In just two years, write a publishable nonfiction manuscript or a marketable screenplay and earn your MFA from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, home of the Peabody Awards and one of the top journalism schools in the country. This two-year low-residency program is designed to educate writers who will be published and produced. The program offers students an unparalleled opportunity to develop narrative journalism and screenwriting skills that will equip them for long and varied careers. The program features a committed and diverse roster of accomplished authors, screenwriters, literary agents and other industry professionals who work closely with students to inspire and support each writer’s emerging craft and voice.
Moni Basu, an award-winning journalist and author, has been named the director of the Master in Fine Arts in Narrative Nonfiction program and the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence at Grady College. She will begin her new role in January 2023.
Basu has been a distinguished professor of practice at Grady College since 2015, serving as a visiting writer and mentor in the nonfiction MFA program launched by the late Valerie Boyd, who passed away in February 2022.
“This felt like a poetic opportunity for me,” Basu said. “It is an honor for me to lead this amazing program and to ensure that Valerie’s legacy shines bright.”
Basu is leaving her role as the Michael and Linda Connelly Lecturer in Narrative Nonfiction at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
Before that, Basu was a senior writer at CNN and a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she won numerous national awards. Basu is the author of the book “Chaplain Turner’s War,” which stemmed from a series of stories she wrote on Darren Turner, an Army chaplain who shepherded a battalion of infantrymen during a grueling deployment in Iraq.
Basu, who has also served as an editor-at-large for The Bitter Southerner and The Groundtruth Project, has a background in local journalism. Early in her career, Basu worked as editor of The Florida Flambeau and briefly at The Tallahassee Democrat, before accepting a position at AJC.
Nate Kohn directs the low-residency MFA Screenwriting program, in addition to serving as a professor in Entertainment and Media Studies and director of the Roger Ebert Film Festival. Dr. Kohn teaches advanced screenwriting, producing for film/television, documentary film, and qualitative methods and directs the Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Lions Study Abroad programs.
Dr. Kohn is an award-winning producer of feature films and television programs. He produced “Zulu Dawn” starring Burt Lancaster and Peter O’Toole; the independent feature “Somebodies,” which premiered at Sundance (2006); “Rain,” the Bahamas’ first indigenous feature which premiered at Toronto (2007) and on Showtime (2010); the feature film “Bottleworld” (2010); he was Executive Producer on the BET television series “Somebodies” (2008); he was Producer on the feature length documentary “Bayou Maharajah” that premiered at the SXSW Festival (2013); he produced the Emmy Award-winning short documentary “Ebertfest 2012;” and he was Executive Producer on The 73rd, 74th and 75th Annual Peabody Awards Specials for PivotTV/Participant Media (2014, 2015 and 2016). He has served on juries and mentored screenwriters at the Atlanta, Hawaii, Kerala, and Bahamas International Film Festivals. He is a board member of the Arkansas Cinema Society. And he is the author of numerous scholarly articles and of the book “Pursuing Hollywood: Seduction, Obsession, Dread” (AltaMira Press, 2006).
Valerie Boyd thrived in many communities and was admired in all…teacher, writer, editor, mentor, confidant.
Boyd, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence and director of the Master of Fine Arts in Narrative Nonfiction program at the University of Georgia, died Feb. 12, 2022.
“Representing this program and leading it during this time of transition is a responsibility not just to the Grady College and the University of Georgia, it is also a chance to make sure Valerie’s vision is not lost,” Bentley said. “Valerie created a program that, while based in journalistic rigor, speaks to the whole student and their dreams.”
To read more about Boyd’s impact on the MFA program, please view “Valerie Boyd’s shining light.” A feature about Boyd’s latest book that she edited, “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker,” can be read here.
Students applying to The University of Georgia must be accepted by the Graduate School. Persons holding a bachelor’s degree from any institution accredited by the proper regional accrediting association are eligible to apply for admission to the Graduate School.
Applications are accepted starting in Fall semester prior to anticipated Fall semester matriculation. Although the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not required for admission to this program, requirements include:
Fall: For best consideration apply April 1
MFA in Narrative Media Writing Handbook for students and faculty
UGA’s unique low-residency MFA program allows students to complete most of the degree requirements off campus while developing their skills and talents under the guidance of experienced faculty writing mentors.