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Residential Creative Writing Admissions

Click HERE for Admissions Information
Click HERE for the Recommended Reading List
Click HERE for Audition and Interview Tips

Residential Creative Writing Admissions

Acceptance to the residential creative writing program is based on an application, which includes a portfolio and an audition, including a workshop and an interview with creative writing faculty members. See below for portfolio requirements.

Application
Creative Writing applicants must submit a portfolio with their application. The portfolio must contain one of the following:

Poetry (8 poems) OR
Short Story (one story, no longer than ten pages) OR
A chapter from a novel (one chapter, no longer than ten pages). The novel may be unfinished. The submission should include a clear statement of how this chapter relates to the projected novel.

Mandatory Portfolio Format

Name in upper right hand corner
Stapled, not bound, pages
Pages numbered
Times New Roman, 12 point font
Typed and double-spaced
Poetry should be single-spaced
Each manuscript should be labeled as to its category (poetry, short story, or chapter from a novel)

The Creative Writing faculty will evaluate your application and portfolio submission, to determine who will be invited for a personal audition. The Admissions Office will provide those selected to audition with the date, time and location of their audition. Please note: Not all Creative Writing applicants will be invited to audition.

Audition

Writing Workshop – 1.5-2 hours
Interview – Applicant should be prepared to discuss his/her own work, as well as authors whom he/she respects and emulates

Creative Writing Recommended Reading List

Fiction Anthologies:

Best American Short Stories (annually)
New Stories from the South (annually)
The O. Henry Awards (annually)
Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction
Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction

Fiction Writers:

Alice Adams
Isabel Allende
Steve Almond
Margaret Atwood
Brad Barkley
Donald Barthelme
Frederick Barthelme
Rick Bass
Richard Bausch
Charles Baxter
Ann Beattie
Madison Smartt Bell
Amy Bloom
T.C. Boyle
Wendy Brenner
Ethan Canin
Ron Carlson
Raymond Carver
Dan Chaon
Fred Chappell
John Cheever
Sandra Cisneros
Brock Clarke
Harry Crews
Rick Demarinis
Junot Diaz
Andre Dubus
Stuart Dybek
Tony Earley
Nathan Englander
Louise Erdrich
Tom Franklin
Ernest Gaines
Mary Gaitskill
George Garrett
Tim Gautreaux
William Gay
Kaye Gibbons
Ellen Gilchrist
Alan Gurganus
Barry Hannah
Jim Harrison
Amy Hempel
Pam Houston
Ha Jin
Thom Jones
Jamaica Kincaid
Michael Knight
Jhumpa Lahiri
Mark Leyner
Ralph Lombreglia
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Bobbie Ann Mason
Jill McCorkle
Rick Moody
Lorrie Moore
Alice Munro
Antonya Nelson
Joyce Carol Oates
Flannery O'Connor
Chris Offutt
Charles Portis
ZZ Packer
Tom Paine
Grace Paley
Michael Parker
Tom Perotta
Jayne Anne Phillips
Padgett Powell
Annie Proulx
Mark Richard
Lewis Robinson
George Saunders
Mona Simpson
Lee Smith
Henry Taylor
Peter Taylor
John Updike
Alice Walker
Brad Watson
Eudora Welty
Joy Williams
Tobias Wolff
Steve Yarbrough
Richard Yates

Poetry Anthologies:

Best American Poetry (annually)
Norton Anthology of Postmodern Poetry (Paul Hoover)
Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry
The Poet's Companion (Addonizio and Laux)

Poets:

John Berryman
Donald Justice
Fanny Howe
Randell Jarrell
Elizabeth Bishop
Galway Kinnell
Robert Lowell
Bill Knott
Joseph Brodskey
Yusef Komanyakaa
Gwendolyn Brooks
Adrienne Rich
Michael Burkard
Frank O'Hara
Anne Carson
Pablo Medina
Hart Crane
James Merrill
Robert Creeley
James Wright
Sylvia Plath
Tess Gallagher
Jack Gilbert
Claudia Rankine
Allen Ginsberg
Martha Rhodes
Louise Gluck
Theodore Roethke
Jorie Graham
Mary Ruefle
Michael S. Harper
Rita Dove
Edward Hirsch
C.K. Williams
Sharon Olds
Tony Hoagland
Larry Levis
Franz Wright
William Stafford
Mary Oliver
Heather McHugh
Ellen Bryant Voigt
Thomas Lux
James Dickey
Robert Hass
Hugh Seidman
Seamus Heaney
Charles Simic
Brenda Hillman
Cole Swenson
Frank Bidart
Kevin Young
Denis Johnson
Billy Collins
Ted Kooser
Donald Hall
W.S. Merwin
Mark Doty
Robert Pinsky
Dean Young

How to Handle the Interview for Creative Writing (and not have a stroke)

Don't panic. The interview is simply a way we get to know you on a personal level. We'll ask you complicated, soul-searching questions, like: What are your hobbies? Do you have brothers and sisters? What kind of music do you listen to? Yeah, tough stuff, right?
Be yourself. Be honest. We want to know who you are, not which role you can play for ten minutes.
Speaking of ten minutes - that's usually about the length of the interview. No marathons, just a few minutes of chit chat.
Don't panic.
Read some contemporary work ahead of time. One question we'll ask you, guaranteed: What do you like to read? If your answer is "Anything with vampires and the collected J.K. Rowling," we will probably roll our eyes at you. If you mention some contemporary poets or short fiction writers, you'll score big points. If you need a list of contemporary poets and fiction writers, download a list we've compiled. (link here) In other words, get the list. Read some of the authors. Tell us what you think about them. PS Know the names of the authors you read.
Don't panic.
We want to accept students who are passionate about learning how to write. If you seem apathetic, or if you say things like, "My mom made me apply" or "I'm just looking for a way to get out of the house," we probably won't meet again.
Did we mention not to panic?
Another question we'll ask is: How often do you write? Tip: The correct answer is not, "When I'm really sad or bummed out."
Laugh at George's jokes.
Be familiar with your own work. We'll probably ask about your fiction or poetry.
Don't ask us for critiques. Unfortunately, we don't have time to comment on everyone's work.
Please ask questions about the program. Your curiosity about what we do translates into palpable passion (see #7 above).
Don't panic.
And don't panic.