Oakland, CA–August 20, 2008. Mills College today announced the first master of fine arts degree in book art and creative writing in the country. Building on more than 80 years of leadership in the field of creative writing and 30 years in book art, Mills designed the program to address the growing interest in book art—one of the fastest-growing new academic fields of study.

"There is a renewed interest in the book as a form. Students have a much stronger material connection with their written work and want to put that interest to work for them," said Kathleen Walkup, professor of book art and director of the Book Art Program at Mills College.

Debuting in fall 2009, this one-of-a-kind program is designed for students who seek to explore the interrelationship of content and form in a genre-breaking interdisciplinary degree. It would train graduates to teach creative writing and book art, publish their own writing and images, work in galleries or the book trade as specialists on contemporary books, or join the growing number of production presses that offer unique letterpress and hand-binding services.

Walkup said the field is fueled in part by openings of public centers for book art, students' interest in interdisciplinary studies, and in some sense, the disappearance of the printed book.

Mills College began teaching book art, the study of the book in which its form and content are explored, in 1975 and is considered at the forefront in education of the field. The College offers the most comprehensive undergraduate book art program in the country where students may choose it as a minor, drawing from 13 different course offerings.

"This program allows me to take what I have learned in my undergraduate studies and expand upon it with help from the best teachers in an in-depth, hands-on, and attentive environment that I don't think could be found anywhere else," said Terri Northcutt, current Mills undergraduate student and potential MFA graduate student.

Students interested in the degree would submit portfolios in both creative writing and in artists' books or an equivalent visual portfolio. The first cohort will be limited to six students to begin in fall 2009. For more information about the Mills College master of fine arts degree in creative writing and book art, contact the Office of Graduate Admission at 510.430.3309 or grad-admission@mills.edu.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. For more information, visit http://www.mills.edu/.

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