Master of Arts – MA in Writing

About

Spalding’s 35-credit-hour Master of Arts in Writing program provides excellent, affordable creative writing instruction in a compassionate, noncompetitive, supportive community. MAW students are taught by the outstanding faculty of our low residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing, nationally recognized as a Top 10 program.

The Spalding MAW can be completed in as little as a year, over two intensive semesters and a capstone residency. You may matriculate into the MFA program if you wish to receive the terminal degree, earning two master’s degrees for about the same cost as the MFA program alone. Read more about why serious writers choose Spalding.

The MAW degree offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children & young adults, screenwriting and playwriting, culminating in a completed creative project. Students develop lifelong writing habits in a supportive learning community.

How It Works

Each semester, you complete a week-long residency course taught on campus or virtually alongside MFA students. Virtual residencies, which offer the same immersive curriculum as students receive on campus, are taught live in real time by our outstanding MFA faculty. Residency is followed by an independent study course in which you write extensively, read critically and receive detailed feedback from a faculty mentor. You can choose a shorter, more intensive schedule or a longer, less intensive schedule for your independent study course. Our virtual Business of Writing Seminars offer insights into editing, publishing and career options. The flexibility built into Spalding’s low-residency model makes graduate study possible for students with full-time jobs and substantial family commitments.

Residency: Attend an introductory residency including lectures, readings, discussions and a faculty-led workshop exploring creative writing craft.

Independent study: Introductory one-on-one mentored study in creative writing and reading in your chosen genre.

Residency: Attend an intermediate residency including lectures, readings, panel discussions and a faculty-led workshop exploring creative writing craft.

Independent study: Intermediate one-on-one mentored study in creative writing and reading, culminating in a completed creative project.

Attend an advanced residency in creative writing, with options for a special-topics workshop, a teaching seminar or a book-length manuscript workshop. Present a capstone reading and a capstone project.

Visit our MA in Writing Curriculum page for more information.

Features

A BA or BS is the minimum education requirement.

Application deadlines

• March 1: application deadline for spring semester, starting in May with residency on campus
• April 1: application deadline for summer semester, starting in June with a virtual residency
• August 1: Application deadline for fall semester, starting in November with residency on campus

We welcome veterans.

We are members of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, SCBWI and the Playwrights’ Center.

Spalding is the world’s first certified Compassionate University.

You can get to know our faculty and directors on our blog.

For more information, email schoolofwriting@spalding.edu.