Honored to be named one of "Five Up-and-Coming Programs" by The Atlantic Monthly.

Programs and Areas

Creative Writing

Undergraduate Creative Writing

Undergraduates at The Ohio State University may take both introductory and advanced Creative Writing workshops in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

The 200-level workshops (please see descriptions below) are open admission courses and may be taken twice (10 quarter hours) for credit.
The only pre-requisite is English 110 (First Year English Composition).
The 500-level workshops are admission by permission of instructor only, which means that interested students should submit a sample of their work to the instructor who will then decide whether to offer permission to enroll.
The 500-level workshops are repeatable up to three times for credit (15 quarter hours).
Both the 200 and the 500-level workshops fit into the English major as electives and can satisfy the requirement of a course in an area of English study other than literature.

There are additional and compelling reasons for the study of Creative Writing. Students, through the close study of the craft of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, sophisticate their skills as readers and critics. Furthermore, students who plan on pursuing graduate study in Creative Writing through a Master of Fine Arts Program or doctoral study in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, have the chance to hone their craft in workshops taught by both graduate students in our own MFA Program and the award-winning resident faculty of that program. One of the things that distinguishes Creative Writing at The Ohio State University is the fact that the MFA faculty regularly teach undergraduate courses.

The culture of the MFA Program benefits the undergraduate students through the distinguished visiting writers who come to campus to give public readings. Recently, we've hosted writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Mark Z. Danielewski, Kathryn Harrison, Ellen Bryant Voigt, John Edgar Wideman, and Lynn Emanuel, to name but a few. The MFA Writers' Guild also brings a few writers to campus each year to visit undergraduate classes and to give readings. In addition to writing workshops, we also offer a special topics honors course in the study of Creative Writing (Honors students may choose to work closely with one of the MFA faculty in writing an honors thesis: a novel; a memoir; a collection of short stories, poems, or essays) as well as a course in Literary Publishing that provides students contact with visiting editors and agents and opportunities to become involved with our nationally distributed literary journal, The Journal. Undergraduates also submit their work for a number of Creative Writing prizes that carry monetary awards and are recognized at the English Department Awards Ceremony at the end of each Spring Quarter. Further chances for recognition exist through Ohio State's undergraduate arts and literature magazine, Mosaic (http://mosaic.org.ohio-state.edu), which regularly publishes the work of our Creative Writing students. All in all, we've created a vibrant Creative Writing community for our undergraduates, and we hope you'll join us by taking some of the courses listed below, attending readings by our visiting writers, and submitting your work for prizes and publications.

Course Offerings

English 265: Writing of Fiction I: Practice in the writing of fiction; analysis and discussion of student work, with some attention to general methods of fiction and the publishing situation.

English 266: Writing of Poetry I: Practice in the writing of poetry; emphasis on the student's own work, with reference to established poetic patterns and established poets.

English 268: Writing of Creative Nonfiction I. Practice in the writing of creative nonfiction; analysis and discussion of student work, with reference to the general methods and scope of the genre.

*English 565: Writing of Fiction II. Practice in the writing of fiction; continuation of 265 at an advanced level.

*English 566: Writing of Poetry II. Practice in the writing of poetry; continuation of 266 at an advanced level.

*English 568: Writing of Creative Nonfiction II. Practice in the writing of essays and book-length creative nonfiction.

English H591.01: Special Topics in the Study of Creative Writing. A seminar in literary forms and themes, with a significant creative writing component.

*English 662: Literary Publishing: A course in the theory and practice of editing and publishing literature.

*English 693: Individual Studies: Individually directed work in creative writing for undergraduates, MA, and M.F.A. candidates.

*By Permission of Instructor Only