Creative Writing

The creative writing minor for English majors allows students to take four creative writing classes. This increases the total number of required courses for the English major from 10 to 14. A typical course of study for this option is:

• Two theory courses
• Three pre-1800 courses
• Four English creative writing courses (at 3000 level or above).
• Six literature electives (at 3000 level or above). Two of these courses may be cognate courses.

The minor in creative writing for students in majors other than English consists of:

• Four four-credit courses which must be drawn from 3000-level and above English creative writing courses.
  • One of these creative writing courses may be a cross-listed course. (The exception to this rule is COMM 2211: Journalism Workshop.)
  • Independent studies, approved by the director of creative writing, are also accepted.

• Two advanced courses (3000-level and above) in literature offered through the English department. Cognate courses (3000-level and above) and courses meeting literature requirements in the classics department, the literary studies program, or the modern languages department may be utilized to fulfill this requirement.

The creative writing concentration within the English major consists of 11 Courses:

• One theory course
• Five literature electives
• Four creative writing courses
• One capstone course (this would be a four-credit class)

The English department also offers an honors option for seniors with a GPA of 3.6 or higher in English who wish to do an ambitious piece of research and writing under the individual direction of faculty or in conjunction with a senior seminar (maximum length is 40 pages double-spaced). Faculty advisers can be any full-time faculty member or writer in residence.

Our creative writing students attend the annual Reid Writers of Color Reading Series, featuring acclaimed national and international writers such as Tommy Orange, Tracy K. Smith, and Terrance Hayes.

Students are able to join the staff of CURA: A Literary Magazine of Art & Action. Contributors to CURA have won Rockefeller, Guggenheim, American Book, and National Endowment for the Arts awards.

Featuring year-round public readings by noted and emerging poets, the Poetic Justice Institute also sponsors a book series that issues two new full-length volumes of poetry annually, awarding publication and honoraria to the best manuscripts submitted in an international competition.

The award-winning Lincoln Center campus newspaper, The Observer, is one of the few campus papers in the nation with a literary section, and in 2015 was named a best college newspaper by The Princeton Review.

Students who minor in creative writing develop considerable strengths as writers, speakers, and critical thinkers, which prepares them for a range of careers after graduation.

Many creative writing students have pursued successful careers in medicine, law, finance, teaching, and social work, in addition to publishing, journalism, and creative writing. You’ll find some of our more recent graduates editing and publishing at firms like Penguin and MacMillan, writing for publications like Mashable, and pursuing graduate study in top programs such as those at Columbia and the University of Chicago.