majoring in creative writing

Earning A Creative Writing Degree: All About A Bachelor’s In Creative Writing

Updated: Aug 24, 2023, 11:05am

When thinking about creative writing, you may recall Emily Dickinson writing evocative poems, Nicholas Sparks penning love stories or Ernest Hemingway tapping away on an old typewriter. While these are all creative writers at work, not all professionals in the field are authors; there are other career options for you if you love writing and want to make it your career.

Though not always required, many writing jobs call for a bachelor’s degree. From writing novels to reporting news stories, a creative writing degree equips you with strong writing and communication skills to prepare you for a fulfilling, imaginative career.

This article discusses bachelor’s degrees in creative writing, admission requirements, common courses and job options. Read on to learn how a creative writing degree prepares you for a writing career.

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What Is a Creative Writing Degree?

A creative writing degree teaches you the techniques behind many writing projects, including fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, biographies and poems.

A bachelor’s degree in creative writing focuses on the principles of effective storytelling, writing for different genres and developing believable characters. You hone essential skills through giving and receiving feedback from peers and instructors, preparing you for many jobs requiring strong writing skills.

A bachelor’s degree in creative writing requires about 120 credits and takes four years of full-time study to complete. Accelerated programs may take less time.

Admission requirements for a bachelor’s in creative writing typically align with the university’s general admission requirements and include a completed application, transcripts from previous coursework and English proficiency. Because each school is different, these requirements may vary.

Specializations for Creative Writing Majors

Many creative writing programs offer areas of concentration, which allow you to focus your studies. Offerings vary by program, but below are a few typical specializations for students pursuing creative writing degrees.

This concentration covers all aspects of fiction writing, including character development, storytelling, plot development, narrative voice, various genres, publishing techniques and the mechanics of fiction writing. It prepares you to write engaging stories and bring them to life.

A nonfiction concentration allows you to explore many types of nonfiction writing, including autobiography, travel writing and magazine writing. It also touches on publishing technologies and teaches you how to use research and reflection to create stories that resonate with readers.

With a poetry concentration, you learn to tap into your imagination to write work that creates engaging imagery and inspires others. Coursework includes poetry writing workshops where you and other students share your work for feedback and support.

Screenwriting

A screenwriting concentration prepares you to write for Hollywood productions, such as television shows, documentaries, short films and movies. With this concentration, you learn about story structure, character development and visual storytelling.

Common Courses in a Creative Writing Degree

Introduction to creative writing.

This course covers the essential mechanics of creative writing, such as point of view, setting, dialogue, imagery, scene development and characterization. As a student in this class, you can expect to read and critique your peers’ work and get feedback on your own.

Writing with Digital Media

Since digital media has become an essential medium for disseminating information, no creative writing program would be complete without a digital media course. This course covers writing and publishing across digital media formats and how to use audience, purpose and context in your writing.

Introduction to Screen and TV Writing

If you are interested in working as a screenwriter for films or television, this course helps get you started. It provides an overview of narrative screenwriting, the history and development of screenwriting, and storytelling principles used in writing for film and television.

Introduction to the Writing of Creative Nonfiction

Creative writing students need to know how to write both nonfiction and fiction. In this course, you learn the mechanics of writing original nonfiction while reading and studying contemporary nonfiction.

Fiction Writing Workshop

In this course, students explore writing different types of fiction pieces. They then share their work with each other and engage in discussion and group commentary.

Creative Writing Degree vs. English Degree: What’s the Difference?

While there are overlapping subjects in the English and creative writing disciplines, these degrees are a bit different.

An English bachelor’s degree focuses on both writing and literary studies. In this major, learners study various types of writing, such as creative, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, digital and professional writing. They also explore literature and build analytical, editorial and cultural literacy skills. It’s common for programs to offer English concentrations such as literature or creative writing.

A creative writing degree more narrowly hones students’ writing skills rather than focusing on literary subjects. This degree prepares learners for careers as screenwriters, novelists, journalists, poets and other writing professionals.

If you know you want to work in a creative writing career , a creative writing degree may be a good fit. If you prefer a broader degree that includes a more in-depth study of literature and literary theory in addition to writing, an English degree may be a better option.

What Can You Do With a Creative Writing Degree?

Below are a few popular jobs you can pursue with a creative writing degree. We sourced salary data for this section from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Payscale .

Writer or Author

Median Annual Salary: $73,150 Minimum Required Education: Bachelor’s degree; high school diploma sometimes acceptable Job Overview: The roles of authors and writers vary depending on the type of writing they do. They may write content for various mediums, such as books, magazines, advertisements, blogs, films, television programs, biographies or speeches. Writers often work closely with editors, advertising agencies and other stakeholders to create pieces for print or digital publication. Some writers are freelancers who work with multiple clients.

Median Annual Salary: $73,080 Minimum Required Education: Bachelor’s degree Job Overview: Editors review and revise written content to ensure clarity, concision and accuracy. They must have excellent grammar and proofreading skills. These professionals may also plan and develop story ideas and collaborate with writers to ensure high-quality final products. Editors often work for magazines, book publishers, advertising firms and television broadcasters.

Median Annual Salary: $55,960 Minimum Required Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism or a related field Job Overview: Journalists write stories about current events and newsworthy issues to inform the public. Successful journalists have strong interviewing and investigative skills. They may work for broadcast news organizations, newspapers, magazines, or other print or digital publications. Some journalists are freelancers who write for multiple publications, and some work as columnists, news anchors or news correspondents.

Average Annual Salary: Around $57,300 Minimum Required Education: Bachelor’s degree; high school diploma sometimes acceptable Job Overview: Copywriters are persuasive marketing writers who craft copy that advertises or encourages readers to take a specific action, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter. These professionals often write advertisements, company slogans or taglines, website copy and marketing emails. Copywriters commonly work for advertising agencies or marketing departments; some are freelancers.

Screenwriter

Average Annual Salary: Around $71,000 Minimum Required Education: Bachelor’s degree; high school diploma sometimes acceptable Job Overview: Screenwriters , sometimes called script writers, write, revise and test scripts for television shows, commercials and films. These scripts may be original stories or stories based on books. Screenwriters need a firm grasp of dialogue and character development.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About a Creative Writing Degree

How many years does it take to get a creative writing degree.

A bachelor’s in creative writing typically requires 120 credits and takes four years to complete. Your degree may take longer if you study part time, and accelerated programs may allow you to complete your degree faster.

How much do creative writers make?

Salaries for creative writers vary drastically depending on their job title. For example, a best-selling author earns much more than a small-town newspaper journalist. According to the BLS, writers made a median annual salary of $73,150 as of May 2022.

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Sheryl Grey is a freelance writer who specializes in creating content related to education, aging and senior living, and real estate. She is also a copywriter who helps businesses grow through expert website copywriting, branding and content creation. Sheryl holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Indiana University South Bend, and she received her teacher certification training through Bethel University’s Transition to Teaching program.

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Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

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List of All U.S. Colleges with a Creative Writing Major

Writing has been my passion practically since I learned to read in kindergarten. I would write stories about princesses and my family dog, Gansett. When it came time to look at colleges, I was set on attending one with a strong creative writing program. Ultimately, I graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Writing Seminars.

Today, colleges across the country offer creative writing as a major. Because writing skills are essential for a wide range of careers, and because most curricula emphasize broad liberal arts competencies, a degree in creative writing can set you up for success in numerous fields, whether you want to be an editor or a lawyer.

Interested in majoring in creative writing? Learn which schools offer the major and what to look for in a program.

Overview of the Creative Writing Major

Creative writing is about more than spinning tales. For your major, you’ll generally need to pursue a curriculum grounded in literature, history, foreign language, and other humanities courses, along with distribution courses, if the college requires them.

Most creative writing majors must participate in workshops, in which students present their work and listen to peer critiques, usually with a certain number of advanced courses in the mix. In some cases, colleges will ask you to specialize in a particular genre, such as fiction, poetry, or playwriting. 

To succeed in creative writing, you’ll need to have a tough spine, in order to open yourself up to feedback from your classmates and instructors. You may need to give readings in public — if not as an undergraduate, certainly during your career. Of course, a passion for creating is essential, too, as is a willingness to revise your work and learn from the greats and your peers.

A creative writing major opens up doors to many careers, including journalism, content marketing, copywriting, teaching, and others. Even careers that don’t center around writing often have a strong writing component: you’ll need to write reports, deliver presentations, and so on.

Some writers go on to earn an MFA, which will help you hone your craft. It’s also often a prerequisite for teaching creative writing at the college level.

What to Look for in a College as a Creative Writing Major

Published authors on faculty.

Many world-renowned authors have another claim to fame: professorships. Writers who have taught their craft include (among many others):

• Maya Angelou (Wake Forest University)
• Colson Whitehead (many colleges, including Vassar College and Columbia University)
• Stephen Dixon (Johns Hopkins University)
• Viet Thanh Nguyen (University of Southern California)
• Eula Biss (Northwestern University)
• Toni Morrison (Princeton University)

Be aware that as an undergraduate, you may not be able to learn from the greats. That’s why it’s important to look into which courses these faculty teach before you have dreams of being mentored by Salman Rushdie — who is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU.

Genres Offered

While many schools that have creative writing majors offer fiction and poetry courses and tracks, there are some niche genres that could be more difficult to find. If you’re interested in playwriting, for example, you won’t find that at every school. Before you decide on a program, be sure it includes the genres you’d like to explore further, whether that’s flash fiction, creative nonfiction, or something else.

Workshopping Opportunities

The core of most quality creative writing curriculum is workshopping. This means sharing your work in your classes and listening to your peers discuss and critique it. While this may sound intimidating, it can do a lot to help you hone your work and become a better writer. Look for colleges that make this the bedrock of their curriculum.

Showcasing Opportunities

Are there opportunities to present your work, such as college-sponsored readings where undergraduates can participate? Or, perhaps the school has a great literary journal. At my school, students could submit their plays and have them performed by fellow students. 

List of All U.S. Colleges With a Creative Writing Major

What Are Your Chances of Acceptance?

No matter what major you’re considering, the first step is ensuring you’re academically comparable to students who were previously accepted to the college or university. Most selective schools use the Academic Index to filter out applicants who aren’t up to their standards.

You’ll also want to demonstrate your fit with the school and specific major with the qualitative components of your application, like your extracurriculars and essays. For a prospective creative writing major, the essay is particularly important because this is a way to demonstrate your writing prowess. Activities might include editing your school’s newspaper or literary journal, publishing your work, and participating in pre-college writing workshops.

Want to know your chances of being accepted to top creative writing schools? Try our Chancing Engine (it’s free). Unlike other calculators, it takes your individual profile into account, including academic stats and qualitative components like your activities. Give it a try and get a jumpstart on your journey as a creative writing major!

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Major: Creative Writing

Which colleges offer a major in creative writing.

Creative Writing majors weave a rich tapestry of storytelling, exploring forms such as poetry, personal essays, memoirs, short stories, scriptwriting, novels, literary journalism, and even video games. It could be a favorite line in a movie, play, or book that lures an audience in and changes their world. 

Telling a story can shed light on societal issues that would otherwise receive little or no attention. By evoking emotion, the story and its characters captivate the reader. People become invested in the story, the impact of the problem on the characters’ lives, and the outcome. Creative writing humanizes experiences in a way that may foster compassion for others. A compelling creative writer draws readers in so that they become engaged in the story.

Your imagination, mindset, and self-expression will be challenged and sharpened as a creative writing major. You’ll explore multiple creative writing forms. Creative writing challenges you to dig deep and learn about yourself and others. 

What does a student majoring in Creative Writing study? 

To develop their skills, creative writing majors will take courses in historical and contemporary literature and participate in writing workshops. Such courses or workshops include, among others: 

• American Literature
• Introduction to Creative Writing
• Reading and Writing Poetry
• Playwriting
• Screenwriting

What can I do with a Creative Writing degree?

You’ll develop a greater appreciation and understanding of various creative writing genres. Your research, writing, and creative thinking skills are desirable in  jobs such as the following:

• Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers
• Advertising and Promotions Managers
• Art Directors
• Fundraisers
• Producers and Directors

Specializations for a Creative Writing major are:

• Film and Television Writing
• Photojournalism
• Creative Nonfiction

What are the requirements for a Creative Writing degree? 

The degree requirements at your college or university will consist of specific credits needed for major and elective courses in creative writing. You’ll participate in many writing workshops and apply the critiques of your work from peers and faculty to hone your creative writing skills.   

Explore Creative Writing Careers

Arts and humanities majors and degrees, related ap courses, find colleges with a creative writing major, related topics.

Major in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Major at a Glance

Students who graduate with the Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing will be skilled writers in a major literary genre and have a theoretically informed understanding of the aesthetic, historical, social, and political context of a range of contemporary writing. Students in the major will focus their studies on a primary genre: fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.

The organization of the major incorporates the writing workshop model into a broader education that furthers students’ knowledge of historical and contemporary literary practice, sharpens their critical attention, and fosters their creative enthusiasm.

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• Creative Writing
• Poetry & Poetics

Summary of Major Requirements (2023-24 and beyond)

• 1 Fundamentals in Creative Writing Seminar
• 1 Beginning Workshop (in primary genre)
• 2 Technical Seminars (in primary genre)
• 1 literary genre course (in primary genre)
• 1 literary theory course
• 1 pre-20th-century literature course
• 1 general literature course
• 2 Advanced Workshops (at least 1 in primary genre)
• 2 Background Electives

= 12 Courses

Note: This set of requirements applies to students who declare a major in Creative Writing during the 2023-24 school year or in subsequent years.  

Fundamentals in Creative Writing Seminar

The Fundamentals in Creative Writing course is an introductory multi-genre seminar to be taken by all students in the major and minor. Each section of the course focuses on a theme that is relevant to all forms of literary practice and introduces students to a group of core texts from the genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Beginning Workshop

Beginning Workshops are intended for students who may or may not have previous writing experience, but are interested in gaining experience in a particular genre. These workshops focus on the fundamentals of craft and feature workshops of student writing. Beginning workshops are a pre-requisite for advanced workshops in the same genre.

Technical Seminars (in Poetry, Fiction, or Nonfiction)

Technical Seminars are designed to give students a deep grounding in core technical elements of their primary genre. Coursework may involve creative exercises, but papers will focus on analysis of assigned readings.

Advanced Workshops

Critique is the core value and activity of the workshop environment. Students in Advanced Workshops will practice critique under the guidance of the workshop instructor. Advanced Workshops typically focus on original student work. Students must complete the fundamentals course as well as a beginning workshop in the relevant genre prior to enrolling in an advanced workshop.

Literary Genre Courses

This requirement can be met using a cross-listed English course or an eligible literature course offered by another department. For a list of eligible courses, please visit  this page .

Literature Courses

Students take four literature courses: one in the student ’ s genre of focus, one on literary theory, one on literature written before the twentieth century, and one elective. For a list of eligible ENGL courses and their categorizations, please visit  this page .  

Courses in other departments cross-listed with an ENGL course number may also be used. In extenuating circumstances, majors may request approval for literature courses   not   cross-listed with ENGL by emailing an explanation and course description to the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Research Background Electives

Students take two courses outside of the Creative Writing program to support the student’s individual interests and creative projects. Students may indicate the selected courses on their Major Worksheet and no formal petition is required.

Optional BA Thesis & Optional Thesis Workshop

Students have the option to complete a BA thesis/project in their fourth year and should declare intent by the end of Winter Quarter of their third year. Majors who complete a BA thesis/project and meet GPA requirements are eligible for consideration for honors. Students work on their BA project over four quarters. In Winter Quarter of their fourth year, students who wish to complete a thesis should enroll in one of the optional Thesis/Major Projects Workshops in their genre.

• Types of Courses

Summary of Original Major Requirements

Note: This set of requirements applies to students who declared a major in Creative Writing prior to the AY24 update. This includes students who declared during the 2020-21, 2021-22 or 2022-23 academic years.

Newer majors, students who declare in AY24, and students who have formally redeclared under the new requirements due to extenuating circumstances should refer to the updated 2023-24 guidelines above.

• 3 Advanced Workshops (at least 2 in primary genre)
• 2 Research Background Electives
• 1 Thesis/Major Projects Workshop (Winter Quarter of fourth year)
• BA Thesis (due in Spring Quarter; requires work with Writing and Research Advisor over fourth year)

= 13 Courses and a Thesis  

Critique is the core value and activity of the workshop environment. Students in Advanced Workshops will practice critique under the guidance of the workshop instructor. Advanced Workshops typically focus on original student work. All students are strongly discouraged from taking an Advanced Workshop as their first course from the Program.

A substantial proportion of one of these courses must involve the study of literature written before the twentieth century, and one must fulfill a theory requirement. For a list of eligible courses, please visit  this page .

Students take two courses outside of the Creative Writing program, selected in consultation with the DUS, to support the student’s individual interests and thesis project.

BA Thesis & Workshop

Students work on their BA project over four quarters. In Winter Quarter of their fourth year, students enroll in one of the Thesis/Major Projects Workshops in their genre.

Declaring the Major

Creative Writing courses give priority to students who have declared the major with Vu Tran, the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). In instances where a class has many more applications than it has spots, priority is determined first by degree program and then by class year.

Students in the major receive priority in Advanced Workshops, Technical Seminars, and Fundamentals Seminars.

There are two steps to declaring a major in Creative Writing:

• Meet with the DUS, Vu Tran,  to start a major worksheet.
• Confirm program approval with your College Advisor, so the major can be added to your my.uchicago account.

Students who have completed both steps are considered officially declared at the department level and therefore eligible for priority in major courses.

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

• Undergraduate
• Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Major

The Creative Writing Major is an undergraduate concentration within the English Department at Northwestern University and one of the first and finest undergraduate Creative Writing programs in the country. Its reputation is based on the accomplishments of its graduates, the generosity of its accomplished professors, and a pedagogy that creates a fruitful symbiosis between close reading and inventive writing. Award-winning authors teach poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, as well as courses that cross genres, guiding students to examine literary works as writers and encouraging them to study the best literary models. Professors and students work in a close-knit community as they write their own stories, novellas, poems and essays within the living tradition of literature.

Most Creative Writing Majors begin taking creative writing courses in their sophomore year and complete the yearlong “sequence” of study during their junior year, and some have the opportunity to complete an additional honors project before graduation (see Recommended Schedule for Prospective Writing Majors below). Students also learn from prominent visiting writers at our annual Festival of Writing in the Spring.  Recent graduates of the program include MacArthur “Genius” Award Winner Karen Russell; Veronica Roth, whose bestselling novel “Divergent” was first drafted while she was a student; poet Peter Kline; and award-winning essayist Angela Mears.

Current Creative Writing faculty include   Chris Abani ,  Brian Bouldrey ,   John Bresland ,   Averill Curdy ,   Sheila Donohue , Juan Martinez , Shauna Seliy , Charif Shanahan ,  Natasha Trethewey , Daisy Hernández ,  and   Rachel Jamison Webster .

The Creative Writing program also offers two minors; the Sequence-based Minor and, for those not pursuing one of the year-long sequences, the non-application based Cross-genre Minor in Creative Writing .

See past and upcoming Creative Writing events.

Undergraduate publication opportunities

Recommended Schedule for Prospective Writing Majors

Courses for prospective creative writing majors, in a recommended order..

*Denotes courses that are REQUIRED for the Creative Writing Major

ENG 202-Introduction to Creative Writing

(can be taken in Fall quarter of Freshman year. This provides an introduction to all three genres and prepares you for our other CW courses.)

ENG 210-1,2 - English Literary Traditions       or ENG 270-1,2 - American Literary Traditions

(While not required for creative writing, these are excellent background courses for writing students, and also serve as prerequisites for the English literature major.)

* ENG 206 - Reading and Writing Poetry

* ENG 207 - Reading and Writing Fiction    

* ENG 208 - Reading & Writing Creative Nonfiction

(You may take 206, 207, or 208 in any order.  You should have taken or be enrolled in any one of these when you're applying. )

Students may apply to the Creative Writing Program in the Spring of your Sophomore Year or in the Spring of your Junior Year.

Some students fulfill their requirements--of 206, 207 and 208--well before the time of application to the program. If that happens, we recommend that you stay in writing practice and continue building your portfolio by taking one of our 300-level writing courses, English 306, 307, 308, or 309. Please see Juan Martinez , Director of Creative Writing, for further suggestions and help with course planning.

Initial Required Courses

All students interested in the Creative Writing Major must take one introductory course --poetry (ENG 206), fiction (207), or creative nonfiction (208)--and at least be enrolled in another before applying to the major. Students can only apply to the major in any genre for which they've completed (or are enrolled) in its 200-level component; you can only apply for poetry after having taken or enrolling in ENG 206, for fiction after ENG 207, for creative nonfiction after ENG 208.

At the 200-level, no prior knowledge of a genre is required to enroll.

• No English Department creative writing course may be audited or taken pass/fail.
• School of Professional Studies courses offered under the titles ENG 206, 207 and 208 do not count toward any course of study within the Creative Writing program.

Admission to the Program

Admission to the next stage of the Creative Writing Major or the Sequence-based Minor in Creative Writing, the year-long 300-level advanced course sequences, is competitive. Admission to the program is granted primarily on the basis of manuscript quality and the student’s promise. An applicant may be admitted to study as a major, a minor, or a sequence-only student.

For fiction and nonfiction applications, your writing sample should be 7-15 pages.

For poetry applications, your writing sample should be 4-5 poems.

No preference in admission is currently given to those who apply to the sequences, though there are later opportunities open only to Creative Writing Majors, including participation in senior honors, one-on-one conferences with visiting writers-in-residence, and the winter senior readings series.  Students may apply for admission to the sequence courses no earlier than the spring of their sophomore year.   

The Sequences

Theory and Practice of Poetry (ENG 393), Fiction (394), and Creative Nonfiction (395):

These year-long sequences of courses ask students to pursue a rigorous program that includes explication and critical writing, imitation and modeling, close reading of literary texts, and the creation of original creative work.  The sequences are arranged in three consecutive quarters.

They begin in the fall with specialized courses in the fundamental technical and rhetorical bases of each genre. Poetry students study the uses of metaphor and mode, and the theory of prosody (including both the major form of poetry in English-accentual-syllabic verse-and the minor forms, accentual, syllabic, and free verse). Fiction students consider the tenets of realism and its alternatives, and practice different approaches to style, characterization, structure, and point of view. Creative nonfiction students focus on essay forms, logical method, authorial tone, and techniques of discourse and description. In all genres, imitations and models of great writers are assigned.

The second half of the sequence in each genre is devoted to intensive writing of a longer original work-a poem of at least 120 lines or an essay or novella of 25 to 35 pages.

Note that in the event further work in fiction, creative nonfiction or poetry is desired outside the year-long sequence, ENG 206, 207, and 208 may be repeated up to two times for WCAS credit. Advanced one-quarter courses in creative writing (ENG 306, 307, 308, 309) are also offered for non-majors.

Other Required Courses for MAJOR Students

In addition to the sequences, creative writing majors must take:

ENG 392 - The Situation of Writing

“The Situation of Writing,” which is typically offered in the winter quarter, investigates the writer’s relation to the culture, both currently and historically. The course addresses such questions as the relation of criticism to imaginative literature, the rise and fall of specific literary genres, the effect of the university on the production and consumption of literary works, the state of the publishing industry, and international literary contexts.

The “Third-Genre Intro” Course 

English 207 or 208, whichever introductory course was not completed before application to the sequences. This requirement ensures that writing majors will have had experience reading and writing in all three major non-dramatic modes of imaginative writing.

Six 300-level literature classes

These courses must be “pure literature”; that is, courses in which the bulk of the reading is literature and not criticism or theory. They must be selected from English Department offerings ONLY:

• Two on material written prior to 1830
• Two on material written after 1830
• Two from either period

Two non-literature courses related to one another, taught in other department(s).

These courses, in areas such as history, art, classics, and gender studies, broaden the student’s background for the study of literature. These must be approved by a creative writing advisor.

Other Required Courses for Sequence-Based MINOR students

In addition to the sequences, creative writing sequence-based minors must take:

Two 300-level literature classes

• One on material written prior to 1830
• One on material written after 1830

The Cross-genre Minor in Creative Writing

Other program features.

The Annual Writers Festival gives students the chance to learn from and interact with guest Writers-in-Residence for a three-day celebration of master classes, public readings, and a panel discussion on craft. The festival is situated within the larger Evanston Literary Festival, which hosts a number of literary events throughout the city.

Writing by students at Northwestern is recognized by the award-winning student literary magazine, Helicon, and by the  Department of English Annual Writing Competition , held in the spring.

Creative Writing Alumni Testimonials

-- Veronica Roth, author of the bestselling Divergent series

“I still believe our program at Northwestern is as good as any graduate program in the country. It was nice to have the opportunity when I was 19 to spend so much time reading and writing with these other writers. There was such a serious sense of purpose. That’s a testament to Brian and Sheila and the rest of the faculty. They really could create a community.” --Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of a MacArthur Genius Award.

“As a Creative Nonfiction student in the Creative Writing program, I was pushed hard -- by my professors and fellow writers -- to find my voice. Not just my voice as a writer, but as a person and advocate of my life and experiences. More than anything else, I learned that I am still learning. I am still finding that voice, and always will be. I learned that this fact is okay, it is right, it is what makes me write.”   --Danielle Littman, 2013 graduate.

"We're not just educating people for professional tracks; we're educating them for their lives." --Professor Mary Kinzie, Founder of the Creative Writing Program and award-winning poet.

Undergraduate Admissions

• Creative Writing

Purdue University in West Lafayette

Creative Writing focuses on writing poetry, fiction, or drama. This major is perfect for students who love to write and who do so no matter what. Many creative writing students double major in creative writing and another area, like professional writing.

Most Creative Writing majors and minors want to have creative writing as a component of their future. As a creative writing major, you’ll learn many skills that employers find desirable, which may lead to jobs in publishing, marketing, management, and more. Other students plan to attend graduate school to hone their skills and further develop their art.

All liberal arts majors prepare students with the skills identified as contributing to managerial success:  communicating and listening well, possessing insights into others, creative/critical thinking, problem solving, and the ability to make connections across complex ideas.

Degree in 3

Plan of Study

• Creative Writing, BA

Transfer to Creative Writing

Purdue admits to individual majors. Transfer students must meet Purdue's overall transfer criteria , as well as any major-specific requirements. Before you apply, check the closed programs page to confirm this major is open to transfer students. If it is, refer to the information below for major-specific transfer criteria.

Minimum GPA: 2.5

Contact Information

Undergraduate Student Recruitment Office (765) 494-6291 [email protected]

Careers in Creative Writing

•   Writer
•   Teacher
•   Editor
•   Advertiser
•   Social Media Manager
•   Journalist
•   Freelance Writing
•   Production Assistant
•   Marketing Director
•   Attorney
• Marketing, Advertising, Communication, and Writing
• Public Service or Social Sciences
• Teaching and Education
• African American Studies
• American Studies
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Contacts | Major in Creative Writing | Program Requirements | Optional BA Thesis | Program Honors | Summary of Requirements | Advising | Courses Outside the Department Taken for Program Credit | Double Majors in English Language and Literature and Creative Writing | Grading | Sample Plan of Study for the Major | Minor in English and Creative Writing | Summary of Requirements for the Minor Program in English and Creative Writing | Minor to Major | Sample Plan of Study for the Minor | Enrolling in Creative Writing Courses | Faculty and Visiting Lecturers | Creative Writing Courses

Department Website: http://creativewriting.uchicago.edu

The Program in Creative Writing takes a comprehensive approach to the study of contemporary literature, criticism, and theory from a writer’s perspective. In our courses, students work with established poets and prose writers to explore the fundamental practices of creative writing. The program is committed to interdisciplinary inquiry, academic rigor, and study of the elements of creative writing that underlie all genres.

The Program in Creative Writing offers workshops and seminars in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as a number of translation workshops. The major seminars—including technical seminars and fundamentals in creative writing—are designed to build a critical and aesthetic foundation for students working in each genre. Students can pursue their creative writing interests within the formal requirements of the major or through a minor in English and Creative Writing. (The minor is open to undergraduate students not majoring in English language and literature.) Students who do not wish to pursue a formal degree plan in creative writing will have access to courses that satisfy the general education requirement in the arts and open-entry "beginning" workshops. Our workshops and technical seminars are cross-listed with graduate numbers and are open to students in the graduate and professional schools.

Major in Creative Writing

Students who graduate with a bachelor of arts in creative writing will be skilled writers in a major literary genre and have a theoretically informed understanding of the aesthetic, historical, social, and political context of a range of contemporary writing. Students in the major will focus their studies in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.

The organization of the major recognizes the value of workshop courses but incorporates that model into a comprehensive educational architecture. The creative writing major furthers students’ knowledge of historical and contemporary literary practice, introduces them to aesthetic and literary theory, sharpens their critical attention, and fosters their creative enthusiasm. Students are prepared to succeed in a range of fields within the public and private sectors through a multi-faceted, forward-thinking pedagogy centered on peer critique and craft.

Program Requirements

The Program in Creative Writing requires a total of 12 courses (1200 units) as described below. Students planning to complete the major must meet with the director of undergraduate studies or the student affairs administrator to file a major worksheet by the end of Autumn Quarter of their third year.

Students contemplating a major or minor in creative writing may choose to take one or two creative writing courses toward the general education requirement in the arts. These courses will not count toward major requirements, but they offer an opportunity for students to consider the program while satisfying a general education requirement. See  Enrolling in Creative Writing Courses  for additional details.

Primary Genre

Students are asked to declare a primary genre track either when they first declare the major or immediately following completion of the Fundamentals course. The primary genre track options include Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Students should complete a beginning workshop, two technical seminars, an advanced workshop, and one literary genre course. Students may also complete an optional thesis workshop within the primary genre. Students may change the genre track at any time by notifying the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

One (1) Fundamentals in Creative Writing Course  CRWR 17000 to CRWR 17999

Fundamentals in Creative Writing is a cross-genre, one-quarter seminar taken by all students in the major and minor. Every section of the course focuses on a current debate relevant to all forms of literary practice, such as mimesis, empathy, and testimony. This course introduces students to a group of core texts from each major literary genre. Fundamentals courses are restricted to students who have declared the major or minor, as they aim to develop cohort solidarity, promote a culture of articulate exchange, and induct students into a reflection on practice that will serve their artistic and professional development. Majors should take Fundamentals in Creative Writing and Beginning Workshop before enrolling in an Advanced Workshop. 

One (1) Beginning Workshop Fiction: CRWR 10206; Poetry: CRWR 10306; Nonfiction: CRWR 10406

Students in the major must complete one beginning workshop in the student’s primary genre. Successful completion of a beginning workshop is a prerequisite for enrollment in an advanced workshop in the same genre. Students may enroll in more than one beginning workshop. However, students who complete a beginning workshop in one genre and then complete a beginning workshop in another genre may count only the beginning workshop in their primary genre towards the major. Beginning workshops are intended for students who may or may not have previous writing experience, but are interested in gaining experience in a particular genre. These workshops focus on the fundamentals of craft and feature workshops of student writing.

Two (2) Technical Seminars Fiction: CRWR 20200 to CRWR 20299; Poetry: CRWR 20301 to CRWR 20399; Nonfiction: CRWR 20400 to CRWR 20499; Hybrid: CRWR 20701 to CRWR 20799

Students in the major must take two technical seminars in their primary genre (fiction, poetry, or nonfiction); during some quarters, the program may also offer hybrid technical seminars. Majors may petition to substitute one technical seminar in their primary genre with a technical seminar in a different genre, or with a hybrid technical seminar. Students should reach out to the director of undergraduate studies or student affairs administrator with questions on this petition process or hybrid technical seminars. 

The aim of technical seminars is to expand students’ technical resources through analysis of contemporary literature and practice-based training in elements of craft. Students submit papers that address technical questions, chiefly with reference to contemporary texts. For example, poetry students may write on “the line,” where fiction students write on “point of view.” Technical seminars may also count as electives in the minor.

Two (2) Advanced Workshops Fiction: CRWR 22100 to CRWR 22299; Poetry: CRWR 23100 to CRWR 23299; Nonfiction: CRWR 24001 to CRWR 24199; Hybrid: CRWR 27300 to 27499

Students in the major must complete two advanced workshops, at least one of which must be in the student’s primary genre. Majors may petition to substitute one advanced workshop in their primary genre with a hybrid advanced workshop when applicable. Students should reach out to the director of undergraduate studies or student affairs administrator with questions on this petition process or hybrid advanced workshops.

The advanced workshop is a critical pedagogical instrument of creative writing as an academic discipline. Workshop practice relies on a mutual exchange and understanding dedicated to improving students’ writing, rather than unconditional approval. Critique is the core value and activity of the workshop, and students will practice it under the guidance of the workshop instructor. Although advanced workshops begin with attention to exemplary texts, they typically focus on original student work. 

Four (4) Literature Requirements

Creative writing majors are required to take four literature courses offered by other departments. These courses can be focused on the literature of any language, but one must focus on the student’s primary genre; one must center on literary theory; one must involve the study of literature written before the twentieth century; and the final one can be any general literature course. 

The literary genre course should serve as an introduction to key texts and debates in the history of the student’s chosen genre. This requirement can be met by an English language and literature course or a comparable course in another department. Courses such as  ENGL 10403  Genre Fundamentals: Poetry: Rhythm and Myth,  CMST 27207 Film Criticism , or  ENGL 11004  History of the Novel may be eligible. 

The director of undergraduate studies will offer guidance and approve all qualifying courses. Specific courses that satisfy the distribution element of this requirement will be listed at  creativewriting.uchicago.edu . A literature course can potentially satisfy more than one requirement, e.g., both theory and literary genre, but a student can only use the course to fulfill one of the requirements.

Two (2) Background Electives

Students should take two courses outside of the Program in Creative Writing to support their creative projects or theses. Depending on a student's interests, elective courses can be offered by programs ranging from cinema and media studies to biological sciences. One creative writing translation workshop may also be approved as a background elective. Students may not use the same course to fulfill a background elective and a literature requirement. 

Optional BA Thesis

Students have the option to complete a BA thesis/project in their fourth year and should declare intent by the end of Winter Quarter of their third year. Majors who complete a BA thesis/project and meet GPA requirements are eligible for consideration for honors. In Spring Quarter of the third year, students who opt into the BA thesis/project will be assigned a writing and research advisor who will mentor student reading and research throughout the completion of the creative writing thesis. Students, in conversation with the writing and research advisors, will complete a preliminary project proposal during the Spring Quarter of their third year. The preliminary proposal will then be submitted to the student affairs administrator.

Over the Summer Quarter students will craft a reading journal centered on a field list of readings; chosen texts will be based upon work, conversations, etc., students will have begun with their writing and research advisors. In Autumn Quarter, students and writing and research advisors will work together to adapt the reading journal into an annotated bibliography, a focus reading list, and a précis/project plan (summary of student writing plan and goals for the BA thesis/project).

In Winter Quarter, students will continue meeting with their writing and research advisor and must also enroll in the appropriate thesis/major projects workshop in their primary genre ( CRWR 29200 Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction ,  CRWR 29300 Thesis/Major Projects: Poetry , CRWR 29400 Thesis/Major Projects: Nonfiction , or CRWR 29500 Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction/Nonfiction ). The thesis/major projects workshop is only offered during Winter Quarter. Students must complete the thesis/major projects workshop to submit a thesis project for consideration for honors.

The instructor for the thesis/major projects workshop will also serve as the faculty advisor for the BA thesis.

Students writing a BA thesis/project will work closely with their faculty advisor and peers in their thesis/major projects workshop and will receive course credit as well as a final grade for the course. In consultation with their faculty advisor and writing and research advisor, students will revise and submit a near-final draft of the BA thesis by the end of the second week of Spring Quarter. Students will submit the final version of their BA thesis to their writing and research advisor, faculty advisor, student affairs administrator, and the director of undergraduate studies by the beginning of the fifth week of Spring Quarter. 

Students graduating in other quarters must consult with the director of undergraduate studies about an appropriate timeline before the end of Autumn Quarter of their third year. 

Program Honors

The faculty in the program will award program honors based on their assessment of BA theses and the assessment of writing and research advisors. Students must complete all assignments set by writing and research advisors to be considered for honors. To be eligible, students must have a major GPA of at least 3.6 and overall GPA of 3.25. Honors will be awarded only to exceptional projects from a given cohort.

Summary of Requirements

Students considering the major should email the director of undergraduate studies or student affairs administrator as early as possible to discuss program requirements and individual plans of study. To declare the major and receive priority in application-based CRWR courses, students must confer with the director of undergraduate studies or student affairs administrator to file a major worksheet with the Program in Creative Writing. Declaration of the major will then be formalized through  my.uchicago.edu . To join the major, students must officially declare via a worksheet on file with the program before the end of Autumn Quarter of the third year of study. Students will need to regularly provide documentation of any approvals for the major to their academic advisors.

Courses Outside the Department Taken for Program Credit

Students double majoring in creative writing and another major (with the exception of English language and literature) can count a maximum of three courses towards both majors (pending approval from both departments). Ordinarily, two of these courses will be background electives. Substitutions for a further course will be subject to approval, but students may not substitute non-literature courses to meet a literature requirement. 

Double Majors in English Language and Literature and Creative Writing

Students who pursue a double major in creative writing and English language and literature, may count up to four courses towards both majors. These four courses typically include the four literature requirements, but in some cases one of the slots might be filled by a creative writing course (with director of undergraduate studies approval). However, the two required background electives should be taken outside of the Department of English Language and Literature. 

English language and literature majors may count up to four creative writing courses towards the major in English as electives without a petition. However, when students are pursuing a double major in English language and literature and creative writing, they must observe the shared four-course maximum. Double majors must then count any eligible creative writing courses beyond the four-course cap towards their English language and literature major.

Students in the program must receive quality grades (not pass/fail) in all courses counting toward the major or minor. Non-majors and non-minors may take creative writing courses for pass/fail grading with consent of the instructor. Students must request this consent by the end of week three of the quarter; otherwise pass/fail must be approved by the program director. 

Sample Plan of Study for the Major

Minor in English and Creative Writing

Students who are not English language and literature or creative writing majors may complete a minor in English and Creative Writing. The minor requires six courses (600 units). At least three of the required courses must be creative writing courses, with at least one being a beginning workshop, at least one being an advanced workshop, and at least one being a fundamentals course. Three of the remaining required courses may be taken in either the Department of English Language and Literature or the Program in Creative Writing; these courses may include technical seminars or arts general education courses. General education courses cannot be used for the minor if they are already counted toward the general education requirement in the arts. In some cases, literature courses outside of English language and literature and creative writing may count towards the minor, subject to the director of undergraduate studies’ approval. 

Students who elect the minor program in English and Creative Writing must meet with the student affairs administrator for creative writing before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. Students choose courses in consultation with the administrator. The administrator's approval for the minor program should be submitted to a student's academic advisor on the Consent to Complete a Minor Program form, available from the College adviser or online, by the deadline above.

Students completing the minor will be given enrollment preference for advanced workshops and some priority for technical seminars. They must follow all relevant admission procedures described at the  Creative Writing  website. For details, see  Enrolling in Creative Writing Courses .

Courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality grades (not pass/fail) and bear University of Chicago course numbers.

Summary of Requirements for the Minor Program in English and Creative Writing

Minor to Major

Student circumstances change, and a transfer between the major and minor programs may be desirable to students who begin a course of study in either program. Workshop courses and a fundamentals course may count toward the minor. Students should consult with their academic advisor if considering such a transfer and must update their planned program of study with the student affairs administrator or director of undergraduate studies in creative writing.

Sample Plan of Study for the Minor

Enrolling in Creative Writing Courses

General education courses and beginning workshops are open to all students via the standard pre-registration process. Our consent-based courses prioritize students in the major, the minor, and the Creative Writing Option of the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH). Note: Students who have not yet met with the director of undergraduate studies or student affairs administrator to begin a worksheet are not considered formally declared and therefore are not guaranteed priority in course enrollment.

For more information on creative writing courses and opportunities, visit the  Creative Writing  website.

Creative Writing Courses for the General Education Requirement in the Arts

These multi-genre courses are introductions to topics in creative writing and satisfy the general education requirement in the arts in the College. General education courses are generally taught under two headings—"Reading as a Writer" and "Intro to Genres"—and will feature class critiques of students’ creative work. They are open to all undergraduate students during pre-registration. These courses do not count towards the major in creative writing, but students may use these courses to satisfy the creative writing minor’s elective requirements if they are not already counted toward the students' general education requirement in the arts.

Fundamentals in Creative Writing Courses

These courses focus on a current debate relevant to all forms of literary practice and aim to develop cohort solidarity, promote a culture of exchange, and induct students into a reflection on practice that will service their artistic and professional development. They are open to declared majors only, except in circumstances approved by the director of undergraduate studies. Majors should take a Fundamentals course and a Beginning Workshop before enrolling in Advanced Workshops. 

Beginning Workshops

These courses are intended for students who may or may not have writing experience, but are interested in gaining experience in a particular genre. Courses will focus on the fundamentals of craft and feature workshops of student writing. Open to all undergraduate students during pre-registration.

Technical Seminars

The aim of the technical seminars is to expand students’ technical resources through analysis of contemporary literature and practice-based training in elements of craft. 

Advanced Workshops

These workshops are intended for students with experience in a particular genre. Advanced workshops will focus on class critiques of student writing with accompanying readings from exemplary literary texts. Priority is given to students in the major, minor, or the MAPH Creative Writing Option . 

Optional Thesis/Major Projects

The thesis/major projects course is optional for minors. While it is not required to complete the minor, students are welcome to opt in to the course. This course will revolve around workshops of student writing and concentrate on the larger form students have chosen for their creative thesis. Priority is given to students in the major, minor, or the MAPH Creative Writing Option .

Faculty and Visiting Lecturers

For a current listing of Creative Writing faculty, visit the  Creative Writing  website.

Creative Writing Courses

CRWR 10206. Beginning Fiction Workshop. 100 Units.

Beginning Workshops are intended for students who may or may not have previous writing experience, but are interested in gaining experience in a particular genre. These workshops focus on the fundamentals of craft and feature workshops of student writing. See the course description for this particular workshop section in the notes below.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 30206

CRWR 10306. Beginning Poetry Workshop. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 30306

CRWR 10406. Beginning Nonfiction Workshop. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 30406

CRWR 10606. Beginning Translation Workshop. 100 Units.

Beginning Workshops are intended for students who may or may not have previous experience, but are interested in gaining experience in translation. See the course description for this particular workshop section in the notes below.

Instructor(s): Anne Janusch     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Please email the professor to be added to the waitlist during add/drop. To participate in this class, students should have intermediate proficiency in a foreign language. Note(s): Beginning Translation Workshop: Writing What's Been Written This workshop will explore literary translation as a mode of embodied reading and creative writing. Through comparative and iterative readings across multiple translations of both poetry and fiction, we will examine the interpretive decisions that translators routinely encounter when assigning an English to a work of literature first written in another language, as well as the range of creative strategies available to translators when devising a treatment for a literary text in English. Students will complete weekly writing exercises in retranslation and English-to-English translation, building to the retranslation of either a short piece of fiction or selection of poems. Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 10606, GRMN 30606, CRWR 30606, SALC 30706, SALC 10606

CRWR 12124. Reading as a Writer: Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty. 100 Units.

In this core course, students will investigate the complicated relationship between truth and art by reading and writing works "based on a true story." In poetry and prose, we will explore the lines between fiction and nonfiction, beauty and horror, as well as utterance and silence. Writers will develop critical responses to course readings, then explore those perspectives through creative work of their own. Readings include work by Jeffery Renard Allen, Ari Banias, Scott Blackwood, Brenda Hillman, Harold Pinter, and Claudia Rankine.

Instructor(s): Garin Cycholl     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through classes.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Note(s): This course meets the general education requirement in the arts.

CRWR 12133. Intro to Genres: Writing and Social Change. 100 Units.

In this course, we will explore the embattled, yet perpetually alive relationship between writing and activism by reading canonical and emergent works of fiction, narrative prose, and poetry that not only represent social ills, but seek to address and even spur social justice in some way. Students will be encouraged to choose an issue that they feel passionate about on which to research and respond for the entire quarter-and will be asked to produce short works in a range of genres in relation to that issue. Works studied will include the poetry of Percy Shelley, the short stories of John Keene, the essays of Anne Boyer, the graphic novels of Nick Drnaso, and the document-based poetry of Layli Long Soldier.

Instructor(s): Jennifer Scappettone     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.UChicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Satisfies the College Arts Core requirement.

CRWR 12138. Intro to Genres: Evil Incarnate. 100 Units.

Some of the most compelling pieces of writing across all genre deal with, and often feature, deeply problematic central adversarial characters without which the poem, story, or essay would have no forward motion, and no cause to exist. From Capote's In Cold Blood to Milton's Paradise Lost, from Bulgakov's Master and Margarita to Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem and Sabato's The Tunnel, literature returns again and again to the question of evil and the concept of opposition. This course is designed to explore this question alongside authors who have devoted their lives to understanding the role of evil in literature, its necessity, its appeal, its frivolity and its betrayal. The course will be divided into three section, each section devoted to a specific genre during which two to three texts will be explored, discussed and analyzed in class, and at the end of which one brief analysis paper will be due. One creative piece, in any of the three major genres, exploring the said topic will be due at the end of the course.

Instructor(s): Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins; contact the instructor for a spot in the class or on the waiting list. Note(s): Satisfies the College Arts/Music/Drama Core requirement.

CRWR 12141. Intro to Genres: Drawing on Graphic Novels. 100 Units.

Like film, comics are a language, and there's much to be learned from studying them, even if we have no intention of 'writing' them. Comics tell two or more stories simultaneously, one via image, the other via text, and these parallel stories can not only complement but also contradict one another, creating subtexts and effects that words alone can't. Or can they? Our goal will be to draw, both literally and metaphorically, on the structures and techniques of the form. While it's aimed at the aspiring graphic novelist (or graphic essayist, or poet), it's equally appropriate for those of us who work strictly with words (or images). What comics techniques can any artist emulate, approximate, or otherwise aspire to, and how can these lead us to a deeper understanding of the possibilities of point of view, tone, structure and style? We'll learn the basics of the medium via Ivan Brunetti's book Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice, as well as Syllabus, by Lynda Barry. Readings include the scholar David Kunzle on the origins of the form, the first avant-garde of George Herriman, Frank King, and Lyonel Feininger, finishing with contemporaries like Chris Ware, Emil Ferris and Alison Bechdel. Assignments include weekly creative and critical assignments, culminating in a final portfolio and paper.

Instructor(s): Dan Raeburn     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): MADD 22141

CRWR 12143. Reading as a Writer: Embodied Language. 100 Units.

Embodied Language. This course studies how writers engage the senses to shape language into something actually felt and not just comprehended. We'll track the sensual life of words-what they do to the mouth, to the ear, their musical kinships with one another-and learn how these qualities combine to generate mood and atmosphere. Alongside writing that renders embodiment and the physical world, we'll read writing that makes abstraction feel concrete. Our weekly readings will guide our ongoing inquiry into questions such as: what constitutes an image? How does writing enact feeling? How do the sensory elements of a piece intensify or erode or expand its subject, and to what end? Texts will include poetry and prose by Sei Shōnagon, Francis Ponge, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Gwendolyn Brooks, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wanda Coleman, Vasko Popa, Lorine Niedecker, Ai, Durga Chew-Bose, Shane McCrae, Jenny Zhang, Justin Torres, James Baldwin, Deborah Eisenberg, and many others. Each member of the class will be asked to write weekly critical and creative responses, to give one presentation, and to produce a final project at the end of the quarter.

Instructor(s): Margaret Ross      Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins; contact the instructor for a spot in the class or on the waiting list. Note(s): This course meets the general education requirement in the arts.

CRWR 12145. Reading as a Writer: Re-Vision. 100 Units.

To revise a piece of writing isn't merely to polish it. Revision is transformation and yields an alternate reality. A new view, a re-vision. This course will start by tracking compositional process, looking at brilliant and disastrous drafts to compare the aesthetic and political consequences of different choices on the page. We'll then study poems, essays, and stories that refute themselves and self-revise as they unfold, dramatizing mixed feelings and changing minds. We'll end by considering erasure poetry as a form of critical revision. Our conversations will inspire weekly writing exercises and invite you to experiment with various creative revision strategies. Students will be asked to lead one presentation and to share their writing for group discussion.

Instructor(s): Margaret Ross      Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 12146. London vs. Nature: Writing Utopia and Dystopia in the Urban Landscape [Creative Writing Arts Core: R. 100 Units.

In this Arts Core course, students will be introduced to a range of the utopian and dystopian fantasies that writers have produced in response to the metropolis of London as the imperial epicenter of manufactured ecologies, from the late nineteenth century through the present day. They will study early responses to modernism and modernization in the city by figures like William Blake, Frederick Engels, Henry James, Ezra Pound, and Virginia Woolf before moving on to contemporary writers such as R. Murray Schafer, who apprehends the city through "earwitnessing" of noise pollution, and Bhanu Kapil, who recalls the race riots of the 1970s against the backdrop of the Nestle factory on the site of King Henry VIII's hunting grounds. Students will be exposed first-hand to how London is read by writers confronting planetary and political crisis through meetings with living publishers, authors, and art collectives like the Museum of Walking, grappling with the continual metamorphosis of the landscape-and through a sequence of on-site visits and psychogeographical experiments, they will have the opportunity to respond to the city in their own writing across a range of genres. (Arts Core)

Instructor(s): Jennifer Scappettone     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Acceptance to the London Study Abroad Program. Equivalent Course(s): ARCH 14146

CRWR 12147. Intro to Genres: The River's Running Course. 100 Units.

Rivers move--over land, through history, among peoples--and they make: landscapes and civilizations. They are the boundaries on our maps, the dividers of nations, of families, of the living and the dead, but they are also the arteries that connect us. They are meditative, meandering journeys and implacable, surging power. They are metaphors but also so plainly, corporeally themselves. In this course, we will encounter creative work about rivers, real and imaginary, from the Styx to the Amazon. Through poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama, we will consider what rivers are, what they mean to us, and how they are represented in art and literature. Rivers will be the topic and inspiration for our own creative writing, too. The goal for this course is to further your understanding of creative writing genres and the techniques that creative writers employ to produce meaningful work in each of those genres. You will also practice those techniques yourselves as write your own creative work in each genre. Our weekly sessions will involve a mixture of discussions, brief lectures, student presentations, mini-workshops and in-class exercises. Most weeks, you will be responsible for a creative and/or critical response (300-500 words) to the reading, and the quarter will culminate in a final project (7-10 pages) in the genre of your choice, inspired by the Chicago River.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Soileau     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CHST 12147, ENST 22147

CRWR 12148. Intro to Genres: Speculative Women. 100 Units.

Intro to Genres: Speculative Women Despite common misconceptions, women have been at the forefront of the speculative genre from its earliest inceptions. They have not merely defied the limitations and restraints of literature as defined by their contemporary society, but invented whole worlds and genres which continue to influence writers and writing as a whole today-from Mary Shelley's 1818 publication of "Frankenstein" to Virginia Woolf's 1928 publication of "Orlando," and even Margaret Cavendish's 1666 novel, "The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World." This course will be a brief foray into the strange and yet familiar worlds of various women across the history of speculative writing, ranging from Mary Shelley to Ursula K. Leguin, from Lady Cavendish to Margaret Atwood, from Alice Walker to Octavia E. Butler.

Instructor(s): Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins; contact the instructor for a spot in the class or on the waiting list. Note(s): Satisfies the College Arts/Music/Drama Core requirement. Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 22148

CRWR 12150. Intro to Genres: Writing for TV: The Writers' Room. 100 Units.

In this course, you'll learn the craft of writing for television by collaboratively developing a pilot script for an original television series set in the South Side of Chicago. Modeled on the "writers' room," we'll research and develop the concept, characters, the outline, and create a plan for the series. In addition to being introduced to the fundamentals of storytelling through lectures, discussions, screenings, and script analysis, you'll also learn to work collaboratively with a team, constructing a daily agenda, brainstorming, researching, pitching, discussing ideas, and composing in screenwriting format. By the end of this hands-on course, you will be armed with a set of techniques and skills that will support your professional development as a writer.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Summer TBD. September Term 2022

CRWR 12151. Intro to Genres: The Gothic Lens. 100 Units.

The Gothic is arguably the most evocative of all storytelling genres. As haunting as it is seductive in its ambiguities and luridly symbolic tropes, no form more powerfully captures our encounters with the irrational and the inexplicable, whether in nature, in others, or in ourselves. In this Arts Core course, we will approach the genre through all its forbidding yet intimate qualities. As we read Gothic fiction from different eras and cultures, from both a reader's perspective and a writer's perspective (the why/how/who of the author's decisions), we'll cover concepts like the sublime, the uncanny, and abjection, examining the work's sociopolitical layers but aiming our brightest light on its psychological underpinnings. We'll ask ourselves: in what ways does the Gothic mirror the most vulnerable and obscure aspects of the self? What might these extraordinary stories of transgression, violence, or supernatural conflict reveal about the horrors of ordinary life, the vagaries of our hidden desires, anxieties, and pathologies? Our focus on the psychological and evocative nature of the genre, especially from a writer's point of view, will also help us write our Gothic Scenes, where everyone will apply their own intimate "gothic lens" to memorable encounters from their recent past. (Arts Core)

Instructor(s): Vu Tran     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Note(s): This course meets the general education requirement in the arts.

CRWR 12153. Reading as a Writer: The Walker in the City. 100 Units.

Flâneur: from French, "to stroll, loaf, saunter"; probably from Old Norse flana, "to wander aimlessly"; Norwegian flana, "to gad about. The image of the poet as flâneur -- a metropolitan artist in motion -- emerged as an archetype of romantic and modernist literature. We will consider the walking poet in interaction with race, mobility and disability, gender and queerness, class, migration, ecology, and other embodied experiences. Texts will include work by Kathy Ferguson, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Walter Benjamin, William Blake, Judith Butler, Sunaura Taylor, June Jordan, Walt Whitman, and others. Students will lead one presentation during the quarter and keep a notebook/sketchbook.

Instructor(s): Anna Torres     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Acceptance to the London Study Abroad Program

CRWR 12154. Reading as a Writer: Brevity. 100 Units.

This course will consider brevity as an artistic mode curiously capable of articulating the unspeakable, the abyssal, the endless. Reading very brief works from a long list of writers, we will ask: when is less more? When is less less? What is minimalism? What is the impact of the fragment? Can a sentence be a narrative? Can a word comprise a poem? Our readings will include short poems, short essays, and short short stories by Yannis Ritsos, francine j. harris, Aram Saroyan, Richard Wright, Cecilia Vicuña, Kobayashi Issa, Renee Gladman, Robert Creeley, Alejandra Pizarnik, Lucille Clifton, Lydia Davis, Jamaica Kincaid, Yi Sang, Anne Carson, Franz Kafka, Prageeta Sharma, Venita Blackburn, Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett, and others. Students will be asked to lead one presentation and to write critical and creative responses for group discussion.

Instructor(s): Margaret Ross     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 12156. Fundamentals: A Gathering of Flowers: The Anthology. 100 Units.

In 1925, The New Negro: An Interpretation, a collection of poems, short stories, and essays was published-it ushered a new era, what was then called the New Negro Renaissance. An artistic and literary movement with the objective to subvert what Alain Locke called the "Old Negro," by providing a corrective and aspirational image of contemporary Negro life, was borne. Around forty years later, Black Arts: An Anthology galvanized the Black Arts Movement, what Larry Neal called the "aesthetic and spiritual sister" of the Black Power Movement. The Best American Short Stories and the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women are two more examples of anthologies, one to cultivate the genre and the other to recover the literature of marginalized women writers. In this course, we'll examine anthologies, a word derived from the Greek for "a gathering of flowers." As we study these "flowers," we'll discern the objectives that shape their construction, as well as what was put in and what was left out. In short essays and exercises, we'll also investigate the social, cultural, and political contexts that influenced these objectives, as well as the resultant literary and cultural implications. For your final, you'll design your own literary anthology.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through classes.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 12159. Reading as a Writer: The Bad Girls Club. 100 Units.

Jezebels, witches, femme fatales, nasty women, sirens, madwomen, and murderesses: the world over, these women of many names-whom we'll collectively refer to as the Bad Girls Club-have alternately inspired the disdain and delight of multitudes. Whether jailed, expelled, excommunicated, or burned at the stake, their (anti)heroic antics have challenged, critiqued, or, some might say, corrupted the laws, mores, and sensibilities of societies. If it is true that polite, well-behaved women rarely make history, then what do impolite, badly-behaved women teach us about the construction of (his) story? In this course, we'll examine literature from around the world featuring members of the Bad Girls Club, who in opposing complimentary constructions of femininity, femaleness, and power invite introspection on the gendered nature of story and storytelling. In short critical papers, we'll analyze the tropes, features, and conventions of literature featuring these bad characters, and in short exercises, you'll write stories, poems, and essays inspired by them.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 12159

CRWR 12160. Reading as a Writer: Exploring the Weird. 100 Units.

In 1917 the Russian critic Viktor Shklovsky coined the word 'ostranenie,'-translating roughly as 'defamiliarization'-to illustrate a concept that asks the writer or artist to see the everyday in new and unfamiliar ways. In fiction writing this means avoiding cliché while cultivating elements of surprise, the unexpected, the strange. It means the author offering a new perspective on something familiar, something surprising and, often, yes, a little weird. So what does it mean to follow the weird as a fiction or creative non-fiction writer? As a poet? How can we indulge that strange, uncanny, often suppressed side of ourselves in a way that not only serves a work of literary art but opens it up to new possibilities? This class will look at ways writers use defamiliarization and other techniques to create unexpected and sometimes jarring effects and will encourage students to take similar risks in their own writing. Students will view read various works of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, view films, and read critical and craft- oriented texts. They will write short weekly reading responses and some creative exercises as well. Each student will also be expected to make a brief presentation and turn in a final paper for the class.

Instructor(s): Augustus Rose     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list.

CRWR 12163. Reading as a Writer: Obscenities. 100 Units.

Obscenity" is a term for what is repulsive, abhorrent, excessive, or taboo in a society; and yet many artworks once considered to be obscene are now celebrated as landmarks of world literature, from the ancient poetry of Sappho to modern novels like Ulysses. In this course, we will study literary works that have been banned or censored as "obscene" to examine our own perspectives, attitudes, and assumptions as literary artists. How does obscenity shape our understanding of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, or public and private speech? What are the uses of obscenity in constructing new possibilities for literary expression? Authors studied will include Toni Morrison, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, Vladimir Nabokov, Hilda Hilst, and Allen Ginsburg; and we will supplement these readings with works of literary theory, psychoanalysis, and case law. Students will produce their own original poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to reimagine what is permissible-and possible-in language and society for contemporary literary artists.

Instructor(s): Chicu Reddy     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): PARR 33000

CRWR 12164. Reading as a Writer: Good Translation. 100 Units.

The past few years have seen a proliferation of major awards for works of contemporary world literature that have been translated into English (among them the International Booker Prize, the National Book Award for Translated Literature, and the National Book Critics Circle Book in Translation Prize). While such awards certainly elevate translation as a mode of writing comparable to that of other literary arts, they also raise important questions about the production, circulation, and reception of translated literature in the Anglosphere. In this course, we will read a number of recent award-winning books in English translation (both poetry and prose), considering how these books traveled from origin to translation, and how we as readers engage with them - as translations and as literary texts. How are translations made? How do we evaluate books that have two writers: author and translator? What larger forces (social, aesthetic, commercial, political) are at work when deciding which translated books will hold value for Anglophone readers? We'll explore these questions through weekly readings and discussions, student presentations, critical analyses and creative responses. As a final project, students will develop their own evaluative rubrics from which to award a prize to one of the translations we've read.

Instructor(s): Annie Janusch     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins.

CRWR 12165. Intro to Genres: Short Form Screenwriting. 100 Units.

This course explores short form screenwriting, as distinct from feature-length or episodic screenwriting. In addition to studying the essential elements of a screenplay, we will read, view, and discuss approaches to scripting brief documentary, poetic, and fictional time-based works. This work will prepare us for in- and out-of-class writing exercises in these modes, which students will often discuss in a workshop environment. Students will respond in creative and critical ways to the screenings and readings; present on a specific time-based work or creator; and write in the short screenwriting formats under study, culminating in a final creative project.

Instructor(s): Nick Twemlow     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Note(s): This course meets the general education requirement in the arts.

CRWR 12166. Reading as a Writer: The Spiritual, Psychedelic, and Visionary. 100 Units.

In this class we'll think about and try to generate literary forms capable of holding, inviting, or emitting a kind of otherworldly glow; expressing or representing access to some other mode of being. How have writers done this in the past? We'll look to a wide range of sources for models, including the visionary writings of William Blake, poems by Allen Ginsberg, narratives by early Christian mystics (Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen), Buddhist sutras, 20th century phenomenological artworks and writing about them (including films and/or writing by Joan Jonas, Michael Snow, Robert Irwin, and Peter Kubelka), poetry and narratives of channeling (Alice Notley, James Merrill), writings of and about psychedelic experience (Aldous Huxley, Terence McKenna), immersive experimental poetics (M. NourbeSe Philip), and contemporary Thai experimental film (Apichatpong Weerasethakul), among others. Students will leave this class with an enhanced familiarity with an array of visionary forms and their history in Western writing and poetics, as well as hopefully new or renewed access to another mode of writing and thinking for themselves

Instructor(s): Kai (Kirsten) Ihns     Terms Offered: Winter Note(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. This course meets the general education requirement in the arts.

CRWR 12167. Intro to Genres: Mysteries Abound. 100 Units.

Perhaps no other narrative genre is more compelling or popular than the mystery. True Crime, Thrillers, and Whodunits consistently top the charts of bestsellers each year. In this Arts Core class, we will explore the mechanics of this fascinating genre. We will take the classic mystery tale written by masters like Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Chandler as an archetype, then examine what can be done with them. Together, we'll dive into tales of intrigue by Poe and Kleist, psychological thrillers by Patricia Highsmith and Jeffery Eugenides, neo-noir films such as Chinatown, noir-poetry by Deryn Rees-Jones and Sean O'Brien, and postmodern mystery-parodies like those of Jorge Luis Borges. Together, we'll look at the way they hang together, the desire and fear that drives them, and the secrets they tell-or try to keep hidden. Along the way, we will attempt to design and plot our own mysteries, and find ways to improve them in a workshop setting.

Instructor(s): Valer Popa     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins.

CRWR 12168. Reading as a Writer: Art vs. the Algorithm. 100 Units.

An inquiry into what makes art "good" or "lasting," particularly in the age of our algorithm-shaped exposure. Students will read "viral" texts across three genres from ~1750 to 2024, including Matthew Lewis, 20th century gossip columns, and BookTok sensations like R.F. Kuang. Texts will be read in conversation with both historical and contemporary writing on craft, allowing students to respond both critically and creatively to the virality of these texts, ultimately deciding for themselves how we can begin to approach the role of the artist in the age of the algorithm.

Instructor(s): Victoria Flanagan     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist.

CRWR 17003. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Truth. 100 Units.

In this class we'll study how writers define and make use of truth--whatever that is. In some cases it's the truth, singular; in others a truth, only one among many. Some writers tell it straight, others slant. Some, like Tim O'Brien, advocate story-truth, the idea that fiction tells deeper truths than facts. To get at the heart of these and other unanswerable questions we'll read writers who've written about one event in two or more modes. Nick Flynn's poems about his father, for example, which he's also set down as comic strips as well as in prose. Jeanette Winterson's first novel as well as her memoir, sixteen years later, about what she'd been too afraid to say in it. Karl Marlantes' novel about the Vietnam war, then his essays about the events he'd fictionalized. Through weekly responses, creative exercises, and longer analytic essays you'll begin to figure out your own writerly truths, as well as the differences-and intersections-between them.

Instructor(s): Dan Raeburn     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This is class is restricted to students who have declared a major in Creative Writing or a minor in English and Creative Writing. Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins.

CRWR 17007. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: The Grammar of Narrative. 100 Units.

Storytelling goes nearly as far back as human consciousness, while the ways in which we tell stories has been expanding ever since. This class will look at several different forms of narrative-fiction, creative non-fiction, narrative poetry, and film-and explore the "grammar" of these different genres, what they share and where they differ and how their particular strengths influence the ways in which they most effectively communicate. How does film (a visual medium) tell a story differently than does fiction (which asks us to project our own imagined version of the story), differently than creative non-fiction, (which must always rely on facts), differently than poetry (which condenses the story to its essences)? How do these different genres and mediums influence the stories they tell and the effects they achieve? Readings will include primary texts as well as critical and fundamentals texts in each genre. Students will complete weekly reading responses, as well as creative exercises. A paper focusing on a specific element derived from the class will be due at the end of the course.

Instructor(s): Augustus Rose     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Students must be a declared Creative Writing major or Minor in English and Creative Writing to enroll. Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins.

CRWR 17012. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Creative Research/The Numinous Particulars. 100 Units.

According to Philip Gerard, "Creative research is both a process and a habit of mind, an alertness to the human story as it lurks in unlikely places." Creative writers may lean on research to sharpen the authenticity of their work; to liberate themselves from the confines of their personal experience; to mine existing stories and histories for details, plot, settings, characters; to generate new ideas and approaches to language, theme and story. The creative writer/researcher is on the hunt for the numinous particulars, the mysteries and human stories lurking in the finest grains of detail. In this course, we will explore the research methods used by creative writers and consider questions that range from the logistical (eg. How do I find what I need in an archive?) to the ethical (eg. How do I conscientiously write from a point of view outside my own experience?) to the aesthetic (eg. How do I incorporate all these researched details without waterlogging the poem/story/essay?). We will read poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that relies heavily on research and hear from established writers about the challenges of conducting and writing from research. Assignments will include reading responses, creative writing and research exercises, short essays and presentations.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Soileau     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Students must be a declared Creative Writing major or Minor in English and Creative Writing to enroll. Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 17013. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Touchstones. 100 Units.

Most passionate readers and writers have literary touchstones --those texts we return to again and again for personal or aesthetic influence and inspiration. When we are asked what book we would want with us if we were stranded on a desert isle, our touchstones are the ones that leap immediately to mind. Some texts are fairly ubiquitous touchstones: The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter and the [take your pick], The Bell Jar, Little Women, Letters to a Young Poet, Leaves of Grass. Others are quirkier, more idiosyncratic. What -- if any -- qualities do these touchstones share, within and across genres? What lessons about writing craft can be drawn from them? In this course, we'll read texts that are commonly cited as touchstones, along with fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that students bring to the table -- their own literary touchstones. In that sense, our reading list will be collaborative, and students will be expected to contribute content as well as an analytical presentation on the craft issues raised by their selections. Our assignments will include reading responses, creative writing exercises, short essays and presentations.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Soileau     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Students must be a declared Creative Writing major to enroll during preregistration. Contact instructor to be added to the waitlist. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 17014. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: A Gathering of Flowers. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Students must be a declared Creative Writing major to enroll during preregistration. Contact instructor to be added to the waitlist. Attendance on the first day is mandatory.

CRWR 17015. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Sincerity (and Irony) 100 Units.

What does it mean for a piece of writing to be "sincere"? How do we know a (character, poem, "I," essay) is "sincere"? What does it mean to make that judgment, and what does it commit us to? How does that judgment change a reader's orientation to the object? We will approach these questions obliquely first, by thinking about how irony works. Are irony and sincerity opposites? We'll look at a range of contemporary and historical objects in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This will include essays by Kierkegaard, Oscar Wilde, Wayne Booth, Jonathan Swift, and R. Magill Jr., fiction by Vladimir Nabokov, Joanna Ruocco, and Kathy Acker, and poetry by Chelsey Minnis, Jenny Zhang, Amiri Baraka, and others. We'll also consider certain internet objects and think about their relationship to sincerity (and irony). This course will give students a more nuanced and historically grounded handle on these questions, and will help them develop a style of writing that's able to more intentionally (and interestingly) choose its tonal legibilities.

Instructor(s): Kirsten Ihns     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): This is class is restricted to students who have declared a major in Creative Writing or a minor in English and Creative Writing. Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins.

CRWR 17016. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: The Frame Narrative. 100 Units.

In this course, students will engage in a close examination of the various permutations of the frame narrative device across time and genre. From A Thousand and One Nights, to Hamlet, to the "Call of Cthulhu" and Watchmen, the "story within a story" construction is one of the oldest and most employed literary devices-one which can either elevate or imperil the work wherein it is utilized. Students will respond to the material in both critical and creative manners, culminating in a final analytical and creative piece that employs the craft elements discussed and unpacked in class.

Instructor(s): Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas     Terms Offered: Spring Note(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing

CRWR 17017. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Haunted Craft, the Art of the Spectral Metaphor. 100 Units.

This course will be a close examination of the use of spectral imagery as a craft element in narratives across genre and time. From Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" to Emily Carrol's A Guest in the House, to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Octavia Butler's Fledgling, the supernatural metaphor presents a unique stage upon which to play out questions of gender autonomy, mental health, repressed sexuality, racism and more. Students in this course will be expected to put the fantastical metaphor under a microscope and explore its potential through both creative and critical work of their own.

CRWR 17018. Fundamentals in Creative Writing: Desire and Longing. 100 Units.

In fiction, it is often said that an effective character must have a clear desire. Kurt Vonnegut famously advised, "Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water." The idea is that desire is an animating, energizing, and focusing force in storytelling. In this course, we'll attempt to apply the animation, energy, and focus of desire to personal essays, poems, and fiction, and explore how writers depict desire and longing in a wide range of work. We'll also attempt to catalog different kinds of desire: crushes, obsessions, nostalgia, and farsickness, to name a few. We'll pay special attention to how we can write about strong emotional experiences without resorting to cliches or sentimentality. Potential texts will be Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux, Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas, Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson, Crush by Richard Siken, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Instructor(s): Ryan Van Meter     Terms Offered: Spring Note(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing. If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist.

CRWR 20203. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Research and World-Building. 100 Units.

Writing fiction is in large part a matter of convincing worldbuilding, no matter what genre you write in. And convincing worldbuilding is about creating a seamless reality within the elements of that world: from setting, to social systems, to character dynamics, to the story or novel's conceptual conceit. And whether it be within a genre of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, or even contemporary realism, building a convincing world takes a good deal of research. So while we look closely at the tools and methods of successful worldbuilding, we will also dig into the process of research. From how and where to mine the right details, to what to look for. We will also focus on how research can make a fertile ground for harvesting ideas and even story. Students will read various works of long and short fiction with an eye to its worldbuilding, as well as critical and craft texts. They will write short weekly reading responses and some creative exercises as well. Each student will also be expected to make a brief presentation and turn in a final paper for the class.

Instructor(s): Augustus Rose     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40203

CRWR 20209. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Scenes & Seeing. 100 Units.

At the core of literary storytelling is dramatization, which enables a reader to "see" the world, characters, and incidents at play and to vicariously experience their emotional and psychological consequences in the story. The primary vehicle for dramatization in a story is the scene, which consists of many crucial parts: characterization, setting and imagery, dialogue and action, tone and atmosphere, subtext and thematic development. In this course we'll break down all these parts and examine how they can function on their own as well as interact to bring a moment or event to life. Where and how should a particular scene begin and end? How should information be organized? How might we determine a scene's goals in isolation and in support of the larger narrative of a short story, novella, or novel? And ultimately, beyond characters talking, acting, and reacting, how might we expand our traditional notions of what a scene is and what it can do? We'll consider such questions as we discuss exceptionally crafted scenes from short stories, novels, plays, and even film, TV, and podcasts, with an eye also on the differences in scene craft from genre to genre and what that can teach us specifically as fiction writers. Course assignments will include reading responses, writing exercises, short essays, and student presentations.

Instructor(s): Vu Tran     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40209

CRWR 20217. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Elements of Style. 100 Units.

What we call style is more than literary flourish. Control of a story begins with a writer's characteristic approach to the line. Style dictates and shapes immersive and impactful worlds of our creation. It's also indicative of a work's larger themes, philosophies, and aesthetic sensibility. In this class, we'll examine fiction by wordsmiths such as James Baldwin, Gabriel García Márquez, Toni Morrison, and Marguerite Duras in order to contemplate the influence that elements such as diction, syntax, rhythm, and punctuation have on a writer's style.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40217

CRWR 20221. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Detail. 100 Units.

John Gardner said that the writer's task is to create "a vivid and continuous fictional dream." This technical seminar will focus on the role of detail in maintaining this dream. In this course we will deconstruct and rebuild our understanding of concepts like simile, showing vs. telling, and symbolism, asking what these tools do and what purpose they serve. Drawing from fiction and essays from Ottessa Moshfegh, Barbara Comyns, Zadie Smith, and others, students will practice noticing, seeing anew, and finding fresh and unexpected ways of describing. We will also examine what is worthy of detail in the first place, how detail functions outside of traditional scene, and the merits and limits of specificity, mimesis, and verisimilitude. Finally we will consider what it means to travel across a landscape of vagueness and euphemism as we search for the quality of "thisness" that James Wood claims all great details possess. In addition to assigned readings, students will be responsible for reading responses, short craft analyses, vigorous class participation, and several creative exercises and peer critiques applying these lessons.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Hoffman     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40221

CRWR 20224. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Narrative Tempo. 100 Units.

At certain moments," writes Italo Calvino of his early literary efforts, "I felt that the entire world was turning into stone." Slowness and speed govern not just the experience of writing but also the texture of our fictional worlds. And this is something we can control. Sublimely slow writers like Sebald or Duras can make time melt; spritely magicians like Aira and Rushdie seem to shuffle planes of reality with a snap of their fingers. This seminar gathers fictions that pulse on eclectic wavelengths, asking in each case how narrative tempo embodies a fiction's character. Our exercises will play with the dial of compositional speed, testing writing quick and slow; alternately, we'll try to recreate the effects of signature texts. Weekly creative and critical responses will culminate in a final project.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Lytal     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40224

CRWR 20232. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Narrative Influence. 100 Units.

T. S. Eliot once said that "good writers borrow, great writers steal." In this class we will look at modeling as a springboard for original creativity. What makes a piece of writing original? Is it possible to borrow a famous writer's story structure, theme, or even attempt their voice, yet produce something wholly original? How specifically are writers influenced and then inspired? Readings will pair writers with the influences they've talked or written about, such as Yiyun Li and Anton Chekhov; Edward P. Jones and Alice Walker; Sigrid Nunez and Elizabeth Hardwick, and George Saunders and Nikolai Gogol. Writing exercises will experiment with aspects of voice, narrative structure, point of view, tone, and use of dialog. While this is not a workshop course, come prepared to write and share work in class. Students will pursue both creative work and critical papers.

Instructor(s): Sharon Pomerantz     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40232

CRWR 20233. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Who Sees and Who Speaks? 100 Units.

Who Sees and Who Speaks? What is the nature of the encounter between a narrator and a character, and how do elements of character and plot play out in narrative points of view? Drawing on the narratological work of theorists such as Gérard Genette and Monika Fludernik and of critics such as James Wood, this technical seminar considers what point of view, perspective, and focalization can do or make possible. Readings may include stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Jamaica Kincaid, Haruki Murakami, Jenny Zhang, William Faulkner, Lorrie Moore, Jamil Jan Kochai, Italo Calvino, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gabriel García Márquez, Edith Wharton, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Edwidge Danticat, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lesley Nneka Arimah, and Virginia Woolf, among others, and will introduce instances of first-person-plural and second-person narrative, as well as modes of representing speech and thought such as free indirect discourse. Over the course of the quarter, students will write short analyses and creative exercises, culminating in a final project.

Instructor(s): Sophia Veltfort     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40233

CRWR 20236. Technical Seminar in Fiction: Alternative Points of View. 100 Units.

Point of view is one of our most powerful narrative tools, controlling voice, perspective, and level of access to every bit of information a reader receives. When writers are first finding their way into new fiction projects, however, it is easy to default to the two points of view we are most commonly exposed to: a traditional first person or third person that behaves predictably. In this Technical Seminar, we will mine the work of Julie Otsuka, Carmen Maria Machado, Robert Coover, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, and other writers for strategic usage of alternative points of view, including second person, first person plural, free indirect discourse, and deliberate shifts from one point of view into another. Assignments will include short critical and creative responses, a final fiction assignment, and a final presentation.

Instructor(s): Meghan Lamb     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40236

CRWR 20309. Technical Seminar in Poetry: Generative Genres. 100 Units.

From ancient Sumerian temple hymns to 7th-century Japanese death poems to avant-garde ekphrasis in the 21st century, the history of poetry is as rich in genres as it is in forms. Why does it feel so good to write a curse? What is an ode and how is it different from an aubade? In this technical seminar we will study the origins, transcultural functions, and evolving conventions of some of the oldest-living genres of lyric poetry - the ode, the elegy, the love poem, the curse, to name a few. We will read living writers such as Alice Oswald, Danez Smith, Kim Hyesoon, and Natalie Diaz alongside historical forerunners including Aesop, Sei Shonagon, John Keats. Federico Garcia Lorca, Sylvia Plath, and Paul Celan. Students will write weekly experiments of their own in response to our readings, and for a final project they will edit a mini-anthology of a genre of their choice, including a short critical introduction.

Instructor(s): Suzanne Buffam     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40309

CRWR 20312. Technical Seminar in Poetry: Prosody. 100 Units.

PROSODY This course will be a deep dive into prosody. What is prosody? Merriam-Webster describes it as "the rhythmic and intonational aspect of language" - we might also describe it as the way poems move, and how they move their reader. Arguably one of the most important (and least visible) aspects of poetic composition, prosody can teach you to see and write differently. We'll begin with an introduction to historical metrics (the boring but necessary part), and then move on to studying more contemporary models. Readings will include a bit of scholarly work on prosody by Rosemary Gates and Boris Maslov, but mostly we'll read poems, from the 12th century to the 21st, that foreground prosody and rhythmic structure. This will be a practice-intensive class-you will be asked to produce several exercises a week, in addition to a final paper or project.

Instructor(s): Kirsten Ihns     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): During pre-registration, this course is open only to declared Creative Writing Majors and declared Minors in English and Creative Writing, as well as graduate students. During add/drop the course will be instructor consent and open to all students in the College. Please contact the instructor to be added to the waitlist for the option to enroll during add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40312

CRWR 20313. Technical Seminar in Poetry: Against or Onto 'The Road'" 100 Units.

This technical seminar in poetry offers writers an opportunity to examine an essential American poetic space: the road. A core question is how one reads the road's poetic surface versus its depths. Does journey itself lay out a clear narrative, admitting its forks, detours, and breakdowns? How is a basic American "compass" disrupted by poetic reconsiderations of "the road?" Does every road run "west?" How is the road itself as much about dislocation as it is about coherent journey? As an orientation to a poetics of space, participants will engage critical perspectives set up by Gaston Bachelard, CS Giscombe, and Rebecca Solnit. Then, writers will develop their own critical/creative responses, exploring models established by Gabe Gudding, William Least Heat-Moon, Ed Roberson, and Muriel Rukeyser. Inviting her readers to remap historical and mythic journeys, Rukeyser resets the road as a conduit into a reassessment of national narrative through The Book of the Dead. Taking his own road east, Gudding overturns a "beat poetics" of travel in his Rhode Island Notebook. Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways) and Roberson (MPH and Other Road Poems) invite explorations of "the road" as much in time as in space or personal journey. Overall, the course remaps that road, in the words of Giscombe, itself a "scattering [where] nothing cohered."

Instructor(s): Garin Cycholl     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40313

CRWR 20404. Technical Seminar in Nonfiction: Forms of the Essay. 100 Units.

The essay, derived from the French term essayer meaning "to try" or "to attempt," is not only a beloved sub-genre of creative nonfiction, but a form that yields many kinds of stories, thus many kinds of structures. Araceli Arroyo writes that the essay can "reach its height in the form of a lyric, expand in digression, coil into a list, delve into memoir, or spring into the spire of the question itself all with grace and unexhausted energy." In this course, we will analyze the essay's continuum, marked by traditional, linear narratives on one end, and at the other, everything else. In our class, we will investigate the relationship between content and form. What does it mean to be scene-driven? What happens when a narrative abandons chronology and event, propelled instead by language and image? What is gained through gaps and white space? You will leave this class with a strong grasp of content's relationship to form, prepared to participate effectively in creative writing workshops. You will also create a portfolio of short writings that can be expanded into longer pieces. Readings will include: Nox by Anne Carson; A Bestiary by Lily Hoang; Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli; Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine; Essayists on the Essay edited by Ned Stuckey-French

Instructor(s): Kathleen Blackburn     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40404

CRWR 20410. Technical Seminar in Nonfiction: Epistolary Form. 100 Units.

When does a body of writing become "literary"? What stories might be found inside the hastily scrawled lines of a postcard buried in the attic or an incomplete to-do list drifting down the sidewalk? Beginning with the modern epistle and epistolary novel, this cross-genre seminar orbits the space where non-literary documents give way to artistic compositions that a given set of experts would otherwise neatly categorize and deposit somewhere literature is supposed to belong. As we practice the interplay of research and imagination toward the realization of a final project, we'll examine how writers of nonfiction and documentary poetics have used everything from blueprints of a prison cell to vaudeville ephemera to frame, develop, and heighten true stories. We'll consider ethics of authority such as information access, authentication, and journalistic objectivity alongside rhetorical matters of credibility, emotional truth, and the serviceability of facts. Come play in the archives and observe the power of repurposed material.

Instructor(s): Dina Peone     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40410

CRWR 20412. Technical Seminar in Nonfiction: The writer as researcher. 100 Units.

Research is an essential and imaginative process for the nonfiction story, but in what ways are the writer's methods unique to literary practice? This course will explore the role of research in writing creative nonfiction. Students will develop methods that play a role in writing essays, memoir, and literary journalism. The seminar will be conducted in four sequential parts: immersion research; interview techniques; library research; translating technical jargon for a public readership. Assignments will equip students with the practical steps for completing each style of research. We will also discuss how to integrate research into the descriptions, narrative, and subtext of the writing. Students will experiment with: dramatizing research through scene-building; using reflection to respond to their findings; and inviting research to become part of the plot. Research, we will find, generates some of the most dramatic and surprising moments in the writing process. We will read texts that correspond to the areas of focus, including works by Eula Biss, Daisy Hernandez, and Sarah Viren. Students will leave the course equipped to include research into their writing process for advanced writing workshops and thesis projects.

Instructor(s): Kathleen Blackburn     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 40412

CRWR 21502. Advanced Translation Workshop. 100 Units.

All writing is revision, and this holds true for the practice of literary translation as well. We will critique each other's longer manuscripts-in-progress of prose, poetry, or drama, and examine various revision techniques-from the line-by-line approach of Lydia Davis, to the "driving-in-the-dark" model of Peter Constantine, and several approaches in between. We will consider questions of different reading audiences while preparing manuscripts for submission for publication, along with the contextualization of the work with a translator's preface or afterword. Our efforts will culminate in not only an advanced-stage manuscript, but also with various strategies in hand to use for future projects. We will also have the opportunity to have conversations via Zoom with some of the translators we'll be reading. Students who wish to take this workshop should have at least an intermediate proficiency in a foreign language and already be working on a longer translation project.

Instructor(s): Jason Grunebaum     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (include writing sample). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Students who wish to take this workshop should have at least an intermediate proficiency in a foreign language and already be working on a longer translation project. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 41502

CRWR 21504. Advanced Translation Workshop: Scales of Reading. 100 Units.

Peer review of translations-in-progress can often take the form of line edits: we discuss word choices that call attention to themselves rather than talking through the larger compositional units in which those choices are made. While a fine-grained reading is vital to revision, it can also run the risk of minimizing our critical engagement with translated texts merely on the basis of "awkward" or " stilted" language. This workshop will explore the different scales of reading employed in reviewing drafts: Yes, those instances that make us pause or take us out of the text are worth marking for the translator, but ultimately, they're only useful to the translator if we can synthesize them into a larger, coherent reading of the work as a whole. By treating translations-in-progress as literary works deserving of close readings (rather than merely manuscript pages to be edited), we'll seek to provide our peers with a critical account of our experience as the primary readers of their translations. Specifically, we'll practice grounding our accounts in aspects of craft and structure, form and content, in order to move beyond our subjectivities as readers and our idiolects as writers - and better understand how a translated work's larger concerns are enacted in the language itself. Students with translations-in-progress, as well as students who will be starting new projects, are welcome to participate in this workshop.

Instructor(s): Annie Janusch Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (include writing sample). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Students who wish to take this workshop should have at least an intermediate proficiency in a foreign language and already be working on a longer translation project. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 41504

CRWR 21505. Advanced Translation Workshop: Prose Style. 100 Units.

Purple, lean, evocative, muscular, literary, exuberant, lucid, stilted, elliptical. These are all labels that critics and reviewers have used to characterize prose styles that call attention to themselves in distinct ways. Of course, what constitutes style not only changes over time, but also means different things in different literary traditions. How, then, do translators carry style over from one language and cultural milieu to another? And to what extent does style structure storytelling? We will explore these questions by reading a variety of modern and contemporary stylists who either write in English or translate into English, paying special attention to what stylistic devices are at work and what their implications are for narration, characterization, and world building. Further, we'll examine the range of choices that each writer and translator makes when constituting and reconstituting style, on a lexical, tonal, and syntactic scale. By pairing readings with generative exercises in stylistics and constrained writing, we will build toward the translation of a short work of contemporary fiction into English. To participate in this workshop, students should be able to comfortably read a literary text in a foreign language.

Instructor(s): Annie Janusch     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 41505

CRWR 22117. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Beginning a Novel. 100 Units.

This workshop is for any student with a novel in progress or an interest in starting one. Our focus will be the opening chapter, arguably the most consequential one-for the reader naturally, but most importantly for us the writer. How might it introduce the people and world of the story, its premise or central conflict, its narrative tone and style? How might it intrigue, orient, or even challenge the reader and begin teaching them how to read the book? And if the first chapter is our actual starting point as the writer, how might it help us figure out the dramatic shape of our novel, its thematic concerns, its conceptual design? We'll apply such questions to the opening chapters of an exemplary mix of novels-The Great Gatsby, The Age of Innocence, Invisible Man, Beloved, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, The Vegetarian, Normal People, etc.- and examine what they are expected to do as well as what they can unexpectedly do. And as everyone workshops the first chapter (or prologue) of their own novel, we'll consider ways of adjusting or rethinking them so that the author can better understand their project overall and build on all the promise of the material they have.

Instructor(s): Vu Tran     Terms Offered: Autumn Note(s): Students must have taken Fundamentals + a Beginning Workshop in the same genre as the Advanced Workshop you want to register for. Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42117

CRWR 22128. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Novel Writing, The First Chapters. 100 Units.

In this workshop-focused class we will focus on the early stages of both developing and writing a novel: choosing the POV, establishing the setting, developing the main characters and the dynamics between them, setting up the conflicts and seeding the themes of book, etc. As a class we will read, break down and discuss the architecture of the openings of several published novels as you work on your own opening chapters, which will be workshopped during the course.

Instructor(s): Augustus Rose     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (include writing sample). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42128

CRWR 22130. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Inner Logic. 100 Units.

In this advanced workshop, we will explore the range of strategies and techniques that fiction writers employ to make readers suspend their disbelief. We will consider how imagined worlds are made to feel real and how invented characters can seem so human. We will contemplate how themes, motifs, and symbols are deployed in such a way that a story can feel curated without seeming inorganic. We will consider how hints are dropped with subtlety, how the 'rules' for what is possible in a story are developed, and how writers can sometimes defy their own established expectations in ways that delight rather than frustrate. From character consistency to twist endings, we'll investigate how published authors lend a sense of realism and plausibility to even the most far-fetched concepts. Through regular workshops, we will also interrogate all students' fiction through this lens, discussing the ways in which your narratives-in-progress create their own inner logic. Students will submit two stories to workshop and will be asked to write critiques of all peer work.

Instructor(s): Baird Harper     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42130

CRWR 22132. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Strange Magic in Short Fiction. 100 Units.

In this workshop based course we'll investigate how strangeness and magic function in short fiction. We'll read stories by authors like Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Alice Sola Kim, examining how these writers portray the fantastical and impossible. We'll explore concepts like defamiliarization, versimilitude, and the uncanny. We will contemplate how magical realism and surrealism differ from sci-fi and fantasy genre writing, and ask how we, as writers, can make the quotidian seem extraordinary and the improbable seem inevitable, and to what end? Students will complete several short creative exercises and workshop one story that utilizes magic or strange effects. Students will also be expected to write thoughtful, constructive critiques of peer work. Throughout the course, we'll consider how the expectations of literary fiction might constrain such narratives, and we can engage with and transcend these archetypes.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Hoffman     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42132

CRWR 22133. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Writing the Uncanny. 100 Units.

Sigmund Freud defines "the uncanny" ("unheimlich") as something that unnerves us because it is both familiar and alien at the same time, the result of hidden anxieties and desires coming to the surface. In this advanced fiction workshop, we will explore how fiction writers use the uncanny to create suspense, lend their characters psychological depth, thrill and terrify their readers, and lay bare the darkest and most difficult human impulses. We will read and discuss fiction by writers like Shirley Jackson, Jamaica Kincaid, Octavia Butler, Kelly Link, Ben Okri, Haruki Murakami, and Victor Lavalle, drawing craft lessons from these writers to guide our own attempts at writing the uncanny. Much of our class time will be dedicated to evaluating student work and honing our skills of composition and critique. In addition to shorter writing exercises and "mini-workshops" throughout the quarter, every student will complete a full-length "uncanny" short story for workshop and compose critique letters for each of their peers. Students will be required to significantly revise their full-length short story by the end of the quarter.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Soileau     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42133

CRWR 22134. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Cultivating Trouble and Conflict. 100 Units.

If you want a compelling story, put your protagonist among the damned." --Charles Baxter While crisis is to be avoided in life, when it comes to narrative, trouble is your friend. In this advanced workshop we'll explore the complex ways writers create conflict in their stories, be it internal or external, spiritual or physical, romantic, financial or familial. We'll read masters of the form like Edward P. Jones, George Saunders, ZZ Packer, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Yiyun Li, and discuss how they generate conflict that feels organic, character-driven, and inevitable. Weekly writing exercises will encourage you to take creative risks and hone new skills. Each student will workshop two stories, with strong emphasis on focused and productive peer critique and in-class commentary.

Instructor(s): Sharon Pomerantz     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42134

CRWR 22135. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Narrative Time. 100 Units.

The Long and the Short of it: Narrative Time A story's end point determines its meaning. The history of a life can be covered in a sentence, a few pages or seven volumes. How do writers decide? In this advanced workshop, we'll look at different ways to handle narrative time, paying special attention to building blocks like direct and summary scene, flashback, compression, slowed time and fabulist time. We'll examine work by writers whose long stories feel like novels, like Alice Munro and Edward P. Jones, alongside those who say everything in a short single scene of a page or two, like Grace Paley and Kate Chopin. Students will be encouraged to experiment with time in both writing exercises and story revisions.By the end of the course, you will have generated significant raw material and workshopped one story. Two stories, one polished and one in draft, will be prepared for the final.

Instructor(s): Sharon Pomerantz     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42135

CRWR 22140. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Killing Cliché 100 Units.

It's long been said that there are no new stories, only new ways of telling old ones, but how do writers reengage familiar genres, plots, and themes without being redundant? This course will confront the literary cliché at all levels, from the trappings of genre to predictable turns of plot to the subtly undermining forces of mundane language. We will consider not only how stories can fall victim to cliché but also how they may benefit from calling on recognizable content for the sake of efficiency, familiarity, or homage. Through an array of readings that represent unique concepts and styles as well as more conventional narratives we will examine how published writers embrace or subvert cliché through story craft. Meanwhile, student fiction will be discussed throughout the term in a supportive workshop atmosphere that will aim not to expose clichés in peer work, but to consider how an author can find balance-between the familiar and the unfamiliar, between the predictable and the unpredictable-in order to maximize a story's effect. Students will submit two stories to workshop and will be asked to write critiques of all peer work.

Instructor(s): Baird Harper     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42140

CRWR 22146. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Disruption and Disorder. 100 Units.

This workshop-based course proceeds from the premise that disorder and disruption are fruitful aesthetics that might be applied to numerous elements of fiction to unlock new possibilities in our work. Students will seek to identify typical narrative conventions and lyrical patterns and then write away from them-or write over them, toward subversion, surprise, and perhaps even a productive anarchy. Students will search for hidden structures in work by Taeko Kono, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Diane Williams, Garielle Lutz, and others, examining the methods these writers use to lead readers to unexpected, original, and transgressive places. Students will complete several short creative exercises in which they practice disruption and disorder in plot, pace, dialogue, and syntax. In the second half of the course, students will workshop one story or excerpt and write thoughtful, constructive critiques of peer work. Revision is also a crucial component of this class, as it is an opportunity to radically warp and deviate from our prior visions. Throughout the quarter, we will attempt to interrupt and shake up our own inclinations as artists.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Hoffman     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42146

CRWR 22149. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Long Stories. 100 Units.

The advantage, the luxury, as well as the torment and responsibility of the novelist," writes Henry James, "is that there is no limit to what he may attempt." Writers interested in these torments and luxuries can begin to experiment with long form in this workshop. Each student will compose a single long story of about forty pages. We'll attend to the freshness of beginnings, the satisfactions (and compromises) of endings and, most acutely, to the crises of middles. A scaffolding of workshops, outlines, and conferences will support and structure your efforts. Along the way we'll explore the opportunities of long-form structure with examples from the likes of David Foster Wallace, Alice Munro, Ted Chiang, and Toni Morrison. Most of our class time will be devoted to workshopping long stories by students.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Lytal     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42149

CRWR 22150. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Radical Revision. 100 Units.

Like so many essential and life-sustaining processes-relationship maintenance, money management, digestion-revision is something we often talk about without "really" talking about it (to use the words of writer Matthew Salesses). Yet by refusing (or failing) to "really" talk about revision, writers deny themselves the opportunity to actively engage with the potentialities of their work: the different shapes, forms, and shifts it might take. In this class, we will demystify the revision process by analyzing the works of writers-such as Anna Kavan, Edwidge Danticat, and Suzanne Scanlon-who have pursued radical revisions to their projects, including expansions (short stories developed into novels), compressions (longer works condensed into shorter pieces), point of view changes, and dramatic stylistic transformations. With a combination of creative exercises and workshops, we will also work toward our own radical revisions.

Instructor(s): Meghan Lamb     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42150

CRWR 22152. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Finding and Refining Voice. 100 Units.

As writers, your "voice" is you imposing who you are on the truthfulness of your sentences. Finding your voice, then, is the process-whether you're describing a character, an image, or an idea-of constantly asking yourself, Do I absolutely believe this?, of rewriting and rewriting your sentences until you absolutely do believe it, and finally of refining all the technical aspects you brought to bear to assure that level of individual truth. Out of that, naturally and inevitably, comes your voice-at least for the time being. In this workshop, we'll examine this crucial stage in the development of your own aesthetic, which is not merely a writing style, but more importantly a personal perspective on the world that informs and is informed by that style. We will read a selection of writers with distinctive worldviews and thus distinctive literary voices (Paul Bowles, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Lorrie Moore, Ottessa Moshfegh, Ocean Vuong, Garth Greenwell, etc.), and we'll complement those readings with writing exercises and workshops of your own fiction, where you will actively interrogate, cultivate, and refine your emerging voice.

Instructor(s): Vu Tran     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42152

CRWR 22153. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Rants and Rambles. 100 Units.

The unshackled narrators that dominate many of our most exciting novels-from Dostoevsky's underground man to the uber-relatable mother of 2019's Ducks, Newburyport-take their bearings not from the scenic method of theater or the omniscient narration of history but from the essay form and from oral storytelling. This workshop plumbs those resources to better understand this alternative tradition, studying the craft that can make unruly narrative both highly entertaining and intellectually satisfying, exploring rhetoric, repetition, leitwortstil, logical nesting, suspense, digression, irony, and humor. While executing creative exercises in voice, we'll read books of furious energy by Thomas Bernhard and Jamaica Kincaid alongside cooler, essayistic meanders by W. G. Sebald and Claire-Louise Bennett. Students will compose and workshop a substantial work that takes its cues from these examples.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Lytal     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42153

CRWR 22154. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Unlikeable Characters. 100 Units.

From "unreliable" to "unlikeable," certain characters--and character qualities--are often measured against popular understandings of who is "good," who is "relatable," and who gets to decide. As Ottessa Moshfegh quips in a Guardian interview, "We live in a world in which mass murderers are re-elected, yet it's an unlikeable female character that is found to be offensive." In this technical seminar, we will critically investigate cultural dialogues around "unlikeability," and discuss the shared qualities and compelling narrative capabilities of "unlikeable" characters. Assignments will include reading responses, short craft analyses, and a presentation.

Instructor(s): Meghan Lamb     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42154

CRWR 22155. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Writing About Work. 100 Units.

Writing about work, jobs, and vocational experiences may seem contradictory- or even antithetical-to our goals in fiction. After all, if we aim to inspire, to invigorate, to otherwise wield a narrative "axe for the frozen sea within us" (as Kafka wrote), why write about the very day-to-day tasks so often charged with numbing and blurring our sensation of life? In this workshop, we will explore and answer this question with our own work-focused fictions, developing strategies for defamiliarizing the mundane, and using routines to build dramatic tension. Utilizing a combination of creative workshops and exercises-and drawing upon models from the job-focused fiction of Eugene Martin, Dorothy Allison, Lucia Berlin, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Edwidge Danticat, and other writers-we will also deepen and develop our characters through precise depictions of their work environments.

Instructor(s): Meghan Lamb     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42155

CRWR 22156. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Narrator as Personality. 100 Units.

While aspiring writers usually grasp quickly how to write direct dialog-we hear it all around us, in public and private spaces-narration is a trickier enterprise. In this writing workshop, we will look at the narrator as personality, a voice that exists to tell the story, but not always to enter it. The narrator can be a constant, like an elbow in the side, or effaced, touching down to only give us the basics of time and place. They can be all knowing, summarizing scenes, people and events from a distant, God-like vantage, or reportorial, speaking in present tense as events unfurl. Some narrators make us laugh but are conning us with their charm; others explain the psychology of events like a great therapist or moralize like a member of the clergy. We will read a wide range of examples from writers like Edward P. Jones, Anton Chekhov, Salman Rushdie, Amy Hempel, Yiyun Li, and Louise Erdrich. Students will be encouraged to experiment in both writing exercises and story revisions. By the end of the course, you will have generated significant raw material and workshopped one story, which you will revise for the final.

Instructor(s): Sharon Pomerantz     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42156

CRWR 22157. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Tiny Chapters. 100 Units.

In this advanced fiction workshop, students will have the opportunity to assemble a long narrative out of short fragments. Composing with small units reframes the art of narrative. We'll study the diverse affordances of working with fragments-collage, aporia, essayistic interpolation-always keeping an eye on the totality of our narratives. We'll discuss the art of brevity-including related forms like the aphorism, the note, and the joke. We'll begin in experiment and end with substantial compositions. Our readings will be drawn from the numerous contemporary novelists who use this method (Jenny Offill, Olga Ravn, Dorthe Nors) as well as the older generation of authors who, in their different ways, may be said to have pioneered the form (Marguerite Duras, Gwendolyn Brooks, William Gass, Renata Adler). But most of our class time will be devoted to workshopping original student work.

Instructor(s): Benjamin Lytal     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42157

CRWR 22158. Advanced Fiction Workshop: From the Ground Up. 100 Units.

In a craft talk, writer Stephen Dobyns once described an exercise he used for generating stories inspired by Raymond Carver, who said about his process, "I write the first sentence, and then I write the next sentence and then the next." Apparently, Dobyns was frustrated by that answer, but later challenged himself to write 50 first sentences of potential stories. Then, he picked half of them and wrote 25 first paragraphs. From those, he eventually completed about a half dozen stories. (I learned this from an article by the great short story writer Kelly Link.) In this generative workshop, we will proceed in this fashion. During the first week, we'll study the first sentences of stories and each write our own 50 first sentences. During the second week, we'll study the first paragraphs of stories and each write 25 first paragraphs, and so on until all students have a few complete drafts of stories, one of which will be submitted to our in-class workshop. Along the way, we'll read and discuss well-made stories by writers such as Kelly Link, Denis Johnson, Joy Williams, Edward P. Jones, Justin Torres, Mary Gaitskill, and many others. To be successful, students will read and write actively and share their well-informed opinions with enthusiasm, especially in our workshop discussions.

Instructor(s): Ryan Van Meter     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42158

CRWR 22159. Advanced Fiction Workshop: Family Life, Family Strife. 100 Units.

If, as the opening lines of Anna Karenina suggests, it is true that "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," then the unique character of family is largely determined by its distinct manner and type of conflict. In this advanced fiction workshop, we'll examine fiction about family friction with an eye for observing the strategies that authors have used to construct dramas that revolve around how families love, cope, or crumple in the midst of crisis. As we identify tropes of family dysfunction, we'll also consider the ways authors use narrative devices like point-of-view, setting, plot, and scene to investigate how we define family (and how those definitions have evolved); its bonds and intergenerational inheritances; how families-like institutions- are bonded by their distinctive habits, manners, mores, and laws; and how kinship might magnify, subvert, or critique larger society. Above all, we'll debate what family life and family strife teach us about storytelling. Over the course of the term, we will write and workshop your own fiction inspired by model texts.

Instructor(s): Julie Iromuanya     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42159

CRWR 23113. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Waste, Surplus, Reuse. 100 Units.

What do writers and artists do with surplus, with extras, leftovers, and other excesses of production? Is there a creative use to put them to? When viewed in the context of ecology and economy, what are the ethical dimensions of working with surplus? Are there also ethics and aesthetics of the "useless"? With these guiding questions, this course will explore creative approaches to waste, and develop revision practices that draw on the reuse of material surplus. We will consider forms of excess, and we'll examine diverse types of waste and things that "waste", including literal trash, ruins, the body, time, the dream, and everyday texts (such as emails, text messages, rough drafts, conversations, and ephemeral media). Readings and media may include work by Georges Perec, Harryette Mullen, Nikki Wallschlaeger, T. S. Eliot, Kurt Schwitters, and Agnes Varda. Students should plan to complete various prompts, lead discussion on readings, and complete a final project.

Instructor(s): Nate Hoks     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43113

CRWR 23123. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Form & Formlessness. 100 Units.

Wallace Stevens suggests that "The essential thing in form is to be free in whatever form is used." How does form provide a kind of freedom for a poet? How does it manifest itself in a poem? Does it mean we have to follow prescribed rules, or is there a more intuitive approach? This course will give students a chance to try out a range of traditional and experimental forms, both as an attempt to improve as writers and in order to interrogate form and its other, what Bataille called the formless, or "unformed" (l'informe). We'll explore traditional and contemporary takes on a variety of forms, such as sonnets, odes, aphorisms, serial poems, and poetic collage. Students should expect to write exercises, submit new poems, contribute feedback on peer work, write short response papers, and submit a final portfolio.

Instructor(s): Nathan Hoks     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43123

CRWR 23126. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetry and the Present Moment. 100 Units.

In this workshop we will tackle the problem of writing poetry in the present moment at a range of scales, thinking critically about our world's obsession with the "contemporary." At the grandest scale, we will ask what it means to write into the contemporary moment, one in which we seem to feel time fading with every status update and tweet, and one that demands embodied engagement-reading works that have been written recently, in dialogue with living authors. At the most intimate scale, we will consider how poetry can cultivate critical awareness of the present moment amidst forces that pull us with dopamine-induced promises and regrets into the future and past. How does poetry, with its odd ability to punctuate, syncopate, fragment, and suspend time, intervene in daily life and in the historical record? Authors for consideration will include Issa, Basho, Gertrude Stein, F.T. Marinetti, David Harvey, Cecilia Vicuna, Bernadette Mayer, Etel Adnan, Leslie Scalapino, Lyn Hejinian, Julie Patton, CA Conrad, Julian T. Brolaski, and Bhanu Kapil. Students will have the chance to experiment with different forms of attunement to the present, and will produce a daybook in tandem with a final "book" project that may take a range of forms.

Instructor(s): Jennifer Scappettone     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43126

CRWR 23132. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poets' Prose. 100 Units.

Which one of us, in his moments of ambition, has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose," wrote Charles Baudelaire in Paris Spleen,"... supple enough and rugged enough to adapt itself to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience?" This genre-blurring workshop will explore elements of the history and practice of the prose poem, and other poems and texts that combine strategies, forms and gestures of prose (fiction, nonfiction, etc.) with those of poetry. We will also read texts that are difficult to classify in terms of genre. "Flash Fiction," "Short Shorts," the fable, the letter, the mini-essay, and the lyric essay will be examined, among others. We will discuss the literary usefulness (or lack of it) of genre and form labels. The class will be taught as a workshop: students will try their hand at writing in their choices of hybrid forms, and will be encouraged to experiment. Writers from all genres are welcome, as what we will be studying, discussing, and writing will involve the fruitful collision of literary genres.

Instructor(s): Suzanne Buffam     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43132

CRWR 23133. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poets in Archives. 100 Units.

This course will examine how the historical archive can be a source for poetry writing, seeking to develop frameworks for interpreting the experiences that poets enact through archives. Deeper questions to be examined involve the relation between poetic form and historical knowledge; the relation between imagination and memory; between material histories and their inscription; between poets and their historical and biographical pasts; and between the critical and creative, the historical and biographical, and the exteriors and interiors of literature, history, myth, and politics. Because this is an advanced workshop, we will rely on mutual exchange dedicated to improving writing. Critique will therefore be our core activity, guided by our readings and professor instruction, but driven primarily by original student work and discussion.

Instructor(s): Edgar Garcia     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43133

CRWR 23134. Advanced Poetry Workshop: The Book as Form. 100 Units.

What is a book? This supposedly obsolete medium has undergone vital metamorphosis over the course of the past century, migrating from text into the visual and performing arts, as well as online. As contemporary writers we will consider what it means to contribute to its evolution, thinking about new forms that the "poetry collection" can take, as well as more emergent forms of the book as project-or process. Authors to be studied include Sappho, Basho, Mina Loy, Bruno Munari, Bread and Puppet Theater, Susan Howe, Anne Carson, Ann Hamilton, Buzz Spector, Bhanu Kapil, Don Mee Choi, Jen Bervin, Mei-Mei Burssenbrugge, Stephanie Strickland, Tan Lin, Edwin Torres, Nanni Balestrini, Douglas Kearney, and Amaranth Borsuk. Be prepared to think about poetry from the scale of the syllable to the scale of the entire bound (or unbound) work.

Instructor(s): Jennifer Scappettone     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43134

CRWR 23135. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Weird Science. 100 Units.

This class invites students to explore various relationships between science and poetry, two domains that, perhaps counter-intuitively, often draw from each other to revitalize themselves. As poets, we'll use, misuse, and borrow from science in our poems. We'll approach poems like science experiments and aim to enter an "experimental attitude." From a practical point of view, we'll try to write poems that incorporate the language of science to freshen their own language or to expand the realm of poetic diction. Furthermore, we'll work with tropes and procedural experiments that may result in revelation, discovery, and surprise. Readings may include work by Aimé Césaire, Kimiko Hahn, Ed Roberson, Dean Young, Joyelle Mcsweeney, and Will Alexander. Students can expect to write several poems, participate in discussion forums with both initial response papers and follow-up comments, critique peers' work, and submit a final portfolio. A substantial amount of class time will be spent workshopping student work.

Instructor(s): Nathan Hoks     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43135

CRWR 23136. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetry as Parasite. 100 Units.

Might there be a kind of poem that acts like a parasite latched on to a host body? A poem whose very life is the fusion of various sources, voices, discourses? This poetry workshop invites students to read and write poetry that, either overtly or subtly, engages with other texts. We'll examine ways that poems create intertextual relationships (e.g. quoting, voicing, alluding, echoing, stealing, sampling, imitating, translating…) and test out these methods in our own writing. Students should expect to engage with the basic question of how their work relates to other poets and poems. Expect to read a substantial amount of work by modern and contemporary poets, submit new original poems for workshop, complete intertextual writing exercises, participate in discussion forums with both initial response papers and follow-up comments, critique peers' work, and submit a final portfolio. A substantial amount of class time will be spent workshopping student work.

Instructor(s): Nathan Hoks     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43136

CRWR 23137. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetry, Archives, and History. 100 Units.

This course introduces fundamental ideas about poetic form and approaches to poetic writing through close reading and discussion of poetry (modern and contemporary but not exclusively). We will consider poetic elements from the ground-up-reading closely for sound, image, syntax, and meaning-in order to enliven those elements in student writing. Likewise, we will consider how poems appear at a crossroads between history and experience (the past and present) in order to inspire students to write not only about themselves but about real and imagined social, cultural, historical, and intellectual locations and horizons (considering such aspects of poetry writing as geography, history, mythology, anthropology, kinship, science, visual media, audio media, etc). We will do so in conversation with our peers by way of regular presentations and workshops, in which students will give feedback to one another's works, learning thus how to read critically while generously, and how to respond collegially while also constructively. At the end of the quarter students will revise drafts based on class writing exercises and workshop conversations, to produce a portfolio prefaced by a critical reflection. The arc of the class also involves the making of a collaborative syllabus (with a wide range of texts offered and guided by the instructor but available to the creative configuration of the students themselves), to strengthen our grasp of archival and curatorial aspects of poetry writing.

Instructor(s): Edgar Garcia     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43137

CRWR 23138. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetics of Procedure and Restraint. 100 Units.

Rats who build the labyrinth from which they will try to escape" is how Raymond Queneau famously described the members of Oulipo, a group of international writers and mathematicians founded in France in 1960, and which still thrives today. The group's aim is to use constraints and procedures to create new literary forms. ("Oulipo" is an acronym that stands for Workshop or Sewing Circle of Potential Literature.) In a similar spirit of playful experiment, we will take a hands-on approach, with students composing new drafts each week. We will experiment with a variety of methods, ranging from traditional verse forms to concrete poetry; creative translations; re-writing; erasures; collages; documentary and research-based poetics; site-specific and ritual poetry; incorporating film, sound, image; and a selection of stimulating Oulipian constraints (e.g. only using certain letters or writing three versions of the same poem, etc.). As we workshop students' drafts, we will discuss topics including inspiration, authorship, form, copying and plagiarism; poetry, activism, and social justice; and the idea of "fact" in poetry. At the end of the quarter, you'll revise your drafts and collect them in a portfolio.

Instructor(s): Rachel Galvin     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43138

CRWR 23139. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Ekphrastic Poetry. 100 Units.

In this generative advanced poetry workshop we will find inspiration for our own poetry by engaging with the visual arts. We will read poems that respond to, reflect, and refract the arts, and exercises will be based on our own encounters in museums, at the movies, in the realms of fashion, architecture, landscape, and elsewhere. We will ask ourselves about artifice and making, the materiality of the written word, the relationship between observation and expression, the emotive qualities of the image, and the sonic qualities of words. Most of our course reading will be contemporary poetry, but we will also explore a range of exciting earlier examples. Each class meeting will include workshops of student poems, discussions of assigned literature, and conversations about art practice and art community. In addition to reading deeply, looking closely, and writing wildly, students are expected to be lively participants in the arts community on campus, and will attend exhibitions, concerts, readings, screenings, and other events and experiences that bring us into contact with various modes of expression. Texts may include poems by, Harryette Mullen, James Schuyler, Brenda Shaughnessy, David Trinidad, and Virgil.

Instructor(s): Robyn Schiff     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43139, CHST 23139

CRWR 23140. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetry and Crisis. 100 Units.

Since Homer's narratives of war and exile, and Hesiod's accounts of cyclical degeneration and the uncertain future of humankind, poetry has dealt with crisis and liminality. Our own present moment is defined by a convergence of climate and ecological crises, refugee crisis, food crisis, war, and epidemic. In this workshop, we will examine poetic writing arising out of crises, whether political, artistic, or existential, and craft poems that attempt to deal with crisis - both in the form of a concrete Event, and as a literary trope - through critical creative engagement, experimentation, and intertextual dialogue. Readings may include work by Peter Balakian, Jericho Brown, Don Mee Choi, Jorie Graham, Ilya Kaminsky, Valzhyna Mort, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, as well as classical sources. Students can expect to workshop their poems in class; to engage, critically and supportively, with peers' work; and to develop a final portfolio.

Instructor(s): Oksana Maksymchuk     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43140

CRWR 23141. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Visitations. 100 Units.

This class will explore how visitations, hauntings, suspense, uncertainty, grotesquerie, uncanny repetitions, unholy resurrections, phenomenal midnight meetings, and other gothic manipulations of matter, time, and space figure in a range of poems and texts. Because hesitance, fragment, the ever- presence of history, and notions of closure come into play whenever ghosts and others returning from beyond make visitations, our conversation will inevitably turn to the question of the openness of text, and in addition to gothic themes, we will examine form and strategy to wonder together how language turns and returns upon itself like the vampire that rises again and again in various shape-shifting guises. What is natural? What is unnatural? What is supernatural? How do the inexplicable and the explicable meet in poems? And how do poems vex the unstable categories of the past and the present?

Instructor(s): Robyn Schiff     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43141

CRWR 23142. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetic Forms of Brevity. 100 Units.

Advanced Poetry Workshop: Poetic Forms of Brevity Brevity is the soul of wit, and in some definitions, it's also an essential characteristic of lyric poetry. In this course, we'll read diverse examples of relatively brief poetic forms, such as epigrams, aphorisms, haikus, tankas, prose poems, and sonnets, to generate our own writing. Finally, we'll also practice revising poems for economy: that is, cutting as many words as possible from every draft. Students can expect to complete weekly prompts, give a presentation, participate in workshops, and turn in a final portfolio.

Instructor(s): Nathan Hoks     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43142

CRWR 23143. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Mask, Persona, and Translation in Twenty-First Century Poetry. 100 Units.

This advanced workshop engages the play of mask and persona in contemporary poetry, including how these have been utilized in poets' theater, dramatic monologue, confessional writing, autobiographical play, and translation of poems. Participants will be invited to experiment with voice and persona in writing and consider questions such as: How does the mask offer a means of engaging core aspects of self, society, and language? Writers for discussion include John Canaday, Denise Duhamel, Duriel Harris, Ilya Kaminsky, Yang Lian, Ed Pavlic, Fernando Pessoa, and Evie Shockley.

Instructor(s): Garin Cycholl     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43143

CRWR 23144. Advanced Poetry Workshop: Voice. 100 Units.

This course will focus on poetry's rich histories of poetic voicings, building multiple definitions of what voice "sounds" like, how it is constructed, how it says, and how to quiet and amplify one's own poetic voice. We will use our readings and findings to generate our own poetic voicings for student-led workshops.

Instructor(s): Nicholas Twemlow     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 43144

CRWR 24002. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing About the Arts. 100 Units.

Thinking about practices is a way of focusing a conversation between creative writers, art historians, curators, and working visual artists, all of whom are encouraged to join this workshop. We ourselves will be practicing and studying a wide variety of approaches to visual art. We'll read critics like John Yau and Lori Waxman, memoirists like Aisha Sabbatini Sloan, inventive historians like Zbigniew Herbert, and poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, as well as curatorial and museum writings, catalogue essays, artists' statements, and other experimental and practical forms. The course hopes to support students both in developing useful practices and experimenting boldly. Classes will be shaped around current exhibitions and installations. Sessions will generally begin with student-led observation at the Smart Museum, and we will spend one session on close looking in the study room at the Smart. Students will also visit five collections, exhibitions and/or galleries and, importantly, keep a looking notebook. Students will write a number of exercises in different forms (immersive meditation, researched portrait, mosaic fragment), and will also write and revise a longer essay (on any subject and in any mode) to be workshopped in class.

Instructor(s): Rachel Cohen     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 24002, ARTH 34002, CRWR 44002

CRWR 24012. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Feature. 100 Units.

In this writing workshop, students will go through all the stages of composing a narrative nonfiction feature story. After generating a few ideas that seem original, surprising in their approach, and appropriate in scope, we will write and re-write pitches, learning how to highlight the potential story in these ideas. After the class agrees to "assign" one of these features, each student will report, research and write a draft. The features will be workshopped in class, and students will go through an editorial process, polishing their stories through drafts and experimenting with style and form for a final assignment. Along the way, we will consider the mechanics, ethics and craft of this work as we read published nonfiction and talk to writers/reporters about their process. In the end, we should be able to put together a publication that contains all of these feature stories.

Instructor(s): Ben Austen     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44012

CRWR 24019. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Experimental Essay. 100 Units.

Most introductions to creative nonfiction include one sections devoted to the strange and unwieldy-Ander Monson's "I've Been Thinking About Snow" or a page or two of Anne Carson's Nox. A brief foray into the metaphysical essay, the interactive essay, the performance essay and then back into the mainstream of creative nonfiction. This course, however, will be ignoring the mainstream entirely and, rather, will be devoted to the fringe, the strange and almost undefinable. From the performance essay to the video game essay, from the illustrated essay to the found essay and everything in between. This course will consist of experimental readings with accompanying writing prompts and in-class discussions, as well as dedicated workshops to each student's own experimental creative nonfiction project.

Instructor(s): Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44019

CRWR 24020. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing the Eco-memoir. 100 Units.

We live in an era marked by human-driven environmental change, an epoch distinguished not only by the reality of anthropogenic impacts, but of human witness. Never before, writes Elizabeth Rush, have humans been here to tell the story of collapse, extinction, adaptation, and memory. In this workshop, we will read and write eco-memoir, a hybrid form of literary nonfiction that blends the work of ecology, history, and personal narrative to understand more fully how memory is bound to ecosystems. Some might simply call this memoir, following J. Drew Lanham's view that the writing of memoir is also the writing of environment. This course will ask how the memoirist looks at place, taking up W.G. Sebald's thinking that places seem to "have some kind of memory, in that they activate memory in those who look at them." Students will practice using the tenets of literary memoir-writing to engage with the theoretical frameworks of such environmental thinkers as Donna Haraway and Jedidiah Purdy. We will ask: to what extent is remembering a collective act? How might the eco-memoir represent the uneven consequences of ecological disruption? What narrative structures does the story of an ecosystem take? Students will write two-full length essays or memoir chapters. Readings will include texts by Kendra Atleework, Elizabeth Bush, Linda Hogan, J. Drew Lanham, W.G. Sebald, and visiting writers.

Instructor(s): Kathleen Blackburn     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44020

CRWR 24021. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: The Trouble with Trauma. 100 Units.

In "The Body Keeps the Score" Bessel van der Kolk writes, "The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves." Many trauma survivors begin writing reluctantly, even repulsed by the impulse to query their woundedness. The process is inhibited by stigma surrounding the notion of victimhood, entities that would prefer a survivor's silence, plus our tendency to dismiss and devalue ones suffering in relation to others. Students in this class will shed some of these constricting patterns of thinking about trauma so they may freely explore their stories with confidence, compassion, curiosity, and intention. We'll read authors who have found surprise, nuance, and yes, healing through art, honoring the heart-work that happens behind the scenes. Half of class-time will include student-led workshops of original works in progress. Paramount to our success will be an atmosphere of safety, supportiveness, respect, and confidentiality. By the quarters end each student will leave with a piece of writing that feels both true to their experience and imbued with possibility.

Instructor(s): Dina Peone     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44021

CRWR 24022. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing Beyond the Event. 100 Units.

Much of the tradition of Western storytelling relies on scene-driven narratives propelled by rising action toward an inevitable apex. Often natural disasters are illustrated the same way: hurricanes, invasion of new species, infectious disease, and oil spills are cast as singular events with a beginning, middle and end. This advanced workshop will explore how to push beyond the event. We will examine how forms of nonfiction, from investigative journalism to lyric essays, push against the hegemony of the "event" to tell a longer, slower story of disruption across the nexus of time and space. Following Rob Nixon's concept of slow violence, readings will focus on places and communities whose narratives do not fit tidily into beginning-middle-end story structures. Workshop will ask students to consider how their work might recognize the contexts of extraction, commodity flow, climate change, and borders surrounding the "events" driving our stories.

Instructor(s): Kathleen Blackburn     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44022

CRWR 24023. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Coming of Age Memoir. 100 Units.

Where does childhood end and adulthood begin? For Wordsworth growth happens in reverse. "The Child is the father of the Man," he wrote in 1802, yearning to recall the fundamental joy of a rainbow. Proust was eager to forget his schooldays: "We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us." In this class, students will search their lives for events and lessons which they may consider formative, together evaluating the standards they use to qualify rites of passage, in order to isolate unique patterns of growth that students can call their own. Half the quarter will be dedicated to discussing original student work. A multitude of possibilities will be offered by readings of contemporary memoirists from all walks of life. By quarters end, each student will have laid down the groundwork for a dexterous memoir about surviving the challenges of their youth, and in doing so perhaps even imagine a future that is less prescribed and more personally fulfilling.

Instructor(s): Dina Peone     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Submit writing sample via www.creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44023

CRWR 24024. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing Reading. 100 Units.

There are many creative ways to write of, about, from, and because of reading. In this class, serious readers will have the chance to practice forms they love and may not often get chances to write: the incisive review, the long-form reading memoir, the biographical sketch of a writer in history, the interview, the essay about translation, diaristic fragments. In this course, we'll develop individual approaches, styles and regular practices. We'll make use of both creative (and traditional) research, analysis, and criticism, and explore the wide terrain available to creative writers. We'll go back to foundational essayists including Toni Morrison and Virginia Woolf, study contemporary writers of reading such as Jazmina Berrera, Claire Messud, Niela Orr, Ruth Franklin, Emily Bernard, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Parul Sehgal. Students will keep a reading/writing notebook, conduct an interview, and write and revise a longer essay for workshop.

Instructor(s): Rachel Cohen     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44024

CRWR 24025. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Queering the Essay. 100 Units.

In Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Queering the Essay, we'll approach the essay as a vehicle for queer narratives, as a marker of both individual and collective memory, and as a necessary compliment to the journalism and scholarship that have shaped queer writing. Through readings and in-class exercises, we'll explore tenets of the personal essay, like narrative structure and pacing, alongside considerations of voice and vulnerability. After a brief historical survey, we'll look to contemporary essayists as our guides--writers like Billy-Ray Belcourt, Melissa Faliveno, Saeed Jones, Richard Rodriguez, and T. Fleischmann-- alongside more familiar writers like Alison Bechdel and Maggie Nelson. And through student-led workshops, we'll wrestle with concerns that often trouble narratives of otherness: What does it mean to write a personal narrative that has a potential social impact? How can we write trauma without playing into harmful stereotypes? How can our writing work as--or make demands toward--advocacy, rather than voyeurism?

Instructor(s): Victoria Flanagan     Terms Offered: Winter Note(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44025, GNSE 44205, GNSE 24205

CRWR 24026. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Feminist Biography. 100 Units.

The personal is political - that slogan of Women's Liberation - has long been understood, among other things, as a call for new forms of storytelling. One of those forms, feminist biography, has flourished in publishing since the 1970s, and it continues to evolve today, even as the terms of feminism and of biography are continually re-negotiated by writers and critics. In this workshop, we read some of those writers and critics. And we read illustrative examples of contemporary feminist biography (and anti-biography) in various nonfiction genres, including magazine profile, trade book, Wiki article, audio performance, personal essay, cult pamphlet, avant-garde art piece. Mostly, we try out the form for ourselves, in our own writing. Each workshop writer will choose a biographical subject (single, collective, or otherwise), and work up a series of sketches around that subject. By the end of the quarter, workshop writers will build these sketches into a single piece of longform life-writing. The workshop will focus equally on story-craft and method (e.g. interview and research techniques, cultivating sources); indeed we consider the ways that method and story are inevitably connected. This workshop might also include a week with an invited guest, a practicing critic or biographer.

Instructor(s): Avi Steinberg     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44026, GNSE 44026, GNSE 24026

CRWR 24027. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Environmental Writing, Editing, and Publication. 100 Units.

Environmental writing is a quickly-expanding field in the literary and publishing community. It encompasses nonfiction sub-genres of traditional journalism, personal essay, and hybrid forms. This course is designed for students in creative writing with an interest in environmental reportage; it is also intended for students in environmental sciences (broadly speaking) with some writing experience who wish to practice presenting complex information to a non-expert audience. Reading contemporary environmental and science writing, students will develop nonfiction techniques relevant to writing environmental stories, like how to find and contact field experts, how to engage readers in complex topics, how to integrate research into narrative, how to use dialogue from interviews, how to weave the personal together with research material, and how to pitch environmental stories. The course will also cover the practical aspects* of the field by including a workshop with the Careers in Creative Writing Journalism program, guest lectures from editors and journalists in the field, and assignments that familiarize students with current environmental literary magazines. Readings will include Kerri Arsenault's Mill Town and selections from The Best American Science and Nature Writing.

Instructor(s): Kathleen Blackburn     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44027

CRWR 24028. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: World-building in Long-form Nonfiction. 100 Units.

A writer setting out to write a long piece of nonfiction prose may assume that the world of the piece is given, but in fact the nonfiction writer has significant work to do to create a space where a reader can live. In writing creative biography, history, memoir, literary criticism, art writing, and narrative journalism, there are wonderful possibilities for archival research, visiting places and spaces, making first hand observations, interviewing, finding settings and characters, and atmospheric research, whether reading old magazines, listening to radio shows, or studying weather patterns. In this course, advanced writers will immerse themselves in one longer project, developing it in notebooks and weekly postings and exercises. The first half of the course will focus more on practicing and reading (writers including Elizabeth Rush, Zbigniew Herbert, Valeria Luiselli, and James Baldwin), the second half will focus on workshopping as the longer pieces develop. Students will finish the course with a sustained piece of prose.

Instructor(s): Rachel Cohen     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44028

CRWR 24029. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing Sports. 100 Units.

As live performance, public ritual, and sheer melodrama, sports give lavish expression to some of our most deeply held cultural attitudes. As sports-related industries have grown exponentially in the past decades, and as the material and political fortunes at stake in these games has also grown, so too has the need for serious writing about sports. The world's stadiums and arenas have become theaters of very real battles over race and gender, class and religion, colonialism and social justice. At the same time, the games themselves have also changed in fascinating and telling ways. This workshop invites writers who are curious about sports as a subject for literary exploration. We examine the subject through various genres of nonfiction, from longform journalism to personal essay to audio storytelling. Our readings will include both canonical and contemporary voices in sports writing. Workshop writers can choose to build a portfolio of three pieces of original nonfiction, or one long piece in three parts. No previous knowledge of sports is required.

Instructor(s): Avi Steinberg     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop begins. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44029

CRWR 24030. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Writing the Narrative Nonfiction Feature. 100 Units.

Apart from it being nonfiction, a nonfiction feature is like a short story-in terms of length and scenes and characters and all the potential innovations of storytelling. In this writing workshop, students will go through each stage of composing a narrative nonfiction feature story. After generating a few ideas that seem original, surprising in their approach, and appropriate in scope, we will write pitches. After the class agrees to "assign" one of these features, each student will report, research and write a draft. The features will be workshopped in class, and students will go through an editorial process, polishing their stories and experimenting with style and form for a final assignment. Along the way, we will consider the mechanics, ethics and craft of this work as we read published nonfiction and talk to writers and reporters about their process. There will be an emphasis in the class on Chicago writers and their beats; in weekly writing assignments, students will also report on local stories.

Instructor(s): Ben Austen     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Contact the instructor for a spot on the waiting list. Course requires consent after add/drop. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44030, CHST 24030

CRWR 24031. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: Excavating the Self. 100 Units.

What does it mean to make sense out of lived experience? How do we claim ownership of our own stories, and shape those narratives on our own terms, independent of pressures that originated elsewhere? How do we craft narrative personas that readers deem trustworthy; how do we capture voices that feel compelling, urgent, and help to reorder the fallout of our lives into a coherent structure that can offer insight, even to readers we have never met? In this advanced nonfiction workshop, we will attempt to grapple with some of these concerns. With a particular emphasis on memoir and personal essay, we will explore what it means to excavate the self and map out the vast terrain contained within. Readings will include Vivian Gornick, Leslie Jamison, Aleksander Hemon, James Baldwin, William Maxwell, Orhan Pamuk and Thomas Browne. Class time will be split between discussion of readings and student led workshops of original essays/memoirs in progress. By the end of the quarter, students will have workshopped two pieces of writing and submitted a final portfolio.

Instructor(s): Valer Popa     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44031

CRWR 24032. Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: CyberWorkshop - Writing the Web. 100 Units.

An inquiry into the ways we write about the internet, this workshop will survey works spanning across narrative nonfiction genres, from writing by William Gibson and Naomi Klein to the rise of the YouTube video essay as a sub-genre. Students will write and workshop essays that arise from hyper-contemporary corners of the internet, defining, as they go, a new kind of ekphrasis for the digital age.

Instructor(s): Victoria Flanagan     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): If you wish to add this course during add/drop please email the instructor to be added to the waitlist. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 44032

CRWR 29200. Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction. 100 Units.

This thesis workshop is for students writing a creative BA or MA thesis in fiction, as well as creative writing minors completing the portfolio. It is primarily a workshop, so please come to our first class with your project in progress (a story collection, a novel, or a novella), ready for you to discuss and to submit some part of for critique. As in any writing workshop, we will stress the fundamentals of craft like language, voice, and plot and character development, with an eye also on how to shape your work for the longer form you have chosen. And as a supplement to our workshops, we will have brief student presentations on the writing life: our literary influences, potential avenues towards publication, etc.

Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Note(s): Required for CW majors and MAPH CW Option students completing creative BA and MA theses in fiction and CW minors completing minor portfolios in fiction. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 49200

CRWR 29300. Thesis/Major Projects: Poetry. 100 Units.

This thesis workshop is for students writing a creative BA or MA thesis in poetry, as well as creative writing minors completing the portfolio. Because it is a thesis seminar, the course will focus on various ways of organizing larger poetic "projects." We will consider the poetic sequence, the chapbook, and the poetry collection as ways of extending the practice of poetry beyond the individual lyric text. We will also problematize the notion of broad poetic "projects," considering the consequences of imposing a predetermined conceptual framework on the elusive, spontaneous, and subversive act of lyric writing. Because this class is designed as a poetry workshop, your fellow students' work will be the primary text over the course of the quarter.

Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Note(s): Required for CW majors and MAPH CW Option students completing creative BA and MA theses in poetry and CW minors completing minor portfolios in poetry. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 49300

CRWR 29400. Thesis/Major Projects: Nonfiction. 100 Units.

This thesis workshop is for students writing a creative BA or MA thesis in nonfiction, as well as creative writing minors completing the portfolio. Student work can be an extended essay, memoir, travelogue, literary journalism, or an interrelated collection thereof. It's a workshop, so come to the first day of class with your work underway and ready to submit. You'll edit your classmates' writing as diligently as you edit your own. I focus on editing because writing is, in essence, rewriting. Only by learning to edit other people's work will you gradually acquire the objectivity you need to skillfully edit your own. You'll profit not only from the advice you receive, but from the advice you learn to give. I will teach you to teach each other and thus yourselves, preparing you for the real life of the writer outside the academy.

Instructor(s): Dan Raeburn; Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Note(s): Required for CW majors and MAPH CW Option students completing creative BA and MA theses in nonfiction and CW minors completing minor portfolios in nonfiction. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 49400

CRWR 29500. Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction/Nonfiction. 100 Units.

This thesis workshop is for students writing a creative BA or MA thesis or minor portfolio in either fiction or nonfiction--or both. In other words, your project may take a number of forms: fiction only, nonfiction only, a short story and an essay, a novel chapter and a piece of narrative journalism, and so on. This course might be of special interest to those working on highly autobiographical pieces or incorporating substantial research into their creative process--fiction that hews close to fact, say, or nonfiction that leans heavily into storytelling. And/or it might be useful for those who want to pursue hybrid or between-genres projects or simply want to continue working in more than one form. We'll be open to many possibilities. It's not a prerequisite that you've taken both a fiction and creative nonfiction course previously, but it will nonetheless be quite helpful to have done so. Note, too, that this is the cumulative course in Creative Writing. There will still be room to explore and rethink (sometimes radically) the pieces you've drafted in previous classes, but please do come to our first session with a clear sense of what you want to work on over the quarter. Required for CW majors and MAPH CW Option students completing creative BA and MA theses in fiction or nonfiction and CW minors completing minor portfolios in fiction or nonfiction.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (in application please indicate experience in fiction & nonfiction and how this thesis workshop informs your own writing practice). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 49500

Faculty Director

Director of the Program in Creative Writing Robyn Schiff Email

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Director of Undergraduate Studies Vu Tran Taft House 302 Email

Administrative Contacts

Program Manager Michael Fischer Taft House 103 773.834.8524 Email

Student Affairs Administrator Denise Dooley Taft House 104 773.702.0355 Email

[email protected]

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Creative Writing

The Program in Creative Writing takes a comprehensive approach to the study of contemporary literature, criticism, and theory from a writer’s perspective, and provides rigorous training in the fundamental practices of creative writing. In our courses, students work with established poets and prose writers towards these pursuits, and both the major and minor in Creative Writing provide ample opportunities for interdisciplinary work across University departments. The program’s commitment to interdisciplinary work and academic rigor, coupled with an emphasis on teaching the elements of creative writing that underlie all genres, accounts for the program's vitality and explains why Creative Writing at Chicago is currently the largest initiative in the humanities for the College. The Program in Creative Writing offers workshops and seminars in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as an increasing number of translation workshops.

Students who graduate with the bachelor of arts in Creative Writing will both be skilled in writing in a major literary genre and have a theoretically informed understanding of the aesthetic, historical, social, and political context of a range of contemporary writing. Students who are not English Language and Literature or Creative Writing majors may complete a minor in English and Creative Writing.

• Creative Writing in the College Catalog
• Minor in Creative Writing in the College Catalog
• Creative Writing Home Page

English (Creative Writing) ,BA

English (creative writing), ba.

• Program description
• At a glance
• Required courses (Major Map)
• Concurrent program options
• Accelerated program options
• Admission requirements
• Tuition information
• Change of Major requirements
• Transfer options
• Program learning outcomes
• Global opportunities
• Career opportunities
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Author, Creative Writing, Editor, Novel, Novelist, Poet, Publishing, Writer, fiction, literature, poetry, writing

Develop a literary voice that serves your academic, professional and artistic goals. Renowned, award-winning writers guide your engagement in supportive and rigorous workshops that enable your expressive growth.

The BA in English with a concentration in creative writing focuses on the study and practice of the literary arts, with courses in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction.

Students gain practical experience through writing workshops and internship opportunities.

The undergraduate program features an outstanding faculty whose many books have received major national and international recognition.

In addition to the guidelines in the Concurrent Program Options section below, students interested in pursuing concurrent or second baccalaureate degrees in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are advised to visit The College's website for more information and requirements.

• College/school: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Location: Tempe
• Second language requirement: Yes
• STEM-OPT extension eligible: No
• First required math course: MAT 142 - College Mathematics

Acceptance to the graduate program requires a separate application. Students typically receive approval to pursue the accelerated master’s during the junior year of their bachelor's degree program. Interested students can learn about eligibility requirements and how to apply .

General university admission requirements:

All students are required to meet general university admission requirements. First-year | Transfer | International | Readmission

A current ASU student has no additional requirements for changing majors.

Students should visit the Change of Major form for information about how to change a major to this program.

ASU has partnered with the following institutions to enable you to do a seamless transfer.

ASU is committed to helping students thrive by offering tools that allow personalization of the transfer path to ASU. Students may use MyPath2ASU® to outline a list of recommended courses to take prior to transfer.

ASU has transfer partnerships in Arizona and across the country to create a simplified transfer experience for students. These pathway programs include exclusive benefits, tools and resources, and they help students save time and money in their college journey.

Program learning outcomes identify what a student will learn or be able to do upon completion of their program. This program has the following program outcomes:

• Production of a portfolio of creative writing: original poetry or fiction, with attention to content and form, via significant revision process informed by craft lessons.
• Students will evaluate a work-in-progress in poetry or fiction and provide constructive feedback.
• Students will be able to produce literary works (poems and stories) held to have merit by class peers and professor.

Studying abroad expands students' perspectives by exposing them to new and distinct cultures, communities and people. Students can explore the English language at a deeper level through an extended lens of dialects, literature and terminology in one of more than 300 study abroad programs.

Students can enhance their resumes with the educational experience and heightened cultural competency, communication and critical thinking skills they acquire through study abroad programs.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recommends these study abroad programs for students majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing .

Degree programs in English prepare students for graduate studies in a number of programs, including English, creative writing, education, law and business. They also lead to a variety of careers in diverse fields. Employers seek those with strong writing, communication and critical thinking skills. Some of the most common professions for English majors are in the fields of:

• nonprofit service

Graduates often find roles where they spend time:

• developing web content
• managing public relations
• writing professional and technical content

Example job titles and salaries listed below are not necessarily entry level, and students should take into consideration how years of experience and geographical location may affect pay scales. Some jobs also may require advanced degrees, certifications or state-specific licensure.

Bright Outlook

Department of English | RBHL 170 [email protected] 480-965-3168

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The Creative Writing Major

The undergraduate Creative Writing major at the University of Illinois, formerly known as the Rhetoric major, is one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Now in its seventh decade, the major combines small workshops (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) and a variety of literature courses.

Note: We also offer a Creative Writing minor. For an overview of our minor requirements, click here .

The undergraduate Creative Writing major at the University of Illinois, formerly known as the Rhetoric major, is one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Now in its seventh decade, the major combines small workshops (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) and a variety of literature courses. The result is a strong but flexible program of study that develops students' analytical and creative skills and prepares them for work or graduate study in any number of fields.

Students in the undergraduate program edit and publish an annual journal, Montage Arts Journal , which features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art by University of Illinois undergraduate student writers and artists. For more information about Montage , visit montagejournal.wordpress.com .

Through our program, writers shape their literary voices, develop distinctive styles, and intensify their written, critical, and editorial skills. Students write about what matters most to them and learn about contemporary literary publishing through developing their imaginative, expressive, and dynamic writing.

Creative Writing Major Requirements

Literature for creative writers (6 credit hours).

• CW 100: Introduction to Creative Writing
• CW 200: Reading for Writers

Craft (3 credit hours)

• CW 243: The Craft Essay:  Creative Reading, Reflection, and Revision  

Creative Writing Workshops (12 credit hours)

Creative Writing majors must complete at least one of the following 3-course (9-hour) sequences:

• CW 106: Poetry Workshop I
• CW 206: Poetry Workshop II
• CW 406: Poetry Workshop III
• CW 104: Fiction Workshop I
• CW 204: Fiction Workshop II
• CW 404: Fiction Workshop III

The remaining 3 hours in this category can be satisfied by a fourth CW Workshop outside of the chosen sequence.  CW 404 and CW 406 may be repeated once for credit, but may not be repeated to fulfill this requirement.

Writing and Literature (3 credit hours)

3 hours of Writing and Literature coursework, either:

• 3 hours of non-Workshop CW coursework (CW 460, or another approved non-Workshop CW course)
• 3 hours of ENGL coursework

Additional Literature Coursework (12 credit hours)

12 additional hours of approved ENGL coursework, including:

• 9 hours of approved ENGL Literature coursework
• 3 hours of an ENGL Difference & Diaspora course

For more information on the Creative Writing major and minor, please visit our listings in the Academic Catalog:

• Creative Writing Major - full, detailed requirements
• Creative Writing Minor - full , detailed requirements
• Creative Writing Courses

The faculty of the Creative Writing Program represent a diverse range of writing and teaching styles and interests and are actively working in various genres and media, including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, theater, and film. Faculty members have received numerous awards and fellowships. A small selection of these includes the Yale Series of Younger Poets, the Native Writers' Circle Award of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction, the FC2 National Fiction Competition, a Whiting Award, the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Prize, the William Peden Prize, the Academy of American Poets Award, the Bakeless Prize, Wallace Stegner fellowships, and fellowships from the NEA, Guggenheim Foundation, Yaddo, MacDowell, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and many others.

Follow the links below to learn more about our undergraduate Creative Writing program's core faculty members:

Ángel García

Janice N. Harrington

Amy Hassinger

Christopher Kempf

Julie Price

John Rubins

Ted Sanders

Alex Shakar

Corey Van Landingham

David Wright

• The Creative Writing Minor
• UIUC's Creative Writing Club
• Our MFA in Creative Writing

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Should You Really Be A Creative Writing Major?

College Info

So you’re thinking about majoring in creative writing! Completing an undergraduate creative writing program can be a great way to explore your love of fiction or poetry and hone your craft.

As edifying as a creative writing major can be, it may not be what you expect.  Dedicated creative writing majors are also quite uncommon, so if you're committed to getting your degree in that subject, you'll have a narrower pool of possible colleges. This post will help you decide whether a creative writing major is right for you.

Feature Image: Nilufer Gadgieva /Flickr

Many Great Schools (with Awesome Writing Classes) Don't Have a Creative Writing Major

As I mentioned above, creative writing is a relatively rare major, so if you're solely focused on schools with a dedicated creative writing degree, you might miss out on schools that could be a great fit for you. 

Keep in mind that a lot of school that don’t offer specific majors still have great opportunities to pursue creative writing, whether by completing a minor, contributing to the campus literary journal, or simply taking classes.

Even if you know you want to study creative writing, try researching the opportunities available at different schools with an open mind . You might be surprised by what you find!

You're Going to Have to Read — A Lot

I once had a friend who loved writing ;but hated reading—especially if he had to analyze the text. If you tend to agree with him, and would rather be submerged in a vat of ants than write a paper about Virginia Woolf's use of symbolism to comment on World War I in The Waves , this course of study isn't right for you. Most creative writing majors are run by the English department, and, in fact, many are special tracks within the English major. As such, they involve a lot of reading of all kinds , including fiction, plays, poetry, and literary theory.

I was an English major in undergrad, and we were expected to read a roughly book a week in each class . Some were long (I had one professor assign the longest single volume novel in the English language ) and some were short, but it added up to a lot of books! You’ll also have to write critical essays analyzing these works of literature—if you really only want to write your own fiction or poetry, consider majoring in something else and taking creative writing classes as electives.

You Don't Need a Specific Major to Be a Writer

Writing isn't like engineering: you don't need a specific degree to pursue it professionally. The only thing that you need to do to be a writer is to write.

Most writing jobs, whether in publishing, journalism or teaching, don’t require or even expect you to have majored in creative writing. For the few positions that do require a writing degree, which are almost exclusively in academia, you'll actually need a graduate degree (generally an MFA).

Studying writing in school is a great way to motivate you to work on your writing and to get constructive feedback (more on this below), but it’s not the only way. A lot of great writers studied something totally unrelated to writing or didn’t go to college at all.

You Can Learn A Lot From Really Focusing on Writing

So far I've focused mostly on reasons you might not want or need to major in creative writing, but there's one very good reason to do so: you'll spend a lot of time writing, talking about writing, and reading your peers' writing.

One of the key features of any creative writing major is the workshop —a small class where students closely read and dissect each other’s work. Workshops can be very productive, since they offer the opportunity for lots of revision and rewriting. However, they also involve a lot of criticism and can be challenging for very sensitive people. Consider how you'll react to someone not liking your writing or suggesting ways to improve it.

Many creative writing majors also require a capstone project or creative BA thesis, which requires you to complete a substantive piece of work that's at or near publication ready. For students who are genuinely committed to publishing their writing, this project is an invaluable stepping stone.

Some Schools Have Special Opportunities for Creative Writing Majors

At schools with particularly strong writing programs, majors may have the opportunity to attend special readings or meetings with authors that aren't open to non-majors. They may also have priority for activities like working at the literary journal or university press.

These kinds of perks are completely dependent on the school, however, so make sure to research the specific programs that you're interested in.

Final Thoughts

Creative writing majors offer a unique opportunity to focus on the craft of writing, but they aren't right for everyone. If the following statements apply to you, a creative writing major could be a great fit:

• You love to read and write.
• You take criticism well and don't mind other people reading your work.
• You want to pursue writing outside of the classroom as well as in it.

More Recommended Reading

Convinced you want to be a creative writing major? Check out our list of the best undergrad writing programs .

Creative writing majors go on to a wide range of jobs. If you're exploring different career ideas , check out our guides on how to become a lawyer and how to become a teacher .

If you're looking at colleges , also check out our guide on how to pick the best school for you and our list of the best college search websites .

For those of you interested in particularly selective schools , we have a guide to getting into Ivy League schools written by a Harvard grad.

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Orange Alert

B.a. in creative writing.

Syracuse University has a long and storied history of nurturing great writers. From Stephen Crane and Shirley Jackson to Joyce Carol Oates and Nana Adjei-Brenyah, students have made good use of the Syracuse winters to hone their craft and explore their imaginations. The result has been books as varied in styles as they are in subjects----SU authors have critiqued the ills of society, explored human frailties and strengths, and probed the psychological depths of horror and mystery.

The Creative Writing Major in the English and Textual Studies Department is designed for students who want to be part of this tradition and have an intense interest in cultivating the skills, knowledge and inventiveness needed to write creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. This 30-credit major combines a grounding in literary study with a workshop-style focus on writing. Students will learn to use language to create complex and emotionally powerful work. Required classes include literature classes, and creative writing workshops and craft classes in at least two genres. It is our belief that all writers need to be readers. To that end, the classes, even the workshops, balance reading historical and contemporary literature with the practice of writing.

For those students already committed to a demanding major, but still interested in creative writing, the 18-credit minor is an excellent alternative to the major. Comprised of three workshops and three craft classes, the minor will provide students with a focused creative writing experience.

The renowned MFA in Creative Writing program provides a myriad of resources for undergraduate students to draw from, including a well-established reading series (The Raymond Carver Reading Series https://thecollege.syr.edu/english-department/creative-writing-mf-program/raymond-carver-reading-series/), opportunities for students to meet with visiting writers, highly talented graduate students who will help guide undergraduates, an undergraduate creative writing club “Write Out,” and, most importantly, the opportunity to work closely with highly accomplished writers, including Mona Awad, Dana Spiotta, Jonathan Dee, Brooks Haxton, Bruce Smith, Matt Grzecki, Sarah Harwell and Christopher Kennedy.

First-year students can choose to live in the Creative Writing Learning Living Community (LLC), where they can meet fellow students and create friendships, network with faculty and established authors through public readings and LLC dinners, and explore their passion for reading and writing poetry, fiction, graphic novels, creative nonfiction or any other types of writing.

The major has been designed to pair with a number of other majors—yes, majors you would expect, like journalism and history—but also Pre-med, information science, biology, physics, philosophy, political science, art history, African-American Studies, illustration, religion, photography, drama and even Applied Mathematics! Creative writers publish their creative work, but they are also in demand in the fields of publishing, public relations, marketing, advertising, web design, media design, branding, social media communications, teaching, publishing, editing, grant writing, journalism, technical writing, health care professions, and computer science. Nearly every profession is in need of highly skilled writers to interpret technical fields to the general public, to create compelling stories, and to compress and synthesize information so that it is gripping and persuasive. And all writers need subjects and a breadth of knowledge in order to write about issues that matter to an audience.

Finally, Creative Writing is committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse community of readers and writers. Required readings are deliberately chosen to represent various cultures, classes, modes of experience, and cultures. As a student you will be encouraged to partake in one of literature’s highest goals—to give voice to a plurality of experiences and world views.

If you’re interested in learning more, please contact Sarah Harwell at [email protected] .

If you would like to declare the major or minor, please contact Katherine Kidd at [email protected] .

Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will show the ability to read closely and analyze texts across historical periods and in various genres.
• Student will be able to recognize and express the aesthetic qualities of literature and a knowledge of literary forms.
• Students will be able to recognize and produce good writing and explain what literary aspects make it good.
• Students will demonstrate a knowledge of critical approaches and methods of interpretation.
• Students will improve their own work through self-conscious and analytical processes.
• They will be able to discuss peer work and other written texts in a thoughtful and constructive manner.
• Students will exhibit an awareness of how these skills are necessary for employment and graduate study in a wide range of fields.

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The Creative Writing and Literature Major is open to ALL LSA students.

Creative Writing and Literature Majors write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction under the close guidance of faculty mentors, and may workshop their writing with other student writers in small writing seminars. Majors also study the art of writing through the study of literature. Majors specialize in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction early in their studies.

Creative Writing graduates pursue successful careers as writers, editors, educators, advertising professionals, and many other writing related-fields.  Every year our graduates are admitted to competitive graduate school programs in the fine arts, education, law, business, public policy, social work, and other courses of professional study that demand proficient writing skills and creative approaches to problem solving.

RC Creative Writing students have demonstrated unparalled success in the esteemed U of M Hopwood Awards , winning over 100 awards since the 1994-95 school year.

Students meet with the creative writing major advisor when declaring, making course substitutions, discussing transfer/study abroad credit evaluations, internships, preparing major release forms, and information on graduate school study and career paths. 

Although students may pursue study in multiple genres, most specialize in a single genre:

Fiction / Creative Nonfiction

Digital Storytelling

Advising appointments can be made here or by calling RC Academic Services at 763-0032.

Minimum Credits: 28

The major is structured into four genre tracks. In addition to the Fiction / Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Digital Storytelling tracks, students may elect a multi-genre track in consultation with their principal writing instructors and the major advisor.

Each track consists of:

Four elective creative writing courses

Five elective upper level literature courses

Fiction / Creative Nonfiction Track

Students complete a minimum of four creative writing courses, at least three of which must be at the 300 level or above and at least three of which must be taken in the RC. A usual track is an introductory course (Narration) and three upper-level courses. Students may count one non-RC creative writing course towards the writing requirement.

Creative Writing Courses: Students may elect any combination of seminars and tutorials from the following:

RCHUMS 220 Narration: Intro to Fiction Writing

RCHUMS 325, 326, 425, 426 Tutorials: Permission of instructor required

RCHUMS 320 Narration: Advanced Fiction Writing

RCHUMS 334 (Section 005) Memoir: Writing from Within

Other departmental offerings listed under RCHUMS 334 or RCCORE 334. Details here.

Literature Electives: Students complete five literature courses, at the 300-level or above. One literature course must focus on either ancient literature or medieval literature (pre-1600). The ancient / medieval requirement may focus on non-Western or Western literature, but must pre-date Shakespeare if a Western literature course is elected. English 367 – Shakespeare’s Plays does not fulfill this requirement, although the course can count towards the literature requirement.

Students are encouraged to take literature courses in the RC Arts and Ideas Major, the  Department of English  or the  Comparative Literature Program . Students majoring in a second language may count one upper-level literature course in that language, or one upper-level literature course completed during a full semester studying abroad in a non-English speaking country. Upper-level literature courses taken abroad also may be counted. All literature courses counted toward the Creative Writing and Literature Major must be at least three (3) credits.

Courses that have been used to meet the requirement in the past include:

RCHUMS 354 Race and Identity in Music

RCHUMS 344 Reason and Passion in the 18th Century

RCHUMS 342 Representing the Holocaust in Literature, Film and the Visual Arts

Other RCHUMS courses listed in the Arts and Ideas in the Humanities major

English 350 Literature in English to 1660 (for ancient/medieval requirement)

English 328 Writing and the Environment

English 379 Literature in Afro-American Culture

Other English Department courses with a literature focus

CLCIV 385 Greek Mythology (for ancient/medieval requirement)  

Asian 314 Strange Ways: Literature of the Supernatural in Pre-modern Japan and China

MEMS 386 Medieval Literature, History and Culture 

Poetry Track

Students complete a minimum of four creative writing courses, at least three of which must be at the 300 level or above and at least three of which must be taken in the RC. A usual track is an introductory course (Writing Poetry) and three upper-level courses. Students may count one non-RC creative writing course towards the writing requirement.

RCHUMS 221 Writing Poetry

RCHUMS 321 Advanced Poetry Writing

RCHUMS 334 Workshop with Incarcerated Poets and Artists

Literature courses listed above under Fiction / Creative Nonfiction

English 340 Studies in Poetry

English 440 Modern Poetry

English 442 Studies in Poetry

Digital Storytelling Track

The digital storytelling track studies the ways story interacts with technology and the effect of digital media on writing and the creative process. Students electing this track pair writing practice with the study of the theory, ethics, and history of digital media.

Creative Writing Courses: At least 4 courses required over two categories 

Creative Writing Courses: choose a minimum of two Residential College creative writing courses that focus on writing fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry. Only one course in a student’s major plan should be at the 200-level:

Introductory Courses (may elect 1 to count towards major):

Upper-level Courses:

RCHUMS 320 Advanced Narration 

RCHUMS 321 Advanced Poetry Writing 

RCHUMS 325, 326, 425, 426 Creative Writing Tutorials 

Digital Writing / Skills Courses: choose a minimum of two digital storytelling / writing courses at the 300-level or above that focus on digital media and/or electronic literature writing and practice. Courses that have been used to meet the requirement in the past include:

RCCORE 334 (Section 004) Digital Storytelling

English 420 Tech and the Humanities / Electronic Literature

RCSCI 360 (Section 001) Documentary Photography

RCHUMS 325, 326, 425, 426 Creative Writing Tutorials with a focus on writing for, and/or creating, electronic literature or digital media content (permission of instructor required)

Digital Studies Requirement: At least 2 courses required 

Choose a minimum of two digital studies theory courses at the 300-level or above that focus on the theory of digital culture and/or the digital humanities. Courses that have been used to meet the requirement in the past include:

AmCult 358 Topics in Digital Studies

AmCult 360 Radical Digital Media

FTVM 368 Topics in Digital Media Studies

English 405 Theories of Writing

Literature Requirement: At least 3 courses required 

Literature courses must be taken at the 300-level or above. Literature courses should not focus on digital studies but should offer complementary skills and additional context in the art and craft of literature. One course must focus on ancient/medieval literature. For more information on specific literature requirements, please see the Literature section listed under Fiction / Creative Nonfiction.

A student deemed eligible to attempt Honors typically completes the following process:

A student whose overall academic record meets the eligibility criteria for honors and whose creative work models originality and the promise of mastery in their chosen genre may apply for an honors thesis. Honors theses are typically 75-100 pages of polished fiction or creative nonfiction, or a collection of 25 or more poems. The student and their faculty advisor will determine the exact length and content of the final thesis. 

To be eligible to apply for honors, a student must demonstrate exceptional skill in the art and craft of prose, poetry, or creative nonfiction. The student must have completed a minimum of two Residential College creative writing classes, although honors students typically complete three or more by the start of their thesis sequence. The student also must hold a GPA of at least 3.4 overall. 

Students who meet the above criteria are eligible to apply for the honors thesis project in the winter term of their junior year, typically by late March. To apply, students shall submit:

A writing sample (10 pages of prose or 5 poems) that represents the student’s best, most polished work.

A brief statement (1-2 pages) describing the honors project. Applicants should also include the name of a faculty member they wish to request as their thesis advisor.

Questions about the submittal process can be directed to the creative writing major advisor  here

The Honors Committee, consisting of faculty in the Creative Writing program, will judge the student’s work on its quality, originality, and promise of mastery in their chosen genre. The Committee reviews all honors applications after the submission deadline. Students are notified of the Committee’s decision in late March or early April. If the planned project is accepted for honors, the Committee will assign a faculty thesis advisor to the student. 

Honors Theses require a two-semester commitment. Students enroll in RCCORE 490 for the fall term and RCHUMS 426 for the winter term. A passing grade in RCCORE 490 earns a Y grade, indicating that the thesis work will continue into the next semester. At the end of the second term, the Y grade converts to the grade earned in RCHUMS 426. Exceptions to the two-semester requirement are rare but may be discussed with the thesis advisor.

When the honors thesis project is complete (typically the last week of March or the first week of April of the senior year), the student’s honors thesis advisor and one other member of the Residential College’s Creative Writing faculty will determine if the project qualifies for honors and (if so) what level of honors the student receives. Honors thesis students also participate in a public reading with fellow thesis students at the end of the winter term (typically the second week of April).

To download the honors information, click here.

Creative Writing faculty

Laura Kasischke Poetry; Fiction

Christopher Matthews Fiction; Poetry

Sarah Messer Poetry; Creative Nonfiction; Prison Creative Arts Program

Susan Rosegrant Creative Nonfiction; Journalism; Fiction

Laura Thomas Fiction; Creative Nonfiction

A. Van Jordan Poetry, Film Studies

Aisha Sloan Creative Nonfiction, Digital Storytelling

Open to All

You don’t need to be a dedicated major to participate in workshops, tutorials, and classes taught by Creative Writing faculty, which are open to enrollment from all students. If even only for a semester, you wish to explore your interest in writing, consider taking a RC Creative Writing course !

For RC students, creative writing courses fulfill the RC Arts Practicum requirement. For RC and LSA students, RCHUMS 220, RCHUMS 221, and RCHUMS 325 satisfy Creative Expression distribution.

You can participate in the RC Review , our annual student-run journal featuring student poetry, fiction, and visual art. RC students can get a credit for participating in the RC Review.

Or consider joining the RC Creative Writing Forum , which like RC Review, offers RC students a credit, but is open to all for participation.

RC Writers website

Check out the  RC Writers Website,  for the Residential College writing community.

Recent Events

Paths to publication: a conversation with allison epstein and jon michael darga.

Link to the video recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ArrpiEKKc

Love & Zombies & Literature: What makes Genre Writing Literary?

Link to the recording of the webinar on our youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SD6LC4Zu-0

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Creative Writing

Hone your craft with the pros, start a lifelong apprenticeship in the literary arts.

The creative writing program that nurtured Dennis Lehane ’88, best-selling author and HBO writer/producer, is now accepting applications to earn B.A. and BFA degrees. But you don’t have to be gunning for a Hollywood contract to enroll. Our liberal arts graduates also go on to MFA programs and careers in journalism, media, PR, editing and publishing, counseling and software design.

Only@Eckerd

Writers in paradise.

Spend 8 days in workshops with writers like Andre Dubus III, Anne Hood, Laura Lippman, Lori Roy, Stewart O’Nan, David Yoo and Laura Williams McCaffrey. This writer’s conference is held on our Florida campus every January.

Facetime with famous authors

You’ll also have the chance to meet and talk with other celebrated writers including Stephen King, Carl Hiaasen, Julianna Baggott and Mark Bowden. These and other literary lights give talks here throughout the year.

Get help paying for college

Need help with finances? In addition to the academic scholarships we hand out upon application, you can apply for the Artistic Achievement Award .

In Their Own Words

Without my mentors through the creative writing department, I wouldn’t be in graduate school studying for my MFA with the opportunities ahead of me to teach and write. With their support, I was able to study travel writing in Paris and London, which was instrumental in my growth as a writer and a person. The creative writing department at Eckerd College is a hidden gem—once you find it, you must hold onto it! —Olivia Jacobson ’22

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Creative Writing majors have interned on campus with our student newspaper, The Current , and our literary magazine, Eckerd Review . Another recent student was an editing intern at I Love the Burg , a creative agency in downtown St. Petersburg.

Pay it forward by tutoring with Journeys in Journalism . This community program teaches local elementary, middle and high school students how to be reporters, photographers, editors and page designers for their school newspapers.

Spend a term living at our London Study Centre and studying the literature of Great Britain. Includes a week of travel and tickets to epic museums and theatre productions. Or choose from one of 300+ other destinations we offer every year.

Eckerd is just a stone’s throw from some of America’s hottest literary landmarks and events. Check it out:

• The Earnest Hemingway Home
• The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings historic site
• Miami Book Fair (November)
• Zora Neale Hurston Festival (January)

Popular classes

Craft of writing.

This course reviews poetic and narrative language and introduces the concept of literary texture. Present what you write in class at public readings held on campus once a semester.

Writing Workshop: The Personal Essay

Learn about literary essays by reading masters like Harry Crews, Eudora Welty and Joan Didion. This class explores how to use imagination to shape format, technique and your own personal style.

What can I do with a Creative Writing degree?

• Business Manager
• Educational Assessor
• Media and Newspaper Reporter
• Software Designer of Interactive Fiction
• Technical Writer

Where our Creative Writing majors go to graduate school

• Chapman University
• Emerson College
• Florida International University
• George Mason University
• Hollins College
• Indiana University
• Stanford University
• The Johns Hopkins University
• The University of Miami
• The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• University of Alabama
• University of Iowa Writers Workshop

Where our Creative Writing majors go to work

• Bluewater Books & Charts
• Dupont Registry
• Novelist & Poet
• St. Petersburg College
• Time Magazine

St. Petersburg, Florida 33711 800.456.9009 or 727.867.1166

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English and Creative Writing

The Franklin College Department of English and Creative Writing is committed to the careful study of the individual expression and cultural values found in English, American, and world literature.

The department is one of Franklin College’s most exciting intellectual communities. Our faculty of dedicated teacher-scholars share with students their expertise in, and enthusiasm for, literature from a variety of genres, periods, and cultures—works drawn from the traditional canon to the works of emerging artists, from Greek tragedy to graphic novels, from Shakespearean sonnets to postmodern poetry. Small class sizes mean professors get to know their students and can engage with them in intense debates and deep analyses of literary works that continue outside the classroom.

Our dedicated faculty of practicing writers and scholars guide students in small classes and workshops that cover a variety of genres, as well as provide students with frequent out-of-class opportunities to exercise and hone their craft. Creative writing students can expect a rigorous yet collegial environment that allows for engaged learning, collaboration and experimentation.

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Why english and creative writing at franklin college.

Dynamic classroom experiences.

Our professors use a variety of approaches that focus on how language and literary forms recreate both individual experiences and the large, impersonal forces that shape cultures and historical periods. In so doing, we seek in our classes to understand the many varieties of the human condition. In addition to taking courses with our award-winning faculty, our creative writing students benefit from the creative writing program’s reading series, which brings talented poets, fiction writers, memoirists, and playwrights to teach and study with them each year.

Experiences beyond the classroom.

Not only do English and creative writing majors learn a great deal in the classroom, they also take part in activities related to the disciplines. Such activities regularly include working on the editorial board of the college literary journal, the   Apogee  (founded in 1961); attending performances and creative-writing readings; and participating in other events in and around Franklin, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Louisville, and elsewhere in the region.

Global engagement.

With opportunities to study abroad during entire semesters, during the college’s four-week Immersive Term, or over the summer, English majors have recently taken courses in England, France, Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Uganda, Japan, and elsewhere.

Interdisciplinary commitment.

In keeping with the college’s strong interdisciplinary character, English and Creative Writing majors frequently choose to pursue a second major or a minor in disciplines such as  elementary education ,  French ,  history ,  multimedia journalism ,  political science ,  philosophy ,  psychology ,  religious studies,  or  Spanish . Recent English courses have been cross-listed in  theatre  and the liberal arts program, and students may count an upper-level course in  French  or  Spanish  literature toward their English degree.

Connecting passion with work.

Our faculty advisers are committed to helping students find careers in fields that excite them. Recent graduates have used their English degrees to pursue rewarding careers in teaching, publishing, health care, marketing, business, the performing and creative arts, communications, technical writing, and non-profit management. Others have gone on to graduate programs in English, law, divinity, library science, and counseling.

Spark your imagination.

Program handouts.

• English Major Handout
• Creative Writing Major Handout

Courses of Study

Students who choose to study english and creative writing at franklin college can pursue two different majors — english and creative writing. both are also available as a minor. in addition, we offer an additional minor in professional writing..

Immerse yourself in literature, history and the human condition as a Franklin College English major.

Experiment with language and style, developing a unique voice.

Creative Writing

Carlson-stauffer visiting writers’ series.

The English and Creative Writing department is proud to sponsor the Carlson-Stauffer Visiting Writers’ Series, which brings nationally recognized authors to campus. All events are free and open to the public.

Series Background

The series is named for two beloved professors emerita, Kathy Carlson and Emily Stauffer, both of whom retired in spring 2015. Together, their combined service at Franklin College spanned close to 70 years. The series began in 2015 and has allowed the department to host dozens of writers from across the country. Writers hold a publicly open reading. Typically, they also interact with creative writing students at a meal, visit creative writing classes to conduct a masterclass in their genre, and/or offer feedback on students’ writing.

Participating Writers

Visiting writers have been poets, fiction writers, YA authors, writers of non-fiction, and multi-genre writers. Some notable names include:

• Marcus Wicker, 2015
• Maggie Messitt, 2016
• Jamaal May, 2017
• David Tomas Martinez, 2018
• Terrance Hayes, 2019
• Nafissa Thompson-Spires, 2019
• Ross Gay, 2019
• Adrian Matejka, 2020 (and 2023)
• Brooke Lauren Davis (’15) — YA novelist and alumna
• Samantha Fain (’20) — poet and alumna
• Eugene Gloria, 2021
• Dan Chaon, 2022
• Saundra Mitchell, 2023
• Angela Jackson-Brown, 2023
• Matthew Minnicucci, 2023
• Brittany Means, 2024
• Monica McClure, 2024

This fall (2024), the department will welcome back Samantha Fain (’20) to celebrate the release of her latest poetry collection,  Are You There .

On Nov. 28, 2023, the department welcomed poet Matthew Minicucci for his second visit in our series. Matthew read from his fourth poetry collection, Dual, which was released by Acre Books. The event was held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 in the B.F. Hamilton Auditorium. A book signing followed the reading.

“I believe that you get a sense of belonging and that you matter. Personally, I enjoy the conversations with professors and other faculty members and getting to know them.”

Emmarae Arensdorff ’22

Express your creativity through apogee, our annual literary journal., apogee is franklin college’s student-run literary magazine that accepts previously unpublished work in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and visual art. apogee is an annual publication published in late spring. submissions are open during the summer and fall..

Questions about  Apogee ? Contact our Faculty Advisor.

Learn more about English and Creative Writing at Franklin College

Our mission.

By honing a diverse set of reading and writing skills, the English and creative writing department’s majors and minors recognize the artistic achievements, insights, and possibilities inherent in literature to create their own meaningful work as they prepare for professional positions, graduate study, and civic engagement.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students in English and Creative Writing will be able to:

•     Read and communicate effectively through creative and expository writing.
•     Make arguments about texts using literary terms, techniques, history and movements.
•     Access, analyze and synthesize complex information, using diverse perspectives.
•     Solve unstructured problems individually as well as collaboratively.

Our Faculty

In addition to their commitment to the classroom, faculty in the English and creative writing department maintain active scholarly agendas, publishing their research and presenting at major national and international conferences on a wide variety of topics, including the intersections of narrative theory and gender theory; the limitations of humanity in Shakespeare’s  Richard II ; modernist irony as a response to colonial exhibitions; flipped classroom pedagogy; landscape and medieval gender roles; feminist readings of global modernism; and deforestation in contemporary Anglophone Caribbean literature. In addition, our creative writing faculty have won awards and national attention for their work.

Requirements

Introductory courses provide students with an understanding of different creative genres, as well as the fundamentals of creative writing processes, literary citizenship and the contemporary literary landscape. Students learn to read like writers, engaging in literary analysis to appreciate the nuances of text construction. In later courses, students perform genre-specific studies, closely studying, deploying and sharpening particular writing techniques, and engaging in significant revision and experimentation as they hone their unique voices and join ongoing literary conversations.

As creative writers, we untangle texts and cultural contexts to discover new strategies for reading and writing, with students interrogating both the worlds of the texts they read and write, and their own world, understanding how texts communicate, shape and move all of us. Through guided practice, students gain confidence, empathy, and practical critical writing and thinking skills that allow them to make powerful contributions to the world.

Meet the talented professionals who will help guide you on your creative journey.

Emily Banks, MFA, Ph.D.

Katie Burpo, M.F.A.

Susan Crisafulli, Ph.D.

Richard Erable, Ph.D.

Anna James, Ph.D.

George Phillips, Ph.D.

Department of english and creative writing.

101 Branigin Blvd. Franklin, IN 46131 Johnson Center for Fine Arts

317.738.8271

Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridfay, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Main navigation, undergraduate major.

The English department trains skilled and multifaceted users of language. English students learn to read carefully, explore diverse human perspectives and sources of knowledge, and write and communicate persuasively. Whether learning how to analyze a text or how to craft their own writing, English students develop core verbal strengths and can adapt to many exciting career paths.

DEGREE OPTIONS

The College of Arts and Sciences offers a B.A. in English with concentrations in either Creative Writing or Literary Studies on the St. Petersburg campus.    View more information about options on the USF Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses.

ENGLISH AT USF ST. PETERSBURG

English at the USF St. Petersburg campus is challenging and exciting. Undergraduates work closely with faculty who are also leading scholars in their field. English students engage closely with their local community, and student-led groups include the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta and the campus literary magazine Papercut. English students at USF St. Petersburg campus may find themselves performing in a play, tending a local community garden, joining social justice movements, organizing for change, or paddling a Florida stream.

The English department offers two concentrations: Creative Writing and Literary Studies. The concentration in Creative Writing is designed for aspiring writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Students learn to discuss writing as a craft, explore diverse literary forms and techniques, refine their skills and offer constructive feedback in workshops, and participate in creative literary communities.

The concentration in Literary Studies prepares students to be innovative communicators and researchers, whether they move forward into careers or into graduate school. Students learn how to talk and think analytically about literature, and they consider h, consider historic contexts of literary history, culture, and criticism. Students learn to read deeply and analytically; write critically and creatively; think conceptually and contextually; and engage research tools from rare book collections in the library to the internet.

ENGLISH CAREERS

English graduates pursue careers in medicine, law, financial planning, education, business, and the arts. English alumni from USF St. Petersburg campus include:

• teachers at elementary schools and colleges
• librarians and library managers
• heads of advertising firms
• an LGBT affairs coordinator for New York City’s public schools
• a department chair at Gibbs High School
• a tax claim litigator for Pinellas County
• a director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Treasure Island

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR IN ENGLISH

Always refer to the Undergraduate Catalog for degree requirements. Students normally begin progress toward the major by taking at least one course from the major core, as these often serve as prerequisites for the electives. Students should consult with an English advisor to create the most beneficial set of courses for them.

For questions about this program, contact an Academic Advisor . 

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Colgate University
2024-2025 University Catalog Major Requirements Writing workshops engage students in the dynamic process of creating their own poems, stories, novellas, essays, or memoirs. Creative writing students are also invited into a wider literary community beyond the classroom – on campus – that includes working on Colgate’s student edited journal, The Portfolio, meeting writers at guest readings on campus and the possibility of giving their own readings in various venues on and off campus. Because the creation of literature is inseparable from the study of literature, students majoring in English/CW fulfill all the requirements for the English major while also taking at least three creative writing workshops. 11 total courses: The 6 required courses of the English Major listed here: at least two survey courses. Survey courses encompass a broad range of material, allowing students to appreciate how writers influence one another and observe (and perhaps reconsider) canonicity, that is, how some writers have come to be considered more significant than others. Survey courses are normally completed at the 200 level. Survey courses: ENGL 200, ENGL 201, and ENGL 202 at least one literature course at the intermediate (300) level from each of three historical periods: medieval/early modern (to 1700), the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1701-1900), the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (1901 to now) at least one seminar in literature, that is, a course at the 400-level in which students engage in advanced reading, discussion, and writing about a specific literary topic 3 creative writing workshops 2 literature electives at any level ENGL 217 may be taken only once. Instructor permission is necessary for admission to creative writing courses at the 300 and 400 levels. Three workshop courses chosen from among the following: ENGL 217 - Introductory Workshop in Creative Writing (may be taken only once) ENGL 374 - Creative Nonfiction Workshop ENGL 376 - Playwriting II ENGL 377 - Fiction Writing Workshop ENGL 378 - Poetry Writing Workshop ENGL 477 - Advanced Workshop GPA Requirement Passing grades must be earned in all courses counted for this major, with a GPA of 2.00 averaged over all courses taken in the department. Honors and High Honors Students interested in pursuing honors can find the additional requirements on the  English and Creative Writing    department page. English and Creative Writing Department For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the  English and Creative Writing Department    catalog page. Majors & Minors About Our Faculty Academic Experience Academic Support Graduate Programs Get Involved Athletics & Sports at UWEC Meet Blugolds Living in Eau Claire Music, Arts, & Culture First-Year Visits Transfer Visits Group Visits Plan Your Trip What to Expect Virtual Tour Options First-Year Student Transfer Student International Students High School Special Student Graduate Student Other Student UWEC Application Contact Admissions Tuition & Fees Financial Aid Scholarships Net Price Calculator University Mission Campus History Accreditation Campus Events and Calendars Collaborations and Partnerships Points of Pride Work at UW-Eau Claire  English - Creative Writing Emphasis Focus on the craft of writing with the support and instruction of an array of well-published, award-winning faculty. Tell Your Story This growing major is an excellent choice for those who love to read and write, and are passionate about expressing themselves through language. Classes include multi-genre writing workshops, as well as those that focus on specific types of writing such as playwriting, novel writing and creation of essays, short stories, and poetry. Through unique projects and class discussions, you'll foster creativity, insight and empathy — skills that are highly sought after by writers. A variety of electives and course topics throughout the emphasis allow you to study the areas that interest you and best align with your career goals. While pursuing your degree, you'll experience the incredible benefits of small class sizes. Our courses allow for personalized learning, individualized mentoring, and the formation of meaningful, lasting connections. Your professors and classmates will know you by name and do all they can to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. Graduates of the program leave with the knowledge and skills to create original and effective poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction works. Whether you dream of publishing a novel, sharing your poetry, crafting blogs or writing a play, a bachelor's degree in creative writing from UW-Eau Claire can help make anything possible.  Program Details As a creative writing major or minor, you'll have the unique opportunity to work as an academic apprentice. Facilitate class discussions, assist teams with group work, answer questions, provide input for class activities, and assignments and teach part of a class session. Or tutor other students outside of the English department by becoming a Center for Writing Excellence writing assistant. These experiences provide a chance for you to build skills in leadership, interpersonal communication, and problem-solving, while also enhancing your writing abilities. Endless undergraduate research opportunities are available to students at UWEC. Some of the exciting projects taken on by students and faculty in English involve conducting research and interviewing research subjects. Your work could lead to presentations at local and national research conferences, providing you with even more learning and networking opportunities. Joining a student organization at UWEC builds your skill set — and your resume. You may mentor current and potential students, organize events, or give back to the community. You'll also meet students who, like you, are interested in English and all that it offers. A popular student org for creative writing majors is NOTA, or None of the Above, which is a campus literary magazine — entirely student-run — that publishes a biannual collection of the top student submissions in the categories of art, poetry, and prose. Writing in a new and different environment can lead to some pretty incredible work. Find inspiration while studying abroad in places like England, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, South Korea, South Africa, or Japan. Or join faculty on a cultural immersion program to renowned places right here in the U.S. These enriching academic experiences are exactly the kind of high-impact practices that set UW-Eau Claire apart from other institutions, making UWEC an excellent place to pursue your creative writing degree.  Blugold Stories Some people might stay away from English classes because they think they're bad writers. I would say no one is a bad writer. Writing, like art, is very subjective, and I promise you there is someone out there who will share your story and see the light in your writing. If you're interested in expressing yourself or just have feelings you need to work through, creative writing is something that you should try. Just the facts 100% Employed or Continuing Education Every 2022-2023 graduate from this major is currently employed or continuing their education. 5 Majors, 4 Minors, 3 Certificates Our personalized curriculum builds your skillset and talent for the future you want. Where can the english - creative writing emphasis program lead me after graduation? Graduates of UW-Eau Claire's English - creative writing emphasis degree leave with the knowledge, tools, skills, and passion to become successful, published authors.  Example Careers Content manager Content writer Technical writer Social media director Freelance writer The English - creative writing emphasis bachelor's degree includes countless opportunities to create and evaluate forms of verbal art, including poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Coursework throughout the program will help you to become a better reader and writer of imaginative literature. Pair your studies with a minor or another major in areas like history, marketing, journalism, public relations, communication studies, political science or graphic design for even more career opportunities.  Here are a few courses in English - Creative Writing Emphasis at UW-Eau Claire. Introduction to Creative Writing Introduction to creative writing with opportunities for the student to create and evaluate several forms of verbal art (poetry, fiction and/or nonfiction). Creative Writing Workshop - Fiction Special emphasis on class discussion and personal conferences for advanced writers of fiction. Creative and Narrative Nonfiction Survey of nonfiction works (reportage, autobiography, travel, and nature writing) which combines factual reporting with literary techniques to reveal American society. Get More Info Sign up to receive additional information about our campus. Related Programs Thinking about studying english - creative writing emphasis? You might also be interested in exploring these related programs. What's Next? University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 105 Garfield Avenue  P.O. Box 4004  Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004  715-836-4636 Get the Reddit app Discussions about the writing craft. Majoring in Creative Writing I am a sophomore in a duel-enrollment HS (I am in hs and college so I graduate with an associates) and was thinking of majoring in Creative Writing in University. I’ve wanted to major in this since maybe 8th grade because, obviously, I love writing. I am also planning on going to grad school after to get in MFA because my goal is to teach ✨The Art of Storytelling✨. I have wanted to be a teacher FOREVER and was also thinking about going to get a degree in Elementary Education but teaching writing is much more interesting to me. The problem is the job aspect, as everyone knows, is poor so with an Elementary Education degree, I will most likely have a job. Is it at least an achievable goal to teach writing? I would have to go into a grad program to do so and probably go into a fellowship/assistantship program thing, which actually sounds enjoyable more than elementary education. Do u thing this is at all possible or should I just get into Elementary Education??? 💕 By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy . Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account. Enter a 6-digit backup code Create your username and password. Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it. Reset your password Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password Check your inbox An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account Choose a Reddit account to continue Life Alumni         University of North Carolina Asheville       Aug 17, 2024   2024-2025 Catalog     2024-2025 Catalog | This concentration is designed for candidates who, in addition to completing the concentration in Creative Writing, wish to study the skills required for English Licensure. I. Required courses in the major—44 hours, including: LANG 260 - Introduction to Creative Writing (4) LANG 395 - Contemporary English Grammar (4) LANG 396 - The Teaching of Writing (4) LIT 240 - Introduction to Literature (4) LIT 324 - American Literary Traditions (4) LIT 334 - Western Literature: Ancient to Renaissance (4) LIT 335 - Western Literature: Enlightenment to Modern (4) Two different courses from 300-level LANG: LANG 361 - Poetry Writing Workshop (4) LANG 363 - Fiction Writing Workshop (4) LANG 365 - Playwriting Workshop (4) LANG 366 - Creative Non-Fiction Workshop (4) One course from 400-level LANG: LANG 460 - Advanced Creatuve Writing Workshop (4) LANG 487 - Thematic Approaches to Creative Writing (4) LANG 494 - The Creative Writing Professional (4) One course from: LIT 325 - Readings in Drama (4) LIT 326 - Readings in Fiction (4) LIT 327 - Readings in Poetry (4) LIT 330 - Readings in Film (4) II. Required courses outside the major-4 hours: PSYC 319 - Educational Psychology (4) Students seeking teacher licensure must also complete the required EDUC courses indicated in the Education section of the catalog and see the appropriate Education advisor. III. Other departmental requirements: Major competency is demonstrated by successful completion of one 400-level LANG course. Enter a Search Term Find Your Program Creative and Professional Writing Certificate The certificate in creative and professional writing will enhance your writing skills, introduce you to new and exciting career pathways and boost your confidence as a writer. You’ll take one core course from the Writing Studies M.A. program, followed by four electives of your choosing. Saint Joseph's University offers a variety of professional courses, such as Writers at Work, Poetry Today and Writing for Publication , plus creative writing courses that include screenwriting, fiction writing and nonfiction writing. What Sets Our Program Apart Our faculty are noted writing experts who have the experience and network to support you in your writing career. Evening classes are small and designed for working professionals. Work at your own pace by choosing one, two or three courses per term. The certificate can be completed in as little as two semesters or up to two years. The certificate in creative and professional writing is a stackable certificate, meaning the credits you earn can be applied toward a master's degree. Students who successfully complete the certificate program with a GPA of 3.0 or higher can then take five additional courses to earn an M.A. in Writing Studies. You’ll take one core course from the Writing Studies MA program, followed by four electives of your choosing. Saint Joseph's University offers a variety of professional courses, such as Writers at Work, Poetry Today and Writing for Publication , plus creative writing courses that include screenwriting, fiction writing and nonfiction writing. What Can You Do with a Creative and Professional Writing Certificate? Saint Joseph's University's creative and professional writing certificate is designed for anyone seeking professional development, a career in writing or communications, knowledge of publishing or guidance in portfolio development for further graduate study. Certificate holders have gone on to pursue the following career positions: Technical writer Medical writer Public relations manager Communications director Program Details View required courses for this program in the  academic catalog . Please contact us if you have any questions about the program curriculum. Affordable tuition rates can be found on our tuition and fees website . * *Pricing does not include room and board, health insurance or any professional, clinical or transportation fees. Visit our tuition & fees page for a detailed breakdown. Financial Aid & Discount Eligibility: Financial aid and discount options may be available to you to help offset the cost of your degree. Explore your options on our  financial aid page . Graduate assistantships  are offered on a limited basis. Please contact the program director for availability. Admission Information Apply  online . Submit official college transcripts from all colleges attended. Submit a personal statement. Submit resume. Submit two letters of recommendation. Visit our  graduate admission information page  to learn more about admission requirements, key deadlines and how to submit your application. Graduate applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. New students may enroll in courses during the fall, spring or summer semesters. Start Terms: Fall: August and October Spring: January and March Summer: May If you’re applying as an international student, you must provide proof of English Language Proficiency and Certification of Finances along with your application. Check the  graduate admission page  for additional requirements. SJU is a Yellow Ribbon School that accepts GI education benefits. Our  Office of Veterans’ Services  can help you access and understand your benefits. Explore Other Degree Programs Writing Studies MA Saint Joseph’s Masters in Writing Studies offers flexible course scheduling for working professionals who seek to understand diverse styles of writing. English & Professional Writing BLS From the classroom to the boardroom, English majors at Saint Joseph’s University are not only detailed with each word choice but are able to express critical information to many different audiences in engaging ways. An English degree from Saint Joseph’s University offers excellent training for a broad range of careers, from public relations to teaching to journalism and beyond. Employers continue to seek talented and articulate individuals who can analyze complex situations, and a degree in English will teach you how to write both creatively and persuasively. The Pamela Maus Contest in Creative Writing , funded by the interest from the endowment. Judges are appointed by the contest chairperson. :          : Contestants must be undergraduates with declared majors in either English or Comparative Literature. . One author may submit in both fiction and poetry, under separate entry forms. :              One or more completed works not to exceed 30 total double-spaced pages. :               From one to a maximum of six poems not to exceed 12 total pages. :     Creative Writing doctoral student Abhijit Sarmah named for the second consecutive year as finalist for major poetry fellowship For the second year in a row, UGA doctoral student Abhijit Sarmah is among 12 finalists for the  2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships . The five Fellowship recipients, who were announced today , will each receive $27,000 and an invitation to publish in  Poetry magazine . All 12 finalists will receive a stipend to attend a professional development opportunity of their choice. The Poetry Foundation awards five Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships annually. Among the largest awards offered to young poets in the US, the prize is intended to support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age. The fellowships were established in 1989 by the Indianapolis philanthropist Ruth Lilly and expanded in 2013 with a gift from the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund. “Being named a finalist for the prestigious Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship is really an honor. I am deeply grateful to Professor LeAnne Howe, Professor Barbara McCaskill, Professor Andrew Zawacki and Professor Aruni Kashyap for their support and guidance throughout the application process for this fellowship and beyond. Their faith in my work inspires me to keep achieving bigger milestones. Also heartfelt thanks to the wonderful folks at Willson Center— especially Professor Nicholas Allen, Winnie Smith and Dave Marr— who provide opportunities to interact with prominent poets like A.E. Stallings and Stephen Sexton. Those interactions have taught me a lot, including how to navigate the literary world and edit my own work.” -Abhijit Sarmah A UGA Arts Lab Graduate Fellow and Ruth Pack Scholar, Sarmah is working on a hybrid memoir and a poetry collection, tentatively titled  Potential Insurgent . Apart from his scholarly and creative work, he volunteers for various events and organizations at UGA, and was a selection committee member for Backlight Student Film Festival, a planning committee member for the International Street Festival and social chair for the English Graduate Organisation. He was awarded a 2024 Michael G. Moran Graduate Student Award by the Department of English at UGA. Currently, he is serving as the guest editor of poetry for  The Headlight Review (Kennesaw State University).  "I have worked with Abhijit Sarmah for two years at the University of Georgia. A son of Assam, India, Sarmah's poetry is a kaleidoscope of emotions and images provoked by the Indian army’s indiscriminate violence in Assam. Sarmah writes from the experiences of a young man whose friends must flee to survive, violence against his loved ones at the hands of Indian soldiers and numerous events that made many around him take arms against their own country. Yet, Abhijit's poetry is not just an exploration of Indian army's cruelty against the Assamese, it's also a vehicle for memories of a brother's laughter, his sister's experiments in cooking, adventures with boyhood friends, and the community of townspeople he grew up with. His work blisters the heart." -LeAnne Howe  Eidson Distinguished Professor of American Literature &  Director of the Institute of Native American Studies “This honor speaks to the strength of Abhijit’s work. We are very proud to have him as a student in our PhD program!” -Magdalena Zurawski  Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing &  Director of Creative Writing Abhijit Sarmah Abhijit Sarmah is a poet and researcher specializing in Indigenous literatures. He holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil.) degree from Dibrugarh University, India and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Georgia in Athens GA, USA. He is also a UGA Arts Lab Graduate Fellow (2022-25) and has received such honors as the Ruth Pack Scholarship from the Institute of Native American Studies and Michael G. Moran Graduate Student Award from the Department of English at UGA. His work has been published in a range of print and online journals, including Poetry , The Margins , Lunch Ticket , Glassworks Magazine , Porter House Review , and The Lincoln Review . Sarmah was a finalist for the prestigious Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships for two consecutive years (2023 and 2024) and has received nominations for the Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize. Support English at UGA We greatly appreciate your generosity. Your gift enables us to offer our students and faculty opportunities for research, travel, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience.   Support the efforts of the Department of English by visiting our giving section.  Give Now   EVERY DOLLAR CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEPARTMENT HAS A DIRECT IMPACT ON OUR STUDENTS AND FACULTY. 487 IMAGES 50 Things to Know about Majoring in- 50 Things to Know About Majoring Is Majoring In Creative Writing Worth It? Creative Writing Major (BA) 50 Things to Know About Majoring in Creative Writing by 50 Things to How to Write the Best Creative Essay Double Major Pros And Cons COMMENTS Earning A Creative Writing Degree: All About A Bachelor's In Creative An English bachelor's degree focuses on both writing and literary studies. In this major, learners study various types of writing, such as creative, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, digital and ... List of All U.S. Colleges with a Creative Writing Major Overview of the Creative Writing Major Creative writing is about more than spinning tales. For your major, you'll generally need to pursue a curriculum grounded in literature, history, foreign language, and other humanities courses, along with distribution courses, if the college requires them. Most creative writing majors must participate in ... Major: Creative Writing Major: Creative Writing. Creative Writing majors weave a rich tapestry of storytelling, exploring forms such as poetry, personal essays, memoirs, short stories, scriptwriting, novels, literary journalism, and even video games. It could be a favorite line in a movie, play, or book that lures an audience in and changes their world. Major in Creative Writing Creative Writing Major at a Glance. Students who graduate with the Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing will be skilled writers in a major literary genre and have a theoretically informed understanding of the aesthetic, historical, social, and political context of a range of contemporary writing. Students in the major will focus their studies ... The Creative Writing Major All students interested in the Creative Writing Major must take one introductory course--poetry (ENG 206), fiction (207), or creative nonfiction (208)--and at least be enrolled in another before applying to the major. Students can only apply to the major in any genre for which they've completed (or are enrolled) in its 200-level component; you can only apply for poetry after having taken or ... 12 Jobs You Can Do With a Degree in Creative Writing There are many skills that you can learn through a creative writing degree program and others that you could work on to advance your career, such as: Storytelling abilities. Time management. Networking. Editing and proofreading skills. Creative thinking. Technology. Organization. Independent working. Creative Writing Creative Writing focuses on writing poetry, fiction, or drama. This major is perfect for students who love to write and who do so no matter what. Many creative writing students double major in creative writing and another area, like professional writing. Most Creative Writing majors and minors want to have creative writing as a component of ... 2023 Creative Writing Degree Guide 4 years. Master's Degree. 50-70 credits. 1-3 years. Doctorate. Program required coursework including thesis or dissertation. At least 4 years. A bachelor's degree is the most common level of education achieved by those in careers related to creative writing, with approximately 42.2% of workers getting one. Creative Writing < University of Chicago Catalog One (1) Fundamentals in Creative Writing Course CRWR 17000 to CRWR 17999. Fundamentals in Creative Writing is a cross-genre, one-quarter seminar taken by all students in the major and minor. Every section of the course focuses on a current debate relevant to all forms of literary practice, such as mimesis, empathy, and testimony. Creative Writing The Program in Creative Writing takes a comprehensive approach to the study of contemporary literature, criticism, and theory from a writer's perspective, and provides rigorous training in the fundamental practices of creative writing. ... and both the major and minor in Creative Writing provide ample opportunities for interdisciplinary work ... English (Creative Writing) The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recommends these study abroad programs for students majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. Career opportunities Degree programs in English prepare students for graduate studies in a number of programs, including English, creative writing, education, law and business. The Creative Writing Major The undergraduate Creative Writing major at the University of Illinois, formerly known as the Rhetoric major, is one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Now in its seventh decade, the major combines small workshops (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) and a variety of literature courses. The result is a strong but flexible program of study that ... Should You Really Be A Creative Writing Major? Creative writing majors offer a unique opportunity to focus on the craft of writing, but they aren't right for everyone. If the following statements apply to you, a creative writing major could be a great fit: You love to read and write. You take criticism well and don't mind other people reading your work. You want to pursue writing outside of ... B.A. in Creative Writing The Creative Writing Major in the English and Textual Studies Department is designed for students who want to be part of this tradition and have an intense interest in cultivating the skills, knowledge and inventiveness needed to write creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. This 30-credit major combines a grounding in literary study with a ... What You Need to Know About Majoring in Creative Writing These are both skills you can develop in a creative writing class. Even Microsoft techies think there is a solid future for liberal arts people. Still, it may be wise to double-major or minor in an unrelated field to give your degree more versatility. And never under-estimate internships and co-ops. Major in Creative Writing The Creative Writing Path. Our program offers a range of courses, from foundational areas, such as Shakespeare, Romanticism, and global literature, to emergent fields, such as medical humanism, critical race theory, and sexuality studies. We advise English Department majors to take two historical surveys, one pre-1850 and one post-1850, early ... Creative Writing and Literature (Major) The Creative Writing and Literature Major is open to ALL LSA students. Creative Writing and Literature Majors write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction under the close guidance of faculty mentors, and may workshop their writing with other student writers in small writing seminars. Majors also study the art of writing through the study of ... Creative Writing Degree Creative Writing majors have interned on campus with our student newspaper, The Current, and our literary magazine, Eckerd Review. Another recent student was an editing intern at I Love the Burg, a creative agency in downtown St. Petersburg. Pay it forward by tutoring with Journeys in Journalism. This community program teaches local elementary ... English and Creative Writing Our mission. By honing a diverse set of reading and writing skills, the English and creative writing department's majors and minors recognize the artistic achievements, insights, and possibilities inherent in literature to create their own meaningful work as they prepare for professional positions, graduate study, and civic engagement. English Undergraduate Major. The English department trains skilled and multifaceted users of language. English students learn to read carefully, explore diverse human perspectives and sources of knowledge, and write and communicate persuasively. ... The concentration in Creative Writing is designed for aspiring writers of fiction, poetry, and creative ... Majors and Minors: English Major, Creative Writing Emphasis Writing workshops engage students in the dynamic process of creating their own poems, stories, novellas, essays, or memoirs. Creative writing students are also invited into a wider literary community beyond the classroom - on campus - that includes working on Colgate's student edited journal, The Portfolio, meeting writers at guest readings on campus and the possibility of giving their ... English Tell Your StoryThis growing major is an excellent choice for those who love to read and write, and are passionate about expressing themselves through language. Classes include multi-genre writing workshops, as well as those that focus on specific types of writing such as playwriting, novel writing and creation of essays, short stories, and poetry. Through unique projects and class discussions ... Writers of reddit. Do you think majoring in creative writing is a I highly recommend a creative writing major. Wait, actually, I highly recommend creative writing as a DOUBLE major. Writing was something I've always enjoyed and was relatively good at, and majoring in CW has put me in contact with some really amazing professors, given me so much more confidence in my writing abilities, and really refined my ... Majoring in Creative Writing : r/writing I would recommend getting an education degree and possibly minoring/double majoring in creative writing. MFA programs are extremely competitive and they often recommend that students enter the programs a few years out of undergrad. You could work on publishing your writing and applying for a graduate degree program while working in education. English: Creative Writing with Teacher Licensure This concentration is designed for candidates who, in addition to completing the concentration in Creative Writing, wish to study the skills required for English Licensure. ... I. Required courses in the major—44 hours, including: LANG 260 - Introduction to Creative Writing (4) LANG 395 - Contemporary English Grammar (4) PDF English with a Major in Creative Writing (BA) 12 credit hours in upper-level courses in the major program from Old Dominion University, completion of ENGL 110C, ENGL 211C or 221C or 231C, and a writing intensive (W) course in the major with a grade of C or better, and completion of Senior Assessment. Creative and Professional Writing Certificate The certificate in creative and professional writing will enhance your writing skills, introduce you to new and exciting career pathways and boost your confidence as a writer. You'll take one core course from the Writing Studies M.A. program, followed by four electives of your choosing. Saint Joseph's University offers a variety of professional courses, such as Writers at Work, Poetry Today ... The W's Creative Writing MFA nationally ranked The W's MFA in Creative Writing expects around 28 students for the fall semester, ... Today, the university is home to 2,227 students in more than 70 majors and concentrations and has educated men for 40 years. The university is nationally recognized for low student debt, diversity and social mobility which empowers students to BE BOLD. ... The Pamela Maus Contest in Creative Writing The Pamela Maus Contest in Creative WritingThe Pamela Maus Contest was established in 1984 with an endowment by Ron and Shirley Maus to honor the memory of their daughter, Pamela Ingebar Maus, who was an English major at UC Davis with an interest in creative writing. Cash awards for both Fiction & Poetry placement winners, funded by the interest from the endowment. Creative Writing doctoral student Abhijit Sarmah named for the second For the second year in a row, UGA doctoral student Abhijit Sarmah is among 12 finalists for the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships.The five Fellowship recipients, who were announced today, will each receive $27,000 and an invitation to publish in Poetry magazine.All 12 finalists will receive a stipend to attend a professional development opportunity of their choice. assignment essay homework paper report resume review speech thesis