Wilkes University

MFA Programs
MA

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
2005
Location: 
Wilkes-Barre, PA
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Spoken Word
Residency: 
Low
Duration: 
2-3 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
39
Application Deadline: 
December 1, 2025
Application Fee: 
$35
Website: 
http://www.wilkes.edu/cw
Contact E-mail: 
cwriting@wilkes.edu
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Phil Brady, Christine Gelineau, Shanta Lee, Angelique Palmer
Fiction: Ru Freeman, Kaylie Jones, Traci L. Jones, Ken Liu, Nancy McKinley, Robert Mooney, Taylor Polites, Nisha Sharma, Marisa de los Santos, Jeff Talarigo, Rachel Weaver
Creative Nonfiction: Beverly Donofrio, Jessica Goudeau, J. Michael Lennon, Robin Micah McCrary, Alexis Paige
Playwriting: Bonnie Culver, Gregory Fletcher, Christine Renee Miller, Nicole Pandolfo, Dania Ramos
Screenwriting: Susan Cartsonis, Gabrielle D’Amico, Ross Klavan, Jennifer Mayer, Richard Uhlig
Spoken Word: Angelique Palmer
Writing for Television: Alice O’Neill

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers ten online graduate assistantships and six partial scholarships.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 

Akashic Books, Brown Girls Books, Dzanc Books, Etruscan Press, Kaylie Jones Books, Havescripts/Blue Moon Plays, Kinsman Quarterly, Resonate Entertainment, River and South Review, Books by Hippocampus, SenArt Films, James Jones First Novel Fellowship

Other Features: 

The program is a sequential MA/MFA program; students complete their three-semester MA degree at Wilkes, completing a full-length manuscript with a critique from a NYC agent or editor, before opting to pursue a MFA degree for two more semesters, including an internship with a university (teaching) or press (publishing). The program offers degrees in screenwriting, TV writing, playwriting, and publishing, in addition to degrees in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and spoken word.

Students come to campus twice a year, in January and June, for week-long residencies. (The winter residency is part online to accommodate the teachers in our program.) All residencies take place at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The application deadline is December 1 for the January residency and May 1 for the June residency.

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