Creative Writing Major

Jamie-Lee Josselyn celebrates Yiwei Chai at the Kelly Writers House 2022 Senior Capstone Celebration.

The Creative Writing Concentration for English majors (colloquially referred to as the “the Creative Writing Major”) provides students with a solid grounding in literature as well as advanced study in creative writing. To fulfill this major, students may take courses in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, journalism, playwriting, screenwriting, and writing for children and young adults. They may also take innovative workshops in cross-genre, experimental, and hybrid writing, including writing that engages community organizing, multimedia and visual arts, and performance, as well as for-credit apprenticeships and courses in the independent study of a genre or topic. 

Creative Writing Concentrators take at least three creative writing workshops as part of their major curriculum. As a major, you’ll discuss what makes good writing not only with other English majors, but also with students from Engineering, Nursing, and Wharton, creating out of many voices a collaborative, integrated writing community that is part of Penn’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, home to Penn’s writing programs, platforms, and projects. The cluster of programs at CPCW, which includes the Kelly Writers House, PennSound, ModPo, Jacket2, and the RealArts@Penn program of paid internships in arts and media, provides opportunities to our majors in and out of the classroom, including readings, webcasts, podcasts, lectures, performances, and archives — all of which promote the living textures of contemporary writing.

All Creative Writing Majors are eligible to apply for Honors in English, writing either a critical thesis or a creative thesis.

Creative Writing Concentrators complete 13 courses:

• 6 courses to complete the English Core
• 3 Creative Writing Seminars
  • Any courses within these ranges: ENGL 0700-0799 or 3000-3999, or any course with the AECW attribute
• 1 course from The One Series
  • Any course within this range: ENGL 4500-4998
• 1 Early-Period Seminar in either Literature Before 1700 (a course with the AEB7 attribute) or Literature Before 1900 (a course with the AEB9 attribute)
• 1 Literature Seminar Elective in any area (this can be an additional Creative Writing Seminar)
•  Elective(s)

If you are interested in declaring an English major with this concentration, please contact either Professor Becky S. Friedman (beckysf@english.upenn.edu), Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, or the Undergraduate Chair of English.

Current Majors with a Creative Writing Concentration
 

• Daniel Adewoye 27A

• Saanvi Agarwal 26A

• Amara Ali 27A

• Immanuel Anaborne 26A

• Mame Balde 25A

• Samantha Bohn 25C

• Jett Bolker 27A

• Emily Bornstein 25A

• Daniel Boyko 26A

• Josephine Buccini 25A

• Chloe Chang 26A

• Armando Chardiet 25A

• Lauren Cho 26A

• Madeline Chun 27A

• Vishwesh Desai 25A

• Nysa Dharan 26A

• Jake-Anthony Diaz 26A

• Olivia Domansky 25A

• Nik Donoughe 25C

• Drew Dunham-Snipes 27A

• Jake Falconer 25A

• Thomas Forkin 25C

• Anna Frankl 25A

• Dylan Fritz 25A

• Sophia Hall 27A

• Clarissa Han 26A

• Cole Hanover 27A

• Elizabeth Harris 25A

• David Hess-Dunlop 25A

• Samantha Hsiung 27A

• Chloe Hunt 25A

• Zelda Kellogg 25A

• Enne Kim 26A

• Hannah Kim 25A

• Noah Kocher 27A

• Sarah Leonard 27A

• Jessica Lin 26A

• Sandra Lin 27A

• Jules Lingenfelter 26A

• Anusha Mathur 25C

• Margarita Matta 25A

• Anna-Liza Medynska 26A

• Helena Muñoz 25A

• Jasmine Ni 27A

• Trinity Nieves 26A

• Tess O'Brien 25A

• Alexander O'Connor 25A

• Eden Pela 26A

• Angelie Rodriguez 27A

• Julia Rotgin 25A

• Keemia Sarafpour 25A

• Wahid Sarwar 25A

• Pandora Schoen 26A

• Liana Seale 25C

• Julian Williams 27A