About the Graduate Creative Writing Program
At Emerson College, we understand that writing is your life. That’s why our on-campus Creative Writing MFA program focuses on the actual practice of writing, as well as its literary foundations. By the time you graduate, you will have completed a professional thesis, a novel or novel excerpt, a nonfiction book or excerpt, or a collection of poems, short stories, or essays—ready for consideration by agents and publishing houses or for digital publication.
Housed in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing in the School of the Arts, our MFA program boasts some of the most impressive faculty in writing and publishing. It is also home to two award-winning literary journals and is strongly connected to the Boston publishing community.
Pursue your passion, choosing from the genres of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and explore writing as both an art form and a professional career.
Program Highlights
- Explore different forms of writing through your electives, including poetry to screenwriting, digital to traditional publishing, and more
- Experiences outside of the classroom include teaching creative writing in our Writing Studies Program and editing on-campus journals such as Ploughshares and Redivider
- Students with a BFA in Creative Writing or a BA in English with a Creative Writing Thesis/Capstone may qualify for Advanced Standing. This allows you to waive 4 credits and expedite your degree completion by applying your working knowledge toward the total credit count
- Full-time and part-time options; classes are offered in the evenings to fit your schedule
- No GRE requirements to apply
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Upcoming Events
Empower your Future: Transformational Leaders Fellowship Information Session
November 9, 2025, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST
Join us for a virtual overview of the Transformational Leaders Fellowship! Learn how this fellowship empowers future leaders through unique learning opportunities, mentorship programs, and more. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from former Transformational Leaders fellows and admissions staff while learning about the application components, fellowship commitments, and scholarship logistics. We hope to see you there!
Graduate Application Overview
November 12, 2025, 12:00 p.m. EDT
What does it take to apply to graduate school? Join us to learn more about the process of applying to Emerson's graduate programs! Members of the admission team will be available to explain application requirements, answer your questions, and offer insider tips into the graduate school application process. We can’t wait to see you there!
Graduate International Student Information Session
November 13, 2025, 1:00 p.m. EDT
Join us for an international student information session! Staff from Graduate Admissions and the Office of International Student Affairs (OISA) will be available to explain application requirements for international students, funding opportunities, the F-1 Visa process, life at Emerson, and so much more.
Experience Emerson Live: How to Make Your Dialogue Shine in Prose and Roles of Obsession in Poetry
November 19, 2025, 11:00 a.m. EDT
Join us for a virtual glimpse into the Creative Writing MFA program! How do you write compelling dialogue—dialogue that shows character, advances the story, and is interesting, funny, and riveting—and how do you write compelling dialogue that sounds natural, something that people would say? Balancing art and verisimilitude can be tricky when it comes to writing a scene. In this session, we’ll examine and take apart great dialogue passages from great contemporary writers with a view toward sharpening your own. We will also explore the roles of obsession in poetry—how recurring preoccupations, emotional compulsions or thematic fixations can shape, shift, and inform a poem's form and then how form, in turns, creates a duende that impacts a reader's experience. This talk, though brief, will consider how obsession doesn't just influence what a poet writes about, but how the poem takes shape on the page—its rhythm, syntax, structure, style and how that may lead the writer into a nonce form. Admissions staff will also be available to answer any questions you may have about the program or application process.
We hope to see you there!