The University of Massachusetts Amherst offers a dynamic, eclectic, and rigorous M.F.A. Program in English in the context of a lively writing community. Begun in the 1960’s, it is one of the oldest and most respected programs in the country.

Candidates receive intensive attention to their writing through workshops, private conferences, and thesis work. The degree program additionally provides a substantive background in modern and contemporary literature, and opportunities to pursue individualized courses of study in fields such as interdisciplinary studies, publishing, arts administration, and teaching.

The MFA Program houses the critically acclaimed literary journal jubilat, and the University is home to The Massachusetts Review and the University of Massachusetts Press, all of which offer opportunities for student involvement and internships. Since 1985, students have sponsored Live Lit, a reading series at Amherst Books, in which poets and fiction writers in the program have an opportunity to hear each other’s work. Student work is featured in the online literary journal CRATE.

Amherst is a gracious New England town near the Berkshire hills. Its proximity to Boston and New York City, as well as to four area colleges (Smith, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, and Hampshire) makes it an unusually vital place to live. Amherst has been the home of many writers, such as Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Robert Francis, and James Baldwin. That tradition has been continued by such visiting writers as Jayne Anne Phillips, Fanny Howe, C.D. Wright, J.M. Coetzee, Grace Paley, Bradford Marrow, Jamaica Kincaid, Padgett Powell, David Berman, John Yau, John Ashbery, Amy Hempel, Russell Edson, Denis Johnson, James Welch, Rick Moody, W.S. Merwin, James Salter, Caroline Knox, Joe Wenderoth, Tomaz Salamon, Mary Caponegro, George Saunders, Barry Hannah, Ben Marcus, Eileen Myles, Charles Simic, Gordon Lish, Charles Wright, and William Gass.