Writing
We’ve established a simple application process for courses offered by the School of the Arts this summer, including courses in Creative Writing. Please visit Arts in the Summer with the School of the Arts for details.
The Undergraduate Creative Writing Program at Columbia offers workshops and craft seminars in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Students in Columbia College and the School of General Studies can apply to the creative writing major, or they can take creative writing courses as electives. We serve an amalgam of students from Columbia College, The School of General Studies, non-degree students from the School of Professional Studies, and students from other undergraduate and graduate divisions of the University. For more information, please see our website: arts.columbia.edu/writing
Check the Directory of Classes for the most up-to-date course information.
Summer 2022 Session Information
- SESSION A (First Half Term) courses are May 23–July 1, 2022
- SESSION B (Second Half Term) courses are July 5–August 12, 2022
- SESSION X (Full Term) courses are May 23–August 12, 2022
Please note, some courses may be open only to students in the major. This can verified in the Directory of Classes by viewing the course rules under the "Open To" field.
Courses
FICTION WORKSHOP
WRIT1001S001 3 points.
The Fiction Writing Workshop is designed for students who have little or no experience writing imaginative prose. Students are introduced to a range of craft concerns through exercises and discussions, and eventually produce their own writing for the critical analysis of the class. Outside readings supplement and inform the exercises and longer written projects. Enrollment limited to 15.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1001S001 | 001/10189 | Session A |
Mo 05:30 PM–08:40 PM We 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Erroll McDonald |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
FICTION WORKSHOP
WRIT1001S002 3 points.
The Fiction Writing Workshop is designed for students who have little or no experience writing imaginative prose. Students are introduced to a range of craft concerns through exercises and discussions, and eventually produce their own writing for the critical analysis of the class. Outside readings supplement and inform the exercises and longer written projects. Enrollment limited to 15.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1001S002 | 002/10196 | Session B |
Tu 05:30 PM–08:40 PM Th 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Madelaine Lucas |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
BEGINNING FICTION WORKSHOP
WRIT1100K001 3 points.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1100K001 | 001/10191 | Session A |
Mo 01:00 PM–04:10 PM We 01:00 PM–04:10 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Jessi Stevens |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
NONFICTION WRITING WORKSHOP
WRIT1101S002 3 points.
The Nonfiction Writing Workshop is designed for students new to the practice of such genres as reportage, criticism, biography and memoir. Various techniques are explored through exercises and other assignments. Critique of student work is supplemented by outside readings.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1101S002 | 002/10197 | Session B |
Mo 05:30 PM–08:40 PM We 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Robert Dewhurst |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP
WRIT1201S001 3 points.
The Poetry Writing Workshop is designed for all students with a serious interest in poetry writing, from those who lack significant workshop experience or training in the craft of poetry to seasoned workshop participants looking for new challenges and perspectives on their work. Students will be assigned writing exercises emphasizing such aspects of verse composition as the poetic line, the image, rhyme and other sound devices, verse forms, repetition, collage, and others. Students will also read an variety of exemplary work in verse, submit brief critical analyses of poems, and critique each others original work.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1201S001 | 001/10188 | Session A |
Tu 05:30 PM–08:40 PM Th 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Timothy Donnelly |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP
WRIT1201S002 3 points.
The Poetry Writing Workshop is designed for all students with a serious interest in poetry writing, from those who lack significant workshop experience or training in the craft of poetry to seasoned workshop participants looking for new challenges and perspectives on their work. Students will be assigned writing exercises emphasizing such aspects of verse composition as the poetic line, the image, rhyme and other sound devices, verse forms, repetition, collage, and others. Students will also read an variety of exemplary work in verse, submit brief critical analyses of poems, and critique each others original work.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT1201S002 | 002/10195 | Session B |
Tu 05:30 PM–08:40 PM Th 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Dorothea Lasky |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
ART WRITING FOR WRITERS
WRIT3215W001 3 points.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Department approval NOT required.
In this course, we will look at some of the most dynamic examples of "visual writing." To begin, we will look at writers writing about art, from the Romantic period through the present. The modes of this art writing we will consider include: the practice of ekphrasis (poems which address or derive their inspiration from a work of art); writers such as Ralph Ellison, Amiri Baraka, John Ashbery, and Eileen Myles, who for periods of their lives worked as art critics; writers such as Etel Adnan and Alexander Kulge, who have produced literature and works of art in equal measure; as well as numerous collaborations between writers and visual artists. We will also look at artists who have written essays and poetry throughout their careers, like artists Robert Smithson, Glenn Ligon, David Wojnarowicz, Moyra Davey, Paul Chan, and Hannah Black, as well as professional critics whose work has been elevated to the status of literature, such as Hilton Als, Janet Malcolm, and Susan Sontag. Lastly, we will consider what it means to write through a “milieu” of sonic and visual artists, such as those associated with Dada, the Harlem Renaissance, the New York School, and Moscow Conceptualism. Throughout the course, students will also be prompted to write with and about current art exhibitions and events throughout the city. They will produce original works in various of the modes described above and complete a final writing project that incorporates what they have learned.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT3215W001 | 001/10192 | Session A |
Mo 05:30 PM–08:40 PM We 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Thomas Donovan |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS
WRIT4313S001 3 points.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT4313S001 | 001/10198 | Session B |
Tu 09:00 AM–12:10 PM Th 09:00 AM–12:10 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Peter Catalanotto |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
TRAVEL WRITING
WRIT4320S001 3 points.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT4320S001 | 001/10187 | Session A |
Mo 05:30 PM–08:40 PM We 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Porter Fox |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
WRITING THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
WRIT4323S001 3 points.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT4323S001 | 001/10193 | Session B |
Tu 01:00 PM–04:10 PM Th 01:00 PM–04:10 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Emily Austin |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |
HOW TO WRITE FUNNY
WRIT4810S001 3 points.
Course Number | Section/Call Number | Session | Times/Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WRIT4810S001 | 001/10194 | Session B |
Mo 05:30 PM–08:40 PM We 05:30 PM–08:40 PM |
|
Instructor | Points | Enrollment | Method of Instruction | |
Patricia Marx |
3 |
Open for Enrollment (auto-fill Wait List) |
In-Person |