The Creative Writing Program at MPC offers semester-long classes in the writing of Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and the Novel.

Courses are offered on Monday through Thursday afternoons from 1:00 – 2:15 PM, and on either Tuesday or Wednesday evening from 6:00 – 8:50 PM; three creative writing classes are offered each Spring semester, and four are offered each Fall. For course descriptions and details regarding which courses are offered in a given semester, please see the Catalog and Schedule of Classes.

Students who successfully complete five creative writing courses (or four creative writing courses plus one literature course) at MPC are awarded the MPC Certificate in Creative Writing.

As the heart of the vibrant and inspiring creative writing environment on campus, the Program actively supports these invaluable resources for writers:

The MPC Guest Authors Series brings renowned writers of prose and poetry to creative writing classes for wide-ranging discussions of writing that draw on their own experience and provide a wealth of enlightening and useful information about writing techniques and challenges. Guest Authors have included novelists Christopher Moore and Joyce Carol Oates; poets Ada Limón and Brenda Hillman; short story master Aimee Bender; and more.

The Creative Writing Club of MPC provides a supportive, collegial forum for the sharing of students’ creative work, and also organizes exciting campus writing events including poetry readings, the annual Banned Books Week Raffle and Read-Out, and more. Club members also serve as the editorial staff of the college literary magazine, Scheherazade.

Scheherazade magazine, published annually in late Spring, presents the best poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction – along with photography and graphic art – by MPC students, as selected by the magazine’s editorial staff (all students as well). A professional quality literary magazine, Scheherazade is published in print and online.

For more information about the Creative Writing Program, its classes, or any other aspect of the creative writing environment at MPC, please contact Program Coordinator Henry Marchand at hmarchand@mpc.edu or (831) 645-1321.