Summer Literary Programs

Join us next June for the Summer Literary Series at the University of St. Thomas! This annual celebration of the literary arts brings distinguished authors and scholars from around the world as they share the joy and beauty of the written word. 

The public is invited to join this multi-night event on-campus for a series of readings, lectures, and performances that feature the best in contemporary literature and reflections on enduring classics.

Speakers to be announced soon.

June 12-14, 2025

Every summer, the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of St. Thomas hosts the Summer Writers Institute: a three-day immersive program in the Catholic literary tradition.  This event is open to the public.  Participants must be 18+, submit an application, and be accepted into the program.

During this time, participants will meet at UST and hear from distinguished writers of poetry and fiction, and engage in seminars on art and beauty, Catholicism and literature, and the craft of writing. They will also get counsel and help with their own work in lively creative writing workshops.

Between the evening public readings with masters of the art, the intense seminars and workshops, and the good company at meals, participants will experience that most elusive thing: a literary community intended to deepen and strengthen their own work while also welcoming them into the great literary and cultural tradition of the Church.

Aside from a $100 deposit (which can be used toward on-campus housing costs during the SWI) all costs for tuition, meals, and receptions during the Summer Writers Institute are covered by the University of St. Thomas.  Participants are responsible for housing (affordable on-campus options available) and travel to campus.

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Catholic Literary Arts (CLA) is known for its specialized writing programs. Each June, CLA offers an intensive, one-week day camp in Houston, Texas for children in 3^rd-12^th grade. This camp specializes in teaching practical creative writing skills in the areas of fiction, poetry, sacred story, and creative nonfiction though a Christ-centered lens.

We help children and teenagers strengthen their faith while also refining actual writing skills. Our program’s use of writing and revision strategies leads students to realize that expressing their thoughts and ideas on the written page brings newfound freedom and joy.

CLA’s camp is split into two components: Fearless Catholic Writing Camp (FCWC), which works with children in grades 3-8, and the High School Writers Institute (HSWI), which focuses on high school students. Both camps offer lessons in four genres (poetry, fiction, sacred story, and creative nonfiction) from professional faculty trained in our unique methodology.

• Fearless Catholic Writing Camp (FCWC)
• High School Writers Institute (HSWI)

Visit the Catholic Literary Arts website for more information.

June 9-18, 2025

The MFA Summer Residency is a special in-person event within the life of the UST online MFA program. For ten days, MFA students travel to Houston for an intensive series of seminars, workshops, and literary events (including those of the Literary Series). Engaged in convivial discussion from dawn until well past dusk, the students deepen their understanding of literary form, grow in mind and spirit, and prepare a new “climate of opinion” to shape American literary culture far beyond the UST classroom. The program is preparing a new generation to transform our culture, to raise it up and strengthen it, in the way of beauty.