CREATIVE WRITING IN THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS

           Creative Writing has been a long-time component of the College of Letters curriculum. COL majors are encouraged to take COL's intensive creative writing courses and may elect to complete senior honors theses in fiction, poetry or creative non-fiction.  COL's writing faculty is available to advise students on graduate study in creative writing, and COL prints a periodically updated guide on top MFA programs.

          COL's recent writing faculty has included Roxana Robinson, Dani Shapiro, Peter Boynton, Franklin Reeve and Kevin Gooden.  Distinguished novelist Paula Sharp is the Writer-in-Residence at the College of Letters and has been a member of its faculty since 2003.  She currently teaches COL's fiction courses, as well as the senior seminar for Wesleyan's Writing Certificate.

           The department's courses are open to students of all majors, as is its fiction competition.  COL's creative writing courses count toward Wesleyan's Writing Certificate as well as the COL major.  Students with questions about the Writing Certificate or about COL's writing courses, fiction contest or MFA guide may contact Paula Sharp (psharp @wesleyan.edu).  

          COL majors interested in pursuing the Writing Certificate should read Wesleyan's very helpful Frequently Asked Questions page for certificate candidates.      

College of Letters Fiction Prizes

THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS SHORT STORY PRIZE:  Awarded by the College of Letters to the Wesleyan student who has written the best short story of the year.

THE CHEKHOV PRIZE:  Awarded to the Wesleyan junior who submits the best  short story of the year.

THE SNOPES PRIZE:  Named after the family of memorable characters who people Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy, this prize will be awarded to the Wesleyan sophomore who submits the best short story of the year.

Submissions information about all of  these prizes can be found here.

Spring, 2012 Winners
(click here to see names)

Spring, 2011 Winners
(click here to see names)

_________   o  _________

ADDITIONAL CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE COL WRITERS
for honors awarded in 2011 - 2012:

Piers Gelly, COL Class of 2013, has been granted the prestigious 2012 Annie Sonnenblick Award by the English Department, for work he will pursue this summer in preparation for his honors thesis in creative writing. Piers is also a recipient of this year's Chekhov Fiction Prize, for the best story written by a Wesleyan junior.

Peter Myers, COL Class of 2013,  has been designated a Center for the Humanities Student Fellow for the 2012-2013 school year.  Peter is the 2011 winner of the Snopes Fiction Prize for the best short story written by a Wesleyan sophomore.

Kanyakrit Vonkiatkajorn, COL Class of 2013, has been designated a Center for the Humanities Student Fellow for 2012-2013 school year.  In addition, Kanyakrit has been awarded a 2012 English Department Olin Fellowship for work she will conduct this summer in preparation for her senior honors thesis in creative writing.  Kanyakrit also tied for first place in this year's Chekhov Fiction Prize competition, for the best story written by a Wesleyan junior.

Arijit Sen, COL Class of 2007, has been awarded a 2012 Wesleyan Winchester Fellowship, in support of graduate work in creative writing.  Arijit is a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri - Columbia. 

Rachel Goodman, COL Class of 2012, was granted the 2011 Annie Sonnenblick Award and an Olin Fellowship by the English Department, for work she pursued during the summer of 2011 in preparation for her honors thesis in creative writing. 

Kent Jones, Psych Class of  2011, a veteran of COL's creative writing courses, has been granted a prestigious Hertog Fellowship by the MFA program of Hunter College.

Alen Hamza, COL Class of  2003, has been accepted with a full scholarship and living stipend into the University of Texas-Austin's MFA program, which Poets & Writers recently ranked as one of the top three MFA programs in the country.  He will be pursuing an MFA in poetry.

Photographs:  Charles Baudelaire, Virginia Woolf