STUDY
AT UNCW
Starting in Fall 2025, UNCW’s three-year MFA in Creative Writing program will offer students the ability to pursue an Environmental Writing Concentration, allowing writers of all genres to explore the influences of the natural world, the climate crisis, and the role of place in their writing.
IMPORTANT RESOURCES
UNCW DEPARTMENT OF CREATIVE WRITING
UNDERGRAD: COASTAL & ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING MINOR
ECOTONE
“Firm ground is not available ground.”
-A.R. Ammons
Writers accepted into the Environmental Writing Concentration will develop the skills to effectively storytell with a focus on the natural world, and be empowered to do so in unique, collaborative and innovative ways. Nature writer David Gessner will lead a program of study that includes environmental writing workshops with UNCW professors and visiting place-based authors, themed electives, opportunities to work with the award-winning place-based Ecotone Magazine, field studies, and instruction in creative research. Students will be provided with an immersive and generative experience in the field of environmental writing.
“The land gets inside of us; and we must decide one way or another about what it means, what we will do about it.”
-Barry Lopez
THE ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING CONCENTRATION WILL ALSO INCLUDE:
OPPORTUNITIES TO VISIT BARRIER ISLANDS AND WESTERN RIVERS
ENGAGEMENT IN INTERGENERATIONAL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE PLANET’S FUTURE
PRACTICAL ADVICE AND MENTORSHIP ABOUT GETTING ONE’S WORK OUT IN THE WORLD
AN IMMERSIVE AND GENERATIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The oceans, islands and creeks of the Wilmington area will provide one of our primary classrooms. There have always been great benefits, and great challenges, to living on the edge of land and sea. In this time of powerful storms and rising oceans, University of North Carolina Wilmington is uniquely positioned, both academically and geographically, to address those challenges and to become a leader in writing about coastal resiliency, climate change, and sustainability.
The following courses are required for the Environmental Writing Concentration:
3 hrs
ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING WORKSHOP
6 hrs
ENVIRONMENTAL ELECTIVES
3 hrs
CREATIVE RESEARCH COURSE
3 hrs