The national magazine Poets & Writers published that UNCW’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is one of the top 25 programs in the country. P&W published this list in the latest issue of their magazine.

Lavonne Adams, the Creative Writing MFA coordinator and lecturer who focuses in poetry, commented on behalf of the department saying, “We are all extremely pleased by this announcement of our ranking, which is public acknowledgement of years of hard work and dedication to both our students and the craft of writing.”

The program was created in 1996 and has risen fast among the other national programs for creative writing. On the MFA Web site (http://www.uncw.edu/writers/mfa.html), the program is described as “an intensive, three-year studio-academic experience in the writing of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction- [that] joins students who share a common passion and faculty members who provide critical support of their work.”

P&W ranked the program at fifth in the creative nonfiction genre, 22 in the poetry genre, and 25 in the fiction genre.

“We’re also thrilled that we landed the number five spot in the creative nonfiction genre!” Adams exclaimed.

Overall, P&W recognized UNCW’s MFA program at number 24. With this ranking, UNCW was placed above other institutions such as Sarah Lawrence College, Boston University, Penn State, University of Virginia and 26 more.

Adams commented that, in regards to the UNCW MFA program, “there is something equally important that is less easy to qualify/quantify, and that’s the spirit of community found in every aspect of our undergraduate and graduate program.”

Poets & Writers magazine can be purchased in chain bookstores. The article, “The Top Fifty MFA Programs in the United States: A Comprehensive Guide” by Seth Abramson can be viewed in full at http://www.pw.org.