Southampton/Manhattan Options
How do I take a course in Manhattan or Southampton during the regular academic year?
Our graduate program, the MFA in Creative Writing, offers workshops in Southampton
and Manhattan that, from time to time, talented undergraduates are allowed to take.
You can count up to 6 credits of graduate workshops toward your degree. A graduate
workshop is 4 credits.
If you'd like to explore this option, your first step is to head over to the MFA program website to see what courses are being offered. As with undergraduate creative writing, MFA courses change topics every semester, and often there will be more than one topic offered under the same course number. Scroll down for Manhattan offerings.
Admission to graduate workshops requires a writing sample. Once you find a course to which you'd like to apply, email the MFA Program Director. In the body of the email, include your SBU ID number, the course/topic you'd like to take and who is teaching it, and a statement of purpose, which should be a paragraph or so describing what you hope to accomplish in the workshop and what motivates you to apply. Attach a writing sample of 5-10 pages in the appropriate genre. I.e., if you're applying to a poetry workshop, submit poems, not fiction.
The MFA Program draws visiting faculty from the culturally rich environs of the Hamptons and Manhattan. Undergraduates who come to Southampton are welcome to attend the Writers Speak reading series on Wednesday evenings. This series brings top authors from around the country to campus. They give a reading in the intimate environs of Radio Lounge, then answer questions about the writing life and sign books. At the end of the semester, MFA students take their turn at the podium, giving a reading for the community of writers at Southampton.
How do I take a course in the Southampton Writers Conference?
For 45 years, writers from across the country and globe have attended the Southampton Writers Conference to find outstanding workshops and a supportive community. Held every July, the SWC offers full days of programming including morning talks and lectures, afternoon workshops, evening salons, and nightly readings by today's top writers.
The SWC is a fabulous way to immerse yourself in a creative community and to study with superstar guest authors. Past workshop faculty include poets Billy Collins, Terrance Hayes, and Sharon Olds, and novelists E.L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates, and Elizabeth Strout.
Admission to workshops at the Conference is through an application available in January. It requires a writing sample and statement of purpose. In your statement of purpose, mention that you are a creative writing undergraduate at Stony Brook. 5-day workshops are 2 credits. 12-day workshops are 3 credits.
