The MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults announces 2008 application deadline

ST. PAUL, Minn. (May 15, 2007) – Hamline University’s Graduate School of Liberal Studies has announced it will accept applications for the 2008 program year until September 1, 2007.

The program will begin with an on-campus residency in January of 2008, featuring faculty who are experts in all reading levels and genres of children’s literature: picture book, middle grade and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The program focuses both on exploration and development of the writers’ craft and on deepening students’ knowledge of the history, tradition, and criticism of children’s literature and the contemporary issues that surround it. Creative and critical writing requirements and a comprehensive reading list mean that participants practice both scholarship and craft development in equal measure. The program thrives in a literary community with strong collegial relationships; students visit the famed Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota to view original manuscripts and artwork. Visiting editors from major publishers bring students real-world knowledge of the competitive marketplace. Program faculty (a distinguished group that includes Carolyn Coman, Kate DiCamillo, Ron Koertge, and Alison McGhee, among others) are award-winning authors who understand the process through which a nascent idea becomes a published book.

More information is available on the program website at: http://www.hamline.edu/mfa-children