Creative Writing

Take one course from the list of required core courses below

Take one course from the list of required core courses below

Take one course from List A below

Take one course from the list of required core courses below

Take one course from List A below

English 11A is an introductory creative writing course, offering practice in the elements of creative writing, including narrative, verse, and dialogue. Students will read, write, and respond to poetry, fiction, and dram. Class assignments will use materials drawn from individual's own work and selected texts.

English 12A serves as a beginning course in the practice of writing fiction. Students will learn to develop internal and external sources for stories and novels. Class assignments will focus on characterization, plotting, point of view, and narrative techniques. The class will give considerable attention to the analysis and criticism of published writing and the individual's own work.

English 13A serves as a beginning course in the practice of writing poetry. Students will focus on analyzing and using techniques and styles from a diverse selection of poetry, including peers, to develop and revise one's own work. Students will learn elements of the craft of writing poetry such as voice, rhythm, imagery, extended metaphor, meter, and freeform.

English 11B offers practice in creative writing at an intermediate level. The course builds on the skills developed in English 11A. Assignments include fiction, poetry, and play writing, using materials drawn from individual's own work and selected texts. Students will write, read, and respond to texts in a workshop setting.

This class offers practice in writing fiction at an intermediate level. Builds on the skills developed in English 12A by requiring greater use of description, detail, character development, consistent point of view, and logical plotting that avoids cliche. Focus on developing themes that create intellectual or emotional resonance. Expectation of sentence structure, grammar, and format accuracy. Develop internal and external sources for stories and novels; analysis and criticism of published work. Requires submission for publication at the end of the semester.

Practice in writing poetry at an intermediate level. Builds on skills developed in English 13A. 13B requires: greater and more integrated use of trope, image, and metaphor; more extensive development of themes, including across different poems; more nuanced eye towards personal revision and workshop critique of classmates’ poems; deeper integration of materials drawn from published poetry and individual's own work for analysis and criticism with a focus on techniques of revision.

Introduction to Black-American writers in fiction, poetry, drama, and the essay, beginning with the historical texts of the slave trade, and continuing to the present. Emphasis on the 20th and 21st-century writers' growth and development in relation to their historical and cultural context. Offers a broader view of World and American History through the lens of the Black writer's journey from capture in West Africa, enslavement in America, and the fight for liberation. Examines issues of Black identity and how that identity has been expressed through various forms of literature. Explores how the Black writer has used literature and specific literary devices to inspire change, radical thought, and challenge white supremacy.

Readings of the sonnets and representative comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances of William Shakespeare, with attention to the early, middle and late phases of his art and to the historical time period in which he lived. Consideration of recurring themes in his works, along with the political and cultural contexts that shaped these ideas and attitudes. Examination of Shakespeare’s global legacy and diverse adaptations of his plays.

This course is an introduction to Mexican American and Latinx Literature in the United States. The Mexican American and Latinx literary movement, particularly in California, is growing at a phenomenal rate, pushing the creative and intellectual boundaries within American Literature. In the course, we will cover a range of genres, including short stories, novels, poetry, memoirs, essays, and plays. Although Mexican American and Latinx authors have been contributing to American literature since the sixteenth century, the bulk of our attention will be paid to the Mexican American and Latinx literary movements that began in the 1950’s and extend through the present day. Students will analyze the literary works within the context of socio-economic, political, and historical movements; additionally, students will learn about the unique history, thematic concerns, and genre-bending styles of Mexican American and Latinx writers.

Introduction to literary works of fiction, poetry, drama and the essay that reflect and explore the diversity of Asian-American experiences as well as divisions within Asian-American communities. Class explores literary expressions of cultural pride and identity, as well as reflections on racism, stereotypes, “perpetual foreigner syndrome,” the model minority myth, and internalized oppression. Course texts also explore loneliness and loss of “home,” identity confusion, generation gaps, acculturation … and the challenge of creating community and retaining culture in America. Analysis of literature in the context of the historical growth of Asian-American identities with a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries.

Social-historical context and tools for analyzing literature directed toward young readers. Emphasizes contemporary U.S. texts, classic works, and the origins of youth literature (including fables, folk tales and fairy tales). Explores subgenres and literary elements common to children’s and young adult literature, including fantasy, journeys, and animal characters. Emphasizes literature from diverse authors and communities, and the impact of this literature on the psychological, sociological, and cultural growth of young readers.

Introduction to novels, poems, plays, and essays about queer people, i.e., members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning) community. Analysis of this literature in the context of the LGBTQ social and political movements of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and evolving societal attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. Themes include coming out, developing a sense of queer pride and community, combating discrimination and anti-queer violence, maintaining family ties with sometimes supportive, sometimes hostile relatives, surviving the nearly universal queer childhood experience of bullying, struggling against internalized homophobia/transphobia and reductive stereotypes, understanding the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, and other identities, and sustaining queer relationships in a heteronormative society.

Chronicles the expression of U.S. women authors through readings in a variety of genres such as fiction, poetry, drama, and the essay. Explores works by authors of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds in an effort to understand the diversity of women's voices, especially in the 20th century.

U.S. literature from the second half of the 19th Century to the present, including poetry, drama, prose fiction, and essays. This class explores each work in relation to its social, cultural and historical contexts, and emphasizes the analysis of defining moments of the times as they are reflected in literature. The content of course closely examines distinctive literary movements and chronology of American literature since the mid-19th century: including Realism, Modernism, Harlem Renaissance, and Contemporary Literature, reflecting the diversity of American voices.

Comparative study of selected works of literature, in English and in translation, from around the world, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas, and other areas, from the mid seventeenth century to the present.

Exploration of particular themes and/or periods as reflected in works of fiction, including discussion of form, content, and cultural contexts.

Explores the literature of the Holocaust through readings in a variety of genres including memoir, essays, fiction, poetry, and film. Historically and culturally contextualizes the literature and examines the implications of writing which attempts to represent the Nazi genocide against the Jews.

Introduction to the basic concepts of dramatic writing, including playwriting, screenwriting, radio plays, and electronic media scripts. This course focus on character development, the qualities of believability and dialogue.