double major with creative writing

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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): Jason Grunebaum     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. To participate in this class, students should have intermediate proficiency in a foreign language. Note(s): Beginning Translation Workshop: It’s been said that in an ideal world, all writers would be translators, and all translators would be writers. In addition to the joy of enlarging the conversation of literature by bringing new voices into another language, the practice of literary translation forces us as writers to examine the materials and tools of our craft. In this workshop, we will critique each other’s translations of prose, poetry, or drama into English, as well as explore various creative strategies and approaches to translation by a variety of practitioners that touch on various aspects of the "radical recontextualization" that constitute the decision-making work of literary translation. Through these processes, you will formulate your own strategies to both literary translation and creative writing. We will also have the opportunity to have conversations via Zoom with some of the translators we’ll be reading. Students should have at least an intermediate proficiency in a foreign language to take this workshop. Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 30606, SALC 30706, SALC 10606, GRMN 10606, CRWR 30606

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: 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; 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): MAAD 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): ENST 22147, CHST 12147

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: 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): 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 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: Autumn 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 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 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 22137. Advanced Fiction Workshop: The College Novel (& Story) 100 Units.

In this advanced fiction workshop, we will examine and write narratives set at college, the so-called campus and varsity novels (and, in our case, short stories). We will try to capture the attendant promise and uncertainty of life on the cusp of adulthood, asking what it means to come of age, to age, to experiment, and possibly, to regress. We'll attempt to veer away from cultural cliché and caricature to portray the truth of life on campus and come to grips with the way you live right now, as we consider what it means-to borrow the title of one novel-to make our home among strangers. Students will read published works and submit two stories or novel excerpts for workshops. Please expect a rigorous but constructive workshop environment where being a critic and an editor is essential.

Instructor(s): Ben Hoffman     Terms Offered: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 42137

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: 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 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 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: Winter Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. 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: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (include writing sample). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. 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: 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 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: 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 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 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): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu (writing sample required). Attendance on the first day is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 34002, ARTH 24002, 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: Spring Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent required. Apply via creativewriting.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. 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): GNSE 44205, GNSE 24205, CRWR 44025

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): GNSE 44026, GNSE 24026, CRWR 44026

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): CHST 24030, CRWR 44030

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 Rachel Galvin Walker 511 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

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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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The Admissions Strategist

Double major: benefits, challenges, examples, and everything else to know.

As you choose your college major, here’s a question you may or may not have considered: Should you double major?

Earning a double major gives you an in-depth understanding of two different fields.

• It can also make you a more competitive candidate during the job search and, eventually, a more highly paid employee.

Of course, it also means more work and a much tighter schedule.

It’s a tough decision, but we’re here to help! Read on for the answers to all your questions about double majoring.

Click above to watch a video on Double Majors.

What Is a Double Major?

A double major is basically what it sounds like: studying for two majors at the same time.

This means that students who double major must complete two separate sets of degree requirements.

In most cases, students who double major earn one degree with two specializations (e.g. a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology).

What’s the Difference Between a Double Major and a Dual Degree?

Colleges and universities may differ slightly in the terminology they use. Generally, however, a dual degree means that you earn two separate degrees simultaneously.

For instance, you may earn a Bachelor of Science while also earning a Bachelor of Arts, or you may be able to work toward your bachelor and master’s degrees at the same time.

• Some schools offer programs specifically designed to result in a dual degree.
• The University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Program, for example, culminates in a B.A. in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences and a B.S. in Economics from Wharton School.

A double major, on the other hand, typically leads to one degree with two concentrations or areas of specialization.

• When you double major, your two majors usually belong to the same school (the same academic department within your college or university).

For example, a student hoping for a career in international business could choose to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Spanish.

Either way, you will complete two sets of requirements and earn credentials that make this accomplishment clear to employers and graduate schools .

The key difference is that double majors are typically awarded by the same department, while dual degrees come from two separate departments.

How Do You Double Major?

Students often ask how it’s possible to complete coursework for two majors in the span of four years.

Typically, completion of a bachelor’s degree requires 120 credits.

The breakdown of these credits varies, but it generally looks something like:

• 40 general education credits
• 40-50 major requirement credits
• 30-40 elective credits

If you choose to double major, you can use your elective credits to complete a second set of major requirements.

• You’ll only need to take one set of general education courses to count toward both majors.

For students who double major in related fields, there may also be overlap in the upper level and major requirement courses.

However, some schools limit the number of classes that can count toward multiple majors.

The Importance of Your Academic Advisor

Sound complicated? That’s what academic advisors are for!

If you choose to double major, you’ll want to check in with your advisor regularly to ensure that you’re on track for both majors.

Often, speaking with an advisor is also a requirement for declaring a double major.

• At most schools, you will also need to complete paperwork to formally declare a double major.
• You may be required to outline a plan for earning the double major. (Your advisor can help with this step.)

Additionally, some schools will ask you to write a statement of purpose describing why you want to double major. Once your request is approved, you can officially begin your quest for a double major.

Get personalized advice!

Should i double major.

The decision to double major isn’t one that should be made lightly. It does represent a major investment of your time and effort.

Below, we’ll look at the pros and cons of double majoring to help you decide.

• Earning a double major demonstrates that you are motivated, hard-working, and determined.
• A double major also shows your expertise in two fields instead of one.
• This distinction can make you more competitive during the hiring process and lead to a higher salary.
• You’ll gain a diverse knowledge base that can help you become more successful in your future career.
• You won’t have much space in your schedule for electives or interesting classes outside of your majors.
• Your junior and senior years, which will involve almost all upper-level courses that count toward your majors, will be difficult. Your senior year, which will likely require two capstone projects or theses, will be especially challenging and time-consuming.
• The decision to double major should be made early in your college career to ensure you can meet requirements in four years. Otherwise, you may need to make an additional commitment of time and finances.
• A focus on two majors might result in lower grades in both.
• There’s no guarantee that a double major will lead to better career opportunities and/or salary.

The Bottom Line

Before making a decision, consider why you want to double major.

If your reason is simply that you have two interests or passions, there are other ways to incorporate both into your college experience.

• You can earn a minor or take multiple elective classes in a second field, for example.

Additionally, you know yourself better than anyone else does. Be honest:

• Are you a motivated student?
• Are you willing to sacrifice fun or easy electives, some of your social life, and hours of sleep to earn this double major?
• Will you regret the decision when it ends up being a lot of work?

If you want your double major to pay off, choose two majors that will directly help you in your future career.

Ask yourself how this double major will truly benefit you in the long run. If you find yourself struggling to answer the question, you may want to go with one major.

Unsure what double majors might benefit you? Check out the list of examples below.

Examples of Double Majors

A 2012 report by the Teagle Foundation determined that these ten combinations were the most popular double majors:

• Business and Business (any two majors related to business)
• Foreign Language and International Studies
• Foreign Language and Political Science
• Economics and Mathematics
• Economics and Political Science
• Foreign Language and Biology
• Foreign Language and Economics
• Foreign Language and Business
• Economics and Engineering
• Foreign Language and Psychology

The Economics of Education Review reports that students with education, social science, or business administration as their first major are more likely to add on a second major.

Additionally, over 10 percent of double majors include a foreign language.

Ultimately, a double major should give you two sets of skills and knowledge related to the career field you plan to pursue.

• Foreign language and business majors, for example, go hand in hand because of the global marketplace.
• Business and communication or psychology are good combinations as well, because successful businesspeople must understand other people and how to effectively communicate with them.

In fact, a communication related major can pair well with almost any other discipline. Hiring managers are increasingly citing poor communication skills—both written and verbal—as a weakness in new employees.

Are you passionate about art, but unsure if it will pay off financially in the future? You might consider majoring in business and art.

This way, you can learn marketing and business principles that may help you leverage your creativity into a lucrative business.

• These majors could also prepare you for a career as an in-house graphic designer for a company or a marketing agency.

If you’d like to run a nonprofit organization, you may want to combine degrees in social work and marketing.

A future environmental engineer could choose to double major in engineering and environmental sciences.

Tips for Managing a Double Major

If you decide to declare a double major, you’ll need to be organized and motivated. Here are some tips to help you stay on track:

• Declare early. The sooner you declare your double major, the sooner you can begin working toward your requirements.

This helps ensure that you don’t need to delay graduation or spend more on tuition.

• Talk to your advisor.  Make sure you meet with your advisor at least once per semester. They can help you with developing a plan to stay on track. They’ll also know when the courses you need will be available.

Have your advisor help you develop a four-year plan for completing both majors on schedule.

When possible, find courses that overlap and can count toward both majors.

• Be efficient! If you plan properly, you won’t have to take more classes than the average student; you’ll just take more classes that count toward something.

Understand that your decision to double major may require sacrifice.

Try to avoid part-time or full-time work if possible, and be prepared to limit your social life when necessary.

• Build a support system. Surround yourself with supportive family members and friends who understand your time commitment and will offer encouragement.
• Find ways to de-stress. Whether it’s yoga, music, or playing a sport, find something that helps you relax and de-stress.

This will be crucial to keep you from burning out in pursuit of your double major.

Remember, earning a double major is definitely doable! You’ll just need to have a solid plan and a willingness to work hard.

Advice from Experts and Former Double Majors

We’ve taken the liberty to ask successful professional and college students about their experiences with double majoring.

These quotes give you a firsthand look at what to expect when you choose a double major in college.

From Lynn Laufenberg, associate professor of history and pre-law advisor at Sweet Briar College:

Double-majoring (or triple-majoring or majoring and minoring — all combinations) is a complicated subject. I am, in general, a proponent of allowing students to put together combinations of majors/minors. The catch is, they must be disciplined, mature and academically strong. They must be students who are pursuing (in some depth) more than one discipline because they are truly challenged and stimulated by doing so. We make an argument against double-majors by saying, “a student can just take a few classes in another subject outside her major.” Yes, but thoughtful students who are stimulated by several subjects might want more than a course or two. Taking two courses in biology or music or history doesn’t give you a good sense of the richness of that particular subject. Concentrating in more than one subject makes you intellectually nimble and versatile. It introduces a student to more than one way of thinking about the world. Unusual combinations of majors/minors make students stand out in a pool of grad school or job applicants. It makes them vibrant and unexpected as grad-school applicants. Business with almost anything else makes an attractive MBA/job applicant. Business majors are myriad. What makes you stand out? A student who can articulate why she chose her particular majors/minors has a huge advantage. One of our students double-majored in history/music and minored in medieval and Renaissance studies. She came here thinking she wanted to be a high school music teacher. She’s now in her first year of grad school at Oxford for medieval musicology. She built her program as she went along here, growing on the way. There doesn’t have to be an obvious “logical” coherence of combination majors/minors, although a student should be able to articulate why she wanted to pursue the ones she chose. That being said, there are many “obvious” combinations: political science/history/philosophy, classics/art history/history/archaeology, engineering/physics, chem/bio, music/theater, etc. These aren’t “bad,” and our triple-majors this year are making very good use of that. They have coherent programs that will help them achieve their post-grad goals. This is usually the one time in a person’s life that they can experiment intellectually. Most careers won’t allow much time for that. Downsides: Many students think that “piling on the credentials” will help their future career/educational paths. Not always true. There’s no benefit in having a lot of credentials, but a lousy GPA. A student who can’t speak persuasively about why she chose multiple majors/minors (and who is having academic difficulty pursuing them) should probably be concentrating on one course of study. And students who are heavily invested in athletics, student clubs/organizations, volunteer work, etc., should think very carefully about more than one major.

From Matt Ruth, a graduate of Lycoming College :

I found double majoring to be incredibly helpful, not only during college academically, but especially worthwhile when considering roles and interviewing in Washington, DC and in New York City thereafter. A marginal benefit is applied to those that double major in not only the wealth of academics one learns during classes, but also in one’s flexibility to apply it when targeting jobs. I can confidently say that none of my positions since graduating would likely have been possible without having both majors on my resume, as they serve as complimentary skillsets, further providing both right and left brain critical thinking. I now work in corporate communications and marketing, and although neither major has directly impacted my current position, both have set the foundation for career progression and my eventual cross-functional development.

From Logan Matthews, founder of Skoller :

I double majored in economics and politics & public law at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. I felt like double majoring was the perfect choice for me. In my case, I was able to study two sides of the same coin. I saw how economics was applied to policy, and then how that policy was able to be implemented through the political system. I loved being able to apply political theory to economic discussions and vice-versa. One element I disliked was the lack of interdisciplinary cooperation. I felt like there is a lot of opportunities for the two departments to collaborate and make it a special track for students. For example, I had to take econometrics for my econ degree and then also social science research methods for my PPL degree. This was repetitive, and I could have had the opportunity to take more electives without having to double up on a research methods class. However, the skills learned in those cases have proven useful for data analytics.

From Lindsey Turnbull, founder of MissHeardMedia :

I double majored in college and got dual degrees- a BA in history with honors and a BA in anthropology. For me, double majoring helped me to sharpen my critical thinking and research skills, as well as better understand and recognize patterns. Because of my double major, I can write quickly and well, which is a major asset in my professional life. I did not like that the upper-level classes all required a ton of writing and research- and having to take a lot of prereqs meant that I took all the upper-level classes at once, which was quite stressful.

From Audrey Wick, a professor and author :

I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communication and English from Sam Houston State University in Texas. Doing so helped me get the most mileage from my degree, and I was able to graduate in four years’ time with this double major. Yes, this was a useful degree for me because it provided a solid platform to launch my career: I am a professional educator and writer. After going on to earn my Master of Arts degree, I landed full-time employment teaching classes at a community college. This also allows me to pursue creative writing, and I have used my dual major to that end as a novelist. My first two women’s fiction novels were released by a traditional publisher just this year.

From Antoinette D’Addario, a digital marketing specialist:

I double majored in journalism and law and society – criminology at American University. I think being a double major has helped me in my professional life because it taught me how to write for different audiences, which is something I do on a daily basis at my current job. My criminology classes often asked us to argue for solutions to a specific problem, and I think looking for unique solutions to those problems has made me skilled at finding unique solutions to problems that our clients are facing and finding ways to work around them.

I was a double major in college (Duke University, Class of 2001, political science & French). I found the double major experience very worthwhile because it gave me the opportunity to study under two very different sets of professors. It was also very valuable to me during my study abroad experiences where I studied in Paris, France and right after undergrad as a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco. In both programs, I studied political science in French-speaking countries. I’m currently president of my own communications firm in Washington, DC, where most of our clients are government/think tank entities, including foreign governments in French-speaking countries such as Morocco, Burkina Faso & Togo.

From Kerry Graham, an English teacher:

The primary reason I double majored in college (I graduated with degrees in English and psychology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in May 2005) is because I couldn’t pick just one, so I figured it made sense to do both. I enjoyed my experiences as a double major: I felt like different parts of my personality and intellectual curiosity were satisfied by the different disciplines, and I enjoyed getting to know such an array of professors. I also appreciated the feeling that, after graduation, I had a number of options available to me–especially because I had such a vague idea of what I wanted to do (the job criteria that was the most consistent over time was the ever-generic “I want to help people”).

From Charlie Brook, a professional content writer for HerMeOut :

I was a double major during my undergraduate degree at New York University. I graduated with a double major in acting (Tisch) and journalism (College of Arts and Science) in 2015. The double major gave me the opportunity to care about two things and pour my energy into both. It was extremely demanding, and it’s possibly not for everyone. But I benefited from it. I’m glad that in a time when I was so confused about what I wanted, that I could have the opportunity to try out different things. It’s scary to imagine that I could have graduated with an acting degree with no way to leverage that into a different career. Without my second degree, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today. And while my content writing job isn’t journalism, I still get to do my own journalistic projects like my documentaries and other writing that I live for. The last thing I will mention is that the school did not make it easy to do. As an acting major, they wanted all of my time, and they were not happy to see me giving a lot of it to journalism. In fact, after two and a half years of working toward my double major, the school almost made me forfeit it all in the last semester. I had to fight to get myself into a class, which I ended up taking out of order because no one informed me of the normal procedure, and get my counselor to approve my radical schedule.

Conclusion: The Guide to Double Majors

If you have two majors in mind that will benefit you in your future career, don’t be afraid to go for it.

Most students can fit a second major into their elective credits.

• With the proper planning, you won’t need to take extra classes or spend extra money.
• However, you do need to get started as soon as possible.
• Talk to your academic advisor for help, as planning for two majors can be complicated. Be efficient by taking the maximum number of overlapping courses.

Be prepared to work hard, study a lot, and make some sacrifices.

Remember that in the long run, your double major could lead to a more competitive resume, greater success in your future career, and a higher salary.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the 12 best creative writing colleges and programs.

College Info

Finding a dedicated creative writing program at a school you're excited about can be a real challenge, and that's even before you start worrying about getting in. Nonetheless, there are some great options. In order to help you find the best school for you, this list rounds up some of the best colleges for creative writing in the United States .

The Best Creative Writing Programs: Ranking Criteria

You should never take college rankings as absolute truth —not even the very official-seeming US News ones. Instead, use these kinds of lists as a jumping-off place for your own exploration of colleges. Pay attention not just to what the rankings are but to how the rankings are determined.

To help with that, I'll explain how I came up with this highly unscientific list of great creative writing colleges. I started by narrowing my search down to schools that offered a specific creative writing major. (If you don't see a school you were expecting, it's likely because they only have a minor.)

In ranking the schools, I considered five major criteria:

• #1: MFA Ranking —If a school has a great graduate creative writing program, it means you'll be taught by those same professors and the excellent graduate students they attract. Schools with strong MFA programs are also more likely to have solid alumni networks and internship opportunities. However, many schools with great undergrad programs do not offer MFAs, in which case I simply focused on the other four options.
• #2: General School Reputation —The vast majority of your classes won't be in creative writing, so it's important that other parts of the school, especially the English department, are great as well.
• #3: Extracurricular Opportunities —One of the key advantages of majoring in creative writing is that it can provide access to writing opportunities outside the classroom, so I took what kind of internship programs, author readings, and literary magazines the school offers into consideration.
• #4: Diversity of Class Options —I gave extra points to schools with a variety of genre options and specific, interesting classes.
• #5: Alumni/Prestige —This last criterion is a bit more subjective: is the school known for turning out good writers? Certainly it's less important than what kind of education you'll actually get, but having a brand-name degree (so to speak) can be helpful.

The Best Creative Writing Schools

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of schools! The exact numbering is always arguable, so look at it as a general trend from absolutely amazing to still super great, rather than fixating on why one school is ranked #3 and another is ranked #4.

#1: Northwestern University

Northwestern's undergrad creative writing program boasts acclaimed professors and an unparalleled track record of turning out successful writers (including Divergent author Veronica Roth and short-story writer Karen Russell).

Outside the classroom, you can work on the student-run literary journal, intern at a publication in nearby Chicago, or submit to the Department of English's yearly writing competition . The university is also home to a top journalism program , so if you want to try your hand at nonfiction as well, you'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

#2: Columbia University

Like Northwestern, Columbia is home to both a world-class creative writing program and a top journalism school (plus one of the best English departments in the country), so you have a wide range of writing-related course options. Columbia also benefits from its location in New York City, which is bursting at the seams with publishing houses, literary journals, and talented authors.

#3: University of Iowa

The University of Iowa's big draw is the infrastructure of its graduate Writers' Workshop, which is often considered the best MFA program in the country.

As an English and Creative Writing major here, you'll take classes from great young writers and established professors alike, and get to choose from a wide range of topics. This major provides transferable skills important for a liberal arts major with a creative focus. You'll also have access to the university's impressive literary community, including frequent readings, writing prizes and scholarships, and the acclaimed literary journal The Iowa Review .

#4: Emory University

Emory is renowned for its dedicated undergrad creative writing program , which draws the very best visiting scholars and writers. Students here have the chance to attend intimate question-and-answer sessions with award-winning authors, study a range of genres, compete for writing awards and scholarships, and work closely with an adviser to complete an honors project.

#5: Oberlin College

A small liberal arts school in Ohio, Oberlin offers very different advantages than the schools above do. You'll have fewer opportunities to pursue writing in the surrounding city, but the quality of the teachers and the range of courses might make up for that. Moreover, it boasts just as impressive alumni, including actress and writer Lena Dunham.

#6: Hamilton College

Hamilton is another small college, located in upstate New York. It's known for giving students the freedom to pursue their interests and the support to help them explore topics in real depth, both inside and outside the classroom. Hamilton's creative writing program takes full advantage with small classes and lots of opportunities to intern and publish; it also has one of the best writing centers in the country.

#7: Brown University

Brown's Literary Arts program offers one of the top MFAs in the US as well as an undergraduate major . For the major, you must take four creative writing workshops and six reading-intensive courses, which span an array of departments and topics, from music and literature to Middle East studies and Egyptology.

#8: Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University has an excellent creative writing MFA program, lots of super specific class options, and a number of scholarships specifically earmarked for creative writing students. This school’s undergraduate English program also offers a concentration in creative writing that allows students to specialize in a specific genre: poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. If you’re interested in exploring your potential in a specific writing genre, Washington University could be a great pick for you.

#9: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT might not be a school you generally associate with writing, but it actually has an excellent program that offers courses in digital media and science writing, as well as creative writing, and provides plenty of guidance on how graduates can navigate the tricky job market.

Not to mention the school is located in Cambridge, a haven for book lovers and writers of all kinds. Though it probably isn’t a good fit for students who hate science, MIT is a great place for aspiring writers who want to build writing skills that are marketable in a wide range of industries.

#10: University of Michigan

University of Michigan is one of the best state universities in the country and has a top-notch MFA program. This school’s undergrad creative writing sub-concentration requires students to submit applications for admittance to advanced creative writing courses. These applications give students crucial practice in both building a writing portfolio and articulating their interest in creative writing to an audience who will evaluate their work. If you're looking to attend a big school with a great creative writing major, this is a fantastic choice.

#11: Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins is another school that's known more for engineering than it is for writing, but, like MIT, it has a dedicated writing program. As a major here, you must take not only courses in prose, poetry, and literature, but also classes on topics such as philosophy and history.

#12: Colorado College

Colorado College is a small liberal arts school known for its block plan , which allows students to focus on one class per three-and-a-half-week block. The creative writing track of the English major includes a sequence of four writing workshops and also requires students to attend every reading of the Visiting Writers Series.

Bonus School: New York University

I didn't include NYU in the main list because it doesn't have a dedicated creative writing major, but it's a great school for aspiring writers nonetheless, offering one of the most impressive creative writing faculties in the country and all the benefits of a Manhattan location.

How To Pick the Best Creative Writing School for You

Just because Northwestern is a great school for creative writing doesn't mean you should set your heart on going there. (The football fans are completely terrifying, for one thing.) So where should you go then?

Here are some questions to ask yourself when looking at creative writing programs to help you determine the best school for you:

Does It Have Courses You're Interested In?

Look at the course offerings and see whether they interest you. While you can't predict exactly what classes you'll love, you want to avoid a mismatch where what you want to study and what the program offers are completely different. For example, if you want to write sonnets but the school focuses more on teaching fiction, it probably won't be a great fit for you.

Also, don't forget to look at the English courses and creative writing workshops! In most programs, you'll be taking a lot of these, too.

What Opportunities Are There To Pursue Writing Outside of Class?

I touched on this idea in the criteria section, but it's important enough that I want to reiterate it here. Some of the best writing experience you can get is found outside the classroom, so see what kind of writing-related extracurriculars a school has before committing to it.

Great options include getting involved with the campus newspaper, working on the school's literary journal, or interning at the university press.

Who Will Be Teaching You?

Who are the professors? What kind of work have they published? Check teacher ratings on Rate My Professors (but make sure to read the actual reviews—and always take them with a grain of salt).

If you're looking at a big school, there's a good chance that a lot of your teachers will be graduate students. But that's not necessarily a bad thing: a lot of the best teachers I had in college were graduate students. Just take into consideration what kind of graduate program the school has. If there's a great creative writing MFA program, then the graduate students are likely to be better writers and more engaged teachers.

What Are the Alumni Doing Now?

If you have a sense of what you want to do after you graduate, see if any alumni of the program are pursuing that type of career. The stronger the alumni network is, the more connections you'll have when it comes time to get a job.

What About the Rest of the School?

Don't pick a school for which you like the creative writing program but dread everything else about it. Most of your time will be spent doing other things, whether hanging out in the dorms, exploring off campus, or fulfilling general education requirements.

Many schools require you to apply to the creative writing major, so make doubly sure you'll be happy with your choice even if you aren't accepted to the program.

What's Next?

Are you sure a creative writing major is the right fit for you? Read our post on the pros and cons of the major to help you decide what path to take in college.

For more general advice about choosing a college, check out our complete guide to finding the right school for you. Some major factors to consider include deciding whether you're interested in a small college or a big university , an in-state or out-of-state institution , and a public or private school .

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Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.

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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
• Anthropology
• Art History
• Artificial Intelligence
• Asian Studies
• Chinese Studies
• Classical Studies
• Communication (multiple concentrations)
• Comparative Literature
• Digital Criminology
• Economics (Pre) (College of Liberal Arts)
• Film and Video
• Global Studies
• Industrial Design
• Integrated Studio Arts, BFA (Portfolio Required)
• Interior Design - Professional Program
• Italian Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Law and Society (Criminology)
• Linguistics
• Political Science
• Pre-dentistry
• Pre-medicine
• Pre-occupational Therapy
• Pre-physical Therapy
• Pre-physician Assistant
• Professional Writing
• Religious Studies
• Sound for the Performing Arts (Portfolio Required)
• Studio Arts and Technology
• Visual Arts Design Education
• Visual Arts Education
• Visual Communication Design (Graphic Design)
• Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
• College of Liberal Arts

Department of English

Dietrich college of humanities and social sciences, creative writing - additional major.

If you wish to declare an additional major (also sometimes called a double major) in Creative Writing, curriculum requirements will depend upon the primary major declaration . Because some of the same courses are required for each of the 5 major programs in the department, students who have primary majors in English have an amended set of requirements for additional majors, in order to account for course overlap.

• Curriculum for Students with Primary Majors Outside of the Department of English
• Curriculum for Students with Primary Majors Within the Department of English

Curriculum for Students with Primary Majors Outside of the Department of English:

11 courses, 99 units minimum.

All courses are 9.0 units each, unless otherwise noted.

Introductory Genre Writing Courses (2 courses, 18 units):

76-260   Introduction to Writing Fiction 76-261   Introduction to Writing Creative Nonfiction     76-265   Introduction to Writing Poetry 76-269   Introduction to Screenwriting

Reading in Forms (1 course, 9 units):

76-362   Reading in Forms: Nonfiction 76-363   Reading in Forms: Poetry 76-363   Reading in Forms: Poetry: Intro to Literary Translation     76-364   Reading in Forms: Fiction

Creative Writing Workshops (4 courses, 36 units):

Students must take at least two workshops in a single genre. Workshops in all genres may be taken more than once for credit, except for Literary Journalism. In order to be eligible to enroll in a particular workshop, students must earn a grade of A or B in the introductory genre writing course of that same genre. If students earn a C in an introductory genre writing course, they may enroll in a related workshop only with the permission of the instructor. If they earn a D or R (failing grade) in an introductory genre writing course, they may not take a workshop in that genre.

76-360   Literary Journalism Workshop    76-365   Beginning Poetry Workshop        76-366   Essay Writing Workshop                   76-460   Beginning Fiction Workshop        76-462   Advanced Fiction Workshop        76-465   Advanced Poetry Workshop        76-464   Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Magazines and Journals  76-469   Screenwriting Workshop

English Electives (4 courses, 36 units):

Complete four additional courses from the English Department’s offerings.

• Only one of the four English Electives may be at the 200 level. The remaining English Electives must be at the 300 or 400 level.
• Two of the four English Electives must be courses that are designated as fulfilling the literature requirement and focus on close reading of literary texts.

Please consult the list of courses published each semester by the Department for current offerings. English Electives may include any course offered by the Department at the 200- to 400-level. In choosing English Electives, students are encouraged to sample courses from across the Department.

Curriculum for Students with Primary Majors Within the Department of English:

7 courses, 63 units minimum, introductory genre writing courses (1 courses, 9 units):.

76-360   Literary Journalism Workshop    76-365   Beginning Poetry Workshop        76-366   Essay Writing Workshop                     76-460   Beginning Fiction Workshop        76-462   Advanced Fiction Workshop        76-465   Advanced Poetry Workshop        76-464   Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Magazines and Journals  76-469   Screenwriting Workshop

English Electives (1 courses, 9 units):

Complete 1 additional English Elective from the Department of English offerings.

• A 200-level English Elective may be taken only if one has not already been taken to fulfill the requirements of the primary major in the Department of English. If a 200-level elective has already been taken for the primary major, the additional English Elective must be a 300- or 400-level course.

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B.A. Creative Writing

Bachelors of Arts

Creative Writing

"An English/Creative Writing degree exposes you to diverse perspectives. It teaches you to think critically, to be quick on your feet, and adapt. These are the sort of skills that are applicable to nearly anything and can only support your interests, no matter what they might be." –B.A. in Creative Writing alumna

See Alumni Stories

Learn about contemporary writing and poetry from award-winning authors and develop your writing skills in small faculty and student workshops.

About the Major

Become a creative, powerful writer. As a student pursuing a B.A. in Creative Writing, you will develop your writing craft under the guidance of award-winning writers at one of the top-ranked creative writing programs in the country. In addition, you will build skills in writing, creativity, critical thinking, research, literary analysis, and independent thinking.

Areas of Study

You'll take introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as courses in literature, language, literary analysis, publishing, and elective courses in a range of topics in the research specialties of our internationally renowned faculty. After your first year in the program, you will choose to specialize in either fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

As a Creative Writing major, taking electives is part of the program, so we’ve also grouped together several unofficial “specialization areas” that emphasize skills, research directions, and preparation for potential careers. You can follow one specialization area, mix-and-match between them, come up with your own, or else ignore the whole thing entirely. Overall, these are just potential recommendations for anyone interested. Likewise, there’s no need to “declare” a specialization – just enroll in your chosen electives.

See degree requirements         CW Specialization Area Courses

Double Major Options

The writing and analytical skills you'll learn as a Creative Writing major can pair nicely with a second major in almost any field. Many of our students also double major in both Creative Writing and English ( see double major requirements ).

Career Pathways

Our graduates gain valuable skills that make them the top candidates for various employment opportunities and graduate programs. Your skills in creative writing, critical thinking, and literary analysis can be applied in a broad spectrum of industry and services. And you receive excellent training for graduate programs in creative writing, English, public policy, foreign service, rhetoric and composition, education, and many others.

Recent UA Creative Writing majors have put their degree to use in a wide variety of careers, including screenwriting, editing, publishing, technical writing, video game design, marketing, journalism, teaching, business, and professional writing.

Some of the career fields uniquely open to graduates with a Creative Writing B.A. include:

• Speech writer
• Grant writer
• Video game script writer

Read more about career possibilities in our alumni stories .

Major Digital Brochure

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English Studies - Professional and Creative Writing

• Degrees and Requirements

A professional and creative writing degree from La Roche University prepares you for careers in public relations, corporate communications and publications, advertising, web-based and social media writing, journalism and technical writing.

It’s no secret that you need to obtain an edge before you graduate from college. You need to acquire practical experience. You need to immerse yourself in a challenging and rewarding academic program. You need opportunities to succeed. And you need to work closely with faculty dedicated to their craft and committed to your success. You’ll find all of that and more at La Roche University. Our Professional and Creative Writing Program is specially crafted to prepare you for life after college.

Career-Focused Curriculum

La Roche’s program represents a unique and highly competitive opportunity, especially when you compare it to other writing programs offered by similar schools in Western Pennsylvania. Professional and Creative Writing students receive training in key areas, including:

• Creative nonfiction
• Business communication
• Technical writing
• Writing for nonprofits
• Creative writing
• Writing for broadcast and social media
• Writing for advertising
• Sports writing
• Poetry and fiction writing

The program also exposes you to publication design – a skill that, in concert with writing abilities, helps to develop a well-rounded and marketable graduate.

As a student in our program, you also will produce a three-tiered professional portfolio (hard copy and electronic portfolios and a professional website) to showcase your work to prospective employers and/or graduate schools.

And since we understand the importance of internships in the job market, the English Department faculty will help you find the perfect internship to complement your preferred career direction. 

Opportunity to Double Major

The Professional and Creative Writing program is strategically crafted to allow you to double-major in literature without adding any additional credits or time. Earning a double major in professional and creative writing and literature ensures that you’ll be even more career-ready for today’s competitive job market. It also prepares students for various graduate degrees including education, human resources management, leadership, English, media communications, and law.

Expert Faculty

The La Roche English faculty includes scholars, researchers, business professionals, award-winning poets and authors, and professors who hold years of experience in journalism, writing, education and media. These professors offer a wealth of real-world experience and share their expertise for you to understand classroom material at a much deeper level.

Publishing Opportunities

La Roche is a small campus with big opportunities for English students and aspiring writers. You’ll have the opportunity to serve as a contributing writer, editor, designer or photographer for  Redhawk Post , our online student newspaper, and Nuances , the University’s literary journal.

Honor Society

English students who maintain an above-average GPA and demonstrate a commitment to a career in English or literature may join our chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society. Sigma members assist the English Department in publishing its annual literary magazine, Nuances . This group also sponsors on-campus events such as poetry readings.

Study Abroad Opportunities

You have the opportunity to expand your horizons by studying literature, language and culture in another part of the world. Included as part of your La Roche experience, our Study Abroad+Study USA program offers you the chance to travel abroad or within the United States. Under the supervision of English Department faculty, our students have taken trips to England, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. 

Writers’ Center

Whether you have trouble organizing your thoughts or completing a classroom project, consultants at the Writers’ Center can help you address important questions concerning your assignment. The Center helps you to structure your writing, develop ideas, write clear and correct prose, and identify and correct errors. This service is free to all La Roche students. If you’re looking for a job on campus, the Writers’ Center is a terrific opportunity for you. Offering flexible hours and a welcoming environment, the Writers’ Center pays you to do what you love: read, write and help your peers with their written assignments. English majors are a perfect fit for the Writers’ Center!

Scholarships  

In addition to LaRoche's merit-based scholarships, we offer annual and endowed scholarships, thanks to our generous donors.

Tem Tipton Memorial Endowed Scholarship

The scholarship was established in memory of Tem Tipton by her family in tribute to her professional achievements as a reference librarian and teacher and in recognition of her community service activities.

• Open to currently enrolled full-time, undergraduate students pursuing a degree in education or English who have completed their freshman year
• Applicants must have financial need, a cumulative GPA of 3.0, and have current or past involvement with community service or other types of volunteer activities
• Recipient must remain in good standing during award term
• Essay and two recommendation letters required
• Renewable award

Apply Online    

In addition, each year the English Department chooses recipients for the following awards.

Dorothy and John Saladiak Award

This $1,000 award is given to a graduating english senior who shows the most promise., sister rita yeasted scholarship.

La Roche alumna Jill L. Ferguson established this scholarship to honor English Department Chair Sister Rita Yeasted, Ph.D., and her contributions to the field of English education. Scholarship recipients must be current La Roche students who are communications or English majors with a minimum 3.5 GPA. 

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The English Major and Minor

Major in english.

The program presupposes the completion of the general education requirement in the Humanities (or its equivalent), in which basic training is provided in the methods, problems, and disciplines of humanistic study. Because literary study itself attends to language and is enriched by some knowledge of other cultural expressions, the major in English requires students to extend their work in a language other than English beyond the level required of all College students.

Summary of Requirements

The Department of English requires a total of thirteen courses: eleven courses in the Department of English and two language courses or their equivalent, as well as a Cluster Statement to be submitted by the end of the third week of Spring Quarter of a student’s third year. By Spring Quarter of their third year, all students are required to meet with with the Student Affairs Administrator to complete the  English Requirements Worksheet . Additional forms can be found on the  Resources and Department Forms  page.

• Two quarters of study at the second-year level in a language other than English OR credit for the equivalent as determined by petition OR two quarters of a computer language OR two quarters of coursework outside the English department in literature originally written in a language other than English. Students should consult the following  list  of courses that have been approved to fulfill this requirement. 
• One English genre fundamentals course (fiction, poetry, drama, or theory) or "Approaches to Theater" course
• One English course in fiction
• One English course in poetry
• One English course in drama
• One English course on literature composed before 1650
• One English course on literature composed between 1650 and 1830
• One English course on literature composed between 1830 and 1990
• One English course in literary or critical theory
• 0 - 7  English electives (for a total of eleven courses in the department; may include ENGL 29900)
• Concentration statement
• BA project (optional)
• Thirteen* total courses

* The total of thirteen required courses must include eleven courses in the Department of English and two language courses. 

NOTE: Some courses satisfy several genre and period requirements. For details about the requirements met by specific courses, students should consult the Student Affairs Administrator or the Director of Undergraduate Studies. As of Autumn 2013, the following course combinations may be taken to satisfy the language requirement:

• CMSC 12100 & CMSC 12200
• CMSC 15100 & CMSC 15200
• CMSC 16100 & CMSC 16200
• English Requirements Worksheet
• Full list of Resources and Departmental Forms

Students majoring in English must receive quality grades (not P/F) in all 13 courses taken to meet the requirements of the program. Non-majors may take English courses for P/F grading with consent of instructor.

Concentration Statement

The purpose of the concentration statement is to help students organize and give coherence to their individual program of study. Students will design a concentration of at least five courses that share a conceptual focus.  By the end of the third week in Spring Quarter of their junior year, students submit a one-to-two page statement to their faculty Departmental Advisor and the Student Affairs Administrator outlining their interests in and describing how at least five completed and/or proposed future courses coheres as a cluster. Up to two of the five courses in the cluster can be courses offered outside of the Department of English.

Students should devise an individual course of study that falls within one of the following four broad cluster categories: 1) Literary and Critical Theory; 2) Form/Genre/Medium; 3) Literature in History; 4) Literature and Culture(s). For more information on the cluster and a list of example program topics, please contact the Student Affairs Administrator.

Students are encouraged to declare an intention to major in English to their College Advisers as soon as possible,  preferably by the end of the second year of study.  After declaring the major, students should first meet with the Student Affairs Assistant in English who will direct them to a faculty advisor and help students fill out the  English Requirement Worksheet. After this, students should meet with their faculty advisor at least twice a year in year three, and once in year four, to discuss their academic interests, progress in the major, and long-term career goals. The Student Affairs Assistant and Director of Undergraduate Studies are also available to assist students. Students should meet with the Student Affairs Administrator early in their final quarter to be sure they have fulfilled all requirements.

Courses Outside the Department Taken for Program Credit

A maximum of three courses outside the Department of English may count toward the total number of courses required by the major. The student must submit a  petition  for course approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies before taking courses outside the department for credit toward the major. Such courses may be selected from related areas in the University (history, philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, etc.), or they may be taken from a study abroad program. Up to four English courses that originate in Creative Writing (CRWR) may be counted toward the elective requirement without a petition. 

Transfer credits for courses taken at another institution are subject to approval by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Transferred courses do not contribute to the student's University of Chicago grade point average for the purpose of computing an overall GPA, Dean's List, or honors. NOTE: The Office of the Dean of Students in the College must approve the transfer of all courses taken at institutions other than those in which students are enrolled as part of a University sponsored study abroad program. For details, visit  Examination Credit and Transfer Credit .

Per College requirements, more than half of the requirements for a major or minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.

Double Majors in English and Creative Writing

It is college policy that students pursuing double majors may double-count four courses maximum towards both majors. Students who double major in Creative Writing and English typically double-count courses to fulfill the Creative Writing major's four literature requirements: 1 literary genre course (in a primary genre), 1 literary theory course, 1 pre-20th-century literature course, and 1 general elective. The two research background electives required for the Creative Writing major can also be English classes, as long as the student observes the shared four-course maximum.  Beyond the maximum, students may continue counting Creative Writing courses towards the English major, so long as the course is only counted towards the English major and not Creative Writing. Students who are pursuing only the English Language and Literature major may count up to four CRWR 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, so any eligible CRWR courses beyond this cap must be counted towards English  only .

Minor in English and Creative Writing

Undergraduate students who are not majoring in English may enter a minor program in English and Creative Writing. These students should declare their intention to enter the minor program by the end of Spring Quarter of their third year. Students choose courses in consultation with the Program Manager in Creative Writing and must submit a minor program consent form to their College Adviser in order to declare the minor. Students completing this minor must follow all relevant admission procedures described in the  Creative Writing  website. Courses in the minor may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors and may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality letter grades, and all of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers. Here are the requirements for the minor program:

• 1 Fundamentals in Creative Writing Seminar
• 2 Workshops
• 1 Beginning Workshop
• 1 Advanced Workshop in the same genre
• 3 CRWR or ENGL electives

For a more detailed breakdown of requirements, please visit Creative Writing's page .

There is no minor solely in English. The Minor in English and Creative Writing for Non-English Majors is the only minor available through the Department of English.

Reading Courses

Upon prior approval by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, undergraduate reading courses (ENGL 29700 Reading Course & ENGL 29900 Independent BA Paper Preparation) may be used to fulfill requirements for the major if they are taken for a quality grade (not P/F) and include a final paper assignment. No student may use more than two reading courses in the major, and only one of those may be an Independent BA Paper Preparation course. Critical BA writers who wish to register for the senior project preparation course (ENGL 29900 Independent BA Paper Preparation) must arrange for appropriate faculty supervision and obtain the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. ENGL 29900 Independent BA Paper Preparation counts as an English elective but not as one of the courses fulfilling distribution requirements for the major.

NOTE: Reading courses are special research opportunities that must be justified by the quality of the proposed plan of study; they also depend upon the availability of faculty supervision. No student can expect a reading course to be arranged automatically. For alternative approaches to preparing a BA paper, see the section on honors work.

Students who wish to be considered for departmental honors must complete a BA Project. However, completion of a BA Project does not guarantee a recommendation for departmental honors. For honors candidacy, a student must have at least a 3.25 grade point average overall and a 3.6 GPA in the major (grades received for transfer credit courses are not included into this calculation). 

To be eligible for honors, a student's BA project must be judged to be of the highest quality by the graduate student preceptor, faculty advisor, and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Honors recommendations are made to the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division by the department and it is the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division who makes the final decision.

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Creative Writing

Concentration in english (ba), why study creative writing.

Creative writing is a discipline that builds connections, sometimes unexpected, between the visual and tactile experiences of our world. Drawing pictures with words—whether as poetry or prose, leisure or business writing—is a skill necessary to becoming an effective communicator and flexible problem solver. Learn to write and read critically, offer constructive feedback to others, and become an expert in the nuances of language.

Chicago’s Creative World

Faculty will challenge—and accompany—you to explore the literary creativity all over the city of Chicago. You’ll attend readings at venues like Harold Washington Library, The Guild Complex, or Myopic Books, or may find an editorial internship at places like Rhino Poetry Journal, the Poetry Foundation, or the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Double Major

An English major focused on creative writing complements many subjects by teaching how to read, think, and write critically about the significant issues in our culture, society, and human experience. Common double majors include art, business, history, and philosophy.

Meet the Faculty

Professor Kristy Odelius encourages collaboration amongst disciplines to inspire her students’ writing and create thoughtful connections between visual, written, and performance art forms.

More About Kristy Odelius

See all faculty

Beyond the Classroom

Enhance your education through a variety of activities outside the classroom, including:

• Annual humanities writing retreat
• Study abroad
• Vista, a North Park student magazine
• The North Branch, student literary and fine arts journal
• Internships
• The Writing Center
• Feather Bricks Newsletter  Vol. 9   Vol. 8  Vol. 7   Vol. 6   Vol. 5  Vol. 4        Vol. 3    Vol. 2   Vol. 1
• North Park Theatre Company

Careers and Graduate Schools

An English major with a concentration in creative writing can lead to a number of careers, including author, editor, journalist, technical writer, teacher, publisher, marketing writer, and literary agent. You’ll be qualified for positions in a wide range of fields, or may choose to pursue graduate work in a specialized area such as journalism, writing, law, or education.

Alumni Story: Mari Andrew

You might also be interested in:

Minor in English

English literature

Theatre & performance studies

Secondary education

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Double Majors & Dual Degrees

Classics at the University of Arizona collaborates with other units to make it easier for students to graduate with double majors and/or dual degrees. Through special agreements, some courses can count for both degrees, allowing students to complete two majors within four years and be more marketable graduates on the global job market.

Even outside of these particular combinations, students who pursue a double major in Classics and another discipline often have the opportunity to double-count two or more courses toward the completion of both majors. Check with your advisors for more information.

Students earning double majors stand out to employers and graduate and professional schools as having a more comprehensive education providing the skills to think creatively, navigate complex projects, take initiative, provide innovative solutions, lead collaborative teams and communicate effectively with a diverse range of people.

Popular Combinations For Classics Students

Classics allows students to double-count up to 15 units (up to 5 courses) between the Classics major and another major, as long as the courses are crosslisted or otherwise approved, and the other major allows double dipping. Note that some majors shown below allow only 6 units of double dipping . The following double major/dual degree combinations represent a selection of pre-approved agreements that allow students to share some course requirements (note that other combinations are also possible - please ask our advising team ! ):

Classics and Anthropology Double Major

Students who wish to double major in Classics and Anthropology may take up to 6 credit hours (2 courses) that will count toward satisfying the requirements of both majors. The student will still need to fulfill all the core and area distribution requirements for both majors.

ANTH/CLAS double majors may double-dip up to 6 credits (2 courses) for both majors from crosslisted courses, including the following:

• CLAS/ANTH 300 - The Classical Ideal in 1930's Art
• CLAS/ANTH 313 - Health and Medicine in Classical Antiquity
• CLAS/ANTH 338 - Introduction to Roman Art and Archaeology
• CLAS/ANTH 340A - Introduction to Greek Art and Archaeology
• CLAS/ANTH 341 - Mediterranean Craft Technologies & Environmental Strategies: Past & Present
• CLAS/ANTH 343 - Art and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
• ANTH/CLAS 349 - Archaeological Evidence for Daily Life in Ancient Greece and Rome
• CLAS/ANTH 350A - The Archaeology of Ancient Athletics
• CLAS/ANTH 400 - Topics of Egyptology
• CLAS/ANTH 420 - Archaic Greek Sanctuaries
• CLAS/ANTH 430 - Ancient Greek Technology
• CLAS/ANTH 443 - Archaeology of Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece
• ANTH/CLAS 446A - Mapping Ancient Cities
• CLAS/ANTH 452 - Etruscan Art and Archaeology
• CLAS/ANTH 454 - Greek and Roman Sculpture: Symbols and Society in Antiquity
• CLAS/ANTH 462 - Classical and Controversial: Critical Debates in Classical Antiquity
• CLAS/ANTH 463 - Classical Field Archaeology
• ANTH/CLAS 464 - Archaeology of Greek Religion and Ritual
• CLAS/ANTH 465 - Greek Pottery: Craft and Society in Ancient Greece
• ANTH/CLAS 474 - Archaeometry: Scientific Methods in Art and Archaeology
• CLAS/ANTH 477 - Greek Architecture
• CLAS/ANTH 478 - The Edges of Empire: Archaeology of the Roman Provinces
• Any other course crosslisted between ANTH and CLAS.

Classics and Communication Double Major

Are you a Communication major planning to study abroad in Italy? Make the most of your experience and double major in Classics! Study abroad in Orvieto provides opportunities to fulfill COMM and CLAS credits. ( Note that there are no double dipping options between COMM and CLAS at this time. The information here shows how to complete both majors in 6 semesters .)

6-semester plan for a Communication and Classics Double Major:

• Lat 101 or GRK 101
• CLAS elective
• LAT 102 or GRK 102
• COMM Skills Course
• COMM Theory Course
• LAT 201 or GRK 201
• COMM elective
• LAT 202 or GRK 202 (completes language requirement for BA)

Classics and History Double Major

Students who wish to double major in Classics and History may take up to 12 credit hours (4 courses) that will count toward satisfying the requirements of both majors. The student will still need to fulfill all the core and area distribution requirements for both majors.

HIST/CLAS double majors may double-dip up to 12 credits (4 courses) for both majors from crosslisted courses, including the following:

• HIST/CLAS 204 - Ancient History: Greek History
• HIST/CLAS 205 - Ancient History: Roman History
• CLAS/HIST 313 - Health and Medicine in Classical Antiquity
• HIST/CLAS 403A - History of Greece: Democracy, War, and Empire in the 5th Century BCE
• HIST/CLAS 403B - History of the Hellenistic World
• HIST/CLAS 403C - Social & Cultural History of Classical Greece
• HIST/CLAS 404A - History of Rome: The Republic to the Death of Caesar
• HIST/CLAS 404B - History of Rome: The Empire through the Reign of Constantine the Great
• HIST/CLAS 404C - Cleopatra: Power, Passion, Propaganda
• Any other course crosslisted between CLAS and HIST.

Classics and Philosophy Double Major

Students who wish to double major in Classics and Philosophy may take up to 10 credit hours (3 courses) that will count toward satisfying the requirements of both majors.  The student will still need to fulfill all the core and area distribution requirements for both majors.

PHIL/CLAS double majors may double-dip up to 10 credits (3 courses) for both majors from the following courses:

• PHIL/CLAS 260  - Ancient Philosophy
• PHIL/CLAS 412  - Readings in Greek Philosophy
• PHIL/CLAS 470  - Greek Philosophy
• PHIL/CLAS 472A  - Ancient Philosophy (Plato)
• PHIL/CLAS 472B  - Ancient Philosophy (Aristotle)
• GRK or LAT: Up to 4 credits in GRK or LAT at the 200 level or higher. A Philosophy advisor will determine if the content has enough philosophy to count toward the Philosophy major.

Classics and Religious Studies Double Major

Students who wish to double major in Classics and Religious Studies or Religious Studies for Health Professionals (RSHP) may take up to fifteen credit hours (five courses) that will count toward satisfying the requirements of both majors.  These 15 credit hours can count toward the “Electives” and/or “Languages” part of the Classics major and toward the emphasis, global religions, and/or elective parts of the Religious Studies/RSHP major (emphases could include Mediterranean Religions, Biblical Texts and Contexts, or other Classics-related emphasis).  The student will still need to fulfill all the core and area distribution requirements for both majors.

CLAS/RELI double majors may double-dip up to 15 credits (five courses) for both majors from the following courses:

• RELI 280 - Introduction to the Bible: New Testament (Can count toward the Classics major only for double majors in Classics and Religious Studies)
• CLAS/RELI 202 - Myths, Legends, and Religion
• CLAS/RELI 305 - Greek and Roman Religion
• CLAS/RELI 306 - Christianity in the Greco-Roman World
• CLAS/RELI 313 - Health and Medicine in Classical Antiquity
• CLAS/RELI 401A - Early Christian Literature: Greek Texts
• CLAS/RELI 401B - Early Christian Literature: Latin Texts
• CLAS/RELI 420 - Archaic Greek Sanctuaries
• CLAS/RELI 464 - Archaeology of Greek Religion and Ritual
• RELI 481 - Jews in the Roman Empire
• One Greek or Latin language course at the 200 level or higher. (Can count toward the RELI major only for double majors in Classics and Religious Studies)
• Any other course crosslisted between CLAS and RELI.

Classics and World Literature Double Major

Students who wish to double major in Classics and World Literature may take up to 15 credit hours (5 courses) that will count toward satisfying the requirements of both majors.  The student will still need to fulfill all the core and area distribution requirements for both majors.

WLIT/CLAS double majors may double-dip up to 15 credits (5 courses) for both majors from the following courses:

• CLAS 301A - The Literature of the Ancient Greeks: From Homer to the Novel
• CLAS 301B - The Literature of the Ancient Romans: Latin Literature in English Translation
• CLAS 342 - The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic Tradition
• CLAS 346 - Ancient Greek Drama
• CLAS 351 - The City Unmasked: Roman Comedy & Tragedy in its Cultural Context
• CLAS 352 - The Ancient Novel
• CLAS 353 - Heroes, Gods, Gore: Roman Epic in its Cultural Context
• GRK 422 - Readings in Greek Drama
• GRK 424 - Advanced Greek: Homer
• GRK 433 - Readings in Ancient Greek Poetry of the Archaic and/or Hellenistic Period
• LAT 413 - Augustan Literature
• LAT 415 - Latin Love Elegy
• LAT 421 - Latin Literature of the Imperial Age
• LAT 430 - Roman Drama

Other Double Major Combinations Popular with Students Include:

• Classics and Applied Humanities
• Classics and Biochemistry
• Classics and Biology
• Classics and Business
• Classics and Chemistry
• Classics and Creative Writing
• Classics and Economics
• Classics and English
• Classics and Geography
• Classics and Government
• Classics and Italian
• Classics and Law
• Classics and Linguistics
• Classics and Medicine
• Classics and Microbiology
• Classics and Molecular & Cellular Biology
• Classics and Neuroscience & Cognitive Science
• Classics and Performance
• Classics and Philosophy, Politics, Economics & Law
• Classics and Physiology
• Classics and Political Science
• Classics and Psychology
• Classics and Sociology
• Classics and Theatre Arts
• And many more!

If you are interested in any of these combinations or would like information on a grouping that is not listed above, please schedule an appointment with one of our advisors who can guide you through the process.

General Catalog

English and creative writing, ba.

This is the first version of the 2023–24 General Catalog. Please check back regularly for changes. The final edition and the historical PDF will be published during the fall semester.

The major enables students to experience the historical, traditional, and innovative aspects of literature in English and the relationship between critical reading and creative writing. The major provides the transferable skills important for a liberal arts major, including the ability to think deeply and creatively, read complex texts with comprehension, and master writing and speaking skills at an advanced level.

The English and creative writing major introduces students to the wealth of resources associated with the University of Iowa and the Iowa City writing communities. For over 75 years, the Department of English and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop have been leaders in the area of writing. The MFA offered by the Nonfiction Writing Program and administered by the Department of English has been voted the top MFA program in creative nonfiction in the United States. Likewise, the MFA program in the Writers’ Workshop is annually noted as the top graduate program in the country.

The international reputation of writing at Iowa is boosted by synergy across colleges, with the International Writing Program hosting published writers each fall from countries around the world and each spring traveling to other countries, taking Iowa writing on the road. This synergy helps the university and Iowa City draw writers of all ages and nationalities to its writing community. The community is bolstered by the strong readings series offered by the Nonfiction Writing Program, the Writers’ Workshop, and Prairie Lights Books, with hundreds of readings archived by the Iowa Digital Library, creating a resource for future writers and scholars.

The status of Iowa City as a UNESCO City of Literature also has enriched the writing community, with people from across the Midwest visiting the city during the annual Book Festival. The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by the Department of English, “Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself” and “Walt Whitman and the Civil War,” as well as the International Writing Program’s online series called “How Writers Write,” have enrolled thousands of students and adult learners from around the world, enhancing the reputation of the University of Iowa as the "Writing University." The Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Iowa Young Writers' Studio, the Certificate in Writing, the Center for the Book, the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and the Iowa Youth Writing Project all help to turn Iowa City into a destination for writers, who are drawn to the city for its heritage and for its current community of writers.

Learning Outcomes

The goal is for students who graduate from the Department of English to demonstrate the skills of reflective reading, critical thinking, effective speaking, compelling writing, and engaged citizenship.

Reflective Readers

• Analyze literary and cultural texts through close reading.
• Gain broad knowledge of several fields of literature.
• Grasp formal elements of key literary genres.
• Learn to read comparatively to illuminate aesthetic, social, and cultural contributions of texts.

Critical Thinkers

• Approach texts with a spirit of critical inquiry and flexibility.
• Formulate productive questions.
• Use textual evidence to support individual interpretations.
• Draw upon several different critical approaches to literature in English.

Effective Speakers

• Express opinions about the texts they read through discussion and written assignments.
• Listen respectfully to others’ opinions.
• Work in class—whether through active listening or discussion—to learn by synthesizing a range of texts, insights, and opinions.

Compelling Writers

• Express their ideas in clear, fluent, and lively prose.
• Organize their ideas effectively.
• Use textual evidence to illustrate and support their insights and arguments.
• Demonstrate the ability to write in different modes that are appropriate to particular contexts.
• Engage properly with relevant scholarship and creative work.
• Use research skills that include understanding of methods, technology, and conventions.

Engaged World Citizens

• Communicate respect and understanding for the literatures and cultures of diverse historical periods, geographical regions, and cultures.
• Explore ethical issues raised by literature.
• Reflect on the ways that literature addresses issues of social justice.
• Use reading, speaking, and writing skills to engage with the ethical concerns raised by literature in their daily and professional lives.

The Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including at least 42 s.h. of work for the major. Of the 42 s.h., at least 36 s.h. must be selected from the Department of English courses (prefix ENGL, CNW, CW). Students must maintain a grade-point average of at least 2.00 in all courses for the major and in all UI courses for the major. They also must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences GE CLAS Core . Transfer students must earn at least 30 s.h. work for the major at the University of Iowa.

Students earning a major in English and creative writing may not earn a major in English.

For more information about teaching in elementary and/or secondary schools, see "Teacher Licensure" below. Students who plan to teach in elementary and/or secondary schools should consult with an advisor in the College of Education as early as possible; contact the Office of Student Services . The BA in English education requires that students choose particular courses in the English and creative writing major in order to meet all related requirements; both degrees may be earned at the same time. Separate application to each degree program is required.

Students pursuing the BA in English and creative writing can choose to complete the requirements for the publishing track; see "Publishing Track" below for information.

Only courses numbered above 2000 count toward the English and creative writing major. The following courses do not count toward the major.

The BA with a major in English and creative writing requires the following coursework.

Introductory Courses

Students complete both of the following.

Literature Core Courses

Core courses help students to learn and practice critical reading and analysis, to understand the relation of literature to history and culture, and introduce students to the context and tradition of literature written in English.

The area and historical periods for English courses are identified under English Courses in this section of the catalog and in the MyUI course descriptions. Since most courses satisfy both an area requirement and a historical period requirement, most students complete these requirements with the same courses.

Area Requirement

A minimum of 3 s.h. must be completed from each of the following five areas of English literary study for a minimum total of 15 s.h. of coursework:

• American literature and culture;
• literary theory and interdisciplinary studies;
• medieval and early modern literature and culture;
• modern British literature and culture; and
• transnational literature and postcolonial studies.

Historical Period Requirement

A minimum of 3 s.h. from each of the following three historical periods in English literary study (total of 9 s.h.) must be completed:

• early literatures through the 17th century;
• 18th/19th-century literature; and
• 20th/21st-century literature.

Multiethnic Literature and Culture Requirement

Students must complete at least one course (3 s.h.) from the following.

The following courses may fulfill the Multiethnic Literature and Culture requirement depending on course content, which varies by semester; consult MyUI for semester-specific information.

Creative Writing Core Courses

The creative writing core provides courses in a range of literary genres. Students choose a minimum of 9 s.h. in electives and a minimum of 9 s.h. in advanced courses, as listed below. Students also can count any course from the "Advanced Requirements" list below as an elective (where appropriate) if they take more than the three required advanced courses.

Creative Writing Electives

The creative writing electives give students flexible choices to focus on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or other genres of writing, and allow students to experiment across genres. Courses focus on the particulars of craft, tradition, and innovation. Many of the courses are repeatable, enabling students to further develop in a particular writing form. Some of these courses have prerequisites.

Students must select a minimum of 9 s.h. from the following.

Advanced Requirements

Students must first complete the two introductory courses— ENGL:2010 Foundation of the English Major: Histories, Literatures, Pleasures and ENGL:2020 Foundations of Creative Writing: Craft, Practice, Pleasure —before they enroll in advanced courses. Advanced courses give students flexible choices so they can focus on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or other genres of writing, and provide the opportunity to experiment across genres. Courses focus on the particulars of craft, tradition, and innovation. Most of the advanced courses are repeatable and most have prerequisites.

Students must select a minimum of 9 s.h. in advanced creative writing courses from the following.

Publishing Track

The world of publishing includes many different careers: editors, designers, agents, and even sales representatives. Students who are interested in these careers may wish to pursue the publishing track. By selecting courses carefully, students may complete the track without adding additional semester hours to their total credit required for graduation.

Courses range across print and digital media, exposing students to the history and practice of literary publishing while developing their skills in editing, proofreading, and writing with clarity and purpose. Internships and hands-on class learning offer students the opportunity to produce their own publications and gain practical experience.

Students in the publishing track must complete the following.

Literary Publishing

Editing, book design, or revision, history of the book and the publishing industry, career preparation.

Students should consult the department's advisor for information about completing the English and creative writing major with the publishing track.

Teacher Licensure

Students interested in teaching in elementary and/or secondary schools should seek admission to the Teacher Education Program (TEP) in the College of Education.

To qualify for licensure in secondary teaching, students in the TEP complete a degree in education as well as a related College of Liberal Arts and Sciences degree. See Apply on the College of Education website for details on requirements and deadlines for applying to the College of Education and about TEP choices of majors leading to licensure.

Honors in the Major

Students have the opportunity to graduate with honors in English and creative writing and thereby enhance their course of study through honors seminars. All those interested in taking honors coursework are welcome to apply to the English Honors Program as soon as they qualify. The process begins with an online application; visit English Honors Programs on the Department of English website.

Students take three honors seminars and must achieve a University of Iowa grade-point average (GPA) of at least 3.33 and a major GPA of at least 3.50.

Each year the department offers between four and six creative writing seminars covering a wide range of genres, modes, and styles. Small and often workshop-oriented, these honors courses are open only to English and creative writing majors who have completed at least 24 s.h. of college-level work. Seminars are limited to 16 students, carry 3 s.h. of credit, and meet three hours each week.

Two of the three honors seminars are chosen from these selective admission courses. Early in the previous semester, those interested apply with a portfolio of their creative work; no minimum GPA is required, and decisions are made in time for preregistration. Successful applicants then register for  ENGL:4011 Honors Seminar: Creative Writing  through  ENGL:4014 Honors Seminar in Creative Nonfiction . Students may apply for only one seminar per semester.

The second of the two creative writing seminars may be replaced by ENGL:4030 Undergraduate Honors Project in Creative Writing , a capstone project. For this independent study option, interested students should seek out possible mentors in their junior year.

The third required honors course is a scholarship and criticism seminar chosen from courses numbered  ENGL:4001 Honors Seminar: American Literature, 20th/21st Century through ENGL:4009 Honors Seminar: Medieval and Early Modern Literature, Early Literature/17th Century , courses that offer a wide range of subjects, authors, methods, and eras. Limited to 16 students, these courses also carry 3 s.h. of credit, meet three hours each week, and encourage class discussions that are lively and knowledgeable. Substantial reading and research are required and culminate in a 15–20 page essay.

To register for a scholarly seminar, honors students in English and creative writing are encouraged to have a University of Iowa GPA of at least 3.33. They also must have completed at least three courses: ENGL:2010 Foundation of the English Major: Histories, Literatures, Pleasures ; ENGL:2020 Foundations of Creative Writing: Craft, Practice, Pleasure ; and a third departmental course of their choosing.

University of Iowa Honors Program

In addition to honors in the major, students have opportunities for honors study and activities through membership in the University of Iowa Honors Program. Visit Honors at Iowa to learn about the university's honors program.

Membership in the UI Honors Program is not required to earn honors in the English and creative writing major.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences GE CLAS Core requirements provide students with a broad foundation of knowledge and a focused practice of transferable skills necessary for a lifetime of learning.

GE CLAS Core courses are particularly valuable for students making the transition into the University of Iowa. They help students understand the academic expectations of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences while providing the knowledge and skills needed for more advanced work in the major.

All students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who wish to earn an undergraduate degree—Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), or Bachelor of Music (BM)—must complete the requirements of the GE CLAS Core.

GE CLAS Core Areas and Requirements

The GE CLAS Core has 11 required areas, grouped into three categories. Students must fulfill the requirements in each GE CLAS Core area. The requirements below are for students who entered the University of Iowa during summer 2023 or after. Students who entered during a previous semester are held to different requirements as indicated on a student's degree audit.

Communication and Literacy:

• Diversity and Inclusion : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• Interpretation of Literature : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• Rhetoric : a minimum of 4 s.h.
• World Languages : required credit varies by language (see "World Languages" below)

Sustainability:

Students complete this requirement by choosing an approved GE CLAS Core course that integrates Sustainability (with no additional semester hours) with a course from the Natural, Quantitative, and Social Sciences category or the Culture, Society, and the Arts category.

Natural, Quantitative, and Social Sciences:

• Natural Sciences : a minimum of 7 s.h.; must include one lab
• Quantitative or Formal Reasoning : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• Social Sciences : a minimum of 3 s.h.

Culture, Society, and the Arts:

• Historical Perspectives : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• International and Global Issues : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts : a minimum of 3 s.h.
• Values and Culture : a minimum of 3 s.h.

Students may count transfer credit and/or credit by exam toward some GE CLAS Core requirements. See CLAS Core Policies for details regarding use of transfer credit, credit by exam, and other policies for how GE CLAS Core requirements may be fulfilled.

Communication and Literacy

Diversity and inclusion.

Courses in the Diversity and Inclusion area help to develop students’ recognition of their positions in an increasingly pluralistic world while fostering an understanding of social and cultural differences. Students reflect critically on their own social and cultural perspectives while increasing their ability to engage with people who have backgrounds or ideas different from their own. Students also explore the historical and structural bases of inequality and the benefits and challenges of diversity.

Transfer credit is not accepted for the Diversity and Inclusion requirement; students must complete this requirement with coursework taken at the University of Iowa.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Diversity and Inclusion area. The following courses are approved for the area.

Interpretation of Literature

Courses in the Interpretation of Literature area focus on the major genres of literature (short and long fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama), improving students' abilities to read and analyze a variety of texts. Small group discussions in these courses challenge students to think critically, to share insights, and to listen thoughtfully to the arguments of others.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Interpretation of Literature area. The following courses are approved for the area.

Rhetoric courses develop speaking, writing, listening, and critical reading skills and build competence in research, analysis, and argumentation.

All entering first-year students are required to complete RHET:1030 Rhetoric . Because rhetorical skills lay the foundation for further study at the University, most students register for  RHET:1030 during their first year at Iowa.

Students who must enroll in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses as determined by their English proficiency evaluation must complete all ESL courses before they may register for RHET:1030 Rhetoric .

Students who have transfer credit in composition, speech, and argumentation but have not been granted an AA degree must complete the equivalent of RHET:1030 Rhetoric and often must take RHET:1040 Writing and Reading or RHET:1060 Speaking and Reading in addition to their transfer courses in composition and/or speech.

Each entering student's degree audit shows the course(s) that must be completed in order to fulfill the Rhetoric requirement.

The following courses are approved for the Rhetoric area.

Transfer of Credit for Rhetoric

Transfer students who have been granted an Associate of Arts (AA) degree from an Iowa or Illinois community college or Waldorf College in Iowa have satisfied the Rhetoric requirement.

Transfer credit for students without an AA degree is evaluated as follows:

• transfer students who have completed composition I, composition II, and speech at another institution have satisfied the GE CLAS Core Rhetoric requirement of RHET:1030 Rhetoric ;
• transfer students who have completed only composition I must complete RHET:1030 Rhetoric at the University of Iowa;
• transfer students who have completed composition I and speech must complete RHET:1040 Writing and Reading at the University of Iowa;
• transfer students who have completed only speech must complete RHET:1040 Writing and Reading at the University of Iowa;
• transfer students who have completed composition I and II or only composition II must complete RHET:1060 Speaking and Reading at the University of Iowa;
• for transfer students who have completed any other course at another institution that may be equivalent to RHET:1030 Rhetoric , the University of Iowa Office of Admissions examines the content of the course and decides on equivalency based on the content of that course, conferring with the Department of Rhetoric on the correct equivalency, if necessary.

World Languages

GE CLAS Core courses in World Languages provide the practice of important communication skills in a second language as well as the knowledge of the cultures in which the language is spoken. This in-depth study allows students to better understand how languages as a whole function, encouraging students to learn more about their own first language, including how it creates both inclusion and diversity. To fulfill the GE CLAS Core requirement in World Languages, students may choose one of the following options:

• complete four years of a single world language in high school; or
• achieve the fourth level of proficiency in a world language by completing the appropriate sequence of courses offered at the University of Iowa; or
• achieve the fourth level of proficiency by completing appropriate courses at another college or university or through approved study abroad courses; or
• achieve an equivalent score on a related Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or other approved college-level examination accepted by the University of Iowa and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (see Credit By Exam Options on the Office of Admissions website); or
• earn an equivalent score on both a UI written placement test and on a UI oral proficiency exam in a language taught at the University of Iowa (see World Languages Placement Test (WLPT) on the New Student Services website); or
• earn an equivalent score on a proficiency exam in a language that is not taught at the University of Iowa (see Proficiency Examinations for Languages Not Taught at UI on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website).

A fourth level of proficiency is equivalent to the successful completion of an intermediate II language course (or of a second-year second semester course, for example) as taught at the University of Iowa. Depending on a student's placement test results and the language taken, a student may need to take four semesters of a language, starting with a beginning course and ending with a second semester intermediate course. Other students may be able to start elsewhere in the language sequence and complete the GE World Language requirement by taking two or three courses. See "World Languages Placement Tests" under Placement Tests on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website.

Semester hours earned for these courses vary by language. Students should be sure to take the placement test for the language of interest and should be aware of the course sequence required to fulfill the GE requirement in World Languages for that particular language.

Once the World Languages requirement is completed, a student may earn up to an additional 8 s.h. of college credit while studying a world language. See Furthering Language Incentive Program (FLIP) on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website.

Students may use the following language course sequences to fulfill the World Languages requirement. To avoid duplication or regression, consult the appropriate language department before registering for courses.

American Sign Language

Courses in American Sign Language (ASL) are offered by the American Sign Language Program. The following sequence fulfills the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students with previous knowledge of American Sign Language should consult the ASL program for placement.

Courses in Arabic are offered by the Department of French and Italian . The following sequence fulfills the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students with previous knowledge of Arabic should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Chinese are offered by the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures . For students without previous knowledge of Chinese, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students may use varied combinations of Chinese language courses approved to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Heritage learners and students who have studied Chinese abroad may be able to fulfill the requirement by substituting CHIN:2103 Accelerated Second-Year Chinese: First Semester and CHIN:2104 Accelerated Second-Year Chinese: Second Semester for  CHIN:2101 and CHIN:2102 . Consult the department for more information.

Courses in French are offered by the Department of French and Italian . For students without previous knowledge of French, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students may use varied combinations of French language courses approved to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Those with previous knowledge of French may be able to fulfill the requirement by substituting FREN:1010 First-Year French Review for FREN:1001 and FREN:1002 in the sequence above. Some students may be evaluated as ready for  FREN:2001 or FREN:2002 . Consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in German are offered by the Department of German . For students without previous knowledge of German, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students may use varied combinations of German language courses approved to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Those with previous knowledge of German may be able to fulfill the requirement by substituting GRMN:1010 First-Year German Review for GRMN:1001 and GRMN:1002 in the sequence above. Some students may be evaluated as ready for GRMN:2001 or GRMN:2002 . Consult the department for appropriate placement.

The department also offers GRMN:2020 Intensive Intermediate German, which may be appropriate for students with strong language learning abilities or experience. The intensive course may be combined with other courses to create other sequences that may be used to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Consult the department to identify an appropriate course sequence.

Courses in Greek are offered by the Department of Classics . Students without previous knowledge of Greek should fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement with the following sequence.

Students with previous knowledge of Greek should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Italian are offered by the Department of French and Italian . Students without previous knowledge of Italian should fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement with the following sequence.

Students with strong language learning abilities or a background in another Romance language may be able to complete the requirement by substituting ITAL:1103 Intensive Elementary Italian for ITAL:1101 and ITAL:1102 in the sequence above. Consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Japanese are offered by the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures . For students without previous knowledge of Japanese, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students may use varied combinations of Japanese language courses approved to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Those with previous knowledge of Japanese should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Korean are offered by the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures . For students without previous knowledge of Korean, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students with previous knowledge of Korean should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Latin are offered by the Department of Classics . Students without previous knowledge of Latin should fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement with the following sequence. Students must take both CLSL:2001 and CLSL:2002 in order to fulfill the World Languages requirement. These courses require a similar knowledge of Latin, but one focuses on poetry and the other on prose. Other world languages permit a student to complete the last courses in the sequence to meet the GE CLAS Core requirement since the final course is more difficult than the previous ones. This is not true with the Latin sequence, and thus, both courses must be successfully completed.

Students with previous knowledge of Latin should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Portuguese are offered by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese . Two sequences in Portuguese are approved to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. All courses are open to entering first-year students.

Students may also substitute PORT:2010 Elementary Portuguese I and PORT:2015 Elementary Portuguese II for PORT:2000 in the sequence above.

Students with previous knowledge of Portuguese should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Russian are offered by the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures . Students without previous knowledge of Russian should fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement with the following sequence.

Students with previous knowledge of Russian should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Courses in Spanish are offered by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese . For students without previous knowledge of Spanish, the department recommends the following sequence to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement.

Students may use varied combinations of Spanish language courses to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Those with previous knowledge of Spanish may be able to fulfill the requirement by substituting SPAN:1003 Elementary Spanish Review for SPAN:1001 and SPAN:1002 in the sequence above.

The accelerated course SPAN:1503 Accelerated Intermediate Spanish , which combines  SPAN:1501 and  SPAN:1502 , may be appropriate for some students.

The accelerated course SPAN:1505 Intermediate Spanish for Heritage Speakers may be appropriate for other students.

Students with previous knowledge of Spanish should take the language placement test in Spanish to help determine proper placement.

Courses in Swahili are offered by the Department of French and Italian . The following sequence fulfills the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. Each of these courses is open to entering first-year students.

Students with previous knowledge of Swahili should consult the department for appropriate placement.

Other Course Sequences

A student who successfully completes a four-semester world language sequence that has not been approved for the GE CLAS Core may have the sequence substituted for a proficiency test to fulfill the GE CLAS Core requirement.

Students who complete a world language sequence this way should notify the department that offers the sequence; the department will contact Graduation Analysis in the Office of the Registrar, which will update a student's degree audit to show fulfillment of the World Languages requirement.

Sustainability

Courses in the Sustainability area focus on identifying concepts and terminology associated with sustainability and systems-thinking, investigating the interconnectedness of human and natural systems, and evaluating how students’ own actions affect and are affected by society’s ability to meet sustainability goals. Students also investigate institutional and/or cultural processes or natural systems processes.

Sustainability learning outcomes are integrated with the outcomes for another GE CLAS Core area so that one approved course satisfies this requirement without adding semester hours. Students complete this requirement by choosing one of the following courses that have been approved for Sustainability and another GE CLAS Core area.

Sustainability and Natural Sciences

Sustainability and social sciences, sustainability and historical perspectives, sustainability and international and global issues, sustainability and literary, visual, and performing arts, natural, quantitative, and social sciences, natural sciences.

Courses in the Natural Sciences area explore the scope and major concepts of a scientific discipline. Students learn the attitudes and practices of scientific investigators: logic, precision, experimentation, tentativeness, and objectivity. In courses with a laboratory component, students gain experience in the methods of scientific inquiry.

All students must complete at least 7 s.h. of coursework in the Natural Sciences area, including at least one natural science lab component. The following courses are approved for the area; courses with a lab component are noted "(lab)."

Quantitative or Formal Reasoning

Courses in the Quantitative or Formal Reasoning area help develop analytical skills through the practice of quantitative or formal symbolic reasoning. Courses focus on presentation and evaluation of evidence and argument; understanding the use and misuse of data; and organization of information in quantitative or other formal symbolic systems, including those used in computer science, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, and statistics.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Quantitative or Formal Reasoning area. Students also may fulfill this GE CLAS Core requirement by completing a course that lists an approved GE CLAS Core course as a prerequisite. The following courses are approved for the area.

Social Sciences

Courses in the Social Sciences area focus on human behavior and the institutions and social systems that shape and are shaped by that behavior. Courses provide an overview of one or more social science disciplines, their theories, and their methods.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Social Sciences area. The following courses are approved for the area.

Culture, Society, and the Arts

Historical perspectives.

Courses in the Historical Perspectives area help students comprehend the historical processes of change and continuity; develop the ability to generalize, explain, and interpret historical change; and understand the past in its own terms.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Historical Perspectives area. The following courses are approved for the area.

International and Global Issues

Courses in the International and Global Issues area focus predominantly on countries or issues outside the United States, encouraging students to understand contemporary issues from an international perspective. Students develop knowledge of one or more contemporary global or international issues, gain a greater awareness of varied international perspectives, and improve their skills of analysis and critical inquiry.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the International and Global Issues area. The following courses are approved for the area.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Courses in the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts area provide students with opportunities to appreciate the arts and to analyze them within their historical and theoretical contexts. They also help students develop the analytic, expressive, and imaginative abilities necessary for understanding, appreciating, and creating art.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts area. The following courses are approved for the area.

Values and Culture

Courses in the Values and Culture area focus on how culture shapes the human experience and the role of values in society, with students asking fundamental questions regarding the human experience while exploring their own values and beliefs.

All students must complete at least 3 s.h. of coursework in the Values and Culture area. The following courses are approved for the area.

The English and creative writing major prepares students for a wide variety of career paths including teaching, medicine, law, graduate school, and jobs in the private and nonprofit sector where writing, organization, research, and communication is highly valued. Within a year of graduation, over 92% of Department of English students are employed or in graduate programs.

The department's advisor helps guide students in their career path. The Department of English partners with the Pomerantz Career Center to introduce career development strategies and offer resources to help students find internships and jobs. For more information, students are encouraged to explore Careers and Opportunities  on the Department of English website, or enroll in the 1 s.h. course, ENGL:2040 English at Work .

Four-Year Graduation Plan

The following checkpoints list the minimum requirements students must complete by certain semesters in order to stay on the university's Four-Year Graduation Plan .

Before the fifth semester begins:  at least six courses in the major, including ENGL:2010 Foundation of the English Major: Histories, Literatures, Pleasures ;  ENGL:2020 Foundations of Creative Writing: Craft, Practice, Pleasure ; and an approved introduction to creative writing course (consult advisor).

Before the seventh semester begins: at least four more courses in the major and at least 90 s.h. earned toward the degree.

Before the eighth semester begins: at least two more courses in the major.

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining coursework in the major, all remaining GE CLAS Core courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate.

Sample Plan of Study

Sample plans represent one way to complete a program of study. Actual course selection and sequence will vary and should be discussed with an academic advisor. For additional sample plans, see MyUI .

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2023-24 Catalog

A PDF of the entire 2023-24 catalog.

Creative Writing

Thoughts become words. Words turn into stories. And stories get told. Through fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting or other genres, you’ll hone your skills, develop confidence as a writer and enhance your studio practice.

Other pages in this section:

Write your Story

Become your own storyteller. Share what moves you.

Our Creative Writing major is designed to complement a studio practice to develop well-rounded, fearless creatives–writers who are not only thinkers but artists who aspire to make their mark on the world.

Write fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, and cross-genre work. Learn from published, award-winning writers. Benefit from small classes, independent studies, and literary internships.

Bend narratives into hand-sculpted prose or paint vivid settings with colorful poetry. Let your writing intersect with your studio practice with a double major or studio minor.

Creative Writing faculty are award-winning and frequently-published authors and poets with connections across the literary world.

Classes + Course Requirements

Whether you major or double-major in creative writing, you will have over 50 courses to choose from to meet your requirements. Visit the online course catalog for a full list of electives and courses.

Those in the Creative Writing Program are required to complete four writing workshops and five literature classes.

“The faculty are astonishing. They are very committed to their practices and also to developing students’ practices.” Crista Siglin (’15 Creative Writing & Painting)

Creative Writing Faculty

KCAI faculty are practicing artists, designers and scholars.

Phyllis Moore, Ph.D.

Professor, Chair of Liberal Arts, and Program Head of Creative Writing

Cyrus Console-Soican, Ph.D.

Jordan Stempleman, M.F.A.

Associate Professor

Paul and Linda DeBruce Hall

Enter the two-story light-filled atrium of the new Paul and Linda Bruce Hall through a portal adorned with quotes by famous art historians, writers, and artists. You’ll take classes in smart classrooms, each with a view of garden gathering spaces. It’s the perfect environment for learning, studying, and collaborating.

Career Paths + Career Outcomes

Creative Writing Program graduates work as Authors, Journalists, Book Critics, Scriptwriters, Story Editors, Publicity Managers, Social Media Specialists, Reporters, Poets, Communication Directors, and Playwriters.

KCAI's Professional Practice Center will help you prepare for your career.

Sprung Formal and Compendium

Practice real-world editing and publishing skills through KCAI’s award-winning literary magazine Sprung Formal , and a compilation of writing and artwork in The Compendium .

Get professional experience interning in Kansas City and Paris

• BkMk Press  at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is an award-winning literary press that publishes an average of six titles a year and sponsors two annual publication awards for the best-submitted book-length manuscript . KCAI students interning at BkMk Press work with the Managing Editor on every aspect of the publishing process, from editing to designing book covers.
• New Letters on the Air is the radio companion to the literary magazine  New Letters and airs weekly conversations with contemporary writers. Interns work on all aspects of producing the show, from writing press releases to researching writers visiting the area.
• Shakespeare & Co. in Paris was first opened in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, who is responsible for fostering and publishing work by Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Ford Madox Ford. Students have the chance to intern at the bookstore and take a Travel Writing class as part of KCAI’s Paris Study Abroad Program.

Creative Writing Alumni

Creative Writing Program alumni work in a variety of fields and many earn advanced degrees at some of the country's top MFA programs.

Cornell Office of Undergraduate Admissions

Search cornell admissions, my double major experience.

As I was applying to college, I was mortified about locking into a “major.”  The blank space I was pondering over in my Cornell application was intimidating – after all, what I choose is going to define my future, right? Am I defining the rest of my life, through this one choice? How could I make such a weighty decision with a click of a button? 

Consider Common Themes

When trying to decide what to major in, I reflected upon all of my interests. On the one hand, I absolutely loved drawing. I even began developing a portfolio because for a while I believed that art school was my calling. On the other hand, a part of me was yearning to be an English major as I truly adored creative writing and literary analysis. But I also really enjoyed playing the violin throughout my time in high school…was I meant to be a music major?  

What I began to notice from all these passions (drawing, writing, and music) is that I’m a romantic for the art of expression . I’m obsessed with how stories are told through diverse channels and mediums, and how audiences receive these messages . And just like that, it clicked. The Communication major at Cornell was the right fit for me.  

After arriving at Cornell, I began to navigate through the coursework of the Communication major and fell more and more in love with the discipline. I developed a specific passion for persuasion and social influence, specifically how narratives/messaging can affect activism and global advocacy. I found myself wanting to delve further into this niche, realizing that a secondary major was my answer.  

Explore Complementary Interests

The Development Sociology major (now known as Global Development) served as the perfect complement to my studies in Communication. Through my coursework and projects, I was able to satisfy the side of me that thoroughly enjoyed research, human rights work, and policy. Understanding how structures in society function influences communication and discourse within communities. My background in Communication allows me to leverage stories as a mechanism that brings about solutions to society’s pressing issues in a sensitized, inclusive manner.  

Apply Lessons from the Classroom

Both majors are constantly informing my professional and personal experiences. This past summer I was an intern at the Sehgal Foundation in India as a CALS Global Fellow, where I researched how storytelling can contribute to women’s empowerment and political participation efforts (inspired by Ph.D. candidate Carolina Osorio Gil’s work). Now, I’m working as a science communications assistant at Cornell’s Food Systems and Global Change where I’m actively using storytelling to bring cutting-edge food science research from our academics to kitchen table conversation. In my personal life, I find that both my majors have aided in my role as a Resident Advisor as I support students from a variety of backgrounds, identities, and cultures.  

The “intended major” section of my application didn’t lock me in but instead, provided me with a wealth of opportunity. Through my journey at Cornell, I’m grateful for the ability to double major in disciplines that converse and build upon each other. I look forward to seeing how my background in Communication and Development Sociology will inform my future endeavors! 

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• Double & Dual Major Options in English

We encourage students with established majors in other departments and disciplines to think about the possibility of dual or double majoring with English. The various tracks within the English major  – literature, journalism, teaching, linguistics  – pair well with a number of other majors. We believe that students who have skill sets in two areas, not just one, may have a distinct advantage in a competitive marketplace.

Several possible major combinations with English are shown here. These are just some of the opportunities for interdisciplinary study at UNH with the English department. Students who are interested in learning about a double or dual major option specific to their current major are encouraged to contact the English department for assistance. 

Contact: Carla Cannizzaro ( [email protected] ), Academic Coordinator, Department of English. Please call (603) 862-1313 to set up an appointment with Carla or stop by Conant Hall, room 113 to request a meeting time.

English & Biology or Pre-Med

Biology and literature both inspire curiosity about human and non-human life forms; both require observation, investigation and experimentation; both depend on the imagination. For those considering a career in medicine or nursing, you'll learn how to reflect upon broader issues like the relationships between animals and humans, the meaning of pain, and the history of how we perceive racial and gender differences.

Suggested English courses to enhance your study of biology, nursing or/and pre-medicine:

• Trauma Studies (ENGL 787)
• Technical Writing (ENGL 502 or 602)
• Women in Literature (ENGL 585)
• Nature Writing (ENGL 521)
• Creative Nonfiction (ENGL 623)

... as well as a wealth of choices in literature, writing, linguistics and pedagogy.

English & Women's and Gender Studies

In English courses, students work alongside their professors to understand how gender intersects with issues of race/ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, and culture. You will develop your ability to work well in a team, to articulate your ideas on the fly, and to teach others. On the job market, these skills are especially invaluable for those interested in civic engagement, community building and thoughtful leadership.

Suggested English courses to enhance your women's and gender studies major:

• Major Women Writers (ENGL 785)
• Race and Gender in Film and Popular Culture (ENGL 778)
• Rise of Chick Lit: Jane Austen to Bridget Jones (ENGL 575)
• Women's Literary Traditions (ENGL 685)

English & Theatre

Actors who majored in English: Jodie Foster, Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, David Duchovny, Reese Witherspoon, Julie Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Paul Newman, James Franco, Emma Thompson, Sigourney Weaver.

As you can see from the list above, majoring in theatre and English is a well-worn path. As a double major, you'll be introduced to the history of theatrical writing in English. In our small classes, you will think about how these texts are relevant to the modern world and gain sensitivity to their carefully crafted language. You will also have the opportunity to discuss and write with clarity and precision. Whether you're preparing for a career in performance or in a related creative field, pairing English with theatre is a strong combination.

Suggested English courses to enhance Theatre studies:

• Shakespeare (ENGL 657)
• Modern Drama (ENGL 782)
• Comedy Seminar (ENGL 787)
• Film Adaptation (ENGL 616)
• Early British Drama (ENGL 680)

English & the Arts

An English-arts double major offers you the opportunity to compare the creative strategies of painters and poets, sculptors and novelists, installation artists and filmmakers. You'll learn how to grapple with complex texts, develop your verbal and written communication skills, and consider collaboration and teamwork. English study can open doors with art publications and institutions, and it will make you a more versatile, multi-faceted artist.

Suggested English courses to enhance your study of art or music:

• Milton (ENGL 759)
• Folklore: Roots Music (ENGL 693)
• Romantic Poetry (ENGL 769 or 770)
• Studies in American Poetry (ENGL 747)

English & Psychology

Psychology majors investigate thorny questions about emotions, self-worth, unconscious cognition and social group membership. An English double major allows students to continue such investigations from a literary angle; to think through issues relevant to both fields in areas of perceptions, deception, sensation, and reaction; and to write about the world around them.

Suggested English courses to enhance your study of psychology:

• Contemporary American Literature (ENGL 745)
• Studies in Film and Culture (ENGL 616)

English/Journalism & Political Science

The changing media landscape has made social media an important campaign tool. As such, political scientists need to understand traditional and digital media, as well as how to tell effective stories across platforms. A dual major in English/journalism and political science can prepare you to experiment with new ways to foster civic life and engage audiences and a marketable set of skills for graduate study or a career in politics.

Suggested English/journalism major includes courses that will enhance your study of political science:

• 21st Century Journalism (ENGL 534)
• Multimedia Storytelling (ENGL 712)
• Post-Colonial Literature (ENGL 581 or 777)
• War Cinema (ENGL 733)

English & Political Science or Pre-Law

Scholars in English and political science are interested in questions of political thought, power, freedom, justice, authority, civil liberties, multicultural theory, feminism, transnational cultures, and globalization. This dual major can prepare students for graduate programs in international relations and the law, as well as for jobs in government, media, and non-governmental agencies.

Suggested English courses to enhance your pre-law or political science studies:

• Ethnicity in America (ENGL 609)
• World Englishes (ENGL 606)

Journalism & Computer Science

The rise of digital communications and the social web have led to sweeping changes in information ecosystems. Editors and publishers need new graduates to experiment with new ways to tell stories, foster civic life and engage audiences. By studying English/journalism and computer science, you'll build this rare marketable skill set.

Suggested English courses to enhance your computer science studies:

• The Digital and Visual Essay (ENGL 501)
• Digital Literacies (ENGL 789 or 920)

English & Environmental Science

The onset of climate change demands real rethinking in scientific, technological and policymaking fields. Advocates for our ecosystem must not only understand science, but communicate cogently about its effects. Students of English and environmental science are driven by optimism, activism and the desire to do right – and write! – on behalf of the environment.

Suggested English courses to enhance your study of environmental science:

• Environmental Theory (ENGL 734)
• Literature & the Environment (ENGL 636)
• Romantic Poets (ENGL 769 or 770)

English & Computer Science

Cloud computing and mobile technologies now allow tomorrow's new ideas to transform established industries, but new graduates must become cogent writers and thinkers to analyze problems, pinpoint people's needs, and sell their ideas as thoughtful innovations. With an English and computer science major, you will develop these skills, useful and marketable in our rapidly changing world.

• Technical Writing (ENGL 502 or 602)
• Science Fiction (ENGL 555)
• Linguistic Analysis (ENGL 605)

English & Business or Economics

New businesspeople must become cogent writers and thinkers to analyze problems, pinpoint peoples' needs, and sell their innovative ideas. With an English double major, your knowledge of marketing, accounting and management will combine with writing skill, an understanding of storytelling, global perspective, and an awareness of cultural, racial and gender differences.

Suggested English courses to enhance your study of economics or business:

• Entrepreneurial Journalism (ENGL 735)

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The English Major: Creative Writing Option

Note!  The requirements below took effect in Summer 2022 .  If you declared your major before then, please see the old requirements .  If you have questions about which version of the major applies to you, please contact HAS .

The Creative Writing Concentration prepares students not only to be more effective communicators and artists, but also creative problem solvers and more nuanced critical thinkers. By situating small, student-oriented writing workshops alongside literary models, Creative Writing classes enhance the broader study of literature and critical theory, helping students gain a greater understanding of the social and cultural forces informing their work. A student completing the program is more able to situate themselves in a larger aesthetic and social context and make more meaningful, informed decisions about their own artistic practice. In addition, through the intense practice of creative writing, students are able to see the world more clearly, in a more nuanced and meaningful manner, and apply these skills to a wide variety of work and life situations.

This page describes the English Major Concentration in Creative Writing. For the major's other option, see English Language, Literature, and Culture ,.

Students enrolled in the Creative Writing Concentration will complete a major consisting of 65 ENGL credits, at least 30 of which must be completed in residence at the University of Washington. A maximum of 20 credits in 200-level courses may count toward the English major, and may be used to fulfill the distribution requirements.

Creative writing students’ coursework is distributed as follows:

• ENGL 202: Introduction to English Language and Literature
• A sequence of creative writing workshops: ENGL 283: Beginning Verse Writing, ENGL 284: Beginning Short Story Writing, ENGL 383: The Craft of Verse, and ENGL 384: The Craft of Prose
• 15 credits in Historical Depth
• 15 credits in Power and Difference
• Two 400-level Creative Writing seminars ( Please see the  400-level Creative Writing workshop registration instruction page  for instructions on registering for these courses)

Please note: Creative writing students do *not* need to complete either ENGL 302 (satisfied by 383 & 384) or the senior capstone (satisfied by two 400-level CW classes), required for the major in Language, Literature, and Culture. All creative writing courses satisfy the Genre, Method, and Language distribution area, so Creative Writing students do not need to complete this area separately.

Applying to Creative Writing:

Applicants to the Creative Writing option must have already declared, or be eligible to declare, the English: Language and Literature major .

Applications for the Creative Writing option are accepted in autumn, winter, and spring quarters only, and should be submitted through this online application form   by the third Friday of the quarter at 4:00pm . Applications to creative writing are not accepted in summer quarter.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to apply for the Creative Writing option, you must

• have already declared, or be ready to declare, the English major program ;
• have completed ENGL 202, 283 (beginning verse writing) and ENGL 284 (beginning short story writing) or transfer equivalents.

Application Procedure:

Please submit online ONE complete attachment that includes the items below, by 4:00pm on the third Friday of autumn, winter, or spring quarter (no applications accepted in summer):

1. Undergraduate Creative Writing Option Application (PDF)

RIGHT-click the above link and save it as a PDF to your computer. Fill out the form using Acrobat Reader. Save your changes. Then combine it with the following materials:

Transcripts for all college work completed, both at the UW and elsewhere (these are additional sets of transcripts, separate from the transcripts you will have supplied as part of your application for the major):

• Unofficial UW Transcript : Even if this is your first quarter after transferring to the UW, you should submit an unofficial UW transcript, available through the MyUW system ;
• Complete set of Unofficial transcripts from all schools from which you have transfer credit : We need the information contained in the complete transcript from each transfer school; the transfer summary on a UW unofficial transcript is not sufficient. Photocopies of transcripts are acceptable.

2. A Writing Sample of 3-5 poems and 5-10 pages of fiction (preferably a complete story). Fiction should be double-spaced, with 12pt font (Times New Roman) and 1" margins:

• Review writing sample guidelines and be sure to submit literary fiction and poetry
• Be sure to proofread carefully.

Admission decisions are based primarily on the potential a student exhibits in his or her writing sample - grades and GPAs are usually not at issue. Admission decisions are sent to applicants by e-mail, normally within two weeks of the application deadline.

Completion of the requirements above does not guarantee admission.

Students who are denied admission to the Creative Writing option will continue to be English majors, and may complete the requirements for the literature BA in English. They may apply for the Creative Writing option one additional time, but if they are denied admission then, they must complete the literature major or elect another major in another department.

Distribution Areas:

The majority of English courses are distributed among three overlapping areas: Historical Depth, Power & Difference, and Genre, Method, and Language. Creative Writing students are required to complete 15 credits in two of these areas, Historical Depth and Power & Difference, with the remainder of their coursework focusing on Creative Writing workshops. 

Some courses can count towards both "Historical Depth" or "Power & Difference"; however, each course can ultimately only be used to fulfill one requirement. For example, ENGL 351 is listed under both “Historical Depth” and “Power and Difference" but it will only count in one of those categories in a student's degree progress. The student may choose (and can change their mind, shuffling courses as long as they are enrolled).  Students noticing issues with how these classes are applying to the distribution areas in their degree audit can contact an advisor at   Humanities Academic Services Center  (HAS), A-2-B Padelford Hall  for support. 

Descriptions of each area, along with the courses fulfilling it, are available below. 

Historical Depth:

People have been speaking, reading, and writing in English for more than a thousand years, producing literature that is at once timeless and deeply informed by the time in which it was written. Cultural artifacts from the English-speaking world have shaped, and been shaped by, social movements and historical conditions around the globe, as has the language itself. With this in mind, English majors are required to take 15 credits focused on materials produced before 1945, with at least 5 of those credits focused on materials produced before 1700. Distributing coursework in this way helps students to understand the depth, richness, and variability of English literature, language, and culture across time, and dramatizes how the ways we organize history affect the stories we tell about it. These courses open up past worlds that are in some ways totally alien and in others very similar to our own, revealing that what seems real and true to us can radically alter over time. Entering into these past realities offers a new perspective on the present and develops our capacity to imagine alternative futures.

Historical Depth Courses:

• ENGL 210 Medieval and Early Modern Literature, 400 to 1600
• ENGL 211 Literature, 1500-1800
• ENGL 225 Shakespeare
• ENGL 310 The Bible as Literature
• ENGL 320 English Literature: The Middle Ages
• ENGL 321 Chaucer
• ENGL 322 Medieval & Early Modern Literatures of Encounter (P&D)
• ENGL 323 Shakespeare to 1603
• ENGL 324 Shakespeare after 1603
• ENGL 325 Early Modern English Literature
• ENGL 326 Milton (GML)
• ENGL 351: Writing in the Contact Zone: North America 1492 - 1800 (P&D)
• ENGL 376: Introduction to Middle English Language (HD)
• ENGL 422 Arthurian Legends (GML)
• ENGL 212 Literature, 1700-1900
• ENGL 300: Reading Major Texts (can also count as pre-1700 depending on texts)
• ENGL 303 History of Literary Criticism and Theory I (GML)
• ENGL 312 Jewish Literature: Biblical to Modern (P&D)
• ENGL 314: Transatlantic Literature and Culture (P&D)
• ENGL 315: Literary Modernism (GML)
• ENGL 327 Narratives of Bondage & Freedom (P&D)
• ENGL 328 Eighteenth Century Literature & Culture
• ENGL 329 Rise of the English Novel (GML)
• ENGL 330 English Literature: The Romantic Age
• ENGL 331 Globalization & Nationalism in the Age of Empire (P&D)
• ENGL 332 Nineteenth Century Poetry (GML)
• ENGL 333 Nineteenth Century Novel (GML)
• ENGL 335 English Literature: The Victorian Age
• ENGL 336 English Literature: Early Twentieth Century
• ENGL 337 The Modern Novel (GML)
• ENGL 338 Modern Poetry (GML)
• ENGL 352 Literatures of the United States to 1865 (P&D)
• ENGL 353 American Literature: Later Nineteenth Century
• ENGL 354 American Literature: Early Twentieth Century
• ENGL 373: History of the English Language (GML)
• ENGL 380: Special Topics in History
• ENGL 385: Global Modernism (P&D)

Power and Difference:

Literature, language, and culture have been shaped by and in turn shape systems of power. Such systems include capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, and hierarchies of race, status, caste, sex, gender, and sexuality. Over time, systems of power elevate some voices and stories and marginalize and silence others. English majors are required to take at least 15 credits focused on how systems of power operate in and through literature, language, and culture. These courses explore the evolving relationship of literature, language, and culture to structures of violence and dispossession and center critical perspectives that have been marginalized or silenced. They embrace alternative ways of learning about the past and present, and the impress of the former on the latter. They highlight the complex, sometimes contradictory ways in which literature and culture mediate systems of power. In so doing, Power and Difference courses foster our imagination of more just and equitable futures.

Power and Difference Courses:

• ENGL 207: Introduction to Cultural Studies (GML)
• ENGL 208: Data and Narrative (GML)
• ENGL 256: Introduction to Queer Cultural Studies (DIV) (GML)
• ENGL 257: Introduction to Asian American Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 258: Introduction to African American Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 259: Literature and Social Difference (DIV)
• ENGL 265: Introduction to Environmental Humanities (DIV, GML)
• ENGL 307: Cultural Studies
• ENGL 308: Marxism and Literary Theory
• ENGL 311: Modern Jewish Literature in Translation
• ENGL 312: Jewish Literature: Biblical to Modern (HD)
• ENGL 314: Transatlantic Literature and Culture (HD)
• ENGL 316: Postcolonial Literature and Culture (DIV)
• ENGL 317: Literature of the Americas (DIV)
• ENGL 318: Black Literary Genres (DIV, GML)
• ENGL 319: African Literatures (DIV)
• ENGL 322 Medieval & Early Modern Literatures of Encounter (HD)
• ENGL 327 Narratives of Bondage & Freedom (HD)
• ENGL 331 Globalization & Nationalism in the Age of Empire (HD)
• ENGL 339: Globalization & Contemporary World Literature (GML)
• ENGL 340: Irish Literature (P&D)
• ENGL 349: Science Fiction & Fantasy
• ENGL 351: Writing in the Contact Zone: North America 1492 - 1800 (HD)
• ENGL 352: American Literatures to 1865 (HD)
• ENGL 355: Contemporary American Literature
• ENGL 357: Jewish American Literature and Culture (DIV)
• ENGL 358: African American Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 359: Contemporary American Indian Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 361: American Political Culture After 1865 (DIV)
• ENGL 362: Latino Literary Genres (DIV, GML)
• ENGL 364: Literature & Medicine
• ENGL 365: Literature & Environment (GML, DIV)
• ENGL 366: Literature & Law
• ENGL 367: Gender Studies in Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 368: Women Writers (DIV)
• ENGL 372: World Englishes (DIV) (GML)
• ENGL 379: Special Topics in Power & Difference
• ENGL 385: Global Modernism (HD)
• ENGL 386: Asian American Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 466: Queer and LGBT Literature (DIV)
• ENGL 478: Language and Social Policy (DIV) (GML)
• ENGL 479: Language Variation and Language Policy in North America (DIV, GML)
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Major in Creative Writing

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."

-- Joan Didion

Does your love of literature go beyond scholarship? Are you an aspiring author who wants to add a practical, hands-on component to your university education? Then you've come to the right place: UTSC is the only campus at UofT where you can earn a Major in Creative Writing. Our dedicated faculty take a workshop-based, experiential approach to the study and practice of the literary arts. This means that while you learn how classic and contemporary authors pursue their craft, you also take the exciting first steps towards building your own writing practice.

Our Major program places a particular emphasis on professionalization and how to make your way as a writer in the real world. Our teaching faculty are active and award-winning writers themselves, and the program stream culminates in a practical seminar on "Creative Writing as a Profession." You will also benefit from working each year with a new  Writer-in-Residence , and you will have the opportunity to connect with our close-knit and active creative writing alumni network, including recent graduates who have already had their work published.

As a creative writing student you will be part of a vibrant undergraduate community, and have access to a jam-packed calendar of readings, talks, festivals, and other events (just scan  our Events page  to see what's happened in the past and coming up in the future). You can also participate in C.O.W. (our creative writing club), enter contests, and get published in the UTSC arts journal  Scarborough Fair.

There is no better place to immerse yourself in the literary arts than Toronto, the heart of Canada's publishing industry. Join UTSC's growing community of creative writers, and learn how to make your own literary mark on the world.

Here is a route map for navigating the Creative Writing Major (you can expand the map by right-clicking or option-clicking):

How to Apply to the Major in Creative Writing

Students may apply to the Major in Creative Writing after they have completed  ENGA03H3  and have accumulated a minimum of 4.0 credits. Students typically apply at the end of their first year.

To apply, applicants must complete two steps:

1. Applicants must request entry to the program on ACORN during the application period as outlined below.

2. Applicants must submit a portfolio for adjudication during the application period as outlined below.

The Portfolio:

The portfolio must be 15-20 pages of the applicant’s best writing in poetry, fiction (either short stories or selections from a longer work), and/or creative non-fiction. Portfolios may include work completed in ENGA03H3 and/or work completed prior to admission to UTSC. The portfolio must be accompanied by a brief letter of application (1–2 pages) addressed to the Program Advisor in Creative Writing. The letter should discuss the applicant’s experience as a writer, their future goals in the creative writing program, and a work of literature that has inspired them.

Application Periods:

There are two application periods for the Creative Writing Program, one in March/April for students applying at the end of the Winter session (Round 1), and one in June/July for students applying at the end of the Summer session (Round 2). Students should visit the  Office of the Registrar website  for the exact dates of these periods, and make sure to apply on ACORN and submit their portfolios by the end of these periods. (Please note: Creative Writing is considered a “limited enrolment program.”)

How to Submit Portfolios:

Portfolios and letters should be submitted as one document to  [email protected]  by the end of the chosen application period. (Don’t forget: applicants also need to request entry to the program on ACORN by this deadline.) Students who are not successful in their first attempt are eligible to apply again. These students must submit a new portfolio and letter of application by the deadlines outlined above.

A Note on Creative Writing Course Enrolments:

Creative Writing courses at UTSC are usually workshop-based and capped at 20 students. Enrolment is prioritized for students who have taken the prerequisites and are already enrolled in either the Minor or Major in Creative Writing. That said, there is occasionally room in our courses for students who are not studying creative writing intensively. If you are a non-first year student who is not enrolled in the program but would like to apply for a B-level Creative Writing course, please submit a course-specific portfolio (including your student number). Here are the details and contacts:

-  ENGB60 Creative Writing: Poetry I : Email 5-10 pages of poetry to  [email protected] . Please note if you are applying for the F or S term.

-  ENGB61 Creative Writing: Fiction I : Email 5-10 pages of fiction or other prose writing to  [email protected] .  Please note if you are applying for the F or S term.

-  ENGB63 Creative Writing: Non-Fiction I : Email 5-10 pages of non-fiction, fiction, or other prose writing to  [email protected] .

To start your creative writing journey at UTSC:

If you are a first-year student and/or new to Creative Writing, your first step should be to enrol in  ENGA03H3 Introduction to Creative Writing . This is the prerequisite for entry into the Creative Writing program. Most students take this course in their first year, and then apply for entry to the program once they’ve completed it.

If you have any questions, please email:  [email protected] . We are happy to help and look forward to receiving and reading your work!

Program Requirements

Students in the Major must complete  7.5 credits  as follows: 

1. 3.0 credits:

ENGA03H3  Introduction to Creative Writing ENGB60H3  Creative Writing: Poetry I ENGB61H3  Creative Writing: Fiction I ENGB63H3  Creative Non-Fiction I ENGD95H3  Creative Writing as a Profession ENGC86H3  Creative Writing: Poetry II or  ENGC87H3  Creative Writing: Fiction II or  ENGC88H3  Creative Non-Fiction II

2. 2.0 credits to be selected from: 

ENGC04H3  Creative Writing: Screenwriting ENGC05H3  Creative Writing: Poetry and New Media ENGC06H3  Creative Writing: Writing for Comics ENGC08H3  Special Topics in Creative Writing I ENGC24H3  Creative Writing: The Art of the Personal Essay ENGC86H3  Creative Writing: Poetry II (if not already counted as a required course) ENGC87H3  Creative Writing: Fiction II (if not already counted as a required course) ENGC88H3  Creative Non-Fiction II (if not already counted as a required course) ENGC89H3  Creative Writing and Performance ENGD22H3  Special Topics in Creative Writing II ENGD26Y3  Independent Studies in Creative Writing: Poetry ENGD27Y3  Independent Studies in Creative Writing: Prose ENGD28Y3  Independent Studies in Creative Writing: Special Topics

3. 2.5 Additional credits in English

Note:  A maximum of 1.0 credit in creative writing courses may be taken at another campus.

For more details on program requirements, visit the   UTSC Calendar . Questions about the program should be directed to Professor Andrew Westoll ( [email protected] ). 

Interested in learning more about how our courses are structured and how you might develop your own path through your Minor in Creative Writing? Visit our  Routes and Threads  page.

This degree is approved for distance education by the WSCUC.

Bachelor of Arts in English

Program planners for each option are available on the Department website or in the Department office. Students should consult with Department faculty advisors when choosing a program in English and regularly as they progress towards their degrees.

The Department of English can refer students to one of the coordinating faculty advisors. Regular office hours for all English faculty are posted near the Department office, and information sheets are available detailing which faculty members regularly advise for specific options.

ENGL 100B   , a general education foundation course, is not part of any English option. Some options permit or require courses from other departments; if approved by a faculty advisor, options may also include other courses outside English. Because some courses meet requirements in several options, students can often change options with no significant loss of credit towards the required total; students also regularly double major in two options in English.

In addition to the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in English, English majors must meet the following requirements for University graduation:

• Each lower division course counted towards the English major must be completed with a grade of “C” or better. A course in which a grade lower than a “C” is received must be retaken and successfully completed prior to enrolling in any course for which it is a prerequisite.
• ENGL 380   , required of all English majors, must be completed with a grade of “C” or better. If a grade lower than a “C” is received, ENGL 380    must be retaken and successfully completed with a grade of “C” or better prior to enrolling in any course for which it is a prerequisite.

Option in Creative Writing

(120 units)

The Creative Writing option is designed for students who wish to write as well as study fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction. Exposure to traditional and recent literature is essential for anyone seeking to master the forms and conventions of writing creatively for the literary marketplace.

This option consists of 45 units, 31 of which must be taken in the upper division, including the following:

Lower Division:

Take all of the following (11 units total):.

• ENGL 180 - Appreciation of Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 250A - Survey of English Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 250B - Survey of English Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 270A - Survey of American Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 270B - Survey of American Literature (4 units)

Take one of the following:

• ENGL 204 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 205 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Fiction (3 units)
• ENGL 206 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)

Upper Division:

Take one of the following courses (3 units):.

• ENGL 304 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 305 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction (3 units)
• ENGL 306 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 307 - Intermediate Creative Writing: The Novel (3 units)

Take the following:

• ENGL 380 - Approaches to English Studies (4 units)

Take nine units from the following:

• ENGL 404 - Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 405 - Creative Writing: Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 406 - Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 407 - Creative Writing: Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 499 - Directed Studies (1-3 units)

Take three of the following classes in recent literature, literary genres, major writers, and literary criticism:

• ENGL 340 - American Indian Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 370 - Chicana/o and Latina/o Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 385 - The Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 386 - Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 459 - English Literature of the Twentieth Century (1900‑Present) (3 units)
• ENGL 460 - Anglophone Postcolonial Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 466 - Irish Literature in English (3 units)
• ENGL 467A - The English Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 467B - The English Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 469 - Selected Topics - Major English Writers (4 units)
• ENGL 470 - American Ethnic Literatures (3 units)
• ENGL 474 - Twentieth-Century American Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 475 - The American Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 476A - American Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 476B - American Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 477A - The American Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 477B - The American Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 478 - American Drama (3 units)
• ENGL 479 - Selected Topics - Major American Writers (4 units)

Take electives to make up a total of 45 units chosen from the classes listed above and/or any upper-division English courses.

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Three Graduating Seniors Honored as Louis B. Sudler Prize Winners

• Post published: May 8, 2024

Three graduating seniors were awarded this year’s Louis B. Sudler Prize, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the performing and creative arts, including fine arts, music, creative writing, theatre, and electronic/photographic arts. 

Presented each year by the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, recipients of the Louis B. Sudler Prize must be members of the senior graduating class and demonstrate outstanding achievement in the performing or creative arts and show promise for future achievement.

The 2024 Louis B. Sudler Prize recipients are:

Meleah Acuff

Jasmine brocks-matthews.

This year’s recipients were recognized during the Spring 2024 College of Arts & Letters commencement ceremony.

Meleah Acuff graduated in Spring 2024 from Michigan State University with a BFA in Acting for Stage, Screen, and New Media and a minor in Musical Theater. Throughout her academic journey, Acuff demonstrated exceptional talent and dedication to her craft, leaving a lasting impact on both her peers and the broader community.

As a versatile performer, Acuff excels in both dramatic and comedic roles, captivating audiences with her depth of emotion and range. Her recent portrayal of the lead role in What if Wilhelmina received high praise for its neurodiverse perspective and progressive cultural themes, further solidifying her reputation as a standout talent in the field.

In addition to her artistic achievements, Acuff is a dedicated student and supportive peer. Her commitment to community outreach and inclusion is evident in her involvement with organizations such as DIGGIN’, where she works to create a supportive space for African American women in the arts.

“Meleah’s passion for the arts is infectious, and she has a natural ability to inspire those around her,” wrote Brad Willcuts , Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre, in his nomination letter. “She approaches every project with a positive attitude and a willingness to collaborate with her fellow students and faculty. Her professionalism and work ethic are exemplary, and she is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure the success of a production.”

“Meleah’s passion for the arts is infectious, and she has a natural ability to inspire those around her…Her professionalism and work ethic are exemplary, and she is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure the success of a production.” Brad Willcuts, Associate Professor of Theatre

Looking ahead, Acuff plans to pursue a career in the performing arts, focusing on youth education through theater. Inspired by her experiences growing up, she aims to establish a non-profit organization that provides arts education opportunities for youth in marginalized communities. Through her passion for the arts and dedication to fostering community and inclusivity, Acuff is poised to make a meaningful impact in both the artistic and social spheres.

Jasmine Brocks-Matthews graduated in Spring 2024 with a BFA in Studio Art, specializing in Painting. Her passion for art ignited at the age of 5, and with unwavering encouragement from her family, she has chased her dreams.

During her sophomore year, Jasmine recognized that she had suppressed her voice in her artwork due to fear of vulnerability and judgment. Overcoming these challenges, she found solace and empowerment in art, using it to amplify her voice and shed light on the experiences of herself and others who share her identity as a Black female artist.

“In a competitive field with many worthy nominees, Jasmine stands out for the intelligence of her work, her commitment to the discipline of painting, and her potential to make a significant impact on visual culture in the United States,” wrote Tani Hartman , Chairperson of the Department of Art, Art History and Design, in her nomination letter. “Her trajectory as an artist seems clear and feasible in that we expect her to be admitted to and to attend a prestigious MFA Program and then to teach, exhibit nationally and internationally, and bring her insights regarding African American personhood within the conflicted culture and tortured history of the United States into prominent dialogue.”

“In a competitive field with many worthy nominees, Jasmine stands out for the intelligence of her work, her commitment to the discipline of painting, and her potential to make a significant impact on visual culture in the United States.” Tani Hartman, Chairperson of the Department of Art, Art History and Design

Recognized for her exceptional talent and dedication to painting, Brocks-Matthews already has received numerous awards and accolades for her work. Brocks-Matthews commitment to her craft and ambition to challenge herself also made her a standout candidate for the Ralph Henrickson Award, an honor bestowed upon the top senior painting student.

Following graduation, Brocks-Matthews is now taking a gap year to continue her artistic journey and is applying to MFA graduate programs. She aims to further explore and amplify the untold stories of Black individuals. She aspires for her art to bring about positive change and healing within her community, believing that vulnerability holds its own beauty.

Doug Mains, a nontraditional student in his mid-30s, plans to graduate from Michigan State University in December 2024 with a B.A. in English, focusing on Creative Writing, and a minor in Linguistics. Despite the challenges of balancing family responsibilities and financial obligations, Mains decided to return to school to pursue his passion for writing, a journey fueled by his lifelong dedication to the written word.

From a young age, Mains found solace and expression through songwriting. At age 18, he began performing, recording albums, and touring the country. In 2013, he entered and was selected for the finals of a songwriting contest in Decatur, Georgia, and won second place next to the now-famous Tyler Childers.

However, his true calling emerged when he rediscovered his love for writing. Mains honed his craft through self-study, participation in writer’s groups, and freelance writing before embarking on his academic journey at MSU.

“Doug is an exemplary nonfiction writer. He is an avid reader and deft literary critic who is able to analyze the structures and rhetorical turns in a piece of writing and then try them out in his work,” wrote Department of English faculty Professor Robin Silbergleid , Assistant Professor Tim Conrad , and Associate Professor and Director of Creative Writing Divya Victor in Mains’ nomination letter. “This is not to say that his writing is derivative; rather, that he’s the rare student among the creative writing concentration who understands the centrality of literary history to the production of original creative work.”

“Doug is an exemplary nonfiction writer. He is an avid reader and deft literary critic who is able to analyze the structures and rhetorical turns in a piece of writing and then try them out in his work.” Robin Silbergleid, Tim Conrad, and Divya Victor, Department of English faculty

Beyond his academic achievements, Mains is a central figure in the creative writing community at MSU. His participation in Live Lit, an undergraduate reading series, showcases his multifaceted artistic talents, including his musical prowess and lyrical depth.

As he prepares to graduate, Mains is poised to make a significant impact in the literary world. His dedication to his craft, intellectual curiosity, and artistic vision set him apart as a leader and innovator in creative writing. With aspirations to pursue an MFA and a career in teaching and publishing, Mains’ journey is a testament to his unwavering commitment to the art of storytelling.

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