Creative Writing

Our Creative Writing Program prepares students with a broad and balanced program of study that emphasizes interconnections between various literary genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, playwriting, and screenwriting.

Majors: Creative Writing
Minors: Creative Writing

Faculty

Our faculty are both scholars and teachers who devote their careers to making important contributions to their disciplines through writing and research. They are committed to undergraduate education and teach everything from first-year seminars to advanced courses.

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All of this semester's CRWR-related applications, with their relevant instructions, are now available on the CRWR Departmental Blackboard site, in the folder named All Forms and Applications.

If you intend to apply to the CRWR major during the Fall 2020 semester, and/or wish to apply to a CRWR 300-level workshop for Spring or Summer 2021, please fill out the appropriate application(s). If you are applying to the major, please also fill out the advisor preference form. If you are a CRWR major or minor and are interested in TA opportunities for Spring and Summer 2021, please fill out the TA application. 

Please note that all applications for the Spring 2021 semester are due by Friday, October 23, 2020, at noon.

All Forms and Applications

Program Overview

Oberlin’s Creative Writing Program is one of few in the country that offers a major at the undergraduate level. Established here in 1975 by poet and translator Stuart Friebert, creative writing is an intense and rigorous course of study that provides instruction, studio training, and coursework in six genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, translation, and screenwriting.

In keeping with the liberal arts tradition, we prepare you with a broad and balanced program of study that emphasizes interconnections between various literary genres. Majors will have some interdisciplinary study through a playwriting course and courses offered by the departments of English and comparative literature.

Our faculty members are accomplished writers and poets who will work closely with you to deepen reading and writing abilities and to enhance self and peer editing, analysis, and critical thinking skills.

Creative Writing Bulletins

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Creative Writing News

Winter Term: The Art of the Artist Book

September 15, 2020

After spending a month researching artist books and creating a book of her own, Marie Romanelli ’21 is officially hooked on the craft, both as an artist and as a short-form poet.
A girl poses next to her art book
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Creative Writing Facilities

Peters Hall

World language classrooms and offices for academic services and programs are found in this picturesque building completed in 1887 and renovated in 1996.
Peters Hall