Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Creative Writing

In a world polarized through hatred and fear, well-written stories and poetry have the capacity to enlarge our compassion, sharpen our senses, and offer new visions for the future. Those who can write and tell stories well hold the keys to helping people, institutions, and businesses navigate a changing world. Creative Writing marries concrete, pragmatic skills with creative exercise and dreaming big. Becoming a better writer is not easy. It takes passionate, committed students to listen deeply, explore inquisitively, and inspire fiercely.

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The best way to become a better writer? To write. The Creative Writing major and minor at John Carroll allows you to gain intensive workshop experience in writing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Another way to become a better writer? Read. Writing practice combined with critical review and analysis from the classics to modern creative works and everything in between.

As a Creative Writing major, you will learn to:

Read texts with active, critical skills to form and articulate accomplished interpretations
Produce multiple drafts of original creative works that are honed and revised through the peer workshop and faculty review process
Produce written analyses of creative texts that demonstrate awareness of audience, artistic form, organizational sophistication, and clear argumentation
Build oral communication skills by listening to others' ideas and articulating their own responses and questions clearly to situate themselves in the conversation
Gain knowledge of cultural and historical contexts of Anglophone and translated creative works that enhance their appreciation for the voices either within or marginalized by the texts

Each of these is honed by faculty mentors who care deeply about your growth as a writer and human being.

As a Creative Writing major at John Carroll, you will gather intensive workshop experience in writing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. These workshops are intimate with not more than 15 students. Your professors are actively publishing, dynamic writers and instructors, which is why John Carroll boasts one of the most respected Visiting Writers programs in Ohio. You’ll have a chance to meet and work with nationally known visitors to our campus, people like Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Simon Armitage, Paul Muldoon, and Robert Pinsky.

The Creative Writing minor is the perfect complement to any other degree – from biology to pre-law. Whether you’re set on graduate school, or seeking a career in business, every industry seeks good writers who can effectively put complex thoughts into digestible, understandable terms. Whether you’ve always had a love of writing poems or you’d like to keep exercising your storytelling muscle, the creative writing minor is an examination into all kinds of writing – fiction and nonfiction, narrative and poetry – as well as the important, foundational skills for doing so. Set yourself apart and bring with you a skill that is useful in every field.

9%

job growth predicted over the next decade

73.4%

Percentage of employers that want a candidate with strong written communication skills. A skill among the top three most desired overall.

68%

of all writers are self employed

BA in Creative Writing Program Highlights

Real Teaching

At John Carroll, your professors are actively publishing, dynamic writers and instructors, which is why we boast one of the most respected Visiting Writers programs in Ohio. You’ll have a chance to meet and work with nationally known visitors to our campus, people like Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Simon Armitage, Paul Muldoon, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Roxane Gay, Kiese Laymon, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Robert Pinsky, in intimate discussion-based classes.

Amazing Experience

Find real-world, transformative experiences that build on your writing and reading skills, as well as your worldview through unique, collaborative opportunities like peace-building classes in Ireland, Environmental Literature courses, workshops with actors from the London Stage, or chances to publish something brilliant from start to publication of the Carroll Review

Jobs & Internships

Our students take advantage of a range of internship and professional development opportunities both on and off campus. Work as a consultant in the University Writing Center; serve as both an editor for or contributor to the Carroll Review, our student-run literary journal; or gain experience at every level of a campus newspaper, from beat reporter to executive editor at the award-winning Carroll News. Over your summer, land a paid internship with the Young Writers’ Workshop, a weeklong camp for students in 8th-12th grades. Or go off campus, and intern at organizations like Lake Erie Ink, Cleveland Magazine, American Greetings, or a number of locally headquartered, multinational companies.

Featured Faculty

"I'm a firm believer that every person has a universe of stories to share. But fiction isn't simply an escape to another realm. Fiction is resistance, an avenue for self-reflection, a way to find a piece of ourselves in other worlds. The best stories I've read shook my perceptions of the real world and have aided me in my own purpose to write."

—Isaiah Hunt, Hopkins Post-Graduate Fellow - English

Featured Courses

EN 133 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

Fundamentals and practice of creative writing across genres. Prerequisite: EN 125 or equivalent.

EN 402 ADVANCED FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP

Intense, advanced work in crafting short stories.Prerequisites: EN 131, EN 132, EN 133, or EN 134.

EN 491 FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM

Women have used writing as a means to express their perspectives for centuries. This course studies the various theories of feminist literary criticism, including the social construction of gender and identity, the possibilities for women’s creative expression, and the influence of gender-related issues on the study of literary texts.

Notable Alum

Christopher Kempf, Creative Writing ’07

Status: Author, MFA Professor at University of Illinois

What inspired your future?

Studying Creative Writing at John Carroll taught me to recognize the power and possibilities of language, and how, in ways great and small, it shapes our lives on a daily basis. Not only did the small class sizes and committed professors make for a highly enjoyable experience, but Creative Writing at John Carroll prepared me for a wide range of careers in which creativity, imagination, and inventiveness with language are necessary. I am extraordinarily grateful to have been a part of those classes.

Creative Writing Alumni Across the Region

��logo�� alumni live, work, teach and support communities throughout the region from Northeast Ohio to Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Columbus, Buffalo, Rochester, Pittsburgh, New York City, Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

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Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Creative Writing

9%

73.4%

68%