Brown Literary Arts

ABOUT

Founded in the early 1970s, Brown University's Literary Arts department is among the oldest creative writing programs in the country and has cultivated a reputation for formally adventurous, experimental work across fiction, poetry, and digital/cross-disciplinary writing. Faculty and alumni associated with the program have included figures central to innovative American poetics, and the department's MFA has long positioned itself as an alternative to more traditional, workshop-centric programs, emphasizing hybrid and mixed-media practice alongside conventional genres. Its International Writers Project has also brought exiled and at-risk writers, such as Iranian novelist Shahrnush Parsipur, into residence, extending the program's identity beyond the workshop into global literary advocacy.

The MFA is a two-year, low-residency-free, fully on-campus program with three tracks — Fiction, Poetry, and Digital/Cross-Disciplinary Writing — admitting a small cohort annually through a standard graduate application (writing sample, statement, recommendations) rather than a rolling submissions process. As a fully funded program, admitted students typically receive tuition remission and a stipend, though the page itself does not list current fee or funding figures, so applicants should verify costs and deadlines directly via Brown's Graduate School portal each cycle. Course registration and workshop admission for undergraduates run through Brown's lottery and instructor-permission system rather than open submissions, and the department's news feed suggests active, ongoing programming (readings, awards recognition, alumni news) rather than a static site — worth checking each fall for updated deadlines.