Teju Cole, Wednesdays, 3:00-5:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

This reading and writing intensive workshop for students who want to learn to write literary fiction. The goal of the course would be for each student to produce two original short stories, which will be polished through the workshoping process. Authors on the syllabus will include James Joyce, Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, James Kelman, Diane Williams, and Sigrid Nunez.

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a cover letter saying what you hope to get out of the workshop. In the cover letter, mention three works of fiction that matter to you and why. In addition, submit a 400–500 word sample of your fiction; the sample can be self-contained or a section of a longer work.

Teju Cole, Thursdays, 3:00-5:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

This is a course on the writing of literary fiction and is for students who have taken at least one previous writing workshop. Since good writing comes out of good reading, we will be closely reading the work of a wide variety of authors, including Virginia Woolf, W.G. Sebald, Samuel Beckett, Jamaica Kincaid, Lydia Davis, and others. Students can expect to write and workshop two stories of their own over the course of the semester.

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a cover letter saying what you hope to get out of the workshop. In the cover letter, mention three works of fiction that matter to you and why. In addition, submit a 400–500 word sample of your fiction; the sample can be self-contained or a section of a longer work.

Laura van den Berg, Wednesdays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

Have you ever written a draft of a short story or a novel, only to realize that you have no idea what to do next? This workshop will guide you through how to truly finish what you start on the page. We will explore how revision can be every bit as creative and exhilarating as getting the first draft down; experiment with different revision techniques; and learn how to move beyond the early draft stage. Students can expect to leave the semester with a polished short story or 30-40 novel pages; a deeper understanding of their own writing process; and a roadmap for how to navigate publishing. 

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a brief letter of interest that discusses why you’re interested in taking this workshop—What is your current relationship to revision? Is there a particular project you’d like to finish?—and a 1-2 page writing sample. The sample can be from the project you’d like to work on in the workshop or from another work of fiction. 

Valeria Luiselli, Tuesdays, 9:00-11:45am

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

How do we document volcanoes, whale-song, winds, tempests? How do we write with and about the “natural world” and the place that humans occupy in it, in a moment where everything seems to be changing so rapidly. And how do we reimagine beginnings in a moment when end-of-world narratives seem so predominant?

In this workshop we will be reading authors like Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Lucretius, Virgil, Hesiod, and Ovid, who documented or imagined volcanic eruptions, astronomical phenomena, tempestuous storms, fallen cities, plagues, catastrophes; but also, new beginnings. As part of our research, we will likewise be listening to recordings from my own archives, of things such as volcanic eruptions, wind storms, whale-song, and glacier rumbles. 

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a letter of interest discussing your current projects, previous knowledge (if any) of the course subject matter, and why the course topic interests you. No writing sample is required.

Nick White, Thursdays, 12:00-2:45pm 

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

In this workshop, we will study the art and craft of writing novels. We’ll consider published work in order to get a better sense of the multiple choices writers can make when they shape a book-length narrative. Our objectives will be the following: (1) to prepare you for writing a novel, (2) to deepen your reading of other writers’ work,  (3) to workshop the opening chapter(s) of your novel, (4) to help you create a working outline for the kind of book you want to write. While some workshop experience would be useful, it is not required. Students who wish to apply for a creative thesis focused on fiction / a novel-length project are strongly encouraged to take this workshop. 

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a one-page query letter, where you "pitch" what novel you would like to write for this workshop. Please include summary of the book as well as any novels/writers you count as influences. A writing sample is not required for this course.

Joshua Bell, Tuesdays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

Initially, students can expect to read, discuss, and imitate the strategies of a wide range of poets writing in English; to investigate and reproduce prescribed forms and poetic structures; and to engage in writing exercises meant to expand the conception of what a poem is and can be. As the course progresses, reading assignments will be tailored on an individual basis, and an increasing amount of time will be spent in discussion of student work.

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a portfolio including a letter of interest, ten poems, and a list of classes (taken at Harvard or elsewhere) that seem to have bearing on your enterprise.

Joshua Bell, Mondays, 3:00-5:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

By guided reading, classroom discussion, one on one conference, and formal and structural experimentation, members of the Advanced Poetry Workshop will look to hone, deepen, and challenge the development of their poetic inquiry and aesthetic. Students will be required to write and submit one new poem each week and to perform in-depth, weekly critiques of their colleagues' work.

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a portfolio including a letter of interest, ten poems, and a list of classes (taken at Harvard or elsewhere) that seem to have bearing on your enterprise.

Melissa Cundieff, Thursdays, 3:00-5:45pm 

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

In this workshop-based class, students will think deeply about how music is often at the center of their experiences, may it be as a song, an album, an artist, their own relationship with an instrument, etc. This class will entail writing true stories about one's life in which the personal and music orbit and/or entangle each other. This will include some journalism and criticism, but above all it will ask you to describe how and why music matters to your lived life. We will read work by Hayao Miyazaki, Jia Tolentino, Kaveh Akbar, Oliver Sacks, Susan Sontag, Adrian Matejka, among many others, (as well as invite and talk with guest speaker(s)). This class is open to all levels.

Supplemental Application Information: Applications for this class should include a 2-3 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250-word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience.

Melissa Cundieff, Thursdays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

In this workshop-based class, students will write poems, creative nonfiction essays, and hybrid works to explore how truth, as both lived experience and external reference, moves in various ways: objective and literal, emotional, political, and personal, narrative and expository, lyrical and morphing. We'll read essays and poems by writers who famously cross and blend genres: Ross Gay, Mary Ruefle, Adrienne Rich, Tarfia Faizullah, Gregory Orr, Kaveh Akbar, Mary Oliver, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, and Maggie Nelson, among others. This class is open to all levels.

Supplemental Application Information: Applications for this class should include a 2-3 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250-word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience.

Darcy Frey, Wednesdays, 3:00-5:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

Whether it takes the form of literary journalism, essay, memoir, or environmental writing, creative nonfiction is a powerful genre that allows writers to break free from the constraints commonly associated with nonfiction prose and reach for the breadth of thought and feeling usually accomplished only in fiction: the narration of a vivid story, the probing of a complex character, the argument of an idea, or the evocation of a place. Students will work on several short assignments to hone their mastery of the craft, then write a longer piece that will be workshopped in class and revised at the end of the term. We will take instruction and inspiration from published authors such as Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Ariel Levy, Alexander Chee, and Virginia Woolf. This is a workshop-style class intended for undergraduate and graduate students at all levels of experience. No previous experience in English Department courses is required.

Supplemental Application Information:  Please write a substantive letter of introduction describing who you are as writer at the moment and where you hope to take your writing; what experience you may have had with creative/literary nonfiction; what excites you about nonfiction in particular; and what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Additionally, please submit 3-5 pages of creative/literary nonfiction (essay, memoir, narrative journalism, etc., but NOT academic writing) or, if you have not yet written much nonfiction, an equal number of pages of narrative fiction.

NOTE: English CNFR 001 & 002 are two sections of the same course, with different meeting times. If your schedule allows for both sections, please apply to both courses.

Darcy Frey, Thursdays, 3:00-5:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

Whether it takes the form of literary journalism, essay, memoir, or environmental writing, creative nonfiction is a powerful genre that allows writers to break free from the constraints commonly associated with nonfiction prose and reach for the breadth of thought and feeling usually accomplished only in fiction: the narration of a vivid story, the probing of a complex character, the argument of an idea, or the evocation of a place. Students will work on several short assignments to hone their mastery of the craft, then write a longer piece that will be workshopped in class and revised at the end of the term. We will take instruction and inspiration from published authors such as Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Ariel Levy, Alexander Chee, and Virginia Woolf. This is a workshop-style class intended for undergraduate and graduate students at all levels of experience. No previous experience in English Department courses is required.

Supplemental Application Information:  Please write a substantive letter of introduction describing who you are as writer at the moment and where you hope to take your writing; what experience you may have had with creative/literary nonfiction; what excites you about nonfiction in particular; and what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Additionally, please submit 3-5 pages of creative/literary nonfiction (essay, memoir, narrative journalism, etc., but NOT academic writing) or, if you have not yet written much nonfiction, an equal number of pages of narrative fiction.

NOTE: English CNFR 001 & 002 are two sections of the same course, with different meeting times. If your schedule allows for both sections, please apply to both courses.

Louisa Thomas, Mondays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

This workshop is a writing-intensive course designed to develop students' ability to tell true stories. We will apply techniques commonly associated with fiction--narrative structure, character development, scene setting, point of view, rhythm, and mood--to nonfiction writing, creating journalism that is rigorously reported, vividly written, powerfully felt, and factual. We'll consider questions of style, subjects, and ethics. While many of the examples of literary journalism we will study will come from print magazines, we will also pay special attention to the particular challenges and opportunities presented by writing on the internet. In addition to shorter pieces, students will write one long feature, which will be workshopped by the class. 

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a letter describing your interest in the course and a two-page sample of your writing. An excerpt of an academic essay is fine if you don’t have an appropriate example of creative writing.

Sam Marks, Tuesdays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

This workshop is a continued exploration of writing for the stage, with an eye towards presentation.  The semester will culminate in a staged reading of each student's work for the Harvard Playwrights Festival. Each reading will be directed by a professional director and presented to the public.  Students will be encouraged to excavate their own voice in playwriting and learn from the final presentation. The class will examine the design of the stage, the playworld, and the page. Students will attempt multiple narrative strategies and dialogue techniques. They will bolster their craft of playwriting through generating short scripts and a completed one act. Readings will include significant contributors to the theatrical form such as Caryl Churchill and Samuel Beckett as well as contemporary dramatists such as Annie Baker, Jackie Sibbles Drury, Branden Jacobs Jenkins, and Jeremy O. Harris.

Supplemental Application Information: Prior experience in writing the dramatic form is strongly encouraged. Please submit a 5-10 page writing sample (preferably a play or screenplay, but all genres are acceptable). Also, please write a few sentences about a significant theatrical experience (a play read or seen) and how it affected you.

Emma Adler, Wednesdays, 12:00-2:45pm

Enrollment is limited to 12 students

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of both playwriting and dramaturgy. Dramaturgs facilitate the realization of plays through a variety of practices, from suggesting revisions to scripts to conducting research about plays’ subject matter or historical context. In the first half of the semester, students will hone essential skills by reading and discussing plays and completing playwriting and dramaturgy exercises. In the second half of the semester, students will draft their own one-act play while serving as dramaturg for another student’s play-in-progress. Readings will consist (with a handful of exceptions) of plays written in the last thirty years by playwrights in the early stages of their careers. 

Supplemental Application Information: No experience in playwriting or dramaturgy is necessary. Please submit a 5-7 page writing sample (preferably a playwriting sample but you may also submit work in another genre). Please also submit a paragraph (no more than five sentences) that comments on a play or film you recently saw or read. What were its strengths and weaknesses, or other striking qualities?