<a href="/live/image/gid/4/width/650/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.jpg" class="lw_preview_image lw_disable_preview" tabindex="-1"><picture class="lw_image lw_image94357"> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 2x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg" alt="Creative writing reading at an Arts@LC First Friday event in Watzek Library. Photo by Nadav Ben-David BA '25." width="720" height="690" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/94357_20220304-_Creative_Writing_Event_-06.rev.1652817977.jpg 2x" data-max-w="2138" data-max-h="2136" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </a><div class="hero-split_image_caption collapsable-caption"> Creative writing reading at an <a href="/fine-arts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arts@LC</a> First Friday event in Watzek Library. Photo by Nadav Ben-David BA ’25.</div>
<a href="/live/image/gid/4/width/650/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.JPG" class="lw_preview_image lw_disable_preview" tabindex="-1"><picture class="lw_image lw_image93281"> <source type="image/webp" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 3x"/> <source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 3x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG" alt="Students participating in the Playwriting Fest 2021. Photo by Skylar Vayda BA '24." width="720" height="690" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93281_PlaywritingFest21_Facetune-051221-36_bySkylarVayda.rev.1647375530.JPG 3x" data-max-w="3200" data-max-h="2400" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </a><div class="hero-split_image_caption collapsable-caption"> Students participating in the Playwriting Fest 2021. Photo by Skylar Vayda BA ’24.</div>
<a href="/live/image/gid/4/width/650/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.jpg" class="lw_preview_image lw_disable_preview" tabindex="-1"><picture class="lw_image lw_image93288"> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/500/height/479/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 3x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg" alt="When your campus is this pretty, it's easy to find inspiration for your creative writing!" width="720" height="690" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/4/width/720/height/690/crop/1/93288_PEO-C1a-0421-0008.rev.1647385694.jpg 3x" data-max-w="3200" data-max-h="2136" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </a><div class="hero-split_image_caption collapsable-caption"> When your campus is this pretty, it’s easy to find inspiration for your creative writing!</div>

/ Academics/ English/Creative Writing

Creative Writing

We are one of the longest-standing creative writing programs in America, with faculty that is recognized for excellence in teaching and students from all academic disciplines.

We have one of the longest-standing creative writing programs in America—over 50 years old. We ask our creative writing students to consider these questions: What is a literary heritage, both here in America and around the globe? What is the poem today? The short story? The personal essay? Where will the future of creative writing take us? While creative writers often major in English, our students also come from majors as varied as art, biology, psychology, and music. Our faculty members have been recognized for excellence in teaching and have won some of the country’s most prestigious writing awards. We invite you to see if you agree, with Flaubert, that “the art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”

“Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.”

William Butler Yeats

Arts@LC

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Creative writing has been a great departure from other classes because I really get to express myself to the fullest.
Sheyla Dorantes BA ’22
English (creative writing concentration) | Ethnic Studies | Portland, Oregon
More about Sheyla
Advanced Poetry with Mary Szybist was a really special class for me—it was the perfect class dynamic where there was a warmth and generosity of spirit among the group while also a set of high expectations for clarity, experimentation, and development over the semester.
Smith “S.” Yarberry BA ’16
English
More about Smith “S.”
Professor Mary Szybist took us all seriously as writers, and challenged us to create poems that would be both meaningful to us and to others. I still return to the demanding, thrilling, diverse reading selection from that course. Mary is a true gem in the L&C community, and she has made a life in the arts possible for so many, myself included.
Corey Van Landingham BA ’08
English
More about Corey