MFA Writing

MFA Writing at Otis College was founded in 2000 by Paul Vangelisti, and over the next two decades, it emerged as a nationally recognized program with an innovative curriculum, including an emphasis on translation and global literature, the development of a publishing project, Otis Books, and a vibrant biweekly Visiting Writers Series which drew authors to the campus from around the country. The 2020-21 academic year is the last for MFA Writing and the program is not accepting new applications.

However, with this chapter ending, a new one begins for creative writing at Otis. Once MFA Writing winds down with its final cohort, its core Faculty will migrate to the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS), where in partnership with the current LAS Faculty and leadership they will help develop a new center for writing focusing on the BFA population.

After twenty years, the College takes pride in all that has been accomplished in MFA Writing and looks forward to new conversations across all of the departments and programs about how to weave writing even more intricately into art and design education and practice throughout the College.

The mission of Otis College is to prepare diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.

At Otis College, we don't sit by and watch. We look at the world and look again. We get inspiration from everywhere. We need to make—and try everything. We work hard and work is our play. We experiment, we fail, and we grow. We use all the tools.

The city is our soul—Los Angeles—where dreams meet discipline. We don't just welcome, support, and include. Diversity defines us.