Please visit Department of English and Theater Degree Requirements page for the most accurate and up-to-date information.
A minimum of 48 credit hours are required to complete the Bluegrass Writers Studio™ MFA in Creative Writing.
Full-time participants (9 credits per semester) should expect to undertake 20 to 25 hours of coursework per week.
ENW 801 – 12 credits
ENW 810 – 12 credits
ENW 820 – 24 credits
GRD 858f – 0 credits
TOTAL = 48 credit hours
ENW 801: Summer MFA Residency (Course Description):
Ten to seventeen-day writing residency involving intensive workshops, craft lectures, and readings by guest authors. May be taken up to four times. Past residencies have been held in Mexico and Scotland. Our current Summer Residencies take place in Lisbon, Portugal and in Richmond, KY.
Please note that both Summer Residencies are broken up into two parts. Students may elect to take the first half for three credits or both halves for six credits.
Participants must complete four sections of ENW 801 for a total of 12 hours.
If a student elects not to attend an annual Summer Residency, then the timeframe for his/her graduation will be extended. See “Suggested Curriculum” below for the most streamlined curriculum available.
ENW 810: Topics in Creative Writing (Course Description):
A literature course for creative writers; topic focus determined by instructor. Students read extensively in contemporary literature and write critical essays in response to those readings. May be retaken up to four times. ONLINE ONLY.
Students must complete four sections of this course for a total of 12 hours.
ENW 820: MFA Writing Workshop/Mentorship (Course Description):
Students participate in an intensive online writing workshop conducted via Blackboard, conference call, and/or other media. Students work privately with the instructor as well on a series of comprehensive revisions of their creative work. Students also read extensively in contemporary literature and craft and write critical essays in response to those readings. Students may take course up to four times. ONLINE ONLY.
Students must complete four sections of this course for a total of 24 hours.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Each student’s final, fourth section of ENW 820 will be designated as the “thesis” section. For ENW 820: Thesis, students work with their thesis committee to finalize a creative thesis for defense and graduation. For the thesis section, there is no workshop component.
ENW 820: Thesis cannot be completed unless all other program requirements are completed before or concurrently, excepting a final residency (see “Thesis” below).
Exit Requirement
GRD 858f: MFA Creative Writing Comprehensive Presentation- 0 hours
Bluegrass Writers Studio™ Thesis
By the time a student has completed the fourth required section of ENW 820 MFA Writing Workshop/Mentorship (6 credits) he/she will have produced a book-length creative thesis of publishable quality. The thesis must be approved by the MFA Committee.
The final, fourth section of ENW 820 will constitute the thesis course. See ENW 820 above for further details.
TOTAL CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS- 48 hours
SUGGESTED CURRICULUM
Below is a typical example of a schedule for a student who plans to finish the program during the two-year schedule (assuming a Fall semester start):
FALL (FIRST SEMESTER)
ENW 810 (one section, 3 credits)
ENW 820 (one section, 6 credits)
SPRING (SECOND SEMESTER)
ENW 810 (one section, 3 credits)
ENW 820 (one section, 6 credits)
SUMMER (June/July)
ENW 801 (two sections, summer residency, 6 credits)
FALL 2013 (THIRD SEMESTER)
ENW 810 (one section, 3 credits)
ENW 820 (one section, 6 credits)
SPRING 2013 (FOURTH SEMESTER)
ENW 810 (one section, 3 credits)
ENW 820 (special THESIS section, 6 credits)
GRD 858F (a non-credit “graduation” class for paperwork purposes)
SUMMER (June/July)
ENW 801 (two sections, summer residency, 6 credits)