Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
1994
Location: 
Bennington, VT
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Cross-Genre
Residency: 
Low
Duration: 
2 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
30-35 each term
Application Deadline: 
September 1, 2025
Application Fee: 
$75 single genre, $100 dual genre
Contact E-mail: 
Contact Name: 
Cathy Gee Graney
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Jennifer Chang, Michael Dumanis, Randall Mann, Craig Morgan Teicher, Mark Wunderlich
Fiction: Peter Cameron, Jai Chakrabarti, Stacey D’Erasmo, Monica Ferrell, Rebecca Makkai, Stuart Nadler, Téa Obreht, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Katy Simpson Smith, Taymour Soomro
Nonfiction: Garrard Conley, Sabrina Orah Mark, Spencer Reece, Lance Richardson, Shawna Kay Rodenberg, Hugh Ryan, Greg Wrenn

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers tuition assistance through partial scholarships. Students may also apply for Federal Student Aid.

The Writing Seminars offers one term of tuition remission thanks to a full-immersion teaching fellowship open to selected MFA students.

Other Features: 

Students attend two ten-day residencies each year, in January and June, at the Bennington College campus in Bennington, Vermont. The program hosts a nightly reading series with faculty and visiting writers, as well as lectures, master classes, craft sessions, and professional development seminars.

The program also offers a dual-genre track; application fee is $100.

The application deadline is September 1 for the Winter term starting with the January residency and March 1 for the Summer term beginning with the June residency. View their complete guidelines and prospective student FAQs for more information, and apply here.