The Helen Zell Writers’ Program is a two-year, fully-funded graduate program in creative writing leading to the Master of Fine Arts degree. During their two years of coursework, students concentrate in either fiction or poetry. Students come to the Helen Zell Writers' Program in preparation for a lifetime of writing, professional publication and artistic growth. At the heart of the program are the writing workshops, where students assemble as a community of writers to generously read and rigorously discuss their works in progress. For more detailed information about the program itself, please feel free to explore the Program Overview section of this site.
Applicants must submit portfolios of their writing in one of these genres, and should have sufficient training in literature to succeed in courses at the graduate level. We select
students with demonstrated talent and expose them to a variety of approaches to the craft of writing. For more information, please see our step-by-step instructions on How To Apply.
If you have further questions about the program and/or your application process, please also take a moment to read over our Frequently Asked Questions before reaching out directly. While we deeply appreciate your interest, due to the sheer volume of inquiries we receive it is difficult for our office to reply directly to individual questions in a timely fashion.
Questions?
Please contact graduate.english@umich.edu.
