ABC Download our Alphabet BookThere’s nothing in the ABC Book that’s not on this website.
Creative Writing Program
What is the Creative Writing Program at Vassar?
The English Department at Vassar offers an array of creative writing courses, all of which have a strong reading component and are by and large taught by working writers and editors. All of our creative writing courses include study of established authors as well as in-class consideration of student work.
Students usually begin with English 205: Composition, which may be taken in either "a" or "b" semester. This course serves as an introduction to the writing of fiction, poetry and literary non-fiction. English 206, also offered in both "a" and "b" semesters, is open to students who have taken 205. One section of 206 is usually designated as a "poetry" section for those students who wish to work exclusively in that form. The literary non-fiction courses, 207 and 208, are also offered both terms, with all other 200-level writing courses serving as a gateway to 208.
More advanced sequences include two year-long courses, English 208-209: Narrative Writing and English 210-211: Verse Writing, both open to non-majors; as well as a highly selective, year-long senior composition class, English 305-306, which is open only to majors. Please note that at Vassar most creative writing courses are called composition, unlike many universities where composition means standard writing courses.
Entry to both 209-210 and 211-212 requires a portfolio and admission is not guaranteed. Students who wish to be considered for verse or narrative sequences must submit a writing portfolio before spring break in the year previous. A portfolio should consist of 15 to 20 pages of fiction or 6 to 8 poems. A writing portfolio is also required for students wishing to take senior composition, which, as noted above, is limited to senior English Majors, and entails the writing of a Senior Thesis – a collection of poems, short stories or a novel.
Please note that the demand for 200-level writing courses is too great to admit freshmen. However, English 101 requires more writing, and more varied writing, than any of the other options for freshmen. Most sections offer creative writing opportunities.
Our Section Descriptions supplement the college catalogue and describes current courses offerings and foci. The composition courses (as well as narrative and verse writing courses) are listed in the 200 series. Most writing instructors are open to a wide range of independent studies with students whose writing they know well. Independent study is available for sophomores, juniors, and seniors, subject to the ordinary rules for independent study in the English Department. Also the department offers a correlate sequence in creative writing for non-majors, including an advanced senior writing seminar.
Students at Vassar write in a broad range of styles and genres, in both traditional and more subversive forms ranging from graphic novels to SF to language and sonic poetry, experimental fiction and hybrid (media) texts. A look at the "Books Noted" column in a recent issue of the Vassar Quarterly (alumnae/i publication) – ranging from a young adult "chick lit" novel to an historical novel to a "lost" innovative work by an Asian-American woman – will give you some idea of the range of writing that comes out of Vassar.
Vassar sends many graduates on to MFA Programs in Creative Writing. Recent graduates have studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop, Brown, Cornell, Stanford, University of Montana, University of Massachusetts and University of Arkansas, and so on. A long list of Vassar writers appears at the "Where are they now" section of this site.
Every year the department hosts readings and lectures by a remarkable group of well-known poets and writers, most of whom also meet with students. Recent readings have included Harryette Mullen, Simon Armitage, Michael Ondaatje, Peter Carey, Jules Feiffer, Janet McAdams, Reneee Gladman, Mary Caponegro, Gordon Henry, Kimberly Blaeser, Mohsin Hamid, Lydia Davis, ZZ Packer, George Saunders, Li-Young Lee, Mark Sarvas, and Paige Ackerson-Kiely.