1. Academics
  2. Humanities & Social Sciences
  3. MFA in Creative Writing
  4. Creative Nonfiction
Work with acclaimed writers in essay, memoir, & long form journalism.

Creative Nonfiction

Work with experienced creative nonfiction writers, including Brian Turner, Suzanne Roberts, Benjamin Busch, Kelle Groom, Lacy M. Johnson, Steven Church, and Gayle Brandeis.

Our faculty have publications with presses such as W.W. Norton & Co., Graywolf Press, Ecco, Simon & Schuster, Harper Perennial, Tin House Books, Jonathan Cape/Random House (UK), Grove Press, Four Way Books, University of Iowa Press, and the University of Nebraska Press; their work has been published in such magazines as Harper’s, National Geographic and National Geographic Traveller, the New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Esquire, The Nation, Salon, The Atlantic, Best American Essays, Virginia Quarterly Review, South American Explorers, and more. They’ve been recognized as Barnes & Noble Great New Writers and been included in their Best American Series. Our faculty has been awarded many grants and fellowships, including from the NEA, Lannan Foundation, and Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selections.

Cover of Dust to Dust by Benjamin Busch, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of The Day After The Day After by Steven Church, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
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Cover of Bageye at the Wheel by Colin Grant, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl by Kelle Groom, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of The Other Side by Lacy M. Johnson, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of The Narrow Door by Paul Lisicky, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of A Sense of Regard by Laura McCullough, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of On Celestial Music by Rick Moody, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of Demon Camp by Jen Percy, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of Almost Somewhere by Suzanne Roberts, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College
Cover of My Life as a Foreign Country by Brian Turner, faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Sierra Nevada College

“The MFA program at Sierra Nevada College creates a tight literary and global community, writers who are connected to each other through our shared interest in storytelling, but who are also deeply engaged with the world.”

— Suzanne Roberts, MFA Faculty

Recent guest authors have included Rick Moody, Jennifer Percy, and Colin Grant.

We don’t just teach the finer points of craft. Our students — past and current — have published in publications including Slate, Huffington Post, the Rumpus, and McSweeney’s, and they’ve worked with National Geographic crews in Afghanistan.

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