Creative Writing & Literature

The Creative Writing and Literature department at New Mexico School for the Arts was founded in 2019. The program provides a four-year arts mastery education in the core writing disciplines of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and dramatic writing under the guidance of master teachers. Students in the Creative Writing and Literature program are required to engage with all four of these disciplines throughout their learning progression. Within these, students produce a wide range of creative writing work and study a diverse collection of novels, short stories, poems, essays, journalism, stage, and screenwriting.

The Creative Writing and Literature department was founded upon the expectation that students not only write their own work, but that the reading and critical analysis of an eclectic curriculum of literature is essential to this aim. Various forms of critique are essential, including workshop, seminar, or Socratic discussion, reflection, presentation, and formal essays. The program fosters a reading culture that supports the artistic practice of our students. Students graduating from the program will be prepared as artists, and for undergraduate study in creative writing or a related discipline where written expression and critical analysis are fundamental.

NMSA also offers a minor in Creative Writing for students in one of the other arts majors: theatre, dance, visual arts, or music. Classes are offered as electives during the academic portion of the day, and may be offered by NMSA or as a dual-credit class with the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) or other participating college.