Overview
Courses taught by accomplished, published writers in the English department cover creative writing, screenwriting, advanced creative writing in fiction and in poetry, playwriting, environmental writing, creative nonfiction, humor writing, spiritual writing, and new media.
Students can take independent studies and honors thesis courses in which they write collections of imaginative work, including novellas, short stories, screenplays, poetry, plays, creative nonfiction, and hybrid forms. Most courses offered through the English department are writing-intensive, and a concentration in writing allows students to gain broad exposure and practice in a variety of writing genres.
MacKnight Black Poetry Competition winner Michele Tallarita ’12 reads her poem titled “Hotel U” at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Opportunities for students to find their creative-writing voices are plentiful outside the classroom. The Marquis Literary Society publishes the student literary magazine, The Marquis. Students also can attend readings and meet writers visiting campus, and give public readings of their own work to enthusiastic audiences. Students are invited to meet with and hear the work of the Closs Visiting-Writer-in-Residence, compete in a flash fiction contest, and participate in a writing marathon in which plentiful writing prompts are provided to inspire participants’ writing. Students compete in two poetry competitions, judged by award-winning poets. Student winners of the competitions present their work at a public reading, preceding at the podium the acclaimed poets who judge the competitions.