MFA in Creative Writing

This is Europe’s only two-year, interdisciplinary graduate program in creative writing. Students are taught to hone their craft across multiple genres, languages, and cultural traditions, so they can tell their stories in the ways they need to be told. And did we mention we’re in Paris?

The MFA in Creative Writing at The American University of Paris has a global focus. Students engage with writers from all over the world and read both works in translation from multiple languages and contemporary and classic works in English. Our students move beyond the boundaries of genre and form into new realms of self-expression.

In addition to workshops in Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction, they take a “hybrid” workshop, usually in their first semester. The themed focus of the hybrid workshop gives students the chance to dive into the practice and politics of literary translation, eco-poetics, or writing in conversation with the visual arts. Our goal is to help students understand how their practice fits into wider, global perspectives. And we welcome students from all backgrounds, including mature students with strong portfolios, regardless of their previous academic pursuits.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Duration 4 Semesters
Entry time Fall
Tuition and Fees €54,164
Language English

A Global Curriculum
Our curriculum encourages students to challenge traditional divisions between fiction and poetry in order to tell stories in innovative ways. Courses in world literature and translation, whether they assign translations from Arabic or poems from Francophone West Africa, offer students a global, international perspective on literature and what it can do.

The focus is on storytelling—you will be trained in any genre your story needs to be told in.

– Biswamit Dwibedy, Co-Director of the MFA in Creative Writing

We encourage students to address international concerns, and to engage creatively with contemporary issues such as climate change, social justice, and migration.
This scholarship is enriched by having access to AUP’s research centers. These mission-drive centers promote exchange on subjects the University community values: writing and translation, democracy and social justice, genocide prevention and human rights, critical media studies, and the environment.

Featured Course: The Paris Seminar
Paris is famous for its writers: not only did it inspire the greats of modernism, but it is home to some of today’s most exciting contemporary writers, poets, performers, and artists. Taken in the first semester of the MFA, The Paris Seminar serves as an introduction to graduate studies in creative writing and provides a framework through which students engage with the city of Paris, its history, its creative communities, its archives, libraries, exhibition spaces, and bookstores. Presentations by faculty members from the department of English and Comparative Literature will be complemented by talks by a range of Paris-based writers.

Learn More About the Seminar

One goal is to explore how the practice of translation—and knowledge of its politics—can inform and enrich one’s own writing.

– Amanda Dennis, Co-Director of the MFA in Creative Writing

A Vibrant Literary Community
We’re a new program with established roots—not only has Paris harbored a rich literary and artistic tradition for centuries, but AUP has, since 2007 been home to the Center for Writers & Translators (CWT), an innovative research center that publishes the Cahiers Series. Each of the more than 40 volumes of the series juxtaposes original writing that relates to cultural translation with works by visual artists. Contributors include Anne Carson, Lydia Davis, Gao Xingjian, and Javier Marias.

Paris Writer in Residence

Practitioners in poetry, prose or other genres are invited to explore writing possibilities and engage with students.

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Cahiers Series

A short book series offering new explorations in writing, translating, and the areas linking these two.

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…That Extends Into the City
Today, Paris is a living and forward-looking center of arts and culture. Our program evolves in response to the writers and thinkers currently in Paris, placing students at the heart of a diverse, thriving creative community. On a typical day, a student might hone their craft in the same cafés as Jean Rhys and Ernest Hemingway, before spending the evening enjoying a live reading by a contemporary writer such as Lauren Elkin or Yoko Tawada.
A master class with a Pulitzer-winning poet at AUP might be followed by an author discussion at the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop or a book launch at The Red Wheelbarrow. An AUP seminar on Queer Theory or Digital Poetics could inspire participation in one of the open mic nights and poetry slams that are part of the city’s thriving spoken-word culture.

Josephine Baker Symposium

The many avatars of Josephine Baker are still being celebrated today, whether at the Pantheon in Paris, or AUP.

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Evening with an Author

AUP’s Center for Writers and Translators (CWT) and the American Library in Paris co-hosted an event with New York–based writer Joshua Cohen.

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Partnerships
International conferences held at AUP and the MFA’s partnerships with Parisian literary institutions provide students with access to world-class scholars and writers and with internship opportunities at a range of cultural institutions such as:
These partnerships enable us to offer opportunities for students to contribute to the life of professional literary communities. We are committed to evolving the program over time, establishing new exciting partnerships as students’ academic and literary interests change. As a new program we are constantly building partentships with institutions, literary agents, museums, publishing houses and authors in France and around the world.
Structure

Fall Spring Fall 2 Spring 2
1 Workshop 1 Workshop 1 Workshop 1 Workshop
1 Seminar 1 Seminar 1 Seminar MFA Thesis
2 Modules 2 Modules Fieldwork
or
Internship
or
2 Modules
12 credits 12 credits 12 credits 12 credits
Required GPA
Graduate students must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00. Students with a GPA of less than 3.00 will be placed on probation. Only two grades of C (or C+) may be counted towards an M.A. degree. Students do not earn credit for grades below C.

Graduation
Graduates of the program join the University’s annual Commencement Ceremony in the beautiful Théâtre du Châtelet.

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Experiential Learning
The cross-genre, border-spanning nature of our curriculum lends itself well to international experiential learning. We combine opportunities for focused writing time—such as our three-day writer’s retreat to Royaumont Abbey—with visits to archives, publishing houses and institutions around the world, where students hear from writers pushing the boundaries of form while working across cultures and disciplines. Faculty in the department have recently led study trips to Iceland, London, Bordeaux, Crete, and Cairo.

India

Indian Literary Practicum

Our flagship fieldwork trip sees students travelling to cities across India to meet with the agents, editors, writers, translators and poets of the country’s thriving literary scene.

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France

Royaumont Writer's Retreat

What would a creative writing program in France be without a writing retreat at a 13th century abbey?

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Faculty
Student–faculty interaction is the core of our program, and graduate students regularly collaborate with their professors on research or editing projects. Our small class sizes and hybrid workshops mean individualized care and attention—and a strong faculty drive to work with students.
We offer classes on Marcel Proust, Emily Dickinson, and Samuel Beckett—allowing faculty to teach their passions and transfer that energy into the classroom. We also offer opportunities to write across disciplines and take courses from other graduate programs, so students can benefit from faculty across AUP who specialize in environmental science, postcolonial theory, bookmaking, branding, or food studies.

Amanda Dennis

Professor and author Amanda Dennis shares insights into her first novel, Her Here.

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Daniel Gunn

Professor Daniel Gunn runs AUP’s Center for Writers & Translators with colleague Daniel Medin

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Geoffrey Gilbert

Literature and creative writing are investigative, experimental and embodied practices.

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#E30022

Faculty Publications
As well as being teachers and mentors, the creative writing faculty are passionate and active practitioners in the fields of writing, editing, researching and translation. Below are selected highlights of their work.
Amanda Dennis's most recent publications are Her Here (Bellevue Literary Press, 2021), “A Terrible Beauty: On Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season” in the LA Review of Books (2020) and “Tuning Out to Tune In” (published as “Questioning is Political”) in Guernica (2018).
Biswamit Dwibedy’s most recent books are MC3 (Essay Press, 2018), Hubble Gardener (Spuyten Duyvil, 2018), and Ancient Guest (HarperCollins, 2017).
Geoffrey Gilbert's first book, Before Modernism Was: Modern History and the Constituency of Writing, was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2004. Recent publications include 'Marginal Pleasures and the Curve of Indifference: The Value of Pleasure in Late Henry James’ in Revue Française d’études américaines 167 (2021) and ‘The Durability of Affect and the Ageing of Gay Male Queer Theory. Affect and Literature' in the Cambridge Critical Concepts series (2020).
Daniel Gunn is the Paris director of the correspondence of Samuel Beckett, an international project based in Emory University. The publication of the fourth and final volume in 2019 was the result of two decades of scholarship and hard work, both by the editors and student interns. Over sixty AUP students have worked as interns over the course of the project. Learn more about the project here.

Amanda Dennis

Associate Professor, Co-Program Director, MFA in Creative Writing

Biswamit Dwibedy

Assistant Professor, Co-Program Director, MFA in Creative Writing

Geoffrey Gilbert

Professor, Director of the Teaching and Learning Center

Daniel Gunn

Distinguished Professor

Daniel Medin

Professor

Learn More About AUP's Faculty

Affiliate or Visiting Faculty
The MFA classroom is further enriched by welcoming guest lecturers from AUP and beyond.

Andrea Applebee was raised outside of Charleston, South Carolina. She received her BA in English from Davidson College, and an MFA in nonfiction, as well as a certificate in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Pittsburgh. She taught critical writing at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Duke, where she also instructed in the Center for Documentary Studies. Her teaching interests included documentary poetics, writing about photographs, and intersections between art and philosophy. Andrea moved to Athens, Greece, in 2016 with her guide dog Mercy. She works there as a freelance editor. Her first collection of poems, Aletheia (Black Square Editions) was published in 2017. She has a forthcoming book of poems, Anemones, with Magra Press.

Daniel Levin Becker is a critic, editor, and translator from Chicago. He is the youngest member of the Parisian literary collective Oulipo, and the author of Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature (Harvard UP, 2012) and What’s Good: Notes on Rap and Language (City Lights, 2022). His recent translations include Jakuta Alikavazovic’s Like a Sky Inside (Fern, 2024), Éric Chevillard’s Museum Visits (Yale UP, 2024), and Laurent Mauvignier’s The Birthday Party (Fitzcarraldo/Transit, 2023), which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. A longtime contributing editor to The Believer magazine and senior editor at McSweeney’s Publishing, he is currently co-director of Fern Books and English editor for the French non-fiction publisher Odile Jacob. He lives in Paris.

Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of six books of fiction, including the novels Pages for You and The Delivery Room. Her work has been included on the NY Times Notable list and the LA Times Best Books of the Year. Her reviews have appeared in the NY Times, The Guardian, and the TLS, and she has taught at The American University of Paris. Her novel for children, Kepler’s Dream (published under the name Juliet Bell) has been turned into an independent feature film. She lives in Berkeley with her family, and continues to spend time in London. Read Sylvia Brownrigg's wonderful work in no.30 of the Cahier Series.

Rachel Cusk is the author of Second Place (Prix Femina étranger), the Outline trilogy, the memoirs A Life’s Work and Aftermath, and several other works of fiction and nonfiction, including her most recent novel Parade (Goldsmiths Prize, 2024). She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the recipient of the 2024 Malaparte Prize, and has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She lives in Paris. Photo credit: Siemon Scamell-Katz

Lauren Elkin is the author of several books, including Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art and Flâneuse: Women Walk the City, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 2017 and a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel award for the art of the essay. Her first novel, Scaffolding, will be published in June 2024. Her essays have appeared in Granta, the London Review of Books, Harper's, Le Monde, and Frieze. An academic by training, she holds a PhD in English from the CUNY Graduate Center and the Université Paris Cité, and has taught literature and creative writing at New York University, the American University of Paris, the Université Paris Cité, and the University of Liverpool. She is also an award-winning translator, most recently of Simone de Beauvoir's previously-unpublished novel The Inseparables. After twenty years in Paris, she is now based in London.

Siemon Scamell-Katz is a contemporary painter. In attempting to make a record of a landscape, the ambition of the artist is to offer to the spectator a sensation of sharing the experience of being in that same landscape. As the painter, you can never see all that is in front of you, the whole process of seeing is estimation, very skilled estimation, of what is there. In that sense it is impossible to be a representative painter, you can only ever give an estimate of what is there. Rejecting realistic painting or photography as “a false record of experiential reality”, he has discarded everything representative and iconographic. Instead, he uses his knowledge of human vision to create non-figurative paintings that explore the experience of landscape in perception and memory “I wish to see without being seen”. He lives and works in France.

Nafkote Tamirat (she/her) is a novelist, short story writer, teacher, and translator. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia University, Nafkote studied translation at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, where she translated the Amharic-language play, Yekermo Sew by Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, which was later performed by the Masrah Ensemble at the Triangles Festival-in-Progress in Beirut. Her first novel, The Parking Lot Attendant, was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She’s currently working on her second novel, which is about the Ethiopian diaspora in the US, but also exiled giants living in time-loop prisons.
Advisory Board
- Sylvia Brownrigg
- JM Coetzee
- Alan Hollinghurst
- Laszlo Krasznahorkai
- Richard Pevear
- Yasmine Seale
- Cole Swenson
Careers
Over the last few years, new developments in technology and social media have underscored the importance of good storytelling in all industries. Which is exactly what our program does.
A graduating student will be well prepared to work both in teaching fields and as a writer, poet, novelist or translator—but they will be equally ready to act as an acquisitions editor for a publishing house; as a founder or editor at a small press or cultural magazine; or as a writer of cultural content for a gallery, museum or exhibition space.
The option to take a specialized thematic emphasis throughout the course, including courses from other AUP master’s programs, also allows students to transfer their creative skills to other fields by becoming, for example, an advertiser, science writer, or food-and-wine journalist.

Co-Translating Marguerite Duras

Olivia Baes ’13 and G’14 and Emma Ramadan G’14 bonded over a shared love of French author Marguerite Duras while studying at AUP. Their second published co-translation of Duras’s work, The Easy Life, achieved critical acclaim.

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Mui Poopoksakul G'15

One alumna’s mission to bring Thai authors to an English audience.

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Jen Steyn G'10

Alumnus’s publication explores literary translation in practice.

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Lindsey Tramuta G'09

A journey of professional discovery for one Paris-based writer.

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Graduate Career Outcomes
Our community of over 20,000 graduate and undergraduate alumni continue to offer opportunities to connect and expand horizons no matter where students find themselves after graduation. Across all of AUP’s graduate programs, nine out of ten graduate alumni go on to work or further study within a year of graduation, and more than eight out of ten report an international element to their careers.
An education in literature and creative writing from AUP can take you into varied careers, as exemplified by some of our alumni:
- Author and New York Times culture writer Farah Nayeri
- Owner of Harriet's Bookshop in Philadelphia Jeannine Cook
- Paris-based freelance writer and translator Emily Monaco
- Journalist and Founder Dawn Booker
- Junior Writer and Editor at the OECD Development Centre Aditi Partha
- Story Editor at Universal Television Mira Z. Barnum
- Poet, freelance writer and Adjunct Professor Lauren Beatty
- Journalist and broadcaster Rebecca Anne Proctor
Learn More About AUP's Alumni Network >
Career Support Services

AUP’s Center for Academic, Career and Experiential Advising (ACE) supports graduate students in defining, planning and developing their career pathway both during their degree and following graduation.

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Admissions
AUP’s graduate programs welcome applications from motivated, high-caliber individuals who feel they will thrive in AUP’s international and dynamic environment. When assessing applications, we take a holistic approach to identifying the next cohort of Graduate Global Explorers, considering education, experience and general fit with AUP values and curriculum. Students can pursue our innovative program in Paris on the MFA in Creative Writing in the Fall.

The MFA in Creative Writing welcomes applicants from all backgrounds regardless of their previous study, including mature students. We are particularly looking for students who can showcase a strong portfolio and have an interest in understanding how their practice fits into a wider, globally-minded perpsective.

Tuition and Scholarships
Depending on the length of your graduate program, the cost will vary. Find out more about tuition and costs for the MFA in Creative Writing.
AUP offers need- and merit-based scholarships to graduate students. In 2022, 67 percent of incoming graduate students received some kind of financial aid award, and the average award represented about 33 percent of tuition. The majority of our financial awards range from 25 percent to 50 percent of tuition.

Learn More About Aid & Scholarships
Application Process
Our application process is simple and straightforward: students submit their information, send us their supporting documents, and receive their admission decision within three weeks.
Deadlines
We review completed applications in rounds throughout the year. We encourage you to apply early: priority for admission and financial aid is given to those who apply in the earlier rounds.
Fall Admission
Review Rounds Application Round Deadline
Priority Admission by February 1st
Regular Admission by March 31st
Late or International Regular admission after April 1st (based on available spaces)

Contact Admissions

Fall	Spring	Fall 2	Spring 2
1 Workshop	1 Workshop	1 Workshop	1 Workshop
1 Seminar	1 Seminar	1 Seminar	MFA Thesis
2 Modules	2 Modules	Fieldwork or Internship or 2 Modules
12 credits	12 credits	12 credits	12 credits

Review Rounds	Application Round Deadline
Priority Admission	by February 1st
Regular Admission	by March 31st
Late or International Regular admission	after April 1st (based on available spaces)

Requirements: MFA in Creative Writing (48 Credits)

***This program is not yet on offer. Program requirements are pending Curriculum Committee approval.***

Requirements and credit counts differ for the various Master’s programs at AUP. Please note that all requirements from previous years can be found in our archive catalogs.

Graduate students must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00. Students with a GPA of less than 3.00 will be placed on probation. Only two grades of C (or C+) may be counted towards an M.A. degree. Students do not earn credit for grades below C.

All courses carry four (4) credits unless otherwise noted.

Workshops (16 Credits)

Select four (4) courses for a total of 16 credits from the following list:

Course Code	Course Name
CW5000	Graduate Poetry Workshop
CW5001	Graduate Translation Workshop
CW5002	Graduate Fiction Workshop
CW5003	Graduate Nonfiction Workshop: Crafting Personal Narratives
	Hybrid Workshop
	Revision Workshop

Seminars (12 Credits)

Select three (3) courses for a total of 12 credits from the following list:

Course Code	Course Name
TBC	Digital Poetics
TBC	Emily Dickinson: Life and Afterlife
TBC	French Feminist Fiction
TBC	Paris Collaborative
TBC	Postcolonial Literatures and Theory
TBC	Proust and the Arts
TBC	Theory and Writing: Queer Theory
TBC	Ulysses, Modernism, Postmodernism, and Now

Modules (8 Credits)

Select four (4) modules for a total of 8 credits:

Course Code	Course Name
	Select four (2 credits each)

Fieldwork or Internships (4 Credits)

Course Code	Course Name
TBC or TBC	India Literary Practicum or Internship

Course Code

Course Name

TBC

India Literary Practicum

Internship

Thesis Mentorship (8 Credits)

Course Code	Course Name
CW5095INPR	Thesis

Overview
Experiential Learning
Faculty
Careers
Admissions
Requirements

Programs news

Rachel Lyon, Paris Writer in Residence 2024

Rachel Lyon : AUP’s 2024 Writer in Residence

The American University of Paris (AUP), the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Irish Cultural Center) in Paris, and the University of Kent Paris School of Arts and Culture (PSAC) are pleased to announce that Rachel Lyon has been appointed this year’s sixth Writer in Residence.

Cabaret and Collaboration: A Symposium Honoring the Rich Life of Josephine Baker

Known as the world’s first Black superstar, the many avatars of Josephine Baker are still being celebrated today, whether it be at the Pantheon in Paris, or at our very own university.

MFA in Creative Writing

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

A Global Curriculum

Featured Course: The Paris Seminar

A Vibrant Literary Community

Paris Writer in Residence

Cahiers Series

…That Extends Into the City

Josephine Baker Symposium

Evening with an Author

Partnerships

Structure

Recommended Timeline (Fall Entry)

Required GPA

Graduation

Experiential Learning

Faculty

Amanda Dennis

Daniel Gunn

Geoffrey Gilbert

Faculty Publications

Affiliate or Visiting Faculty

Andrea Applebee

Daniel Levin Becker

Sylvia Brownrigg

Rachel Cusk

Lauren Elkin

Siemon Scamell-Katz

Nafkote Tamirat

Advisory Board

Careers

Co-Translating Marguerite Duras

Mui Poopoksakul G'15

Jen Steyn G'10

Lindsey Tramuta G'09

Graduate Career Outcomes

Admissions

Tuition and Scholarships

Application Process

Step 1: Create Account

Step 2: Complete Form & Upload Documents

Step 3: Submit & Pay

Step 4: Review

Step 5: Decision (in Portal)

Deadlines

Fall Admission