The MFA as Calling Card Round-Up
August 12, 2016 § 10 Comments
Your Helpful MFA Mentor
Last month we ran Emily Smith’s blog post suggesting that the MFA in creative writing was a calling card of sorts, allowing entry into certain corners of the literary world. The post garnered plenty of commentary, and a number of follow-up blog posts. Here they are, all rounded up into one neat package, for your reading pleasure (or to share with your students contemplating a graduate degree):
The MFA as Calling Card, by Emily Smith
The MFA is Not a Calling Card, by Dinty W. Moore
The MFA is Not A Calling Card: The Low-Residency View, by Kevin Haworth
Why the MFA was the Right Choice for Me, by Jayme Russell
The MFA as Friend, by Kelly Green
The MFA as Rampant Careerism, by Matthew Schmeer
No MFA for Me, by Tim Drugan-Eppich
BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog 
Thanks for the follow
On Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 8:38 AM, BREVITYs Nonfiction Blog wrote:
> Dinty W. Moore posted: ” Last month we ran Emily Smith’s blog post > suggesting that the MFA in creative writing was a calling card of sorts, > allowing entry into certain corners of the literary world. The post > garnered plenty of commentary, and a number of follow-up blog posts.” >
Thank you! I needed this.
Debby Mayer
What about the MFA as Rampant Careerism? That doesn’t seem to be here.
Debby Mayer
Overlooked briefly, but added since.
[…] And in case you missed any of the recent “MFA As Calling Card” posts over on the Brevity blog, the series has been neatly collected for you. […]
Interesting viewpoints.
Questions: Does anyone know the amount of successful* poets without an MFA versus the amount with one? I mean, the ones publishing in present times.
Can anyone name some successful poets without a graduate degree who are current?
*Define “successful” as having a collection published by a reputable press or appears often in venerable literary magazines.
As far as I know, Terri Kirby Erickson does not have an MFA, but she has published multiple collections of poetry with Press 53 and received multiple awards. Press 53 is an independent and well-respected press.
[…] The MFA or not debate rages on, with the latest sally, from Emily Smith, called “The MFA as Calling Card.” “There’s a number of think pieces as to why writers continue to invest in a degree that will saturate them in debt, but the answer seems pretty clear: the MFA is a literary calling card, a title not unlike Vanderbilt or Kennedy that can often buy entry into the otherwise classist structure of the literary world,” she writes. There were so many responses that Brevity rounded them up. […]
Really enjoyed this debate! Thanks for gathering all the pieces in one location for your readership
[…] Low-residency or full-residency. Determine the pros and cons and what would be best for you. […]