The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts is a two-year program that offers study in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, and playwriting. The program is comprised of faculty from the Department of Creative Writing and the Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production.

Our program consists of workshops in a chosen genre, culminating in a final project (the master's thesis or manuscript) that showcases the writer's cultivated talents in the form of a poetry collection, novel, short story collection, memoir, essay collection, screenplay, or full-length play.

The MFA requires students to major in the genre they apply in, but encourages them to explore other genres as well, allowing for creative movement within disciplines. For example, structure and focus in screenwriting and playwriting can be applied to fiction and nonfiction and lyricism and metaphor in poetry can enhance description and dialogue in the other genres.

Students will also engage in supplemental coursework through seminars selected from other departments. Our students commonly take classes offered by such varied programs as comparative literature and foreign languages, English, Hispanic studies, and media and cultural studies, among others.

If you need further information beyond what is available on our website, please feel free to contact Interim MFA Coordinator Marcelina Ryneal at Marcelina.Ryneal@ucr.edu.