Fast Response Deadline for Winter Cohort: December 15, 2024 Apply Now

Get Rigorous Writing Guidance from Research Proven Pedagogy

PocketMFA utilizes the same modern creative writing pedagogy as a traditional MFA, but at a fraction of the price and time commitment.

We work with dozens of new writers every twelve weeks

Our writers, like you, navigate their busy lives—family, kids, and career—while devoting themselves to a professionally guided development experience at PocketMFA.

  • Designed with research-based best practices for graduate level learning
  • Built with a schedule and workload designed around your availability
  • Project-based to ensure you make real progress on your current manuscript
  • Focused on moving your publishing and career forward

Send us your application today to reserve your spot in our next cohort.

Discover the Craft and Career Benefits of Twelve Weeks of Deep Learning

We have high expectations of every writer in our program, and if you are selected to join us, we have genuine faith that you can reach them. At PocketMFA you can expect:

  • Respect for your own authority over the journey through the creation of your unique Learning Contract
  • Graduate level instruction on craft during our Direct Instruction seminars
  • Deep insights and guidance on your manuscript with our One-on-One Mentorship
  • Development of your voice, community, and skillset during the Peer Workshop sessions
  • Practical advancement of your publishing goals as a writer through our Writing Life Residency
  • Sincere creative relationships with the other working writers in PocketMFA Community
  • Post-cohort opportunities for continued progress through our Working Writer Services

Use the box to the right to learn more about our unique community and pedagogy.

What do writers say about our curriculum?

Hundreds of writers have seen their work published, their strengths accelerate, and their community grow in our research-based program.
“Francesca held a positive, non-judgmental space for tackling writing hick-ups in my novel. Because I’m also a poet and fiction writer, I felt like she brought a fresh perspective to fiction writing with her poetic background and helped me truly see that both have a place in fiction writing… She brought a lot of clarity through simple, clear suggestions regarding the flow of my novel and connecting the dots in my plot that I didn’t have before starting with our cohort. Francesca does a wonderful job making a writer feel seen and heard in their process.”
 

Katy — Summer ’24

“Pocket MFA has been invaluable to me. Robert was a perfect mentor, who really meshed with my own unique writing style. On top of that, everyone in our group was incredibly thoughtful, kind, and inquisitive. It was truly a blast seeing everyone each week and learning at a breakneck pace. The bar has been set high for future writing groups I may join… I feel more confident than ever in my writing, and I have a tangible sense of progress in both my academic understanding of prose writing, and creative fire when it comes to my personal projects.”
 

Matthew — Fall ’23

“I was not sure exactly how to improve my work before PocketMFA. I felt as though I was minimally effective in my growth as a writer… I did not have a specific list of areas to improve or ideas for approaching the task. I do now, and that is all thanks to the incredible mentorship and support I received throughout the program. In addition to the areas that need to be expanded upon in my work, there are tools I can use to do so and I am experimenting with the overall form of my work, from the high level.”
 

Jasmine — Spring ’23

Push Your Writing Career Forward with PocketMFA

Like our curriculum, we’ve designed our application process to cut away the bureacracy. It’s free and just takes a few minutes to discover if PocketMFA can help you with your goals as a writer.