WRITERS IN NEW YORK 2023: CURRICULUM & SYLLABI

 

Courses

Each section includes a craft seminar (2:00pm-4:30pm twice a week), a writing workshop (2:00pm-4:30pm twice a week), and the evening colloquia (6:00pm-8:00pm four nights a week). All students will partcipate in all three components. 

Writers in New York: FICTION

CRWRI-UA.818.001, Class #2251: Maria Venegas (craft seminar) & Saïd Sayrafiezadeh (writing workshop)

CRWRI-UA.818.002, Class #2252: Thomas Beller (craft seminar) & Hala Alyan (writing workshop)


Writers in New York: POETRY

CRWRI-UA.819.001, Class #2253: Rachel Zucker (writing workshop) & Matthew Rohrer (craft seminar)

CRWRI-UA.819.002, Class #2377: Julia Guez (writing workshop) & Matthew Rohrer (craft seminar)


Writers in New York: CREATIVE NONFICTION

CRWRI-UA.835.001, Class #2388: Cris Beam (writing workshop) & Hafizah Augustus Geter (craft seminar)

 

Writing Workshops

The writing workshops in fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry are central to the Writers in New York program. Workshops are led by professional writers who are also gifted teachers. Students learn the art and craft of writing by studying exemplary literary works and generating new original work of their own. Students gain experience responding to the fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry of others and receive detailed faculty feedback on work in progress. Complementary reading and writing exercises are given to inspire and instruct. Students are given guidance on the art of revision, the business of publishing, and all aspects of the writer's life. Individual private conferences supplement coursework. Each student submits a final portfolio of writing at the end of the program.

 

Craft Seminars

The craft seminars are literature courses for writers, taught by accomplished writers and editors. Craft courses are designed to complement the writing workshops. Students study classic and contemporary works of literature in their genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction) in order to learn how to create their own work. Emphasis is on close reading and an in-depth examination of the basic elements of craft. Course format includes lecture, discussion, and writing assignments designed to enhance understanding of a variety of literary techniques and aesthetics.

 

Evening Colloquia

All students attend a nightly series of readings, lectures, panel discussions, publishing forums, literary walking tours, and special events. Recent visiting writers and editors include  Emily Barton, Thomas Beller, Marie-Helene Bertino, Julie Buntin, Tina Chang, Alexander Chee, Leopoldine Core, Eduardo C. Corral, Lydia Davis, Geoff Dyer, Ashley C. Ford, Emily Gould, Matthea Harvey, Adam Haslett, Amy Hempel, Major Jackson, Mitchell S. Jackson, Naomi Jackson, Mira Jacob, Tyehimba Jess, Saeed Jones, Etgar Keret, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Wayne Koestenbaum, Sam Lipsyte, Airea D. Matthews, Joyce Maynard, Eileen Myles, Angel Nafis, Daniel José Older, Helen Oyeyemi, Ed Park, Tommy Pico, Camille Rankine, Patrick Rosal, Brando Skyhorse, Amanda Stern, Lynne Tillman, Wendy Xu, John Yau, and more, including editors from Akashic Books, Archipelago Books, The Believer, Catapult, Conjunctions, Electric Literature, Fence, Guernica, Harvard Review, A Public Space, One Story, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and Tin House.