three students outdoors on campus writing in notebooks

Creative Writing

Dates: June 10-14, 2024

Move-In: June 9, 2024

Grades: Rising 10th-12th grades

Cost: Residential $710/Commuter $400  What’s included in the cost?

Registration Due: May 1, 2024

Sponsoring Department(s): UM Office of Pre-College Programs and the UM English Department

Step 1: Pay + Secure Spot Step 2: Create Account

Of the many reasons we turn to creative writing, one of the most compelling is the prospect for discovery—of new insights, new points of view, new pleasures. Much of the best writing doesn’t end where it begins, but wriggles and wrests instead, such that writers and readers are challenged to see things as they might not have before. Creative writing makes use of imagination, memory, and critical reflection, each of which can help us to discover what our words might finally express. Put another way, creative writing gives us the ability to take something we perceive to be well understood and to illuminate it by presenting it, with our own particulars, in an unfamiliar way.

In this one-week in-person program, we will take a look at short selections from writers such as Brian Blanchfield, Chen Chen, Samantha Irby, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Kay Ryan, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Natasha Trethewey, and Tennessee Williams. In group discussions, we will work to identify some of the central questions posed by the readings, and we will consider the tools these writers use in exploring the complexities of their subject matter. Finally, in conjunction with our readings, we will complete several writing exercises that will give us the opportunity to investigate some of our own burning questions through poetry, personal essays, and short stories.

Residential students will live in a residence hall on campus, supervised by live-in counselors. All counselors are undergraduate students trained in the supervision of minors and background-checked. Evening recreational activities may include use of the campus recreational center, board games, and trips to locations on campus or in town.

Micheal Pontacoloni

Michael Pontacoloni is a poet from Windsor, Connecticut. His work has appeared in Cincinnati Review, Pleaides, Denver Quarterly, Mississippi Review, and elsewhere, and he has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers Conference and the Vermont Studio Center. He holds an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a MAT from the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. He is completing his PhD at the University of Mississippi.

Regular Registration Deadline:

  • June Programs = May 1st
  • July Programs = June 1st

Late Registration Deadline:

An additional $40 late registration fee will be charged per week registered.

  • June Programs = May 20th
  • July Programs = June 20th

Registration Instructions

Program registration is a 3-step process that should be completed in order:

  • Step 1: Pay and secure your spot.
  • Step 2: Create an account. 
  • Step 3: Complete registration and checklist items.

Please only complete one (1) student registration per transaction. If registering multiple students, complete one student's registration, then start the process over for the next student. This system does not allow entry of multiple students' information within the same registration.

Step 1. Pay and secure your spot

Pay using the payment portal linked above to secure your student's spot.

Step 2: Create an account

Please use a personal email account, not a school affiliated email address, as most servers block external emails.

Within 3 business days, you will receive an email from umprecollege@myschoolapp.com with steps to create your Admissions Portal through our Blackbaud MySchoolApp system.

Create account

Step 3. Complete your registration and checklist items before the deadline.

Once in the Admissions Portal, you will instantly see your program’s registration checklist that our admissions team has assigned you. Please complete the registration checklist before the program deadline and within 14 days of creating an account.

Registration includes standard questions (e.g., contact information, academic history, etc.) as well as instructions for submitting rules and guidelines agreements and medical information and forms.

Before the program begins:

Prior to the start of summer, you will receive a detailed pre-summer logistics email along with a pre-arrival checklist shown on your MySchoolApp account.

Incomplete or Late Registrations

After you have paid and secured a seat in the program, make sure to finish the remaining steps within two (2) weeks. If your registration is incomplete or an application is inactive for three (3) weeks, a $20 late fee will incur, unless an extension is requested.

Refund Policy

You must cancel your registration at least two weeks before the chosen session to receive an 80% refund. Refunds are not available to cancellations made less than two weeks prior to the chosen session. Full refunds will be issued if the camp is cancelled due to low enrollment.

For additional information, please contact:

  • Address: Outreach and Continuing Education, Office of Pre-College Programs, The University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677-1848
  • Phone: (662) 915-7621
  • Fax: (662) 915-1535
  • Email: precollege@olemiss.edu