58 courses with the subject CRW, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
CRW 7006SPECIAL TOPICS IN LITERATURE
This course is a seminar designed to help writers explore the relationship between content and form in fiction. The goal of this approach is to both further our literary background and to explore the repertoire of strategies and techniques employed by a variety of the authors we study. In addition to participating in the seminar discussion, members of this seminar should expect to respond to the works we read by writing response papers and/or discussion questions. Readings will include both short fiction and novels/novellas that illustrate a range of styles and effects. The reading list is under construction but may include selections from Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J.M. Coetzee, Jonathan Lethem, and others.
This course will examine the texts of plays, television scripts, and film scripts using in depth analysis, with an emphasis on the vision and intention of the authors, and how that vision can change during production and the occasionally conflicting vision of the director.
A workshop that concentrates on short fiction. Students will evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere, while examining the tools of the prose writer's art and reading the published work of successful fiction writers. Emphasis will be placed be on the craft of fiction and how content should be used to inform form and vice versa. Students may choose to submit a variety of fictive forms for critique, including short stories, flash fiction, and excerpts from novels.
A workshop that concentrates on short fiction. Students will evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere, while examining the tools of the prose writer's art and reading the published work of successful fiction writers. Emphasis will be placed be on the craft of fiction and how content should be used to inform form and vice versa. Students may choose to submit a variety of fictive forms for critique, including short stories, flash fiction, and excerpts from novels.
A workshop that concentrates on short fiction. Students will evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere, while examining the tools of the prose writer's art and reading the published work of successful fiction writers. Emphasis will be placed be on the craft of fiction and how content should be used to inform form and vice versa. Students may choose to submit a variety of fictive forms for critique, including short stories, flash fiction, and excerpts from novels. 628
A workshop that concentrates on short fiction. Students will evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere, while examining the tools of the prose writer's art and reading the published work of successful fiction writers. Emphasis will be placed be on the craft of fiction and how content should be used to inform form and vice versa. Students may choose to submit a variety of fictive forms for critique, including short stories, flash fiction, and excerpts from novels.
This course provides craft exercises and research strategies specific to the writers of contemporary creative nonfiction article-length works, including travel and food writing, feature articles and profiles, interviews, and news writing. Students will write, workshop, revise, read, and critically respond to student-generated and published contemporary articles, with a focus on establishing a primary or secondary career in freelance writing.
This course is a seminar designed to help writers explore the relationship between content and form in poetry. The goal of this approach is to both further our literary background and to explore the repertoire of strategies and techniques employed by a variety of the authors we study. In addition to participating in the seminar discussion, members of this seminar should expect to respond to the works we read by writing response papers and/or discussion questions and engaging in creative nonfiction work of your own. The emphasis for this course will be the study of poetry forms, and how the content of the poem affects or directs the choice of form.
A workshop course concentrating on poetry. This course concentrates on the craft of writing the poem. Students will work on their poetry and then evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere. Each semester, the poetry workshop may concentrate on specific aspects of the poet's art, such as studying the techniques of a specific poetic genre or movement (e.g., the Romantics); focusing on specific methods or aspects of creating poetry, such as subverting sentimentality; or investigating larger issues of the poetic life, such as creating a chapbook or thematic collection of poetry.
A workshop course concentrating on poetry. This course concentrates on the craft of writing the poem. Students will work on their poetry and then evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere. Each semester, the poetry workshop may concentrate on specific aspects of the poet's art, such as studying the techniques of a specific poetic genre or movement (e.g., the Romantics); focusing on specific methods or aspects of creating poetry, such as subverting sentimentality; or investigating larger issues of the poetic life, such as creating a chapbook or thematic collection of poetry.
A workshop course concentrating on poetry. This course concentrates on the craft of writing the poem. Students will work on their poetry and then evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere. Each semester, the poetry workshop may concentrate on specific aspects of the poet's art, such as studying the techniques of a specific poetic genre or movement (e.g., the Romantics); focusing on specific methods or aspects of creating poetry, such as subverting sentimentality; or investigating larger issues of the poetic life, such as creating a chapbook or thematic collection of poetry.
A workshop course concentrating on poetry. This course concentrates on the craft of writing the poem. Students will work on their poetry and then evaluate their own and others' work in a supportive atmosphere. 629
Flash fiction is a genre with a strict word-limit that rarely exceeds 1000 words, and can be as brief as a dozen. Workshop: Flash Fiction focuses on the essentials of writing (very) short fiction, including generating ideas, narrative structures, voice, image patterns, endings, revision, and submission strategies to get the work published. Students will use online, peer, and workshop methods of critique. Published works of flash fiction will be read and analyzed. The course culminates with the students' compilation of a chapbook of original work.
Ekphrasis, a literary response to visual art, combines the study of model ekphrastic poetry, drama, and fiction with the study of critical work on ekphrasis, and excerpts from the journals and letters of artists. The course focuses on the work of critics such as John Hollander, Jane Hedley, and James Heffernan and a diverse group of writers including Homer, Virgil, Keats, Rilke, Auden, Bishop, Ashbery, and Black. In addition to close readings of the literary texts and a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, students will write both ekphrastic pieces and critical responses and papers.
Poetry Workshop: The Poetry of Witness and Resistance. This course will explore poetry of witness and resistance, studying the genre as a source and inspiration for poems the students will write. Using model poems from the 20th and 21st centuries, written or translated into English, we will examine theories and poetic practices of bearing witness and mounting resistance to cultural oppressions and social injustices, asking how the poem both contextualizes, resists, and repairs perceived injustice or imbalance. Areas of study include the Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, and poems in response to various anti-war, and pro-social justice movements in the United States, Europe, and South America. Poets whose work we will study include Muriel Rukeyser, Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Etheridge Knight, Marilyn Nelson, Ai, Cornelius Eady, Charles Simic, Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Symborska, Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, and others. Through a combination of analytical discourse and poetry critique workshops, our aim is writing poems of aesthetic and cultural value in dialogue with the poetic traditions of witness and resistance.
This course provides the opportunity to compile, design, and workshop different types of poetry and prose poetry sequences. Students will learn various strategies and theories about the ordering, arrangement, design, thematic patterning, and editing of the sequence, both traditional and contemporary. Both the writing, reading and critical review of workshop participants' sequences are complemented by the reading of published sequences and scholarly/generalist articles about the poetry and prose poetry collections. The course will also discuss the use of the sequence in the construction of chapbooks and full-length books, along with researching markets open to publishing entire sequences. 630
Using an adaptation of author Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! We will, over the course of the semester, craft a complete 40,000-to-50,000-word work of fiction. The emphasis will be on generating material and not revising or analyzing chapters as we go. We will also read a variety of small novels and take a look at their construction and character development. In addition, we will also talk about pacing and story arc and look at several classic books on craft.
Using an adaptation of author Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! We will, over the course of the semester, craft a complete 40,000-to-50,000-word work of fiction. The emphasis will be on generating material and not revising or analyzing chapters as we go. We will also read a variety of small novels and take a look at their construction and character development. In addition, we will also talk about pacing and story arc and look at several classic books on craft.
Using an adaptation of author Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! We will, over the course of the semester, craft a complete 40,000-to-50,000-word work of fiction. The emphasis will be on generating material and not revising or analyzing chapters as we go. We will also read a variety of small novels and take a look at their construction and character development. In addition, we will also talk about pacing and story arc and look at several classic books on craft.
Poetry Workshop: The Poetry of Witness and Resistance This course will explore poetry of witness and resistance, studying the genre as a source and inspiration for poems the students will write. Using model poems from the 20th and 21st centuries, written or translated into English, we will examine theories and poetic practices of bearing witness and mounting resistance to cultural oppressions and social injustices, asking how the poem both contextualizes, resists, and repairs perceived injustice or imbalance. Areas of study include the Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, and poems in response to various anti-war, and pro-social justice movements in the United States, Europe, and South America. Poets whose work we will study include Muriel Rukeyser, Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Etheridge Knight, Marilyn Nelson, Ai, Cornelius Eady, Charles Simic, Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Symborska, Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, and others. Through a combination of analytical discourse and poetry critique workshops, our aim is writing poems of aesthetic and cultural value in dialogue with the poetic traditions of witness and resistance.
This course provides craft exercises and research strategies for the writer of book-length creative nonfiction manuscripts. Narrative and prose theory along with hands-on exercises provide the basis for the instruction in developing a knowledge of and facility with the craft of writing long form creative nonfiction.
This course is a seminar designed to help writers explore the relationship between content and form in creative nonfiction. The goal of this approach is to both further our literary background and to explore the repertoire of strategies and techniques employed by a variety of the authors we study. In addition to participating in the seminar discussion, students should expect to respond to the works we read by writing response papers and/or discussion questions and engaging in creative nonfiction work of your own. Readings will include compressed essays, memoirs, and lyric essays, and other work that illustrate a range of styles and effects. 631
This workshop course will focus on creative nonfiction genres ranging from the memoir and personal essay to the sort of “New Journalism” popularized by Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe. The course is structured as a workshop with a central emphasis on student writing. We will read work by professional writers and analyze various elements of craft (such as voice, sensory detail, characterization, dialogue) and learn how to use such elements to tell our own stories.
A workshop course concentrating on creative nonfiction. Students will study the published work of others in this genre, engage in writing exercises, and craft work of their own to be critiqued by their fellow students. Ethical issues, especially as it pertains to memoirs, will be explored. Each semester, the creative nonfiction workshop may vary from a general workshop encompassing a variety of forms within the genre to specialized workshop that focuses on a specific aspect of the genre, including memoir, the personal and literary essay, opinion pieces and narrative nonfiction.
A workshop course concentrating on creative nonfiction. Students will study the published work of others in this genre, engage in writing exercises, and craft work of their own to be critiqued by their fellow students. Ethical issues, especially as it pertains to memoirs, will be explored. Each semester, the creative nonfiction workshop may vary from a general workshop encompassing a variety of forms within the genre to specialized workshop that focuses on a specific aspect of the genre, including memoir, the personal and literary essay, opinion pieces and narrative nonfiction.
A workshop course concentrating on creative nonfiction. Students will study the published work of others in this genre, engage in writing exercises, and craft work of their own to be critiqued by their fellow students. Ethical issues, especially as it pertains to memoirs, will be explored. Each semester, the creative nonfiction workshop may vary from a general workshop encompassing a variety of forms within the genre to specialized workshop that focuses on a specific aspect of the genre, including memoir, the personal and literary essay, opinion pieces and narrative nonfiction.
This workshop will strengthen both the writing and editing skills of students. Features instructor-based lectures, student story contributions and round-robin critiques. In the spirit of community growth, we will become a team of writers who illuminate the errors and successes of our peers. Objectives will be instructor guided in terms of the literary elements (plot, character, setting, theme, style) and left wide open for content. Anything goes as long as it creeps, slithers, makes noise in the basement, mystifies, horrifies, shocks or sparks wonder. Truth or fiction accepted. Short stories preferred.
CRW 7160RESEARCHING AND WRITNG HISTORICAL FICTION AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION
This course will instruct students in research methods for writing historical fiction or creative nonfiction, and will give them the opportunity to workshop short fiction, memoir, and novel or full-length creative nonfiction excerpts. The emphasis here is on creating believable and accurate historical details whether the work is fiction or nonfiction.
Students working on the Rosemont Literary Magazine, Rathalla Review, are eligible to register for three credits of independent study once during their course of study. Students will work together to create the editorial and managerial processes involved in publishing a literary journal both online and in print. Students will work with 632
A continuation workshop that concentrates on the craft of writing a novel. Students will evaluate their own and others’ work in an intense, but supportive, atmosphere that is focused on addressing the particular issues inherent in creating longer works. To enroll in this course, students must have completed a novel draft and have permission from the program director.
A continuation workshop that concentrates on the craft of writing a novel. Students will evaluate their own and others’ work in an intense, but supportive, atmosphere that is focused on addressing the particular issues inherent in creating longer works. To enroll in this course, students must have completed a novel draft and have permission from the program director.
A weekend and week-long writing seminar during which students attend intensive daily workshops in the genre of their choice (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing or creative non-fiction) in addition to daily craft lectures on a variety of topics. A nightly reading series will provide students with the opportunity to experience their instructors' work and to share their own. Students are required to submit a final project (either a substantive revision of a workshop submission or a new piece) that directly incorporates the work covered during the seminar.
A weekend and week-long writing seminar during which students attend intensive daily workshops in the genre of their choice (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing or creative non-fiction) in addition to daily craft lectures on a variety of topics. A nightly reading series will provide students with the opportunity to experience their instructors' work and to share their own. Students are required to submit a final project (either a substantive revision of a workshop submission or a new piece) that directly incorporates the work covered during the seminar.
A weekend and week-long writing seminar during which students attend intensive daily workshops in the genre of their choice (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing or creative non-fiction) in addition to daily craft lectures on a variety of topics. A nightly reading series will provide students with the opportunity to experience their instructors' work and to share their own. Students are required to submit a final project (either a substantive revision of a workshop submission or a new piece) that directly incorporates the work covered during the seminar.
A weekend and week-long writing seminar during which students attend intensive daily workshops in the genre of their choice (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing or creative non-fiction) in addition to daily craft lectures on a variety of topics. A nightly reading series will provide students with the opportunity to experience their instructors' work and to share their own. Students are required to submit a final project 633
This intensive 8-day course of study will concentrate on generative writing workshops in a variety of writing styles (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing, or creative non-fiction). Workshops will be balanced with cultural and academic enrichment activities that will form the foundation for the writing prompts. Opportunities for feedback and critique will be part of the scheduled workshop time. Students will be required to submit a final writing project that directly incorporates the work covered during the seminar and a reflection paper.
This intensive 8-day course of study will concentrate on generative writing workshops in a variety of writing styles (such as poetry, fiction, novel writing, or creative non-fiction). Workshops will be balanced with cultural and academic enrichment activities that will form the foundation for the writing prompts. Opportunities for feedback and critique will be part of the scheduled workshop time. Students will be required to submit a final writing project that directly incorporates the work covered during the seminar and a reflection paper.
As young adult fiction tackles more and more edgy and difficult topics and readers become more and more sophisticated, there is a greater need to ensure that appropriate topics are available to the middle grade reader (ages 8-12). In this class, students will explore the range of middle grade fiction, compare it to lower young adult, and discuss the decisions that necessary to determine in which category titles belong. Students will also look at writing styles, authors, themes, topics, content, etc. to better understand this segment of the children’s industry.
Since the 1960’s, comics have always had a special place in the college community, mainly in the form of Stan Lee touring college campuses and talking to fans of Marvel’s superheroes. However, in the last decade, comic book classes--now with the more prestigious name of “graphic novel studies” --are finding more and more places in the academic arena. For both the MFA and MA students, this genre offers several benefits. From a publishing point of view, it is one of the biggest and yet unstable markets in literature. For MFA students, the graphic novel structure offers a new means of craft that can greatly benefit a writer regardless of the medium they prefer. And for the literature student, graphic novels offer an untapped potential for literary criticism where the literary student can quickly become an authoritative voice in the field. This course would cater to all three fields of study--the business, the creative, and the critical.
As the YA (young adult) market grows, it continues to push at the historical boundaries by exploring controversial and edgy topics such as divorce, ethnicity, gender roles, suicide, and much more. It is also comprised of action-adventure, fantasy, historical, mystery, sci-fi, speculative fiction, as well as memoir. As a result, this has made it difficult to define the YA genre. This class, through exploration of many YA titles, will seek to define the YA genre. Is it truly a genre or sub genre? Are there different levels of YA fiction and non- fiction, or should there be? And why to adults love some YA titles and not others? Students will lead this industry discussion by developing a set of standards and criteria to define the genre through class discussions and projects. .
Designed for students who wish to explore genres outside their normal boundaries, this workshop will specifically focus on prose writers who want to explore poetry techniques and poets who want to try prose. 634
The art of putting together a film is one that is different from any other. This course will offer an intensive study into the world of film, from the independent, small budget market to the major markets of Hollywood. To build a successful future in screenwriting, a writer must understand the full depths of the market.
This course will provide an overview of television and film screenwriting strategies, including how to write and develop half-hour pilot formats for television comedies, how to write and develop one-hour pilot formats for television dramas, and how to write and develop feature length films.
So you understand how to publish your work, but you still can't make enough money? Then it's time to understand the process of applying for grants, entering contests, attending writers' conferences, and going to artists' colonies. This course will teach students to broaden their understanding of the many opportunities available to an apprentice writer; and how, through careful exploration, networking, and tenacity, they can expand those opportunities all the more. Students will become familiar with the major writers' organizations, as well as with who's who in the industry today. Special attention will be paid to the difference between navigating the literary side and genre sides of the publishing world.
This course provides craft exercises and research strategies for the writer of book length fiction manuscripts. Narrative and prose theory along with hands-on exercises provide the basis for the instruction in developing a knowledge of and facility with the craft of writing prose, while instruction in book research focuses on going beyond Google to discover original transcripts, conduct interviews, scour through local libraries, take trips, find experts, and so on.
This full semester course is designed to prepare MFA students for the task of teaching writing workshops in college and graduate settings, and will, as well, prepare students to run workshops for adults in non-credit community settings. Adaptation (of both pedagogical theory and workshop leadership techniques covered) to the lower grades will be discussed and illuminated during the semester. Students will read and discuss academic writings on pedagogical theory, group process/dynamics theory, and will, concurrently, participate in and periodically lead their own writing workshop. As part of workshop participation, students will read and discuss assigned examples of published writings. In addition, they will produce and workshop their own writings. All genres of creative writing—poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction--will be discussed and workshopped.
This course is a seminar designed to help writers explore the relationship between content and form in fiction. The goal of this approach is to both further our literary background and to explore the repertoire of strategies and techniques employed by a variety of the authors we study. In addition to participating in the seminar discussion, members of this seminar should expect to respond to the works we read by writing 635
Students in this course write a complete draft of a book-length work of creative nonfiction. The emphasis is on generating material and not revising or analyzing. In addition to writing in class, students read and discuss a variety of small memoirs and works of creative nonfiction as examples and for inspiration.
This course provides craft exercises and research strategies specific to the writers of young adult fiction. Narrative and prose theory along with hands-on exercises provide the basis for the instruction. Reading young adult texts as a writer and reading critical writings about young adult fiction supplement the craft coursework. To develop a knowledge of and facility with the craft of young adult writing, the course relies more on exercises and excerpts rather than on the workshop of completed, "whole" works.
CRW 7455TEXT AS TEACHERS: CRITICAL WRITINGS FOR CREATIVE WRITERS
This course uses contemporary literature as the “teachers” for the contemporary writer. Each student works with the instructor to create a reading list of four (4) books or collections that correspond with the students’ genre (poetry, creative non-fiction, and/or fiction), literary interests (steampunk, literary fiction, urban fantasy, young adult gothic, and so on), and project goals (memoir, poetry chapbook, flash fiction collection, novella, literary fiction novel, and so on). Students produce critical writings and present their “findings” while publishing for the community of writers the craft lessons and insights they’ve gleaned from their readings. All students begin by reading Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer.
Lindsey Moore says, "Magical realism is characterized by two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality." This course will explore the work of authors most associated with this prose style such as Marquez, Allende, and Borges.
The thesis is designed as a culminating experience that allows students to undertake original work to reflect and extend the breadth of their graduate program experience. Eligible students choose a topic and a faculty thesis advisor and submit, for review and approval by the program director, a written plan for the thesis project. Open only to matriculated students in good academic standing (GPA of 3.0 or higher) who are within 12 credit hours of graduation.
