We’ve got your book.
Whether you are a mid-career writer, a journalist, or an aspiring author, King’s MFA is designed for you. Bring us your idea for a narrative nonfiction book, a collection of essays, or a biography or memoir and we can help you turn it into a manuscript that’s on the road to publication.
We’ll help you learn the craft and practice of being an author as you hone your skills under the mentorship of award-winning nonfiction writers and editors. With the additional help of top publishing professionals in Canada and the United States, you’ll do all this and more in just two years. The bonus, of course, is that you earn a prestigious MFA degree along the way.
Download our free ebook Mastering Nonfiction: Tips & Techniques from the Mentors and Faculty of the King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction
The MFA is a two-year limited residency program. During annual June residencies on the campus at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, students deepen their understanding of the art and craft of nonfiction writing through lectures, seminars, panels, workshops and readings as well as work intensively on their own projects with their mentors. During two six-day January residencies, one featuring guests primarily from New York and one featuring guests from the Canadian publishing industry (most based in Toronto), students learn about the latest trends in the publishing industry and discuss their writing projects with editors, agents, and publishers based in North America’s main publishing hubs. Between residencies, students take part in occasional online webinars and readings and continue to work off-campus on their two major projects—a book proposal and their book manuscript—with the support and guidance of their mentors. This low-residency feature, and the exclusive focus on creative nonfiction, make the King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction the only program of its kind in Canada.
It’s also one of the premier degree programs in North America for authors writing in this genre. Kim Pittaway, interim Director of Writing & Publishing, has a 30-year career as a writer, editor and educator. Her teaching colleagues at King’s – Stephen Kimber and Dean Jobb – along with the stellar group of writing mentors, are all published authors, award-winning journalists, and highly successful writing instructors. Together they have written or edited more than fifty books and been nominated for at least a hundred national magazine or newspaper awards. So far, almost 50 graduates of the program have published or are under contract to publish nonfiction books, and our alumni have been finalists for and winners of numerous nonfiction book awards, including the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Non-Fiction), the Pottersfield Creative Nonfiction Contest and more.
We invite you to take the challenge. Join other talented writers and our award-winning faculty and turn your great idea into an equally great book.
Read about MFA book deals
It’s Time to Write Your Book – January 2023 online panel session
It’s Time to Tell Your Story – February 2023 online panel session
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