Teaching in the Department of
Creative Writing

Established in 1999 under the leadership of Mark Cox, UNCW's Department of Creative Writing now includes a faculty of fifteen. In less than a decade, the department has made its mark as one of the most interesting young MFA programs in the country.

"It is so exciting to be involved with a program that is so young and so vibrant," says faculty member Karen Bender, author of Like Normal People (Houghton Mifflin, 2000). "Where else can you get such personal attention from such a talented, dedicated faculty? UNCW keeps the right balance between a small, supportive community of writers and outsized ambition."

The department's permanant faculty is augmented annually by a diverse and accomplished group of visiting writers. The dozen or so visiting writers and readers each year share their work with graduate and undergraduate students, conduct workshops and seminars, and offer advice about the craft of writing and the business of publishing. Guests have included winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Walt Whitman Award.

Each spring creative writing classes are suspended for a week for our Writers' Week, an intense schedule of workshops, readings, and one-on-one manuscript conferences.

Visit Randall Library's archive of interviews with Southeast North Carolina Writers.

List of faculty books