About this Program

• Participate in creative writing workshops in which you will generate your own work and in craft classes in which you will learn from the work of established writers.
• Pair your creative writing major with another major and expand your horizons by exploring multiple areas of interest, including journalism, history, information science, biology and applied mathematics.
• Learn from faculty-writers, graduate students enrolled in Syracuse’s renowned M.F.A. in creative writing program, and the well-established Raymond Carver Reading Series.
• Meet with talented faculty and visiting writers for guidance as you hone your own writing skills.
• Partake in one of literature’s highest goals: to give voice to a plurality of experiences and worldviews.
• Learn from assigned readings that represent various cultures, classes, modes of experience and cultures.
• Live in the Creative Writing Living Learning Community, where first-year students create friendships, network with faculty and established authors through public readings and dinners, and explore their passion for reading and writing poetry, fiction, graphic novels, creative nonfiction and any other type of writing.

CW Undergraduate Program

The creative writing major is 30 credits and combines a grounding in literary study with a workshop-style focus on writing. Students will learn to effectively use language to create complex and emotionally powerful experiences in the form of stories, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Coursework will include literature, creative writing workshops and craft classes. Creative writing workshops focus on the students’ own creative work, while craft classes such as Reading and Writing Poetry and Fairytales in Fiction are classes where students “read like writers” – learning craft and literary techniques from the work of established writers. The creative writing minor requires students to take 18 credits of craft classes and creative writing workshops.

Students in the B.A. program can utilize myriad creative writing resources, including the well-established Raymond Carver Reading Series, opportunities to meet with visiting writers and highly talented graduate students who will help guide undergraduates, and an undergraduate creative writing club called “Write Out.”

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