What Makes the CCNY MFA in Creative Writing Different From other Programs?

“Diversity. We’re located in Harlem. Our unofficial tagline is “Ten times the diversity for one tenth the price,” because we’re also comparatively affordable. Last year The New Yorker ran a piece called “MFA vs. POC” [people of color] by Junot Diaz that went viral. His argument was that predominantly white workshops often feel alienating, dismissive, and outright hostile to writers of color. In contrast with the MFA programs he was criticizing, our program is more reflective of what the U.S.A. actually looks like–certainly what NYC actually looks like. We have students of all backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, and age. No one group is the majority, and therefore none of the work is treated like minority literature. There are radical implications for the kinds of work our students are putting out into the world for it to be nurtured, respected, celebrated, and intelligently critiqued in the classroom. Another thing that sets our program apart is its strong sense of community. Our students have a great deal of affection for one another. They’re loving rather than competitive.”

Feature: MFA Program Profile: Emily Raboteau on CCNY
Publisher’s Weekly, May 2015

Our Success Stories

CCNY and its terrific writing program provided me with a beacon of hope – for where else could working class immigrant kids go for such first rate guidance and encouragement?

Oscar Hijuelos

Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

The program has been a solid landing place to grow my poetic craft. I am inspired by my peer poets and writers and have expanded my process and my connection to craft. I have entered writers’ circles — that occur off campus with CCNY Alums which had led to more contact with poets/writing groups. I feel poetry all around me.

Allia Abdullah-Matta

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Severely shaken by a series of big-life ordeals, including a cancer diagnosis, I decided to give myself the gift of an MFA for 50th birthday – because, you know, ‘if not now, when?’ I entered the program quite unsure of my talents, my relevance, and, indeed, my life going forward. I left CCNY a poet. Enough said.

Michele Karas

Poet

CCNY’s MFA in Creative Writing not only offered me the chance to study in the company of a diverse and supportive professional community of writers, it enabled me to publish professionally, teach, and get my first book contract.

Philip F. Clark

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Doing my MFA at CCNY is probably the best decision I’ve made in the last twenty years. I had been a writer for some time, but never thought I could do the fiction and essay writing I really wanted to do. CCNY’s first-rate teachers, supportive environment, and my own hard work, showed me I could.

Rodger Fell

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Consultant