Fall 2025 Course Atlas

House: A fiction writing workshop focused on structure(s)   

Yanique         Tuesday   1:00-3:45

NO APPLICATION REQUIRED

This is a class in which structure is both the craft concept and the content material. We will read stories and novels about houses in order to think through what these structures mean in our lives. We will use this learning to consider what architecture can teach us about the creative act of building stories and novels. We will write fiction that is attuned to narrative structure and to the role of structures in stories.  

Texts and Grading Breakdown TBA

Ciano              Wednesday   2:30-5:30

Pre-requisite: None

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

The instructor will be incoming Poetry Fellow, James Ciano. 

“Too often in workshops and classrooms there is a concentration on the poem’s garments instead of its life’s blood,” writes poet Linda Gregg in her essay “The Art of Finding.” In this introductory course, we will, of course, address the fundamental “garments” of writing poetry, those essential poetic tools of craft. But, more than that, we will strive to tap into the experiences that compose our “life’s blood” — those things that have shaped who we are, what we think, what we feel, and how we see the world. Each student should feel affirmed that the singularity of their lived experience lends them the power to write poems that no one else can write. Through considered attention to our work and that of our peers, and the close reading of work by other poets, we will find ways to make that “life’s blood” sing.

Students will write weekly poems, as well as reading responses, feedback to one another, and a final portfolio. We will work to create a space of community through dynamic discussion, participation, and the sharing aloud and workshopping of our own poems. Over the course of the semester, each workshop participant, buoyed by our classroom community, will move closer to writing the poems they most want, and most need, to write.

Texts:

Students will be given PDFs.

Grading:

20% Participation & Preparedness

20% Weekly Poems

30% Reading Responses

30% Final Portfolio (Revised poems and an artist’s statement)

Pre-requisite: none

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

Sections:

ENGCW 272W-1          Duong                 Tuesday   2:30-5:30

ENGCW 272W-2          Yanique               Wednesday   1:00-3:45

Duong’s section:

In this introductory course, students will read short stories and learn the fundamentals of the craft of fiction. Special attention will be paid to sensory detail, imagery, style, and form. Students will learn to write toward their interests and obsessions, generate new work, and gain confidence and skill as writers.  Most importantly, students will learn to read fiction—both published work and the original work of their peers—charitably and carefully, a fundamental skill for any creative practice. By the end of the course, students should come away with a deeper appreciation not just for craft, but for the diversity of artistic and intellectual enterprise that literature brings to bear on social life.

Throughout the semester, you will workshop your own stories alongside those of your peers. Each student will workshop one piece of short fiction and write thoughtful workshop letters analyzing and responding to their peers' stories. You will also be expected to complete five writing exercises, culminating in a final portfolio of revised and new writing, accompanied by a short writer's statement. Your attendance at the Creative Writing Program’s readings this semester is required.

Texts: 

There are no required books for this course. All texts will be made available in print and PDF form.

Assessment:

Attendance and participation               30%

Workshop submissions                          20%

Workshop Critique Letters                     20%

Five writing exercises                              15%

Final portfolio                                           15%

Yanique’s section:

Making People: Empathy and Expertise   

This is an introductory course on the art of fiction writing. We will focus on elements of craft such as character development, narrative control, dialogue, scene development, setting, structure, openings and endings. We will engage with fiction writing as always about creating human beings with histories, bodies, and social realities; as always about creating a world anew for an audience; and as always a form of communication with an ongoing humanity—be it dead writers, current beloveds, future anonymous readers or one’s own self. Students will come to understand the fiction workshop as a place to face fears, biases and the limitations of the imagination all via practice and hard work. Students will come to see fiction as a place to communicate as writers and critics. Students come to see fiction writing and critical reading as a place to engage bravely and vulnerably with grief, joy and the full range of human emotions between. 

Texts:

A House for Alice by Diana Evans   

Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat

Handouts assigned by the professor

Grading:

Students will be assessed on four elements of the course, as listed below. Each aspect of the class will be weighed equally at 25%. Students must perform with excellence on all elements of the course to receive an A-. Excellence is defined by the professor. Students performing very well will receive a grade on the B to B+ scale. Students performing well will receive a grade on the C+ to B- scale. Students performing mediocrely will receive a grade on the D to C scale. Students performing inadequately will be asked to leave the class or they will receive an F grade. The A grade is reserved for students who exceed the professor’s expectations.

Pre-requisite: any 200-level workshop

Sections:

ENGCW 370RW-1      staff                    Monday 2:30-5:30

ENGCW 370RW-2      Tolin                   Tuesday 2:30-5:30

Section 1:

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

Instructor and details TBA

Tolin's section:

**Only accepted students should attend the first class.**

Writing sample: 10-15 pages of fiction (double-spaced), genre writing accepted

Finding Your Voice

Now that you’ve completed introductory coursework in creative writing, it’s time to start thinking seriously about how your voice shows up on the page. Are you drawn to short, simple sentences and a blunt narrative voice, a la Ernest Hemingway? Or do you prefer melodic prose with longer, more descriptive sentences, as in the works of Toni Morrison? Maybe you appreciate writers whose sentences reflect a certain chaos or entropy, like Mary Gaitskill and Yiyun Li. Perhaps you like punchy writing, sentences that bounce with humor–Lorrie Moore, ZZ Packer, Philip Roth, and Venita Blackburn, for example.

What we call voice is really a series of grammatical and stylistic choices. Looking closely at these decisions in our work and others’ can help us determine how we might commit our voices to paper in a genuine way. In this course, we will read varied works of published short fiction from contemporary writers with unique prose styles. In addition to craft elements like structure, character development, and point of view, our discussions will focus on voice and how it is achieved at the sentence level. Assigned readings will be used as launchpads for in-class prompts and exercises. Our goal is to write things we feel proud of, the sorts of pieces we might enjoy reading if we encountered them in a book or journal. Meeting this objective requires that we read widely and carefully.

Careful reading extends also to the work of your peers. Everyone will workshop two works of original short fiction, due one week prior to the workshop date. Discussions of student work will focus on guiding the writer more fully toward their vision and should be approached with real seriousness. All students will write workshop letters for their peers and facilitate one presentation on a published story.

I will sometimes assign writing prompts, or “process work,” using the pieces we read for class as launchpads. These are fun, low-stakes assignments usually meant for focus on a particular craft element, though students may find these prompts useful for crafting the longer pieces they submit for workshop.

Work from the semester will culminate into a final portfolio, which will contain a self-reflection in addition to creative materials.

Texts:  

Provided via PDF or hyperlink

Assessment:

Creative Writing (60%)

• Workshop Story #1, roughly 7-25 pages (15%)
• Workshop Story #2, roughly 12-30 pages (15%)
• Final Portfolio (30%)
  • Two revised workshop stories and a 4-6 page self-reflection (double-spaced, Times New Roman, etc.)

Participation (30%)

• Peer critiques (15%)
  • Graded for completion and written in the form of a letter to your peer. As a general format, try to begin with 3 things you thought were working well in the piece, followed by 3 things you have questions about or would like to see in revision
• Literary citizenship (15%)
  • Includes attendance, participation during peer workshops, participation during peer presentations, attendance of creative writing departmental events, participation in in-class exercises, prompts, small-group activities, and meeting with me in office hours after each of your workshops to debrief and discuss next steps for the piece
    •  If you are shy and have trouble speaking up in class, please talk to me in office hours or via email about ways to make participating easier for you. If you are not shy, please keep in mind that participating also means knowing when it’s time to let others have a turn.

Presentation on a Published Story (10%)

• This component of your grade has a separate assignment sheet.

**Please note: While you will receive an assignment-specific worksheet for your presentation, workshop stories will receive full credit if they are turned in on time, correctly formatted, roughly meet the page count, and show real evidence of proofreading. That said, I can tell when you have written a story in one caffeine-fueled sitting, and because you are expected to work on your stories consistently over the course of the semester and well in advance of the workshop date, overt sloppiness is not acceptable.

Pre-requisite: any 200-level workshop

Writing sample: 3-4 poems on separate pages

Sections:

ENGCW 371RW-1            Duong                         Monday 2:30-5:30

ENGCW 371RW-2            Christle                        Wednesday 1:00-3:45

Duong’s section:

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

This intermediate course is a space for experienced poets to further sharpen and expand their poetry practices in an intensive workshop environment. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the poem as a kind of hybrid research endeavor—an investigation driven by language and syntax. How do poets draw subjects, language, and even formal considerations for their poems from external sources such as historical records, interview transcripts, and art objects? In each class session, we will work towards a shared set of terms and ideas with which we might complicate our understanding of poetry’s possibilities. We will read five poetry collections and a number of other poems, craft essays, and hybrid works across a range of English-language literary styles and traditions.

Assignments for this course include drafting a new poem for workshop each week, conducting collaborative in-class exercises, devising a unique research assignment, and assembling a final portfolio consisting of revised poems accompanied by an artist’s statement. You will also be expected to give and receive peer feedback on workshop submissions, which you will implement during the revision process. All students are required to attend the Creative Writing Program’s readings this semester.

Texts:    

• Look by Solmaz Sharif 
• Reenactments by Hai-Dang Phan
• Couplets: A Love Story by Maggie Millner  
• Information Desk by Robyn Schiff 
• Ghost Of by Diana Khoi Nguyen 

Other texts will either be available on Canvas or distributed in class.

Assessment:

Attendance and participation                             30%

Weekly poem submissions                                  20%

Poetry research assignment                               10%

Research statement essay                                   10%

Final portfolio                                                         30%

Christle’s section:

Both accepted and waitlisted students are required to attend the first class.

This is an intermediate, intensive workshop in which you will read, discuss, create, revise, and otherwise experience an abundance of poetry. We will seek, in our meetings, to make connections between the language and ideas of poetry and those of the worlds we inhabit. Together we will develop and expand a shared vocabulary we will use to communicate how poems can be made, read, understood, furthered, and enjoyed. You will read five full-length poetry collections, as well as an abundance of other texts (posted to Canvas) in order to familiarize yourself with the breadth of possibilities and traditions from which you might draw. Highly engaged, curious, respectful participation in discussion of classmates’ work, assigned texts, and other conversations is required. In varying forms over the course of the semester you will receive a combination of feedback from both myself and your peers, which you will use as you revise your poems for your portfolio.

Writing assignments will include one new poem each week, in-class exercises, weekly notebook entries, annotations on classmates’ poems, craft-based responses to three of the assigned texts, and a final portfolio, which will include revised poems and an introductory essay.

The Creative Writing Program is hosting several readings this semester, and your presence will be required at all of them.

An openness to experimenting with new forms of reading, writing, and attention will buoy your work.

Required texts or materials to be purchased:

• TBD

Assessment and grading:

Writing of weekly poems (20%)

Class participation, including annotations on classmates' poems (20%)

Craft-based responses to books (15%)

Individual conferences and attendance at CW events (10%)

Weekly notebook entries (10%)

Final portfolio of revised poems and introductory essay (25%)

Attendance is essential. Your steady presence is required to foster the sense of trust and community upon which the structure of this course depends. If you are absent, you will receive no credit for participation that week. In addition, students who miss two classes will see their grade lowered by one half letter (an A to an A-, an A- to a B+, and so forth). Students who miss three classes will see their grade lowered by one whole letter (an A to a B, an A- to a B-, and so forth). Students who miss more than three classes will be asked to drop the course.

Pre-requisite: none

Sections:

ENGCW/THEA 372RW-1            Pharel                         Tuesday  2:30-5:30

ENGCW/THEA 372RW-2            Belflower                    Thursday 2:30-5:30 

Pharel’s section:

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.   

Writing sample: 2-5 pages in any genre, preferably dramatic writing or poetry; optional: artist statement, 1 page or less

Plays are a human truth told in time. That truth is then brought to an audience to react, decide, reflect, and revolt. Plays are a singular democratic practice and gift in the human experience.

Every single one of us has brilliant plays inside us, stories that connect others and help people feel alive, but how do we tell them? How do you figure out and access your truth - but more importantly, how can you make your truth legible to the outside world?

In Intermediate Playwriting, we will be learning various elements of the craft, voyaging over a century worth of American playwrights to learn different tools and techniques, but more importantly for you to access what excites you and what themes you’d like your work to be in conversation with. In breaking down literary texts and exploring theatrical history, I often pose the central questions: What makes a play a play? What is theatricality? By investigating the foundations of story and identifying the elements that make a text theatrical, students develop a deeper understanding of both the craft and the medium. We will do this over a series of multiple exercises, and you will write a one-act play. 

The most important thing to me is that you read and write. The more you read the more you know. I’ve designed exercises to help you discover aspects of our voice as you build up your play. This is not the kind of class where you can make up as you go, the best thing you can do is meet each deadline and try to read ahead. I highly suggest taking notes on the plays. What questions do you have? What moves you? Class discussions will be a great time to break it all down.

Lastly, the ability to speak your truth is priceless. Students have gone on to explore diverse fields, from law to social advocacy, carrying with them a deeper understanding of their own perspectives and those of others.

Please Note: This class is three hours long. It starts at 2:30. Class ends at 5:30, not 5:15. We will take one 10-minute break or two 5-minute breaks every class period. Please plan accordingly.

Belflower's section:

Writing sample: 2-5 pages in any genre, preferably dramatic writing or poetry

Details TBA

ENGCW 378RW-1 / FILM 378RW-3            Kras                 Wednesday 2:30-5:30

(Professor Joe Conway’s Screenwriting classes do not require consent. Please direct inquiries to Film & Media Studies for those sections. Do not include Conway's classes on the Creative Writing application.)

Pre-requisite: any 200-level workshop or FILM 101/270

Writing sample: 2-5 pages in any genre, preferably narrative prose

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

The instructor will be incoming Screenwriting Fellow, Carolyn Kras.

Details TBA

Klibanoff          Tuesday   2:30-5:15    

(crosslisted with AAS/AMST/HIST 387RW-1)  

Pre-requisite: none; not open to first-year students

In the years between 1945 and 1968, untold numbers of American citizens were targeted for death because of their race, beliefs, or civil rights work – and in some cases merely because of what they drove, how they spoke, or the ever-shifting lines of racial etiquette they crossed. In many cases, their murders were inadequately investigated or prosecuted, their stories left untold, and the crimes against their humanity never punished. The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University is both a class and an ongoing historical and journalistic exploration of the Jim Crow South through the prism of unsolved or unpunished civil rights-era murders in Georgia. Using primary evidence – including FBI records, NAACP files, old newspaper clippings, court transcripts, and personal archives – students come to see and understand history from the inside out. Student essays, grounded in secondary readings that provide broader context, will be aimed at the project website, coldcases.emory.edu. Students also may become engaged in helping research a new season of the podcast, Buried Truths, based on a case we’ll be examining in class.

Students should budget for photocopying.

NOTE: This course is not open to first-year students. All students, including students from African American Studies, American Studies, and History, must fill out and submit the application form in Word format and include a writing sample of at least 3 pages of nonfiction. The sample should be the work that best represents your research and/or writing skills and interests; it can be excerpts of two or three papers.

Texts:

Course packet handed out in class

Assessment:

There will be frequent writing assignments and frequent requests to revise your work. I will read your work closely, make comments on your theme, your structure, your language, word selection, grammar, punctuation, spelling and citations, as well as your integration of primary evidence and secondary material. You may work on a team project, may be tasked to help with the podcast Buried Truths, and will write an 8- to 10-page final paper. I will build in time for peer review of your work. There will be an in-state class trip via van that you will be expected to participate in, at no cost, maybe on a Saturday. (It may take two trips to get everyone there). I will meet with you out of class to focus on both the research and the writing. You will see that I am as serious about your mastery of writing as I am of your command of the historical events we will examine. My goal is not merely for you to learn and understand the history, but to be able to convey it clearly.   

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time.

Permission required: accepted Creative Writing and Playwriting honors students only. One semester of honors counts as one workshop.