♦ October 17: Edward P. Jones, Fiction, Alumni Hall 206 Reading Room

Edward P. Jones is the author of the short-story collections Lost in the City and All Aunt Hagar’s Children , and the novel The Known World , which received the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. His many other honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN/Malamud Award. He is also the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPACDublin Literary Award, the Lannan Literary Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship.

♦ October 31: V.V. Ganeshananthan, Fiction

V. V. Ganeshananthan is the author of the novels Brotherless Night , a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and an NPR Book of the Year, and Love Marriage . Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times , and T he Best American Nonrequired Reading , among other publications. She is the recipient of awards and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, Yaddo, MacDowell, and the American Academy in Berlin. She has served as visiting faculty at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan and at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota, where she is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and associate professor of English. She co-hosts the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast on Literary Hub, which is about the intersection of literature and the news.

♦ November 14: Brandon Hobson, Fiction, Alumni Hall 202 Memorial Hall

Dr. Brandon Hobson is the author of the novels, The Removed, Where the Dead Sit Talking , finalist for the National Book Award, and other books. His fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, NOON , and in many other publications. He has received fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, the UCROSS Foundation and Ragdale. He teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University and at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma.

♦ December 5: Gregory Pardlo, Poetry, Buttrick Hall 101

Gregory Pardlo is the author of the poetry collections Spectral Evidence and Digest, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His other books include Totem, winner of the American Poetry Review/ Honickman Prize, and Air Traffic, a memoir in essays. His honors include fellowships from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a faculty member of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers-University-Camden and Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice at Rutgers University-Camden. He is currently a visiting professor of creative writing at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Spring 2025

♦ January 16: Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Poetry

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the poetry collections Oceanic, Lucky Fish, At the Drive-in Volcano, Miracle Fruit , and the essay collections Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees and World of Wonder.  With poet Ross Gay, she is also co-author Lace & Pyrite . Her poems and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry, Tin House, Prairie Schooner, Brevity, American Poetry Review, New England Review , and the Best American Poetry anthology. Her honors include the Pushcart Prize, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mississippi Institute for Arts and Letters Award in poetry. She teaches at University of Mississippi and serves as poetry editor for Orion Magazine .

♦ January 30: Ottessa Moshfegh, Fiction

Ottessa Moshfegh is the author of four novels My Year of Rest and Relaxation , Death in Her Hands, Lapvona and Eileen , shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize, and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. She is also the author of the short story collection Homesick for Another World and a novella McGlue . She lives in Southern California. Originally from Boston, Ottessa Moshfegh now lives in Los Angeles. She has received the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Award, and a Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review for her short fiction as well as a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A prolific essayist, Moshfegh’s work has appeared in outlets including Vice, The New Yorker, Granta , and various online journals.

♦ February 13: Adam Haslett, Fiction

Adam Haslett is the author of the novels Mothers and Sons, Imagine Me Gone, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award; You Are Not a Stranger Here, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; and Union Atlantic, winner of the Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. His books have been translated into thirty languages, and his journalism on culture and politics have appeared in The Financial Times, Esquire, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, The Nation , and The Atlantic , among others. He has been awarded the Berlin Prize by the American Academy in Berlin, a Guggenheim fellowship, the PEN/Malamud Award, the PEN/Winship Award, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

♦ March 20: Adam Ross, Fiction

Adam Ross is the author of the short story collection Ladies and Gentlemen , and the novels Playworld and Mr. Peanut , which was selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker , and The Economist . He has been a fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin and a Hodder Fellow for Fiction at Princeton University. Adam serves as editor of The Sewanee Review . Born and raised in New York City, he lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his two daughters.

♦ April 3: Alina Grabowski, Fiction

Alina Grabowski grew up in coastal Massachusetts and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University. Her debut novel, Women and Children First , was published by SJP Lit in 2024. She lives in Austin, Texas.

♦ April 3: Kelsey Norris, Fiction

Kelsey Norris is a writer and editor from Alabama. She earned an MFA from Vanderbilt University and has worked as a teacher in Namibia, a school librarian, and a bookseller. Her work has been published in The Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, and The Rumpus , among others. She is currently based in Washington, DC. Her debut story collection, House Gone Quiet , is a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and is available wherever books are sold.

♦ April 3: Tiana Clark, Poetry

Tiana Clark is the author of the poetry collections Scorched Earth, I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood , winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, and the chapbook Equilibrium . Clark is the recipient of a Kate Tufts Discovery Award, National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, Rattle Poetry Prize, Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship, Pushcart Prize, and the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing. She is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Clark is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (M.F.A) and Tennessee State University (B.A.). Her writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Virginia Quarterly Review, Tin House Online, Kenyon Review, BuzzFeed News, American Poetry Review, Oxford American, The Best American Poetry , and elsewhere. She teaches at the Sewanee School of Letters and is the Grace Hazard Conkling Writer-in-Residence at Smith College.

♦ April 7: Stephanie Niu, Literary Prize Winner, Poetry

Stephanie Niu is the author of I Would Define the Sun , inaugural winner of the inaugural Vanderbilt University Literary Prize. She also is the author of the chapbooks Survived By: An Atlas of Disappearance , winner the 2023 Host Publications Chapbook Prize and She Has Dreamt Again of Water , winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, The Missouri Review, Literary Hub, Copper Nickel, Ecotone Magazine and other publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. She received a Fulbright scholarship for research on Christmas Island’s labor history, through which she led youth poetry workshops and published the zine Our Island, Our Future . She lives in New York City.

Comments are closed

Nathan Blum – 2024 September Student Spotlight

Sep 9, 2024, 7:21 PM

Congratulations Nathan!

Explore Story Topics

• Graduate School Blog
• Graduate Students
• Honors and Awards
• Student Profiles

Vanderbilt University Literary Prize

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize will be awarded annually to the sole author of a full-length collection of poetry that demonstrates great poignancy combined with rigor in form, language and artistic vision.

A collaboration between Vanderbilt University’s Office of the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University Press, and Vanderbilt University’s English Department and MFA Program, the annual contest seeks to identify works of poetry whose originality is immediately identifiable in how the book, in some combination, renews our relationship to language and expands our conception of poetry; delves into underexplored areas of human experience; makes claims on our lives that are urgent and aesthetic; or promotes historical, social, literary, political, or spiritual awareness.

Spearheaded by Professor Major Jackson , Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing, this prize continues the university’s legacy and on-going commitment to discovering new voices and to supporting the arts as transformative and essential to our community.

Eligibility

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize in Poetry is open to poets twenty-one years of age or older, at any stage in their career, who are writing in English. Manuscripts must be an original work composed by a single poet. Individual poems may have been previously published in periodicals, chapbooks, or anthologies, but may not have been previously published in a full-length collection. Poets do not need to be US-based but all prize monies will be subject to international tax withholding. We are committed to an ethical and transparent process that maintains fairness and promotes the literary arts. There can be no conflict of interest between applicants and the advisory board or series general editor.  Current faculty, students, and graduates of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Vanderbilt University are ineligible.

• One original manuscript per poet will be accepted between Jan. 1 and April 15, 2024, through our submission manager. The contest will close once we have received 500 submissions.
• Manuscripts should contain a title page, including the poet’s name, table of contents and an acknowledgments page, if applicable. Manuscripts should be between 50 and 85 pages. An abstract of 250 words or less should accompany each manuscript as a separate document along with a CV or resume.
• Manuscripts must be written in English; poetry translations will not be accepted.
• Previously published manuscripts, including self-published books, will not be accepted. 
• Each manuscript must be accompanied by a $25 entry fee at the time of your submission. Entry fees may be waived for those undergoing financial hardship or living with limited means. Waivers are served on a first come, first served basis and are capped at 25 per cycle.
• To request a waived reading fee, please email us for a discount code to apply at time of payment. Work must be submitted one week after the waiver is granted.
• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but poets must immediately withdraw their manuscript by emailing [email protected] if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
• No revisions will be considered during the course of the contest, but the winning poet will have an opportunity to make revisions before publication.

Winning manuscripts will be published in print, e-book, and audio formats by Vanderbilt University Press, accompanied by a standard publishing contract.

The prize recipient will receive a $10,000 honorarium, an invitation to read in the esteemed Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University, and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and local writers in the Nashville community.

An advisory board of award-winning poets and editors will promote the prize and provide helpful perspectives and feedback on the jurying process, impact, and goals of the annual publication. Each prize cycle, three or four members of the advisory board will serve as jurists and participate in selecting the winning manuscript. Professor Major Jackson serves as general editor of the prize and chair of the advisory board.

Screened entries will be equally divided between jurists, who will then select up to five semifinalists from their batch. The general editor will award a winning manuscript from among the semifinalists and identify honorable mentions.

• Victoria Chang 
• Kate Daniels 
• Rick Hilles
• Garrett Hongo 
• Didi Jackson 
• Major Jackson
• Mark Jarman 
• Dana Levin 
• Nate Marshall 
• Gregory Pardlo 
• Matthew Zapruder 

Gregory Pardlo

Victoria Chang

2024 winner.

Vanderbilt University is pleased to announce Stephanie Niu as the inaugural winner of the  Vanderbilt University Literary Prize .

A panel of jurists selected Niu’s  I Would Define the Sun , a collection of poems about resisting scarcity through language.

The Vanderbilt University Literary Prize was launched earlier this year in celebration of the institution’s  Sesquicentennial . It will be awarded annually to the sole author of a full-length collection of poetry that demonstrates great poignancy combined with rigor in form, language and artistic vision. The contest drew more than 300 entries.

A collaboration of Vanderbilt’s  Office of the Chancellor ,  Vanderbilt University Press  and Vanderbilt’s  English Department  and  MFA in Creative Writing Program , the contest seeks to recognize works of poetry whose originality is immediately identifiable in how the book renews our relationship to language; delves into underexplored areas of human experience; and makes claims on our lives that are urgent and aesthetic while also enacting historical, social, literary, political or spiritual awareness.

“At this moment of global political upheaval, dizzying technological advancement and general uncertainty, literature—and poetry in particular—is unmatched in its ability to help us pause and reflect deeply on our lives, our times and what it means to be human,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “My office is proud to support the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize and to affirm the importance of the literary arts at Vanderbilt. I offer my warmest congratulations to Stephanie Niu on her fine achievement, and we look forward to welcoming her to campus.”

The prize includes the publication of the winning manuscript in print, electronic and audio formats, a publishing contract with Vanderbilt University Press, a $10,000 honorarium, an invitation to read in the esteemed Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University, and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and writers in the Nashville community.

Niu is a poet and writer from Marietta, Georgia. She is the author of the chapbooks  Survived By: An Atlas of Disappearance  (winner of the 2023 Host Publications Chapbook Prize) and  She Has Dreamt Again of Water  (winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest). Her work has appeared in  The Georgia Review ,  The Missouri Review , Literary Hub,  Copper Nickel ,  Ecotone Magazine  and other publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. She received a Fulbright scholarship for research on Christmas Island’s labor history, through which she led youth poetry workshops and published the zine  Our Island, Our Future . She lives in New York City.

Niu said she’s thrilled to be the inaugural Vanderbilt University Literary Prize winner.

“It still feels surreal to have my first full-length collection honored by this prize and to know that such an esteemed group of poets, many of whom are longtime inspirations, believe in my work,” Niu said.

I Would Define the   Sun  is scheduled for publication in February 2025 by Vanderbilt University Press. Niu will be in residence on campus for a week in spring 2025 to engage with students, faculty and the broader community.

“I am honored to be publishing Stephanie’s collection as part of a prize that creates simultaneous print, electronic and audio editions in combination with an immersive campus residency designed to engage Vanderbilt and Nashville’s literary communities,” said Gianna Mosser, director of Vanderbilt University Press. “This type of support for the arts is a benchmark of innovative excellence in university press publishing collaborations.”

Jurists for the prize included several esteemed poets, writers, editors and educators, including Professor  Major Jackson , Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and director of creative writing. Jurists Victoria Chang, Dana Levin and Gregory Pardlo selected nine semifinalists. From that pool, Jackson selected the winner. Honorable mentions were awarded to Wesley Rothman’s  Wanted  and Samyak Shertok’s  No Rhododendron .

“So much of what the prize aims to recognize and honor is represented in the talented work of poet Stephanie Niu,” Jackson said. “Contemplative and boldly expressive, Niu addresses profound questions of dwindling ecologies, desire, cultural identity and class realities. In so doing, we encounter an audacious voice who thinks by feeling. These are stark lyric poems of immense reach and perceptiveness.”

MFA graduate named NEA Creative Writing Fellow

Media inquiries.

• 615-322-6397 Email

Latest Stories

• Limited Submission Opportunity: 2025 Brain Research Foundation – Seed Grant Program
• Limited Submission Opportunity: 2024 NEH Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence
• Limited Submission Opportunity: 2025 Conservation, Food & Health Foundation Grants

Share this Story

Dec 16, 2016, 10:04 AM

Edgar Kunz , a 2015 graduate of Vanderbilt University’s MFA Program in Creative Writing , has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) creative writing fellowship in poetry for 2017.

Kunz is one of only 37 writers selected from more than 1,800 eligible applicants for the fellowship.

Professor of English  Kate Daniels , who directs the MFA program, noted that Kunz is the second Vanderbilt MFA poet to receive the prestigious award. “We were thrilled when Anders Carlson-Wee received the same fellowship in poetry for 2015 as a second-year student,” Daniels says. “Now we’re excited to have another one of our gifted poets receive this extraordinary recognition so early in his writing career.”

Originally from Massachusetts, Kunz is now a second-year Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University. He earned a bachelor of arts from Goucher College.

His poems have been published in AGNI , The Missouri Review , Indiana Review  and Blackbird, among other publications. Kunz previously taught poetry workshops at Vanderbilt and received an Academy of American Poets Prize. His work, along with that of MFA student Tiana Clark and lecturer Lisa Dordal, was selected for inclusion in Best New Poets 2015 , a national competition for poets who have not yet published a book of poetry.

“[lquote]The NEA has an excellent record of supporting writers who have gone on to have impressive literary careers[/lquote],” says Amy Stolls, the federal agency’s director of literature.

Through its creative writing fellowships program, the NEA gives writers the time and space to create, revise, conduct research and connect with readers. Applications are reviewed anonymously for their artistic excellence. Fellowships alternate between poetry and prose each year.

Vanderbilt’s MFA program, housed within the Department of English , continues to be ranked among the top MFA programs in the nation by Poets and Writers magazine.

Explore Story Topics

• Anders Carlson-Wee
• Arts and Science
• Department of English
• Graduate School
• Kate Daniels
• MFA Program in Creative Writing
• Young Alumni

Creative Writing, Master of Fine Arts

Department of English

College of Arts and Letters

This program, which involves completing a creative thesis, allows you to balance academic course work in English with the serious study of creative writing.

University Requirements

To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units. You must additionally complete:

• All requirements for your specific academic plan(s). This may include a thesis.
• All graduate work with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.
• All work toward the master's degree must be completed within six consecutive years. The six years begins with the semester and year of admission to the program.

Read the full policy here .

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Purpose Statement The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing balances the study and practice of creative writing with academic coursework in English. Students participate in writing workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, undertake coursework in literature, and study critical theory. MFA candidates will present a creative thesis of between 45 to 120 pages, depending on genre.  The MFA Program at Northern Arizona University allows you to:   

• live and write in the beautiful, vibrant city of Flagstaff
• focus on poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction
• participate in intensive writing workshops with dedicated professors

Student Learning Outcomes   Upon completion of the Creative Writing MFA students will be able to:

• Examine, explicate, analyze and evaluate literary texts of considerable difficulty in order to determine the place of the student’s own work within a literary tradition.
• Develop the student’s own critical and aesthetic position, based on recognizing, understanding, and interpreting critical positions and literary arguments of other authors.
• Read and respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to work by other MFA students in order to hone the critical, intellectual, and analytical skills that are crucial to success in a broad range of literary, artistic, cultural and professional fields.
• Investigate the world of literary publishing in order to discover suitable journals, magazines and/or quality trade book publishers to which the student author can submit his/her own finished work.
• Refine skills in drafting, revising and editing in a primary literary genre with the goal of producing a polished creative manuscript of marketable quality.
• public readings,
• interviewing other writers,
• attending outside readings,
• writing book reviews,
• serving on editorial boards, and
• organizing literary events.

Graduate Admission Information

The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College. Admission requirements include the following:

• Transcripts.
• Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.

Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies. Ready to apply? Begin your application now.

International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy .

Additional Admission Requirements

Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

• 2 letters of recommendation
• Writing sample
• Personal statement or essay

Master's Requirements

This Master’s degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:

• Creative Writing courses: 12 units
• Supportive coursework: 12 units
• Electives chosen with your advisor’s approval: 6 to 9 units
• Thesis: 3 to 6 units (if 6 units of thesis are selected, it will reduce the number of units of electives required for the degree)
• 500- and 600-level creative writing courses, some of which may be repeated for 9 units of credit (12 units)
• Coursework in literature, literary criticism, literary theory, and/or readings in creative writing (12 units) 
• Electives chosen with your advisor's approval (6-9 units)
• ENG 699 , for the research, writing, and revision of an approved thesis. Please note: You may end up taking more than the 6 units of thesis credit you can count toward your degree because you must register for it each semester while you are working on your thesis. (3-6 units)
• Note that up to 6 units of 400-level literature courses may count toward degree, with advisor approval

Additional Information

Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

Campus Availability

Fully Funded MFA Programs in Creative Writing

As part of our series  How to Fully Fund Your Master’s Degree , here is a list of universities that have fully funded MFA programs in creative writing. A Master’s of Fine Arts in creative writing can lead to a career as a professional writer, in academia, and more.

Fully funded MFA programs in Creative Writing offer a financial aid package for full-time students that includes full tuition remission as well as an annual stipend or salary during the entire program, which for Master’s degrees is usually 1-2 years. Funding usually comes with the expectation that students will teach or complete research in their field of study. Not all universities fully fund their Master’s students, which is why researching the financial aid offerings of many different programs, including small and lesser-known schools both in the U.S. and abroad, is essential.

In addition to listing fully funded Master’s and PhD programs, the ProFellow fellowships database also includes external funding opportunities for graduate school, including fellowships for dissertation research, fieldwork, language study, study abroad, summer work experiences, and professional development.

Would you like to receive the full list of more than 1000+ fully funded Master’s and PhD programs in 60 disciplines? Download the FREE Directory of Fully Funded Graduate Programs and Full Funding Awards !

Here is the list of 53 universities that offer fully-funded MFA programs (Master’s of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing.

University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL): Students admitted to the MFA Program are guaranteed full financial support for up to 4-years. Assistantships include a stipend paid over nine months (currently $14,125), and full payment of up to 15 credit hours of graduate tuition.

University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ): All accepted MFA students receive full funding through a graduate teaching assistantship for 3 years. This package includes tuition remission, health insurance, and a modest stipend (in 2018 it was about $16,100 per academic year).

Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ): 3-year program. All students admitted to the MFA program who submit a complete and approved teaching assistantship application are awarded a TA by the Department of English. Each assistantship carries a three-course per year load and includes a tuition waiver and health insurance in addition to the TA stipend ($18,564 per year). In addition, students have diverse opportunities for additional financial and professional support.

University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR): Four-year program. Teaching assistantships currently carry an annual stipend of $13,500 for students with a BA. TAs also receive a waiver of all tuition costs and teach two courses each semester. Nearly all of our accepted students receive TAs. Additionally, the students compete each year for several fellowships.

Boise State University (Boise, Idaho): 3-year fully funded MFA program dedicated to poetry and fiction. All students receive a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a Teaching Assistantship with a stipend of $11,450 per year.

Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH): 2-year program, graduate assistantships (including stipend and scholarship) are available for all eligible face-to-face students. 100% tuition scholarship. Graduate stipend (the 2020-21 stipend is $11,500).

Brown University (Providence, RI): All incoming MFA students received full funding. All graduate students receive a fellowship that pays a monthly stipend and provides tuition remission, the health fee, and health insurance. The stipend for the 2020-2021 academic year is $29,926. Also, students in good standing receive a summer stipend of $2,993.

Boston University (Boston, MA): Tuition costs will be covered for every admitted student for the MFA degree in the BU Creative Writing Program. In addition, admitted students will receive university health insurance while they are enrolled, and all admitted students will receive stipend support of roughly $16,000 for the academic year.

Cornell University (Ithaca, NY): All MFA degree candidates are guaranteed 2 years of funding (including a stipend, a full-tuition fellowship, and student health insurance).

University of California Irvine (Irvine, CA): 3-year program. The Department is committed to providing 3 full years of financial support to all domestic students in the MFA Programs in Writing. Financial support for MFA students is given in the form of Teaching Assistantships providing full tuition coverage as well as University health insurance. Students will earn an estimated $22,569 for the academic year.

University of California San Diego (La Jolla, CA): MFA in Writing students are eligible for financial support if they study full-time, maintain good academic standing and make timely progress toward the degree. All students are eligible for full funding, including international students provided they meet the English language certification requirement for teaching assistants.

University of California Riverside (Riverside, CA): All incoming students are granted a full fellowship and stipend for their first year. After the first year, students receive full tuition and a salary through teaching assistantships.

Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL): 3-year program. All of the MFA students qualify for a position as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. The GTA position comes with a tuition waiver and a stipend. The standard stipend is $9,000, but some enhanced stipends are available. The Graduate College offers several fellowships for current graduate students.

Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL): The majority of students receive support in the form of a teaching assistantship and are provided with a stipend, a tuition waiver, and a health-insurance subsidy. MFA students receive a three-year assistantship. For 2022-23, MA/MFA stipends will be $16,400, and typically these amounts go up each year. Also, The FSU Graduate School offers several fellowships and awards.

Georgia College & State University (Milledgeville, GA): The MFA Program offers workshops in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and students take cross-genre workshops. All students admitted to the MFA program receive a Graduate Assistantship for all 3 years that includes a stipend and tuition remission.

University of Houston (Houston, TX): MFA students can receive a teaching assistantship for 3 years. Starting salary for MFAs is $17,935/9 months. Students in the Creative. As part of the assistantship, students are awarded either a Graduate Tuition Fellowship, which remits tuition, or a Creative Writing Program Fellowship, which covers the cost of tuition.

University of Idaho (Moscow, Idaho): All English Teaching Assistants (TA’s) are offered full tuition waivers. Teaching Assistants are given a stipend of $14,000 per year. Also offers three scholarships and three outstanding fellowships to support qualified MFA, graduate students.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL): Three-year MFA program. Students accepted into the MFA program will receive full tuition waivers, guaranteed teaching assistantships.

Indiana University (Bloomington, IN): M.F.A. programs offer a generous teaching package to creative writing students. All applicants receive consideration for appropriate fellowships that will carry a stipend of about $19,000, plus tuition and fee-remission that covers roughly 90% of the cost of enrollment.

Iowa State University (Ames, IA): 3-year MFA program. Starting half-time 20 hours per week teaching assistantships for MFA students total $19,250 over 10 months and also receive a full-tuition waiver scholarship (approximate value $10,140) and health insurance coverage. The department has several resources available through which to offer fellowships and scholarships to qualifying new students.

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA): 2-year residency program. Financial assistance is available for all students enrolled in the program, in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. Most fellowships and assistantships provide either tuition scholarships or full tuition remission.

John Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD): 2-year program. All students receive full tuition, health insurance, and a generous teaching fellowship, currently set at $30,500 per year. Some students work as assistant editors on The Hopkins Review. They often win prizes such as Stegner Fellowships or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

University of Maryland (College Park, MD): This 3-year program accepts 8 applicants who are fully funded by Teaching Assistantships for up to three years of graduate study. Our aid packages include a stipend of about $20,000 per academic year and 60 credit hours of tuition remission.

Miami University (Oxford, OH): All students admitted to the MFA program in Creative Writing hold generous Graduate Assistantships (which include a summer stipend). Non-teaching assistantships may also be available.

University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL): An intensive two-year study with a third year option. The James Michener Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships support all our graduate students. Awards include a full tuition waiver and annual stipend of $18,915.

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI): All MFA students accepted into the program are offered a full tuition waiver, a stipend of $23,000/yearly as well as $5,000 in summer funding, and health care benefits. Additionally, various fellowships and prizes are awarded each year to MFA students.

University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN): All admitted MFAs receive full funding, in the form of teaching assistantships or fellowships. Teaching assistantships carry a full tuition waiver, health benefits, and a stipend of about $18,600. Also, a variety of fellowships are available for graduate students.

University of Mississippi (University, MS): All of our students are fully funded.  We offer two main sources of funding, the Grisham Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships.

University of Nevada Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV): 3-year program. All MFA students admitted to the Creative Writing International program at UNLV are offered Graduate Assistantship funding of $15,000 per year (which includes in-state tuition and provisions for health insurance).

Northwestern University (Evanston, IL): Funding is provided for 3 full years, summers included. Tuition is covered by a tuition scholarship during any quarter in which you are receiving a stipend.

University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN): Every student admitted to the MFA receives a full-tuition scholarship, a fellowship that carries a full stipend of $16,000 per year and access to a 100% health insurance subsidy.

North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC): A two-year, fully-funded program, They accept only about a dozen students each year and offer full funding in the form of a graduate teaching assistantship to all eligible admitted applicants.

Ohio State University (Columbus, OH): All admitted students are fully funded for our 3-year MFA program in Creative Writing. In addition, all students receive either a graduate teaching associateship, a Graduate School fellowship or a combination of the two. For graduate teaching associateships, the student receives a stipend of at least $17,000 for the nine-month academic year.

University of Oregon (Eugene OR): A two-year residency MFA program. All incoming MFA students funded with a teaching appointment. Student instructors receive tuition remission, monthly stipends of approximately $18,000.

Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR): All students admitted to the MFA program will automatically receive a standard teaching Graduate Teaching Assistantship contract, which provides full tuition remission and stipend of approximately $12,800 per year to cover living expenses. In addition to tuition remission, all graduate students have the option to receive 89% coverage of health insurance costs for themselves and their dependents.

University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA): 3-year MFA program. All students admitted to the program will receive Teaching Assistantships for two or three years. All Teaching Assistantships include salary, medical benefits, and tuition remission.

Rutgers University–Newark (Newark, NJ): Each full-time incoming student receives in-state Tuition Remission and a Chancellor’s Stipend of 15K per year. Students are also eligible for Teaching Assistantships, and Part-Time Lectureships teaching Comp or Creative Writing. Teaching Assistantships are $25,969 (approximate) plus health benefits.

University of South Florida (Tampa, FL): 3-year program. MFA students receive a tuition waiver, a teaching assistantship that comes with a stipend, and enrollment in group health insurance.

Southern Illinois University (Carbondale, IL): Almost all MFA students hold graduate assistantships, which provide stipends for the academic year and full remission of tuition. The annual stipend, which comes with tuition remission, ranges from $13,000 to $14,500.

Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY): Three-Year M.F.A. in Creative Writing. All students are fully funded. Each student admitted receives a full-tuition scholarship in addition to an annual stipend of $17,500.

University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC): 3-year MFA program. The MFA at Carolina is pleased to provide fellowship and/or assistantship funding to all accepted students, earning our program the designation of “fully funded” from Poets and Writers.

University of Tennessee — Knoxville (Knoxville, TN): There is no cost to apply to the MFA program. All of our PhD candidates and MFA students are fully funded, with generous opportunities for additional financial support.

University of Texas in Austin (Austin, TX): All students in the New Writers Project receive three years of full funding through a combination of teaching assistantships (TA), assistant instructorships (AI), and fellowship support. The complete package includes full tuition remission, health insurance, and a salary.

University of Texas James Michener Center (Austin, TX): A three-year, fully funded residency MFA program that provides full and equal funding to every writer. All admitted students receive a fellowship of $29,500 per academic year, plus total coverage of tuition.

Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN): Each year a small, select class of talented writers of fiction and poetry enroll in Vanderbilt’s three-year, fully-funded MFA Program in Creative Writing. The University Fellowship provides full-tuition benefits, health insurance, and a stipend of $30,000/yearly. In 2nd year and third-year students have the opportunity to teach for one semester.

University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA): Three-year MFA program. Students will receive fellowship support and/or teaching income in the amount of $20,000 each academic year, as well as full funding of your tuition, enrollment fees, and the health insurance premium for single-person coverage through the university.

Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA): Three-year MFA degree offers tracks in Poetry and Fiction, and all students are fully and equally funded via GTA-ships of more than $20,000 per year.

Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO): Because of selectivity and size they are able to offer all the new students full and equal financial aid for both years in the program in the form of a University Fellowship, which provides a complete tuition waiver plus a stipend sufficient for students to live comfortably in our relatively inexpensive city. All MFA students receive health insurance through Washington University.

Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green, KY): Three-year, fully-funded, residential MFA program in creative writing offering generous assistantships, which will allow MFA students to gain valuable experience tutoring and teaching.

West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV): A three-year program. All Master of Fine Arts students receive a full tuition waiver and an assistantship, which includes a stipend valued at $16,750.

Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas): Most of the MFA students are GTAs who teach two composition classes each semester. They pay no tuition, receive $4,250 each semester and may buy discounted health insurance. The MFA program also awards two $12,500 fellowships each year.

University of Wisconsin–Madison (Madison, WI): All accepted MFA candidates receive tuition remissions, teaching assistantships, generous health insurance, and other financial support. In addition to the approximately $14,680 paid to each MFA annually in exchange for teaching, every MFA candidate will receive another $9,320 in scholarships each year.

University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY): All of our full-time MFA students are fully funded with two-year graduate assistantships. Currently, assistantships include a stipend of $12,330 per academic year, a tuition and fees waiver, and student health insurance. Students also receive summer stipends of up to $2,000 for the summer.

Would you like to receive the full list of more than 1,000+ fully funded PhD and master’s programs?  Get your copy of ProFellow’s FREE Directory of Fully Funded Graduate Programs and Full Funding Awards !

©️ ProFellow, LLC 2021, all rights reserved.

Related Posts:

• Free Workshop! Find 5+ Fully Funded Graduate Programs to Achieve Your Career Goals
• Free Webinar! Find 5+ Fully Funded Graduate Programs to Achieve Your Career Goals
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in School Psychology
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in Health Informatics
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in the United Kingdom

Creative Arts Fellowships , Fully Funded Master's Programs , Writing Fellowships

Why You Should Ignore the News About the “Catastrophic” Academic J...

Benefitting the environment and the economy: the 1 hotels fellowship e..., find and win paid, competitive fellowships.

Be alerted about new fellowship calls for applications, get insider application tips, and learn about fully funded PhD and graduate programs

Fellowship Resources

• Calls for Applications
• Upcoming Fellowship Deadlines
• Fellowships Database
• Interviews with Fellows
• International Fellows Network
• Graduate Funding Directory

Fellowship Tips

• What is a Fellowship?
• Fully Funded Course
• Graduate School Funding
• Fellowship Application Tips
• Fulbright Application Tips
• Fellowship Application Guide
• Our Mission, History & Values
• ProFellow Winner Testimonials
• Fully Funded Course Testimonials
• Fellowship Industry Report
• Advertise With Us
• Terms & Privacy

ProFellow is the go-to source for information on professional and academic fellowships, created by fellows for aspiring fellows.

©2011-2024 ProFellow, LLC. All rights reserved.

Vida James is a writer from Brooklyn, NY. She is a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow and a 2023-2024 Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow. She holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Her writing has been supported by Periplus, Storyknife, Tin House, Bread Loaf, MASS MoCA, and the St. Botolph Club Foundation. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in  The Kenyon Review ,  Story ,  New England Review , and elsewhere.

Research Interests