Fourteen Hills, a literary journal of national circulation published by Creative Writing graduate students, had its first issue in fall, l994. It is open to all writers, non-students as well as SFSU.
Transfer, a student literary magazine which has been published at San Francisco State University since l956, is now staffed by undergraduates. It publishes only work by currently enrolled students at SFSU.
Students are eligible for a number of awards, some of which involve cash prizes, offered by the department: the Wilner Award in Short Fiction, the Clark-Gross Award in the Novel, the Ann Fields Poetry Prize, the Blue Shield Poetry Award (for graduate students), and the Highsmith Award for a play with a gay or lesbian theme. Several students recently have been selected for the Associated Writing Program Intro Journals Project. Students can also enter the competition for our Michael Rubin Award offered in either poetry or fiction each year. The winner's work is published in a handsome book.
In addition, the Poetry Center administers the Browning Society Award for a dramatic monologue, the Academy of American Poets Award, the Audre Lorde Award in Poetry, a national award of $500 open to any student at a state college or university, the biannual Rella Lossy Award, and the Frances Jaffer Award in Poetry.
Every year in May we have a celebratory reading for our award winning students. There is a second celebration for the Transfer and Fourteen Hills writers. Students are also invited to attend and participate in a number of student/faculty readings held throughout the semester. We also offer a yearly forum on publishing or play production, presenting professional editors, publishers, agents, and writers to our students. These focus on a different genre each year.
There are two fellowships of $500 each for entering graduate students: the Miriam Ylvisaker Fellowship in Fiction, and the William Dickey Fellowship in Poetry, both funded through generous bequests from the estates of Miriam Ylvisaker, a graduate of our M.A. program, and William Dickey, for many years a Professor in the English and Creative Writing Departments. All applicants to the M.A. and M.F.A. programs in fiction or poetry are automatically considered for these fellowships, which are announced at the beginning of the spring semester after admission. There is no special application process.
Since these awards and fellowships are administered by the Creative Writing Department, please do not contact the Financial Aid Office about them.