Creative Writing at Mississippi State

Mississippi State University's English Department offers classes in creative writing at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.The department offers an emphasis in creative writing as part of its Master of Arts program. Our faculty (fiction writers Becky Hagenston and Michael P. Kardos, and poets Richard Lyons, Gary Myers, and Catherine Pierce) teach workshops and craft classes, and mentor graduate students as they work on their creative theses. Creative writing students have the opportunity to gain editorial experience working on Jabberwock Review, the national literary journal produced through the efforts of the Mississippi State English Department and its creative writing program.  The department and the university regularly offer readings by guest authors. Recent visitors include Brock Clarke, Martha Collins, Beth Ann Fennelly, Michael Griffith, Edward Hirsch, Andrew Hudgins, Randall Kenan, Rodney Jones, J.M.G. LeClezio, Sarah Vowell, David Wojahn, and Charles Wright. Creative writing students are provided the opportunity to read their works and to enter university, regional, and national writing competitions.

The Master of Arts Program

Mississippi State’s Masters Degree in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis is a 24 credit hour course of study with an additional 6 hour thesis requirement.  At least 9 credit hours are required in creative writing in combination with other courses of the candidate's choice.

Students pursuing a creative writing emphasis will write a creative thesis (a collection of poems or short stories, or a novel) preceded by a critical introduction.

All students pursuing an MA in English at Mississippi State will take the comprehensive exam during the second year of study.

Visiting writer Kelly Magee meets with the Craft of Fiction class.

Faculty

The Creative Writing faculty at Mississippi State have published extensively in magazines and journals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Nation, The Southern Review, Slate, TriQuarterly, Crazyhorse, and Shenandoah. They are the authors of collections of poems and stories, and their awards and honors include the Peter I.B. Lavan Younger Poets Award, an O. Henry Award, scholarships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia, a Yaddo residency, and inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology.

MSU’s North Farm in autumn.

Poets

• Richard Lyons
• Gary Myers
• Catherine Pierce

Novelists and Short Story Writers

• Becky Hagenston
• Michael Kardos