Brown University · Department of Literary Arts

Literary Arts MFA

MFAMaster of Fine Arts (Literary Arts)Funding not verified

Overview

A two-year MFA in fiction, poetry or digital/cross-disciplinary writing with eight courses (workshops, electives and pedagogy) and a creative thesis. Incoming students have received full funding: a first-year fellowship and second-year teaching assistantship with tuition remission, health coverage and stipend.

Official program name: Literary Arts MFA
Awarded degree: Master of Fine Arts (Literary Arts)
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
School: Brown University — Department of Literary Arts
Source: bulletin.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Location: Providence, RI
Delivery / residency: Campus-based
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Study intensity: Not verified
Duration: Two years
Source: graduateprograms.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Required credits: Eight courses: three creative writing workshops, four graduate-level electives, and a thesis
Source: graduateprograms.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Teaching language: English (not separately stated)

Why this degree is listed

The MFA is awarded by the Department of Literary Arts with tracks in fiction, poetry and digital/cross-disciplinary writing; the department states its focus is writing and literary and language art, and the degree ends in a creative thesis. The title 'Literary Arts' is established as a dedicated creative writing degree by this text.

Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

We list dedicated creative writing degrees only. Eligibility rules

Curriculum, genres and faculty

Genres

Fiction Poetry Cross-Genre / Interdisciplinary

Source: graduateprograms.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Workshops

Two courses each semester: a writing workshop and an elective in the first three semesters, plus a half-course in pedagogy in semesters two and three.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Thesis / dissertation

Thesis may be a substantial work of fiction or poetry, or a digital or cross-disciplinary project.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Teaching opportunities

Second-year teaching assistants teach one undergraduate writing workshop per semester.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Other

About twenty-five students in the program in a given year.
Source: graduateprograms.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Faculty listed by the program

John Cayley — Professor of Literary Arts
Colin Channer — Associate Professor of Literary Arts
Kwame Dawes — Professor of Literary Arts
Thalia Field — Adele Seaver Kellenberg Professor of Literary Arts
Laird Hunt — Professor of Literary Arts
Karan Mahajan — Associate Professor of Literary Arts, Director of Graduate Studies
Sawako Nakayasu — Associate Professor of Literary Arts
Matthew Shenoda — Professor and Chair of Literary Arts
Eleni Sikelianos — Professor of Literary Arts
Jacinda Townsend — Vartan Gregorian Assistant Professor of Literary Arts
Jackie Wang — Assistant Professor of Literary Arts

As listed on the program's official page on October 9, 2026. Listing does not mean a faculty member is teaching or supervising new students in a given year.

Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Admissions

Required, optional, waived and not-required items are shown exactly as the school states them. Anything not listed is not verified — not “not required”.

Interview: Not requiredThe department does not grant interviews.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Application fee waiver: OptionalApplication fee waiver may be requested; open to domestic and international applicants.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Other requirement: RequiredU.S. applicants must complete a FAFSA to receive departmental funding.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Writing portfolio

Genre	Length	Requirement as published
Any / all genres	30–40 pages	Writing sample in a single genre; 30-40 pages (fiction/poetry sample length as listed on the admission page).Formatting: double-spaced is typicalSource: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Cross-Genre / Interdisciplinary	30–50 pages	One or two electronic projects, or a 30-50 page portfolio in any format.Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

Tests

GRE and English-language test policy: not verified. We publish this only when the school states it on an official page.

We do not publish acceptance rates or estimate competitiveness: programs rarely publish comparable figures.

Deadlines

Dates are shown with the admissions cycle the school printed. A past date is marked passed and is never carried into a new cycle.

Application deadline
December 15, 2026 · for Fall 2027 · America/New_York
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Upcoming

Tuition and fees

Each amount keeps its applicant category, academic year and basis. Per-credit, per-year and whole-program figures are not comparable with each other.

Tuition: not verified. We publish this only when the school states it on an official page.

Funding

We have not verified an official funding policy for this program. That does not mean funding is unavailable. “Fully funded” never means every personal expense is covered. How we classify funding

Funding not verifiedPolicy year: 2026-2027

Published stipend: $39,149 – $40,994 (nine months (2026-2027 academic year); first-year fellowship $39,149, second-year TA $40,994) · 2 years

Funding guarantee: All incoming MFA students received full funding over the last two decades.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Stipend: First-year fellowship with tuition remission, health fee, health and dental insurance, and a stipend of $39,149 for 2026-27; no teaching required.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Summer funding: Summer stipend of $4,350 between first and second year for students in good standing.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Assistantship duties: Second-year TAs in good standing teach one undergraduate workshop per semester; stipend $40,994 for 2026-27.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
Renewal conditions: Second-year teaching assistantships go to students in good standing who are qualified.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026
International students: International students are eligible for the same package.
Source: literaryarts.brown.edu · verified October 9, 2026

We do not judge whether a stipend is sufficient: living costs differ by city, household and year.

Sources and verification

Every fact on this page comes from the official pages below. Last verified October 9, 2026.

bulletin.brown.edu/the-college/concentrations/lita/ — Official catalog / bulletin, verified October 9, 2026
graduateprograms.brown.edu/graduate-program/literary-arts-mfa — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026
literaryarts.brown.edu/faculty — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026
literaryarts.brown.edu/graduate — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026
literaryarts.brown.edu/graduate/admission — Official program page, verified October 9, 2026
literaryarts.brown.edu/graduate/financial-information — Official funding / aid page, verified October 9, 2026

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Creative Writing Programs is independent and not affiliated with Brown University. Information is collected from official pages and can change; confirm requirements, costs and deadlines with the school.