Creative Writing Mfa Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students (Revised & Updated) [Paperback]

Tom Kealey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 082642886X | ISBN-13: 978-0826428868 | Publication Date: November 15, 2008 | Edition: Revised and Updated Edition

Revised and Updated!

The Creative Writing MFA Handbook guides prospective graduate students through the difficult process of researching, applying to, and choosing graduate schools in creative writing. The handbook includes profiles of fifty creative writing programs, guidance through the application process, advice from current professors and students including George Saunders, Aimee Bender, Tracy K. Smith, and Geoffrey Wolff, and the most comprehensive listings of graduate writing programs in and outside the United States. The handbook also includes special sections about Low-Residency writing programs, Ph.D. programs, publishing in literary journals, and workshop and teaching advice. In a remarkably concise, user-friendly fashion, The Creative Writing MFA Handbook answers as many questions as possible, and is packed with information, advice, and experience. This second edition updates and builds upon the first edition, which was published in 2005 to great acclaim and contains a vastly expanded ranking of current creative writing programs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"When Walt Whitman, a real fan of know-how, said, "To have great poets, there must be great audiences too," he was looking the world in the face: artists and audiences have merged, and one of the first stops on their way to school is the MFA Handbook: it shows the huge range of aesthetic choices open to any young writer who wants to try to become a better writer, a better reader." - Tom Sleigh, Director of the Hunter College MFA

Mention —Book News, February 2009

Mention –Book News, February 2009

About the Author

Tom Kealey graduated from the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Massachusetts in 2001, and afterwards he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University. He currently teaches at Stanford. He has been in many, many writing workshops, both as a student and as a teacher. At the University of Massachusetts he was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. You can read more about Kealey on his blog: http://creative-writing-mfa-handbook.blogspot.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Continuum; Revised and Updated Edition edition (November 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082642886X
• ISBN-13: 978-0826428868
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth the money, but not great, December 11, 2006

By 

J. Darby - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students (Paperback)

What I liked about this book: It surveys more programs than Amy Holman's "Insider's Guide..." book, it's concise, it deals majorly with funding (which some people did not appreciate on the reviews, but I'm guessing they're the ones to whom money is not an issue) and it gives some good general advice on the application process.

What I did not like about this book: In his reviews Kealey makes such comments as "easily a top ten school" or "top five program", etc., but does not give clear guidelines as to why. Neither does he give a listing of schools by Top 5, Top 10, etc.. He's entirely too glib and subjective in some of his reviews (I know it's ironic, but a guide to Creative Writing MFA programs should NOT be a creative writing project but a more 'to-the-point' reference work) and the interviews he includes are usually self indulgent and easily skippable stuff with any good advice being entirely generic.

Still, it's one of the two best books on the subject (the other being the Amy Holman book that this is sold in tandem with) and has enough good information (and enough unique from Holman) that in the absence of better guides I recommend its purchase to anybody considering MFA programs.
If Mr. Kealey or Ms. Holman reads this I strongly urge them to revise their works into a more straightforward guide that includes more detailed narrative descriptions of individual programs. The ideal book would also have charts of ranking (along with explanations of the rankings) and cross-reference programs by residency status, length of program (they range from 1 to 3 years, that is a very important consideration), financial aide (one of the strengths of this book), concentration of the program (i.e. "what's a good program for creative non-fiction?" or "good for fiction writers, poet's not so much") and other criteria.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Resource, June 3, 2006

By 

Lisa Groen Braner (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students (Paperback)

If you only buy one book to research MFA programs, this is it.

I came into this process completely ignorant, and Tom Kealey has brought me up-to-speed in a matter of hours. As a prospective student of a low-residency program, I was impressed with the amount of information he includes for both these and traditional schools.

This book is well-stocked with Q&As and interviews of professors and graduates--truly an insider's guide. Kealey also describes in detail the application process, giving tips on letters of recommendation, personal statements, and so on. But his book doesn't stop there; it also includes a chapter on what to expect once you're in the program--workshops, teaching, public readings, and more.

This book is concise and straight forward, and extremely well-organized. I highly recommend it!

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a note from the author, July 2, 2006

By 

Tom Kealey (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students (Paperback)

I'm the author of the MFA Handbook, and I feel the need to respond to some of the recent reviews posted here. (and I'm sorry this means I have to give my own book *stars*. I would've rather left it unrated, but the Amazon page would not allow that).

First of all, I've put the book out into the world, and I have to take what criticisms come with that. I definitely do. I don't have an "agenda" with the book, but rather I want it to be a roadmap for potential students in the MFA world. As I say in the book: I'm the bus driver. I'm giving a tour of the MFA city. It's important that students use this tour, their own research, and their own criteria in choosing the programs that fit them best. The MFA Handbook is intended to help reduce the stress and confusion inherent in the application process.

It's true that I've made funding an important issue in the book. I don't think it's wise for writers to drop $35,000 a year on a program when there are other options out there. Part of being a writer is living within your means until (and hopefully when) the work begins to pay for itself. An MFA should be, to my mind, two to three years when a writer can focus primarily on her or his work, and not on the bills arriving in the mail. I'm not saying that funding is the only thing. I'm saying it's an important thing.

There is the implication in some of these reviews that the MFA Handbook has led students away from top programs like UC-Irvine, Iowa, and Johns Hopkins, and this is not true. I've given those program all very positive, and hopefully balanced, reviews in the book.

As far as the research in the book goes, I interviewed more than forty professors, program directors, and students. Not all of the interviewees wanted to go on the record (especially some students who were currently enrolled in programs). I never quoted from anyone who wouldn't go on the record. Those that did included George Saunders, Aimee Bender, Michael Collier, Tracy K. Smith, Geoffrey Wolff, and many others, and you'll see their comments throughout the book.

It's not my intention at all to say "Go to this program, or go to that program." I want students to have options. The MFA Handbook is all about options. And I want students to have educated and informed options, and I've written a handbook that does that to the best of my abilities.

In any case, and with respect to the reviews previously published here: If you're considering an MFA in creative writing, there are three books that will help you. One is The Creative Writing MFA Handbook by me, Tom Kealey, another is An Insider's Guide to Creative Writing Programs by Amy Holman. And the third is the AWP Official Guide to Writing Programs, by the Associated Writing Programs.

I don't feel in competition with the other books. I feel like potential students should seek as much information as they possibly can. If you'd like a preview of the tone and information contained in the MFA Handbook, please do surf over to our MFA Blog via..

mfablog.tomkealey.com

Sincerely,
Tom Kealey