How to Become a Writer in Kentucky with a BFA, MFA or Similar Creative Writing Degree

william t. young library in kentucky

Kentucky has a long and rich history in the literary arts. Its distinguished authors have made major contributions to social, artistic, and religious movements of the past – and today’s social movements unfolding at present.

Freedom is an essential human right that writers agonize to express in a thousand different way, and no one has ever expressed it better than Kentucky’s own bell hooks,

At its very essence, creative writing is the expression of freedom and the attempt to achieve it. You can only be truly creative and expressive when you’re free or struggling to become free. There are many roads to freedom, and over the centuries Kentucky writers have discovered most of them, charting new paths along the way.

Literary Giants Have Graced the Meadows and Mountains of Kentucky

log cabin in kentuckyAs someone involved in Kentucky’s writing scene, you’re standing on the shoulders of literary giants.

Henry Bibb is one such writer. Starting his life in captivity as a slave in Shelby County, he was born in 1815. He married when he was 18 and soon escaped to Canada. Not wanting to leave his wife behind, he went back to Kentucky in an attempt to free her but was caught and re-sold into bondage. After several more years he once again escaped but could not take his wife with him.

Bibb would go on to devote the remainder of his life to the abolitionist cause, notably through writing. In 1849 he published his account of what it was like growing up a slave with the Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself. In 1851 he started his own newspaper, Voice of the Fugitive, which was a strong statement against slavery while also advocating for integration.

Lucy Furman is another writer from Kentucky, born in Henderson County in 1870. She published six novels over the course of her career which would lay the foundation for an entirely new genre, known today as Appalachian literature.

As a young woman Furman attended school in Lexington and then went on to take a university literature course before launching her writing career. She wrote in addition to working at the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County where she interacted with what were known then as mountain people.

Furman’s novels were regarded for being historical fiction that presented Kentucky mountaineers as honestly as possible as they made the early 20th century transition between pioneer life and industrialization.

More recently in the modern century, Kentucky is proud to have ties with writers like bell hooks and James Anderson.

Born in 1952 Hopkinsville, hooks wrote over 30 books throughout her career, often exploring issues like capitalism, feminism, and race. Inducted into the Kentucky Writers’ Hall of Fame, in the last decades of her life she taught at a college in Berea, Madison County.

hooks wasn’t shy of voicing her opinion, even if it caused controversy. She summed up a popular Beyoncé album not with empty accolades, but by recognizing it as being a way for the singer to make money.

James Anderson is another of Kentucky’s home-grown writing talents. His career has included two decades of writing for NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and his latest endeavor is a web series called Hudson Valley Ballers.

Creative writing is a versatile field. You can use it to do things like change the course of human civilization, chronicle a period in history, challenge centers of power, and make people laugh. Kentucky writers have done it before you, and you can do it next.

Kentucky’s Creative Writing Classes, Courses, and Workshops Can Prepare You for a Creative Writing Degree

Everyone has their own strategy for inspiring creativity: exercise, drugs, prayer, deprivation, meditation, and much more. And what all them, people will tell you that creativity is capricious.

For better or worse, there’s no formula for inspiring your creative side. But there is one for improving your writing side, and that is the sheer act of doing it. Writers write, as they say, and Kentucky abounds with opportunities for you to gain experience and grow.

If you’re near Frankfort, then check out the Bluegrass Writers Coalition. It’s made up of poets, novelists, editors, and otherwise aspiring authors. Striving to provide a community of encouragement and writing analysis, they meet once a month at the local public library.

The Lexington Writer’s Room is a unique opportunity for area writers to land in a supportive writing space. You can sign up for time in this writing space and find support among the other local writers who are doing the same.

One of the state’s largest literary events, the annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest, is made possible through a partnership with Barnes & Noble Booksellers, a university library system, and the Warren County Public Library. Prominent authors participate in the festival’s Kentucky Writers Conference to teach craft workshops and answer questions on key topics like getting published.

Conferences are a great place to hob-nob with your fellow writers and bump elbows with publishers looking for new material.

The Kentucky Christian Writers Conference is another such event. This interdenominational experience brings together authors, readers, and publishers from across the region to celebrate the art of writing that includes Christian themes. It’s an annual occurrence that’s planned out of Elizabethtown.

If publishing is at the forefront of your mind, check out these local book houses:

Writing Colleges in Kentucky Offering Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing Provide a Path to Becoming a Writer

As you gain experience in the field of writing and meet more authors, you’ll start to notice a difference between those who are serious about their craft and those who are doing it as a means to socialize.

If you reach the point where you’re committed to taking your writing beyond the realm of the hobbyist to that of the professional artist, then it’s time to start thinking about a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in creative writing, or similar degree.

These academic programs place you in a peer group of like-minded motivated professionals. You’re taught by published authors with decades of experience in the writing industry with pro tips that took decades to learn.

If you’re on the professional track of writing, then you should have been researching your best-fit BFA or MFA program yesterday.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Other Bachelor’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Kentucky

Asbury University

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BA

Private School

asbury university

Morehead State University

CAUDILL COLLEGE OF ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BFA

Public School

morehead university

Murray State University

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND FINE ARTS

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BA, BS

Public School

murray state university

Northern Kentucky University

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BA

Public School

northern kentucky university

Spalding University

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL STUDIES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BFA

Private School

spalding university

Western Kentucky University

POTTER COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Bachelor – BA

Public School

western kentucky university

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Other Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Kentucky

Asbury University

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION ARTS

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MFA

Private School

asbury university

Eastern Kentucky University

COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MFA

Public School

eastern kentucky university

Northern Kentucky University

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MA

Public School

northern kentucky university

Spalding University

THE NASLUND-MANN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF WRITING

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MFA, MA

Private School

spalding university

University of Kentucky

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MFA

Public School

university of kentucky

Western Kentucky University

POTTER COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

Accreditation: SACSCOC

Degree: Master – MFA

Public School

western kentucky university
Scroll to Top