CAMDEN -- Rutgers UniversityCamden will launch a master of fine arts (MFA) program in creative writing that will provide in-depth opportunity for writers from New Jersey and across the nation to hone their craft.
The Rutgers-Camden MFA will be offered under the auspices of the English department at the Camden campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The admission process for this terminal degree concentrating in fiction, poetry, and narrative nonfiction, begins this September. Classes will begin in fall 2008.
Our multi-genre approach uniquely prepares our students not only to write poetry and prose but to teach at the college level. It also is what differentiates Rutgers-Camden from other writing programs and better prepares writers to thrive in a highly competitive market, says Lisa Zeidner, director of the new MFA program and professor of English at Rutgers-Camden.
The author of four novels, including the bestselling Layover, Zeidner has directed the celebrated annual spring and summer writers conferences at Rutgers-Camden for over two decades. Top writers, poets, and publishers have been featured in the Rutgers-Camden conferences, including Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, John Edgar Wideman, and Tobias Wolff.
Accepting only 15 students per year, the competitive Rutgers-Camden MFA program will require 42 credits of coursework and completion of a thesis. Students will enroll in 14 courses, consisting of six creative writing workshops; three literature classes; one elective; and two craft classes focusing on literature taught from the writers perspective, with offerings as Writing the Child, Translation, or Global Fantasy. A thesis workshop will take place at the end of the program, providing students with the opportunity to refine their writing through intensive peer-review, while preparing their original work for submission for publication.
Rutgers-Camden faculty leading MFA classes will include Zeidner; poet J.T. Barbarese, an associate professor of English; novelist Lauren Grodstein, an assistant professor of English; and contemporary poetry scholar Tyler Hoffman, associate professor of English. Rutgers-Camdens MFA program also will be taught by noted authors, such as memoirist Lise Funderburg and poet Elaine Terranova.
The Camden campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, offers 34 undergraduate and 14 masters-level programs. Located in the heart of the vibrant Camden Waterfront, Rutgers-Camden is home to 250 faculty whose research, teaching, and service endeavors are represented worldwide.
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