NH Writers' Project

Visiting writer Russell Banks worked closely with MFA students for three days during the ten-day residency in August 2006. In this photo he chats with MFA faculty members Richard Adams Carey (left) and Katherine Towler. Photo by Barbara Yoder.

Literary agent and MFA board member Jack Scovil talks with MFA student Susan Kennedy at a reception following the advisory board panel discussion during the August 2006 residency. Photo by Barbara Yoder.

Best-selling author, publishing executive, and MFA board member Joseph Kanon (center) greets MFA student Kevin Sheahan as MFA faculty member Merle Drown looks on. Photo by Barbara Yoder.

MFA faculty member Gretchen Legler (wearing hat) enjoys summer afternoon with MFA students Patrick Bernard, Lynn Safford, and Anne Botteri. Photo by Claudette Perreault.

Above, MFA students Kevin Sheahan, Jade Hale, and Tim Woodward enjoy the sun during a summer 2006 residency lake party. Photo by Lynn Safford.

MFA students Robert Perreault and Linda Butler (above) talk about writing at the lake party while MFA student Peggy Newland and MFA faculty member Katherine Towler (below) head out for a ride. Photos by Lynn Safford.

SNHU's New MFA
NHWP is pleased to work cooperatively with Southern New Hampshire University on the university's new two-year MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction program for writers. While NHWP's workshops and conferences offer quality educational experiences for writers at all levels of development, SNHU's MFA program provides intermediate and advanced writers a comprehensive suite of workshops and classes, a talented and congenial community of peers, one-to-one mentoring from the program's distinguished faculty, and summer meetings with the program's advisory board of publishing professionals. Find out more about the program here.

"This is a close and intimate program where you can talk about writers, books, voices that you love, articles that you've read. You're in comfortable dialogue with your associates, with the faculty, even with the visiting writers and agents and editors."—Peggy Newland

"This is by far the most wonderful graduate school experience a writerly student could hope for. The visit of the advisory board and a chance to network was a highlight of the program."—Deborah Oakley-Melvin

Core MFA faculty include NHWP members (left to right, in photo above) Robert Begiebing, Merle Drown, Richard Adams Carey, Gretchen Legler, and Katherine Towler. Visiting writers at the 2007 summer residency include award-winning authors Richard Rhodes and Sy Montgomery.

"In my opinion, the largest strength of the program is the faculty. Bob's devotion, Katie's encouragement, Rick's enthusiasm, Merle's humor, and Gretchen's passion have added humanity to their already impressive credentials. There is not one faculty member that I did not learn from, and they should be applauded for their efforts."—Jade Hale

Visit SNHU's MFA faculty page here. Download The Art of Writing for more information.

The MFA advisory board of publishing professionals meets with students during the summer residency. Program director Robert Begiebing (third from right in photo above) introduces board members (left to right) Sarah Leslie Welsch, Jack Scovil, Wendy Strothman, Joseph Kanon, and Barbara Yoder during a panel discussion with MFA students. Learn more about the board here.

"You have created a unique, affordable, and highly inspirational graduate program. The faculty: One word says it all—fabulous! We have all made five new friends who genuinely want us to succeed and who are committed to helping guide and inspire us in the work ahead. The session with the advisory board was terrific: All the panelists provided important information on the practical issues and challenges of publishing."—Anne Botteri

"I am not alone in saying that the M.F.A. summer residency at Southern New Hampshire University was a life-changing experience. Sessions with Russell Banks were one of the highlights of the program, and the afternoon with the editors and publishers was important in putting a face on a world until then unknown to me."—Lynn Safford

"Though I had researched nearly a dozen other low-residency creative writing programs, I am absolutely confident now that I made the right choice. M.F.A. students will not only have access to some of our generation's greatest living writers, but we are advised by an advisory board that includes some of the giants of the publishing industry as well."—Linda Butler

SNHU MFA class of 2008 poses with MFA faculty. Front right, program director Robert Begiebing; first row, left to right, Merle Drown (faculty), Mike Hancock, Ann Boteri, Meg Bieniek, Linda Butler, Peggy Newland, Lynn Safford, Deborah Oakley-Melvin, Frances Shaine, Kevin Sheahan, Richard Adams Carey (faculty); second row, left to right: Gretchen Legler (faculty), Patrick Bernard, Tim Woodward, Robert Perreault, Susan Kennedy, Jade Hale, Katherine Towler (faculty). Photo by Claudette Perreault.