Program faculty have received national and international recognition for their books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction including the PEN Center USA Award in Poetry, PEN/Faulkner Award for Best American Fiction, Pushcart Prize, and Society of Midland Authors Award among others.

The program is affiliated with Black Mountain Institute, an international center for creative writers and scholars led by UNLV President Emerita Carol C. Harter. BMI supports a number of literary programs and publications, including a Reading & Panels series, the Diana L. Bennett Fellows program, City of Asylum Las Vegas, Rainmaker Translations, and the literary journals Witness and Interim.

A Message from the Chair

Welcome to this web site featuring the Creative Writing Program of UNLV’s Department of English. Here you will find a wealth of information about this distinguished program and its faculty, about how to apply to its highly-regarded MFA degree program and PhD with Creative Dissertation track, along with links to UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute. This privately endowed and supported Institute is one of the Southwest’s most active literary centers; the English department’s creative writing faculty is affiliated with the Institute and together they collaborate on a wide variety of artistic initiatives on campus and in the Las Vegas Valley.

I hope you will participate in as many of the activities described in these pages as you can. If you are a resident of Las Vegas we invite you to attend the readings, discussions and programs described here. If you are interested in becoming a student of creative writing you will find here links to apply not only to this program but also to our other undergraduate and graduate programs in literature and language. The Department is a vibrant center of cultural life in southern Nevada; please join us in our activities.

Yours sincerely,

- Richard Harp
Professor & Chair, UNLV English Department

Welcome message

Welcome to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas English Department’s new MFA and Ph.D. (with creative dissertation) web page. Here you will be able to: find application and program information; discover who our recent and forthcoming visitors are; read alumni information; see photographs of us in action; connect with our faculty; and generally get to know what our international program is all about, whether regarding our unique Peace Corps connection or our regular semester abroad requirement.

I, along with Black Mountain Institute’s Executive Director and President Emerita, Carol C. Harter, would also like to point out links to the Black Mountain Institute (BMI), which is formally affiliated with our graduate writing program as of this year. BMI is one of our nation’s foremost literary think tanks, bringing writers and thinkers to campus, providing fellowships for writers in mid-career, and also providing the visiting Elias Ghanam Chair in Creative Writing. We look forward to future collaboration with our creative writing students and welcome their attendance at all BMI receptions and events.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at mfaunlv@unlv.nevada.edu if you have specific questions.

Yours sincerely,

- Richard Wiley
Professor of English, Director of Creative Writing & Associate Director, BMI

- Carol C. Harter
President Emerita, Regents Professor, & Executive Director, BMI