Writing Track Information

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Admission to the Track is application based. Application forms are available (here). Applications for Spring 2010 are due by 3pm on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. Please bring completed applications to the English Department Office, 308 EPB.

All students who will have Junior or Senior standing (more than 60s.h.) by the beginning of spring semester 2010, and who have successfully completed, or are on schedule to complete the prerequisites this semester, are invited to apply.

Prerequisites

At least 9 s.h. in University of Iowa English courses and an additional two writing courses on the introductory level, resulting in a cumulative GPA in English of at least 3.33. Introductory-level writing courses must be chosen from the following list:

• 08C:023 Creative Writing 3 s.h.
• 08C:097 Fiction Writing 3 s.h.
• 08C:098 Poetry Writing 3 s.h.
• 08N:080 Nonfiction Writing 3 s.h.
• 08N:090 Intermediate Nonfiction Writing 3 s.h  . [prerequisite 08N:080]
• 048:079 Undergraduate Translation Workshop 3 s.h.
• 049:062 Playwriting I 3 s.h.
• 049:063 Playwriting II 3 s.h. [prerequisite 049:062]
• 048:078 Undergraduate Translation Seminar 3 s.h.
• 08C:108 Creative Writing for New Media 3 s.h.*
• 08C:110 Creative Writing for Ecologically Aware 3 s.h.*

*(Note: students can count 08C:108 or 08C:110 toward their prerequisites, but not both)

[Students who have already taken 08C or 08N courses at the 100-level or above, please see FAQ #6.]

Track Description and Requirements

The hub of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Track is a cluster of intimate Writers’ Seminars that will give students the opportunity to creatively engage the relationship between reading and writing and to explore questions of craft, literary traditions, and aesthetics in a manner that is both inspiring and rigorous. Students will learn how to read literature with a writer’s gaze through discussions and workshops.

The Creative Writing Track provides students with the opportunity to work intensively in their chosen genre while they participate in a multi-genre community experience that draws on the richness of the creative writing tradition at The University of Iowa, and in Iowa City at large.

In Fall Semester ‘09 and Spring Semester ‘10 the Track will offer Writers’ Seminars in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Playwriting (8WS:121, 122, 123, & 125). Each Seminar will meet independently for 3 s.h. to address a variety of issues relevant to its own genre. Track students must take two Writers’ Seminars before they graduate.

Undergraduate Creative Writing Track students must also take one semester of the Writers’ House Seminar, a larger, multi-genre, 3 s.h. course where students will share a stimulating and demanding common experience that includes a roster of readings, talks, performances, master classes, and class discussions that will prepare them for attentive participation at events led by guest authors. The curriculum for the Writers’ House Seminar will largely consist of works by or about the guest authors, as well as literature that will help contextualize our reading series. Students will respond creatively and analytically in exercises designed to heighten their involvement at events. The Writers’ House Seminar is offered each year in the Fall Semester.

The Writers’ House Seminar is listed in ISIS as course number: 8WS:120/ ENGL: 3600. The Fall 2009 Writers’ Seminars are listed in ISIS under the following course numbers:

• 8WS:121/ ENGL3601 Writers’ Seminar: Fiction
• 8WS:122/ ENGL3602 Writers’ Seminar: Poetry
• 8WS:123/ ENGL3603 Writers’ Seminar: Nonfiction
• 8WS:125/ENGL3605 Writers’ Seminar: Playwriting

Registration to all Creative Writing Track courses requires special permission, which will be granted to successful applicants after the application deadline each semester. The application deadline will always be scheduled prior to preregistration.

Additionally, to graduate within the Creative Writing Track, students must meet the normal requirements of the English major, choosing from a variety of inspiring literature courses that will enrich their lives as writers. As students proceed through the English Department requirements, Creative Writing Track students must include at least one advanced writing course chosen from the following list:

• 08C:166 Undergraduate Writers Workshop Poetry 3 s.h.
• 08C:163 Undergraduate Writers Workshop Fiction 3 s.h.
• 08N:104 Personal Writing 3 s.h.
• 08N:120 Advanced Nonfiction Writing 3 s.h.
• 08N:130 Special Readings in Nonfiction 3 s.h.
• 08N:145 Multimedia Writing 3 s.h.
• 08N:150 Undergraduate Essay Workshop 3 s.h.
• 049:165 Advanced Playwriting 3 s.h.
• 049:169 Undergraduate Playwriting Workshop 3 s.h.
• 08:198 Undergraduate Honors Project [creative thesis] 3 s.h.
• 8WS:170 Creative Writing Track: Advanced Topics 3 s.h.

(Note: These courses are culled from various departments, and may have their own application procedures and prerequisites.)

Undergraduate Creative Writing Track students who are on course to complete the English major requirements are the only students who have the privilege to pursue an Honors Thesis in Creative Writing. (Students wishing to work on an Honors thesis must also meet the normal requirements of the Honors Program.)