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, August Thompson, MW 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 002, Markita Schulman, MW 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 003, Kiara Saxena, MW, 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM Provisional Syllabus
Section 004, Gabriella Mayer, MW 8:00am-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 005, Robert Franklin, MW 2:00-3:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 006,Emma Zimmerman, TR 8am-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 007, Sophia Cornell, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 008, Jack Davis, TR 4:55pm-6:10pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 009, Mchael Barron, TR 11:00am-12:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 010, Stephanie Newman, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 011, Benjamin Aleshire, WF 11am-12:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 012, Thea Matthews, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 013, Katia Krupa, TR 8:00AM-9:15AM Provisional Syllabus
Section 014, Amanda Dettman, TR 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Secton 015, Michelle Ting, TR 4:55pm-6:10pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 016, Perry Levitch, TR 9:30am-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 017, William Goodwin, MW 9:30-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 018, Kate Abram, MW 9:30am-10:45am Provisional Syllabus
Section 019, Vincent Tolentino, TR 12:30-1:45pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 020, Azia Armstead, TR 8am-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 021, Omer Friedlander, TR 2:00-3:15pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 022, Devon Walker-Figueroa, MW 8AM-9:15AM, Provisional Syllabus
Section 023, Anna Godbersen, MW 4:55-6:10pm Provisional Syllabus
Section 024, Darrian Hopson, MW 8am-9:15am Provisional Syllabus
Section 025, Cai Rodrigues-Sherley, WF 4:55pm-6:10pm, 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 5:55-7:40pm
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
Vatner, Jonathan, T 4:55-7:40pm
Reading Like Writers; Writing Like Readers
In literature classes, you've probably learned how to write analytically about canonical works of fiction. That's not what we're doing in this class. Writers read in a different way. We don't stand back and marvel at the work; we look under the hood to see how it was done. And when given the chance, we fix it. That means you might need to relearn how to read, with an eye toward craft. You might need to learn how to talk about fiction in a more concrete way. We'll spend about an hour in each class discussing published short stories. You will practice forming and articulating opinions about this work coherently and convincingly. The reading list, generally one story per week, slants toward fiction by women, queer, and POC writers published within the past few years. Then, taking inspiration from these stories, you'll write. You'll also offer generous, respectful critique of your classmates' work—and practice ruthless editing of your own. Ultimately, this class will help you grow not just into stronger readers and writers but also into emergent literary citizens.
CRWRI-UA.816.003 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Hala Alyan, M 2-4:45p
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.816.004 Intermediate Fiction Workshop
Sharon Mesmer, Thurs 4:55-7:40pm
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 4:55-7:40PM. 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
Hannah Kingsley-Ma, W, 4:55-7:40pm
What makes a story feel like good company? What makes a story feel vital? What makes a piece feel assured, or funny, or intimate, or remote? How do we even define this nebulous idea of an authorial voice? The purpose of asking these questions aloud during the course of the semester is to get a clearer sense of what qualities of writing we want to exist in our dream stories — and how to sound distinctly like ourselves even when we’re actively imagining the lives of others. Our enthusiasm for reading will inform our discussions. We will settle into the practice of reading as writers and apply those skills to workshopping each other’s work with great care and rigorous scrutiny.
CRWRI-UA.817.001 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Geoffrey Nutter, M 11:00am-1:45pm
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
Rachel Zucker, W 2pm-4:45pm
Course description forthcoming.
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
Emily Skillings, M 4:55-7:40pm
Course description forthcoming.
CRWRI-UA.817.005 Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Craig Teicher, M 2pm-4:45pm
Course description forthcoming.
CRWRI-UA.825.001 Intermediate Creative Nonfiction Workshop
Marie-Helene Bertino, R 4:55pm-7:40pm
Course description forthcoming.
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
Elizabeth Gaffney, M 4:55pm-7:40pm
In this advanced workshop, writers will take existing drafts of stories (or novel sections) and expand, revamp, revise, rebuild, them till they are polished, finished works. You might start with a complete manuscript you don't feel is successful-- something you began and abandoned because you couldn’t quite figure out how to solve its puzzles -- through multiple rounds of revision. We will look at the big picture issues -- structure, arc, point of view, character -- and the granular details of prose that are crucial for establishing voice and maintaining the fictional dream. Readings will include timely plague- and BLM- themed texts that illustrate essential craft topics: Gwendolyn Brooks’ out of print novel, Maud Martha, Danielle Evans’s Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler, Salvage the Bones by Jesamyn Ward, William Maxwell’s They Came Like Swallows, Katherine Anne Porter’s Pale Horse, Pale Rider, and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice
CRWRI-UA.820.002 Advanced Fiction Workshop
George Foy, T, 2-4:45pm
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, 2-4:45pm
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
Said Sayrafiezadeh, W 4:55-7:40pm. Course description forthcoming.
CRWRI-UA.830.001 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Rachel Zucker, W 8am-10:45am.
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.830.002 Advanced Poetry Workshop
Robert Fitterman, T 4:55-7:40pm
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
TBA, T 11:00am-1:45pm
Course description forthcoming.
CRWRI-UA.850.001 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, M 4:55-7:40pm
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
INTENSIVE SEMINARS
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.861.001 Intensive Seminar in Fiction
Darin Strauss, T 12:30-3:10pm
CRWRI-UA.862.001 Intensive Seminar in Poetry
Matthew Rohrer, M 11:00am-1:40pm
CRWRI-UA.863.001 Intensive Seminar in Creative Nonfiction
Said Sayrafiezadeh, T 12:30-3:10pm