Robert Reeves, Novelist, Screenwriter, and Program Director
The Stony Brook Southampton MFA program in Writing and Literature welcomes aspiring writers who seek instruction and guidance that is friendly, rigorous, professionally useful, and intellectually challenging.
Our graduate students work and publish in many genres, including short and long fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, essay, playwriting, screenwriting, and memoir. We encourage students to write outside their genres in the belief that this practice informs their primary area of interest. All the courses offered at Stony Brook Southampton, both in writing and literature, are taught by practicing writers who are familiar with the writing world and who care about encouraging new voices.
Stony Brook Southampton is part of Stony Brook University, widely regarded as one of America’s distinguished institutions of higher learning. Our campus is located on the East End of Long Island, a beautiful resort and residential community with attractive beaches, a rich cultural legacy, and easy access to Manhattan. Our students display a range of interests and experience; they include recent college graduates, post-career professionals, working journalists, secondary school teachers, editors, and professors seeking to make a transition from scholarly to creative writing. Our faculty members are known not only for their writing, but also for their careful attention to the work of our students.
All who join us participate in a thriving and diverse community of writers. Many of our students
apply as full-time residents, finding the affordable off-season housing in the Hamptons to be an
extremely agreeable way to pursue the writing life. Other students choose to combine coursework at the Southampton campus during the summer with workshops at the Stony Brook Manhattan facility during fall and spring terms. The program also invites applications from talented writers who wish to participate as non-matriculated students. These students undertake the same application process as regular members of the program.