wvu creative writing club

• Announcements
• In The News

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Eberly Writing Studio to host creative writing workshop this week

The WVU community is invited to unwind and get creative before the semester ends at the Eberly Writing Studio in-person creative writing workshop Thursday (April 21) in G02 Colson Hall. No pre-drafted material or creative writing experience is required. 

MFA in creative writing student Karen Klein will lead participants through a series of structured creative activities to delve into the first draft of a story, poem or nonfiction piece of writing. Participants will draft, share and receive feedback from their fellow writers. 

Interested participants must register, as the event is limited to 20 people. To register, contact the workshop leader Karen Klein at [email protected] .

• Request Info

Creative Writing  Master's

What is Creative Writing at WVU like?

Description

The Master of Fine Arts at West Virginia University is a three-year program that combines work in a primary genre and at least one other genre with course offerings in literature, pedagogy and professional writing and editing.

Our alumni have gone on to further graduate study in English, to careers in editing and publishing and to positions in academia. They have received awards such as the Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship at Colgate and the Emory University Creative Writing Fellowship, won national prizes like the Iowa Award for Poetry and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Prize for Nonfiction and published books with Autumn House Press, Carnegie Mellon University, 42 Miles Press, Ohio University Press, University of Georgia Press, University Press of New England and William Morrow/Harper Collins, among others.

WVU’s MFA graduates have published in hundreds of literary journals, including prestigious venues such as AGNI, Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, Field, Prairie Schooner, Tar River Poetry, Ninth Letter, Northwest Review, Missouri Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Sewanee Review, The Journal, 32 Poems, Georgetown Review, Controlled Burn, Colorado Review, Pank, Malahat Review, Mid-American Review, The New York Times, Paste, Times, Chelsea, Washington Square, Laurel Review, Slant, New Orleans Review, and in the anthology Layers of Possibility: Healing Poetry. Recent MFA students have won Intro Prizes sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and the GreenTower Press’s chapbook prize and have published book-length collections of poetry and fiction. Recent graduates have won honors such as the Iowa Poetry Prize and the Walt Whitman Award.

WVU’s MFA faculty members, Mark Brazaitis, Mary Ann Samyn, Glenn Taylor, Christa Parravani, Jenny Johnson and Brian Broome, have published more than 25 books and have won many prestigious prizes and honors.

Application Deadlines

Each graduate program sets their own term of admission and application deadline. Applicants can only apply for admission for the term displayed below. Any questions regarding the application deadline should be directed to the graduate program representative. Fall:  January 15

At a Glance

• Admission Requirements

Contact Information

• College/School: Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
• Department:
• Degree Designation: MFA
• Degree Program:

Interested in this major? Here are some suggested next steps:

Requirements

What are the requirements to apply for Creative Writing at WVU?

University Requirements

To be eligible for admission into a graduate program at WVU an applicant must submit official, bachelors degree transcripts from a regionally accredited institution and hold a GPA of at least 2.75.

WVU operates decentralized admissions. Decentralized admissions allows each graduate program to set its own application requirements in addition to the University requirements.

Program Requirements

To be eligible for admission into the Creative Writing graduate program an applicant must submit the following documentation:

• Letters of Recommendation - Three
• Statement of Purpose
• Essay/Writing Sample

Additional application requirements:

• For the writing sample: a substantial writing sample in fiction, nonfiction or poetry

Certain application requirements may be waived based on a preliminary review of an application by program.

International Applicants must also submit the materials outlined here .

Who do I contact if I have questions?

Graduate Admissions and Recruitment

Email:   [email protected]

Phone:  (304) 293-5980

International Admissions

Email:   [email protected]

Phone:  (304) 293-2121

Program Contact

Mark Brazaitis

MFA Program Director

Email:   [email protected]

Phone:  3042939707

Like what you see?

Take the next step and become a Mountaineer.

Become an expert in your field.

Your first step to becoming a Mountaineer is applying for admission. Our online application makes the process as convenient as possible.

Visit our beautiful campus.

Visit WVU either in person or through one of our many digital outlets. Be our guest for a few minutes or a day and get a feel for academic and student life.

Let us tell you more.

Fill out the Request Info form to learn about the opportunities that await you.

• A-Z Site Index
• Poet Mary Moore shows us the light

Poet Mary Moore spoke of light, endurance, dysfunctional families, and, of course, poetry during her reading in Colson Hall on Monday, March 20th. She read from her most recent books, Flicker (Broadkill River Press, 2016) and Eating the Light (Sable Books 2016).

Before reading, Moore spoke of poetry as a process of thought, a way to understand. “Poetry is the insight,” she said. She first read from Eating the Light , beginning with a poem about the old battleship, the HMS Victory. Other poems she read include “Colonizing Eyes,” “Woman Seated on Stairs,” and “At Second Sight,” which explored the Bay Area and described San Francisco as “squid-bodied.”

She also read from Flicker and insightfully described a flickering light as an illustration of both endurance and loss. These poems included several about family; Moore joked that most poets seem to come from dysfunctional ones. The reading concluded with two new poems not included in previous collections.

Moore’s poetry has been published recently in Georgia Review, Poem/Memoir/Story, Birmingham Poetry Review, One, Cider Press Review, McNeese Review, Canary, and Coal Hill Review . She has published a previous full-length collection, The Book of Snow . Her work is also featured in the recently released anthology of West Virginia writers, Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods (WVU Press, 2017). She previously taught poetry, Shakespeare, and writing at Marshall University.

• Alumni Round-up

Here’s the latest from MFA and Creative Writing program alumni:

Keegan Lester, who graduated from the creative writing program, will launch his book, this shouldn’t be beautiful but it was & it was all i had, so i drew it here in Morgantown at 123 Pleasant St. on Feb 18th at 6pm.

MFA alumni Melissa Ferrone (2016) and Kelly Sundberg (2012) have received a Pushcart nomination for their essay, “I was Raped/I was Battered,” which appeared in Guernica .

Shaun Turner, who received his MFA in 2016, has launched an online poetry journal: Fire Poetry is now open for tip jar submissions!

Rebecca Thomas (2013) has received a Pushcart nomination for her story “Surviving the Postseason,” which first appeared in Fifth Wednesday .

Congratulations to all our alumni on their many achievements and we hope to see them at AWP . We will be at Booth 436, so come by and say hello!

• In the Brain of Alan Michael Parker: A Q&A Session and a Reading

In his Q&A session on Thursday morning, November 17, poet and novelist Alan Michael Parker, or AMP or Amp, and sometimes Parker, claimed to be a compulsive liar, which is why fiction and poetry suit him. If he is to be believed, after a promising early start, with a handful of high profile publications such as The New Yorker , AMP ’s career took an always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride turn: his first book was a finalist for twenty-five major prizes over ten years, but was never the winner. This was the “cold comfort” portion of his career—several of the runner-up letters used that exact phrase, such that is partner, the visual artist Felicia von Bork ( http://www.feliciavanbork.com/ ), nicknamed him C.C.

Today though, AMP is the author of eight books of poetry and three novels, with more in the works. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review , the Kenyon Review , and Paris Review , among many, many others. He was included in the Best American Poetry anthologies in both 2011 and 2015 and is the recipient of three Pushcart prizes as well as the 2012 North Carolina Book Award and the 2013 and 2014 Randall Jarrell Poetry Awards. He is the Douglas C. Houchens Professor of English at Davidson College, and he teaches in the University of Tampa’s low-residency MFA program.

His 2016 collection, The Ladder , from Tupelo Press ( https://www.tupelopress.org/product/the-ladder/ ), shines with his characteristic humor and wit, serious content “spun around hairpin comedic moves.” The poems are immediate and in the moment. He demonstrates that even if you are not the kind of person who walks around singing, the work of poetry and life—and even dying—is to be open and aware; it is to be approached with humility, measures of both hope and doubt, and, above all, tenderness and a kind of love.

From “Springtime in Tampa”:

I wish you were here: hotel sex is the best.

Instead, alone in my room, I get naked once the luggage arrives, naked to unpack, to order fish tacos, to call my octogenarian dad,

to email my destable old friend who refuses to be happy. I get naked to see the city from on high: I put on my invisible suit made of love,

and in your honor I do naked jumping jacks on the balcony.

AMP does not call himself a formal poet, but a formalist, which can be heard in his obsessiveness. “I wrote a lot of list poems until I was Buzzfed out of that particular genre,” he said during his reading on Thursday night in the Robinson Reading Room, referring to the form frequented in his 2012 collection Long Division ( https://www.tupelopress.org/product/long-division/ ). His partner calls him a tuning fork, which he finds an apt description: “The more I do my job, the more I become that [a tuning fork]—vibrating in relationship to the world.” And he does vibrate, with an eagerness and intensity to learn about the people and the place around him, to share ideas and reading lists—hearing what other people are reading and getting recommendations is one of his favorite parts about giving readings—and to continue the conversation about poetry, literature, our institutions, etc. and the role these occupy in society in this particular cultural moment. As a writer, he feels it is is his job to be awake, to notice, to see and figure out how to process being in the world. Teaching, then, fits naturally into this approach to life, and he seems a natural teacher. Teaching helps him to articulate things he didn’t think he knew and allows him to test ideas in the air, to see what works, changing the relationship to the material. And indeed, his answers to questions during the reading demonstrated his working out of things on the spot: each answer was accompanied with several “or” statements, alternate answers, all of them building and playing off of each other, a keen mind at work.

• Author Beth Macy talks about those left behind

New York Times best-selling author Beth Macy has just published a book twenty-five years in the making. On Monday, October 24th, Macy spoke at WVU ’s Mountainlair about her new book, Truevine , and the challenges and joys of researching and telling this story.

Truevine is a non-fiction account of two albino African-American brothers who were kidnapped and sold to the circus in the Jim Crow South. Macy was able to forge a connection with their granddaughter, Nancy, gaining a toe-hold in the community that held the story of the Muse brothers. As she traveled around the Roanoke area, speaking to family and community members, she realized the challenge she faced of tracking a family history when that family was illiterate. This spurred her forward. She drove people she met around the neighborhood to jog their memories; she Googled for more information in the middle of the night; she hired analysts to dissect the few photos she had for additional clues to put the story together.

Slowly, the book emerged, and she began to realize the true themes revolved around Jim Crow and the indignities it placed on black Americans. It was also about this place, Truevine, VA. She read an excerpt that described the town, which ended with this line from a resident she interviewed: “Only in a place like Truevine could a kidnapping seem almost like an opportunity.”

Macy ended her presentation by sharing audio of Willie Muse, one of the brothers, singing. She did this, she said, in order to give him the last word in his own story.

• Rooftop Reading 2016

The annual fall reading, sponsored by the Council of Writers, is one that MFAs look forward to each year. During this reading, they get to hear each other’s work across genres and across years.

The evening was unseasonably warm and the rain held off for the event which was held on the rooftop restaurant atop the famed, possibly haunted, Morgantown Hotel. COW President Meredith Jeffers welcomed students, professors, and guests, and proceeded to hand the mic off to third-year students. After readings by Whit Arnold, Kelsey Liebenson-Morse, Sarah Munroe, Andrea Ruggirello, and Megan Fahey, second-year students were invited to read. Natalie Homer, Bryce Berkowitz, Meredith Jeffers, and Maggie Montague entertained the crowd with lively poetry and prose about things such as baby teeth, mothers, and home. We were delighted that many first-year students took the opportunity to read as well, including Jacob Block, Evan Kertman, Heather Myers, and Thomas Martin.

Afterwards, students and guests were able to mingle, enjoy food and drinks, and congratulate each other on a reading well done.

• Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence Valerie Boyd speaks on Hurston, Walker, and her love for research

On Monday, October 10th, Valerie Boyd, the 2016 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence, spoke about her writing and research process to a room of eager listeners in WVU ’s Robinson Reading Room.

Boyd is the author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston and the forthcoming Spirits in the Dark: The Untold Story of Black Women in Hollywood . She spent the majority of the talk sharing her experience working on Wrapped in Rainbows in Sarasota, Florida, where Hurston wrote most of her books. Boyd read the opening pages of the book, telling the story of Hurston as a young child who wanted a horse so badly, she imagined one. Boyd made her own dreams a reality too when she embarked upon the journey of writing Wrapped in Rainbows after a previous biographer, Robert E. Hemenway, said at a festival that Hurston’s story needed to be written by a black woman.

While working on this book, Boyd had the opportunity to meet Alice Walker who agreed to blurb the Hurston biography. She then asked Boyd to work with her on her own project, compiling and editing Walker’s journals into a book which will be published next year entitled Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker . Boyd spoke with unabashed joy of the experience of wading through Walker’s journals. She read everything from Walker’s grocery lists to the handwritten opening to The Color Purple . When she asked Walker about depicting the darker moments of her life, Walker said, “A flawed humanity is the only kind of humanity I believe in.”

Boyd concluded the talk with a Q&A covering topics ranging from her note-taking process to her view on womanism and Black Lives Matter. She closed by returning again to the archives, telling us that it was there she learned what she wants to write about – simply, life, through other people’s eyes.

The Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence leads a week-long workshop with selected graduate English students. The students selected for 2016 were:

Whit Arnold Meredith Jeffers Ryan Kalis Kelsey Liebenson-Morse Kayla McCormick Maggie Montague Katherine Saunders Emilie Shumway Sarah Jordan Stout

Congratulations!

• Poet Heather Hartley takes us on an Adult Swim

Poet Heather Hartley returned to her alma mater Wednesday, October 5th, to read from her new collection, Adult Swim , and her 2010 collection, Knock Knock . She was introduced by first-year MFA student Jacob Block, who spoke of the humor and heart in her work.

Hartley grew up in Charleston, WV, and currently resides in Paris where she is Paris Editor for Tin House magazine. Her poetry took those of us in the room on a world tour from the Netherlands to Naples and, of course, to Paris. The poems read covered topics such as tennis shoes, drinking by a pool, loneliness in a foreign place, and even, in her final poem, “Syrenka,” pretending to be a mermaid during a job interview.

After the reading, Hartley participated in a lively Q&A session during which she advised the audience to keep a notebook with them at all times and discussed writing about the mundane. When asked, she listed her influences as Sylvia Plath, Dr. Seuss, and Baudelaire. An audience member noted that what she read aloud was not always precisely what was published in her book. She replied that editing is an ongoing process and described what she referred to as a “zut alors!” moment, when she realizes the poem is not done when she thought it was.

A line from Hartley’s poem, “Everything Tastes Better with Bacon” urges the reader to “take this beauty, take it.” We gladly took in the beauty Heather Hartley brought to WVU Wednesday night.

• Alicia Burton Steele on Oral Storytelling and Being a Great Listener

On Thursday, September 22, Alysia Burton Steele visited WVU ’s Media Innovation Center to give a guest lecture about the writing process for her latest book, Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom . Burton Steele, an award-winning photojournalist and author and a professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi, was introduced by Professor Glenn Taylor who said, “I want to know sometimes where are the great listeners?...Tonight, one of them is in West Virginia.”

Burton Steele began her talk with the importance of listening when preserving oral storytelling. She said that years after her grandmother died, she desired to hear her voice and her story. She cited this as her inspiration to interview and photograph African American women of her grandmother’s generation who lived in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era.

The key to her research, Burton Steele said, was being able to really listen and hear the stories the women were trying to tell. She didn’t prepare interview questions. Rather, she tried to play off what she referred to as the “vibe” each woman gave her. She cited the ability to listen well and earn the women’s trust as necessities to successfully playing the role of oral historian.

At the end of her research, she’d driven 6,000 miles to interview 54 women. While it began as a personal project to better understand what her grandmother’s life may have been like, Burton Steele plans to develop her research into several books. She told the crowd that, as a writer, it’s important to trust your instincts about what a project can become.

Burton Steele said the research and writing of Delta Jewels has inspired her next book. She plans to interview those who picked cotton in the South because while interviewing the 54 women, so many of them and their family members wanted to share their cotton stories.

To Burton Steele, the success of the project goes beyond her book’s publication. On a personal level, assuming the role of oral historian allowed her to add 54 women and their families to her life while helping to preserve their stories.

The event was co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of History, and WVU ’s Reed College of Media.

• Poet Keegan Lester: "Persevere. You Have Time."

Poet and winner of the 2016 Slope Editions Book Prize Keegan Lester writes about his special connection to WVU , his new book, this shouldn’t be beautiful but it was & it’s all i had so i drew it , and the moment he almost gave up on writing.

Photo Credit: www.KeeganLester.com

This summer, about a week after I got off the the Travelin’ Appalachians Revue Tour, I was sitting on a Mega Bus headed to NYC , and at some point on that nine hour trip I made up my mind that I was done. I was done with touring and trying to write professionally. I was done trying to get a book published. I was 29 and felt it. I had only slept in a real bed once in about three months. I decided to move home to California from NYC . I decided I’d failed and figured I’d never be able to get my book published.

It was a strange time.

I had been mulling it over the weeks surrounding that trip, and it was this heavy weight on my shoulders that no one knew about, except for two people in my family and my girlfriend. Each night on that tour I went out on stage as if it was the last time.

The day after I got back to NYC , my girlfriend and I went out and had the most somber happy hour margaritas ever. We went home, and sang songs because singing songs always helps. After singing, I checked my email as I do thousands of times a day, and I saw an email from Slope Editions. I read Mary Ruefle had selected my manuscript this shouldn’t be beautiful but it was & it’s all i had, so i drew it , for the 2016 Slope Editions Book Prize. And believe me, no one was more shocked than me.

I almost passed out. I danced pretty hard. I yelled a bunch. And I only write this now, because in the age of social media I think people often don’t realize how hard it is out there, even when you are getting published in top tier journals and are touring the country. Choosing to dedicate your life to the writing vocation will ensure you a life of self doubt, but sometimes it works out fine.

So persevere. You have time.

My connection to WVU goes way back. Everyone on my dad’s side of the family went to WVU and even my great grandma on my mom’s side went there too. Morgantown is where the majority of my father’s family still live today. Even though I grew up in Huntington Beach, California, Morgantown was my home away from home where I’d often spend summers and winter vacations and usually attend two or three football games a year. It’s a place where I’ve always felt most free and most creative.

I was wrangled into the undergraduate creative writing program at the end of my sophomore year, per the suggestion of Renee Nicholson and Gail Adams, and I never looked back.

There was so much support and such a terrific cast of writers and mentors, and I was always surrounded by wonderful people during my time in Morgantown. Renee and Natalie Sypolt were both important and influential mentors for me, and I must credit Mary Ann Samyn for teaching me the building blocks for every poem I’ve ever written. Without Mary Ann, none of this would have been possible. I was the editor-in-chief of Calliope my senior year, which was an incredible honor and later led to me co-founding Souvenir Lit, the online lit journal I co-curate today.

The majority of the poems in the collection focus on figuring out where I come from, with regards to physical, spiritual and mental landscapes. I always thought I was more like my dad, but over the last couple years I’ve realized that I’m much more like my mother and through the exploration of our physical and mental issues including depression and autoimmune disorders, I’ve learned we share a bond and a closeness I never realized before. The more I investigated my mother, the more I came to understand myself, and the investigation of our physical and mental spheres became a kind of road map that helped me see the world, and understand myself more clearly. It is also comforting to know that there is the other person going through the same things as you, and you have that person to talk to and share and scheme with.

At this moment I’m selling my book at a pre-order discount, and Slope Editions is graciously letting me keep the profits for tour expenses. So, if you buy a book now, from me, you are helping support the continuation of my touring this winter, which means all of my gratitude will undoubtedly cascade upon you. If you buy my book pre-order now and want to pick it up at AWP 2017 in DC or in Morgantown, WV at my book launch party which will take place Feb 18th at 123 Pleasant St., I will take an extra $2 of the price of the book.

You can preorder the collection on my website by clicking here.

Some early praise: Mary Ruefle: “Falling in love while losing a loved one and watching the war news on TV? Life is difficult, and the poems in this marvelous collection ask a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human? Each poem supplies part of the answer—to go looking, to make mistakes, to be confused, to be wounded, to keep moving toward a new life. “The expression of our faces when we almost get to where we are going”—that is the expression we have while reading this book, which has the pace of an intense, anticipated journey, one that acknowledges that language is a problem, that art, science, and history are problems, but nonetheless many disparate lives, both past and present, somehow meld into one small life lived, and when that life speaks—”mouth deliver us to the present”—we sit up and listen, for the experience of reading has handed us a strange joy.”

Scott McClanahan: “Keegan Lester is one of the best young poets around. Tender and wild, this shouldn’t be beautiful/but it was/and it was all i had/so i drew it pops and bleeds with poems full of mothers and ghosts,time machines and asshole poets. This a book that knows it’s a hell of a lot better to write about Jenny Lewis or Abelard or a cousin who drops acid than something that doesn’t belong to you. It’s a book full of magic tricks and walking forward. Open it up and see. Don’t worry. It’s good to be free.”

Congratulations, Keegan! Keegan’s collection will launch right here in Morgantown on February 18th at 123 Pleasant.

• Hungry Hungry Poets

The 12th Annual Hungry Poets Night took place at the Blue Moose Cafe this Saturday, September 24th. Created in honor of Gabe Friedberg, the event showcases emerging local talent by asking poets under 30 to submit their best work. Eleven finalists were chosen and they performed their pieces to a packed cafe. Along with the finalists, “less-hungry” poets read their work, including English Department Chair Jim Harms, West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, and local poets Michael Blumenthal and Andi Stout. The poetry was interspersed with musical performances and several tributes to Gabe.

The WVU Creative Writing program was proud to have many graduate and undergraduate representatives read at the event. Congratulations to the winners and finalists!

1st place: Heather Myers, “Kairos” (1st year, MFA Poetry) 2nd place: Natalie Homer, “Liquor Outlet” (2nd year, MFA Poetry) 3rd place: Evan Kertman, “The Hunting” (1st year, MFA Poetry)

Heather Myers reading her winning poem, “Kairos.” Photo Credit: Lauren Milici

• « Older Entries
• Newer Entries »

Recent Articles

• February 2017
• November 2016
• October 2016
• September 2016
• August 2016
• February 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• December 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• October 2010

Related Links

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

WVU Department of English

Apply to Creative Writing

Mary Ann Samyn (director) [email protected]

Amanda Tustin (administrative assistant) (304) 293-2947 [email protected]

• M.F.A. in Creative Writing
• Graduate Students

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program admits students with a bachelor’s degree, usually in English but sometimes in other fields. An applicant to the M.F.A. program is admitted based on his or her academic record, three letters of recommendation from former teachers or others familiar with the applicant’s writing, a sample of the applicant’s creative writing (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction), and a personal statement explaining what the applicant expects to accomplish in WVU’s M.F.A. Program as well as whether the applicant would like to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) position and, if so, why the applicant would be a successful teacher. No teaching experience is necessary to become a GTA.

Non-native English speakers must present TOEFL scores of at least 550 for the written exam or at least 213 for the on-line version.

The graduate application deadline is January 15th.

Application Materials:

The following materials should be submitted through the University Graduate Application:

• Graduate Admission Application
• Writing Sample (10 to 15 pages of poetry; 20 to 30 pages of fiction; 20 to 30 pages of creative nonfiction)
• Personal Statement (500-750 words)
• Three Letters of Recommendation

In addition, applications require:

• We do not require or consider GRE scores.
• Applicants are encouraged to submit their application with unofficial transcripts from all previously attended institutions. Submitting unofficial transcripts speeds up the application review process as most graduate programs make admission decisions using unofficial transcripts. If you are offered acceptance, you are required to submit official transcripts from all previously attended institutions to be fully admitted into your intended graduate program. You will not be able to register for classes until the official transcripts are received.  (https://graduateadmissions.wvu.edu/how-to-apply/apply-for-2020-2021/first-time-graduate-applicant )
• The preferred method to submit your official transcripts is through a secure, online service such as eScript, The National Clearing House, or Parchment, to [email protected].   Alternatively, if you are unable to submit an electronic version of your official transcript, the physical, sealed, un-tampered with documents can be mailed to: WVU Graduate Admissions, P.O. Box 6510, Morgantown, WV 26506 OR WVU Graduate Admissions, 1 Waterfront Pl, 2nd Fl, Morgantown, WV 26501

For additional information about the M.F.A. Program, please contact Professor Mark Brazaitis, Coordinator of Creative Writing.

Email:  [email protected]

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Professional Writing and Editing, -->BA -->

The Professional Writing and Editing (PWE) major is ideal if you are interested in a career as a writer or editor, as well as related careers in business, government, non-profits and other professions that emphasize strong analytical and interpretive skills as well as creative problem-solving skills.

It also prepares you for advanced academic work in a range of fields, including the humanities and legal studies. You will put your skills to work in a capstone internship that prepares you for roles as writers, editors and analysts. If you double-major in PWE and another discipline are doubly-prepared to succeed given your writing skills and subject matter expertise!

Eligible PWE students may earn both the B.A. and a master's degree in five years.

Your Degree Plan

Regardless of what other subjects you're interested in and what careers you’re considering, PWE will improve your writing and communication skills — skills that are highly sought after by employers.

• Popular Courses
• Enhance Your Degree
• Plan of Study

The Professional Writing and Editing major consists of 10 courses (30 credit hours): three core courses, one professional or technical writing course, a capstone internship and two approved courses related to a specific topical area .

The topics areas below serve as examples.

Editing and Publishing (choose 2)

• WRIT 302 Editing
• WRIT 303 Multimedia Writing
• WRIT 306 (Renamed) Intro to Digital Humanities
• WRIT 402 Publishing

OR Creative Writing and Narrative Strategies (choose 2)

• ENGL 312 Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction
• ENGL 314 Creative Writing Workshop: Creative Nonfiction
• ENGL 318 Special Topic in Creative Writing

OR Theories of Literacy and Language (choose 2)

• WRIT 309 Approaches to Teaching Composition
• WRIT 321 History of the English Language
• WRIT 460: Appalachian Englishes
• WRIT 490: Teaching Practicum (Dialect Project or Tutoring)

Tailor this major to your interests by taking one of these courses as you pursue your degree:

WRIT 301: Writing Theory and Practice

Writ 302: editing, writ 303: multimedia writing, writ 304: business and professional writing, writ 305: technical writing, engl 491: professional field experience.

Take advantage of special options related to this major:

Expand your curiosity — and enhance your curriculum — through the WVU Honors College. Two programs are offered: Honors Foundations for first- and second-year students and Honors EXCEL for third- and fourth-year students.

The WVU Difference

What sets this program apart from its competitors?

• Capstone internship and professional development seminar at the end of the degree.
• Eligible students may earn both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in five years.
• Earn academic credit through Eberly internship courses .
• 500+ scholarships awarded annually by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
• Academic Enrichment Program offers funding for activities that complement, extend and enhance your academic experience.

Scholarships

Over 92% of WVU freshmen receive grants or scholarships (2022-2023).

Learn by Doing

Learning happens outside the classroom. Get involved.

Research and Academic Opportunities

• The West Virginia Dialect project studies language variation and fosters understanding and appreciation of the speech of West Virginians. Undergraduate research assistants study the intricate nature of Appalachian dialects while gathering cultural information.
• Service-learning courses in which students develop project management skills and public-facing deliverables. (Recent partnerships have included the WVU radio station, Girls on the Run, the West Virginia and Regional History Center, the Morgantown Area Partnership.)
• WVU offers several study-abroad opportunities as well as a Certificate in Global Competency.
• Digital/public writing opportunities (partnerships with the libraries, Wikipedia Edit-a-thon).

Student Organizations

Connect with other students who share your academic interests as a member of:

• Sigma Tau Delta

View all of the student organizations you can join.

Professional Organizations

Network with professionals in your field as a student member of:

• National Council of Teachers of English
• American Copy Editors Society
• American Medical Writers Association
• Association for Business Communication
• Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology and Medicine
• Association of American Publishers
• Association of Writers and Writing Programs
• Coalition for Community Writing
• Editorial Freelancers Association
• IEEE Professional Communication Society
• National Association of Science Writers
• Society for Technical Communication

Internships

The 2021 Research Report, How College Contributes to Workforce Success: Employer Views on What Matters Most , specifically notes that “internships lead the list of what makes employers ‘much more likely to consider’ hiring a candidate” (p.10). Internships are a signature component of this degree.

Since spring of 2019, WVU students pursuing a Professional Writing and Editing emphasis within the English major have interned at over 42 distinct sites and several have resulted in job interviews or offers for permanent positions. Please see a sample of student projects from ENGL 491A–the capstone internship course.

• American Council on Rural Special Education – Writing and Editing Internship
• Appalachian Prison Book Project – Writing and Multimedia Design Internship
• Appalachian Studies Association – Writing and Editing Internship
• Berwyn Development Corporation, IL – Blog Development Internship
• Change Seven Magazine – Digital Publishing Internship
• Citizens Bank of Weston - Writing and Editing Internship
• Fitness Information Technology – Publishing internship
• Great Lakes Publishing – Editorial Internship
• Higinbotham & Higinbotham, PLLC – Legal Internship
• Land & Sea – Promotion and Marketing Internship
• Mindfit Academic Enhancement – Communication and Instruction Internship
• Morris Hayhurst LaunchLab – Multimedia Writing Internship
• New South Media – Multimedia Writing and Editing Internship
• West Virginia Humanities Council – Writing and Editing Internship
• WVU College of Law – Editing Internship
• WVU Go Media – Writing and Editing Internship
• WVU Office of Global Affairs – Writing Internship

Learning Living Communities

Live, study and pursue outside-the-classroom learning in a residence hall community that shares your interests:

• True Colors

What you learn outside of the classroom is just as important as what you learn during class. We’ll help you follow your curiosity.

Careers and Outcomes

How does this degree prepare students for a career?

Career Options

Our Professional Writing and Editing majors and minors become lawyers, doctors, technical writers and editors, and professionals of all kinds. They work in publishing and technical fields, make a difference with nonprofits and government jobs, write and edit web content, and foster community-focused partnerships. Here's what some are doing now:

• Editor/Editorial Consultant
• Marketing Consultant
• Technical Communications
• Corporate Communications
• Proposal Coordinator and Editor
• Business Analyst-Editor
• Grant Writer
• Research Specialist
• Website Architect or Editor
• Documentation design
• Government writing
• Public advocacy (NGO work, non-profit)
• Public policy (organizations that require analytical and research skills)
• Speech writing
• Education (writing for education companies or agencies)

Who's Hiring Our Grads

• Administrative Technology Solutions
• AMEX International, Inc. (government contractor)
• Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc.
• Bodymind Institute in Wheeling, WV
• Chevron in Pittsburgh
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA)
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• JPMorgan Chase and Co.
• KeyLogic Systems, Inc.
• Kroger Marketing Team
• Lockheed Martin in Clarksburg, WV
• National Environmental Services Center (NESC)
• National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE)
• N-Play RE LLC
• Red Hat, Inc.
• Westinghouse Electric Company

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to WVU's Professional Writing and Editing major, first-time freshmen must meet WVU's first-time freshman admission requirements for the 2024-25 academic year. Interested in transferring? Review the transfer admission requirements .

Tuition and Aid

How much does Professional Writing and Editing at WVU cost? And how can you save?

--> Tuition and Fees

Estimated rates are available on our tuition website. Anyone who is not a current West Virginia resident, including international students, will be charged non-resident rates.

--> Scholarships

Estimate your eligibility for merit scholarships at WVU Morgantown.

--> Net Price Calculator

Estimate your cost of attendance and eligibility for financial aid and scholarships at any WVU System campus.

Ways to Save

Here are a few ways for you to save on the cost of attending WVU in addition to university scholarships .

Financial Aid

The most important step toward funding your future with financial aid for the Professional Writing and Editing major is submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

How to Complete the FAFSA

Transfer Articulation Agreements

To simplify the transfer process, we have formal agreements with certain institutions. These agreements outline the courses you should take to prepare for transferring to WVU.

Review the full list of transfer articulation agreements to see if your institution is listed.

Learn How to Transfer Course Credits

Ready to take the next step?

Learn how to join the WVU family.

Request Info

Want to know more about Professional Writing and Editing at WVU? Fill out our request form to receive more information.

​​Experiencing campus is the best way to see if WVU is the right fit. Choose from in-person and virtual options.

Your first step to becoming a Mountaineer is applying for admission using our convenient online application.

Professional Writing and Editing, B.A.

Degree offered.

• Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing
• Bachelor of Sciences in Scientific and Technical Writing

Students may not earn both a B.A. and a B.S. in Writing Studies.

Nature of the Program

With a BA or BS degree in Writing Studies, you will learn to translate complex information into clear prose for diverse audiences and analyze how information flows through organizational structures. As you apply these skills in a capstone internship with a local business, non-profit, or government agency, you will see your writing come alive.

Regardless of what subjects you’re interested in and what careers you’re considering post-graduation, the BA degree in Professional Writing and Editing or the BS degree in Scientific and Technical Writing will improve the writing and communication skills that employers value.

When choosing between the BA degree in Professional Writing and Editing or the BS degree in Scientific and Technical Writing, individuals typically consider the path that most closely matches their future plans. The BA degree is well suited to students who are interested in the needs of an increasingly global society and want to make a difference as writers or editors for nonprofits, government agencies, and other professions. The BA’s emphasis on rhetorical, cultural, and linguistic competencies also prepares students for advanced academic work in a range of fields, including the humanities and legal studies. The BS degree is well suited to students who have an interest in science, healthcare, or technology and want to pursue professional careers where they convey complex topics clearly to the public. The BS degree also prepares students for the writing and research skills they need for advanced academic work.

Students who earn a degree in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences must complete the University requirements, the College requirements for their specific degree program, and their major requirements. Both the BA in Professional Writing and Editing and the BS in Scientific and Technical Writing are SpeakWrite certified programs.

Qualified students pursuing a BA or BS in Writing Studies may earn up to 12 hours of graduate credit during their junior and senior year.  These credits can count toward the master's program in Professional Writing and Editing, enabling them to complete their M.A. in one year following their undergraduate degree.

All students have the possibility of earning one or more minors; follow the link for a  list of all available minors and their requirements . Please note that students may not earn a minor in their major field.

Publications

Calliope , a publication of WVU student writing, is sponsored by the Department of English and the English Honorary and Club.

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review , publishes outstanding research articles, literature reviews, and policy briefs principally authored by undergraduates of any major at West Virginia University. MURR is a student-led publication housed within the West Virginia University Office of Undergraduate Research. 

Resilience is a digital, peer-reviewed journal of the Environmental Humanities. It provides a forum for scholars from across the humanities disciplines to speak to one another about their shared interest in environmental issues and to engage in an evolving conversation about what the humanities contributes to living and thinking sustainably in a world of dwindling resources.

• First-Time Freshmen are admitted directly into the major.
• Students transferring from another major at WVU must have a 2.0 GPA in all ENGL classes taken and a 2.0 overall GPA. 
• Students transferring from another institution must have a 2.0 GPA in all ENGL classes taken and a 2.0 overall GPA.

Admission Requirements 2024-2025

The Admission Requirements above will be the same for the 2024-2025 Academic Year.

Major Codes:                         

B.S. Scientific and Technical Writing = 14F5

B.A. Professional Writing and Editing = 14F4

General Education Foundations

Please use this link to view a list of courses that meet each GEF requirement.

NOTE: Some major requirements will fulfill specific GEF requirements. Please see the curriculum requirements listed below for details on which GEFs you will need to select.

Please note that not all of the GEF courses are offered at all campuses. Students should consult with their advisor or academic department regarding the GEF course offerings available at their campus.

Degree Requirements

Students must complete WVU General Education Foundations requirements, College B.A. requirements, major requirements, and electives to total a minimum 120 hours. For complete details on these requirements,  visit the B.A. Degrees tab on the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences  page.

Departmental Requirements for the B.A. in Professional Writing & Editing

Capstone Requirement : The university requires the successful completion of a Capstone course.  Professional Writing & Editing (PWE) majors must complete WRIT 491Ato meet this requirement.

Writing and Communication Requirement:  The Professional Writing & Editing Bachelor of Arts students fulfill the Writing and Communication Skills requirement by completing ENGL 101 and ENGL 102 (or ENGL 103 ), and two additional SpeakWrite Certified Courses   TM .

Calculation of GPA in the major : Students must earn a grade of C- or better in all courses that are counted toward the PWE Major Requirements. If a course is repeated, all attempts will be included in the calculation of the GPA unless the course is eligible for D/F repeat.

Benchmark Expectations : For details, go to the English Degree Progress tab .

Curriculum Requirements

University requirements, ecas bachelor of arts requirements, professional writing & editing major requirements.

*Students may select up to 6 credits outside ENGL or WRIT courses with permission from a WRIT Adviser.

Plan of Study

Degree progress.

• At the end of their second semester in the program, students will have completed ENGL 101, 102, 199, WRIT 191 and 202.
• After three semesters students will have completed nine additional credits of WRIT courses above WRIT 202.
• After four semesters in the program, students will have completed 12 additional credits in WRIT.
• All majors must meet with an English department advisor each semester.
• All majors must meet with an English department advisor to select electives appropriate for their degree and career interests.

Major Learning Outcomes

Professional writing and editing.

Upon successful completion of the BA degree in Professional Writing and Editing, majors will be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes.

• Students will identify, understand, and explain the major concepts of Professional Writing and Editing.
• Students will develop rhetorical literacies and apply these to linguistic structures and genre conventions across diverse cultures and contexts.
• Students will develop the functional literacies related to digital and print writing and editing and apply them to contexts and audiences appropriately.
• Students will locate, evaluate, and appropriately apply primary and secondary research materials from a variety of sources (e.g., scholarly and professional sources as well as informal print, visual, or digital sources).
• Students will demonstrate the critical literacies, problem-solving skills, and professional behaviors that make a strong writer and editor across contexts, genres, and media (print, visual, aural, digital).

WVU Morgantown

Undergraduate Catalog Information

• Academic Standards
• Advising, Enrollment and Grades
• Co-​Curricular Programs
• Degree Regulations
• Financial Aid
• Programs, Courses and Credits
• Tuition, Fees and Residency
• Undergraduate Certificates

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Download Complete 2023-24 PDF Catalogs

• WVU Morgantown - Graduate/Professional
• WVU Morgantown - Undergraduate
• WVU Keyser - Potomac State College
• WVU Beckley - WVU Tech
• WVU Morgantown - Law

Download 2023-24 PDF Courses Catalogs

• WVU Morgantown - Graduate/Professional Courses
• WVU Morgantown - Undergraduate Courses
• WVU Keyser - Potomac State College Courses
• WVU Beckley - WVU Tech Courses

Download PDF of this page

Download Complete 2020-21 PDF Catalogs

Download 2020-21 PDF Courses Catalogs