Creative Writing Program

This page contains information on courses offered each semester, and descriptions of the Creative Writing major and the new joint major in Playwriting. Scroll down for more information.

The Creative Writing Program
Spring 2010

All majors must take one 200-level introductory workshop in prose or poetry. The same is required of non-majors who wish to take creative writing workshops, though some professors may choose to waive this requirement for junior and senior non-majors. The requirement is never waived for majors. Note that 300-level workshops in Playwriting and Screenwriting do not require any pre-requisite.

270 is an introductory course that covers two genres of the instructor's choosing, from either poetry, fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, or creative non-fiction.

Students who have completed the 200 level requirement may move into any Intermediate workshop. Students may take only ONE 200-level course.

The instructor of each intermediate workshop will assess all students in the workshop for readiness to take advanced level workshops in the same genre or in another genre which the instructor teaches. Any instructor who wishes to recommend a student for an advanced workshop in a genre which she or he does not teach may recommend this student to a member of the faculty who teaches in that genre. The instructor in the genre will in that case make his or her own determination of the student's readiness for advanced work.

Only students who receive this positive assessment of readiness will enter advanced workshops.

The English/Creative Writing Major

THE CREATIVE WRITING MAJOR REQUIREMENTS:

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS

Creative Writing majors must complete five writing workshops (20 credits). Either Honors or one independent study can count as one workshop. At least two workshops must be taken in the same genre (fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, creative non-fiction); students are encouraged to continue study in the same genre as the Intro but this is not a requirement.

LITERATURE REQUIREMENT (ENG 300 or above)

Six 300 level English courses (24 credits):

At least two courses concentrating mainly on poetry.

At least two courses concentrating mainly on prose.

At least two courses in writing of the 19th century or earlier.

Dramatists may substitute works of drama for some part of the poetry or prose requirement but not for all of either; this is to be worked out between student and advisor.

Each major's advisor will exercise discretion in allowing credit for these categories since many courses mix poetry, prose, and drama. Advisors may allow credit for one 200 level English course from the approved list of those courses acceptable for the English major.

NOTE: ALL CREATIVE WRITING COURSES (EXCEPT FRESHMAN SEMINARS) WILL FULFILL THE POST-FRESHMAN WRITING REQUIREMENT.

The Joint Major in Playwriting

Emory College’s joint playwriting major brings together the disciplines of Theater Studies and Creative Writing in an innovative synthesis designed to educate playwrights both as writers and as theater professionals. A playwright must understand the workings of narrative and storytelling and have the opportunity to develop dramatic, fully realized narratives. The playwright also needs a strong grounding in the literature and mechanics of theater and in the collaborative process, since these are the worlds he or she seeks to inhabit, and the instrument for which the playwright composes. The joint major, which grew out of a unique team teaching model developed at Emory, will involve playwriting majors in the crucial writing and staging aspects of the field. Playwriting students at Emory are engaged in an endeavor that spans the full process, from conceiving an idea to opening night.

Cross-listed Requirements

Playwriting (ENG/THEA 372WR, 4 hours)

Advanced Playwriting (ENG/THEA 375RWR, 4 hours)

History of Drama and Theater 1 and 2 (ENG/THEA 215 & 216, 8 hours)

Honors/Senior Project (Pending)

Theater (THEA) 13 hours

Reading for Performance (THEA 201, 4 hours)

Choice of two Theater Studies courses: Acting, Directing or Design (THEA, 8 hours)

Theater Colloquia (1 hour)

English/Creative Writing (ENG) 12 hours

Choice of two literature courses 300-level or above (ENG, 8 hours; at least one course must be focused on dramatic literature)

Choice of Creative Writing workshop (Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Screenwriting, or repeat Playwriting, ENG, 4 hours)

One additional course to be drawn from English 300 level or above or Theater Studies academic/dramaturgy courses (4 hours)

Advising:

Joint playwriting majors will be assigned an advisor from either the Creative Writing or Theater Studies faculty.

Resources for Joint Playwriting Majors

Emory’s resources offer special opportunities for joint playwriting majors. Theater Emory and its Playwriting Center provide a unique resource for student playwrights. Established and emerging playwrights come to Emory to work on their plays with a diverse group of artistic collaborators including students, faculty and professional theater artists. Play development has become a vital stage of playwriting in the United States, and Theater Emory has established itself as an important center for that work. Since its inception in 1989, the Playwriting Center has commissioned and developed scripts with major playwrights including Arthur Kopit, Frank Manley, Steve Murray, Wole Soyinka and Naomi Wallace.

Brave New Works, a biennial marathon of developing and reading new scripts, has developed more than 100 new works, many of which have been produced in American regional theaters from the Yale Repertory Theater to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and internationally in theaters in South America, Canada and Europe. In recent years, Brave New Works has also included exceptional student work submitted by Emory alumni and undergraduates, like Lauren Gunderson, whose play, Leap, went on to be produced by Theater Emory in 2003.

Lenaia Festival is an annual, student-run festival featuring staged readings of student plays-in-progress.

Nationally and internationally known playwrights come to Emory campus each year as part of the Creative Writing Reading Series, co-sponsored with Theter Studies, which affords students another opportunity to learn from the best in the field. Past playwrights in the Reading Series have included Athol Fugard, Theresa Rebeck, Margaret Edson, John Guare, Jose Rivera, Paula Vogel and David Henry Hwang.

Playwriting students also may compete for an Artistine Mann Playwriting Award each year. The award is given in honor of Artistine Mann, a young writer and Emory undergraduate who was killed in a car accident before she could graduate.

Declaring a Joint Playwriting Major

Students interested in finding out more about the joint playwriting major should talk to a faculty member in either Theater Studies or Creative Writing. Those conversations provide a good foundation for declaring the major. After talking with faculty, an official declaration of the major can be completed at either the Creative Writing Program office (Paula Vitaris, 209N Callaway) or Theater Studies Office (John Ward, Rich 226)

COURSES, Spring 2010- Creative Writing Program
Registration for all courses by permission only
Application Form for Creative Writing Program Spring 2010 courses

ENG 270 00P Introduction to Creative Writing Covey Monday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 271 00P Introduction to Poetry Trethewey Monday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 271 00P Introduction to Poetry Robinson Wednesday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 272 00P Introduction to Fiction Williams Tuesday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 272 01P
Introduction to Fiction Skibell Wednesday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 272 02P Introduction to Fiction Mukherjee Thursday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 370R 00P Creative Writing: Intermediate Fiction Schachner Tuesday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 371R 00P

Creative Writing: Intermediate Poetry

Christle Wednesday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 373R 00P
Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction

Williams Thursday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 374R 00P Creative Writing: Advanced Poetry Trethewey Tuesday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 375R 00P

(crosslisted with THEA 375R, Playwriting)

Creative Writing: Advanced Playwriting

NOTE: Students wishing to take this course as THEA 375RWR must complete the Creative Writing Program application and submit it to Paula Vitaris, Creative Writing Program, N209 Callaway Center
Grimsley Monday 2-5 p.m.

ENG 379 00P

(crosslisted with FILM 373, Special Topics)

Creative Writing: Special Topics: Advanced Screenwriting

NOTE: Students wishing to take this course as FILM 373 must complete the Creative Writing Program application and submit it to Paula Vitaris, Creative Writing Program, N209 Callaway Center
Skibell Thursday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 379 00P
Creative Writing: Special Topics: Poetry and the Counterculture: Exploring the Raymond Danowski Library
Young Thursday 2:30-5:30 p.m.

ENG 491R 00P Creative Writing: Honors Faculty

SPRING 2009 FACULTY: JIM GRIMSLEY is a senior resident fellow in Creative Writing and director of the program; JOSEPH SKIBELL is an Associate Professor specializing in fiction and screenwriting; NATASHA TRETHEWEY is the Phillis Wheatley Distingiushed Chair in Poetry; LYNNA WILLIAMS is an Associate Professor specializing in fiction and creative non-fiction; KEVIN YOUNG is Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing and Curator, Literary Collections and Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, MARBL; HEATHER CHRISTLE is the 2009-2011 Creative Writing Fellow in Fiction; OINDRILA MUKHERJEE is the 2009-2011 Creative Writing Fellow in Fiction; BRUCE COVEY is the University Bookstore Liaison and a lecturer specializing in poetry; BONNIE ROBINSON is a lecturer specializing in poetry; ANNA SCHACHNER is a lecturer specializing in fiction.
Further information is available in the Creative Writing Program office, N209 Callaway, (404) 727-4683, creativewriting@emory.edu

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