Located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills College is at the center of a vital artistic and literary community. Our graduate programs in English are distinguished by their long-established reputations, outstanding faculty, and intimate community of writers and scholars.

We offer a master of arts (MA) degree in English and American literature and a master of fine arts (MFA) degree in creative writing with a focus on poetry or prose. Our degree programs allow students to work closely with nationally and internationally renowned faculty in an individually tailored course of study.  

Our curriculum emphasizes the interconnectedness of the creative and the scholarly—MA and MFA candidates form a dynamic community devoted to the study of and creation of literature. In addition to our core faculty, visiting writers offer classes each semester. Recent visiting faculty include: Daniel Alarcón, Will Alexander, Cristina Garcia, Robert Grenier, Ginu Kamani, Victor LaValle, Walter K. Lew, and Micheline Aharonian Marcom.

Students have many co-curricular opportunities to teach and tutor literature and writing under faculty supervision and/or as part of our Writing Center. Through the Contemporary Writers Series and The Place for Writers, students are plugged into the local and national literary scene. Graduate students edit and publish 580 Split, a national literary magazine.

Our alumni publish and perform widely in the national literary scene, embark on successful careers in publishing and teaching, and often continue their studies in prestigious PhD programs.