Study with award-winning teachers and professional writers. Develop editing and production skills by working on Reed Magazine, one of the oldest literary journals in the West. Prepare for a variety of careers in teaching, career and technical writing, or advanced study in English, law and medicine. The Department of English and Comparative Literature offers programs in English, American, world, and comparative literature, and creative and professional writing. Our MA prepares students for teaching careers or doctoral studies. Our MFA in creative writing trains professional writers in the history and craft of poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, script- and screen-writing. Home to the Steinbeck Fellows and the Lurie Visiting Distinguished Author programs, the department also houses the Centre for Literary Arts, which brings distinguished poets, fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers to campus to give public readings.

The undergraduate concentration in Creative Writing invites students to become involved in the creation of new literary art. Like all English majors, Creative Writing concentrators begin their studies with the three-course Transatlantic survey sequence, giving them a solid grounding in literary history. Later, they take writing workshops in various genres, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and scriptwriting.