Frequently Asked Questions

• What is literary nonfiction?
• What is the relationship of the NWP to the Writers' Workshop?
• Do I have to be a published writer in order to be admitted to the program?
• What type of individual help will I receive on my projects? For example, I already have a memoir written and I need help getting it published.
• How long will it take to complete the MFA? Is there a time limit?
• How does advising work?
• What are NWP courses like?
• Is it possible to take courses in other disciplines?
• Does the program bring in visiting writers?
• Where have students in the program published recently?
• Student Contacts

What is literary nonfiction?

As for nonfiction, that's a huge range. All that's not fiction is nonfiction and much of our fiction is too. "Nonfiction," though, has become a term with a public; it is the essay and the longer essay, any treatment of X that has become a book; it is the greater part of publishing by far, as any table of contents of a major book review reveals. Virtually all the scholarly production of a university is nonfiction, for the world is full of compelling stories about one or another aspect of nature, history, or culture. Within all this, we carve out a little space for ourselves by offering a "Master of Fine Arts" and stressing the "literary."

The "literary," of course, is some forever mysterious crossing of writerly intention with readerly response to it. Whoever thinks to pin it down soon finds it wriggling free. You may aim it as you wish, but your aim alone will not allow you to succeed. You should feel invited to think boldly. In your hands it may become some hitherto unimagined compilation of other voices, "quotations," words heard and found in the world. Or it may become a collection of your own most intimate words, prose poems, perhaps. We will not generalize, much less legislate, except to remind that readers contribute to its making.

If a more strictly academic task, a PhD dissertation for example, seeks to really "think a problem through," completely, we may imagine that we also need to "feel it through," and our representation of "feeling a problem through" will be crucial to whatever readers find "literary" about our work.

Or, to try once more, if Montaigne is as often cited the father of our form, we don't read him principally to learn about cannibals, or about "some verses of Virgil," much less about Raymond Sebond. What drew readers to Montaigne right away and what has kept him in print in many languages for over four centuries is the self-portrait of a writer who cared to think about such things and to feel his way toward some grasp of them. In so doing, he found his work intersecting with other literary genres -- poetry, fiction, and drama -- just as each draws also on nonfiction.

Like Montaigne, literary nonfiction is good company. It has shape, texture, and voice. It initiates and sustains a sophisticated relationship between writer and reader, one to one, private at first, but open-ended. Far more often than not, it finds a story to tell, about conditions in the world today or about an element of our culture, and tells it in such a way as to hold the reader's attention.

What is the relationship of NWP to the Writers' Workshop?

NWP focuses on literary nonfiction, the Writers' Workshop on poetry and fiction. The NWP has between thirty to forty students registered at any one time; the WW has around three times that number. Each program has its own faculty and roster of visiting writers. The two programs are in separate buildings and separately admit their students. But they are also of the same university in a small enough community that students encounter each other readily. In both programs, some courses are open to outside students. Readings, coffee houses, pool rooms, bookstores, The Iowa Review office, and the various shops--printing, bookbinding, papermaking--of the Iowa Center for the Book are several of the sites that encourage students from the two programs to come together.

Do I have to be a published writer in order to be admitted to the program?

No. It rarely hurts to have been published, but if we made prior publication a priority, you could say we were more interested in collecting writers and their credits than in teaching, which is not the case.

What type of individual help will I receive on my projects? For example, I already have a memoir written and I need help getting it published.

Given a small faculty, we must design a program in which we work with students in courses more than independently, except for the culminating work of a thesis. The NWP is not designed for a degree plan based primarily on tutorial relationships and independent study. Most workshops, however, bend easily to private purpose so that portions of your own project, whatever that is, receive studied attention there.

How long will it take to complete the MFA? Is there a time limit?

Most students take three years, two to complete, or nearly complete, the 48 semester hours of course work and a third for the thesis. The only limit is set by the Graduate College; course work over ten years old may not be applied toward the MFA or any other graduate degree.

How does advising work?

The director advises all entering students. Soon, however, you should be thinking of a thesis and who may direct it. Your courses and other program activities will lead you to other instructors who may quite naturally take over your advising.

What are NWP courses like?

Most program courses are either "forms" or "workshop" courses. The forms courses are centered on a kind of literary nonfiction (e.g. the travel essay) or on a special topic (Montaigne and the Modern Essay). Forms courses consist of both readings and writing projects. In workshops, the writing of participants becomes the essential reading matter of the course.

Is it possible to take courses in other disciplines?

Yes. Up to 24 semester hours of your MFA can be graduate work from other programs and departments of the university. Who is to say what else a writer needs to understand? Astrophysics? Life Drawing? Economics?

Does the program bring in visiting writers?

Visiting writers are an important part of the NWP. Our present pattern is to bring in two our three visitors each year for week-long, intensive workshops. Occasionally, the NWP also sponsors visits by agents and editors. See the calendar for further information.

Where have students in the program published recently?

Program students have recently been published in The New Yorker and Harper's and in such literary journals as Black Warrior Review, Creative Nonfiction, Fence, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, The Iowa Review, The Paris Review, Seneca Review, and Zyzzyva. They have also published book-length collections of literary nonfiction; please see our separate list.