MFA in Creative Writing Adds New Genre: Writing for Young People

Calling all aspiring authors of children’s and young adult literature! Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA) has announced that it is adding a new genre to its nationally ranked MFA in Creative Writing Program. Writing for Young People will join the Creative Fiction, Poetry and Creative Nonfiction Specializations at AULA.

The Writing for Young People concentration will include literature for both children and young adults. Students of the new genre will learn the craft of writing for a younger audience and also the art of creative collaboration. Illustrators, editors and agents will serve as MFA Guest Faculty during each 10-day on-campus Residency as well as mentors during the 5-month online Project Periods. Writers may apply in more than one genre, but will be accepted into a primary genre. Accepted applicants will have the opportunity to work in more than one genre during their two years in the program.

AULA offers the world's only low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program that is devoted not only to the education of literary artists, but to community engagement and the pursuit of social justice. AULA’s Master of Fine Arts program was founded in 1997 as the nation’s first low-residency creative writing program on the West Coast. Rather than focusing exclusively on the completion of a single book-length Final Manuscript, the MFA Program educates students in the various roles of the Writer in Society, how to make a difference on the page and in the diverse communities where writers work and live.

AULA has distinguished itself from other programs through its award-winning faculty and innovative features such as the Field Study, the Translation Seminar and Conference, the MFA Alumni Weekend Residency and the Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing. A mere decade after its beginning, AULA has produced many successful, published alumni and two Bellweather Award winners.

Serving as AULA’s first mentor in Writing for Young People will be Kerry Madden, author of numerous books for children and young adults, including the novels Gentle’s Holler (for teens), Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain (for children). Kerry is also the also the author of Harper Lee and Writing Smarts:  A Girl’s Guide to Writing Great Poetry, Stories, School Reports, and More.  Kerry holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Tennessee.

“As the new Writing for Young People MFA begins at AULA, I intend to support, encourage, and cheer on our students to help them discover and trust their own unique voices as writers for young people from picture book to young adult,” says Madden.

The program’s first cohort will begin coursework in December, 2011 and will gather in a residency on the AULA campus in December of that same year. AULA gladly welcomes all writers who aspire to engage with the world’s next generation of young readers.