But the MFA, Once a Path to Literary Success, Now Faces Criticism for Fostering Elitism and a Toxic Workshop Culture

Thousands of aspiring novelists enroll in US creative writing programs each year, hoping the credentials will boost their publishing prospects. But the MFA, once a path to literary success, now faces criticism for fostering elitism and a toxic workshop culture. Thomas Pynchon, the reclusive author of Gravity's Rainbow, epitomized the lone-wolf writer.

Today, that archetype is largely a myth. Most celebrated authors, including Percival Everett (Brown), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Johns Hopkins), and Jhumpa Lahiri (Boston), hold MF As. They are less rare discoveries and more elite thoroughbreds, trained for the literary race.

An MFA is a two-year graduate program in creative writing, costing between $10,000 for low-residency options and over $80,000 annually for full-time study. The nonprofit Poets & Writers lists more than 250 programs, mostly in the US, each graduating thousands with manuscripts. The Iowa Writers' Workshop, founded in 1936, pioneered the format.

Its workshop model, where students critique peers' work under a professor's guidance, emphasizes craft over content. In theory, this rigorous environment strengthens writers. In practice, it can be brutal.

Lena Dunham's Girls depicted the toxicity of such workshops. Junot Díaz nearly quit Cornell due to his cohort's belief that race was no longer a major social force. Mona Awad's novel Bunny took the backstabbing to satanic extremes.

The author recounts her own NYU experience, where a student's work was met with silence—a collective revenge for not writing feedback letters. Workshops, far from being safe spaces, can intensify real-world prejudices and conflicts. "almost lunatical belief"