Can writing be taught? It’s one of the oldest arguments in literary culture, and every year, thousands of writers bet their time, money, and creative confidence that the answer is yes. They enroll in MFA programs, bring their pages into classrooms, and submit themselves to a process called “workshop,” where their work gets dissected, debated, and handed back to them.

Of course, MFA writing programs exist for more than just fiction writers. You can pursue an MFA in poetry, creative nonfiction, literary journalism, graphic novels. But what actually happens inside these writing programs? How is craft taught? What does a workshop feel like from the inside? And what are the things nobody mentions in the admissions brochure?

To answer all of that, I invited two writers I met during my own MFA program—Samantha Cooke and Martin Smith, who writes under the name M. Earl Smith—to talk about everything. We cover the real value of MFA training, how workshops function at their best, and what the path toward publication actually looks like. We also get into the less glamorous side: the gatekeeping, the performative readings, the bureaucratic nonsense, and the moments that make you wonder what you signed up for.

Whether you’re considering an MFA yourself, already in one, or simply curious about what happens when a room full of writers tries to teach each other, this one’s for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What MFA programs in writing actually do, and what they can’t do

• How the workshop model works and why it’s both powerful and flawed

• The craft techniques and storytelling tools you develop along the way

• What the path to publication really looks like for MFA graduates

• The culture inside these programs: the good, the pretentious, the absurd

• Performative readings, academic politics, and other things nobody warned you about

• What Sam and Martin took away from the experience — and what they’d do differently

• Whether an MFA is worth the investment for a writer serious about their craft

💡 Learn more about Sam Cooke: https://samanthaelicooke.com/

💡 Learn more about Martin Smith (M. Earl Smith): https://www.mearlsmith.com/

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MFA Writing Programs: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly