Creative Writing Program
The creative writing program at Boise State University offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
At the undergraduate level we offer both a BA and a BFA as well as our unique Narrative Arts BA.
Graduate students study for an MFA in Poetry or Fiction.
About Us
Our award-winning faculty offer workshops in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction and translation. Our Form and Theory classes provide a strong foundation in the history of each genre, with new topics offered each semester. Students can also get first-hand experience working on a journal, studying with editors of the renowned Idaho Review. Our workshops offer an intimate and supportive environment in which to focus on craft and revision.
Our reading series brings some of the most renowned national and international authors to campus every semester, including such luminaries as Denis Johnson, Alice Notley, Terrance Hayes, Joy Williams and local favourite Anthony Doerr. The program is also home to Free Poetry which publishes books and chapbooks by many of today’s leading poets, offered free of charge. Books include collections of essays, interviews, translations and poetry.
With its emphasis on developing writing and reading skills along with creative thinking, a Creative Writing degree prepares a student for a multitude of jobs from teaching to content writing to editing and working in arts organisations. We provide individual mentoring along with career presentations and access to graduates working in a variety of fields
Undergraduate Program Overview
The undergraduate Creative Writing program at Boise State offers a dynamic experience where students study with our award-winning faculty and graduate TAs from our nationally ranked MFA program. Our students can study fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and translation with faculty actively publishing in these genres.Â
Choose the right degree for you from three different paths. Our BA offers a balance of creative writing and academic classes. Our BFA, one of only 35 nationwide, offers a degree focused more on creativity. Finally, our narrative arts degree, the only one of its kind in the nation, is designed to connect the fundamentals of narrative across all genres, along with writing for film, TV and theater.Â
All of our degrees offer workshop classes, alongside surveys of fiction and poetry and a unique Form and Theory class with new topics every semester on a wide variety of subjects. Recent topics include Romanticism, graphic novels, ecopoetics, novel writing, poetry, Greek mythology and the American avant-garde.
Students can also benefit from classes in screenwriting and playwriting and have the freedom to take electives across campus on any topic that interests them.
Boise State is particularly fortunate to have a literary magazine, The Idaho Review, and a press, Free Poetry, on campus. There are undergraduate literary editing and publishing classes connected to the award-winning Idaho Review.
Students have access to The Hemingway Center Reading Series as well as their own undergraduate readings each semester. The Literary Translation Society, a student-run organization, hosts weekly workshops and brings translators to campus each year. There are a number of student-run events focusing on writing groups and spoken-word performance. Boise hosts a number of literary events, including readings at The Cabin and StoryFort, a unique literary and storytelling programming track at Treefort Music Fest.Â
A number of competitive Creative Writing program awards and fellowships are available each year, specifically for our undergraduates.
MFA in Creative Writing
The MFA Program in Creative Writing offers degree tracks in fiction and poetry, emphasizing the art and craft of literary writing and concentrating on the student’s written work. Close work with faculty and visiting writers is encouraged through seminars, conferences, and classroom interaction during the three-year course, the third year of which is normally devoted to thesis preparation.
Students who intend to pursue a career in teaching literature and writing at the college level have the opportunity to study the pedagogy of creative writing. Also offered are classes in the craft of literary publishing, with coursework in the production of a literary annual The Idaho Review. Internships and graduate assistantships are available. The program also publishes Free Poetry, featuring essays and poetry from today’s leading poets.
More MFA Info