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At a Glance
The University of Virginia's Creative Writing Program offers a master of fine arts in poetry and fiction writing, undergraduate English concentrations in poetry and literary prose, and elective coursework at the undergraduate and graduate levels. If you are just beginning, we have 2000-level classes in our undergraduate curriculum that are open enrollment (though some sections are restricted to first- and second-year students). Intermediate and advanced writers can take courses from our full-time faculty by instructor permission, and citizen scholars can also apply. See our undergraduate page for more information.
At the graduate level, we offer one of the best MFA programs in the country with award-winning faculty and alumni whose poetry and prose is in print or forthcoming from some of the top houses and prizes.
Events
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Join us for a reading with poets Brian Teare and Aditi Machado.
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Join us for an evening with acclaimed writer Ed Park.
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Join us for an afternoon with Gabriel Fried, who will read from his new poetry collection, No Small Thing. A conversation with Lisa Russ Spaar will follow.
In the News

Anna Beecher's We All Come Home Alive is Published
Anna Beecher's second book, We All Come Home Alive, has been published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK.
Writing for The Guardian, Stephanie Merritt says:
The title of Anna Beecher’s first work of nonfiction can be read in various ways – an expression of triumph, relief or anticlimax. She

Sarah V. Schweig Wins the Eighth Annual Jake Adam York Prize
Please join us in celebrating the publication of The Ocean in the Next Room by UVA Creative Writing alum ('07) Sarah V. Schweig. Sarah's second collection was chosen for the Eighth Annual Jake Adam York Prize for a first or second poetry collection, a collaboration between Copper Nickel and Milkweed

Rita Dove on Finding Your Roots
Our very own Rita Dove is featured on Finding Your Roots, the PBS series in which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the ancestry and background of a diverse range of guests. The PBS webpage for Finding Your Roots (linked below) highlights that on this episode, "Rita learns about her

Bobby Elliott (MFA '19) Wins the 2025 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
Pittsburgh, PA — Bobby Elliott of Portland, Oregon, is the winner of the 2025 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for his collection, The Same Man, selected by poet Nate Marshall. The University of Pittsburgh Press will publish The Same Man as part of the acclaimed Pitt Poetry Series on September