The Sewanee School of Letters is a summer-focused MFA program with an exceptional faculty and a thriving literary community.
Learn about our acclaimed faculty and the craft courses and workshops they teach in Sewanee.
Learn more about the admission process, enrollment, and our unique scholarship opportunities.
The School of Letters is a summers-focused MFA in creative writing in Sewanee, Tennessee, home to a long-standing literary tradition. Our students come from different backgrounds, locations, and professions, but they all have one thing in common—a desire to be a part of a community of writers.
For six weeks every summer, our students and faculty work and live on our mountaintop campus, immersing themselves in writing and literature. Classes and workshops are both intimate and rigorous, with a supportive and friendly atmosphere. Our weekly reading series features guest authors, faculty, publishers, and students to provide further opportunities outside of the classroom. At the end of the term, students return home energized from the work they've done, and many choose to take guided studies with our faculty in the fall and spring semesters.
It's time to find your community at Sewanee. We can't wait to meet you.
The Sewanee School of Letters offers a master’s degree in creative writing of the highest quality, assembling a distinguished and diverse faculty who are deeply invested in teaching creative writing workshops and seminars. The School of Letters prepares graduate students for a life of achievement and service, and during their residence promotes community values, environmental stewardship, literary citizenship, and a reverent concern for the world.
Students in the MFA program focus on perfecting their craft, completing courses in literary tradition and practice.
Find out more about the classes offered in our program.
Meet our distinguished faculty.
MFA students develop the skills to read, write, revise, and trade feedback with their fellow writers.
Our students and faculty have published novels, works of nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry. We couldn't be more proud of their contributions to the literary community!
Sound like your kind of place? Great. We can't wait to meet you.
Find out about tuition & fees, housing costs, and financial aid and scholarships here.
There is no separate application for merit-based scholarship. Scholarships are renewable for each year the recipient continues to make satisfactory progress toward the degree.
What happens if I'm admitted?
Stay in touch! We're available for you every step of the way.
Our students are ambitious and passionate about writing. They come from different backgrounds, experiences, and locations, but connect each summer on our mountaintop campus in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Thanks to a generous donation, all k-12 teachers automatically qualify for Blake & Bailey scholarships that take care of 20% of their tuition. In addition, all applicants who meet the priority application deadline are eligible for the Sarah Barnwell Elliot scholarships in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry or the Jill McCorkle first year fiction scholarship.
But it's more than the numbers. During the summers, our students become a part of a community. While on campus, students interact closely with peers and faculty through workshops, lectures, and readings, finding their place in Sewanee's more than 100-year-old literary community.
Our students include Dana Award and Sinclair Award recipients, Pushcart Prize finalists, and Grammy Award winners. They have written books, published work in national literary journals, presented papers at conferences, and received prestigious fellowships. We're proud of our graduates. Ready to join them and earn your MFA?
