Creative Writing Graduate Program

Our PhD is designed to prepare students for their dual roles as writers and academics.

The program is a four-year course of study. In the first two years, students take three courses per semester; the teaching load throughout the program is one class per semester. Courses include Technique & Form in Fiction or Poetry and the Literary Essay—alongside workshops in poetry, short fiction, the novel, literary nonfiction, and innovative forms. These courses help students improve not only their creative work but also their ability to articulate aesthetic ideas, both out loud and on the page.

The literature and theory requirements are designed to offer both foundational training and the flexibility to pursue specific interests. Our accomplished literature faculty offer a range of exciting classes, with both period and topical approaches. Additionally, students have the opportunity to earn an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in Translation and Translation Studies.

Following coursework, students take exams in two areas, one that examines texts through the lens of craft and another that examines them through the lens of literary history and theory. Recent examples of the genre include Comic Fiction, History of the Love Lyric, and Fantasy; recent examples of the scholarly area include History of the Novel, 20th-Century American Poetry, and Modern & Contemporary British Fiction. In the first two years, students take three courses per semester; the teaching load throughout the program is one class per semester.

The teacher training program prepares students to teach composition and also examines the pedagogy of literature and creative writing. Students also have the opportunity to take an additional creative writing pedagogy course.

The 1-1 teaching load allows the necessary time for both creative work and coursework.

Every PhD student will have the opportunity to teach creative writing, and recent teaching assignments have included a literature course on the graphic novel and a freshman seminar on writing fantasy.

All students have the opportunity to volunteer for our nationally prominent literary journal, The Cincinnati Review, and PhD students may apply for editorial fellowships at Acre Books and The Cincinnati Review. 

Fifth-year support, while not guaranteed, has generally been available to interested students in the form of student lecturerships, which carry a 2-2 load. The Creative Writing PhD program at the University of Cincinnati has maintained a placement rate of more than 75% in full-time academic jobs for its doctoral graduates over the last decade. Two-thirds of these positions are tenure-track.