For the college graduate
writer who wants to concentrate on his or her craft in
a helpful community of writers and who seeks to expand
his or her knowledge of literary criticism and contemporary
literature, the intense, two-year masters of fine
arts program at Hollins offers an individualized approach
in an atmosphere of cooperation and encouragement.
Each year Hollins accepts approximately 12 people into this program who
have a strong interest in and aptitude for writing and literary study. Students
have successfully worked in every genre, among them poetry, short fiction,
novels, plays, creative nonfiction, and childrens literature.
The Hollins program has one of the highest publishing records
of any graduate school in the country. Over the past 10 years, graduates have
published some 200 books. Among the many publishing writers who have graduated
from the program are Pulitzer Prize winners Annie Dillard and Henry Taylor,
novelists Madison Smartt Bell, Kiran Desai, Garrett Epps, Tama Janowitz, Jill
McCorkle, and Sylvia Wilkinson, poets Wyn Cooper, David Huddle, Edward Kleinschmidt
Mayes, Natasha Trethewey, and Mary Ruefle, photographer Sally Mann, and filmmaker
George Butler.
At Hollins, faculty members take
considerable time to work with students, both in and out of the classroom.
R.H.W. Dillard, the programs former director, and a novelist and poet,
notes, We do not really teach creative writing. We do not produce writers
who write a certain way. We do provide the guidance of professionals, and we
do everything we can to make the program what the students here need. The
graduates echo Dillards words, saying that the criticism and guidance
of Hollins professors and visiting writers help shape and discipline their
writing without squeezing them into a mold.
In addition to NEA, Guggenheim, and Fulbright awards, graduates of the creative writing program have won prestigious fellowships and residencies, including:
- Will Schutt (M.F.A. '09) was awarded the 2009-10 Stadler Fellowship at Bucknell University.
- Luke Johnson (M.F.A. '09) Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference, 2009.
- Scott Loring Sanders (M.F.A. '05) writing fellowship, the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France.
- Lisa Bower (M.F.A. '07), Vermont Studio Center residency.
- Matthew Klam (M.A. '92) writing fellowship, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown.
- Leslee Becker (M.A. '80), Stegner Fellowship, Stanford University.
Each spring, Hollins sponsors a literary festival, bringing
talented writers of many backgrounds to campus for readings, talks, and contact
with students. A distinguished poet or writer of fiction will be in residence
at Hollins each spring semester. Throughout the year, too, writers and scholars
come to Hollins; in recent years, Kathy Acker, Richard Bausch, Fred Chappell,
Kelly Cherry, Carolyn Chute, Ellen Douglas, Cornelius Eady, Edward P. Jones, William
Gass, Brendan Galvin, Molly Peacock, Valerie Martin, Sheri Reynolds,
and Paul Zimmer have been among them.
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