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The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop

Average Overall Rating

Program Description

The Program in Creative Writing is known informally as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and these two titles suggest the duality of our purpose and function. The program is primarily a community of writers who want to write while receiving academic credentials. As a "program" we offer the Master of Fine Arts in English, a terminal degree qualifying the holder to teach creative writing at the college level. As a "workshop" we provide an opportunity for the talented writer to work and learn with established poets and prose writers. Though we agree in part with the popular insistence that writing cannot be taught, we exist and proceed on the assumption that talent can be developed. Accordingly, the fact that the Workshop can claim as alumni nationally and internationally prominent poets and fiction writers is more the result of what they brought here than of what they gained from us. We continue to look for the most promising talent in the country, as we believe that writers should be encouraged and nurtured. Notable alumni include Flannery O 'Connor, Raymond Carver, John Irving, Denis Johnson, Rita Dove, Sandra Cisneros, Nathan Englander, ZZ Packer, and Yi Yun Li.

Average Student Ratings

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Student Reviews

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LOVED IT!!!

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Review of the Program:

If you're lucky enough to get into The Writers Workshop, don't even think twice about it. Trust me, the two…

April 05, 2009 | 8 of 8 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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treetops | '2002

Best Experience of My Life

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Review of the Program:

A program that really lives up its famous legacy. Amazing faculty, the students I went to school with were probably…

March 24, 2009 | 8 of 8 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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Workshop Alum | '2000

Would do it all over

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Review of the Program:

Broke even; loved the faculty; loved the town. Put the work in and you'll get a lot out of it.

March 20, 2009 | 4 of 4 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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2005fiction | '2005

Great program if you make the most of it

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Pros:
Iowa is one of the better funded MFA programs. Almost everyone gets some sort of funding, and Iowa…

March 17, 2009 | 16 of 16 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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scribbler | '2006

Midwest Writing

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Review of the Program:

You will never meet writers as talented as the ones you meet at Iowa--specifically, the other students. The faculty is…

March 16, 2009 | 1 of 1 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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writer | '2007

Don't go anywhere else.

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Review of the Program:

When people ask me what Iowa was like, I say "picture boot camp, except with beer." Iowa isn't for the…

March 12, 2009 | 1 of 1 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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Jackson | '2007

great

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Review of the Program:

i loved the program. i wish i wouldn't have spent as much money on alcohol. i learned a lot, the…

March 11, 2009 | 1 of 1 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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dr. muscles | '2007

Every writer should get two years like this.

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Review of the Program:

At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop there are no academic papers and no letter grades. This is a huge contrast to…

February 25, 2009 | 2 of 2 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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escritora | '2008

If only the real world could be like iowa...

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The best part of the Iowa Writer's Workshop is that they fund everyone who goes there through teaching assistantships and…

February 20, 2009 | 11 of 11 people found this review useful | Report as offensive

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auteur | '2007

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Contact

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Iowa City, Iowa
Midwest

Admissions

Full-time: Yes

Part-time: No

Length of Program: 2 Years

Low Residency: No

Student Body

Genre

Fiction
Poetry