What Our Community Says
“Complex institutions like universities don’t change easily. It is extraordinarily difficult to build new programs from vision through development to implementation. Southampton Graduate Arts has been spectacularly successful many times over in putting plans into action, and Stony Brook University is far better because of their relentless drive to realize their broad vision. We could all learn from their persistence and meticulous planning.”
— Charles Taber, Stony Brook University VP and Graduate School Dean, 2018
"The Southampton Writers Conference is a truly unique and wonderful experience. I left the conference with amazing new writer friends as well as acquired very constructive feedback on my writing. The conference was fun as well as intellectually stimulating and engaging. I am extremley invigorated after the five days and am excited to attend again in the future!"
— 2022 Attendee, Southampton Writers Conference
What Our Alumni Say
"The deadlines, the mentorship, and peer feedback encouraged me to take my novel writing to the next level of seriousness and professionalism."
— Alison Fairbrother, author of The Catch (Random House), BookEnds Fellow 2018
"My BookEnds year gave me exactly what I needed to get across the finish line: smart readers, a supportive community, and a brilliant mentor."
— Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year (Holt), BookEnds Fellow 2020
"What is truly amazing about this program is that not only have I had the chance to learn craft from some of today’s greatest writers in their fields, but also that these famous talents treat the students as fellow writers. To have my work taken completely seriously was at first a shock and then a complete joy. This leadership also encourages the student body to treat each other exceptionally well and it has been very valuable to attend workshops where tough criticism is delivered in an atmosphere of trust and mutual growth. I have made valuable friendships here and discovered that there can be room for many kinds of voices in the writing world. Essays with Roger Rosenblatt, humor writing with Jules Feiffer, poetry with Billy Collins—this is what a writing program should be. The chance to work with, and soak up craft from, the very best writers in their fields makes this program and summer conference a truly special experience. They say you can’t teach writing and yet I can feel my skills expanding weekly in this program. I’ve learned to prize the story over the individual beautiful sentence. I’ve learned that every verb, every comma, and every white space between words matters in a poem. I’ve learned to give myself permission to wander wherever an essay takes me and then to shave every last unnecessary thought to achieve brutally crisp prose. Maybe you can’t teach writing, but the faculty at Southampton teaches inspiration every day. There’s something in the water of the East End of Long Island that nourishes art of all kinds. The concentration of master writers out here is truly spectacular and Southampton has become a kind of central meeting point. Not only do you have professors like Roger Rosenblatt and Jules Feiffer but then E.L. Doctorow drops by at the summer conference or Alan Alda comes to chat with students in the evening."
— Helen Simonson, author of the best-selling Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, which was her MFA thesis manuscript
“Extremely fulfilling. It was incredible to discover this program, which fills a social gap as much as anything. I’ve become part of a community of like-minded individuals.”
— Pat Hanrahan
MFA In TV Writing Testimonials
"Alan is a phenomenal teacher, who taught me everything about TV writing, from story
structure to dialogue. In his class, I wrote and revised the scripts that launched
my career in the industry."
— Vanessa Reisen, Supervising Producer, WEEDS, CALIFORNICATION, Co-executive Producer EXTANT, TYRANT, VEGAS.
"I went into Alan's Workshops clueless and came out with a pilot script that sold to HBO. I landed an agent at CAA and I'm now working with an amazing team of managers and producers. Alan genuinely loves teaching and giving his students the tools and confidence they need to launch their TV careers."
— Natalie Prisco, Show Creator/Writer, HBO.
"Alan has some kind of Jedi genius for feedback. He's lightning fast and right on target. This class was invaluable. In all my years working in entertainment, I've never come across someone whose notes are as specific and helpful."
— Eden Wurmfeld; Producer: KISSING JESSICA STEIN, THE HAMMER.
"Alan has been an invaluable guide in helping me turn hair-brained ideas into structured scripts. His emphasis on Character, Story and Structure gets TV Writing into your bones, and the nurturing environment of the class keeps you writing. He manages to pinpoint every storyline's root problem, and poses that question you've been avoiding, and need to answer. I cannot recommend his classes more highly."
— Nina Bradock, Staff Writer, BERLIN STATION, THE SINNER, SERVANT
"I had the privilege of taking several TV writing classes from Alan Kingsberg. Not only is he able to present students with an effective method for building a great script, but he is also an excellent resource on television business as a successful, prolific writer himself. His classes were among the most valuable I took as an MFA student."
— Grace Edwards, INSECURE, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT.