Graduate Admission
Join a vibrant community of writers from all over the country and the world when you enroll in the Master of Fine Arts program (MFA) in Creative Writing at Hofstra University. Through workshops, craft courses, and literature seminars led by an award-winning faculty of novelists, poets, and non-fiction writers, you will discover your authentic voice and place in the literary world. Finish your MFA in two to three years. The program also offers an MFA in Creative Writing for Writers of Spanish. Scholarships are available for qualified candidates.
Hear respected authors across many genres discuss their craft as part of our long-running Great Writers, Great Readings series. The authors sometimes use this forum as an opportunity to introduce new, unpublished works. Recent guests have included Annie Baker, Jennifer Egan, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jhumpa Lahiri, Phillip Lopate, John McPhee, Susan Orlean, and Karen Russell.
Visit the Hofstra campus or connect with the graduate admissions team. We will answer your questions and put you in touch with program faculty or degree candidates to learn more. Contact us at graduateadmission@hofstra.edu or call 516-463-4723.
To be considered for the MFA in Creative Writing program, you must have completed an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution and 12 credits of advanced literature courses.
Start your application online where you can upload the following documents:
The most important parts of your application are your personal statement and your writing sample.
The writing sample, whatever the genre, should pull us in, hook us, and hold us tight until the last words of the last page. Less is more: 8-10 poems, no more than 15 pages, up to 20 pages of fiction or nonfiction, or a short play. Above all else, we are looking for talent.
The personal statement should tell us about you and your literary interests, why you want to come to our program, what you have done before coming to us, and where you hope to go from here. We appreciate statements that are honest and revealing of the unique qualities of a particular candidate. You have 500 words to tell us about yourself, why you write, and why you wish to come to Hofstra.
Visit the Creative Writing program page to learn more.
If you are a current Hofstra student interested in pursuing the BA/MFA, please contact your academic advisor and refer any additional questions to graduateadmission@hofstra.edu.
International students: Please review additional admission requirements.
Apply to the MFA in Creative Writing program at any time with our rolling admissions policy.
Note: this program will not be accepting applications for summer and fall 2021.
The MFA in Creative Writing is awarded to students who successfully complete 36 semester hours.
Visit the Creative Writing program page to learn more.
Dr. Miguel-Angel Zapata, Program Director, is a prolific poet, anthologist, and literary theorist. His most recent published works include anthologies of his poetry: Hoy día es otro mundo (Today is Another World) (Granada, Spain, 2015), and La nota 13 (Note 13) (Bogota, 2015). He has several celebrated books of poetry. He received the 2012 Latino Award in Literature.
Kelly McMasters is co-editor of the 2017 essay collection, This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home. Her book, Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir From an Atomic Town, was chosen as one of Oprah’s top five summer memoirs and was the basis for the documentary, “The Atomic States of America.” She is a Pushcart and Orion Book Award nominee.
Martha McPhee is the author of the novels Bright Angel Time, Gorgeous Lies, L''America, and Dear Money. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Gorgeous Lies was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has been translated into Dutch, German, Arabic, and Italian.