Nonfiction at Hopkins

What's New

• New Science Writing and Poetry Courses Coming in Spring 2010
• Writing Program Faculty Member Publishes Essays in Washington Post Magazine
• Writing Program Graduate Publishes Essay in Gettysburg Review

Events

• Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars Reading Series - Dec 1
• Washington Thesis Reading - Dec 11
• Homewood Thesis Reading - Dec 12

Apply Now

Apply conveniently online or via mail

Contact Us

Interested in applying? We can help answer your questions.

Request more information about this program or call us at
1-800-847-3330.

Prestige, Quality, Value: Our graduate writing program reflects the international reputation for academic quality, creative innovation, and professional value at Johns Hopkins, a pioneer in creative writing and higher education.

• Satisfy your literary goals as a writer, editor, and author, or your professional goals in journalism, communications, and commentary
• Study conveniently near the Metro at Dupont Circle in Washington or at our main campus in Baltimore
• Take only one or two courses or earn a full graduate degree, in evening and weekend classes designed for working adults.
• Focus on publishing in magazines, newsletters, websites, journals, newspapers, and books.
• Choose from courses in writing techniques, personal essay, travel, voice, memoir, editing, reviews, opinion, profiles, biography.  
• Learn from experienced, award-winning writers and editors 
• Apply year-round, study at your own pace, publish your work.

Read below for more information about our graduate writing program in nonfiction - its courses, instructors, and what it might help you achieve. Or to speak directly with a nonfiction advisor, contact Cathy Alter in Washington at 202-288-0842 or email calter1@jhu.edu or Joanne Cavanaugh Simpson in Baltimore at 410-821-9592 or jscribe@yahoo.com. Both would be glad to help.

What Our Students and Graduates Have Achieved
Graduates and students of the M.A. in Writing Program have landed writing or editing jobs at National Geographic magazine, Washington Post, Smithsonian magazine, USA Today, National Public Radio, Congressional Quarterly, Preservation magazine, ABC News / Nightline, Washingtonian magazine, and private companies and non-profit organizations. Alumni also work or contribute to publications at: The Brookings Institution, Bureau of National Affairs, Frederick magazine, Urbanite magazine, Phillips Publishing, AARP, National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and Johns Hopkins Magazine, American Red Cross, American Geophysical Union, and many federal departments and agencies. The hundreds of published articles, essays, and other work from our factual-writing students and alumni (in Smithsonian, GQ, New York Times, Salon.com, Esquire, USA Today, National Public Radio, WebMD, Los Angeles Times, and many others) are bolstered by dozens of books on topics that range from adventure travel, capital punishment, history, architecture, food, and foreign shopping, to American culture, magazines, writing, public health, women’s issues, stock markets, marriage, and religion. Our students and graduates also have published essays and other work n many literary journals. Graduates of our program regularly earn adjunct teaching jobs in composition, writing, and journalism at a range of universities, including those of Maryland, Arkansas, Florida State, and Iowa, plus American University, Ohio University, George Washington University, Towson University, Georgetown University, and others. Some graduates move on to MFA or PhD programs to seek full-time teaching jobs.

A Sampling of Our Students’ and Graduates’ Writing and Honors

• Molly Caldwell Crosby’s book, American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History, was a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” winner.
• Nonfiction student Monica Hesse was recently hired as a staff writer by the Washington  Post Style section after interning there.
• Cathy Alter, author of Virgin Territory: Stories from the Road to Womanhood, will publish Up For Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over in 2008.
• Nonfiction student Hilary Hansen has won nine national, regional, and state awards for writing she produced in Hopkins courses.
• Mike Klesius, freelance writer, former staff writer at National Geographic, was published in Best American Science Writing 2003 (chosen by Oliver Sacks)

A Sampling of Who Will Teach or Advise You

• Ellen Dudley: Essayist, adventure travel writer, magazine editor; author or co-author of three books on travel and the outdoors.
• David Everett: Journalist, editor, essayist, fiction writer, freelance writer; contributor to three books; now director of the Writing Program.
• Margaret Guroff: Features editor at AARP Magazine, essayist, former managing editor of Baltimore magazine.
• Paul Maliszewski: Writer/editor, freelance in Harper's, Smithsonian, Granta, Oxford American, Wilson Quarterly; his many short stories have won two Pushcart Prizes.
• Nancy Shute: Senior writer, U.S. News & World Report; freelance contributor to Outside, Smithsonian, New York Times; Fulbright Scholar in Russia.
• Joanne Cavanaugh Simpson:  Journalist, freelance in Urbanite, USA Weekend, Style Magazine, American Journalism Review; essays in Creative Nonfiction
• Tim Wendel: Journalist, editor, freelance in Esquire, GQ, Washingtonian; author of three nonfiction books, two novels, one young adult novel.
• Laura Wexler: magazine editor; essays, interviews in The Oxford American, Writing Creative Nonfiction, Writer's Chronicle; author of Fire in a Canebreak: A Lynching.

Our instructors have won local, state, and national awards, fellowships, and other honors for their writing, reporting, and editing, including those from the Society of Professional Journalists, Best American Essays, the National Press Club, New York Times Notable Books, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, the Fulbright Scholarships, Pushcart Prize, The Whiting Award, Sewanee Writer’s Conference, Overseas Press Club, Associated Writing Programs, National Association of Science Writers, Associated Press, University of Missouri, Maryland State Arts Council, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, Knight-Wallace Fellowship, the Barbara Savage Award for travel writing, Washington Monthly journalism prize for national reporting, and an H.L. Mencken Award for Investigative Reporting, among many others. See the full faculty bios of these and other program instructors.

Choose Your Topic
The nonfiction curriculum offers a nurturing, challenging home for factual writing about a range of topics that, for most courses, are chosen by the student. We have courses in nonfiction voice, profiles, essays, memoir, magazine writing, editing, opinion writing, travel, review writing, masterworks of nonfiction, nature writing, and science literature. Students usually start with required core courses that introduce them to a range of forms and styles, and they then move into specialized workshops and electives that fit their artistic or professional goals. Some students want career advancement; others are interested in the fine arts and creative writing; still others want to teach either part-time or full-time after earning their degree. In addition to general Nonfiction Workshops, our courses include:

Cross-Concentration: Identity in Contemporary Writing, The Teaching of Writing, Principles of Editing (in development), Essence of Place, Sentence Power.

Internships, Independent Study: Available to select advanced students.

Be Enriched by a Broad Writing Experience
Nonfiction students often take electives in the Writing Program’s other concentrations of Fiction, Poetry, or Science-Medical Writing. Other courses of frequent interest to nonfiction writers include Fiction Techniques, Poetry Techniques, The Literature of Science, Contemporary American Writers, Film & Screenwriting, and Drama & Playwriting. The program culminates in a thesis course in which students revise a portfolio of publishable writing, contribute to a literary journal project, and join a festive student reading attended by friends, family, and colleagues.

Read full course descriptions in the Writing Program.

How to Apply / Financial Aid
Admission to the M.A. in Writing Program is based on a competitive review of writing samples, a Statement of Purpose, and other materials. You can apply and, if accepted, start your studies year-round. Applicants are of all ages and backgrounds; only some have previous publications. The writing samples, published or unpublished, should equal 20 to 40 typed, double-spaced pages but can be several different samples totaling that length. For details about samples and other application materials, visit the admissions section for more information on the application process. You don’t have to pay or complete an application to learn more. The admissions review differs for a single, specific course compared to the full degree. Just let us know your interests, even if they change over time. Hopkins offers Financial Aid in student loans, plus limited, competitively awarded scholarships beginning in 2008. 

Flexible Part-Time Study at Convenient Locations
The M.A. in Writing Program was founded in 1992 ago to provide professional and artistic courses for part-time students who choose not to interrupt their careers or personal lives for full-time graduate study. Our creative writing courses are offered after work on weekday evenings or on Saturday mornings. Some students take only a course or two of interest; most seek the full, accredited master’s degree. The full degree and individual courses are available in Washington or at the main Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus in Baltimore. About twice as many students enroll at the Washington, D.C. Center, at 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW, near the Dupont Circle Metro Station on the Red Line. Students may take classes at either or both locations. Courses are offered in fall, spring, and summer terms, with students enrolling or taking a break as their schedule requires. Most degree candidates earn their masters in two to four years, although a fast-track program is available and students can extend their studies by taking leaves of absence for professional or personal reasons.

For More Information
For information about the Nonfiction Program in Washington, contact Cathy Alter at 202-288-0842 or calter1@jhu.edu. For information about Nonfiction at our Homewood Campus in Baltimore, contact Joanne Cavanaugh Simpson at 410-821-9592 or jscribe@yahoo.com. Or please write:

M.A. in Writing Program
Nonfiction Writing
The Johns Hopkins University
1717 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suite 104
Washington, D.C. 20036

To learn more about the M.A. in Writing Program itself or on other concentrations within the program, click on the links below:

The Two Writing Programs at Johns Hopkins
The M.A. in Writing Program is Hopkins’ part-time alternative to the university’s full-time Writing Seminars, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in creative writing. The Seminars’ Master of Fine Arts programs in fiction and poetry are exclusive, nationally ranked, and internationally known full-time graduate program available only in Baltimore. The Seminars also offers a one-year, full-time science writing program, awarding a Master of Arts degree for study at the Baltimore campus only. For more about the Seminars’ acclaimed MFA programs in fiction and poetry programs, link to www.jhu.edu/writsem. For information about the Seminar’s full-time science writing program, link to www.jhu.edu/writingseminars/ma_science_writing. The full-time Seminars, including its MFA and science-writing programs, has a separate application process from the M.A. in Writing Program, which is designed for part-time study in Washington or Baltimore.

STUDY ABROAD AT OUR SUMMER CONFERENCE
Our program offers a special Hopkins Conference on Craft in which students can earn a graduate course credit in a concentrated period of about 12 days. The 2010 conference will be held again in Florence, Italy – site of our 2006 and 2007 events. The 2009 conference was held in Bar Harbor, Maine. The conference features writing workshops with nationally prominent writers from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere such as National Book Award novelist Alice McDermott, acclaimed poets Mary Jo Salter or Dave Smith, fiction writers Jean McGarry and Brad Leithauser, and prominent literary editor Robert Wilson. For more about the conference, see http://writing.jhu.edu/craftconference or email craftconference@jhu.edu.

Web site maintained by the Office of Advanced Academic Programs
© 2009, The Johns Hopkins University