I am shamelessly cut-and-pasting (with permission) this
wonderful blog post by one of the Converse low-res MFA grads from the fiction
program. Rhonda Browning White
writes her own blog Read. Write.
Live! and when I saw this post, I fell victim to Rhonda’s enthusiasm and knew
I wouldn’t be able to contain myself to an excerpt.
(For more about Rhonda, head over to this
blog post where I brag on a story she got published that was part of her
thesis.)
Anyway, here’s what she had to say about her experience
studying at Converse, followed by information about an Open House for the
program on May 31, that is open to the public. (And if you can’t get yourself to
Spartanburg but you’re interested, definitely email or call the program
director, Rick Mulkey. He would love to talk to you and see if we’re a good fit
for your writing goals. Contact info here: www.converse.edu/mfa.)
THINKING ABOUT AN MFA
IN CREATIVE WRITING? START HERE!
By Rhonda Browning White
It’s no secret that graduates (like myself) of Converse
College’s Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program like to brag about our
experience in the program. Truly, it’s nothing short of life-changing.
What makes the Converse MFA program so special? It’s the
award-winning, bestselling core faculty. It’s the I-can’t-believe-it’s-her/him
visiting authors. It’s the one-on-one time with faculty mentors during the
semester, and the ongoing relationships you have with them long after
graduation. It’s the priceless opportunities to share your work with agents and
editors and receive immediate feedback. It’s the breakfasts, lunches, dinners,
and drinks you’ll share with faculty and classmates who quickly become your
forever friends. It’s the chill bumps that race across your skin when you
finally get that line just right. It’s knowing that, even after you’ve turned in
your final thesis, celebrated your graduation, and hung that beautiful diploma
on your wall, you still have a community of writers to turn to for advice, for
inspiration, for celebration.
Sound like the perfect place for you? Then check it out in
person. Below you’ll find an article about The Converse College Low-Residency
MFA in Creative Writing OPEN HOUSE. Trust me when I tell you it’s worth the
trip to meet faculty, students, and alums who can answer your questions and
show you just how incredibly special this program really is.
S.C.’s Only Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing to Hold
Open House May 31
Spartanburg, S.C. — Discover why Publishers Weekly named the
Converse College Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing “a program to watch” in
2015. Join us at our Open House information session on May 31, 2015 from
6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Barnet Room of the Montgomery Student Center on the
Converse campus.
Meet current students, published alumni, and faculty,
including Robert Olmstead, Denise Duhamel, Marlin Barton, Leslie Pietrzyk,
Susan Tekulve, Albert Goldbarth, C. Michael Curtis, Suzanne Cleary, and program
director Rick Mulkey. Learn about the program’s new concentrations in Young
Adult Fiction and Environmental Writing, plus scholarship and Teaching Assistantship
opportunities, along with information on recent alumni successes in fiction,
poetry and nonfiction. Then stay to mingle with current students who are on
campus for their summer residency, enjoying live music with Nashville-based
folk rock band The Hart Strings beginning at 8 p.m.
More information on the Converse College Low-Residency MFA
is available at www.converse.edu/mfa.
About the Converse College Low-Residency MFA
As South Carolina’s only low residency MFA program in
creative writing, the Converse College MFA offers students opportunities to
focus in fiction, Y.A. fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and Environmental writing,
plus opportunities to pursue internships in publishing and editing through our
C. Michael Curtis Publishing Fellowship at Hub City Press. MFA students may
also participate in editing opportunities with the program’s national online
literary magazine, South 85 Journal, and pursue teaching opportunities with our
Teaching Assistant program, a unique opportunity for low residency students.
“One of the strengths of a low-residency format is how it
introduces students to the real writing life,” said program director Rick
Mulkey. “Most writers have family and career obligations in addition to their
writing. While students spend part of each academic year on the Converse campus
during the residencies, they continue work on their writing and academic
projects during the rest of the year without disruption from their family and
career. Plus they study in a true
mentor/apprentice relationship with a gifted writer. It provides both an
intensive learning environment and the flexibility that most of us need.”
Converse MFA faculty members include National Book Critic
Circle Award winners, best-selling novelists, award winning short fiction
writers and essayists, plus some of the top editors in the country. “In
addition to being outstanding writers, our faculty are energetic and dedicated
teachers who have been honored for their classroom instruction,” said Mulkey.
“In some graduate programs, a student enrolls to discover that the writer she
planned to work with only teaches one course a year, or is on leave while the
student is in the program. Here you have the opportunity to work with a large
number of writers, editors and agents in a very personal mentoring
relationship.”
In the last few years, Converse MFA graduates and current
students have distinguished themselves with honors and awards including the AWP
Intro Award, a Melbourne Independent Film Festival Award, and the South
Carolina Poetry Initiative Prize, among many others. In addition, they have
published work in a range of literary venues from Colorado Review, Shenandoah,
Ploughshares, and Southern Review to such noted publishers as William
Morrow/Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Negative Capability
Press, Finishing Line Press, and others.