INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS
This popular introductory workshop offers an exciting introduction to the basic elements of poetry and fiction, with in-class writing, take-home reading and writing assignments, and substantive discussions of craft. The course is structured as a workshop, which means that students receive feedback from their instructor and their fellow writers in a roundtable setting, and should be prepared to offer their classmates responses to their work. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA.815 Creative Writing: Introduction to Fiction & Poetry
Section 001, Waleed Bhatti, MW 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 002, Joanna Acevedo, MW 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 003, Lucas Jorgensen, MW 11:00am-12:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 004, Hannah Seidlitz, MW 8:00am-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 005, Hannah Kingsley-Ma, MW 2:00-3:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 006, Patrick Doerksen, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 007, Yanyi, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 008, Alex Foster, TR 2:00-3:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 009, Michele Filgate, TR 11:00am-12:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 010, Jared Garland, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 011, Aleksandra Burshteyn, MW 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 012, Alison Sharpe, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 013, Rachel Whalen, TR 8:00-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 014, Aurielle Sufi, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Secton 015, Hannah Sassoon, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 016, E Yeon Chang, TR 3:30-4:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 017, Marissa Davis, MW 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 018, August Thompson, MW 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 019, Cosima Diamond, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 020, Sarah Herrington, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 021, Bridget Hawkins, TR 2:00-3:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 022, Will Walton, MW 8AM-9:15AM, Provisional Syllabus
Section 023, Angelo Nikolopoulos, MW 4:55-6:10pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 024, Nolan Capps, MW 8:00AM-9:15AM Provisional Syllabus
Section 025, Caroline Shea, WF 6:20-7:35PM, Provisional Syllabus
Click here for information about the Creative Writing Program's course offerings abroad at NYU's Accra, Buenos Aires, London, and Sydney sites.
INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOPS
The intermediate workshops offer budding prose writers and poets an opportunity to continue their pursuit of writing through workshops that focus on a specific genre. The workshops also integrate in-depth craft discussions and extensive outside reading to deepen students’ understanding of the genre and broaden their knowledge of the evolution of literary forms and techniques.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA.816, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 860, OR COSEM-UA 118 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA.817, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA.870, OR FRSEM-UA 388 or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA.880 or equivalent. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA.816.001 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Jocelyn Lieu, M 12:30-3:15pm
Stories that Matter. Why write fiction? This workshop course starts with the premise that we have stories within us that need to be told. These stories may be seeded by haunting experiences, people, images, moments from our lives, or moments from the news or our communities. They also may proceed from dreamed-to-life narratives unspooling in our imaginations that for us have all the immediacy of a film seen in a surround-sound theater. This course is an exploration of fiction craft with an emphasis on the production of stories that really matter—first to you, the writer, then, because they come from an authentic place in you, your readers. Student writing is our focus; class time also includes discussions of texts by contemporary and modern writers writing in or translated into English. Craft elements studied include the management of point of view, plot, structure, characterization, the handling of time, the use of telling detail to create fictional worlds, and syntax and diction as they contribute to that mysterious thing called voice. We also will look at how writers solicit our suspension of disbelief, whether within the densely referenced mirror-world of socially realistic fiction or the no-holds-barred atmosphere of the surrealist or fabulist narrative. The semester’s work begins with short weekly exploratory assignments, which build toward the drafting and revision of a 15-page story or series of short linked stories. Students interested in experimenting and taking creative risks in service of finding the best genre, form, structure, or voice for stories that matter to them are encouraged to join the course.
CRWRI-UA.816.002 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Craig Teicher, T 6:20-9:05pm
“I want to overhear passionate arguments about what we are and what we are doing and what we ought to do. I want to feel that art is an utterance made in good faith by one human being to another. I want to believe there are geniuses scheming to astonish the rest of us, just for the pleasure of it.”—Marilynne Robinson. In this course, students will not only develop and workshop original pieces, but they will also learn how to read and see as a writer. We will keep a “writer’s notebook” and will read author’s journals to draw inspiration for how to use our own notebooks as a tool. We will read poetry and fiction to figure out what the writer is accomplishing and how, and will pay close attention to what moves us, surprises us, draws us into the mind of a character. We will come to class prepared to discuss our findings, and will strive to incorporate our discoveries into our own work. We will also look to other mediums—music, dance, movies, TV shows, photography— and with each form, we will ask: what can I learn from this scene or song about writing, about rhythm, about character building? Writing prompts will be assigned every week and students will have the opportunity to workshop throughout the semester.
CRWRI-UA.816.003 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Leopoldine Core, M 12:30-3:15pm
How does one achieve verisimilitude in a work of fiction? It often feels mysterious when it happens—a bit like a miracle or an accident. In this workshop, we will explore different ways of generating a living reality in fiction. Students will be assigned weekly writing exercises and discuss work by a range of writers, video artists and filmmakers. Some of these may include: Shulamith Firestone, Leonora Carrington, Jane Campion, Roberto Bolaño, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Clarice Lispector—artists who help to illuminate the experience of being alive somewhat perversely—by questioning and reshaping the medium of reality. Their work will guide us in exploring our own methods of unearthing the truth as creators, and in responding to each other’s stories in the workshop, where students will be expected to speak frankly while honoring and encouraging the great risk that is present in every piece of writing.
CRWRI-UA.816.004 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Sharon Mesmer, Thurs 4:55-7:30pm
Is it possible to write, as novelist Clarice Lispector suggested, both "squalidly and structurally"? I say yes. Both ends of the trajectory are possible ... and necessary, really, in order to produce surprisingly inventive writing. In this workshop, we will explore and exploit the fertile (oftentimes untouched) mud of our imaginations through a series of five writing exercises paired with model texts, each utilizing a different prose form into which even the muddiest, most inchoate and problematic ideas, images and language can be flowed.
CRWRI-UA.816.005 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Elizabeth Gaffney, F 11:00am-1:45pm In the intermediate fiction workshop we will examine a baker's dozen short stories with an eye to how they were built, read interviews with the authors about their process and discuss fundamental craft topics including: point of view, structure, character development, plot, symbolism, diction, dialogue and time. Over the course of the semester, each writer will draft and revise a single story or section of a longer work, culminating in a highly polished final manuscript.
CRWRI-UA.816.006 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Mohammed Naseehu Ali, M 3:30PM-6:15PM. In this intermediate fiction workshop, the primary focus will be on your writing. Most of the class time will be dedicated to discussing your work and exchanging critiques and ideas on how to improve a draft and also your writing skills in general. Through in/out-of-class writing, primary text and assigned readings, class discussions and presentations, we will examine the structure of the short story and the novel, as well as the basic elements of fiction such as characterization, dialogue, plot, theme, and viewpoint. Additionally, we will be taking an in-depth look at form and style, the role of humor in fiction, and lastly, the fundamental grammar and language of fiction writing. The secondary focus of this workshop will be on you, the writer. George Orwell once wrote that, "There are four great motives for writing," which he listed as sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. In 1980, another writer of lesser fame than Orwell, Arturo Vivante, also wrote: "One writes fiction in order to know." Using the above quotations as springboard for a class symposium, we will be asking ourselves two questions: (1) Why do we write? and (2) Why fiction in particular? During the first two weeks students will be encouraged to carry out a personal analysis of what motivates, inspires, or informs their writing. The goal of this exercise is to assist students in their continued effort to develop an original voice, language, and style that are unique to their personal aesthetics. And finally the fun part: we will discuss the use of eavesdropping as a writing tool. In my opinion, eavesdropping is the surest means for writers to put their fingers on the pulse of their contemporary environment. Some may disagree and may even think of this "art" as unethical. This and other topics will keep us busy and engaged throughout the semester.
CRWRI-UA.816.007 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Instructor TBA, W, 2:00pm-4:45pm
CRWRI-UA.816.008 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Hala Alyan, M 12:30PM-3:15pm
Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability, Anne Lamott says of storytelling. Annie Dillard takes it even further by saying, Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. Years earlier, Maya Angelou noted, There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. This workshop will explore the intersection of these three concepts: how to tell the stories we must, as abundantly and generously as we can, with as much truth as they deserve. In this course, students will develop and workshop their pieces, as well as critically read a range of contemporary fiction. We’ll also look to poetry, film, spoken word and other mediums to analyze how narrative pervades everything, to learn to ask better questions about character motivations and plot development. While most of the class time will be devoted to workshopping pieces, we’ll also talk frankly about the more practical aspects of writing — setting up a routine, navigating the publishing process, dealing with distractions. There might be a surprise guest or two. At the end of the semester, we will either attend a literary event together or organize one ourselves, depending on whether students want to share their work.
CRWRI-UA.817.001 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Geoffrey Nutter, M 9:30am-12:15pm
The making of poems offers us freedom--the freedom to experiment with form, experiment with language, experiment with self and consciousness, and push these experiments to extremes in order to create experiences and bring them to a consummation. It invites us to build worlds and move through these worlds--and to understand something new about the world we live in, broadening its possibilities and offering alternatives. Basho was a great poet and teacher of poetry in 17th century Japan. He urged poets to try to identify closely with the things of the world, to feel a direct sympathy with them to the point of inhabiting them through imaginative projection. Language is the point of physical identity between the self and the world, observer and the observed (whether the thing observed is something in the objective world we move through, or something in the objective world of the imagination {yes, itself an objective world})--which is where the idea of precision becomes so important. But language is also, of course, how we discover what we observe. We move through language toward discovery--not the other way around. In this Workshop you will read several recent exciting volumes of poetry. We will also see how our own writing relates to this work and how we can learn from it. We will do many, many in-class writing exercises that will introduce you to different ways of moving through language toward discovery. You will leave with your knowledge of prosody, form, currents of poetry throughout history, and most importantly your own body of work considerably broadened and deepened. And of course, a significant amount of time will be spent each class focusing on and critiquing poems written by students. We will look at student work closely and with an eye not only to improving each poem but also always keeping in mind the exciting prospect of the Next Poem. I also hope we can come away with an awareness of something that John Dewey expressed so beautifully: that poems "do not seem to come from the self, because they issue from a self not consciously known."
CRWRI-UA.817.002 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Instructor TBA, R 12:00pm-3:15pm
CRWRI-UA.817.003 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Joseph O. Legaspi, R 4:55-7:40pm.
“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air.”
— Carl Sandburg
“[B]e awake at all moments to the news that is arriving out of silence.”
— Raíner María Rilke (“The Duino Elegies”).
We will spend the semester observing and listening for details of the world around and inside of us. This is, after all, what poets do. Together we will read, write and discuss poems—exemplars and our own—paying close attention to craft. As sparks to get our artistic juices flowing, we will incorporate other mediums in the creation of poems: artifacts, visual arts, texts, songs, short films, and others. Furthermore, we will dig deeper into ourselves, tapping into memories, autobiography, culture, and history. This class will be heavy on discourse; you must come prepared to share and participate. In turn, we will unearth new ways of seeing the world, to shine a light or put a slant on it. Ultimately, we will strive to be better writers and readers, with sharper critical thinking and flowering empathy.
CRWRI-UA.817.004 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Julia Guez, M 11:00am-1:45pm
Course description forthcoming.
CRWRI-UA.825.001 Intermediate Creative Nonfiction Workshop
David Lipsky, R 11:00am-1:45pm
This is a course in composing short narratives the reader will want to finish. To that end, we’ll be combining workshop with lessons about craft: Seeing how the stories we love work, then discovering the ways our own good stuff can be made to work even better. Students will draft two stories, revising one. We will also absorb and hoard advice from a number of excellent sources, including one especially useful sentence by George Saunders.
ADVANCED WORKSHOPS
Advanced workshops provide emerging writers with the opportunity to hone their individual voice and experiment with different aesthetical strategies in a genre-specific workshop taught by an eminent writer in the field. The workshops focus on innovative revision techniques, the development of a sustainable writing process, and the broadening of students’ literary knowledge of classical and contemporary masters. Each advanced workshop has a distinct emphasis and area of exploration—students are advised to pay close attention to the course descriptions, which are available online prior to registration.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 816, OR CRWRI-UA 818, OR CRWRI-UA 9818, OR CRWRI-UA 9828, OR CRWRI-UA 820, OR CRWRI-UA 860 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 817, OR CRWRI-UA 819, OR CRWRI-UA 9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9829, OR CRWRI-UA 830, OR CRWRI-UA 870 or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction: CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA 850, OR CRWRI-UA 880 or equivalent. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA.820.001 Advanced Fiction Workshop
Irini Spanidou, M 6:30-9:15pm
The emphasis of this course is on the discovery, encouragement and development of each student's individual voice. The aim is to facilitate the clarity and momentum of their writing so their stories may gain a cohesive form without being forced into formulaic "perfection" of style or structure. Students will submit three stories or chapters of a novel during the course of the semester. (I will be meeting with them to discuss their work one-on-one the week after each of their submissions is workshopped.)
CRWRI-UA.820.002 Advanced Fiction Workshop
George Foy, T, 3:30pm-6:15pm
The workshop's philosophy is based on the premise that when a writer picks up a pen or opens a laptop to start a story, he or she breaks the connection with “normal” time and space to enter a storyworld in which anything is possible. Such a world, if well constructed, will like other complex systems start to generate and follow its own rules and acquire independent life. We will of course discuss traditional issues in writing, such as where to find story subjects, how to gather, employ, grease and otherwise care for the nuts and bolts of your writing practice. But we will also explore microfiction, non-linear narrative, illustrated narrative, fiction as street theater, as well as traditional short stories. In past classes students have submitted stories written to self-destruct, narratives posted on street corners, images with fables enclosed.
CRWRI-UA.820.003 Advanced Fiction Workshop
Charles Bock, T, 12:30pm-3:15pm
Class is divided into short lectures, exercises, and workshop. Lots of time will be spent on technical stuff, how characters work, the way in which a story develops, language, structure, etc. We'll build from the basics. The first half of the class will be spent with a lecture and then some sort of exercise based on the lecture. Then workshops for the second half of the class. Workshops are structured so every student will comment on a story, and participation is a big part of a class. We care about improving stories and why they work and how they can be improved; we care about supporting our fellow students in their creative ventures and being daring and moving into uncharted narrative territories. There are weekly reading assignments that you are responsible for. When you come out from the other side of this thrilling little amusement park ride, the matter inside your fused together skull is going to have a better understanding of how fiction works. This class is recommended for inspired and motivated students.
CRWRI-UA.820.004 Advanced Fiction Workshop
Maria Venegas, W 4:55-7:40pm. "You've done the initial work, you have the story on the page, now what? How do we get our writing to the next level? How do we dig deeper and color in the edges to make our writing more evocative? In this advanced fiction workshop, we will focus on your work and on sharpening your tools for revision. Class time will be equally devoted to workshopping students’ work and discussing reading assignments that exemplify specific elements of craft.
CRWRI-UA.830.001 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Catherine Barnett, W 9:30am-12:15pm.
In this challenging workshop, we'll invent and re-invent and dodge and entertain and investigate "the accursed questions" as a way to generate new material for poems and to read more deeply. We'll consider James Baldwin's notion that "the purpose of art is to lay bare the questions hidden by the answers" and push for that which is "not unforeseen enough." Through thinking about and playing with the resources of questions, we'll try to subvert conventional notions of what is important and unimportant; we'll try to redeem incongruities; discover the mysteries behind physical appearances; and find ways to apprehend the real without distorting "the incomprehensibility of the real." We'll consider what Yeats has said: "Only that which does not teach, which does not cry out, which does not persuade, which does not condescend, which does not explain, is irresistible." Students will be asked to write two poems every week and to respond generously and rigorously to each other's work. In addition, students will give a presentation on a poet/question of their choice and put together an anthology and a chapbook.
CRWRI-UA.830.002 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Robert Fitterman, T 3:30-6:15pm
New Poetry, New Media: Contemporary poetry today is pressing to articulate its place among a new digital language that is often defined by new media art, net art, and new writing experiments that mirror the language-based technologies of the day. In other words, poetry is advancing to keep with the times, and these advances occur through many types of expressions, including the innovation of new poetic forms and strategies (e.g. is your texting thread a poem? can it be? can you make a love poem out of Ok Cupid messages?) Contemporary poetry is experiencing enormous activity, where new poetic strategies are being introduced and recycled in order to speak to a new generation of thinkers and culture-makers. In this class, we will study some of these new poetry strategies and use contemporary and historic examples to model some of our writing experiments on, such as: sampling, procedural writing, mixed media, visual (concrete) texts, collaboration, erasure, appropriation, constraint, etc. The course also requires that you present your writing 2-3 times during the semester, participate in a collaborative project, and turn in a small "book" of your writing at the end of the term.
CRWRI-UA.830.003 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Rachel Zucker, T 11:00am-1:45pm
This course is designed to plunge students head-first into the world of contemporary poetry. Besides workshopping each others' poems, students will read a different book of contemporary poetry each week, and present it to the class. We will discuss the book as writers, not literature students; we'll want to figure out what each poet is doing, how he or she does it, and how we can do that. Writing exercises derived from the readings will help us get into the poets' heads. This is an advanced course, and students will be expected to do all of the reading, participate in the discussions, and generally contribute towards that elusive thing which is a workshop environment that is constructive and critical and ultimately generative for everyone. The goal of the course is for students to engage with the work of their peers and their contemporaries in a critical and hungry manner which will lead to a greater understanding of how their own poetry is working.
CRWRI-UA.850.001 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, M 4:55-7:40pm
What makes prose into “literary nonfiction”? How do different genres and forms—from the memoir to the profile to the podcast—enable us to tell different kinds of stories, and why? We’ll be asking these questions over the course of the semester as both writers and readers, as we familiarize ourselves with a range of literary forms and look at how technology is shaping nonfiction stories today. This is a nonfiction writing workshop for committed and ambitious writers who have already taken lower level workshops and who want to develop and push their skills. We’ll be delving deeply into discussions about point of view, sentence-making, form, characterization, tone, and story arc. Because being good writers means being good readers, we’ll also be reading and discussing a wide range of literary nonfiction, looking at pieces by writers such as Joan Didion, Eula Biss, Ralph Ellison, and much more. Throughout the semester we'll be visited by guests who are practicing journalists and essayists.
MASTER CLASSES
These advanced workshops and craft seminars—taught by acclaimed poets and prose writers—are open to select NYU undergraduates. Master classes are limited to 12 students and provide intensive mentoring and guidance for serious and talented undergraduate writers. Each Master Class has a distinct emphasis and area of exploration—students are advised to pay close attention to the course descriptions, which are available online prior to registration.
Prerequisite for fiction: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 816, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 820, OR CRWRI-UA 860 or equivalent. Prerequisite for poetry: CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 817, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 830, OR CRWRI-UA 870, OR FRSEM-388, or equivalent. Prerequisite for creative nonfiction:CRWRI-UA 815, OR CRWRI-UA 9815, OR CRWRI-UA 818/819, OR CRWRI-UA 9818/9819, OR CRWRI-UA 9828/9829, OR CRWRI-UA 825, OR CRWRI-UA 850, OR CRWRI-UA 880 or equivalent. Recommended prerequisite: CRWRI-UA 820 (for fiction), CRWRI-UA 830 (for poetry), or CRWRI-UA 850 (for creative nonfiction). Application required. 4 points.
CRWRI-UA.860.001 Master Class in Fiction
Darin Strauss, T 12:30-3:10pm
CRWRI-UA.870.001 Master Class in Poetry
Matthew Rohrer, M 11:00am-1:40pm
CRWRI-UA.880.001 Master Class in Creative Nonfiction
Marie-Helene Bertino, T 12:30-3:10pm