I have so many exciting things going on I’m about to burst! I’ll tell you all about them in a separate post. Here I want to talk about The Newport MFA, a low residency program on the gorgeous Salve Regina University campus in Newport RI that I founded and Co direct with the talented poet Jen McClanaghan. Lots of people don’t know about the wonders of a low res program, so here’s everything you need to know about ours!
THE NEWPORT MFA FACT SHEET:
Our vibrant low-residency program confers an MFA in creative writing in one of the world's most beautiful settings. Newport, Rhode Island is a vacationland steeped in cultural and literary history - home to novelists and to novels by Henry James, Thornton Wilder and Edith Wharton.
The Newport MFA immerses students in the creative life through an intensive study of the craft of writing guided by dedicated faculty. Residencies consist of daily workshops, craft lectures, manuscript consultations, and keynote readings, initiating students into the writing life as well as the business of publishing and editing. Students spend the months between residencies writing and reflecting in an individualized mentorship with eminent writers.
Our program is dedicated to the rigor of graduate study, to providing outstanding guides and mentors in the field, and to balancing the solitude of writing with a dynamic community experience. Students may choose to specialize in fiction, historical fiction, poetry or nonfiction.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LOW RESIDENCY PROGRAM AND A STANDARD MFA?
A standard MFA program requires students to live on or near the university for 2-3 years and to attend workshops, classes and lectures every week for two semesters a year.
A low residency MFA program requires students to attend two week-long campus residencies a year. During that week—one in January and one in June--students attend workshops, classes, craft talks, and readings. In between residencies, students work one-on-one with a faculty member by sending monthly packets of creative work and reading annotations via email or standard mail.
In the third semester, students continue writing creatively while also writing a critical thesis under the mentorship of a faculty member. The fourth semester is devoted to creative work—finishing that novel or memoir, the poetry or short story or essay collection. During the final and fifth semester residency, graduating students give a craft talk and a reading from their work.
The benefits of a low residency MFA program are many. A student gets to have a writing community without needing to move from home or work while still enjoying a rigorous, creative environment during the residencies. During the non-residency semesters, students get the opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty while during the residencies they attend faculty run workshops with their peers. In addition, students meet and interact with guest writers, editors, and agents during the residencies. With the responsibilities of family, work, and life demands, a low residency MFA program allows students to get their MFA without changing their lives.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE NEWPORT MFA FROM OTHER LOW RESIDENCY MFAS?
The Newport MFA is held on the campus of beautiful Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Salve Regina’s eighty acre campus is made up of seven Gilded Age estates, including Ochre Court, a fifty room mansion where we hold our opening night reception. The campus is bordered on one side by the famous Cliff Walk, a 3.5 mile path overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The Newport MFA gives students the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate beautiful, historic Newport, Rhode Island. Founded in 1639—under the governorship of famous traitor Benedict Arnold—by the turn of the twentieth century, Newport became the summer residence for some of the wealthiest families in the United States, including the Vanderbilt’s and the Astor’s. Edith Wharton famously described the social scene in Newport in her 1920 novel, The Age of Innocence. “Ah, good conversation,” Wharton wrote of Newport, “there’s nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.” We couldn’t agree more! Jackie Kennedy grew up on Hammersmith Farm, where in 1953 the wedding reception for her marriage to John F. Kennedy was held.
During the June residency, students and faculty take an afternoon sailing trip together to enjoy the summer sunshine and to see Newport from the water, as thousands do every year. In January, we tour the beautiful mansions that line Bellevue Avenue, to understand and experience Newport’s history.
In addition to our breathtaking, historical setting, The Newport MFA is unique because of our faculty and guest writers.
The director, Ann Hood, is the author of the best selling novels The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, and The Book That Matters Most; the memoir, Comfort: A journey Through Grief, which was named one of the top ten non-fiction books of 2008; and has received two Pushcart prizes, two Best American Food Writing Awards, a Best American Travel Writing Award, and A Best American Spiritual Writing Award.
Hood and Program Director, the poet Jen McClanaghan who is the winner of the 2009 Georgetown Review Prize, author of the poetry collection River Legs, and Salve Regina University writer-in-residence, are at the residencies with our students and faculty, which includes Charles Coe, Alden Jones, Edgar Kunz, Allen Kurzweil, Bernadette Murphy, Taylor Polites, and Tim Weed.
Guest faculty includes Alice Hoffman, Andre DubusIII, Dani Shapiro, Sheila Weller, and Major Jackson, among others.
WHAT’S THIS ABOUT HAVANA?
Our optional Havana Residency in January is a one-of-a-kind experience. Along with regular workshops and craft talks, students actively engage with Cuban writers and artists, explore off the beaten track historical and cultural sites, and visit Ernest Hemingway’s house, Finca Vigia.
The Newport MFA: a perfect combination of creativity, history, beauty, and inspiration, which is all yours to have. Just call or email us for more information or to get an application. Remember, we have new classes beginning every June and January!
Phone: (800) 637-0002
Email: admissions.salve.edu
