Department of English, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Introduction

The Creative Writing minor focuses on writing courses: creative writing in fiction, drama, poetry, or nonfiction prose.

Courses taken for credit in minor programs may not be counted toward English major programs.

Why Consider a Creative Writing Minor?

Creative writing minors develop skills in creative thought and expression through study and practice of the craft of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and/or drama. Students participate in both the critical analysis and creative practice of writing, gaining widely-applicable experience in self-expression, artistic technique and modes of communication.

How to Declare (Admission and Declaration Process):

Meet in person with the English Department’s Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Elle Starr, to declare this minor.

Grade Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required for a student’s major or minor courses, and supporting courses for majors and minors.

Requirements

  • ❑   ENG 350 - Introduction to Creative Writing Credits: 5

❑ Students must complete four of the following courses (ENG 451, ENG 453, ENG 454, and ENG 460 are all repeatable with a different instructor to a maximum of 10 credits):

  • ENG 351 - Introduction to Fiction Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 353 - Introduction to Poetry Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 354 - Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 451 - Creative Writing Seminar - Fiction Credits: 5
  • ENG 453 - Creative Writing Seminar - Poetry Credits: 5
  • ENG 454 - Creative Writing Seminar - Creative Nonfiction Credits: 5
  • ENG 455 - Living Writers Credits: 5
  • ENG 456 - Special Topics in Fiction Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 457 - Special Topics in Poetry Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 458 - Special Topics in Creative Nonfiction Writing Credits: 5
  • ENG 459 - Editing and Publishing Credits: 5
  • ENG 460 - Special Topics In Creative Writing - Multi-Genre Credits: 5
  • ENG 466 - Screenwriting Credits: 5

University Graduation Requirements

General University Requirements 2023-24 Writing Proficiency Requirement (WP)   180 Minimum Total Credits   60 Minimum Upper Division Credits   Residency Requirement   Minimum Grade Requirements   Final Quarter Requirement    

Creative Writing

Featured image.

A woman sitting in front of a shelf full of books writing with a pen

Link to Program

Brief description.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

A group of students looking over a canyon

At a Glance

Degree Type: Master of Fine Arts

Location: Bellingham

Total Credits: 55

Program Links

Department Website

Request More Information

Application Deadline

Program adviser.

Stefania Heim

[email protected]

(360) 650-3227

Program Coordinator

Erica Dean-Crawford

[email protected]

360-650-3232

Program Information

Western Washington University’s English Department offers a 2-year MFA program in Creative Writing within a community that values creative development and intellectual versatility. We encourage a focus on multigenre or cross-genre writing, based on our view that creative writing graduates need to be versatile in their comprehension of genre conventions and conversant in the way diverse genres inform one another. A variety of courses we offer stress either a multigenre focus or encourage experimental works that blur genre boundaries.

Creative writing practice and literary study are synergistic in our program. Students take seminars in creative writing and literature, as well as courses in rhetorical thinking and composition, digital and technical writing, film studies, and linguistics. We offer Graduate Assistantships that provide quality teacher training, as well as opportunities to gain editorial experience with the award-winning journal  Bellingham Review .

The MFA program in English is designed for those who desire to prepare for:

  • Life as a serious author, with an understanding of the literary marketplace and publication
  • PhD programs, as well as other advanced degrees in fields such as law or teaching
  • Teaching at both two- and four-year colleges and universities
  • Public or private teaching (elementary, middle, secondary)
  • Careers in technical writing and communication
  • Careers in editing and publishing
  • Careers in nonprofit and other business organizations

Bellingham Review cover with yellow house artwork

The Bellingham Review

A literary journal produced by Creative Writing and English graduate students, The Bellingham Review is known for innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction and hybrid works.

Application Requirements

  • All applicants must complete the Graduate School's ApplyWeb  application  and pay the $100 application fee.
  • Within the application you will be prompted to  upload an unofficial transcript  from each institution attended. If admitted, you will be asked to provide official transcripts.
  • Additional application materials are specified below. Applications will not be forwarded to the department for review until  all required materials  have been received by the Graduate School.
  • International Applicants: Please  review the requirements  for information regarding Degree Equivalency, English Language Proficiency and student VISA requirements.

Additional Application Requirements

  • Three (3) Letters of Reference
  • Statement of Purpose : This 1‐2 page statement should explain your intellectual and/or creative interests, and your professional goals. Reviewers value statements that are intellectually mature, coherent, and well‐organized. If you are interested in being considered for a funded Teaching Assistantship, please include relevant experience and information that will aid us in making funding decisions.
  • Two writing samples : 10-15 pages of prose (fiction or creative nonfiction);  OR  10-15 pages of poetry;  OR  a combination of genres, 15 pages total;  AND  a critical writing sample of 7-12 pages of analytical work in literary study.

Testimonials

They were really good about recognizing what I was trying to do and helping me to do it better. Alyssa Quinn Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing; her thesis is to be published in the Cupboard Pamphlet, and she is a former managing editor of the Bellingham Review

English Department

Pic of Bellingham Bay at sunset.

Spring 2024 Course Descriptions

Table of contents, 100-level english courses.

  • ENG 101 Writing Your Way Through WWU

200-Level English Courses

  • ENG 201 WritinHumanit:
  • ENG 202 Writing About Literature
  • ENG 214 Shakespeare
  • ENG 234 African-American Literature
  • ENG 236 Asian American Literature
  • ENG 238 Society Through its Literature
  • ENG 282 Global Literatures

300-Level English Courses

  • ENG 301 Wrtg&Public
  • ENG 302 Technical Writing
  • ENG 307 Seminar: Medieval
  • ENG 308 Seminar: Early Modern
  • ENG 309 Seminar: The Long 18th Century
  • ENG 311 Seminar: The 20-21st Century
  • ENG 313 Critical Theories: Prac I
  • ENG 314 Critical Theories Prac II
  • ENG 317 Survey: Medieval
  • ENG 318 Survey: Early Modern
  • ENG 319 Survey: The Long 18th Century
  • ENG 334 Txts/N.Am&Eur
  • ENG 335 TxtsOutAm&Eur
  • ENG 338 Women's Lit N Am and Europe
  • ENG 342 Studies in Literary Genres
  • ENG 347 Studies in Young Adult Lit
  • ENG 350 Intro to Creative Writing
  • ENG 351 Intro to Fiction Writing
  • ENG 353 Intro to Poetry Writing
  • ENG 354 Intro to Creative Nonfict Writ
  • ENG 364 Intro to Film Studies
  • ENG 365 Film History
  • ENG 371 Rhetorical Practices
  • ENG 385 Sustainability Literacy II

400-Level English Courses

  • ENG 401 Sr Writing Studies/Rhet Seminar
  • ENG 406 Topics: Critical/Culturl Theory
  • ENG 410 Lit Hist:
  • ENG 418 Sr Sem
  • ENG 423 Maj Auth
  • ENG 441 Language & the Sec Classroom
  • ENG 443 Teaching Eng Lang Arts in Sec Sch I
  • ENG 444 Teaching Eng Lang Art in Sec Sch II
  • ENG 451 Creative Wrtng Seminar: Fiction
  • ENG 453 Creative Wrtng Seminar: Poetry
  • ENG 454 Creative Wrtng Seminar: Nonfiction
  • ENG 459 Editing and Publishing
  • ENG 460 Multi-Genre Wrtng
  • ENG 462 Professional Wrtg
  • ENG 464 Topics in Film Studies
  • ENG 466 Screenwriting
  • ENG 497D Disability and Literature

Graduate English Courses

  • ENG 502 Seminar in Writing of Fiction
  • ENG 515 Studies in Literary/Crit Theory
  • ENG 520 Studies in Poetry
  • ENG 570 Topics in Lit & Cultural Crit
  • ENG 575 Studies in Women's Literature
  • ENG 598 Seminar Teaching English

ENG 101 Writing Your Way Through WWU5cr

View CRNs and DAY/TIMEs on Browse Classes in Web4U.

Prerequisites Notes: May not be taken concurrently with ENG 100. GUR: ACOM.

A writing course designed to prepare students for college-level creative, critical, and reflective writing. Because writing looks and works differently in different contexts, this course teaches the rhetorical competencies that students need to write across multiple disciplines. The course introduces students both to the processes of building and analyzing ideas, and to ways of communicating those ideas in context-specific genres for targeted audiences. This course has the immediate goal of preparing students to succeed in their writing at Western, but it will also serve them personally and professionally. Students needing to satisfy Block A of the communications section of the General University Requirements, which ENG 101 does, are required to do so prior to completion of 45 credits. Students with a 4 or 5 AP score are encouraged to take this class so they can learn to adapt their test-taking skills to college coursework.

OVERRIDES / CAPACITY OVERRIDES ARE NEVER GRANTED FOR ENGLISH 101.

ENG 201 Writ in Hum:5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101 or 4/5 AP English Language Exam.  

CRN: 22076 DAY/TIME: MWF 08:30-09:50 am Instructor: Redwoman, Zoe

Advanced instruction and practice in writing using ideas, texts and questions from a specified topic in the humanities. Areas and focus vary with section.

ENG 202 Writing About Literature5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101. 

CRN: 20125 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Bridges, D'Angelo

In this course, students will learn strategies for the close reading of and writing about literary texts. We will primarily focus on works written by twentieth-century African American writers.   

CRN: 20240 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30-12:50 pm Instructor: Forsythe, Jenny Marie

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

CRN: 20654 DAY/TIME: TR 08:00-09:50 am Instructor: Prichard, Tony

This course directs attention to where literature and madness overlap by examining texts that either include characters experiencing hallucinations or texts that claim to produce madness. We will inquire into the differences between madness, weirdness and that which is yet to be articulated and made habitual.

Required Texts • Clark, P. Djèlí. Ring Shout • Shadows of Carcosa: Tales of Cosmic Horror by Lovecraft, Chambers, Machen, Poe, and Other Masters of the Weird • A People’s Future of the United States • Solomon, Rivers & clipping. The Deep

CRN: 20660 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Bell, Michael Patrick

This section of English 202 involves critical inquiry into the literary effect of “speculative fiction,” which for our purposes we can define as the literatures of the imagination: fantasy, science-fiction, horror, alternate history. Such fiction has become arguably the dominant mode of contemporary narrative production, so there is rich opportunity to explore the power these literatures have had on history and culture. The specific forms we will study will of course include the written word, but because so much of our contemporary culture is expressed and reflected in the visual realm, we will be making constant connection to TV, film, comics, and game narratives in our inquiries.

All of our study will assume that whatever form it takes, fictional narrative has the power to construct and inform our worldly experience, even our reality. To sometimes great extent, we model our identities on literary stories, and build our perspectives from them. By making connection to our experiences and histories, stories illuminate the world, permitting us to see more texture and variety and possibility in our lives. Through intensive reading, discussion, activity, and writing we will further develop our ability to make meaning from the texts we study, focusing our analyses through formal critical practices as well as rigorous play and experimentation. You will emerge from the course a stronger analytic writer and reader with greater appreciation of the power of literature to bring you to deeper self-knowledge and increased awareness of a wider, richer, more complex world.

TEXTS: The Fifth Season, N.K Jemisin, This is How You Lose the Time War , Max Gladstone, A Dreamer’s Tales, Lord Dunsany, Palimpsest , Catherynne M. Valente, A Psalm for the Wild Built, Becky Chambers

ASSIGNMENTS: In addition to reading assignments and participation in class activities, requirements will comprise one formal analytical paper, several informal writing assignments, and a final project.

CRN: 20661 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Redwoman, Zoe

Crn: 21081 day/time: mwf 08:30-09:50 am instructor: wise, christopher.

Course Description In this course, we will analyze and interpret various literary genres, including poetry, plays, films, as well as literary fiction and nonfiction, with the goal of preparing students for advanced work in literary study, especially writing college-level essays in literary criticism. In addition to studying prominent works of literature, student papers may sometimes be workshopped in class.  

Course Requirements Students will be required to regularly attend class, perform all reading and film assignments, and turn in all formal and informal assignments. No laptops or cellphones are allowed in the classroom. Students are also required to bring writing paper and pens to class, as informal written assignments will often be turned in during class.   Students should come to class having already read the required literature and/or viewed required film listed on the course schedule. 

Writing Assignments [70% of grade]: Written assignments will include the following: (1) miscellaneous short story analyses; (2) miscellaneous poetry analyses; (3) translation exercises; (4) film analysis; (5) play analysis; (6) comparative formal paper on long narrative; (7) take-home final essay exam. Written assignments will comprise 70% of grade. There is not a set number of assignments we will perform, as the total number of writing assignments will depend upon how much we are able to accomplish during each class session; however, it is likely you will write approximately 5-7 different writing assignments that will be graded. An average will then be calculated based on these assignments to determine the 70% total average.  

In addition to formal and informal writing assignments, students will select one long narrative and be assigned to a group comprised of approximately 3 students. Students will then meet in groups outside of class to prepare oral reports on their assigned long narrative. More instructions about oral reports will be forthcoming; however, students will divide the tasks in preparation for reports of approximately 25-30 minutes total per group. Students will also each select a short poem to memorize and recite to the class from memory.  They will also write a brief essay on the poem that they have memorized that will be due the same day as their oral recitation.

Participation-Attendance [30% of grade] Attendance will be taken for every class session. Participation-attendance will comprise 30% of grade. Sometimes, ungraded in-class writing will be factored into your class participation grade, rather than your written assignments grade. Class participation grade will also include poetry recitations, group meetings in preparation for group reports, and the group reports on your selected long narrative. You cannot receive the full class participation grade without fully participating. Informal writing assignments submitted during class cannot be made up. 

Course Texts William Shakespeare, Hamlet James Joyce, Dubliners

CRN: 21822 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Rivera

“Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.” These words, voiced by Toni Morrison, whose work we will encounter this quarter, endow literature with a tremendous amount of value and power. Literature effects change, prompts reflection, and shapes minds. Yet how does it do this? What separates ‘literary’ texts – novels, short stories, poetry – from non-literary texts – instruction manuals, catalogs, hiking guidebooks? How does literature interact with the broader social, cultural, and political structures and systems that influence our daily lives? Why are some texts considered more beautiful than others? What makes some interpretations of literary texts stronger than others? In this class we will work together to answer these questions, or at least try to answer them, by examining literary texts across three distinct genres: short fiction, novels, and poetry. We will also center the work of Black writers in the United States, including Toni Morrison, Tracy K. Smith, Claudia Rankine, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

ENG 215 British Literature5cr

Crn: 23923 day/time: mwf 01:00-02:20 pm instructor: amendt-raduege, amy michelle.

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of a range of texts in British literature with attention to cultural contexts.

ENG 216 American Literature5cr

Crn: 23635 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: roach orduña, josé.

Fight the Power – Contemporary American Writers Take on the Empire

In this class we will read literary essays, short stories, and poems written by contemporary US-based authors that dare to take on the systems of oppression in force in this country. We will examine how they do this in ways particular to literary art, how language and form can come together as a weapon in the struggle for justice, how writers participate in social movements through their literary output. We will read writers who write from different vantage points in relation to the US empire, writers like Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Kiese Laymon, Joe Bageant, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Solmaz Sharif, and Javier Zamora among others. We will read supplementary texts that engage the social problematics our literary texts do. Much of our class will be lecture and discussion based, but we will also have plenty of in-class activities and group work. We will write reading reflections, do group presentations, take weekly quizzes, and take a short answer midterm and final exam.

ENG 227 Queer Literature5cr

Crn: 23637 day/time: mwf 11:30-12:50 pm instructor: roach orduña, caitlin.

This course will serve as an introduction to contemporary American queer literature. In it, will examine a variety of contemporary works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic nonfiction, film, and photography. Among many questions we’ll investigate in this course, we will constantly ask: in what ways do queer authors, texts and narratives intersect with broader social, political, and cultural contexts, and how do they contribute to discussions of identity and power?

ENG 239 Latina/o Literatures5cr

Crn: 23638 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: rivera, lysa.

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of a range of texts in English and in translation by Latina/o authors.

ENG 301 Wrtg Stds:5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101; junior status; or instructor permission. 

CRN: 20072 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Redwoman, Zoe

Focuses on the composition, delivery, and public circulation of written texts in the era of digital communication technologies and practices in the personal, public, and/or academic spheres. Topics vary. Repeatable with different topics up to 10 credits, including original course.

ENG 302 Technical Writing5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101; junior standing. 

CRN: 20135 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: McGuire, Simon Leonard

Students engage with the rhetorical and technical practices for creating artifacts that help people do things with technology, such as usability testing, screencasting, web authoring, document design, and information architecture. The course covers a variety of technical genres and focuses on the ethical and social implications of a technical writer's choices.

CRN: 20319 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Forsberg, Geri

English 302 is the English department’s introductory 300-level workshop course in technical writing. It is for juniors and seniors. It is a 5-credit writing proficiency course. English 302 emphasizes the writer-reader relationship in a variety of nonacademic writing situations. Students learn to identify their audience, develop objectives, organize the content of their documents and revise documents for readability. Students write and design a resume, letters, memos, a proposal, a formal report, an infographic, and a visual presentation. Students also learn to work in small breakout groups, collaborate on writing, and give peer feedback. The final project in this course is a professional portfolio which provides examples of your strongest work. When you have completed this course, you should be ready to write in the professional world.

CRN: 20378 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Forsberg, Geri

Crn: 20402 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: mcguire, simon leonard, crn: 20432 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: sarkar, rachel diane.

English 302 addresses the essential elements of technical writing—or writing in action. My underlying objective for English 302 is to explore the power of language to change people, events, and self. We’ll explore ways to use writing skills to accomplish personal, professional, and ideological goals. In the process, we’ll also consider the use of humor, empathy, ethics, and storytelling in technical writing.  

CRN: 20520 DAY/TIME: TR 08:00-09:50 am Instructor: Bell, Michael Patrick

In this section of English 302 you’ll develop your skill in generating reader-centered documents that work: documents that do things as well as say things, performing specific functions for specific kinds of readers. Given that so much of our culture now communicates and conducts its business in the visual realm, your work in the course will be focused as much on document design as written language. Through this work you will gain an understanding of how all the elements of a document work together to communicate within specific contexts, for specific audiences.   

English 302 is not simply a skills-acquisition course however. We will use technical communication as a field in which to conduct analytic inquiry appropriate to study in the humanities. This quarter the analytic component of the course will take us into a study of games and the culture surrounding them: both table-top and video games. As a student of the course, you will be collaborating with other students on a series of documents, presentations, and prototypes leading to the development of an original tabletop game. The design of your game will be based in part on contemporary game studies and critiques. Every stage of this inquiry will generate documents in accord with the guidelines of effective technical and professional communication. (And yes, we will be playing games in class!)   

You will emerge from the course with the ability to respond effectively to the requirements of technical communication. You will also have a complex understanding of what is becoming a vital aspect of our contemporary culture.   

ENG 307 Seminar: Medieval5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202  

CRN: 22354 DAY/TIME: MWF 08:30-09:50 am Instructor: Amendt-Raduege, Amy Michelle

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 307 if you have taken ENG 307 or ENG 317.

The Middle Ages spanned 1000 years of some of the most dynamic and fascinating growth in world history.  In this iteration of the class, we focus on the literature and culture of England, but this tiny island offers us a microcosm of the  medieval period at large.  We wrestle with ideas of kingship and heroism with Beowulf, watch the rise and fall of nations with Gildas and Bede,  struggle with the purpose of life with the Wanderer and the Seafarer, and laugh at the double meanings of riddles.  We’ll also experience tangible aspects of the period in the form of physical artifacts:  you’ll get to touch a real medieval manuscript and even make your own masterpiece.  The wonders of the medieval world await.  

ENG 308 Seminar: Early Modern5cr

Crn: 22078 day/time: mwf 10:00-11:20 am instructor: lester, mark m..

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. If you have taken ENG 308 or ENG 318, do not take ENG 308.

DESCRIPTION: This course is a survey of 16th and 17th century fiction, poetry and drama focusing on the cultural significance of early modern representations of nature in general, and of the forest in particular. In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the forest is contrasted to the court and is said to have a great deal to teach us. The majority of the action of Loves’ Labours’ Lost takes place in the park surrounding the royal court. The manner in which such representations have shaped our relationship to the woods, our sense of our place in the world, will also be explored.

TEXTS: Norton Anthology of English Literature: vol b – 16th Century/Early 17th Century; Shakespeare: As You Like It and Love’s Labours’ Lost (Arden Shakespeare Editions). Additional materials will be distributed in class or posted on Canvas.

ENG 309 Seminar: The Long 18th Century5cr

Crn: 21283 day/time: tr 02:00-03:50 pm instructor: loar, christopher f..

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 309 if you have already taken ENG 319 or 309.

The long eighteenth century in Great Britain used to be thought of as a time of religious reconciliation. After the bloody religious conflicts of the 1640s and 1650s—which claimed tens of thousands of lives--the decades that followed have often been seen as a time of reconciliation. In this course we’ll challenge that assumption: this period’s writing and thought are still characterized by a conflicts between competing versions of Christianity, as well as by emerging forms of religious skepticism (including both deism and outright atheism), as well as an ongoing interest in supposedly “exotic” religious practices and beliefs found in Asia and among indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Pacific.   

These topics were of course addressed in somewhat dry theological works and sermons. We’ll look at a few of those, but most of our attention will go to the vibrant works of poetry, fiction, and autobiography that characterize this period. While the reading list is still taking shape, we will certainly engage with writings by Aphra Behn, this period’s most prominent female playwright and poet; John Milton, John Dryden, Anne Finch, and Alexander Pope, brilliant and controversial poets whose writing struggled over the relationship between religious belief and political life; Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved writer and political activist; and Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved poet whose writing challenged readers on both sides of the Atlantic.    

No special knowledge of Christianity or other religious traditions is needed for this course—lectures and readings will give you all the information you need. It should also be clear that no religious belief (or nonbelief) is expected, though respect for the beliefs of others in the classroom is of course a basic requirement of this course (as for any course at WWU).   

Course requirements will likely include regular engagement in class meetings; several informal response papers (2-3 paragraphs); and a longer culminating writing project.

ENG 310 Seminar: The Long 19th Century5cr

Crn: 21284 day/time: tr 04:00-05:50 pm instructor: yeasting, jeanne ellen.

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 310 if you have already taken ENG 320 or 310.

A research and writing intensive course in the context of the literary history of the long nineteenth century. Students will develop the skills to research and write about literary texts and participate in the critical conversations about them. 

ENG 311 Seminar: The 20-21st Century5cr

Crn: 21285 day/time: mwf 11:30-12:50 pm instructor: warburton, theresa anne.

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 311 if you have already taken ENG 321 or 311.

A research and writing intensive course in the context of the literary history of the 20-21st century. Students will develop the skills to research and write about literary texts and participate in the critical conversations about them. 

ENG 313 Critical Theories & Prac I5cr

Crn: 20073 day/time: mwf 02:30-03:50 pm instructor: lester, mark m..

In this course, we will examine a series of questions concerning the nature, function, and value of literature. What is a work of literature? How does it work? What is if for? On what grounds should it be judged or assessed? Under what circumstances might it be censored? Should the literary work of art be conceived of strictly as an object of analysis (something to be interpreted and explained) or do works of literature themselves have a distinct, dynamic, critical and constructive dimension in their own right? What can we say about the authors and readers of literary works and the sort of knowledge to which they lay claim? Using Plato as the starting point of our survey of theory and criticism from ancient times through the Enlightenment, we will follow a number of trajectories or threads that will allow us to explore the intersections of literature, philosophy, politics, and science.  

Texts Vincent B. Leitch, et al. (ed.), The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, Third Edition); Benjamin Jowett (trans.), Selected Dialogues of Plato . Other materials will be made available on Canvas.

CRN: 23121 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Vulic, Kathryn Rajam

Course Description:  In this class we will explore and demystify some of the vocabularies and ideas that are the foundations of modern cultural thought and criticism. This course has some similarities with a philosophy class, because we are going to be exploring big and important concepts, breaking them down in our discussions to better understand them. But because this is an English class, we will be focusing our attention on how these ideas help us better understand language, literature, and other forms of human expression, and we will use these ideas for our own literary analysis and interpretation. ENG 313 and ENG 314 are organized in terms of time periods, so ENG 313 takes on the early history of the field, up to the 19th c. Theory classes can seem daunting to those who have never studied this kind of material before, so let me assure you: you can do this. You just need to be willing to engage with big ideas, to think about thinking, and to devote some time to learning unfamiliar terms and ways of expressing ideas. 

Class expectations: 

  • Consistent attendance, active engagement. We will be depending heavily on class conversation to help us work though and understand the texts.
  • Reading journal. I will ask you to keep a handwritten journal of your thoughts, questions, and reactions for each day’s text. (If you have a formal accommodation, we will discuss alternatives.)
  • Occasional in-class writing to review and reflect on the class texts.
  • One short paper (4-5 pages) drawing on one of our class theoretical texts to help you interpret a text of your choice.

Course Text:  The majority of our readings will be from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 3rd edition, which is a fantastic resource for the history of ideas (use ISBN: 978-0-393-60295-1 to verify you have found the right edition). This can be an expensive book when bought new, but used copies are widely available, and you may also be able to check out a copy from the library (double-check the edition!). If cost is a barrier, let’s talk about options. 

ENG 314 Critical Theories & Prac II5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202.  

CRN: 22357 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Dietrich, Dawn Y.

Required Texts: The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (3rd edition), Leitch, Cain, Finke, et al. Excerpts from A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader (2nd edition), Antony Easthope and Kate  McGowan (Canvas PDFs)

Course Description Want to think about how we construct identities? Why gender, sexuality, and race matter? Why texts are political? How capitalism, immigration, and climate change are related? How power is embedded within our institutions and practices? And how to create meaningful change within our communities and the broader world? This class will utilize critical and cultural theories to help us think about literary texts and methodologies--as well as engage the pressing issues of our day. We will do so through so a wide range of readings and examples from contemporary culture. 

The course will begin by providing an overview of structuralist and post-structuralist literary and critical theories, from Ferdinand de Saussure’s insights about language as a sign system to N. Katherine Hayles’ analysis of cognitive assemblages and Bruno Latour’s work on politics and climate change. We will engage a full range of readings and media selections from post-Marxism; new materialism/object-oriented ontology; eco-criticism/Anthropocene; feminism, gender and sexuality studies; disability studies; critical race theory; post-colonialism; and Indigenous knowledge systems. Course questions and themes will investigate the embodied perspectives we assume in the material world and how these perspectives shape our reading and writing practices as well as our behavior, generally.  The digital context in which we find ourselves necessitates our thinking about our relationship to “things” and “machines” as well as peoples and cultures.  And the current climate crisis requires us to think about the relationship of all systems and networks, including those involving non-human animals, geological processes, and inanimate objects. By the time you’ve completed this course, you will be able to identify the ideological perspectives and inherent biases embedded within texts, whether written, spoken (aural), or visual; and you will understand how to use critical thinking to inform your agency and advocacy in the larger, civic world.

Assignments Course work will include the assigned readings; class discussions and small group problem-solving; and multimodal blog writing.

Evaluation Course evaluation will be determined by writing critical/multimodal blogs, working with small group assignments, and engaging in workshops and peer response.

ENG 317 Survey: Medieval5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101.  

CRN: 22447 DAY/TIME: TR 08:00-09:50 am Instructor: Vulic, Kathryn Rajam

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 317 if you have taken ENG 307 or ENG 317.

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of texts in English or in translation from the medieval period with an attention to literary history.

ENG 318 Survey: Early Modern5cr

Crn: 22359 day/time: mwf 08:30-09:50 am instructor: forsythe, jenny marie.

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 318 if you have taken ENG 308 or ENG 318.

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of texts in English or in translation from the Early Modern period with an attention to literary history. 

ENG 319 Survey: The Long 18th Century5cr

Crn: 21286 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: laffrado, laura.

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 319 if you have already taken ENG 309 or 319.

CONTENT: This courses focuses on the time period that scholars have recently named the long eighteenth century—that is, the era that extends from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. These are such dynamic years in the literature of what becomes the United States. We will read literary works by people of various races, ethnicities, religions, and economic positions that explore vital issues of the day such as liberty, literacy, revolution, and science. We will examine the various ways in which a dominant rich male Whiteness is challenged as America and American identities are formed and defined. 

ASSIGNMENTS: Two essay exams (a midterm and a final), a participation grade, and much reading, writing, and thinking, along with steady attendance, group work, and various out-of-class assignments.

TEXT: Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A, Beginnings to 1865 ISBN 978-0-303-88617-7

ENG 321 Survey: The 20-21st Centuries5cr

Crn: 23639 day/time: mwf 10:00-11:20 am instructor: roach orduña, caitlin.

The seminar and survey time periods are not repeatable. Do not take ENG 321 if you have taken ENG 311 or ENG 321.

Analysis, interpretation, and discussion of texts in English or in translation from the 20th-21st centuries with an attention to literary history. We will explore the ways in which writers have confronted social, political, and racial conflict in their work in order to examine how revolutionary identities form. 

ENG 334 TextsAcrossNAm&Eur:5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101 or equivalent.  

CRN: 21612 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Dietrich, Dawn Y.

Course Description This course will introduce you to the radical creativity of the Indie comix scene that largely originated in Seattle. Focusing on handmade comics and contemporary Indie presses, we will explore the intersectional themes of identity, community, and agency. Through our diverse range of texts, we will try to articulate and understand the strange, the beautiful, the complex, and the interesting . . . in these graphic narratives. The selected texts feature marginalized and under-represented characters and themes, including topics such as love and friendship (relationship building), depression, sexuality, resiliency, and loneliness/isolation. We will celebrate comix as a potentially queer space where openness, fluidity, and non-conformity represent textual strategies as well as characters’ identities. The themes in these writers’ works intersect and overlap with politics and rebellion while highlighting the complex ways in which individuals are situated in larger generational, regional, and national contexts. We will also study comix form and technique and you will have the opportunity to write about comix and create your own small comix in the course. No artistic experience or illustrating talent is required for the Studio Comix assignments. Students receive full credit for playing with the prompts! I invite you to share your favorite comix or web comix on the Canvas Graffiti Board throughout the quarter. *Please note: this class content contains adult language and themes.

Assignments and Evaluation You will have the opportunity to read fabulous graphic novels and learn about the Seattle art scene. Reading comics requires a knowledge of the artform and an introduction to technical aspects of graphic art, which is super fun and interesting in itself. You will have the opportunity to write multimodal blogs during the quarter as well as practice your own comic-making with Studio Comix exercises that come with full credit for completing the assignment! No artistic experience or illustrating talent is required. This seminar is geared for both literature and creative writing students as well as students in other majors who are interested in comix.

Required Texts

  • Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud (PDF available)
  • Comix Criticism (Selected PDFs available)
  • Comix Samples, Eroyn Franklin (in-class demonstration and online)
  • Skim, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
  • Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
  • Megahex, Simon Hanselmann
  • Hot Comb , Ebony Flowers
  • My Favorite Thing is Monsters (vol. 1), Emil Ferris
  • Sabrina , Nick Drnaso

ENG 335 Global Texts Outside N.Am&Eur: Global Horror 5cr

Crn: 22698 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: prichard, tony.

We will examine the literature of horror and the weird throughout the world.

Required Texts • Jenkins and Cagle eds, The Valancourt book of World Horror Stories Vols 1 and 2. • Vandermeer, Ann and Jeff ed. The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories

ENG 338 Women's Lit N Am and Europe5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101  

CRN: 20388 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Giffen, Allison A.

This class will focus on Black and white American women writers, with a focus on the 19th century. At this time, large numbers of women began to self-consciously craft careers and literary identities as professional writers, and we will read their work in their historical and cultural context. Political, economic, and cultural forces profoundly affected the literary professionalization of American women writers: the Industrial Revolution gains momentum, the middle class begins to grow, literacy rates increase, and white middle-class women’s work becomes increasingly relegated to the home. We will consider how this context leads to a specifically racialized ideal of womanhood that becomes intimately associated with motherhood and domesticity. Finally, we will look to the strategies these women relied upon to participate in the more public work of reform, especially as it relates to slavery. Writers will include Ann Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Harriet Jacobs, Louisa May Alcott, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lydia Maria Child, and Zorah Neal Hurston. 

ENG 342 Studies in Literary Genres5cr

Crn: 22079 day/time: mwf 01:00-02:20 pm instructor: warburton, theresa anne.

Studies in literature from the perspective of genre and of topics in particular literary genres.

ENG 347 Studies in Young Adult Lit5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202 or instructor permission.  

CRN: 20366 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Hardman, Pam

In this course we’ll read a diverse array of texts written for young adults. These books all address complex notions about identity, power, race, sexuality, gender, class, love, and voice. We’ll explore the texts from a variety of angles, asking questions of the texts themselves and readers’ responses to the texts. In addition to exploring the books, we’ll think about the histories of childhood and adolescence, and how youth culture is represented.  We’ll address issues of consumerism, popular culture, and technology, looking at their effects on this genre of literature and its target audience. You should expect much intensive reading and lively discussion.

TEXTS:  may include: Trung Le Nguyen, The Magic Fish ; Isabel Quintero, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces ; Andrea Rogers, Man Made Monsters ; Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep ; Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, Punching the Air.

ASSIGNMENTS: Reading responses; discussion questions; culminating mixed-media project

ENG 350 Intro to Creative Writing5cr

Crn: 20136 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: gulyas, lee r..

This course will introduce you to the process of writing—the reading, drafting, craft elements, analysis, extensive revision, focus, and discipline that are essential. You will explore, develop, rethink, and revise with the final goal of a portfolio of creative work. This is a skills class, one that will require practice and participation. We will work in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.

Assignments include: exercises, readings, analysis, discussions on a variety of topics, and extensive revision of your own drafts into your final portfolio, held together by an analytical discussion.

COURSE GOALS You will practice reading published work as a writer.

You will work with craft elements and literary techniques in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and read examples from a variety of authors, perspectives, genres, and forms.

You will experiment and take risks to create drafts, then cut, hone, and explore possibilities through revision.

You will actively work to increase your knowledge and skills, aim for professional standards, participate effectively in our writing community through discussion, develop useful feedback, work with revision and deadlines, and locate resources and opportunities both in and out of our classroom.

CRN: 20438 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Pagh, Nancy

In this section of Introduction to Creative Writing we will examine and practice the fundamentals of craft:  imagery and figurative language; sound; character and setting; voice and perspective; form and structure.  We will focus on “close reading” of model poetry and prose; brainstorm creative expression and response; draft poems, stories, and creative nonfiction personal essays; share some of these projects with peers; and revise selected works--learning how to communicate about and make practical use of feedback on drafts.  Evaluation will be based on completion of a sequence of activities and full participation in the class.

Required Textbook:  Write Moves: A Creative Writing Guide & Anthology 

CRN: 21421 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Pagh, Nancy

Crn: 22360 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: everyhope-roser, jemma.

Examines the fundamentals of at least two genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, or poetry. The course will include both lectures, focused on model texts, and workshop-style discussions, focused on student work.

CRN: 22361 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Winrock, Cori Anne

Eng 351 intro to fiction writing5cr.

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 350.  

CRN: 20299 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Westhoff, Kami Dawn Marie

This course is designed to introduce you to the craft and culture of writing fiction as well as the complex world of critique and workshop. We will read established authors of various identities and study the ways they make their writing shine through unique use of voice, description, language, dialogue, character development, and experimentation. While reading and studying these authors, you will begin your own journey into short story fiction writing with the help of various writing exercises and assignments, revision, and most importantly, your imagination and individuality.

CRN: 20439 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30-12:50 pm Instructor: Araki-Kawaguchi, Kiik

As a community of writers, we will strengthen our competencies through reading, writing, discussing and reflecting. You will be tasked with developing fictional worlds, characters and predicaments. We will have conversations about the fundamental elements of fiction (e.g. tense, pov, dialog, voice, conflict), as we examine a diverse body of published works and the early drafts (stories) written by you and your peers. 

Expect this to be an exciting and challenging course. We hope you will develop new ways of thinking, working, writing and communicating. We hope you will take risks. Count on being brave, respectful, and a hard worker. 

Participation in a 5-credit course is equivalent to 150 hours of work over the quarter. This will include 4 hours of classroom time weekly (lecture, discussions, workshop) and approximately 10 hours of outside preparation (reading, writing, investigating, reflecting, projects). You are also encouraged to visit me in office hours, attend literary events, and  (safely) connect with your peers. 

We will examine a diverse body of published work across genre boundaries. I attempt to keep course costs as low as possible, but I require access to a few critical materials:  •    Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer •    An electronic device (e.g. smartphone) that will allow you to access podcasts

CRN: 23640 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Westhoff, Kami Dawn Marie

Eng 353 introduction to poetry writing5cr, crn: 20074 day/time: tr 04:00-05:50 pm instructor: mcguire, simon leonard.

Introduction to the techniques of poetry writing, including craft, practice and modeling.

CRN: 21823 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Winrock, Cori Anne

Eng 354 intro to creative nonfict writ5cr, crn: 20317 day/time: tr 08:00-09:50 am instructor: gulyas, lee r..

Required Materials Miller & Paola, Tell It Slant, Third Edition (only this edition will work), all other readings provided Canvas & Internet access, and ability to print out hard copies of your work Paper and pen or pencil for in-class writing

Course Description This is a beginning level creative writing class that combines a creative component and the study of literature. We will explore a broad spectrum of content and form, as we strive to translate personal experience, perspective, and research into effective work. Students will submit drafts, provide feedback, and practice discussions in critical exploration of readings. Coursework will include in-class writing exercises, reading responses, writing assignments, and extensive revision. Since this is a five-credit course, the university expects fifteen hours of work per week: five hours in class and ten hours on your own.

My goals for this class are that you will: 1) read a variety of creative nonfiction, grasp basic concepts about what the term implies, the variety of forms it can take, and the craft elements, reworking, and revision integral to its success. 2) begin thinking about the ethical implications involved when writing about your life and the lives of others. 3) read published nonfiction as models for your own work, and read your colleagues’ writing with empathy, compassion, and insight. 4) participate effectively in our writing community through discussion, developing useful feedback, working with revision and deadlines, and locating resources and opportunities both in and out of our classroom. 5) gain a better understanding of yourself as a writer, learn how to incorporate feedback into your revision process, and be able to critically analyze your own work.

CRN: 20517 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Westhoff, Kami Dawn Marie

Welcome to English 354. In this course, you will read the work of established creative nonfiction writers, engage in extensive practice of the techniques, forms, and styles they employ, participate in in-depth discussions and peer workshops, and eventually produce a portfolio of your own creative nonfiction.

ENG 364 Introduction to Film Studies5cr

Crn: 20440 day/time: tr 08:00-09:50 am instructor: cosey, felicia.

Film Viewing DAY/TIME: T, 04:00-06:50 pm

In this course we will learn how the formal elements of film practice and technique such as cinematography, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène are employed to create meaning for the spectator.  Moreover, we will investigate the ways in which critical perspectives such as genre, authorship, ideology, race, sexuality, and gender inform our analyses of film and media.  As part of our study, we will screen and analyze excerpts from narrative and documentary films.

Assignments: Course work will consist of activities, quizzes, and writing assignments.

Required Textbook: Corrigan, Timothy and Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021.

CRN: 23641 DAY/TIME: MWF 02:30-03:50 pm Instructor: Youmans, Greg

Film Viewing DAY/TIME: M, 04:00-06:50 pm

The course introduces the foundations of film studies. We will explore core vocabulary, concepts, and skills that help us look and listen more closely to motion pictures. We will also develop practices of critical thinking, argumentation, and analysis through various writing exercises. Our course screenings will present films from around the world and from the historical beginnings of cinema to the present day. In the second half of the term, we will shift focus to a video-production project that will further enrich everyone’s understanding of how movies are put together.

Textbook: David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, Jeff Smith. Film Art: An Introduction , 13th edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education, 2023. (You are welcome to use the 10th, 11th, or 12th edition instead to save money.)   

ENG 365 Film Hist: New Jack Cinema 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or ENG 202  

CRN: 21288 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Cosey, Felicia

New Jack Cinema

“New Jack” refers to a hip-hop sound called New Jack Swing created by musician, artist, and producer Teddy Riley during the late 1980s.  It was a sound that combined rap and dance music and featured prominently in urban culture.

The phrase New Jack Cinema was coined by Steven D. Kendall in his book titled New Jack Cinema: Hollywood’s African American Filmmakers.  He uses the phrase to connect Riley’s musical sound with a new movement in Hollywood cinema evolving around the same time.  Kendall describes this movement as a time, the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a new crop of African American filmmakers served as the “cultural vanguard” for their generation.  Kendall asserts they had to be the best at their craft “in order to survive the Hollywood system, as they were not often afforded the same access and opportunities as their white counterparts” (vi).  And we indeed witness this cultural shift as more Black filmmakers are given opportunities to direct major Hollywood productions than ever before. 

While New Jack Cinema gave voice to a marginalized group, it also inadvertently painted that group with a broad brush.  Black films during this period prominently featured urban settings, eliding other Black voices in rural and suburban settings.  New Jack Cinema would soon become identified not for its varied Black narratives, but for its gangster films.

The music, movies, and political climate that created New Jack Cinema serves as the impetus for this course.  We will study the early films of such directors as John Singleton, Julie Dash, the Hudlin Brothers, and of course, Spike Lee.  Some questions we will attempt to answer are as follows:

  • How did New Jack Cinema reflect and shape the socio-political climate of the late 1980s and early 1990s?
  • In what ways did New Jack Cinema provide a platform for marginalized voices, and how did it confront or perpetuate stereotypes?
  • How did the intersection of music, particularly New Jack Swing and rap, influence the thematic and stylistic elements of New Jack Cinema?
  • What were the challenges faced by African American filmmakers during this era, and how did they navigate the Hollywood system?
  • How has New Jack Cinema influenced contemporary filmmakers, and what is its lasting legacy in American cinema?

Required Textbook:  Course readings will be provided on Canvas.  

ENG 385 Sustainability Literacy II 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: One course from: UEPP 116, SUST 116, ENG 203, ENG 302, or SALI 201; or instruction permission.  

CRN: 21454 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Brown, Nicole

Systems Thinking

This course will take a human-centered approach to understanding complex systems through research, story, and information sharing. By shifting focus from the parts to the whole and from nouns to verbs, this course offers an introduction to the specialized language, habits-of-mind, and methodology of systems thinking to understand human and beyond-human materialities as interdependent and co creative elements that form a complex and unified whole. Systems thinking can be applied to every discipline and context. It engages with different cultural, ecological, technological, and disciplinary perspectives to find problems, reframe stories, and discover leverage points for enacting systems change.

Course projects include weekly writing assignments that incorporate visual and verbal elements, including experimenting with new media and/or multi modal compositions. For the major project you will be a part of a team that applies a systems thinking approach to writing about sustainability issues in a professional or public context you care about. We will use these models to articulate solutions through written and oral proposals. The course also invites guest visits from social change leaders in our community. This broad spectrum of disciplinary viewpoints will offer unique perspectives on systems thinking as a practice and field of study and work. Together we will identify the properties and engage in the process of writing/building a viable, desirable, and sustainable future. You should leave the course with excellent writing samples: mappings, systems and rhetorical analyses, research displays, and proposals, as well as a new vocabulary and methodology to facilitate systems-based analysis, communication, and change.

ENG 401 Writing/Rhetoric Seminar 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 301, ENG 302, ENG 313, ENG 314 or ENG 371, or instructor permission. 

CRN: 23122 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Bridges, D'Angelo

In this course, we will examine the work of an array of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century Black writers to consider the rhetorical, historical, and political contexts in which these writers produced formative poems and essays on the nature and significance of African American writing. Focused primarily on the study of how African American writers cast visions of the rhetorical force and power of their writing, students will learn about how Black writers have theorized the exigencies of their work. Essays from writers to be considered include James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Jesse Redmon Fauset, bell hooks, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Margaret Walker, and Richard Wright.   

ENG 406 Topics:Critical/Culturl Theory5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 313 or ENG 314; two courses from: ENG 307-347, ENG 364 or ENG 371.  

CRN: 23123 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Lee, Jean

An advanced course that examines one or more critical or cultural theories. Repeatable with different topics up to 10 credits including original course.

ENG 410 Lit Hist: Arabism, Zionism, & Gaza 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202; plus three from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 313, ENG 314, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320, ENG 321, ENG 331, ENG 333, ENG 334, ENG 335, ENG 336, ENG 338, ENG 339, ENG 341, ENG 342, ENG 343, ENG 347, ENG 364, ENG 371.  

CRN: 20766 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Wise, Christopher

“Arabism, Zionism, & Gaza” is a course in the historical literature of Arab Nationalism (Arabism, Ba’athism, Nasserism), the Pan-Arab Movement, and Jewish Nationalism (Zionism), including discussion of US involvement in the region from the period of the Six-Day War of 1967 to Gaza. As a course in literary history, the literature we study will also be situated in the context of the era of decolonization and the rise of the post-colonial nation-state following WWII. We will read the literature of Arab and Jewish people in Israel and Palestine, including Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Ashkenazi Jews. We will also explore non-Arab Muslim views of political Arabism and Zionism, including those of Amazigh, Black African, Fulani (“Black-Arab”), and Persian peoples. Course discussion will include the complex history of regional conflicts after the creation of Israel in the aftermath of the Shoah/Holocaust and the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, the Six-Day War of 1967, the Yom Kipper War of 1973, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East prior to the Gaza conflict of 2023, especially following 9/11. Significant time will be devoted to the analysis of poetic, literary, and theoretical texts in historical context. Two regional poets will occupy much of our attention, Mahmud Darwish and Yehuda Amichai. We will also read theorists and figures such as Freud, Herzl, Faisal, al-Husri, Rabbath, Nasser, Aflaq, Fanon, Khomeni, Shahak, Chomsky, Finkelstein, Vattimo, Said, Derrida, Shohat, Ngom, Rose, Gaddafi. Students will work in groups, give oral presentations on pre-assigned topics, write in-class, and perform significant independent research. Regular in-class attendance and participation is mandatory.  Some documentaries will be viewed outside of class, and there will be some on-line lectures that will require written responses. However, this is a FTF course requiring active class discussion.

Texts: Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism Edward Said, Freud and the Non-European & The Question of Palestine Jacqueline Rose, The Question of Zion Thomas Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem Omar Dahbour (ed), The Nationalism Reader Theodor Herzl, A Jewish State Sylvia Haim, Arab Nationalism: An Anthology Christopher Wise (ed), Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition Gianni Vattimo, Deconstructing Zionism: A Critique of Political Metaphysics Jacques Derrida, Specters of Marx Mahmud Darwish, Unfortunately, It Was Paradise Israel Shahak, Jewish Fundamentalism In Israel

ENG 418 Sr Sem: Post-9/11 Literature 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: Senior status; ENG 313 or ENG 314; and one course from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310 or ENG 311.  

CRN: 20389 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Anderson, Katherine J.

Important note: ENG 418 is not repeatable & cannot be used as an elective for the literature major.

Post-9/11 Literature: Narrative in an Age of Terrorism

Everything changed after the planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. We now live in a “post-9/11” world, defined by our obsessions with security, warfare, terrorism, ethnicity, and national identity. Certainly, 9/11 is frequently described as a defining event of the 21st century for the United States, but what about the rest of the world, Western and otherwise? 

In this senior capstone seminar, we’ll examine the literary response to the events of September 11th, 2001 and their aftermath. Throughout, we’ll consider the distinctive identity of a body of twenty-first century writing (often called post-9/11 literature) that is transnational as well as American. Our discussions will be framed by our attention to both our writers’ aesthetic choices and their cultural and political claims. Our class will be different from (and perhaps more difficult than) many others because of the contemporary relevance of the material. Discussions will inevitably involve an attention to contemporary politics, both national and global, and I ask that you engage each other with mutual respect and sensitivity.  Some of the topics we’ll consider include: the ability of literary writers to help us understand the consequences of terrorism and war on our imaginations the adequacy of language to represent this kind of world-shifting event; the extent to which representations of the events can be said to have changed as time has elapsed; how texts written by non-western authors present a challenge to the U.S.-centric narratives that have dominated the post-9/11 moment; and how historical events preceding 9/11 connect to and contributed to the event.

Course Objectives: In addition to offering an introduction to critical terrorism studies, the concept of terrorism, and the production of knowledge about political violence, this course interrogates the influence contemporary writers have on the ways we shape our cultural narratives about 9/11, terrorism, warfare, security, ethnicity, religion, politics, globalization, and national identity, and conversely, the way cultural narratives about those things influence contemporary writers. 

Student Learning Objectives (what you’ll get from your work in this class):

  • Advanced capacity to compare and contrast texts of different forms or genres, making connections between different literary texts and/or critical theories.
  • Advanced ability to analyze contemporary, transnational literature published since September 11, 2001 and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to historical and cultural contexts. 
  • Advanced ability to perform and then apply proactive research. 
  • Advanced ability to write cogent literary criticism. 
  • Increased autonomy in assessing literary texts and critical theories.
  • Increased ability to participate in an ongoing academic conversation.
  • Increased self-awareness of personal reading, writing, and methodological practices. 

Content Warning: Some of our texts contain reference to sexual and/or racial violence, suicide, and/or various verbal denigrations. I did not assign these texts lightly, nor is it my intent for us to dismiss the problematic things they depict. Rather, it is my goal for us to confront those elements sensitively, thoughtfully, and deeply, as I hope we do when we encounter them in the real world. Literature exists in part to help us bear witness to, process, and cope with human crises, trauma, and atrocities, and in asking us to confront these things, it also actively encourages our empathy with and for others. Please be certain when signing up for this class that you can commit to reading and discussing this material and further, that you can do so in a mature, respectful way.

Required texts will likely include:                                

  • Don DeLillo, Falling Man 
  • Laila Halaby, Once in a Promised Land
  • Mohsin Hamid, Exit West 
  • Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist 
  • Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned 
  • into a War on American Ideals
  • Ian McEwan, Saturday
  • Kamila Shamsie , Burnt Shadows 
  • Required theoretical/critical readings will be available on Canvas as PDFs.

ENG 418 Sr Sem: Literary Time 5cr

Crn: 20390 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: heim, stefania f..

Tense, duration, chronology, perception, memory, rhythm.  Time travel, flash back, simultaneity, linear progression. Feminist theorist Elizabeth Grosz has argued that “time remains the central yet forgotten force that motivates and informs the universe, from its most cosmological principles to its most intimate living details.” It is also, necessarily, a central component of literature. Time is literary structure, organizing principle, subject matter, emotional catalyst. From the “timeless” lyric to the immersive novel through whose duration you feel yourself to exist simultaneously in multiple planes, writers and readers play with time. In this senior seminar, time will not be ancillary to other literary or theoretical concerns: we will home in on the representation, manipulation, and creation of time. We will explore widely across genres and media and through the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, engaging with writers and artists like Emily Dickinson, Claudia Rankine, Frank O’Hara, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, Octavia Butler, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Chantal Ackerman, Ed Roberson, and Yoko Ono. We will also research political, cosmological, theological, and literary arguments about the organization and apprehension of time. Throughout the course, students will work through a set of scaffolded writing assignments (including creative experiments, low-stakes writing-to-think activities, peer workshopping, and revision) toward the completion of an original 10-15 page analytical paper. 

ENG 423 Maj Auth: Ella Higginson 5cr

Crn: 20243 day/time: tr 08:00-09:50 am instructor: laffrado, laura.

“Ella Higginson has created her own field in American fiction; she has taken a new country and given us new types. What Mary Wilkins is to the East, she is to the West; and there is not another short story writer in this country today who can compare with either of them.” (Rev. of A Forest Orchid. Peterson Magazine, Dec. 1897)

TEXTS:  •     Selected Writings of Ella Higginson: Inventing Pacific Northwest Literature.  ISBN 978-0-939576-27-2  •     Mariella, of Out-West (1902). Forgotten Books edition. 978-1-331-29621-8 •     Alaska, the Great Country (1908), any edition.

We will also look at letters, essays, book reviews, and other fascinating Higginson material (original copies of magazines in which Higginson published, postcards, sheet music, paper weights engraved with her poetry) to help us understand how to read Higginson and why it matters. The class will meet several times at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies which holds a large archive of Higginson’s papers. 

CONTENT : This course looks at the writings of once celebrated but then long forgotten author Ella Rhoads Higginson, the first prominent literary writer from the Pacific Northwest and the first Poet Laureate of Washington State. Higginson was celebrated for her award-winning fiction, her lyric poetry which was set to music and performed internationally, and her prolific nonfiction. During the turn from the nineteenth century into the twentieth century, readers across the nation were introduced to the then-remote Pacific Northwest region by Higginson’s descriptions of majestic mountains, vast forests, and scenic waters, as well as the often difficult economic circumstances of those dwelling near Puget Sound. We will read her major works in the order she wrote them, pay attention to their interactions with the larger culture, watch her create characters who help define the Pacific Northwest, and ask why Higginson became so famous. We will consider issues of gender, race, region, and identity, among others. 

ASSIGNMENTS : Much reading and thinking will be asked of you, along with frequent class participation, class presentations, regular attendance, and one research paper, due at the end of the term. The research paper will use at least two critical sources and will be 10-12 pages, typed, double-spaced, adhering to Modern Language Association (MLA) citation guidelines, and turned in on time.

ENG 423 Maj Auth: H.G. Wells and Ursula K. Le Guin 5cr

Crn: 20457 day/time: mwf 11:30-12:50 pm instructor: anderson, katherine j..

Sci-Fi Shakespeares: H. G. Wells and Ursula K. Le Guin

This course provides deep analysis of the writing of two of the “Shakespeares” of Anglophone science fiction (SF): H. G. Wells and Ursula K. Le Guin. In the late-nineteenth century, the British Wells, an eventual socialist who staunchly advocated for free love, was perhaps the most famous contributor to a genre known as “scientific romance”: an early form of science fiction that placed science at the center of its plot, using it to create tension, anxiety, or fear, as well as revealing the darker desires of humanity and frequently attributing those darker desires to evolutionary inheritance. Although Wells himself eschewed the term “scientific romance,” the power of his early SF novels continues to resonate all over the world. 

In the mid-twentieth century, British SF writers established a New Wave in the genre. New Wave SF was more literary and experimental, including a willingness to experiment with postmodernism. It strayed from the traditional focus on “hard” science in favor of the “soft” sciences, and it foregrounded sexual liberation. More women writers also appeared on the scene during the New Wave. Across the pond in the US, Le Guin, the daughter of anthropologists, began her career as an SF legend and literary giant by writing stories that blended British New Wave sentiment with American genre imagery and her own anthropological interests into tales of loss, companionship, isolation, redemption, and love.

Wells and Le Guin are two of the most influential SF writers of all time. You will exit this class with a more sophisticated understanding of their respective contributions to literature, including their representations of gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; class, capitalism, and socialism; utopia/dystopia; war; apocalypse; and scientific experimentation and technology, as well as a firmer grasp of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Anglophone cultural and literary history. 

Student Learning Outcomes (what you’ll get from your work in this class): 

  • Advanced ability to analyze nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and to relate literature’s concerns and modes of expression to its historical context as well as our present moment. 
  • Advanced capacity to compare and contrast texts of different forms or (sub)genres, making connections while noting evolutions in form, style, and content over an author’s oeuvre.
  • Advanced capacity to analyze literary genealogy via a comparison of major authors working at different historical moments in the same genre
  • Increased autonomy in assessing literary texts and critical arguments.

Required texts will likely include: 

  • The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
  • The Time Machine (1895)
  • The War of the Worlds (1898) 
  • A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
  • The Dispossessed (1974)
  • The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
  • Required visual text: Epix’s War of the Worlds, season 1 (2019, 8 episodes, streaming on Amazon with trial subscription)
  • Additional required short texts and secondary readings are available on Canvas as pdfs.

Content Warning: Some of our texts may contain reference to sexual and/or racial violence, suicide, and/or various verbal denigrations. I will not assign these texts lightly, nor is it my intent for us to dismiss the problematic things they depict. Rather, it is my goal for us to confront those elements sensitively, thoughtfully, and deeply, as I hope we do when we encounter them in the real world. These realities are particularly important to consider in relation to the intertwined histories of imperialism, colonialism, slavery, patriarchy, and white supremacy that accompanied the British Empire and literary canon and that continue in our present political moment. Literature exists in part to help us bear witness to, process, and cope with human crises, trauma, and atrocities, and in asking us to confront these things, it also actively encourages our empathy with and for others. Please be certain when signing up for this class that you can commit to reading and discussing this material and further, that you can do so in a mature, respectful way.

ENG 424 Major Directors: Jane Campion 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or instructor permission.  

CRN: 23642 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Odabasi, Eren

Film Viewing DAY/TIME: W, 05:00-07:50 pm

Two-time Academy Award winner Jane Campion is one of the most significant and influential figures in contemporary world cinema. She became the first woman in history to win the prestigious Golden Palm, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1993 with The Piano . Her adaptation of celebrated author Janet Frame’s autobiography An Angel at My Table (1990) was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the Venice Film Festival, where Campion also won the award for best director in 2021 with The Power of the Dog. She remains the only filmmaker ever to win the Golden Palm awards for both short and feature films. Throughout a career spanning more than 35 years, she has distinguished herself as the most decorated film director to emerge from New Zealand and Australia.

In this course, we will study Campion’s complete body of work through the lens of auteur theory. We will identify the central themes in all Campion films (such as female subjectivity and autonomy, desire and societal oppression, mental illness, painful family ties etc.), analyze her work in a variety of formats (multi-episodic series and short films in addition to her narrative features), and explore the unusual cinematic techniques that she frequently uses as a part of her visually inventive style. We will watch and discuss all the feature films directed by Campion, survey many scholarly accounts written about Campion’s cinema, and read Campion’s own comments about her films.

Throughout the course units, we will investigate the literary roots of Campion’s films, identify the notable artists with whom she collaborated repeatedly, and discuss her influence on contemporary films from around the world. The requirements for this course include two short film analysis papers and a substantial final essay that comparatively examines two or more works by Jane Campion.

 All books are available as free e-books through WWU Libraries, no purchase is necessary. 

“Jane Campion” by Deb Verhoeven, Routledge, 2009. “Jane Campion: Authorship and Personal Cinema” by Alistair Fox, Indiana University Press, 2011. “Jane Campion’s The Piano” edited by Harriet Elaine Margolis, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Additional readings will be available online on Canvas.

Features: Two Friends, 1986 Sweetie, 1989 An Angel at My Table, 1990 The Piano, 1993 The Portrait of a Lady, 1996 Holy Smoke, 1999 In the Cut, 2003 Bright Star, 2009 The Power of the Dog, 2021

Series: Top of the Lake, 2013 Top of the Lake: China Girl, 2017

We will also see several short films directed by Campion.

ENG 441 Language and the Sec Classroom5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 301, ENG 302 or ENG 371; ENG 347; ENG 350, ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354; two from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320 and ENG 321.  

CRN: 22364 DAY/TIME: TR 08:00-09:50 am Instructor: VanderStaay, Steven L.

This course will explore language structure and use in the Secondary Language Arts classroom, including cultural and equity issues, dialect and discourse style bias, ESL learners, and the challenges of standard grammar and conventions.  We’ll spend some time addressing linguistic fundamentals as a means of understanding language diversity. This methods course requires the same kind of individual initiative, dedication, and professionalism that you will apply to your future work as a teacher. 

ENG 443 Tch Eng Lang Arts in Sec Sch I5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 301, ENG 302 or ENG 371; ENG 347; ENG 350; ENG 441 or concurrent or MLE 444 or concurrent; and two courses from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320 and ENG 321.  

CRN: 20662 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00-01:50 pm Instructor: Hardman, Pam

CONTENT: This course focuses on the teaching of writing in middle and high schools. Through the frames of various pedagogical theories, we will connect what we know about the diverse student population that secondary teachers face with what we know about ourselves as language arts learners and teachers in order to create useable teaching materials. This is a writing and reading intensive course. This methods course requires the same kind of individual initiative, dedication, and professionalism that you will apply to your future work as a teacher.

TEXTS: may include: Gallagher, Teaching Adolescent Writers; Gallagher, Write Like This

ASSIGNMENTS:  Writing responses; unit assignments; mini-lesson plan and performance; target assignment project

ENG 444 Tch Eng Lang Art in Sec Sch II5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 443  

CRN: 20082 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: VanderStaay, Steven L.

This course is the second of a two-quarter sequence designed to help you become a thoughtful, knowledgeable, and effective teacher of English language arts at the secondary level. In 444 we emphasize the teaching of reading and literature with whole-class, small group, and individualized methods. This methods course requires the same kind of individual initiative, dedication, and professionalism that you will apply to your future work as a teacher.

ENG 451 Creative Wrtng Seminar:Fiction5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351  

CRN: 20138 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20 am Instructor: Araki-Kawaguchi, Kiik

“Nine Challenges” 

In this advanced fiction workshop, you will be issued nine challenges meant to stretch your competencies as a writer, reader and collaborator. Potential challenges include, “write a story that is 90% dialogue,” and “write a story one earth over from ours.” As a way to approach these challenges, we will discuss innovative texts, do in-class writing activities, and build an archive of reflections. Our most significant focus will be on workshopping the early drafts (stories) written by you and your peers. 

We will examine a diverse body of published work across genre boundaries. I attempt to keep course costs as low as possible, but I ask that you obtain an electronic device (e.g. smartphone) that will allow you to access podcasts. 

CRN: 20519 DAY/TIME: MWF 02:30-03:50 pm Instructor: Westhoff, Kami Dawn Marie

Seminar in Fiction Writing, is designed to encourage you to continue your exploration into the complex world of creating literary fiction. We will read the work of contemporary fiction writers and examine the ways in which they create compelling and innovative fiction through careful and unique attention to such elements as character development, setting, theme, format, and narrative focus. In addition to extensive fiction writing, you will be asked to engage with the literary world on a larger scale, including literary journal research, submitting your work, and presenting a live reading of your own work.  

ENG 453 Creative Wrtng Seminar: Poetry5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 353  

CRN: 20391 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00-11:50 am Instructor: Yeasting, Jeanne Ellen

Forms of Verse: This course is a seminar in learning about, and writing in, some of many poetic forms available to poets.  Students will write and extensively revise their own verse.  We will explore the histories of some forms (old and new) and undertake intensive reading of examples from different time periods.  We’ll also talk about ways to make our own poems better through a direct application of our newfound knowledge.  Class will be a mixture of discussion of assigned writing models, collaborative presentations, writing exercises, and workshops.  EVALUATION:  Based on active class participation and fulfillment of assignments, including collaborative projects, writing literary reviews, and a Final Project.  REQUIRED TEXTS:  

  • Mark Strand and Eavan Boland, editors. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. W. W. Norton & Company. 2001. ISBN (paperback):  978-0393321784
  • Kaveh Akbar, Pilgrim Bell: Poems. Graywolf Press, 2021. ISBN (paperback):  978-1644450598
  • Donika Kelly, The Renunciations: Poems.   Graywolf Press, 2021. ISBN (paperback):‎ 978-1644450536
  • Rena Priest, Patriarchy Blues. Moon Path Press.  2017. ISBN (paperback): 978-1936657278

ENG 454 Creative Wrtg Sem: Nonfiction5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 354  

CRN: 21289 DAY/TIME: TR 08:00-09:50 am Instructor: Dorr, Noam

An advanced workshop course in the writing of nonfiction, building on skills learned in prior courses. Repeatable with different instructors to a maximum of 10 cr.

ENG 459 Editing and Publishing5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354  

CRN: 20442 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Colen, Elizabeth Jane

This course will give students an overview of professional editing and publishing practices across a variety of genres and professional venues. Students will conduct an analysis and assessment of their own writing and publishing aims and engage in exercises and assignments geared towards individual goals. To that end, we will read, respond to, analyze, and try our hand at composing and refining a wide range of essential texts, including cover letters and query letters, synopses, back cover copy, blurbs, bios, book reviews, and interview questions. Additionally, students will exercise and cultivate research, copyediting, and proofreading skills and closely examine how an author may utilize and refine grammar, syntax, and other elements of style to improve their writing and begin to take part in wider literary community and conversations.

CRN: 23124 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Trueblood, Kathryn R.

Course Goals: This is a capstone course that offers practical information not only about the business of publishing books but also about literary careers that exist behind the scenes. The course will include a brief history of the book industry in the United States; corporate versus independent publishing; the roles of book reviewers and reps; agents, editors, and publicists. An overview of the literary arts scene in the Northwest will be included with a discussion of internship opportunities in the region. We will have guest speakers who are professionals in the field, so the syllabus will have to bend here and there to accommodate.

In this class, students will role-play the part of editor, publisher, and writer, learning the protocol and diplomacy of the industry. The course will offer an introduction to useful skills such as copyediting, proofreading, and promotional writing. The assignments for this course are designed to heighten students' awareness that publishing is key to the democratic process i.e., one of the ways ideas are disseminated in an open society. Historically, communities whose access to the public forum was limited have begun their own publishing movements; students will be encouraged to understand the roles of editor and publisher in that context.

As advanced workshop graduates, students are expected to be conversant with the principles and techniques of good writing and aim for the standards of professional copy. This is a course in professional development, and a high level of fluency in writing is expected. 

Texts: The Poets & Writers Complete Guide to Being a Writer, edited by Larimer & Gannon A People's Guide to Publishing by Joe Biel Copyediting & Proofreading for Dummies by Suzanne Gilad  

ENG 460 MultiGenre:5cr

Crn: 20656 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: dorr, noam.

Intensive study of topics in creative writing that cross genre boundaries, or that critique those boundaries. Opportunities to compose experimental or hybrid works. Repeatable with different instructors to a maximum of 10 credits.

ENG 460 MultiGenre: Odd Forms 5cr

Crn: 20368 day/time: mwf 11:30-12:50 pm instructor: colen, elizabeth jane.

In this generative, workshop-based class we will examine what it means to forgo the standard expectations of genre and venture into the space of attempting to allow content itself to generate form. We will read closely (as closely as possible, given the constraints of a 10-week quarter) many examples of odd forms and delve into them in our own writing through exercises in imitation and by questioning our own content in order to determine what odd forms might be possible for our work. This exploration will culminate in a portfolio (3 pieces) final of fully revised work of 10-15 pages.

ENG 461 Interns in Eng: Prof Identity5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: Senior status (135 credits) and instructor approval.  

CRN: 23643 DAY/TIME: MWF 01:00-02:20 pm Instructor: Brown, Nicole

This course is structured around your experience interning as a writer in a professional context and participating in weekly discussions and group meetings that guide and call upon you to reflect upon that experience. Course meetings, readings, and assignments are designed to contribute to your internship experience by providing you with opportunities to discuss observations, challenges, and accomplishments that arise for you in your internship. Weekly readings and discussions also offer professional development insights and reflections about: transitioning from academic to nonacademic contexts, approaching problem-solving, developing a professional identity as a writer, and other topics relevant to your personal internship experience. In addition, you will have the opportunity to share strategies and activities from your internship as well as articulate and develop your professional identity as a writer.

Writing is a fundamentally social activity. The most effective and most valued writers in professional contexts are those who are able to use social knowledge for two purposes: to recognize the key aspects of an organizational culture and to contribute effectively to the organizational culture, such as influencing and improving the culture and work practices of the organization.

In English 461, you will develop skills in “reading”(or recognizing and analyzing) the culture of your particular organization, and you will apply this knowledge to contribute to the organization’s work and your own professional identity.

ENG 462 Professional Writing 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: One course from ENG 301, ENG 302, ENG 371; or equivalent experience and instructor approval.  

CRN: 22462 DAY/TIME: TR 02:00-03:50 pm Instructor: Cushman, Jeremy W.

Story-driven Podcasting

Before I even start this description, please know that while we will be making story-driven audio and podcasts in this class, you do not need any experience with audio editing software or with recording. We’ll all learn that stuff together, and it’s easier than you may think. You also do not need to buy any digital technology for this class; we’ve already got what you need.

Alright, here’s the class description:

Everybody seems to have a podcast. Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen have a podcast; Snoop Dogg has a podcast; the lovely middle-school kid down the road from me has a rad podcast. We are stumbling and tripping over so many podcasts!

And still, podcasting offers us ways to consider important notions related to digital circulation, the fascinating nature of sound, our own emotional and affective responses to ideas, and, most importantly for this class, the differing ways storytelling practices play a critical role in nearly every aspect of what the field of Technical Communication calls ‘community engagement.’

So in this class, we are going to get a bit obsessive about story-driven podcasting. I say “story-driven” because so many popular podcasts are interview shows where a host spends an hour talking with guests. Many of those are great, but we won’t deal much with interview shows. And quite a few popular podcasts sound like a group of friends hit the ‘record’ button and just chatted for an hour. In the podcasting industry, those get called, ‘chum-casts,’ and while some of those are pretty delightful, we won’t spend any time with those either.

Together, we’ll center story-driven podcasting.

What that means is that we’ll explore how podcasting can highlight the ways storytelling is baked into all (all!) our communication practices; we’ll wonder about the ways podcasting can challenge the traditional shape of story; we’ll obsess over the ways podcasting blurs the distinction between sound and writing, which allows us to better reflect on the supposed distinction between orality and literacy.

To help us chase after those fairly lofty goals, together we will:

  • Listen to heaps and heaps of story-driven podcasts
  • Listen to different types of music to help us think about storytelling in terms of melody and countermelody
  • Read a little in the field of Storytelling Research, which draws on Technical Writing and Sociology
  • Read a little in the field of Sound Studies
  • Create and share soundscapes, mini audio stories, and of course, story-driven podcast episodes.

ENG 464 Topics in Film Studies5cr

Crn: 22706 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: odabasi, eren.

Even though film festivals have been in existence in one form or another for more than ninety years (with the Venice Film Festival, initiated in 1932, often cited to be the first major one), scholarly work on the festival phenomenon is relatively recent. In the early 1990s, with the extremely rapid proliferation of film festivals around the world, many scholars have started to analyze the various types of festivals, the groups of agents who participate in this circuit, and the impact of festivals on filmmaking, film financing, distribution, and reception.

This course offers a comprehensive review of major theoretical and methodological approaches employed in the growing field of film festival research. The first unit of the course is devoted to the theoretical frameworks through which film festivals can be understood as subjects of academic work. The second unit considers the social and political aspects of film festivals, looking at the historical contexts under which major festivals were born and analyzing the influence of external factors on their structures, programming, and development. The final unit examines the economic and institutional dimensions of festivals, with a particular focus on their involvement in the funding, sales, and distribution of films. Various questions about the active role festivals play in forming a world cinema canon and cultivating local film cultures are raised throughout. 

Requirements  Written requirements include 2 reading responses (approximately 1000 words each) and a substantial final project, which may take the form of a comprehensive literature review or original research (10-12 pages).

Books de Valck, Marijke. “Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia.” Amsterdam University Press, 2007.

Wong, Cindy H. “Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen.” Rutgers University Press, 2011.

Both books are available as free e-books through WWU Libraries, no purchase is necessary.

ENG 466 Screenwriting5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or one from: ENG 350, ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354.  

CRN: 23125 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30-12:50 pm Instructor: Youmans, Greg

Film Viewing DAY/TIME: M 04:00-06:50 pm

The course introduces screenwriting with an emphasis on the art of storytelling. We will focus on the writing of narrative screenplays, both short and feature-length. To guide our efforts, we’ll explore and analyze a range of examples, both as screenplays and final films, ranging from art cinema to indie films to mainstream Hollywood movies. Although our focus will be on linear narrative storytelling, we may also look at examples of screenwriting for other genres and formats, such as television, online video, and interactive storytelling. 

You will often work collaboratively in class on exercises geared toward developing stories, characters, dialogue, and screenplays. Although some time will be set aside for in-class writing, most of our time together will be devoted to inspiring and guiding the projects you’ll be working on outside of class. The term will culminate in substantial work toward a full treatment and at least ten pages of a feature-length screenplay. 

500-Level Graduate English Courses

Eng 504 seminar in writing of poetry5cr, crn: 23645 day/time: tr 02:00-03:50 pm instructor: wong, jane.

The Ghost Archive

“The living and the dead share an interest in the future.”

– M. NourbeSe Philip

Victoria Chang writes in Dear Memory: “Nothing is missing… /If I dip my hand in, /I will change history.” This graduate level seminar will explore the layers of writing poetry while deeply engaging and wrestling with the archive. How can we expand the definition of the archive to include the half-lit, the half-recorded, the speculative even, the act of the hand dipping itself? What happens when your archive is a ghost? How can we grapple with the difficulty of research while also placing lyrical pressure on the line? With rigorous attention to the relationship between form and content, we will engage the complexities and intersections of our personal and collective lives through poetic craft. We will write poems in dialogue with prominent contemporary poets (who will visit our class, including Diana Khoi Nguyen and others TBA!). As an active poetry community, we will revisit the stakes of poetry via seminar discussions, constructive feedback, and radical revision strategies. Some of our texts will include Diana Khoi Nguyen’s Root Fractures, Cornelius Eady’s Brutal Imagination , Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas , Mosab Abu Toha’s Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear , Arisa White’s Who’s Your Daddy , Victoria Chang’s Dear Memory , and others.

ENG 505 Seminar in Writing Nonfiction 5cr

Crn: 23646 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: roach orduña, josé.

Immersion – On the Line & In the Moment

As Robin Hemley writes in his book A Field Guide for Immersion Writing: Memoir, Journalism and Travel, “Immersion writing engages the writer in the here and now in a journalistic sense, shaping and creating a story happening in the present while unabashedly lugging along all that baggage that makes up the writer’s personality: his or her memories, culture, and opinions.” In this class we will read and write literary essays that employ immersion as their primary mode of research and narrative structure. We will read and discuss literary essays that go out into the world with an eye toward understanding how a writer prepares for, plans, and executes immersion. We will take several “field trips” where, as a class, we will immerse ourselves in an experience, a performance, and a place and produce writing from these instances of immersion. And students will be asked to prepare for, plan, and execute their own immersion which will serve as the basis for a literary essay written for the class.

Some of what we’ll read will include: 

  • Tim Z. Hernandez, All They Will Call You
  • Sophie Calle, Suite Vénitienne
  • Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt

ENG 509 Internship in Writing, Editing & Prod 1 TO 5cr

Eng 550 studies in american literature5cr, crn: 23647 day/time: tr 10:00-11:50 am instructor: giffen, allison a..

The Racial Politics of Childhood in the 19th Century

What is childhood and how has it been variously defined and understood? This is one of the central questions of Critical Childhood Studies, a growing field within the humanities. Along with the history and construction of childhood, Critical Childhood Studies also examines textual and visual representations of childhood, exploring, for example, how childhood functions metaphorically in literature and culture. New ideals about childhood emerge in the nineteenth century that are shaped by Romantic notions of childhood innocence and informed by thinkers like Locke and Rousseau. Our work this quarter will focus particularly on the role that race played in these new conceptions of childhood. We will begin with the racialized construction of girlhood in the novels of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Wilson, then explore seduction and consent in the figure of the tragic mulatto, in the work of Lydia Maria Child and Harriet Jacobs. We will then direct our attention to boyhood as it is represented in the popular children’s periodical St Nicholas Magazine reading representations of Black and white boyhood through the lens of critical disability studies.  

ENG 560 Studies in British Literature 5cr

Crn: 23648 day/time: tr 04:00-05:50 pm instructor: loar, christopher f..

When we talk about British fiction in the eighteenth century, we often think about the domestic novel, courtship, and the epistolary form. But the funny thing about fiction in this period is that there are no rules–at least, nothing hard and fast—and this situation allowed literary experimentation to flourish. Many authors wrote in highly experimental modes, offering up fantastic tales of magic, rambling narratives of plagues survived, or sprawling satires on the very nature of consciousness.

This course offers a sampling of some of the wild, fantastic, discordant, distorted, and highly experimental writing to appear between 1660 and 1830. Some of these experiments were influential and leave marks on the present; others were fascinating but abandoned–perhaps awaiting excavation and exploration in the present day.

Expectations:

•    regular and engaged discussion in the classroom •    informal writing assignments (short response papers or something similar) •    a final project (for most students, this will be a substantial essay, but I am willing to entertain proposals for creative projects from MFA students, or for alternative presentation media)

Possible Texts:

Fictions about consciousness and narration:

Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy Denis Diderot, Jacque the Fatalist

Social fictions:

Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year Eliza Haywood, a selection of short fiction  Aphra Behn, a selection of short fiction   Jane Barker, a selection of short fiction  Sarah Scott, Millennium Hall

Fantastic fictions:

Selections from The Arabian Nights Clara Reeve, The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt

ENG 594 Practicum in Teaching 2 TO 5cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 501  

CRN: 20083 TBD TBD Staff

Eng 597 ma capstone seminar 5cr, crn: 23716 day/time: tr 08:00-09:50 am instructor: heim, stefania f..

Bookending graduate study as a closing companion to ENG 501, this course is designed to support second year MA students in English as they work toward the development and completion of their Capstone Projects. In this collaborative, interactive writing workshop, students will generate significant original work in a variety of media and share and critique works-in-progress—pushing classmates’ projects farther and questioning their own. Together, we will also explore research methodologies, sustainable writing practices, and strategies for framing and presenting work in a variety of professional, academic, and creative contexts. Course activities will include weekly written reflections on project processes and practices; leading a class discussion around a theoretical text important to your project; and the development of a culminating presentation. 

ENG 598 Seminar Teaching English:5cr

Crn: 21584 day/time: tr 12:00-01:50 pm instructor: miller, brenda.

In this seminar, we will explore the various ways one might envision, develop, and teach an Introduction to Creative Writing course, as well as courses in individual genres. As an entry-level instructor at a community college or university, you may be asked to teach such a course, and this class will aim to prepare you not only for this scenario, but also for teaching in the community. We will explore how a creative writing classroom can be a space to practice inclusivity and anti-racism for all our teaching scenarios. 

There is no one “right” way to teach creative writing. In fact there may be no “right” way at all. There are merely options, designs, and intentions that will keep evolving.

This course will be a smorgasbord. I have organized several visitors who will share with us their approaches to teaching creative writing in diverse settings. We will also study a variety of articles, textbooks, syllabi, and assignments, and you will have the opportunity to both lead and practice creative writing exercises. In the end, you will come up with your own syllabus, as well as a reflection on your creative writing teaching philosophy and practice. 

The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom , by Felicia Rose Chavez. 

Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping, by Matthew Salesses. 

Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor, by Lynda Barry. 

You will also be choosing articles or book chapters to explore on your own and bring into the classroom. 

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Creative Writing Program

Creative writing news.

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The University of Washington English Department's Creative Writing Program offers a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a two-year Master of Fine Arts  degrees in Poetry and Prose. 

Founded in 1947 by Theodore Roethke, the Creative Writing Program's tradition of transformative workshops continues with our current faculty:  David Bosworth , Nikki David Crouse ,  Rae Paris ,  David Shields,  and  Maya Sonenberg  (Prose), and  Linda Bierds (part-time) ,  Andrew Feld ,  Richard Kenney,  and  Pimone Triplett  (Poetry).  They include among their many honors fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as prizes such as the Flannery O’Connor Award in Short Fiction and the McCarthy Prize. The list of our alumni publications represents a significant chapter in the history of American literature. 

The MFA Program remains purposely small, admitting only ten students per year. The relatively small size of our program (20 students at most at any given time) allows for close associations to develop among students and faculty. The first year is devoted to participation in workshops and literary seminars, and the second year allows for concentrated work on a creative manuscript and critical essay under the supervision of two creative writing faculty members. 

The BA in English with a Creative Writing Concentration prepares students not only to be more effective communicators and artists, but also creative problem solvers and more nuanced critical thinkers. By situating small, student-oriented writing workshops alongside literary models, Creative Writing classes enhance the broader study of literature and critical theory, helping students gain a greater understanding of the social and cultural forces informing their work. A student completing the program is more able to situate themselves in a larger aesthetic and social context and make more meaningful, informed decisions about their own artistic practice. In addition, through the intense practice of creative writing, students are able to see the world more clearly, in a more nuanced and meaningful manner, and apply these skills to a wide variety of work and life situations.

Director:  Nikki David Crouse

Program Coordinator: Shannon Mitchell 

Graduate Program Advisor: Tim Cosgrove

Undergraduate Program Advising: Humanities Academic Services

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  6. Major in Creative Writing

    creative writing major wwu

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  1. Creative Writing

    The English creative writing major offers students the opportunity to develop their writing skills in the genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and drama. Introductory and advanced genre courses form the core of the major, giving students an opportunity to develop their craft and aesthetics through intensive writing, reading and workshops.

  2. Creative Writing Emphasis

    Western Washington University About Admissions and Aid Academics Life at Western Majors Alumni & Foundation Athletics Parents & Families Research Visit English — Creative Writing Emphasis Degree BA (with Teaching Endorsement Option) This major leads to a baccalaureate degree without teacher certification.

  3. English

    25 credits in literature (which may include literature/culture, rhetoric, literacy theory, and film studies) at the 300- or 400-level, including a minimum of three writing proficiency points in approved upper-division writing proficiency courses at WWU with a minimum grade of C-. ENG 350 - Introduction to Creative Writing Credits: 5

  4. Program: English

    To receive a recommendation for state of Washington teacher certification with an English Language Arts endorsement, students must complete courses within the English - Creative Writing Emphasis with Teaching Endorsement major as specified herein and the teacher certification program offered by the Department of Secondary Education as one of ...

  5. Earn a degree in English

    The Creative Writing program focuses on writing courses: creative writing in fiction, drama, poetry, or nonfiction prose and includes coursework in literature to supplement the creative writing courses. English Department arrow_forward Contact Elle Starr, Undergraduate Program Coordinator [email protected] | 360-650-6846

  6. English

    The English Literature major focuses on the study of literatures in historical and cultural contexts and includes course work in literary theory, creative writing, and composition and rhetoric. Some students may opt to develop a writing concentration within their literature major, taking writing courses such as composition, creative writing ...

  7. English

    Why Consider a Creative Writing Emphasis in the English Major? The Creative Writing program focuses on writing courses: creative writing in fiction, drama, poetry, or nonfiction prose and includes coursework in literature to supplement the writing courses. ... [email protected]. English Creative Writing Advisor Kelly Magee Humanities 371 ...

  8. MFA Creative Writing

    Program Requirements: 55 credits CORE COURSES: (20 credits total, each course is 5 credits) in creative writing to be taken in at least two different genres from the following: English 502: Seminar in the Writing of Fiction (repeatable) English 504: Seminar in the Writing of Poetry (repeatable)

  9. Program: Creative Writing, MFA

    [email protected]. Graduate Program Coordinator. Erica Dean-Crawford. Humanities 325. 360-650-3232. [email protected]. Life as a serious author, with an understanding of the literary marketplace and publication. PhD programs, as well as other advanced degrees in fields such as law or teaching. Teaching at both two- and four-year ...

  10. Home

    In Western's English Department you'll find authors and scholars, poets and linguists, professional writers and translators, editors and publishers, podcasters, book reviewers, film critics, videomakers, teachers of the language arts, comic book and graphic novel experts, and more.

  11. Creative Writing Minor

    Western Washington University ENG 350 - Introduction to Creative Writing Credits: 5 Students must complete four of the following courses (ENG 451, ENG 453, ENG 454, and ENG 460 are all repeatable with a different instructor to a maximum of 10 credits): ENG 351 - Introduction to Fiction Writing Credits: 5

  12. Majors

    Western Washington University offers nearly 200 undergraduate degrees and more than 40 graduate programs. Explore Majors, Minors, and Programs at WWU today. ... For a complete list of majors, minors, ... Creative Writing. A unique, two-year MFA with a multigenre focus, and opportunities to gain teaching and editorial experience. ...

  13. Creative Writing

    Western Washington University's English Department offers a 2-year MFA program in Creative Writing within a community that values creative development and intellectual versatility. We encourage a focus on multigenre or cross-genre writing, based on our view that creative writing graduates need to be versatile in their comprehension of genre conventions and conversant in the way diverse ...

  14. Master of Arts in Creative Writing

    Western Washington University's English Department offers a 2-year MFA program in Creative Writing within a community that values creative development and intellectual versatility.

  15. Spring 2024 Course Descriptions

    CRN: 21081 DAY/TIME: MWF 08:30-09:50 am Instructor: Wise, Christopher. Course Description. In this course, we will analyze and interpret various literary genres, including poetry, plays, films, as well as literary fiction and nonfiction, with the goal of preparing students for advanced work in literary study, especially writing college-level ...

  16. Creative Writing Program

    The University of Washington English Department's Creative Writing Program offers a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a two-year Master of Fine Arts degrees in Poetry and Prose.. Founded in 1947 by Theodore Roethke, the Creative Writing Program's tradition of transformative workshops continues with our current faculty: David Bosworth, Nikki David Crouse, Rae Paris ...

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  20. guelph humber creative writing

    Jump to navigation Skip to content. Search form. P&W on Facebook; P&W on Twitter; P&W on Instagram; Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contes