Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Program, an integral part of the English department, recognizes the essential role of the literary arts in the life of our culture, and the importance of creative writing in helping our students to develop their own powers of expression, empathy and critical reading and thinking. We are committed to providing a learning experience that enhances our students' creative, literary, and professional lives; to building a community of writers, scholars, and critics; and to developing productive relationships between that creative writing community and our university, our region and our society.

The students and faculty affiliated with creative writing at Lehigh are diverse in their interests but united in their dedication to the creative process. The program centered around a craft-based approach to creative writing, uses a combination of traditional studio workshops, lectures, seminars, and literary study to help students acquire the tools of good writing, and to allow them to develop their individual voices within the long conversation that is the literary tradition.

In addition to a curriculum featuring small classes and a diverse selection of courses, the Creative Writing Program sponsors a number of events and activities that are important for creative writing students, from readings, residencies, master classes with writers or national and international reputation, to student readings, from Amaranth, the student run literary journal of Lehigh, to the Williams Prizes in Creative Writing, an annual contest to recognize excellence in writing.

The Creative Writing Minor

To minor in creative writing, students take:

1. Select one of the following: (4 credits)
ENGL 142 Introduction to Writing Poetry
ENGL 143 Introduction to Writing Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 144 Introduction to Writing Fiction

2. A literature course at the 100- or 300-level. (4 credits)

3. Select one of the following: (4 credits)
ENGL 342 Advanced Poetry Writing
ENGL 343 Advanced Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 344 Advanced Fiction Writing

4. Select one of the following: (4 credits)

ENGL 142 Introduction to Writing Poetry
ENGL 143 Introduction to Writing Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 144 Introduction to Writing Fiction
ENGL 170 Amaranth
ENGL 201 Special Topics in Writing
ENGL 342 Advanced Poetry Writing
ENGL 343 Advanced Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 344 Advanced Fiction Writing
ENGL 483 Creative Writing and Literary Studies

Total Credits 16

Note: the same course cannot fulfill both the core requirements except in the case of a course that can be repeated for credit—ENGL 201, ENGL 342, ENGL 343, and ENGL 344—which can be taken twice, once for core credit and once as an elective.

The Concentration in Creative Writing

Minimum number of hours: 16 (4 courses)

To have entered on the transcript Concentration in Creative Writing, the students must take:

Select one of the following: (4 credits)
ENGL 142 Introduction to Writing Poetry
ENGL 143 Introduction to Writing Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 144 Introduction to Writing Fiction
ENGL 170 Amaranth
ENGL 201 Special Topics in Writing
ENGL 342 Advanced Poetry Writing
ENGL 343 Advanced Creative Non-Fiction
ENGL 344 Advanced Fiction Writing
ENGL 483 Creative Writing and Literary Studies
ENGL 305 & ENGL 306 Creative Writing Thesis Proposal
and Creative Writing Thesis 4

Total Credits 16

Note: the same course cannot fulfill both the core requirement except in the case of courses that can be repeated for credit—ENGL 201, ENGL 342, ENGL 343 and ENGL 344—which can be taken twice, once for core credit and once as an elective.