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Our M.F.A. in writing offers the contemporary writer tools and support to cultivate a practice that is responsive to our rapidly evolving environmental and political times.
A diverse group of people sit on stage as they each read from papers they are holding in their hands. They all have microphones in front of them.
Type
Graduate, MFA
Start Term
Fall Only
Credits
39
Duration
2 Years
Courses
Plan of Study
Student walking through Library hallway.

Writing at Pratt

Through weekly Writing Studio critiques with students, faculty, and guest faculty, Writing Practices seminars, guided fieldwork residencies, and personalized faculty mentorships. You’ll join a community of writers invested in multi-modal experimentation and a rigorous study of literary arts.

As a part of our Writer at Large program, annual Michael Mahoney Memorial Reading, and Writing Activisms series, you’ll meet emerging and renowned writers at on-campus readings and workshops. Your studies will culminate in the creation of full-length manuscript, with the freedom to incorporate multimedia, performance-based, or collaborative elements.

The Experience

student in library, reading books, doing possible research

Interdisciplinary, socially engaged, and deeply personalized, our tight-knit writing community values a plurality of voices and approaches to writing, both on and off the page. Pratt’s M.F.A. in Writing can be completed in four semesters of full-time study.

Courses are offered on Pratt’s Brooklyn campus, in our studio space in Cannoneer court, which is open to writing students 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Writing Studio

You’ll participate in a weekly Writing Studio with students, faculty and guest participant for collective critique, as well as one-to-one guided mentorships with faculty members. Research opportunities and facilities

Mentored Studies

In your first semester, you will be assigned a faculty mentor with whom you will be in regular conversation throughout your time in the program. This mentor will attend your critiques and ultimately become your thesis advisor. Past mentors include Anna Moschovakis, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Mirene Arsanios, Ellery Washington, and James Hannaham.

Publishing Collective

Each year, under the guidance of a faculty advisor, a self-selecting group of MFA students collaborates to solicit, edit, design and publish chapbooks by students enrolled in the program. These publications are celebrated in a culminating event, and are also distributed at local Brooklyn bookstores.

Guided Fieldwork Residencies

Through guided fieldwork you’ll carry out an ongoing creative residency in collaboration with an outside social, cultural, and literary institution, community, organization, archive, or activist group. Past fieldwork sites include Wendy’s Subway, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and The Poetry Project.  Industry Connections and Internships.

Our Faculty

Pratt’s distinguished faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to develop each student’s potential and creativity to the fullest. Bringing different views, methods, and perspectives they provide a rigorous educational model in which students make and learn. See all Writing faculty and administrators.

Christian Hawkey

Professor

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Christopher Perez

Visiting Professor

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Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

Assistant Professor

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Laura Elrick

Associate Professor

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Anna Moschovakis

Adjunct Associate Professor – CCE

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Youmna Chlala

Professor

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Mirene Arsanios

Adjunct Assistant Professor

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Rachel Levitsky

Professor

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Ellery Washington

Associate Professor

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Jackie Ess

Visiting Assistant Professor

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Hannah Assadi

Visiting Instructor

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A group of people stand in front of a projector screen as they attentively look at book being held by the person in the middle.

Our Alumni

Pratt’s distinguished alumni are leaders in an array of fields. They publish widely and have been awarded numerous prestigious literary prizes. Their innovative work addresses critical social and political questions that reimagine our world.

Where They Work

  • Jive Poetic, Friday Night Curator, Nuyorican Poets Café 
  • Erika Hodges, Law Clerk, Orleans Public Defender’s Office
  • Alysia Slocum Laferriere, Editorial Fellow, Litmus Press
  • Ahana Ganguly, Assistant Editor, Futurepoem Books
  • Mahogany L. Browne, Executive Director, JustMedia
  • Irene Lee, Co-Founder, Boar Hair Books and Oreades Press 
  • a.Monti, Editor at Litmus Press
  • Angela Abiodun, Program Manager, The Octavia Project
  • Zora Iman Crew, actor in The Daphne Project (2021), Planet X (2018)  and The Legends of Sleepy Hollow (2021)

Publications and Awards

  • Alisha Mascarenhas, author of A Catalogue of Risk (Wendy’s Subway, 2024), winner of the Carlyn Bush Award
  • Stephon Lawrence, author of u know how much i hate being in social situations (Futurepoem, 2023)
  • Hamid Roslan, author of parsetreeforestfire (Ethos Books, 2019), Shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize for Poetry 2020 
  • Mahogany L. Browne, author of Woke Baby (2018, Macmillan) Chrome Valley: Poems (National Geographic Books, 2023), Vinyl Moon (Penguin, 2022), and others
  • a.Monti, author of Mycelial Person (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021)
  • Jive Poetic, showcased on TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow, PBS News Hour, and BET
  • Irene Lee, co-author of Six Endings and Some Beginnings (Ordeas Press, 2022)

Our Stories

Ready for More?

HERE’S HOW TO APPLYOUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.

From the Catalog