Sarah Lawrence’s nationally recognized MFA Writing program gives you the opportunity to work in close collaboration with faculty members who are both distinguished writers and devoted mentors. While we offer concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or speculative fiction, students are encouraged to take classes outside their concentrations and to explore their writing fearlessly.
Why pursue your MFA in Writing at Sarah Lawrence?
- Bi-weekly one-on-one meetings with faculty devoted exclusively to you and focused exclusively on your work
- A vibrant community of writers features student readings, a student-run annual poetry festival, and our literary colloquium, a weekly series of talks by faculty members, visiting writers, and publishing-industry professionals.
- Small, intimate classes around a round table
- An ethos of generosity that guides our program—a belief that thriving as a writer can go hand in hand with helping other writers thrive.
- The College’s proximity to the New York City literary scene and our strong connections to the publishing industry
Program Overview
- Students choose to concentrate in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or speculative fiction.
- Each semester, full-time students participate in a workshop and a craft class and attend the literary colloquium.
- In workshops, students practice their writing and receive thoughtful feedback on their work. During their course of study, they take four workshops, usually with four different writers. This encourages students to explore an array of perspectives and techniques.
- Each student meets bi-weekly with workshop faculty in one-on-one conferences.
- In craft seminars, students discuss published writing and learn to read as writers.
- Sarah Lawrence MFA students can take full advantage of the College's proximity to the New York City literary scene.
One-on-One Conferences
One of the program’s distinguishing features is our conference system: bi-weekly, one-on-one meetings between student and workshop teacher. In these half-hour conferences, students and teachers talk about student work in great depth and detail. They also explore wider questions in conference. Whether a student wants to talk about the mysteries of art or the mechanics of publishing, no literary topic is off-limits. Through these ongoing conversations with teachers in conference, students gain a stronger sense of their own literary aspirations and of the possibilities of the writing life.
The Literary Colloquium
The MFA literary colloquium is a weekly series of talks given by writing faculty members, visiting writers, and publishing professionals, touching on every aspect of the writing life. Recent speakers have included Taylor Johnson (“What does a poet do?: notes on money, charismata, and attention”); R. F. Kuang (“Vocal Training, Genre-Hopping, and Imitation”); A. E. Osworth (“On Joy [or: What If This Was Fun?]”); Sofia Samatar (“The Everything Book: On Epic Fantasy”); Elvia Wilk (“Writing Ecosystems”); Mathangi Subramanian (“Writing the Other”); Isle McElroy (“The Enemy You Know: Writing Social Media into Fiction”); Ama Codjoe (“ Ekphrasis and the Mask”); Joan Silber (“On Generosity in Fiction”); Alissa Bennett (“I’ll Be You: Popular Culture, Crime, and Autobiography”); Moses Ose Utomi (“In Defense of Mythology”); Katie Kitamura (“A Mollusk and a Tree: On Non-Human Consciousness in Fiction”); S. A. Chakraborty (“Writing the Past: Crafting Historically-inspired Worlds”); and Justin Taylor (“The Sentence Is a Place to Play”).
Every spring, second-year students have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with literary agents. Students submit query letters and samples of their work beforehand, and at the meetings agents provide responses and advice.
Graduate Teaching Opportunities
Our MFA Writing students enjoy access to a wide variety of teaching opportunities. Second-year students can apply for a fall pedagogy course and assist in teaching introductory writing courses at the Purchase campus of the State University of New York, and both first- and second-year students are invited to serve as paid tutors at Westchester Community College.
On the Sarah Lawrence campus, three or more MFA students often work as mentors in the undergraduate Writing Center. Through the Office of Community Partnerships Right-to-Write Program, our students can also apply to be paid coordinators of writing workshops in local correctional facilities. And through Sarah Lawrence's non-credit Writing Institute, our students are hired each fall, spring, and summer to co-teach writing workshops with local Yonkers Public School programs.Guest Writer Residencies
Each year, a guest writer from each genre—fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or speculative fiction—spends two days on campus giving master classes, lectures, and readings
Recent residents include the poets Kaveh Akbar, Chen Chen, Diane Seuss, and Nicole Sealey; nonfiction writers Patricia Lockwood, Jia Tolentino, Carmen Maria Machado, and Dani Shapiro; fiction writers Kiran Desai, Sheila Heti, and Katie Kitamura; and speculative fiction writers Charlie Jane Anders, Victor LaValle, Kelly Link, Sofia Samatar, and S. A. Chakraborty.Poetry Festival
The annual Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival is the largest free, student-run poetry festival in New York State. The festival is organized by members of both the MFA Writing Program and the undergraduate class at Sarah Lawrence.
Student Readings
Happy Hour Readings
Graduate writers come together to read their work at the monthly Happy Hour in the Slonim House living room, in a casual atmosphere where refreshments are shared while students read. One faculty member reads at each Happy Hour as well.
Thesis Reading
A few days before commencement, writers from the graduating class read from their culminating body of work in a formal setting. Families, friends, faculty members, and writing peers are invited to attend the graduate thesis readings.
Funding
Financial assistance for students in our MFA Writing Program is available through a variety of scholarships and fellowship awards, ranging from $3,000 to $16,000 per year renewed annually. Consideration for these fellowships is made during the admissions process and is merit-based. Applicants who submit a FAFSA and/or financial documentation are considered for any additional financial-based institutional aid.
More than half of Sarah Lawrence's graduate students work on campus in a variety of positions: as research assistants for undergraduate faculty; as assistants in the Writing Program; in the college library or financial aid office; the undergraduate Writing Center, and in other sites on campus.More information on current tuition and costs, and other approaches to financing a graduate education at Sarah Lawrence can be found here.
Program Requirements
A total of 44 course credits is required to receive an MFA in Writing. The program can be completed on a full-time basis in two years or part-time in three years or more.
Graduate writing workshops:
4 total/1 per semester (20 credits)
Craft- of- Writing classes:
4 total/1 per semester (16 credits)
Literary Colloquium:
4 total/1 per semester (6 credits)
Master’s Thesis
2 total/1 per semester in final year (2 credits)