| . . . |
| . . . |
When you study creative writing as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, you place yourself in a tradition that includes such major American writers as Theodore Roethke, Arthur Miller, Marge Piercy, and Jane Kenyon. You hone your tools as an artist; you test and expand the limits of your imagination. Along the way, you write a few pieces that, in the words of Robert Frost (the university’s first Fellow in Creative Arts), “will be hard to get rid of.”
Our undergraduate faculty is comprised of award-winning novelists, short story writers, and poets. (In this, too, a tradition is extended: former faculty members include W. H. Auden, Donald Hall, Robert Hayden, and Lorna Goodison.) Classes are designed to expose students to important works from the past and to innovative new works (including those that blur conventional boundaries of genre). We imagine creative writing to be a kind of conversation: one that dates back several millennia and now welcomes new voices, both on the page and in the classroom.
The University of Michigan English Department is home to the Avery Hopwood Awards, one of the country's most famous student writing prizes. All students enrolled in writing courses are eligible to enter the contests. The list of previous winners, all University of Michigan students, includes Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners, best-selling authors, major screenplay writers, and recipients of MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowships.
| . . . |
Students interested in creative writing should begin with English 223-Creative Writing. English 223 provides an introduction to the reading and writing of poetry and prose and to the workshop method of critiquing student writing. After successful completion of 223, a student can declare the Creative Writing Minor. The minor is designed for majors in other LSA departments and schools at the University of Michigan, and is not open to English majors.
By the end of English 223, students will be able to choose their specialization (poetry, prose fiction, or creative non-fiction), advance to the next level of coursework (323 - Fiction Writing, 324 - Poetry Writing, or 325 - Art of the Essay), and declare the Creative Writing Minor. Each required course allows students to build skills in and awareness of the practice of either poetry or prose fiction.
The Creative Writing Minor course sequence is:
- 223 - Creative Writing
- 323 - Creative Writing: Fiction OR 324 - Creative Writing: Poetry OR 325 - Art of the Essay
- 423 - Advanced Fiction Writing* OR 424 - Adv. Poetry Writing* OR 425- Adv. Essay Writing*
*423, 424, and 425 will satisfy the ULWR - 9 additional credits of English Language or Literature Courses. Students may include a creative writing course in a genre other than the one in which they are focusing.
How to Declare
After successful completion of English 223, students should schedule an appointment with an English advisor to declare and make a course plan. Students declared as Creative Writing Minors will receive priority registration for English 323 and 324, so it is important to declare the minor soon after a specialization is selected.
English Creative Writing Minor advising appointments can be scheduled at: Advising Appointments.
Cody Walker
Director, Undergraduate Program in Creative Writing
jcodyw@umich.edu
