Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing > Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)
I believe craft and creativity are inseparable. Let's all ask the questions, the hard ones, the funny ones, the ridiculous ones, to make sure the characters are breathing. Over two-thirds of our faculty mentors are established Native American or First Nations authors. This model offers community immersion and intensive instruction while helping students to develop an independent writing practice as preparation for their future work as successful writers. Each semester begins with an eight-day residency in Vermont or Washington.
After many years in the footwear trade, as it were, I'm happy to share with students anything I've learned about uppers and soles or even, on a good day, maybe, souls. We make ourselves available to discuss our students' writing beyond these regular exchanges, on the phone and by Gchat and email. We will also make the best use of video conferencing, asynchronous chat and discussions, and other online technologies to maintain personal communication throughout the semester in online classes. It is possible to complete the program in two years by taking 12 hours per semester including the summer, though most students will take three years to complete the degree full-time. Better yet, it introduced me to the people who continue to be my best readers today. Writers, geographically distant from each other, exchange creative work and letters.
Our faculty mentors work to educe from our students a sense that they must engage in dialogue with the greater tradition by attending to what has preceded them, and thereafter responding with new creation. We strive to be one of those programs. And then, we're going to hit the weights and work our butts off, pushing you to the limit for the desired goal — a perfectly chiseled story. Our students stay in hotels. An undergraduate degree is not required for admission to the Residency-Only option.
The short residency classes often focus on another art form or another subject such as history, food, or the environment. When I first began to write, I was completely daunted by my heroically obtained but completely unsatisfactory drafts. It is this diversity that makes the residency a special place where we can explore books about race, gender, immigration, sexuality, or other topics related to social justice. With our model, students are required to attend at least two short residency classes and two full residency classes and may count 3 more credits of residency classes toward their degree. You will share your creative work and receive critiques electronically. The resulting conversations allow us to develop our identities—that is, who we are and what we want to say as writers in the world.
After five decades in the desert, his bag is as much a part of him as the top of his head or the width of his shoulders. I try to get you to understand the elements of the story that interest you the most - the characters, the place and the time setting, the images that started you thinking about the story in the first place, the one sentence that seemed right and important from the beginning - in order to sort out what is essential and what is not. When we wanted to, we got up and danced how we felt - and of course when we did, we used the techniques we'd been practicing. By the end of the course the student should have completed between 30 and 80 pages of polished fictional prose prose well beyond the first or second draft and 30 pages of polished fiction exercises. In the past three years, our and students have published over 47 books, in addition to hundreds of articles, essays, stories, and poems. We are influenced by other art forms and a broad range of experience. As in Nonfiction Writing I, students will submit to the instructor every five weeks 10-25 pages of manuscript, double-spaced, in 12 point font, with pagination.
Students focus on their own area of concentration while still exploring across genres, examining the interrelatedness of the arts, and investigating aspects of professional writing. If you have questions about our program, please don't hesitate to contact our administrative director, Lisa Janicki. We believe that great writing is not merely an act of self-expression, but a single-minded effort to do justice in the world, to do justice to the world. I try to listen to the play's instincts most of all - sometimes they are smarter than we are. Take a virtual tour of the! Then he recites a few lines he wrote thirty years before: I am learning to be an old man It is slow work I am taking my time Every winter, he goes south to spend months among the saguaros, and he hikes both sides of the border fence.
We have also taken on the annual publication of , publishing Issue 8 in December 2016. Other assignments may be included, such as readings in the genre and an analytical essay. I direct the Dylan Thomas International Summer School in Creative Writing at The University of Wales Trinity St David, in Lampeter, Wales. Graduate with the work and connections to publish, win literary prizes and fellowships, and find teaching positions or work related to your writing. You finish with a polished thesis and an academic lecture. Any pages beyond the maximum will not be read.
Workshop classes in New Media and Translation also encourage cross-genre writing, and students under the direction of their committee may submit a mixed-genre collection as their thesis. Craft Essay Please submit a writing sample 3—4 pages, double-spaced that demonstrates your abilities as a reader and critical thinker. We start with a conversation-- you and me, author and reader, writer to writer. Admission is based primarily on the quality and promise exhibited in the application manuscript. However, for the creative thesis, most students will need to select one of the three genres.
Any courses may be used as electives once requirements are met, and may include internships and special topics courses. I teach students to revise with acuity, and I teach students to consider and reconsider every word they choose to use. Students will discuss readings about the assigned topic, complete the experiential learning component, and write about their experience. In this way it is also important that they be exposed to many different types of writing, both contemporary and from the canon. Once you complete the admission process, you can begin your program with either the Summer Residency or the Winter Residency.
May it be blessed, Scott Cairns, Director. Manuscripts will not be returned. The spiritual dimension of this program is not intended to produce didactic, sectarian, or sentimental literature. All residency periods involve mixed-genre workshops. Close reading means avidly exploring the construction of the text and moving beyond general impressions to note specific authorial choices and to consider their implications. Other student magazines included Meh Lady and Ephemera, and the current undergraduate magazine The Dilettanti.
