DIANE LEFER is the author of California Transit, awarded the Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction (Sarabande Books, '07), as well as the novel Radiant Hunger...
MFA Writing
one of atlantic Monthly's
top five low-resIDENCY MFA Programs
Over 25 years of nurturing writers
- Designed to fit your personal and professional life while you grow as a serious writer
- Individualized study: semester plan designed around your goals and intensive dialogue with award-winning faculty
- Join a close community of writers and engage in rigorous 10-day residencies twice a year on our beautiful Vermont campus or at our summer residency option in Slovenia and winter option in Puerto Rico.
- Tracks in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, as well as a concentration in translation. Dual-genre study options available including study in Writing for Children & Young Adults.
Established in 1981, the Vermont College MFA in Writing Program was one of the first low-residency programs in the country. The Atlantic named it one of the top five low-residency programs nationwide. Our 1200+ alumni/ae have published over 650 books and received nearly every literary award in the country.
Click here to view more alumni/ae accomplishments.
Unlike traditional residential programs, which require you to live near your program of study, ours brings you together with other writers twice each year on the Vermont College campus. Because your classmates come from every corner of the world, the diversity of perspectives, attitudes, and voices is exceptional. After each residency, you return home inspired and ready to continue the semester through discourse with your advisor.
Click here to view the program's newsletters.
Faculty Profiles
Points of View
MFA Visual Art Alumnus
"Vermont College has ignited a true sense of devotion in me and has provided the tools, motivation and curiosity to intelligently and confidently engage with the art community as a performer rather than a spectator."
Points of Interest
The Katherine Paterson Prize
Hunger Mountain announces a new writing contest for writers of young adult (YA) and children’s literature: the Katherine Paterson Prize. The contest, which is open to all writers, awards $1,000 and publication in Hunger Mountain’s new online arts journal, due to launch this summer.
“We created the Katherine Paterson Prize because we wanted to support the work of young adult and children’s writers,” says Hunger Mountain managing editor Miciah Bay Gault. “We wanted a new way to honor the writers in this exciting field.” The Katherine Paterson Prize is open to writers of young adult fiction, middle grade fiction, and picture books. Entries must be unpublished, and no more than 5,000 words. There is a $20.00 entry fee. Deadline for entries is June 30, ‘09 (postmark date). The prize will be judged by Vermont native Katherine Paterson, critically acclaimed author of numerous children’s books, including Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Jacob Have I Loved, and, most recently, Bread and Roses, Too. Katherine Paterson has won the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and scores of other awards and honors.
MFA in Writing Alumna Maureen Alsop's Book
Maureen Aslop's book, Apparition Wren, was essentially her thesis while at VCFA. She worked with advisors Roger Weingarten, Claire Rossinin, Leslie Ullman, and Nancy Eimers. Visit Maureen's website at www.apparitionwren.com.
© Vermont College of Fine Arts :: 2010