A Note from Director Annie Finch About Stonecoast in Ireland

The Stonecoast in Ireland program enables ten current Stonecoast MFA students each semester to spend a residency in Ireland working with Stonecoast faculty and prominent Irish writers. The intense, week-long residency offers a full slate of  seminars, workshops, and readings.  While the small size of the Ireland program allows for a more intimate academic experience, the Irish residencies maintain the same rigorous academic discipline as the Stonecoast program in Maine. Stonecoast in Ireland students choose their mentor preferences for the following semester from the full roster of Stonecoast faculty.

As Director of the Stonecoast MFA Program, I am extremely proud of our Stonecoast in Ireland residency. This unique educational opportunity brings Stonecoast students into intimate, daily contact with a world where writers and literary works carry enormous consequence.  The smaller group size provides students with a concentrated curricular experience that offers unparalleled opportunities for input and interaction with faculty and visiting writers, strong community, and creative growth. 

During my own visits to Stonecoast in Ireland, I have found field trips to W. B. Yeats sites and to Great Blasket Island, a culture whose identity was fundamentally shaped through literature, among the most moving pilgrimages I have ever experienced as a writer.

Poet Ted Deppe does a fantastic job as the coordinator of Stonecoast in Ireland program. As full-time residents of Ireland who are tightly linked with the network of Irish writers, he and Associate Coordinator Annie Deppe, both pictured here with me, are the perfect guides for Stonecoast writers seeking inspiration and literary knowledge through intensive immersion in the vibrant creative writing culture of Ireland. 

For more Information:

What Students Say about the Ireland Residency

A Message from Ted Deppe, Stonecoast in Ireland Coordinator

Ireland Residency: How Do I Apply?