At its core, the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing reflects a belief that writing is a practice deeply connected to how we live and think — an art that invites collaboration, empathy and imagination.

The MFA in Creative Writing at Rice is designed to nurture emerging voices in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translation and hybrid forms while connecting students to Houston’s rich literary and cultural landscape. The program joins a growing suite of degrees including the Ph.D. in English and major concentration in creative writing, reflecting Rice’s expanding commitment to the arts and humanities.

Rice's MFA will center on small cohorts and close mentorship with Rice’s award-winning faculty. Courses will emphasize experimentation and interdisciplinarity, allowing students to move between genres and collaborate with artists, musicians and scholars across the university.

Rice’s MFA will pioneer a distinctive, place-based approach to creative writing that will integrate interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement and media innovation. Houston, with its deep cultural diversity and dynamic social and environmental landscape, provides an ideal setting for students to engage with the most urgent narratives of our time.

Financial Support

All students entering the MFA in Creative Writing will receive an annual minimum fellowship of $36,000, paid over twelve months. The fellowship is guaranteed for three years for students who maintain good academic standing.

Degree Requirements

A. Course Requirements

The MFA in Creative Writing is a full-time, three-year residential program, requiring a minimum of 54 hours of coursework. Students must be in residence for all three years of the program. Course requirements for the MFA Degree in Creative Writing are as follows:

• 15 hours in Craft & Practice (at least one course must be Translation)
• 6 hours in Practicum in Community-Engaged Writing
• 6 hours in Creative Writing Pedagogy
• 6 hours in Pedagogy Practicum
• 3 hours in Manuscript Workshop
• 6 Thesis hours
• 12 hours in electives

B. Thesis & Defense Requirement

The MFA in Creative Writing culminates in the completion of a substantial creative thesis: a book-length manuscript or equivalent creative project that reflects the student’s artistic vision, creative research, and critical engagement with the pressing issues of contemporary life. The creative thesis will be accompanied by a critical introduction in which students articulate the intellectual, historical, and cultural frameworks shaping their work, situating their manuscript within ongoing literary, scholarly, and community conversations.

Students will present their completed work at a public end-of-semester colloquium, offering an opportunity to engage the Rice community, local partners, and the broader public in conversation. This event underscores the thesis as both an artistic achievement and a mode of community engagement.

Throughout the thesis process, students will benefit from close mentorship and the collaborative environment of the manuscript workshop, which fosters sustained revision, deep critical reflection, and engagement with global literary traditions.

Graduates will leave the program with a polished manuscript or project and a clear articulation of their work’s contribution to contemporary literature and public life—prepared not only for publication and professional advancement, but also to serve as literary leaders and engaged citizens in a rapidly evolving world.

C. Professional Development Requirements

In their first year as MFA students, students will take Practicum in Community-Engaged Writing which will place them as Writers in Residence in local community organizations, where they will practice applying the writing tools and skills they learn in the classroom to some of the most pressing issues of contemporary life, such as climate adaptation, civic engagement, public education, public health, and environmental and human well-being.

In their second year, students would take two courses in Creative Writing Pedagogy, and would simultaneously serve as teaching assistants in faculty-led courses. In the fall semester of the pedagogy course, they would learn different approaches to writing pedagogy and would design their own course and syllabus. In the spring, they would design a community writing project, ideally in partnership with the organization they worked with in their first year. These might include community writing workshops, oral history projects, archival projects, or even a podcast series.

In their third year of the MFA, graduate students would serve as instructors of record in Rice’s undergraduate Creative Writing curriculum, teaching one section of an Introduction to Genre course (Introduction to Fiction, Introduction to Poetry, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction) each semester. They would take two courses in Pedagogy Practicum.