Program Description

The Lilly Lieb Port Creative Writing Program is designed for talented students who are dedicated to becoming the fiction writers and poets of the 21st century. Creative writing students are carefully trained to approach writing as a discipline and to master the art of reading. Valuable experience with the multiple techniques of poetry and fiction is gained in seminars, workshops, and lecture courses, taught by professional writers-in-residence and the creative writing faculty. This highly selective program emphasizes individual attention, while encouraging all students to explore their own writing styles and to experiment with a range of forms and genres.

Applicants may be either prospective first-year students or transfer students. All applicants must submit a portfolio containing:

1. a completed one-page questionnaire: PDF | Rich Text Format
2. samples of their fiction or poetry
3. a short essay describing their strengths and weaknesses as a writer
4. two letters of recommendation from instructors familiar with the applicant’s writing

Program Faculty

Requirements for the Major

• Narrative Techniques
• Poetic Techniques
• Two courses in the student’s chosen concentration (fiction or poetry)
• Three advanced literature courses
• One advanced writing seminar in the student’s chosen concentration (fiction or poetry)
• Senior Colloquium
• Senior Project

Representative Courses

Narrative Techniques
Poetic Techniques
Fiction Writing I & II
Travel Writing
Writing and the Unconscious
The Art of the Novella
The Screenplay
Editing and Production Workshop
Constructing Truths: The Personal Essay
Poetry Writing I & II
Advanced Seminar in Fiction Writing
Advanced Seminar in Poetry Writing
South Asian Literature
Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
James Joyce
Realism and Naturalism in U.S. Literature
U.S. Poetry
Feminism and Culture
Contemporary U.S. Literature

Representative Writers-in-Residence and Guest Speakers

Edward Albee
Michael Cunningham
Hettie Jones
Jamaica Kincaid
Sheila Kohler
Jacqueline Kolosov
Tony Kushner
Jhumpa Lahiri
Rick Moody
Sharon Olds
Marjane Satrapi
Robert Seidman
Art Spiegelman
Hannah Tinti
Cecilia Vicuña
Derek Walcott
Tom Wolfe

Representative Alumni

• Brian J. Bieniowski ’00, managing editor, Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine
• Daniel Donatacci ’04, MFA in creative writing (poetry), City College of New York; joint MA/PhD student, Brandeis University
• Lauren Novack ’01, senior copywriter, Biolumina
• Zachary Wood ’09, assistant editor, The Hudson Review

For more information, visit the Creative Writing site in Academic Programs.

Updated April 30, 2010