MFA in Creative Writing

Apply now to begin in January 2026!

Let your creativity thrive.

Whitworth's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program – the Whitworth Writers Workshop – embraces the generative relationship between literary study and creative expression. This program intentionally incorporates a rich tradition of texts produced by individuals of faith to enhance the exploration of diverse perspectives in writing.

• Work directly with a professional writing mentor.
• Keep your daily commitments and attend just five residencies over the course of two academic years.
• Choose a genre to pursue your creative goals: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry or spiritual writing.
• Collaborate, learn and grow with a supportive community of peers.

Looking for more information? Contact mfa@whitworth.edu or 509.777.4581.

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Shape Your Voice: Choose a Genre

Discover your creative talents and build a portfolio that will set you apart in the highly competitive literary and creative industry. Complete a creative manuscript under the direction of a faculty mentor in one of the following genres:

• Fiction
• Creative nonfiction
• Poetry
• Spiritual writing: open genre

Low-Residency Model

Whitworth's MFA program is built on alternating tutorial and residency semesters.

• Tutorial semesters allow you to discover your voice and navigate literature within your chosen genre under the mentorship of a professional writer.
• Residency semesters comprise in-person sessions: workshops, speakers and classes that offer opportunities to connect with your peers.

Logistics

• Students are required to attend a total of five residencies over the course of two academic years.
• Each residency lasts 10 days.
• Residencies take place in the months of January and July/August, allowing for the passage of two tutorial semesters between residencies.
• A residency room and meal fee covers the cost of your stay.

The instructors at each residency generally consist of current MFA mentors as well as two or three invited guest speakers, including some of America's most celebrated writers.

Cohort Format

The MFA in Creative Writing is a 44-credit program that begins each January and July/August. You'll move through the program with a group of colleagues practicing your chosen genre as a cohort, taking each class together in sequence. This provides an additional support system as you complete the program and can help establish your first network of professional writing colleagues.

Visiting Writers

Whitworth will supplement the instruction at each of the residencies with visiting writers. Visiting writers are both accomplished writers and talented and effective teachers; they will each provide a craft talk in one or more genres as well as a reading of original work.

Writing Mentors

The heart of the Whitworth Writers Workshop low-residency MFA program is the dialogue between students and their faculty mentors. You will be expected to correspond with your mentor in a timely fashion, submitting reading list annotations, new and revised creative work, a short critical paper, and, eventually, an expanded critical paper and creative thesis.

After your first residency, you will begin creating and exchanging these packets with your mentor for your first tutorial semester.

You will write one short critical paper (about seven pages long) per semester in preparation for your final critical essay (20 pages) due with your graduating work.

Mark Burrows, M.Div., Ph.D.

Spiritual Writing (open genre)

Mark Burrows has recently published a new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus (Paraclete Press, 2024) and co-authored You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rilke (Orbis Books, 2023) with Stephanie Dowrick.

David McGlynn, MFA, Ph.D.

Fiction, Creative Nonfiction

David McGlynn’s two most recent books are One Day You’ll Thank Me (Counterpoint, 2018) and Everything We Could Do (Counterpoint, 2025).

Jen Pollack Michel, MFA

Spiritual Writing (open genre)

Jen Pollock Michel’s recent books are Surprised by Paradox: The Promise of “And” in an Either-Or World (InterVarsity Press, 2019), which received Christianity Today’s 2020 Book of the Year Award of Merit; Beautiful Orthodoxy, and In Good Time: 8 Habits for Reimagining Productivity, Resisting Hurry, and Practicing Peace (NavPress, 2022), which received the Word Guild’s 2023 Book of the Year Award – Nonfiction.

Laura Reece Hogan, M.A., J.D.

Poetry

Laura Reece Hogan’s two most recent poetry collections are Butterfly Nebula (Backwaters, University of Nebraska Press, 2023), which won the Backwaters Prize in Poetry, and Litany of Flights (Paraclete Press, 2020), which won the Paraclete Poetry Prize. Both works received the Illumination Gold Medal for Poetry in 2024 and 2022, respectively.

Kirsten Sunberg Lunstrum, M.A., M.Ed.

Fiction

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum’s recent works include the novel Elita (TriQuarterly Press/Northwestern University Press, 2025) and the short story collection Outer Stars (UNT Press, 2025), winner of the 2025 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction.

Alissa Wilkinson, MFA

Creative Nonfiction

Alissa Wilkinson’s recent works include We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine (Liveright, 2025) and Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women (Broadleaf, 2022).

Mischa Willett, MFA, Ph.D.

Director, Poetry

Mischa Willett’s most recent books include The Elegy Beta (Mockingbird, 2020) and an edition of Philip James Bailey’s Festus: an Apocalypse (Edinburgh University Press, 2022). 

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will articulate their understanding of the relationship(s) among faith, spiritual practice and art.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships within literary history, literary theory and the craft of creative writing.
3. Students will articulate the essential function of diversity, equity and inclusion in the development of literary histories and how that might pertain to their own creative work.
4. Students will apply the practices that produce effective creative writing, such as drafting, researching, revising and preparing for publication.
5. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the conventions and craft elements for the student’s genre(s) of focus.