New Guide Advises Writers on "Low-Residency" Programs in Creative Writing
A new guide for those considering graduate study in creative writing, "The Practicing Writer's Primer on Low-Residency MFA Programs," offers expert advice and program assessment strategies, plus a directory of nearly two dozen programs in the United States and Canada.
(PRWEB) September 13, 2004 -- Thinking about graduate study in creative
writing? Considering one of the “Low-Residency” options that combines short,
intensive sessions on campus with independent work back home? A new guide, “The
Practicing Writer’s Primer on Low-Residency MFA Programs,” offers expert advice
and program assessment strategies, plus a directory of nearly two dozen programs
in the United States and Canada.
Erika Dreifus, who edits the free
monthly resource newsletter, “The Practicing Writer,” wrote this primer to
provide further information to her fellow writers. Dreifus earned A.B., Ed.M.,
and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from
Queens University of Charlotte.
Dreifus also credits her teaching and
advising experiences for motivating her to focus on this particular project.
“I’m not convinced that there’s a single ‘best’ program out there, one that
every writer who hopes to attend an MFA program should aim for,” she says. “Each
person has a unique set of talents, strengths, and academic and professional
needs and goals; it makes sense that each person’s program search should be
different.” Her purpose, she says, is to help potential MFA students locate the
programs that may be most appropriate for them.
To that end the Primer
includes a set of self-assessment questions writers can use to determine whether
the low-residency option is a good one for them in the first place; a list of
what Dreifus calls “consideration categories,” or issues she recommends
applicants keep in mind when assessing individual programs; and a directory of
graduate degree-granting MFA programs administered through a low-residency
model.
Dreifus has focused on low-residency programs not only because she
investigated them when she decided to earn a graduate degree in creative writing
herself, but because “there’s a remarkable degree of interest in these programs.
So many new ones have developed in the past few years, with more launching all
the time.”
For more information about The Practicing Writer’s Primer on
Low-Residency MFA Programs, please see http://www.practicing-writer.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb157478.htm