University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
Residential programUT offers a PhD in English with a creative dissertation and an MFA in Creative Writing. Our goal is to blend creative work with literary studies for a degree that helps candidates realize their potential as writers and scholars as well as making them more viable in the marketplace.
All of our PhD candidates and MFA students are fully funded, with generous opportunities for additional financial support. Our Writers in the Library reading series has brought in a stunning list of writers—Terrance Hayes, Colum McCann, Edward Hirsch, Elizabeth McCracken, and Jesmyn Ward, just to name a few––many of whom not only gave readings, but also directed workshops and worked one-on-one with students.
Our graduate students take advantage of teaching opportunities in a thriving undergraduate program and hold key editorial positions on Grist: The Journal for Writers. Our creative faculty (Margaret Lazarus Dean, Joy Harjo, Christopher Hebert, Marilyn Kallet, Michael Knight, and Arthur Smith) are as deeply committed to the teaching of writing as to writing well.
It's a great place to do your best work.
For more information about the Creative Writing Program, contact Margaret Lazarus Dean at mdean4@utk.edu.
Contact Information
Department of English
301 McClung Tower
Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
37996-0430
Phone: (865) 974-0899
Email: mknight@utk.edu
https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/
Undergraduate Program Director
Michael KnightAssociate Professor
Department of English
301 McClung Tower
Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
37996-0430
Email: mknight@utk.edu
URL: https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/
Undergraduate Program Director
Michael KnightAssociate Professor
Department of English
301 McClung Tower
Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
37996-0430
Email: mknight@utk.edu
URL: https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/
Graduate Program Director
Michael KnightDirector
Department of English
301 McClung Tower
Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
37996-0430
Email: mknight@utk.edu
URL: https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/
All students are fully funded. Students may apply for a paid fifth year to finish the dissertation.
Type of Program: Studio/ResearchGenres: Fiction, Poetry
Duration of Study: 4 years
Unit of Measure: Hours
Other Requirements: Proficiency in a foreign language, the equivalent of two years of college study; comprehensive exams; dissertation.
Application Requirements: Transcripts, Writing Sample, Application Form, Letters of Recommendation, GRE
Graduate Program Director
Michael KnightDirector
Department of English
301 McClung Tower
Knoxville
Tennessee, United States
37996-0430
Email: mknight@utk.edu
URL: https://english.utk.edu/creative-writing-program/
Students take small, intense workshops with renowned faculty as well as literature courses. All students teach in the second year, with support from award-winning composition faculty. Most students get the chance to teach creative writing, and many gain editorial experience on our in-house journal, Grist. All admitted students are fully funded.
Type of Program: Studio/ResearchGenres: Fiction, Poetry
Duration of Study: 2 years
Unit of Measure: Hours
Foreign Language: Evidence of proficiency in one language
Composition Rhetoric: 3 hours, 505
Workshop: 12 hours at the 500 or 600 level
Literature: 9 hours of lit or rhetoric
Thesis: Booklength manuscript
Other Requirements: Public reading from the thesis.
Application Deadline Fall: 01/15/2017
Application Requirements: Transcripts, Writing Sample, Application Form, Letters of Recommendation, GRE, Cover Letter
Marilyn Kallet
Author of 16 books, including poetry (The Love That Moves Me, Black Widow Press, 2013), translations, and children's books. Directs the creative writing program and teaches poetry workshops in Auvillar, France as well.
http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_kallet.php
Arthur Smith
Orders of Affection, Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for Elegy on Independence Day
http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_smith.php
Allen Wier
A Place for Outlaws, Departing as Air, ChubbLifeAmerica Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction
http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_wier.php
Michael Knight
Divining Rod, Dogfight and Other Stories, New Writing Award, Fellowship of Southern Writers
http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_knight.php
Margaret Lazarus Dean
The Time it Takes to Fall; forthcoming nonfiction, The Time it Takes to Fall. Winner of 2013 Greywolf Nonfiction Prize. Blog: The Time it Takes to Blog
http://web.utk.edu/~english/staff/faculty/gf_knight.php
Grist: The Journal for Writers
Yusef Komunyakaa, Kay Ryan, Robert Hass, Jesmyn Ward, Dorothy Allison, Marge Piercy, Kevin Wilson, Adam Johnson, Keith Flynn, William Pitt Root, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jack Gilbert, Pamela Uschuk, Ted Kooser, bell hooks...
Writers in the Library (http://www.lib.utk.edu/writers/)
