Columbia University School of the Arts

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1968
Location: 
New York, NY
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Translation
Residency: 
Full
Duration: 
2-3 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
110
Application Deadline: 
January 3, 2024
Application Fee: 
$110
Contact E-mail: 
Contact Name: 
Frank Winslow
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Timothy Donnelly, Dorothea Lasky, Shane McCrae, Deborah Paredez, Lynn Xu

Fiction: Paul Beatty, Anelise Chen, Nicholas Christopher, Rivka Galchen, Heidi Julavits, Binnie Kirshenbaum, Victor LaValle, Sam Lipsyte, Ben Marcus, Orhan Pamuk, Matthew Salesses, Gary Shteyngart, Alan Ziegler

Nonfiction: Hilton Als, Jaquira Díaz, Lis Harris, Leslie Jamison, Margo Jefferson, Wendy S. Walters

Translation: Susan Bernofsky

Recent Adjunct Faculty: Mark Bibbins, CAConrad, Cynthia Cruz, Mark Doten, Joshua Furst, Alan Gilbert, Xiaolu Guo, Madhu Kaza, John Keene, Nicole Krauss, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Lynn Melnick, Daphne Merkin, Ben Metcalf, Erroll McDonald, Jen Percy, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Alice Quinn, Camille Rankine, Leanne Shapton, Benjamin Taylor, Jia Tolentino, Lara Vapnyar, Natasha Wimmer, Brenda Wineapple, Phillip B. Williams, James Wood, Monica Youn, Jenny Zhang

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers partial funding, including administrative and teaching fellowships, research assistantships, scholarships, and internships.

Affiliated Publications/Publishers: 
Other Features: 

The program includes a joint course of study in literary translation known as Literary Translation at Columbia (LTAC).

There are events, readings, and conversations throughout the year, including the Creative Writing Lectures, Nonfiction Dialogues, Life After the MFA panels, student reading series, and the Columbia Selects MFA Alumni Reading Series at KGB Bar.

Other programs and outlets include:

Columbia Artist/Teachers (CA/T) provides MFA teachers with training and teaching opportunities on and off campus, with students of all ages and levels.

Our Word, a student group promoting diversity within the Writing Program and in the broader literary community.

Columbia Journal, a student-run literary magazine.

Graduates: 

Elisa Albert, Mia Alvar, Jonathan Ames, Daphne Palasi Andreades, G'Ra Asim, Hannah Assadi, Jesse Ball, Mary Jo Bang, Mandy Berman, Lucie Brock-Broido, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Jessamine Chan, Tina Chang, Melissa Clark, Emma Cline, Henri Cole, Kiran Desai, Rebecca Donner, Stephen Dubner, Peter Farrelly, Lexi Freiman, Matt Gallagher, Philip Gourevitch, Eliza Griswold, Marie Howe, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, Mat Johnson, Owen King, Jordan Kisner, Alexandra Kleeman, E.J. Koh, Rachel Kushner, Catherine Lacey, Stephen McCauley, Campbell McGrath, Lynn Melnick, Dinaw Mengestu, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Sigrid Nunez, Julie Otsuka, Gregory Pardlo, Martin Pousson, Richard Price, Claudia Rankine, Camille Rankine, Karen Russell, Vijay Seshadri, Brenda Shaughnessy, Mona Simpson, Emily Skillings, Sarah Smarsh, Tracy K. Smith, Lynn Steger Strong, Wells Tower, Mai Der Vang, Adam Wilson, Brian Young