Minor in Creative Writing

Creative writing is a vital component of the University of Richmond experience. The creative writing program, administered under the auspices of the Department of English, offers both classroom and extracurricular writing opportunities for English majors and non-majors alike. 

The English department faculty includes two full-time instructors of creative writing:

Brian Henry is a poet and the author of several collections of poetry and of many poems published in anthologies and journals around the country and around the world.  He is also an essayist and frequent reviewer and the editor of the preeminent poetry magazine Verse, which is published at the University of Richmond. 

David Stevens is a fiction writer and the author of a collection of short fiction, Mexico Is Missing and Other Stories, and of many stories published in journals and magazines such as The Paris Review, Harper’s and The Mid-American Review.  He is also a literary scholar and author of a book on the frontier in American fiction. 

Other members of the English faculty contribute courses in creative writing as well.  Every other year, a distinguished visiting writer joins the department for a semester to teach.  These have included the poet and essayist Diane Ackerman, the poet Angela Ball, the novelist Josephine Humphreys and the poet Tomaz Salamun. In addition to coursework and the minor in creative writing, students interested in writing can contribute to Richmond's student literary magazine, The Messenger.

The Creative Writing Minor

Note: A grade of C (2.0) or better is required in all coursework comprising the creative writing minor.

ENGL 384 Introduction to Creative Writing

Two writing courses, chosen from

ENGL 385 Fiction Writing

ENGL 386 Poetry Writing

ENGL 387 Writing for the Stage

ENGL 392 Creative Nonfiction Writing

ENGL 397 Selected Topics in Writing

One 200- or 300-level English course in literature

One additional 300-level English course, either in literature or in writing

ENGL 401 Creative Writing Seminar

Students interested in editing and publishing can also take English 393 Literary Editing and Publishing, though it does not count toward the creative writing minor.

In each course basic principles are discussed, a repertoire of techniques is introduced and a variety of examples is examined. Students turn in original work in broadly conceived assignments and receive extensive feedback from peers as well as the instructor. Students work to control effects, to sharpen their use of language and to give their acts of self-expression interest for a general audience.