Who's in charge?
Our faculty, all actively publishing practitioners in their fields, have garnered awards that range from the Pulitzer Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Magazine Award, the Whiting Award, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and other honors. Many have received distinguished teaching awards at Penn, and all have mentored alumni who have gone on to publish their work, start careers at top publishing houses or news outlets, or simply cultivate an ongoing writing practice, no matter what their professional path.
Who will I see in the workshop circle?
Students come to our program from across the university, bringing a rich diversity of experiences and approaches to the craft of writing. Everyone benefits from this intellectual cross-pollination, whether you’re a creative writing major, a creative writing or journalistic writing minor, or a student enrolling in one of our courses as an elective. All of our workshops are open to students from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, Wharton, and the School of Nursing, and many of our majors are immersed in fields as diverse as visual arts, communication, Africana studies, Asian American studies, gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, Jewish studies, Latin American and Latinx studies, political science, business, biological basis of behavior, engineering, and more.
Students who take our workshops become better writers and readers, and take their skills with them into their post-Penn lives and into a variety of professional paths. Our students go on to publish their work at small and large presses; they launch careers at top publishing houses and news outlets; they embark on graduate study in writing and related fields; and they pursue an ongoing writing practice, no matter what their professional path. Many of our alumni are also active in the literary community at Kelly Writers House.
