berkeley creative writing mfa

Creative Writing

Vikram chandra, cecil s. giscombe, cathy park hong, fiona mcfarlane, geoffrey g. o'brien, solmaz sharif.

Art Practice MFA

The two-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Program supports 12 graduate students per year and strives to graduate working artists who will continue to demonstrate significant artistic, critical and cultural impacts across a wide array of disciplines. Incoming MFA students are expected to already be deeply engaged in their creative practice and possess technical proficiency in their chosen media. Graduate coursework and independent study are designed to help students develop a critical understanding of their creative work in the multiple contexts of specific localities and global contemporary art. Our graduate students are encouraged to take university-wide and cross-disciplinary courses linked to their research interests, studying and collaborating with faculty and graduate students in areas as diverse as Geography, Environmental Sciences, Classics, Art History, Disability Studies, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Interactive Design, Rhetoric, Film Studies, and Comparative Literature.

The Program helps students develop a working relationship to audiences by facilitating the exposure of graduate student work through museums and galleries, public art, online, publications, and through other forms of engagement and dissemination. Peer-to-peer discussion and critique form the heart of Berkeleys MFA Program. Students respond to their peers work and learn to think, speak, and write critically about arts functions and possibilities. A Visiting Artist Lecture Series , along with studio visits, offers graduate students the chance to connect with internationally-known artists. Students also have opportunities to teach, and they are mentored and closely supported by a faculty member. Exhibitions in the first and second years of study require students to maintain a rigorous pace of creative research and establish a professional art practice. The final thesis exhibition, completed after the second year of study, is held at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Contact Info

[email protected]

347 Anthropology & Art Practice Building

Berkeley, CA 94720

At a Glance

Department(s)

Art Practice

Admit Term(s)

Application Deadline

December 15, 2023

Degree Type(s)

Masters / Professional

Degree Awarded

GRE Requirements

Tory Adkisson

Tory Adkisson is the author of The Flesh Between Us (SIU Press 2021), winner of the Crab Orchard Series Open Book Competition. His poems have appeared widely in journals such as Third Coast , Crazyhorse , Adroit Journal , Boston Review , Quarterly West , and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University and previously taught writing at the University of Georgia and Seattle City Colleges before coming to UC Berkeley.

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Michelle Baptiste

Michelle Baptiste, an applied linguist, has been teaching writing at UC Berkeley College Writing Programs since 2002. She specializes in teaching culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse classes of developing writers. Her passion is supporting students to cultivate their own unique voice and develop a repertoire of voices they can access as they write across genres. She enjoys supporting students as they revise, design, and publish multimodal pieces online and encourages students to conduct interviews as part of their research process. In her own research to earn her MA in English...

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Sean Burns has been a Bay Area based educator, writer, and musician for 28 years. His scholarship and teaching focus on U.S. social movement history, critical theory, and California counterculture. Before joining the College Writing faculty, he served as Director of Berkeley’s Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarship (2015-2021). In this role, Burns helped organize the campus wide Discovery Initiative and became the founding Director of the undergraduate Discovery Hub ...

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Carmen Acevedo Butcher

Carmen's translation of the spiritual classic Practice of the Presence released August 2022 from Broadleaf Books: https://linktr.ee/carmenacevedobutcher .

Carmen Acevedo Butcher (she / her) has a Ph.D. from The University of Georgia, Phi Beta Kappa. She has been fortunate her entire life to have been in class with brilliant teachers who collaborate with students. John Algeo, Margie Carroll, Wilson Hall, Paulina E. Buhl Noble, Frank Warnke, and Dot Whitfield were models for kindness, research, writing ...

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Caroline Cole

A native of Chicago, Caroline Cole has earned a B.A. in English and Rhetoric, an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction, and a Ph.D. in Writing Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has taught courses in introductory and advanced composition, business communication, technical writing, desktop publishing, and expository writing with an emphasis in Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines.

In 1997, she joined the faculty of College Writing Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. Two years later, she created, launched, and...

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Chisako Cole

Chisako teaches Reading & Composition courses (R1A and R4B) and has also taught in the Summer English Language Studies program and in the Summer Bridge Program, with a particular focus on multilingual student writers. Chisako holds an M.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. from Boston University. Prior to relocating to California, she taught at New York University and The City University of New York. At Berkeley, she has been a Lecturer Teaching Fellow, focusing her work on the social rules of classroom discourse and composition for international students. She was accepted into the...

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Teri Crisp has an M.A. in international studies from the University of Washington and did Ph.D. coursework in education at UC Berkeley, where she received an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in the College Writing Programs. Certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), she has trained teachers in San Francisco, Prague, and Hong Kong. She teaches courses for multilingual student writers, and Reading & Composition courses that encourage collaborative research, critical thinking, and writing on ecology, art, and social values and policy.

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Joe De Quattro

Joe De Quattro is an American fiction writer and 2023 nominee for The Best American Short Stories. He has new fiction, "Following Calvino", forthcoming in the Summer 2024 issue of Italian Americana , a peer-reviewed journal founded in 1974 and published by University of Illinois Press. His short stories have appeared in a number of literary magazines including Bayou Magazine , Beloit Fiction Journal , The Carolina Quarterly, and The Los Angeles Review. He has an MFA in Fiction from Bennington College.

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John Fielding

A longtime Cal Bear, John's time at UC Berkeley extends back to the 80's when he earned a BA in English. This was followed by a PhD in English and numerous composition and literature classes taught as a Graduate Student and Lecturer. Over the years, John has extended his specialization from 20th century British and American literature to include crime fiction, prison literature, as well as social and restorative justice topics. In addition to City College of San Francisco and Oakland's Laney College, John has most recently taught college research and writing San Quentin State Prison...

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Donnett Flash

Donnett Flash has an M.A. in political science from UC Berkeley, and did coursework toward a Ph.D. in political science at Berkeley, as well - she was awarded an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award for her work in that department. For UC Berkeley’s College Writing Programs, she teaches Reading & Composition courses and public speaking. For many years she taught writing and political science courses in African-American Studies and Political Science, also at UC Berkeley. In addition, she teaches at the City College of San Francisco and Laney College. Donnett particularly ...

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Tag: Academics

Art of Writing

Art of Writing at UC Berkeley celebrates writing as a teachable art that requires critical thinking and reading and that demands patience and careful revision. Intimate undergraduate seminars of 15 students, led by Berkeley faculty member and graduate student teams, are at the heart of the program. These seminars prepare students to communicate lucidly in a variety of styles in collaborative communities across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and professional schools. Topics include food writing, popular cultural criticism, and the built environment.

Art Practice

Art Practice provides critical, conceptual, and skill-based learning across diverse disciplines, including digital media, ceramics, drawing, installation, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, social practice, and video.

Berkeley Language Center

Founded in 1994, the Berkeley Language Center (BLC) is a department in the Division of Arts and Humanities of the College of Letters and Science. The BLC’s mission is to support the learning and teaching of heritage and foreign languages on the Berkeley campus and, where appropriate, in the University of California system.

Berkeley Master of Design (MDes)

The Master of Design (MDes) is a professional graduate program in design for emerging technologies that emphasizes critical design and social practice to address the new realities of emerging technologies in the 21st century. 

Berkeley Writing | College Writing Program

We teach writing as a craft, and work with students at all levels of expertise, from those wishing to satisfy the University's composition requirements, through intermediate writers looking to expand their horizons, to seasoned scribes who want to hone their skills in our upper-division courses.

The literature of Greco-Roman antiquity never gets old.  In the Department of Classics, a world-renowned center of innovative research and inspiring teaching, students explore the masterpieces of classical literature, discovering how these texts continue to shape the ways we write, read, and think. Courses, in translation and in the original languages, incorporate mythology, epic, lyric, tragedy, the novel, the poetry of desire, sexualities, and much more.

College of Environmental Design

CED stands among the nation’s top environmental design schools. It is one of the world’s most distinguished laboratories for experimentation, research, and intellectual synergy. The first school to combine the disciplines of architecture, planning, and landscape architecture into a single college, CED led the way toward an integrated approach to analyzing, understanding, and designing our built environment.

Comparative Literature

A vibrant home for the study of literatures and cultures from a transnational and cross-cultural perspective. We offer innovative, interdisciplinary programs in literature, art, and global cultures, with courses in creative writing, literary translation, and a new artist residency.

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Minor Program at the University of California, Berkeley is offered by the Office of Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Undergraduate Division of the College of Letters and Science. The approved courses students take to satisfy the minor course requirements are offered by over thirty departments on campus. Interested undergraduate students in any major may earn an interdepartmental minor in Creative Writing by completing three approved upper-division creative writing courses and two approved upper-division literature courses from any department that offers them, satisfying the minor requirements, and declaring the minor.

Design Innovation

The Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation assumes that innovation will not come from any one discipline, but rather from the meaningful integration of methods, technologies, knowledge, and thought from a wide range of different disciplines. As such, the certificate connects the design approaches and disciplines from four schools (College of Engineering, College of Environmental Design, College of Letters and Science – Arts and Humanities Division, and the Haas School of Business) to ensure that students know how to innovate. The program trains students to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of innovation, from idea to execution and beyond.

Arts+Design Initiative Fund

Voices Blog

Creative writing.

You’re Already a Writer

Fifteen Hours and 5,900 Miles Away

A Flame Rekindled

For Natalie Lynn Harrison, finding her path in life via non-traditional educational opportunities is not something new.

May 18 Online Event: 'My Good Son: 'The Power and Burdens of Parental Love

There are few things as universal as a parent’s love for their child—and the heartache that can accompany it. But what makes a good parent in a rapidly changing society?

January 26 Online Event: Love Stories—Memoir Writing and Allyship

Crafting Stories for Middle-Grade Readers

What's Going on at Ursa Minor

History That Bears Repeating

Believing in What She Writes

Writing essays and short stories may not be on Nancy Tompkins’ career path. But it is now part of who she is.

The 5 Parts of a Writer’s Story

Your Written Masterpiece Is Not Yet Finished

Let Your Crazy Child Run Free

Honoring Her Writing Talent With Action

Whatcha Reading?

More Than Just Messages

Discovering Your Voice in Flash Fiction

Trusting in Potential

Writing Like a Champion

Video: Turn Your Writing Into Your Career

Laurie Ann Doyle: A Writer Who Takes Risks

Extension Honored Instructor Laurie Ann Doyle is no stranger to revisiting her writing.

The “Non-Teaching” Teacher

Even a Writing Instructor Has to Pay His Dues

Finding the Draw in Your Children’s Picture Book Story

Stories start here.

Left Margin LIT is a creative writing workspace offering classes, camaraderie, and mentorship to East Bay writers of all backgrounds and experience levels. We also offer online classes and programs to writers who don't live in the Bay Area.

We aim to promote storytelling and poetry as vital elements of a healthy city: enriching dialogue, building community, and supporting a culture of creativity.

Testimonials

"I came to David when I needed help applying to MFA programs. Some writers will try to shape your work into a style like their own, but David was able to recognize my voice and polish it rather than mold it. Throughout the application process, David responded to every one of my concerns with reassurance and insight. He helped me navigate the painful purgatory of the waitlist, resulting in my acceptance. Without his feedback, advice, and encouragement, I wouldn't be attending my dream school."

MFA student, University of Michigan

—  Name, Title

CONSULTATIONS

Work with an excellent coach or editor to push your writing forward. 

We host literary events here in the East Bay. Check back soon for new events.

WRITERS' WORKSPACE

Come write with us and reach your goals in the Left Margin LIT space!

Catch our news and learn more about what we're into. 

SCHOLARSHIPS

We offer financial aid and merit awards to low-income writers.

Get in touch! We love to hear from writers, readers, and word enthusiasts.

• UC Berkeley
• Letters & Science

Creative Writing Minor

Admission to cal, new students:.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions https://admissions.berkeley.edu/

Transfer students wondering which courses will count at Berkeley:

ASSIST http://www.assist.org/

Community college courses will not count toward the Creative Writing Minor. They are lower-division courses. Only upper-division courses may satisfy Creative Writing Minor course requirements.

Announcements

• Fall 2024 Course List
• Summer 2024 Course List
• Spring 2024 Course List
• Berkeley Holloway Poetry Series – Spring 2024
• UC Berkeley Lunch Poems 2023-24
• Minor Declaration Form – Must declare no later than term before EGT.

University of California--Berkeley

Ranked in 9 program s

Explore This School's Fine Arts School

Program and Specialty rankings

• # 15 in Best Fine Arts Programs  (tie)

Department of Art Practice Contact Information

345 Kroeber Hall #3750 , Berkeley , CA 94720-3750

(510) 642-2582

[email protected]

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College of Arts and Sciences

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• Creative Writing MFA Program
• Department of Theatre Film and Creative Writing
• School of the Arts
• Student Success

Graduate College Awards honor excellence in the Creative Writing MFA Program

The Graduate College Awards, held this year on April 25, 2024, honored three individuals within the Creative Writing MFA Program for exceptional work and mentorship. Professor Mitch Wieland, Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program, received the Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award. Ayotola Tehingbola, who graduated this year with an MFA in fiction, received the Presidential Scholar Award in Performance and Visual Arts. Caleb Merritt, a current MFA student in poetry, received the Audience Choice Award for the Three-Minute Thesis Competition. In a lovely turn of coincidence, Tehingbola nominated Professor Wieland for the mentorship award. “ I have felt supported by Mitch in these past three years,” Tehingbola said. “Mitch is a patient teacher and he front-loads the foundations. He also makes the business of writing a priority. From applying to grad school to preparing me for my job interview, Mitch was a solid.” For Professor Wieland, who helped found the MFA program at Boise State, mentorship undergirds his teaching philosophy. “ As a graduate student, I had the good fortune to study with George Garrett, a legendary writer and teacher famous for his mentorship,” Professor Wieland said. “My approach to mentorship is to be like George and pass it on. I’m very thankful Boise State recognizes all the mentorship our tireless graduate faculty does week in and week out.”

Graduate College Awards

Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award: Professor Mitch Wieland, Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program. 

Presidential Scholar Award in Performance and Visual Arts: Ayotola Tehingbola, MFA alum

Three-Minute Thesis Competition Audience Choice Award: Caleb Merritt, MFA student 

You can learn more about the Creative Writing MFA Program here.

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