Welcome to the undergraduate Creative Writing Program. Located in the very heart of literary Greenwich Village, the undergraduate program offers students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the writing life with workshops, readings, internships, writing prizes, and events designed to cultivate and inspire.
Our distinguished faculty of award-winning poets, novelists, short story writers, and memoirists represents a wide array of contemporary aesthetics. In recent years, our creative writing instructors have been the recipients of Pulitzer Prizes, National Book and National Book Critics Circle Awards, NEA Fellowships, Guggenheim Fellowships, Pushcart Prizes, a Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Whiting Writers Award.
Our popular Minor in Creative Writing provides students with an exciting progression of coursework, ranging from an introduction to the fundamentals of the craft to more advanced explorations of specific forms, techniques, and genres. Courses are offered in New York, as well as at a number of NYU Study Away sites. Intensive Seminars—to which students may apply following completion of the foundational Creative Writing: Intro to Fiction & Poetry course (or equivalent)—provide intensive mentoring and guidance for select undergraduate writers. Recent Intensive Seminar faculty have included Chris Adrian, Emily Barton, Jo Ann Beard, Anne Carson & Robert Currie, Junot Díaz, Michael Dickman, Aleksandar Hemon, Marie Howe, David Lipsky, Sarah Manguso, Rick Moody, Eileen Myles, Meghan O'Rourke, Susan Orlean, Jess Row, Zadie Smith, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Darin Strauss, Colson Whitehead, and Rachel Zucker.
Students seeking intensive summer study with acclaimed faculty can choose from three exciting undergraduate summer writing programs: Writers in Florence, Writers in New York, and Writers in Paris. These programs offer writers opportunities to develop their craft while living the writer’s life in Florence, Greenwich Village, or Paris. Each intensive program is four weeks and awards eight points of credit. In addition to these summer programs, we offer three-week workshops during the January Term and several on-campus summer workshops during both of NYU's six-week summer sessions.
The Undergraduate Creative Writing Program also has a strong presence outside of the classroom. Students are encouraged to attend our Reading Series, participate in departmental writing contests and special events for undergraduates, explore internship opportunities, keep abreast of literary news and events via our Undergraduate Listserv, and contribute to our undergraduate literary journal, West 10th, as writers or editors.
If you have questions about the undergraduate Creative Writing Program, please look over our Undergraduate FAQ or contact us by phone (212-998-8816) or email (creative.writing@nyu.edu).