Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children's literature. One of the few in the country to offer humanities graduate degrees in children's literature, we are, we believe, the only one to offer them in the study and writing of children's literature.
The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973 by the major American poet and children’s poet William Jay Smith. Possibly the most widely known and read alumna of the college is Margaret Wise Brown, a 1932 graduate, among whose many books for children are the classics Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Among the many other Hollins students who have written for children
are Katharine Boling, Joan Carris, John Hay, Betty Hicks, Hillary Homzie, Robin D. Jones, A. LaFaye, Katie Letcher Lyle, Marilyn MacGregor, William Miller, Patricia Mills, Lee Robinson, Karen Adams Sulkin, Eve Tal, Michelle Taylor, Sylvia Wilkinson, and Willie Wilson.