Ph.D. in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing (concentración en escritura creativa en Español-Ph.D./ECE)

Cristina Rivera Garza

The Ph.D. in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing provides an interdisciplinary approach to literary arts through workshops and seminars designed to explore writing — prose and poetry, essay and crónica, as well as writing modes that exist between or beyond established literary genres — and digital writing. As part of a cosmopolitan metropolis and a greatly diverse campus, the program emphasizes the relationship between writing and community, non-traditional methods of editing and literary distribution, research of experimental aesthetics and their relationship to ethical intervention.

The Ph.D./ECE is part of the department of Hispanic studies that offers Ph.D. programs with specialization on literature — Latin American, Peninsular and U.S. Latino — and linguistics. Our relationship with the MFA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing incentivizes the teaching and practice of translation as well as bilingual Spanish-English writing in its multiple variations. In the same way, our relationship with the Non-Invasive Brain Machine Systems Laboratory and the program of visual arts encourages students to produce writing informed by other disciplines and in alternative supports. The program benefits from Arte Público Press and Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts, which provide theoretical and practical emphasis on editing methodology and contemporary literary distribution. The program is also enriched by the historical and literary documents at the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project and the Serie de Escritores [Author Series] invited and organized by the ECE, as well as the various Reading Series that take place on campus on regular basis.

The Ph.D./ECE will accept a small number of students every year, which will assure a close working relationship between students and faculty in creative writing and the department and will provide economic support through competitive teaching and research assistantships. Aside from taking seminars in the department of Hispanic studies, students may choose to take seven of the seminars/workshops specially designed by the Ph.D.-ECE: Theory and Writing; Community and Writing; Editing; Cross-Genre Writing; Digital Writing; Translation; and Creative Writing in English (with approval from the Ph.D./MFA Program in Creative Writing).

Each candidate must submit official copies of their diploma and transcripts, three letters of recommendation, TOEFL scores, an academic writing sample (15 pages), creative writing sample (15 pages), personal poetic statement and a short essay on the relationship between writing and community.

The candidates who do not have an M.A. will have to complete that degree in literature before continuing with Ph.D./ECE. These students may indicate, on their personal statement, that they want to be considered for the M.A./Ph.D. program, which means that even though they are seeking admission to the M.A. program, they would like to also obtain a Ph.D. at the University of Houston. The students in the Ph.D. in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing can graduate with a dissertation in creative writing with a substantial theoretical analysis in order to receive a Ph.D. in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing. Applications can be submitted until January 15^th.

With its interdisciplinary approach to theory and practice, its community and collaborative service, as well as its attention to the cultural and linguistic diversity of the campus and city where it takes place, this is the first national Ph.D. program in Spanish with a concentration in creative writing in the United States and offers a unique opportunity for writers of the 21st century.