Poetry at Hopkins
Develop Writing Craft and Reading Knowledge
in Free Verse, Formal Poetry, Poetics, & Literature
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.
- Study and write free verse, formal poetry, or both.
- Attend conveniently near the Metro at Dupont Circle in Washington or at our main Homewood campus in Baltimore.
- Choose from courses in poetry techniques, criticism, poetics, and reading.
- Take only one or two courses or earn a full graduate degree, in evening and weekend classes designed for working adults.
- Focus on publishing your poems in print and online journals, magazines, and books.
- 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 poetry – its courses, instructors, and what it might help you achieve. Or contact Ed Perlman, Faculty Advisor in Poetry, by emailing edperlman@jhu.edu or phoning 202-265-2604.
What Our Students and Graduates Have Achieved
Graduates and students of the M.A. in Writing Program’s poetry concentration in creative writing have authored collections, won local and national awards, and published scores of poems in print and online journals, magazines, and anthologies. They have landed writing or editing jobs at national magazines and at literary reviews. Many also use their degrees to advance teaching careers at all levels. And our students and graduates have edited or published essays and other work in journals, magazines, anthologies, and other venues:
- Steve Kistulentz, whose poems have appeared in a dozen journals, won a 2006 and 2007 Academy of American Poets John Mackay Shaw Prize and was a Poetry Fellow at the Writers at Work Conference. He has a poem in the upcoming edition of Best New Poets, edited by Mark Strand.
- Rachel Adams is the creator and editor of an online poetry journal,
www.linesandstars.com - Cynthia Chin, a recipient of a National Council of Teachers of English Promising Young Writer’s Award, was cited by New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman as “the future of our nation’s talented young writers.” Two of her poems were published in the Fall 2008 Saranac Review.
- Eugénie Bisculco, who now lives in Rome, authored Looking for Mrs. Empty in the Argonne Hotel Press Chapbook Series.
- Salimah Perkins has had three poems published in the Little Patuxent Review.
- Dennis Loney, named an outstanding graduate of the program in 2003, was a 2005 semifinalist for the prestigious Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize.
- Andrew Jarvis, a creative/technical writer for Science Applications International Corp., is also adjunct professor of English at the University of the District of Columbia.
- Anne Marie Blum’s first chapbook, Useless Relics, was published by Black Buzzard Press in 2006. She received the Brother Leonard Mann Poetry Award from the University of Dayton.
- Mary Westcott's poems have appeared in Federal Poets. She is a medical writer and editor for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
- David Seitsef Grossman is the associate editor of poetry for Potomac Review. He teaches at Montgomery College.
- Schlese Castilla teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.
- Elizabeth Cooper, a poetry graduate now on the Writing Program’s faculty, co-edited the upcoming anthology, Daughters of the Land: Essays, Memoirs and Poems.
- Henry Carley teaches at Community College of Baltimore County and is an editor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
- Wells Burgess has poetry in the spring 2008 Measure.
A Sampling of Who Will Teach or Advise You
- Greg Williamson: Poet, winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize and the Whiting Award, author of three volumes of poetry. His work has appeared in The Best American Poetry 1998, The Yale Review, The New Republic, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Sewanee Review, Story and Pequod, among other publications. He is a graduate of The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins.
- Anne Marie Blum: Poet and dramatist whose work has appeared in Green Mountains Review, Visions International, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, World Order, Orpheus, Rattapallax, the North American Poetry Review and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Useless Relics, was published in 2006. She is a graduate of the Writing Program.
- Edward Perlman: Poet, essayist, reviewer, owner and Senior Editor of Entasis Press. Perlman is the Writing Program's faculty advisor for poetry students. His work has appeared in Explorations, Passages Northwest, The Sewanee Theological Review, and The Living Church, among other publications. He is a graduate of the Writing Program.
- Elizabeth Cooper: Accomplished poet and writing teacher; poems have appeared in Runes, New Delta Review, and Nebraska Review, as well as an upcoming anthology, Daughters of the Land, which she co-edited. She is a 2004 graduate of the Writing Program.
- Madeleine Mysko: Poet, novelist, and essayist whose work has appeared in The Hudson Review, Shenandoah, River Styx, The Formalist, The Christian Century, and Bellevue Literary Review, among others, Her poetry collection, Crucial Blue, will be published soon. She is a graduate of The Writing Seminars at Hopkins.
- William Black: Fiction writer, poet, essayist, reviewer whose work has appeared in Hotel Amerika, Denver Quarterly, Chicago Review, Agni, Crab Orchard Review, and Artful Dodge, among other publications.
View full faculty bios of these and other program instructors.
Choose Your Topic
The Writing Program’s poetry curriculum offers a nurturing, challenging opportunity for poets to explore lyrical, narrative, and dramatic approaches to subjects that, for the most part, they choose. Exploration is encouraged in both free verse and formal poetry. Nine courses are required for a poetry degree, including:
- Contemporary American Writers core course
- Poetry Techniques core course
- Three poetry workshops
- Three electives, including one focusing exclusively on poetry
- Thesis and Publication
In poetry workshops, our students create new poems and/or revise previous work submitted in the workshop. Some poetry courses are offered partially online or using live video conference, to combine students from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Poetry electives include Readings in Modern Poetry, Advanced Poetry Form and Meter, and Development of Poetry and Poetics. To broaden their writing and editing experience, poetry students are encouraged to consider courses in fiction and other Writing Program concentrations for elective credit.
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. Poetry applicants submit eight to 12 poems, depending on length, and are encouraged to submit their best work. The program suggests quality over quantity when applying. Applicants also add an essay or paper on a poetry or literary topic, if desired. For details about samples and other application materials, visit the admissions section of the Johns Hopkins Advanced Academic Programs website. You don’t have to pay any fees 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 for students who have completed at least one course.
Flexible Part-Time Study at Convenient Locations
The M.A. in Writing Program was founded in 1992 to provide professional and artistic courses for part-time students who don’t want to interrupt their careers or personal life for full-time graduate study. Our creative writing courses are offered on weekday evenings or Saturday mornings. 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 students can extend their studies by taking leaves of absence for professional or personal reasons. The M.A. in Writing Program is Hopkins’ part-time, broader-admission alternative to The Writing Seminars, the exclusive, nationally ranked, and internationally known full-time graduate writing program available only in Baltimore. For more about the Seminars, which awards the Master of Fine Arts in fiction and poetry, link to www.jhu.edu/writsem. The programs have separate application processes.
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.
For More Information about the Writing Program
Contact Ed Perlman, Faculty Advisor in Poetry
E-mail: edperlman@jhu.edu Telephone: 202-265-2604.
Or please write:
M.A. in Writing Program
Poetry
The Johns Hopkins University
1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 104
Washington DC 20036
To learn more about the M.A. in Writing Program itself or other concentrations within the program, click on the links below:
FIND OUT MORE
For more information about the Writing Program, contact us via email, phone, or mail. Or click on the links below to learn more about other concentrations.
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TO APPLY
Visit our admissions wizard at http://advanced.jhu.edu/admissions to apply to the program conveniently online or to learn more details about the application process and the required writing samples. This link will take you from Writing Program website to the admissions section.