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Literary Arts

Brown's Program in Literary Arts provides a home for innovative writers of fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, literary translation, electronic writing and mixed media.

The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) was developed by the U.S. Department of Education to categorize educational programs in the U.S. for a variety of reporting purposes. Each program at Brown is assigned a CIP code that best matches its academic curriculum.

Current STEM Eligible CIP Codes

Related Academic Areas

• Comparative Literature
• Modern Culture and Media
• Theatre Arts and Performance Studies

The concentration allows student writers to develop their skills in one or more genres while deepening their understanding of the craft of writing. Many courses in this concentration require a writing sample; students should consult a concentration advisor or the concentration website for strategies on getting into the appropriate course(s).

Researchers@Brown

Literary Arts

For over 40 years, Literary Arts at Brown University has been a creative and intellectual center for the U.S. literary avant-garde.  Along with a handful of other writing programs nationwide, Brown provides a home for innovative writers of fiction, poetry, electronic writing (hypertext) and mixed media.

Established in the mid-1960s by poet, translator and critic Edwin Honig, Literary Arts at Brown continues its tradition of hiring and retaining a faculty comprised of nationally and internationally known authors.  Each year, the program offers 60 – 70 classes, awards the M.F.A. degree to approximately 12 graduate student writers, and confers Honors on about 35 talented seniors who will have completed the undergraduate concentration in Literary Arts.

The online MFA application deadline is 15 December.  Applicants can expect admission decisions by 15 March.

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Affiliations

Faculty administrative positions.

Shenoda, Matthew Chair of Literary Arts

Faculty Positions

Cayley, John H Professor of Literary Arts

Channer, Colin C D Associate Professor of Literary Arts

Colella, Laura E Assistant Professor of the Practice of Literary Arts

Coover, Robert T.B. Stowell University Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts

Ebeid, Carolina Bonderman Assistant Professor of the Practice of Literary Arts

Field, Thalia L Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor of Creative Writing

Gander, Forrest Adele Kellenberg Seaver '49 Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing, Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts, and Professor Emeritus of Comparitive Literature

Hunt, Laird B Professor of Literary Arts

Ives, Lucy B Bonderman Professor of of the Practice of Literary Arts

Mahajan, Karan Associate Professor of Literary Arts

Mari, Francesca Assistant Professor of the Practice of Literary Arts

Maso, Carole Professor Emerita of Literary Arts

Nakayasu, Sawako Assistant Professor of Literary Arts

Nelson, Peter Gale Senior Lecturer in Literary Arts

Shenoda, Matthew Professor of Literary Arts

Sikelianos, Eleni A Professor of Literary Arts

Steinbach, Meredith Professor Emerita of Literary Arts

Swensen, Cole Professor Emerita of Literary Arts

Townsend, Jacinda Assistant Professor of Literary Arts

Wideman, John Edgar Asa Messer Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies and Literary Arts

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Brown’s Department in Literary Arts provides a home for innovative writers of fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, literary translation, digital/cross-disciplonary and mixed media.  The concentration allows student writers to develop their skills in one or more genres while deepening their understanding of the craft of writing. Many courses in this concentration require a writing sample; students should consult a concentration advisor or the concentration website for strategies on getting into the appropriate course(s).

Candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree with concentration in Literary Arts will be expected to complete the following course work:

1. At least four writing workshops from among the following series: LITR 0100A , LITR 0100B , LITR 0110A , LITR 0110B , LITR 0110D , LITR 0110E , LITR 011oH the various courses under LITR 0210, LITR 0310/0311, LITR 0610, LITR 1010, LITR 1110, LITR 1150/1151/1152 and LITR 1410 . At least two genres must be covered within the four workshops taken. An independent study in literary arts ( LITR 1310  and LITR 1510) may count toward the workshop requirement. Other writing-intensive courses may also count, at the discretion of the advisor.

2. Six elective reading and research in literary arts courses, which must include:

• a course in literary theory or the history of literary criticism
• a course that primarily covers readings and research in literary arts created before 1800
• a course that primarily covers readings and research in literary arts created before 1900
• a course that primarily covers readings and research in literary arts created after 1900

These courses, selected in consultation with a concentration advisor, may come from (but are not limited to) the following departments: Africana Studies, American Civilization, Classics, Comparative Literature, East Asian Studies, Egyptology, French Studies, German Studies, Hispanic Studies, Italian Studies, Judaic Studies, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures in English, Middle East Studies, Modern Culture and Media, Music, Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Slavic Studies, South Asian Studies, Theatre, Speech and Dance, Visual Arts. With approval from the concentration advisor, courses covering pre-20th century time periods may be distributed in a variant manner, so long as they cover two distinct literary time periods that precede the 20th century

3. Among the ten required courses, at least four must be at the 1000-level or above. At least six classes (workshops and reading/research courses) that shall count toward the concentration must be taken at Brown through the Literary Arts Department; up to one of the six LITR courses may be a course taken in another department but cross-listed by Literary Arts. No more than two of the ten required courses for the concentration may also count toward fulfilling a second concentration.

4.  During the senior year, all students must take at least one course within the Literary Arts course offerings (courses with LITR designation by the Registrar, or courses approved by the concentration advisor).

Honors in Creative Writing: Course requirements are the same as those for the regular concentration (four workshops, six elective literature-reading courses), with the following changes and additions: honors candidates must include two 1000-level workshops or independent studies among their courses; and complete a thesis. Students in their seventh semester who are enrolled in or have completed at least one 1000-level workshop (or independent study) may submit honors applications to the Literary Arts Department from the first day of the fall semester to 25 September; and from 1 through 25 February in the spring. Interested students should obtain information from the office of the Literary Arts Department.

Honors in Literary Arts Production: Course requirements are the same as those for the regular concentration (four workshop, six literature-reading courses), with the following changes and additions: honors candidates must include two 1000-level workshops, production courses or related independent studies among their courses; and complete a production capstone project. Students in their seventh semester who are enrolled in or have completed at least one 1000-level workshop, production course or independent study, may submit honors applications to the Literary Arts Department from the first day of the fall semester to 25 September; and from 1 through 25 February in the spring. Interested students should obtain information form the Literary Arts Department.

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<p>Literary arts and creative writing</p>

The Department of Literary Arts was established in the late 1960s as the Graduate Program in Creative Writing by poet Edwin Honig. The first Master of Arts in creative writing was granted in 1970. The Department of Literary Arts awards the Master of Fine Arts in fiction, poetry, digital language arts, and cross-disciplinary writing to 12 graduate students per year and the Bachelor of Arts in literary arts to approximately 50 undergraduate students.

Notable Programs

• International Writers Project   
• Since the early 1990s, the Department of Literary Arts been a leader in the field of electronic writing and digital language arts. Digital writers take courses offering the additional possibility of working in mixed hypermedia, including computer graphics, animation, electronic music, video, and virtual 3-D environments. An experimental workshop — CAVE writing — has been established in Brown’s immersive visual reality environment in the Center for Advanced Scientific Computation and Visualization (the “CAVE”).

Alumni of the program

More than 50 percent of alumni of the Graduate Program of Literary Arts go on to have a book published within five years of graduating. Notable alumni include:

• Nilo Cruz, M.F.A. 1994 (playwriting), Pulitzer Prize recipient
• Edwidge Danticat, M.F.A. 1993 (fiction), Noted novelist, National Book Award finalist
• Percival Everett, M..A. 1982 (fiction)
• Peter Gizzi, M.F.A. 1991 (poetry), Guggenheim recipient
• Jaimy Gordon, DA ’75, National Book Award winner for her novel, Lord of Misrule
• Ben Lerner, M.F.A. 2003 (Poetry), National Book Award Finalist
• Sarah Ruhl, M.F.A. 2001 (Playwriting), MacArthur Fellowship recipient
• Joanna Scott, M.A. 1985, MacArthur Fellowship recipient
• Meg Wolitzer A.B. 1981, novelist
• Jeffrey Eugenides A.B. 1982, novelist

The Brown Reader

In celebration of Brown’s 250th anniversary, this collection of newly commissioned essays, comics, and poems features 50 best-selling, prize-winning writers, poets, and artists reflecting on their time on College Hill. Contributors include Edwidge Danticat, Jeffrey Eugenides, Lois Lowry, Marilynne Robinson, and Meg Wolitzer. Scheduled for publication in spring 2014.

Faculty Awards

• Keith Waldrop, professor emeritus: National Book Award , 2009
• Forest Gander: Pulitzer Prize finalist for poetry, 2012
• C.D. Wright: MacArthur Fellowship, and a National Book Award finalist in 2010
• Cole Swensen: Guggenheim Fellowship and a PEN USA Award for Literary Translation
• John Edgar Wideman: MacArthur Fellowship
• Media contact: Courtney Coelho 401-863-7287
• Department: Peter Gale Nelson , academic program director, 401-863-3265

The College

Writing requirement.

• Design Your Education
• Complete Your Degree
• Degree Requirements

Information for Faculty

Brown expects you to approach your undergraduate studies as an intellectual process that unfolds over time. Growth in writing is essential to this process.

Minimum Expectation

Learning to write well is a developmental process that occurs over time. For this reason, all Brown undergraduates must work on their writing with intention and focus at least twice during their undergraduate studies.

The Writing Requirement at Brown requires students to take at least one writing-designated (WRIT in Courses@Brown) course or any English, Literary Arts, or Comparative Literature course in semesters 1-4 as well as at least one additional qualifying writing course in semesters 5-7.

A student's  Internal Academic Record  will list the Writing Requirement as completed 24-48 hours after a passing grade has been entered.

Only Transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students may satisfy Part I of the Writing Requirement with a transfer credit from a non-Brown course taken at a previous institution. To satisfy Part I, the transfer credit must be an unassigned English, Literary Arts, or Comparative Literature course credit. Transfer and RUE students with no such prior course must take an approved course at Brown, unless they matriculated as juniors, but they have an additional two terms to do so.  Transfer students who matriculated at Brown as juniors are exempted from Part I of the Writing Requirement but must satisfy Part II of the Writing Requirement at Brown, like all other undergraduates. 

Students (non-transfer and non-RUE) who do not satisfy Part I of the Writing Requirement will be blocked from participating in pre-registration for their fifth semester. In order to get the registration hold lifted, the student would have to  meet with an academic advising dean  to devise a plan to finish Part I as soon as possible. 

A student who is not listed in one of the approved  concentrations below must complete a writing-designated course or any course in English, Literary Arts, or Comparative Literature. They may not use independent studies courses to satisfy the Writing Requirement unless the department offers an independent study course that is writing-designated.

To make such arrangements, a department must submit a course proposal for a new independent study course in which every section, regardless of the instructor, would meet the criteria for a writing-designated course.  

Approved Alternatives to a Second Writing-Designated Course Allowed Only in Select Concentrations

Biology  (including the AB/SCB, Applied Math-Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Biophysics, Computational Biology, and Health and Human Biology),  German Studies  concentrators, and  Math  concentrators may submit writing completed in the concentration to satisfy the requirement in lieu of a second writing-designated course. Writing must be approved by the end of the 7th (or penultimate) semester and will be reviewed and approved by the concentration advisor or a faculty member that they may designate in ASK. Speak with your concentration advisor for additional information. 

Instructions for students and faculty in participating departments are available in the IT knowledgebase .

Students who do not satisfy Parts I and II of the Writing Requirement will not be eligible to graduate. Students who anticipate difficulty meeting these requirements in a timely way should consult with an academic advising dean for guidance by  scheduling an appointment  as soon as possible.

Assessment Criteria

You are required to demonstrate that you have worked on your writing across your four years at Brown. The following criteria will help you assess competence and guide you in developing your writing skills.

• Create coherent and well-developed responses to assignments
• Demonstrate a high level of critical and abstract thinking
• Demonstrate a sophisticated appreciation for readers’ needs
• Support their arguments with relevant, detailed and convincing evidence
• Logically sequence their paragraphs with content-based transitions
• Use appropriate diction and tone and constructively vary sentence structures
• Use correct grammar, punctuation, spelling and syntax
• Exhibit moderate ability to think critically and abstractly in response to assignments
• Clearly attempt to address intended readers’ needs
• Sufficiently organize and develop their ideas so as not to impair the readers’ understanding
• Use loosely or unclearly related examples
• Sometimes use weak transitions between paragraphs
• Depend upon basic sentence structures, phrasing and usage
• Occasionally use incorrect grammar, punctuation, spelling and syntax, but not to the point where errors impair the reader’s understanding of the text
• Exhibit little or no ability to think critically or abstractly
• Fail to recognize the needs of the reader
• Fail to answer the questions asked in assignments
• Depend upon weak generalizations and undeveloped examples
• Fail to write coherent prose
• Use imprecise or inappropriate vocabulary
• Fail to demonstrate sufficient understanding of grammar, punctuation and syntax.

Available Courses

As a student at Brown, you are expected to work on your writing in your general studies and in your concentration. To that end, Brown offers a number of courses that will help you develop your writing abilities. You are encouraged to take at least one of these courses in your first year of study and at least one additional writing course in your area of concentration.

Writing-designated courses  provide you with feedback about your writing and opportunities to apply that feedback on the same assignment or when completing writing assignments later in the course. 

The  Nonfiction Writing Program  in Brown's English Department offers a number of intensive writing courses that will help you develop your abilities to write academic essays, journalism and creative nonfiction.

In  Writing Fellows courses , you will improve your written communication skills through intensive work with another Brown student, called a Writing Fellow, who has been trained in composition and pedagogy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Any courses in English (ENGL), Comparative Literature (COLT), or Literary Arts (LITR), as well as any courses in other disciplines that are specifically writing-designated (WRIT).

Go to Courses@Brown . In the left hand column, scroll down to the “Curricular Programs” section. You will see a check box indicating “Writing - Designated Courses.” Selecting this checkbox will display a list of all ENGL, COLT, and LITR courses as well as courses in other departments that are writing-designated.

Yes, you can take any class S/NC at Brown, and some courses in ENGL and LITR are mandatory S/NC.

The Writing Center, embedded within the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, is a great place to start. You can make an appointment on the Writing Center’s website even if you have not written anything for your assignment yet. They can help at every stage of the writing process, and you can schedule multiple appointments during a semester to get help over time. English language support is also available to all international/multilingual students.

We also recommend reaching out to your professor to talk through specific assignments or scheduling a meeting with an academic dean who may be able to advise around different learning strategies.

If you are trying to register for classes during the pre-registration period or when registration opens at the beginning of the semester and you are seeing an error message referring to a WRIT HOLD, you will need to take the following steps. 

1). Decide what writing-designated course you plan to take in the upcoming semester.

2). Email [email protected] with the course that you plan to take and the HOLD can be removed. 

3). A degree completion dean will lift the hold, and then you will be able to register.

4). Please note that if the hold is lifted and you do not register for a writing-designated class, the registration hold will be reinstated (during the pre-registration period). Your graduation will be delayed until you complete the writing requirement if this is your last semester.

Courses@Brown will have the latest information on which courses are writing-designated and which ones are not. If the course is not considered a writing-designated course in the semester in which you took it (even if the same course is considered a writing-designated course in a different semester), then it does not satisfy the requirement. Courses are reviewed rigorously by the College Curriculum Council, and we cannot make exceptions.

Completion of the writing requirement is one of the four degree requirements at Brown , and the Center for Career Exploration advises that writing skills are key for employment in almost every field. A conversation with an advisor can help you find a course that is of interest. Please either reach out to your concentration advisor for discipline-specific recommendations or an academic dean for general or multi-disciplinary brainstorming. 

There is no way to retroactively add a writing-designation to a course. Your professor can submit the syllabus for a future semester to the College Curriculum Council to have it considered for this Curricular Program, but it cannot happen retroactively. You will have to find another way to satisfy the requirement.

Because the writing requirement is an undergraduate requirement, no course with a graduate level course code can count towards the writing requirement, even if the content of the course is the same as the undergraduate version. You will have to find another way to satisfy the requirement.

Biology concentrators (including the AB/SCB, Applied Math-Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Biophysics, Computational Biology, and Health and Human Biology), German Studies concentrators, and Mathematics concentrators may submit writing completed in the concentration to satisfy the requirement in lieu of a second writing-designated course. Writing must be approved by the end of the 7th (or penultimate) semester and will be approved by the concentration advisor or a faculty member that they may designate in ASK. If you plan to utilize this method, please discuss this with your concentration advisors in advance of the 7th semester so that there are no surprises, and you avoid a WRIT HOLD that will prevent you from registering for courses during pre-registration or registration.

Please email [email protected] to follow up.

If you are a concentrator in one of the concentrations that allows for a WRIT upload (Biology, German Studies, or Mathematics), you may be able to use a writing assignment from an independent study to fulfill the writing requirement.  After speaking with your concentration advisor, you can upload your writing to ASK for approval.

If you are not a Biology, German Studies, or Mathematics concentrator, having an independent study registered as a writing-designated course is very rare, so it is unlikely that you will be able to fulfill the writing requirement this way. If you are not sure, you can ask the registrar at [email protected] . In all likelihood, you will still have to take and pass a writing-designated course.

You may seek advanced permission from the Associate Dean for Junior/Senior Studies to complete the second writing-designated course in the 8th semester in specific circumstances. You will still incur a WRIT HOLD during pre-registration and/or registration. If you do not pass your writing-designated course in your last semester, you will not be able to graduate until you do pass a writing-designated course. 

If you are an F-1 student and planning to use post-completion OPT, there are additional hurdles to passing your academic check in your last semester, as it cannot be approved until you earn a grade for the course, which may delay the post-completion application  timeline. If this is the case for you, please email [email protected] .

No. You must complete the writing requirement with a Brown course (or a WRIT upload as described above).

However, if you are an incoming transfer student, Resume Undergraduate Student (RUE), or student veteran who completed a course in an English, Comparative Literature, or Literary Arts department at your previous institution, we will designate that you have met the first part of the writing requirement upon enrollment at Brown. The course should carry at least 3 semester credit hours. If you completed a writing intensive or equivalent of writing-designated course at your previous school in other departments (e.g. BIOL, PHIL, HIST), unfortunately, these cannot satisfy Brown’s writing requirement. 

Post-matriculation transfer credits for students who are already enrolled at Brown and take a course at another university cannot satisfy the writing requirement, without exception.

No. You must complete the first requirement in semesters 1-4 and the second requirement in semesters 5-7 to ensure that you are developing your writing over time as you reach different developmental stages of your educational journey.

An incomplete is an agreement between you and your instructor. If they agree to grade the work, no matter how much time has passed, you are able to turn in the work and earn a grade for the course, subject to approval from the Committee on Academic Standing if it has been longer than a year since the course ended. If you complete the course successfully, it would still count towards the writing requirement. If the professor is no longer able to accept INC work and the course will not earn a passing grade, then the course cannot be used for a writing requirement. 

If you are a senior, please check the Academic Calendar to see when the deadline for turning in work from past semester courses is, typically in the first week of May.

One. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about the BRDD Program and degree requirements . 

BRDD students will see a blank space in either the first writing requirement or second writing requirement on their internal academic record. For BRDD students, this is normal. No action is required.

You will not graduate until you complete the writing requirement. Please contact the degree completion deans at [email protected] to develop a degree completion plan to meet the writing requirement.

The Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning has put together several resources for instructors planning to teach writing-designated courses. You can also find more information from the College Curriculum Council on submitting a syllabus for consideration of Curricular Programs such as writing-designated courses.

Department of English

Choosing an introductory english course.

• Undergraduate Studies

There are several ways to start your journey with English at Brown.

• Start with one of our How Literature Matters courses (ENGL01**s), the core course for the concentration.
• Or try one of our other introductory English courses below the 1000-level 
• First-year students may want to take a first-year seminar (ENGL0150).
• Our Nonfiction Writing is another popular entry point into the concentration. A third is to take a course that focuses entirely on academic writing for the university; ENGL0900 and ENGL1030 courses focus entirely on academic writing, while ENGL0930 and ENGL1050 expose students to writing skills for the outside world

English Literatures

How literature matters courses.

ENGL 0100 , 0101 How Literature Matters, is the new core course for the recently revised English concentration. All sections of this course explore questions about how literature works, how we understand it, and how we write about it through an examination of form, genre, and critical method. They aim to help students develop their skills as close, careful readers of literary form and language.

• ENGL 0100Y, Do the Right Thing (Parker)
• ENGL 0101F, American Realism (Burrows)
• ENGL 0101G, Bad, Mad and Sad: Literatures of Misbehaving Women (Ramirez-D'Oleo)

First-Year Seminars

ENGL 0150 These are introductory seminars restricted to first-year students. All of these courses count toward concentration requirements in English.

• ENGL 0151G, The Middle Ages Goes to the Movies (Min)

Other Courses  below 1000-level  during Fall 2024

* ENGL 0202 courses are electives and do not count towards concentration requirements.

• ENGL 0202B*, What Monks Want: Asceticism and Austerity Across the Global Anglophone (Jain)
• ENGL 0202C*, Experiments in Asian and Asian Diaspora Literature and Culture (Kelly)
• ENGL 0202D*, Poetic Justice: Literatures of Colonialism (Le)
• ENGL 0300M, Gender in Medieval Literature (Min)
• ENGL 0310A, Shakespeare (Scozzaro)
• ENGL 0500P, The Examined Self (Gould)
• ENGL 0511D, Austen, Eliot, James (Parker)
• ENGL 0700E, Postcolonial Literature (George)
• ENGL 0700V, Introduction to Post-War British Fiction (Bewes)
• ENGL 0710Z, American Literature and the Constitution (Nabers)
• ENGL 0800T, Intro to Black Literary Theory (Quashie)
• ENGL 0100A, How to Read a Poem (Rabb)
• ENGL 0100U, Serial Fictions (Nabers)
• ENGL 0150S, The Roaring Twenties (Katz)
• ENGL 0151H, Literature and the Sea (Burrows)
• ENGL 0151J, Introduction to the Age of Dickens (McLaughlin)

Other Courses  below 1000-level  during Spring 2025

*ENGL 0202 courses are electives and do not count towards concentration requirements.

• ENGL 0202E*, Memory and the Literary Imagination: Conceptions of Remembering from Shakespeare to the Present (Clawson)
• ENGL 0202F*, We the People: American Literatures of Community (Choi)
• ENGL 0202G*, Literatures of Racial Capitalism (Browne)
• ENGL 0310A, Shakespeare (Kuzner)
• ENGL 0310Q, Why Before 1700? Literature Before Literature (Egan)
• ENGL 0710V, Death and Dying (Quashie)
• ENGL 0800V, Marxist Literary Theory (Parker)

Nonfiction Writing Course Offerings for Fall 2024

The Nonfiction Writing Program at Brown is committed to the principle that writing is integral to learning. The program uniquely links academic writing and creative nonfiction and journalism; this integration offers a comprehensive and flexible approach to prose writing. All courses are conducted in small seminars. For complete a list of 2024-2025 Nonfiction course offerings, please visit the Nonfiction Website .  

Writing for the University

These are introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses in nonfiction writing for students who wish to improve skills of composing and revising critical essays. Although many of these courses focus on literary subject matter, their purpose is to prepare students for writing at the college level in the entire range of the courses they are likely to take at Brown. Enrollment in each section is limited to 12 or 17. S/NC.

ENGL0900 ,  Critical Reading And Writing I: The Academic Essay

An introduction to university-level writing. Students produce and revise multiple drafts of essays, practice essential skills of paragraph organization, and develop techniques of critical analysis and research. Readings from a range of texts in literature, the media, and academic disciplines. Assignments move from personal response papers to formal academic essays. Sections 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05 are reserved for first-year students.

ENGL1030 ,  Intermediate Critical Reading And Writing II: The Research Essay

For the confident writer. Offers students who have mastered the fundamentals of the critical essay an opportunity to acquire the skills to write a research essay, including formulation of a research problem, use of primary evidence, and techniques of documentation. Individual section topics are drawn from literature, history, the social sciences, the arts, and the sciences. No pre-requisites. A writing sample may be required.

Writing for the World Outside the University

These are courses in various genres of nonfiction prose writing that supplement the English Department's offerings in literature and creative writing. They help students acquire skills in specialized areas of writing. While they may include literary subject matter, these courses are not designed to help students master the writing skills required for their academic assignments as much as to give them some preparation for critical thinking and writing tasks in their extracurricular and service activities and even in life after Brown. These courses are for students who have mastered basic writing skills. Enrollment is limited to 12 or 17. Writing sample required. S/NC.

ENGL0930 ,  Introduction To Creative Nonfiction

Designed to familiarize students with the techniques and narrative structures of creative nonfiction. Reading and writing will focus on personal essays, memoir, science writing, travel writing, and other related subgenres. A writing sample may be required. May serve as preparation for ENGL1180. Section 3 is reserved for first-year students. Sections 01 and 02 are reserved for first-year AND sophomore students.

ENGL1050, Intermediate Creative Nonfiction

For the more experienced writer. Offers students who show a facility with language and who have mastered the fundamentals of creative nonfiction an opportunity to write more sophisticated narrative essays. Sections focus on specific themes (e.g., medicine or sports; subgenres of the form) or on developing and refining specific techniques of creative nonfiction (such as narrative).  Sections also focus specifically on journalism.   Enrollment is limited to 17. No pre-requisites. Writing sample required. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval.  S/NC.

Creative Writing at Brown University

Creative writing degrees available at brown, brown creative writing rankings.

Popularity of Creative Writing at Brown

Brown creative writing students, brown creative writing bachelor’s program.

Of the 34 creative writing students who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2020-2021 from Brown, about 29% were men and 71% were women.

The following table and chart show the ethnic background for students who recently graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's in creative writing.

Brown Creative Writing Master’s Program

All of the 1 students who graduated with a Master’s in creative writing from Brown in 2021 were men.

The following table and chart show the ethnic background for students who recently graduated from Brown University with a master's in creative writing.

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Graduate Programs

Theatre arts and performance studies: playwriting.

The MFA in Playwriting is a three-year funded program. We are looking for students who define themselves as writers, and whose writing resists definition—but involves a keen, tireless attention to live performance. 

This program is a place to study what writing for theater has been, while honing a creative practice that also feeds voraciously on the nontheatrical: all kinds of literature, art, rebellion, and thought. Above all it is a place—and time—to write like you've never written before.

Application Information

Application requirements, gre subject:.

Not required

GRE General:

Toefl/ielts:.

Required for applicants from non-English speaking countries only; see the Graduate School website for details.

Letters of Recommendations:

Three Recommendations: At least one must speak directly to your work as a theater artist.

Writing Sample:

(2) The first should be a complete full-length script for live performance (a.k.a. a play). The second may be a part of a whole, and in any medium; if writing, no more than 15 pages, if visual no more than 15 images, if sound/video, no more than 15 minutes.

Personal Statement:

What are your writing goals over the next few years, and how can Brown's program serve them?

Dates/Deadlines

Application deadline, tuition and funding.

The program provides a financial aid package that covers tuition, health fee and health insurance for three years of full-time enrollment. In addition, the program provides stipends for fall and spring semesters for each year of full-time enrollment as well as a stipend for two summers (following first and second years). Funding is contingent on students remaining in good standing.

Alumni Careers

Contact and Location

Department of theatre arts and performance studies, mailing address.

• Program Faculty
• Program Handbook
• Graduate School Handbook

French and Francophone Studies

The Department of French and Francophone Studies is the center for faculty and students interested in the intellectual, linguistic and cultural contributions of French-speaking regions of the world.

Undergraduate

The undergraduate program in French and Francophone Studies offers a full range of rigorous and innovative language classes and a wide selection of advanced courses in literature and culture.

The graduate program curriculum covers fields in French and Francophone literature from the Ancien Régime to the present and from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Rochambeau House, the department's home on Brown's campus, is a vibrant hub. The building's unique history adds depth to the personal connections students form, creating an enriching and immersive learning experience.

Faculty at the Forefront

The French and Francophone Studies Department is comprised of leading scholars with specialties in periods from the 16th to the 21st centuries and with interests in anthropology, creative writing, cultural studies, the history of ideas, gender and sexuality studies, film, postcolonial studies, poststructuralist thought, second language acquisition and translation.

Our department regularly sponsors lectures, mini-seminars and conferences, including  Equinoxes , the annual Graduate Student Conference. We also organize the annual  Providence French Film Festival .

See our upcoming events

Recent News

30th anniversary of brown in paris, the providence french and francophone festival on the front page of the brown daily herald, an interview with mohamed amer meziane in the le monde.

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Professor kimberly juanita brown writes about the absence of black soldiers in civil war photos.

"The photographic archive of the war is one of astounding substance and meaning but also astounding absence."

John Reekie, "A Burial Party," Cold Harbor, Virginia, 1865. Source: Wikimedia Commons

On Juneteenth, an article by Professor Kimberly Juanita Brown, "The Absence of Black Soldiers in Civil War Photos Speaks Volumes," was published on The MIT Press Reader . You can read the article here .

The English Department and Writing Program offer a number of courses that support writers' development in a variety of genres and contexts. For First-Year students, we offer Academic English & Academic Inquiry seminars. For all undergraduates, we offer a variety of Communication Intensive  and other courses in areas such as:

• rhetoric & writing studies
• language & linguistics
• professional/technical communication
• literature, film & media studies
• creative writing & journalism

Each semester, the English department publishes detailed course descriptions , which include additional information about the courses being offered. For a complete set of department courses, please consult the General Bulletin or the Student Information System (SIS) , using course codes ENGL (English), WRIT (Writing & Rhetoric), AIAE (Academic English), and/or AIQS (Academic Inquiry).

For personalized writing support,  ENGL 180: Writing Tutorial (1 credit) is a weekly tutorial with a consultant from the Writing Resource Center that is designed to meet the specific writing goals of each student.

Sample courses from our literature, professional/technical communication, non-native speaker, language and linguistics, and creative writing offerings are described below. Many of these courses also count as Communication Intensive (CI) courses in the CWRU  Unified General Education Requirements (UGER) . In addition to the courses described below, we offer topical seminars  that highlight the diverse scholarly interests of our students and faculty. 

Sample Literature Courses

• ENGL 200: Literature in English (CI) -  This course introduces students to the reading of literature in the English language. Through close attention to the practice of reading, students are invited to consider some of the characteristic forms and functions imaginative literature has taken, together with some of the changes that have taken place in what and how readers read.  
• ENGL 257A: Reading Fiction (CI) -  This course introduces students to prose narrative forms in English by exploring their intersecting histories and their contemporary developments. We will introduce and develop the key terms, concepts and practice of literary studies. The specific focus of the course may vary. Recommended preparation: Academic Inquiry Seminar or SAGES First Seminar.  
• ENGL 257B: Reading Poetry (CI) -  This course will help you to read and enjoy poetry by introducing you to the history of poetic forms in English. We will introduce and develop the key terms, concepts and practice of literary studies by turning to poems for our test-cases; examples may include the sestina, sonnet and villanelle, ghazal, pantoum, haiku, and open forms. The specific focus of the course may vary. Recommended preparation: Academic Inquiry Seminar or SAGES First Seminar.

Sample Professional & Technical Writing Courses

• ENGL 217A: Business & Professional Writing (CI) -  An introduction to professional communication in theory and practice. Special attention paid to audience analysis, persuasive techniques in written and oral communication, document design strategies, and ethical communication practices.   
• English 217B: Writing for the Health Professions (CI) -  This course offers practice and training in the professional and technical writing skills common to health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing, dentistry). Attention will be paid to the writing processes of drafting, revising, and editing. Typical assignments include: letters, resumes, personal essays, professional communication genres (e.g., email, reports, patient charts, and histories), and scholarly genres (e.g., abstracts, articles, and reviews).  

Sample Courses Designed for Non-Native Speakers of English

• ENGL 146: Tools, Not Rules: English Grammar for Writers -  This course provides an introduction to English grammar in context for academic writers. It focuses on the study of language in use, including parts of speech, sentence grammar, paragraph structure, and text cohesion.  
• ENGL 147: Writing Across Disciplines (CI) -  In this course, students will develop their genre knowledge and metacognitive skills to prepare for the advanced writing, reading, and research tasks required in upper-level writing and disciplinary courses across the university. Through individual and group inquiry, students will analyze and discuss the conventions of academic genres to understand the textual and linguistic features and disciplinary expectations of each form of writing. Then, students will apply these generic conventions through the production and revision of writing within each genre. Throughout the semester, students will engage in workshops and discussions that foster skills in the areas of seminar participation, collaboration, rhetorical awareness, and critical thinking.  

Sample Rhetoric, Language & Linguistics Courses

• ENGL 255: Rhetoric and the Art of Public Speaking (CI) - This course uses the lens of classical rhetoric to explore contemporary political debate. While the word "rhetoric" is often used today to deride precisely what's wrong with political discourse, it more properly denotes the techniques of effective persuasion. By learning how rhetorical devices are used, we can empower ourselves to analyze policy debates and to make our own contributions.   
• ENGL 301: Linguistic Analysis -  Analysis of modern English from various theoretical perspectives: structural, generative, discourse analytical, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and cognitive linguistic. Some attention to the major dialects of American English.   
• ENGL 310: History of the English Language -  An introductory course covering the major periods of English language development: Old, Middle, and Modern. Students will examine both the linguistic forms and the cultures in which the forms were used.   

Sample Creative Writing Courses

• ENGL 203: Introduction to Creative Writing -  A course exploring basic issues and techniques of writing narrative prose and verse through exercises, analysis, and experiment. For students who wish to try their abilities across a spectrum of genres.  
• ENGL 213: Introduction to Fiction Writing -  A beginning workshop in fiction writing, introducing such concepts as voice, point of view, plot, characterization, dialogue, description, and the like. May include discussion of literary examples, both classic and contemporary, along with student work.  
• ENGL 214: Introduction to Poetry Writing - A beginning workshop, focusing on such elements of poetry as verse-form, syntax, figures, sound, tone. May include discussion of literary examples as well as student work.

Fall 2024 Semester

Undergraduate courses.

Composition courses that offer many sections (ENGL 101, 201, 277 and 379) are not listed on this schedule unless they are tailored to specific thematic content or particularly appropriate for specific programs and majors.

• 100-200 level

ENGL 151.S01: Introduction to English Studies

Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Sharon Smith

ENGL 151 serves as an introduction to both the English major and the discipline of English studies. In this class, you will develop the thinking, reading, writing and research practices that define both the major and the discipline. Much of the semester will be devoted to honing your literary analysis skills, and we will study and discuss texts from several different genres—poetry, short fiction, the novel, drama and film—as well as some literary criticism. As we do so, we will explore the language of the discipline, and you will learn a variety of key literary terms and concepts. In addition, you will develop your skills as both a writer and researcher within the discipline of English.

ENGL 201.ST1 Composition II: The Mind/Body Connection

In this section of English 201, students will use research and writing to learn more about problems that are important to them and articulate ways to address those problems. The course will focus specifically on issues related to the mind, the body and the relationship between them. The topics we will discuss during the course will include the correlation between social media and body image; the efficacy of sex education programs; the degree to which beliefs about race and gender influence school dress codes; and the unique mental and physical challenges faced by college students today. In this course, you will be learning about different approaches to argumentation, analyzing the arguments of others and constructing your own arguments. At the same time, you will be honing your skills as a researcher and developing your abilities as a persuasive and effective writer.

ENGL 201.S10 Composition II: Environmental Writing   

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1-1:50 p.m.

Gwen Horsley

English 201 will help students develop the ability to think critically and analytically and to write effectively for other university courses and careers. This course will provide opportunities to develop analytical skills that will help students become critical readers and effective writers. Specifically, in this class, students will:

• Focus on the relationships between world environments, land, animals and humankind.
• Read various essays by environmental, conservational and regional authors.
• Produce student writings. 

Students will improve their writing skills by reading essays and applying techniques they witness in others’ work and those learned in class. This class is also a course in logical and creative thought. Students will write about humankind’s place in the world and our influence on the land and animals, places that hold special meaning to them or have influenced their lives and stories of their own families and their places and passions in the world. Students will practice writing in an informed and persuasive manner, in language that engages and enlivens readers by using vivid verbs and avoiding unnecessary passives, nominalizations and expletive constructions.

Students will prepare writing assignments based on readings and discussions of essays included in "Literature and the Environment " and other sources. They may use "The St. Martin’s Handbook," as well as other sources, to review grammar, punctuation, mechanics and usage as needed.

ENGL 201.13 Composition II: Writing the Environment

Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Paul Baggett

For generations, environmentalists have relied on the power of prose to change the minds and habits of their contemporaries. In the wake of fires, floods, storms and droughts, environmental writing has gained a new sense of urgency, with authors joining activists in their efforts to educate the public about the grim realities of climate change. But do they make a difference? Have reports of present and future disasters so saturated our airwaves that we no longer hear them? How do writers make us care about the planet amidst all the noise? In this course, students will examine the various rhetorical strategies employed by some of today’s leading environmental writers and filmmakers. And while analyzing their different arguments, students also will strengthen their own strategies of argumentation as they research and develop essays that explore a range of environmental concerns.

ENGL 201 Composition II: Food Writing

S17 Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.

S18 Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:15 p.m.

Jodi Andrews

In this composition class, students will critically analyze essays about food, food systems and environments, food cultures, the intersections of personal choice, market forces and policy and the values underneath these forces. Students will learn to better read like writers, noting authors’ purpose, audience organizational moves, sentence-level punctuation and diction. We will read a variety of essays including research-intensive arguments and personal narratives which intersect with one of our most primal needs as humans: food consumption. Students will rhetorically analyze texts, conduct advanced research, reflect on the writing process and write essays utilizing intentional rhetorical strategies. Through doing this work, students will practice the writing moves valued in every discipline: argument, evidence, concision, engaging prose and the essential research skills for the 21st century.

ENGL 221.S01 British Literature I

Michael S. Nagy

English 221 is a survey of early British literature from its inception in the Old English period with works such as "Beowulf" and the “Battle of Maldon,” through the Middle Ages and the incomparable writings of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain - poet, to the Renaissance and beyond. Students will explore the historical and cultural contexts in which all assigned reading materials were written, and they will bring that information to bear on class discussion. Likely themes that this class will cover include heroism, humor, honor, religion, heresy and moral relativity. Students will write one research paper in this class and sit for two formal exams: a midterm covering everything up to that point in the semester, and a comprehensive final. Probable texts include the following:

• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Alfred David, M. H. Abrams, and Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century and Early Seventeenth Century. Ed. George M. Logan, Stephen Greenblatt, Barbara K Lewalski, and M. H. Abrams. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. Ed. George M. Logan, Stephen Greenblatt, Barbara K Lewalski, and M. H. Abrams. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
• Any Standard College Dictionary.

ENGL 240.S01 Juvenile Literature Elementary-5th Grade

Monday, Wednesday and Friday noon-12:50 p.m.

April Myrick

A survey of the history of literature written for children and adolescents, and a consideration of the various types of juvenile literature. Text selection will focus on the themes of imagination and breaking boundaries.

ENGL 240.ST1 Juvenile Literature Elementary-5th Grade

Randi Anderson

In English 240 students will develop the skills to interpret and evaluate various genres of literature for juvenile readers. This particular section will focus on various works of literature at approximately the K-5 grade level. We will read a large range of works that fall into this category, as well as information on the history, development and genre of juvenile literature.

Readings for this course include classical works such as "Hatchet," "Little Women", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Brown Girl Dreaming," as well as newer works like "Storm in the Barn," "Anne Frank’s Diary: A Graphic Adaptation," "Lumberjanes," and a variety of picture books. These readings will be paired with chapters from "Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction " to help develop understanding of various genres, themes and concepts that are both related to juvenile literature and also present in our readings.

In addition to exposing students to various genres of writing (poetry, historical fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, picture books, graphic novels, etc.) this course will also allow students to engage in a discussion of larger themes present in these works such as censorship, race and gender. Students’ understanding of these works and concepts will be developed through readings, research, discussion posts, exams and writing assignments designed to get students to practice analyzing poetry, picture books, informational books and transitional/easy readers.

ENGL 241.S01: American Literature I

Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.

This course provides a broad, historical survey of American literature from the early colonial period to the Civil War. Ranging across historical periods and literary genres—including early accounts of contact and discovery, narratives of captivity and slavery, poetry of revolution, essays on gender equality and stories of industrial exploitation—this class examines how subjects such as colonialism, nationhood, religion, slavery, westward expansion, race, gender and democracy continue to influence how Americans see themselves and their society.

Required Texts

• The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Package 1, Volumes A and B Beginnings to 1865, Ninth Edition. (ISBN 978-0-393-26454-8)

ENGL 283.S01 Introduction to Creative Writing

Steven Wingate

Students will explore the various forms of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction and poetry) not one at a time in a survey format—as if there were decisive walls of separation between then—but as intensely related genres that share much of their creative DNA. Through close reading and work on personal texts, students will address the decisions that writers in any genre must face on voice, rhetorical position, relationship to audience, etc. Students will produce and revise portfolios of original creative work developed from prompts and research. This course fulfills the same SGR #2 requirements ENGL 201; note that the course will involve a research project. Successful completion of ENGL 101 (including by test or dual credit) is a prerequisite.

ENGL 283.S02 Introduction to Creative Writing

Jodilyn Andrews

This course introduces students to the craft of writing, with readings and practice in at least two genres (including fiction, poetry and drama).

ENGL 283.ST1 Introduction to Creative Writing

Amber Jensen, M.A., M.F.A.

This course explores creative writing as a way of encountering the world, research as a component of the creative writing process, elements of craft and their rhetorical effect and drafting, workshop and revision as integral parts of writing polished literary creative work. Student writers will engage in the research practices that inform the writing of literature and in the composing strategies and writing process writers use to create literary texts. Through their reading and writing of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, students will learn about craft elements, find examples of those craft elements in published works and apply these elements in their own creative work, developed through weekly writing activities, small group and large group workshop and conferences with the instructor. Work will be submitted, along with a learning reflection and revision plan in each genre and will then be revised and submitted as a final portfolio at the end of the semester to demonstrate continued growth in the creation of polished literary writing.

• 300-400 level

ENGL 424.S01 Language Arts Methods grades 7-12  

Tuesday 6-8:50 p.m.

Danielle Harms

Techniques, materials and resources for teaching English language and literature to middle and secondary school students. Required of students in the English education option.

AIS/ENGL 447.S01: American Indian Literature of the Present 

Thursdays 3-6 p.m.

This course introduces students to contemporary works by authors from various Indigenous nations. Students examine these works to enhance their historical understanding of Indigenous peoples, discover the variety of literary forms used by those who identify as Indigenous writers, and consider the cultural and political significance of these varieties of expression. Topics and questions to be explored include:

• Genre: What makes Indigenous literature indigenous?
• Political and Cultural Sovereignty: Why have an emphasis on tribal specificity and calls for “literary separatism” emerged in recent decades, and what are some of the critical conversations surrounding such particularized perspectives?
• Gender and Sexuality: What are the intersecting concerns of Indigenous Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and how might these research fields inform one another?
• Trans-Indigeneity: What might we learn by comparing works across different Indigenous traditions, and what challenges do such comparisons present?
• Aesthetics: How do Indigenous writers understand the dynamics between tradition and creativity?
• Visual Forms: What questions or concerns do visual representations (television and film) by or about Indigenous peoples present?

Possible Texts

• Akiwenzie-Damm, Kateri and Josie Douglas (eds), Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing. IAD Press, 2000. (978-1864650327)
• Erdrich, Louise, The Sentence. Harper, 2021 (978-0062671127)
• Harjo, Joy, Poet Warrior: A Memoir. Norton, 2021 (978-0393248524)
• Harjo, Sterlin and Taika Waititi, Reservation Dogs (selected episodes)
• Talty, Morgan. Night of the Living Rez, 2022, Tin House (978-1953534187)
• Wall Kimmerer, Robin. Braiding Sweet Grass, Milkweed Editions (978-1571313560)
• Wilson, Diane. The Seed Keeper: A Novel. Milkweed Editions (978-1571311375)
• Critical essays by Alexie, Allen, Cohen, Cox, King, Kroeber, Ortiz, Piatote, Ross and Sexton, Smith, Taylor, Teuton, Treuer, Vizenor, and Womack.

ENGL 472.S01: Film Criticism

Tuesdays 2-4:50 p.m.

Jason McEntee

Do you have an appreciation for, and enjoy watching, movies? Do you want to study movies in a genre-oriented format (such as those we typically call the Western, the screwball comedy, the science fiction or the crime/gangster, to name a few)? Do you want to explore the different critical approaches for talking and writing about movies (such as auteur, feminist, genre or reception)?

In this class, you will examine movies through viewing and defining different genres while, at the same time, studying and utilizing different styles of film criticism. You will share your discoveries in both class discussions and short writings. The final project will be a formal written piece of film criticism based on our work throughout the semester. The course satisfies requirements and electives for all English majors and minors, including both the Film Studies and Professional Writing minors. (Note: Viewing of movies outside of class required and may require rental and/or streaming service fees.)

ENGL 476.ST1: Fiction

In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence, and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.

ENGL 479.01 Capstone: The Gothic

Wednesday 3-5:50 p.m.

With the publication of Horace Walpole’s "The Castle of Otranto " in 1764, the Gothic officially came into being. Dark tales of physical violence and psychological terror, the Gothic incorporates elements such as distressed heroes and heroines pursued by tyrannical villains; gloomy estates with dark corridors, secret passageways and mysterious chambers; haunting dreams, troubling prophecies and disturbing premonitions; abduction, imprisonment and murder; and a varied assortment of corpses, apparitions and “monsters.” In this course, we will trace the development of Gothic literature—and some film—from the eighteenth-century to the present time. As we do so, we will consider how the Gothic engages philosophical beliefs about the beautiful and sublime; shapes psychological understandings of human beings’ encounters with horror, terror, the fantastic and the uncanny; and intervenes in the social and historical contexts in which it was written. We’ll consider, for example, how the Gothic undermines ideals related to domesticity and marriage through representations of domestic abuse, toxicity and gaslighting. In addition, we’ll discuss Gothic texts that center the injustices of slavery and racism. As many Gothic texts suggest, the true horrors of human existence often have less to do with inexplicable supernatural phenomena than with the realities of the world in which we live. 

ENGL 485.S01: Undergraduate Writing Center Learning Assistants 

Flexible Scheduling

Nathan Serfling

Since their beginnings in the 1920s and 30s, writing centers have come to serve numerous functions: as hubs for writing across the curriculum initiatives, sites to develop and deliver workshops and resource centers for faculty as well as students, among other functions. But the primary function of writing centers has necessarily and rightfully remained the tutoring of student writers. This course will immerse you in that function in two parts. During the first four weeks, you will explore writing center praxis—that is, the dialogic interplay of theory and practice related to writing center work. This part of the course will orient you to writing center history, key theoretical tenets and practical aspects of writing center tutoring. Once we have developed and practiced this foundation, you will begin work in the writing center as a tutor, responsible for assisting a wide variety of student clients with numerous writing tasks. Through this work, you will learn to actively engage with student clients in the revision of a text, respond to different student needs and abilities, work with a variety of writing tasks and rhetorical situations, and develop a richer sense of writing as a complex and negotiated social process.

Graduate Courses

Engl 572.s01: film criticism, engl 576.st1 fiction.

In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.

ENGL 605.S01 Seminar in Teaching Composition

Thursdays 1-3:50 p.m.

This course will provide you with a foundation in the pedagogies and theories (and their attendant histories) of writing instruction, a foundation that will prepare you to teach your own writing courses at SDSU and elsewhere. As you will discover through our course, though, writing instruction does not come with any prescribed set of “best” practices. Rather, writing pedagogies stem from and continue to evolve because of various and largely unsettled conversations about what constitutes effective writing and effective writing instruction. Part of becoming a practicing writing instructor, then, is studying these conversations to develop a sense of what “good writing” and “effective writing instruction” might mean for you in our particular program and how you might adapt that understanding to different programs and contexts.

As we read about, discuss and research writing instruction, we will address a variety of practical and theoretical topics. The practical focus will allow us to attend to topics relevant to your immediate classroom practices: designing a curriculum and various types of assignments, delivering the course content and assessing student work, among others. Our theoretical topics will begin to reveal the underpinnings of these various practical matters, including their historical, rhetorical, social and political contexts. In other words, we will investigate the praxis—the dialogic interaction of practice and theory—of writing pedagogy. As a result, this course aims to prepare you not only as a writing teacher but also as a nascent writing studies/writing pedagogy scholar.

At the end of this course, you should be able to engage effectively in the classroom practices described above and participate in academic conversations about writing pedagogy, both orally and in writing. Assessment of these outcomes will be based primarily on the various writing assignments you submit and to a smaller degree on your participation in class discussions and activities.

ENGL 726.S01: The New Woman, 1880–1900s 

Thursdays 3–5:50 p.m.

Katherine Malone

This course explores the rise of the New Woman at the end of the nineteenth century. The label New Woman referred to independent women who rebelled against social conventions. Often depicted riding bicycles, smoking cigarettes and wearing masculine clothing, these early feminists challenged gender roles and sought broader opportunities for women’s employment and self-determination. We will read provocative fiction and nonfiction by New Women writers and their critics, including authors such as Sarah Grand, Mona Caird, George Egerton, Amy Levy, Ella Hepworth Dixon, Grant Allen and George Gissing. We will analyze these exciting texts through a range of critical lenses and within the historical context of imperialism, scientific and technological innovation, the growth of the periodical press and discourse about race, class and gender. In addition to writing an argumentative seminar paper, students will complete short research assignments and lead discussion.

ENGL 792.ST1 Women in War: Female Authors and Characters in Contemporary War Lit

In this course, we will explore the voices of female authors and characters in contemporary literature of war. Drawing from various literary theories, our readings and discussion will explore the contributions of these voices to the evolving literature of war through archetypal and feminist criticism. We will read a variety of short works (both theoretical and creative) and complete works such as (selections subject to change): "Eyes Right" by Tracy Crow, "Plenty of Time When We Get Home" by Kayla Williams, "You Know When the Men are Gone" by Siobhan Fallon, "Still, Come Home" by Katie Schultz and "The Fine Art of Camouflage" by Lauren Johnson.

Literary Arts

Admission is highly selective, and is based primarily on the quality of the applicant’s literary writing.

Your writing sample, therefore, is the most important part of your application . In putting your sample together, you should emphasize quality rather than length. Your writing sample should be in a single genre.

Writing Sample

Suggested length.

Writing samples may comprise a single work; an excerpt (or multiple excerpts) from a longer work; or multiple short works; or some other combination.

30 – 40 pages (double-spaced is typical; you may use an alternative format if integral to the work.)

15 – 20 pages (any format)

One or two electronic projects.

30 – 50 pages (any format)

Applying for Multiple Tracks

If you want to be considered in more than one track, you must complete two separate applications, including two separate application fees and two separate writing samples. Owing to the design of the online application system, you must use a different electronic mail address for each application (so if you only have one electronic mail account, you'll need to create a second account in order to submit the second application).

Applicants submit a writing sample in plain-text format (preferably as a PDF document) less than 5 megabytes in size as part of the online application. If your work cannot easily be sent in this format (i.e., it has sculptural elements that you do not feel you can document in any but three-dimensional models), send it by regular mail to: Graduate School, Brown University, Box 1867, Providence, RI 02912. You may also include web address links for works that are best read online.

Applicants’ writing samples are reviewed for admission by at least two members of the faculty. Because the Literary Arts Department receives a large number of applications, faculty members cannot provide critiques of individual samples. The Department does not grant interviews to prospective students.

Additional information

Application requirements, campus visits, international applicants.