Just for PhD Students
Poets and Writers recently ranked our program the Number 1 Creative Writing PhD in the country (see link). DU's program in creative writing is one of the only writing programs in the country that focuses exclusively on doctoral study. All of the University of Denver's graduate students in Creative Writing are PhD students.
At other creative writing doctoral programs, MFA and MA students generally outnumber creative writing PhD students in workshops. We pitch our workshops and other courses to the sophisticated levels of students who have done an MA or MFA in creative writing elsewhere.
We no longer offer an MA in creative writing (and we've never had an MFA).
Here is a link to a page with general information about the graduate program, courses available, and interviews with faculty.
Education and Experimentation
At DU, two-thirds of the graduate students in the English Department are in creative writing. The creative writing, literature, and rhetoric and theory students all work closely together in courses and on other projects. We believe that the experience of writing is crucial to a profound appreciation of literature and theory.
We encourage students to regard genre in an open way, to experiment with hybrid genres, and to create new ones. We concentrate on writing first and categories later. We do workshops in cross-genre writing, travel writing, translation, book reviews, and prose poetry, as well as poetry and fiction.
More and more, the faculty regards the old workshop model as outmoded. All of our workshops integrate literature and writing, and we believe that all writing is creative writing.
Attracting Talented Writers
Our program has about twenty writers at any one time, and it offers an intimate writing community as well as a bracing academic experience. We are able to hand-pick students from a highly competitive pool of applicants, selecting six or seven strong and committed writers each year to become teaching fellows (we do not accept anyone without a teaching fellowship).
Events
Poet Lisa Robertson will give a talk April 26, 2012, at 7 pm in Sturm 454
Poet Laura Tohe will read Tuesday May 1, 2012, 6:00 p.m. in 453 Sturm Hall.
Poet Simon Ortiz will read Tuesday May 8, 2012, 6:00 p.m. in 454 Sturm Hall.
Philosopher Alphonso Lingis read April 19, 2012
Fiction writer Teju Cole read October 20, 2011
Poet Alice Notley read February 27, 2012
Cole Swensen and Nicolas Pesques gave a talk on translation March 12, 201
Philosopher Alphonso Lingis read April 19, 20122
Graduate Bulletin Information
PLEASE NOTE that the deadline for applications to the creative writing program is JANUARY 1.
We also ask that Creative Writing PhD applicants send a HARD COPY of their creative samples and a one page cover letter listing genre (poetry or fiction), MFA program, and name to Karla Heeps in the English Department, Sturm Hall 495, University of Denver, Denver CO 80208 (this is in addition to the full on-line application--your application will not be complete without both the on-line materials and the material you send directly to the English Department).
Application Requirements and Deadlines
Scholarships and Financial Aid
Complete Bulletin
More information about the Creative Writing Program
Alumni, Visitors, Faculty Activity
A story about recent PhD graduate Richard Froude
A recent Westword story on John Williams, long-time director of the program
An interview with our own alum, Andrea Rexilius, in Bookslut
Poets and Writers ranking
