You love language, value imagination, want to emulate your literary idols. You dream of someday seeing your name on the spine of a book. As a Creative Writing major, you can  study poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and playwriting. You will read widely and deeply and consider discrete elements of craft. You will compose your own poems, short stories, and essays, and learn how to formally critique the work of your fellow writers. You will join a robust and supportive literary community, have the chance to edit or contribute to an accomplished student literary magazine, Insanity’s Horse, and interact with some of the country’s most esteemed authors who visit campus as part of the Writers@Drew Reading Series. As working authors themselves, Drew’s Creative Writing faculty offer skills, mentorship, and industry advice that you need to succeed.

Events of Interest to Creative Writing Emphasis Majors

• Writers at Drew
• Drew Poetry’s Society: Participate in spoken-word poetry slams.
• Dodge Poetry Festival: The largest poetry event in North America is mere train stops from campus, and through the English department, Drew students may attend for free.
• Morristown Festival of Books: The event in nearby Morristown brings noted writers together in conversation and the English Department arranges free attendance for students.
• The Drew Club of New York City hosts periodic literary events in the Big Apple. “An Evening of Poetry, Prose, and Holiday Cheer,” for example, featured readings by Drew’s Creative Writing faculty: Patrick Phillips, Courtney Zoffness, Jocelyn Lieu, Jason Schniederman, and Hirsh Sawhney. See photos of the event here.

Campus Publications

• Insanity’s Horse
• Acorn

Major/Minor Course Requirements

If you love to read, this is the emphasis for you—even more, if you love to think and talk about what you’ve read. You’ll have the opportunity to read an extraordinary range of novels, stories, plays, poems, and nonfiction texts, drawn from the medieval period to the present, and from all over the English-speaking world. Your courses will cover writers from Chaucer through Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Walt Whitman, James Joyce, to Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison, Junot Diaz, and on to forms such as graphic novels and science fiction. As a literature major, you’ll learn to read attentively and to think deeply about the questions literary texts raise and how literature engages with the world. those analytical and critical skills will prepare you for careers in many fields from journalism and publishing to teaching and law.

Major/Minor Course Requirements

You are intrigued by language and the power of writing. You want to use writing to make a difference. You know that writing matters: in how journalists make the news, in how people connect in communities, in how leaders lead. If that sounds like you, the Writing and Communication emphasis of the English major is for you! Writing Studies includes communication, rhetoric, social media studies, journalism, literacy and language, and community writing. It is a rapidly growing field and a vibrant part of the English Major at Drew, applying the close reading and critical thinking skills of the major to a broad array of public texts and contexts. You’ll learn how language shapes what we know, believe, and do. You’ll write to change the world.

How are internships and independent research incorporated into this emphasis?

Writing and Communication Studies is both a theoretical and a practical field, and this is reflected in course content but also in the internships and independent research open to you as a student in Drew’s English major. Our proximity to New York City and major media and publishing companies in New Jersey provides opportunities to intern pretty much anywhere, and our many alumni in the fields of writing and communication provide opportunities for mentorship during and beyond your years at Drew–both for those pursuing internships and for those considering graduate school. Drew’s Center for Internships and Career Development will also work with you to help you find an internship that draws on your interests and and extends your coursework.

Major/Minor Course Requirements