Writing
Writing Department: Undergrad & Graduate Writing Programs
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's (SAIC) Department of Writing brings together a community of writers and artists at one of the nation’s most influential colleges of art and design. We seek students who thrive in a challenging, self-directed, and experimental environment, in which the literary arts are a living and open field. SAIC’s Writing program is distinct from more conventional programs and writing schools in that it brings together a community of writers and artists and draws on a distinguished faculty with diverse artistic and intellectual concerns.
Graduate Programs Application Deadline: January 10
Apply to SAIC's Graduate and Post-Bacc programs by January 10 for fall 2025 admission.
Undergraduate Merit Scholarship Deadline: December 15
Submit your application and portfolio by December 15 for fall 2025 admission and merit scholarship.
File Your FAFSA
In order to be eligible for need-based aid such as SAIC, state and federal grants, loans and work study you need to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at fafsa.gov.
At SAIC, students in the undergraduate and graduate writing programs have a unique opportunity to explore writing both within and between genres, and to creatively connect with visual art practices throughout SAIC. We welcome students from all programs across SAIC’s diverse, interdisciplinary community who wish to pursue writing as part of their education and creative practice.
Writing Courses & Curriculum
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing (BFAW) program emphasizes a process-based approach to creative writing—one in which students experience writing across genres and in interdisciplinary and hybrid modes. Fully integrated into SAIC’s studio departments, you will explore the relationship between language and visual art by connecting writing to comics, graphic novels, artist’s books, painting, performance, film, sound, and gallery installations. The BFA in Writing program’s curriculum includes courses such as:
- Introduction to Writing as Art
- Two-semester literature survey
- Writing workshops for prose, poetry, comics, plays, and hybrid projects
- Generative seminars with multi-genre topics such as: artist books, literary monsters, and electronic writing
- Undergraduate thesis workshop—a small, intensive class in which students conceive, generate, and revise a creative project of their choice
The Master of Fine Arts in Writing (MFAW) welcomes writers of all genres—fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting—and visual artists who work with language as an integral component of their practice. The two-year writing program provides a rigorous yet flexible curriculum to challenge and accommodate individual explorations of process and form. Students in the graduate writing program are encouraged to work with their advisors to develop a plan that takes advantage of adjacent fields of study, such as performance, film, sculpture, arts journalism and art history, as well as many other possibilities, to best support their continued growth and writing journey.
Learn more about the Writing Department's undergraduate and graduate programs.
Alumni Accomplishments
Our distinguished alumni are widely published and cultivate the literary landscape.
Faculty News
Department of Writing
Chair
Mark Booth mbooth2@saic.edu
MFA in Writing Graduate Coordinator
Ruth Margraff rmargr@saic.edu
BFA in Writing Undergraduate Coordinator
Sally Alatalo salatalo@saic.edu
Senior Administrative Director
Amber Da ada@saic.edu
Administrative Assistant
Richard Gessert rgessert@saic.edu