Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing

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The Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing is a graduate program in creative writing based at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine, United States. Stonecoast is one of the oldest low-residency creative writing programs in the United States and is notable for being one of only two such programs in the country to offer a degree in popular fiction. The Stonecoast MFA program is a low-residency program. Ten-day residencies for students, faculty, and visiting writers are held each January and June. The rest of a student's academic work during the two-year program is pursued on a one-on-one basis under the leadership of a faculty mentor.

Stonecoast MFA enrolls approximately 100 students in four major genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and popular fiction. Literary translation, performance, writing for stage and screen, writing Nature, and cross-genre writing are pursued as elective options. Students choose one track that focuses an intensive research project in their third semester from among craft, creative collaboration, literary theory, publishing, social justice/community service, and teaching/pedagogy The program is accredited through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

Founded in 2002 by Barbara Lee Hope, Ken Rosen, and Dianne Benedict, Stonecoast came to national prominence under the direction of poet Annie Finch who served as director from 2004 to 2013.^[1] One of the oldest of the second wave of low-residency graduate programs in creative writing, following on the first wave of the programs at Warren Wilson College, Goddard College, and Bennington College, Stonecoast departed from its predecessor programs in a number of innovative ways that have influenced subsequent programs. These included more flexibility in cross-genre work, more student input into mentor choice and curriculum, seminar-style classes as opposed to lectures, and more flexibility in third-semester projects. The program received coverage in The Atlantic Monthly feature on MFA programs focusing in particular on its Ireland residency and popular fiction component.^[2] Other innovative curricular features include a foundation workshop in poetic meter for incoming poets and student-initiated elective workshops on special topics in writing.

Stonecoast has been ranked consistently among the "Top Ten Low-Residency Programs" by Poets & Writers magazine since 2011.