"So a serious artist should seek out those MFA programs that won’t land him in debt. Are there a bunch of people reading this and saying, ‘Screw you, D’Souza, you arrogant debt-free prick?’ Maybe ... I’m grateful to those programs for giving out the money they do to young writers."
That's novelist Tony D'Souza railing on the creative writing MFA program biz during his Publishing Spot interview about his book Whiteman. Like me, he graduated from a master's in writing program--but we both managed to land scholarships that made the experience easier.
There's a new MFA blogger in business, the mysterious Llama who writes about her fears over what to do when she graduates. Just like D'Souza, she's obsessed with scholarships. Her fears have nothing to do with aesthetics or literary theory, but they are very real problems for the working writer.
Your first goal while applying for MFA's should be securing funding. Writers (of all stripes) have it hard enough without thousands of dollars of crippling debt. Luckily, our new friend the Llama is already looking for solutions.
"Residencies and fellowships and other sweet deals ... Richard Hugo House--ambiguous; Yaddo January 1 or August 1; Axton Postdoctoral Fellowship not currently accepting applications?; Also a useful list here..."
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