hkbu creative writing master

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Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing for Cultural Professionals

Faculty of Arts

Study Mode Full-time: 1 year; Part-time: 2 years

Tuition Fee Local students: HK$170,000/programme; Non-local students: HK$179,200/programme

Cut Off Date 31 May 2024

• PROGRAMME INFORMATION
• ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Year of Entry 2024 September

Funding Nature Self-funded

Application Start Date 1 Nov 2023

Application Deadline 31 May 2024

Programme Director Dr TONG Yui Christophe

Programme Office   (852) 3411 5538   [email protected]   https://hmw.hkbu.edu.hk/programmes/postgraduates/macwcp/  

Programme Structure

Academic Qualification

Applicants should possess:

• a bachelor’s degree with at least second class honours; or
• an equivalent qualification

Language Proficiency Requirement

Applicants are required to demonstrate a bilingual ability in speaking, listening, and writing in English and Chinese. Cantonese proficiency is not required.

Applicants should meet the language requirements below in both Chinese and English:

• Grade D or above in AS/AL Use of English; or
• Level 4 or above in English Language (HKDSE); or
• a minimum TOEFL score of 79 (internet-based)*; or
• an overall band score of 6.5 or above in IELTS*; or
• CET-6 (College English Test Band 6) in mainland China: 500 or above*; or
• a Bachelor's degree with English as the medium of instruction; and
• Grade D or above in AS Chinese Language and Culture (HKALE); or
• Level 4 or above in Chinese Language (HKDSE); or
• Grade 5 or above in Chinese Language A Standard & Higher Level at International Baccalaureate (IB); or
• Grade 6 or above in Chinese Language B Higher Level at International Baccalaureate (IB); or
• Level 2 or above in the Shumian Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (SHSK)*; or
• Total score of 240 or above in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (Chinese Proficiency Test HSK level VI)*; or 
• a Bachelor's degree with Chinese as the medium of instruction; or
• passed the Chinese language test arranged by the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, HKBU

*Note: Test result provided should be within two years from the date of issuance of the Admission Offer letter. TOEFL iBT Home Edition or IELTS Indicator test is not accepted.

The following documents must be submitted for assessment upon application:

a 12-15 page writing sample of creative works in any genre (such as fiction, nonfiction, or poetry), including both English and Chinese works (in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced). Note: Poetry may be single-spaced. The applicant should submit their best work, so the proportion of English to Chinese is up to the applicant.

a 1-page Master Project proposal in either English or Chinese. (The Master Project is a 6-credit course over two semesters that requires completing a supervised, independent research and/or creative project.)

• The above information is for reference only and is subject to change without prior notice. Hong Kong Baptist University reserves the right of final decision and interpretation in case of any dispute.  
• Please note that a non-refundable admission confirmation fee, including the first instalment of tuition fee plus other administrative fees must be paid upon acceptance of the admission offer.

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• Help & FAQ

Department of Humanities and Creative Writing

• Hong Kong Baptist University
• Faculty of Arts
• Phone (+852) 3411-7192
• Email [email protected]
• Website http://hmw.hkbu.edu.hk/

RRS 603, 6/F, Sir Run Run Shaw Building, Ho Sin Hang Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon

Organization Profile

Organisation profile.

In line with the role statement of “creativity-inspiring undergraduate education”, our University has been offering a B.A. (Hons.) in Humanities Programme since 1990. The Humanities Programme (HUM) is committed to a distinctive mission of higher education that incorporates a bilingual, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural curriculum that develops and sustains the whole-person education mission of the University. The two B.A. (Hons) programmes: Liberal and Cultural Studies (LCS), a top-up degree programme runs in collaboration with College of International Education (CIE), and BA (Hons) in Creative and Professional Writing (CPW) together with HUM, are enrolling about 150 students each year. Given the significant expansion in size and growth of academic teaching as well as research, the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing (HMW) was officially established in 2012 to house the three programmes, namely: BA (Hons) in Humanities (HUM), BA (Hons) in Creative and Professional Writing (CPW), and BA (Hons) in Liberal and Cultural Studies (LCS). The Department offers B.A. degrees related to the studies of humanities and creativity, a flourishing field corresponding nicely to the educational goals of the University.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Our work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

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• Hong Kong Social Sciences 100%
• China Social Sciences 60%
• music Social Sciences 38%
• cultural studies Social Sciences 28%
• Asia Arts & Humanities 28%
• Beijing Arts & Humanities 20%
• Discourse Arts & Humanities 16%
• Olympics Arts & Humanities 14%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Chi Wai CHEUNG, Dr

• Department of Humanities and Creative Writing - Associate Professor

Pak Lei Gladys CHONG, Dr

Yiu Fai CHOW, Prof

• Department of Humanities and Creative Writing - Professor
• 25 Finished

Projects per year

「中國經典名著」教育劇場研究計劃 (2023-2026) (Chinese Classics Theatre-in-Education Research Project (2023-2026))

1/04/23 → 31/12/26

Project : Research project

• Chinese Classics 100%
• Research Projects 62%
• Education 45%
• Young Artists 44%
• Art Education 38%

「超現實主義劇場創作室」研究計劃 (Principle Investigator for 2-year “Surrealism Theatre Creative Workshop” Research Project (2023-2024))

1/01/23 → 31/12/24

• Surrealism 100%
• Research Projects 80%
• Young Artists 57%
• Art Education 49%
• Morality 47%

Towards Anti-Racist Nature: Asian Australian Environmental Literature and Art

1/01/23 → …

• migrant 76%
• imagination 64%
• climate change 58%

Research Output

• 198 Journal article
• 158 Chapter
• 68 Book or report
• 56 Conference paper
• 37 Review article
• 21 Conference proceeding
• 16 Newspaper article
• 6 Editorial
• 4 Other contribution
• 2 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• 2 Conference abstract
• 2 Exhibition
• 1 Performance

Research output per year

It’s My Party: Tat Ming Pair and the Postcolonial Politics of Popular Music in Hong Kong

Research output : Book/Report › Book or report › peer-review

• Postcolonial Politics 100%
• Popular music 66%
• Hong Kong 59%
• East Asia 22%

Neither spectacular nor ordinary: a visual essay on imaginations and homes in Beijing from 2007 to 2019

Research output : Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

• Visual Essay 100%
• Beijing 74%
• imagination 61%
• Good Life 37%
• Normativity 18%

Research output : Book/Report › Book or report

A finalist in the LGBT Studies category of the Lambda Literary Award 2013

KAM, Lucetta Y L (Recipient), 2013

Prize : Other distinction

• Shanghai 100%

Best Lyricist at The 34th Golden Melody Award

CHOW, Yiu Fai (Recipient), 2023

Prize : Award

Co-translated book Moving a Stone: Selected Poems of Yam Gong selected for One City One Book Hong Kong

TSE, Hiu Hung Dorothy (Recipient), 2022

• 87 Event organized by non-HKBU units
• 33 Event organized by HKBU
• 19 Membership of board/committee/council
• 9 Editor/reviewer for publications (incl. CDCF T61 Journal Editor)
• 9 Other types of membership
• 5 Exhibition of creative works (not for CDCF T61)
• 3 Performance (not for CDCF T61)
• 1 Membership of societies
• 1 Other (not for CDCF T61)

Activities per year

“Encounter” Presents: Busking 2Gather with SoulJase

Pak Lei Gladys CHONG (Organiser)

Activity : Conference/talk/lecture/symposium/speech/workshop, etc › Event organized by HKBU

“Encounter” Presents: LOOPING BACK REELING FORWARD FILMMAKING IN HK1, 時代的聲影跳接1″

Failure of the commons from green olympics to beijing mushrooms in china’s call for ecological civilisation.

Pak Lei Gladys CHONG (Speaker)

Press/Media

Interviewed by the graduate students on translating my fiction “The Commune共妙” in German in a master seminar taught by Professor Monika Gaenssbauer at the University of Erlangen in Germany

Kwai Cheung LO

1 Media contribution

New Photography | Conversazione con Carloalberto Treccani

Carloalberto TRECCANI

藝文工作者推介 「疫」境電影為心靈排毒

Student theses, a hegemonic analysis of police "shoot to kill" in hong kong: the 2009 case of limbu dil bahadur.

Supervisor: ERNI, J. N. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Master's Thesis

An artistic director as an auteur in contexts: the case study of Dr. Joanna Chan of Hong Kong repertory theatre (1986-1990)

Supervisor: MAN, E. K. W. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis

Animorphism in the anthropocene: nonhuman personhood in activist art practice

Supervisor: LO, K. C. (Supervisor)

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創意及專業寫作文學士（榮譽）學位課程

JUPAS Code: JS2022

The Creative and Professional Writing Programme of the Hong Kong Baptist University is the first UGC-funded undergraduate programme in Hong Kong tertiary institutions dedicated to creative and professional writing learning in both Chinese and English languages. Apart from cultivating students to write in creative and professional fields, the Creative and Professional Writing Programme also aims to nurture students’ academic potential, cultural dimensions and sense of creativity, and to enhance their professional value.

The Creative and Professional Writing Programme incorporates two distinct characteristics

• Bilingual Teaching and Learning. Students will read, write and speak in Chinese as well as English, developing their skills in both languages. Bilingual ability enables students to respond to Hong Kong’s specific linguistic environment.
• Interdisciplinarity. All the Creative and Professional Writing courses are designed to ensure that students are exposed to the writing demands and strategies of diverse disciplines, including art criticism, language, literature, history, philosophy, media studies, business and science.

Aims of the Creative and Professional Writing Programme

• Provide students with a vigorous curriculum to develop creative and professional writing skills in Chinese and English Languages
• Develop students' abilities when writing professionally in different genres and contexts to enhance students' career opportunities
• Cultivate students to produce original works of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction
• Enhance students' cultural literacy which would act as a solid basis for their creative and professional writing
• Build up their knowledge for self-directed and life-long learning in the world of professional writing and publishing

The Characteristics of the Curriculum

The 60 major units of the Programme consist of 42 units of Required Courses and 18 units of courses from the two Major Electives of English and Chinese writing. The Required Courses provide fundamental learning in writing and concepts in aesthetics, theories and ideas in creativity, and cultural differences, in order to enhance students’ intellectual cognition and skills. Each of the two Major Electives consists of two Modules—one in creative writing and one in professional writing. There are four Modules altogether. Students are required to select at least one course from each of the four Modules, so that they will be trained both in Chinese writing and English writing, and be skilled both in creative and professional writing.

Some of the Required Courses are:

• Writing Seminar: Workshop in Creative Writing
• Professional Writing Practicum: Essentials of the Craft of Writing
• Creativity: Theory and Practice
• Biography Writing
• Editing and Publishing
• Artistic Creativity and Aesthetics Awareness
• Writing Internship
• Writing for New Media
• Food, Wine and Travel Writing for the Leisure Industry

Examples of the Major Elective Courses include:

• Creative Writing in Children’s Literature in English
• Drama Translation
• Chinese Song Lyric Writing
• Writing Diaspora in a Global World
• Writing for Science
• Advertisement Copywriting
• Reading Masterpieces and Writing Your Own
• Modern Chinese Fiction Writing
• Creative Writing: Modern Chinese Poetry
• Special Topic in Creative Writing

Overseas Exchange

HKBU X Tsinghua exchange programme

The HMW Department is an active participant in the university overseas exchange programme. The Department exchange co-ordinator communicates very well with the International Office to promote this event among HMW students. Over the past few years, the Department had more than 15 students going on exchange every year, which is one of the highest at HKBU.  Students went to countries such as U.S.A., Australia, France, Finland, Taiwan, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Korea and the Mainland.

The Creative and Professional Writing Programme has designed a required course “Writing Internship” to create opportunities for students to learn by participating in real-life experiences and working for different institutes. The potential internship opportunities include literary agencies, magazine or book publishers, theatre or film groups, non-profit arts organizations, book reviewers, advertising agencies, websites, etc.

Scholarships

Students of the Creative and Professional Writing Programme can compete for prestigious scholarships provided by the University and other organizations. These include, amongst others, the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship, HSBC Overseas Scholarship, Li Po Chun Charitable Trust Fund Scholarships, and Providence Foundation Combined Scholarships and Bursaries.

Career Prospects

Not everyone can become a great creative writer, but professional writing always includes a significant creative component. Our society urgently needs writers of all kinds. The professional writing portion of the curriculum, with good infusion of the creative side, can prepare students to work for a great variety of future careers. It goes without saying that graduates with excellent writing skills, both in English and Chinese are of great demand. The Programme not only meets the demand of the market in creative industry, news media, publishing houses, editorship of journals, government offices, non-profit and charity organizations, education sector, etc., but also in the business, industrial, and financial sectors. There would be a strong demand for the graduates of this Programme from the education sector, which increasingly emphasizes a writing education. The interdisciplinary approach would also build a solid foundation for students to pursue postgraduate studies.

Employers are likely to choose someone who graduated with a creative mind and good language and writing skills, because the graduate with a proficiency in languages will take years to cultivate, and a creative mind is in high demand.

  Go to Department's website

CPW unleashed my creative potentials

Ng Chun Yin, Marco (2019), 主修 Creative and Professional Writing

"CPW granted me confidence in writing my fancy ideas. Supported with a friendly environment, I am exposed to a broad range of inspiring creative works. CPW unleashed my creative potentials and made my college life extraordinary, very different from a typical one just brimming with a thesis and essays."

• Postgraduates

Santa Clara University

The jesuit university in silicon valley.

• Academic Programs
• College of Arts and Sciences

Majoring in English

Students majoring in English bring their skills in and passion for writing and interpretation to a wide variety of professional careers – in journalism or the arts, as teachers or professional/technical writers, in marketing or research, or in graduate or professional school (in law, medicine, film/television, and business). See Why English? for updates on some of our graduates. The Career Center  can provide majors with additional information regarding careers.

Our majors value the training our courses provide in analytical thinking, rhetoric, and persuasion. They find literature a way to enter empathetically into the lives and experiences of others. Their studies prepare them for social and civil service, sometimes after spending time in such popular forms of community service as the Peace Corps or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  

Many of our majors see creative writing  as an opportunity for self-exploration and vibrant expression, leading to careers in the media, arts, education, and public relations. Many of our graduates go on to seek an M.A., M.F.A., or Ph.D.

English majors take courses in writing, literature, and critical theory. They explore a broad range of approaches to literature, culture, new media, and film, including feminist criticism, critical race theory, postcolonialism, cultural studies, and queer theory.

Students have the opportunity to study traditional British and American texts as well as contemporary media and multicultural literature from around the world.

Minoring in  Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Program offers students a coherent course of study in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The creative writing minor is firmly grounded within the liberal arts tradition, integrating courses in poetry, fiction, screenwriting, and creative nonfiction writing within their broader literary and cultural context.

Introductory courses familiarize students with the practice and theory of creative writing. Advanced courses offer a workshop setting in which students write and critique one another’s work. Electives focus on particular genres of creative writing, such as Lifewriting, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Screenwriting. All creative writing courses incorporate some study of literature as well as close attention to students’ own creative writing.

Minoring in  Professional Writing

The Professional Writing program provides students with real-world experiences in digital and print environments that prepare students for a wide range of professional opportunities in industry, nonprofit, and public sectors.

With the PW program, students can add additional value to their degrees through courses in the minor, internships and professional development opportunities.

Please reference the Undergraduate Bulletin for more info.

To declare or change a major, minor, or emphasis, fill out the SCU Registrar's  Program Petition form.

Dr. Aparajita Nanda

Dr. Terry L. Beers

Dr. Juan Velasco

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San Jose State University

California, united states.

The MFA at SJSU balances literary study with creative writing workshops. The program is designed to give students the opportunity to develop their talents in more than one genre while increasing their knowledge of modern and contemporary literature in a variety of forms and across a diverse range of cultural and critical perspectives. The program also features courses that provide hands-on preparation for beginning one's writing career in a globalized, technologically enhanced world.

Situated in downtown San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley's cultural center, the MFA program offers students a portal into the writing life. SJSU is the literary incubator for Silicon Valley. Students will be taught by instructors who are themselves publishing poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, translators, and editors - many of whom work in both traditional and cutting-edge forms, and who are involved in the arts and technology networks of Silicon Valley.

The English Department publishes Reed magazine, one of the oldest campus literary journals on the West Coast, with over 60 years of continuous publication. Reed is student-produced and offers opportunity for the editing experience as well as a possible publishing venue.

Contact Information

Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing +

Undergraduate program director.

The goals of the BA in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing are: to provide students the opportunity to concentrate their studies in the field of Creative Writing. To provide these students a course of study in the craft, theory, and practice of writing fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or poetry. To provide these students a course of study in literature and expository writing which will support their studies in Creative Writing courses. Many students earning a BA in English with a Creative Writing concentration will continue on to apply for admission to the MFA Program in Creative Writing, or will pursue a professional Creative Writing career.

Undergraduate classes in Creative Writing at SJSU are supplemented by the readings and other literary programs sponsored by the SJSU Center for Literary Arts (CLA). Since 1986, the CLA has provided readings, lectures and seminars that allow the San Jose community to interact with writers of contemporary literature who have demonstrated exceptional voice and vision. Its mission is to spread the influence of and interest in literature throughout the South Bay area and to facilitate cross-cultural understanding in the region's ethnically diverse population through the appreciation of works of literature. The CLA's Major Authors Series has been the most significant literary series in the region, presenting to the community five winners of the Nobel Prize, fifteen winners of the National Book Award and twenty-eight winners of the Pulitzer Prize.

The CLA is funded by grants and donations from individuals and foundations.

SJSU also publishes REED Magazine, an annual student-run Literary Magazine published every Spring and featuring submissions of original poetry and short stories from across the nation. (For more information click on http://www.reedmag.org/drupal/.)

Below are requirements for this focused concentration in Creative Writing.

(To see a detailed description of the SJSU BA Concentration in Creative Writing curriculum and individual courses, click on: http://www.sjsu.edu/english/undergraduate/degreeplans/majorcreatwrit.)

PREREQUISITE: 3 Units.

ENGL 71: Introduction to Creative Writing (3) - NOTE: English 71 does not count toward 48 units listed below, but it does satisfy GE Area Requirement C2.

15 Units of Creative Writing

ENGL 105: Advanced Composition (3)

ENGL 130: Fiction Writing (repeatable up to 3X) (3)

ENGL 131: Poetry Writing (repeatable up to 3X) (3)

ENGL 133: REED Magazine (repeatable 2X) (3)

ENGL 134: Speechwriting (3)

ENGL 135: Creative Nonfiction Writing (repeatable up to 3X) (3)

LITERATURE REQUIREMENTS: 9 UNITS

ENGL 149: The Romantic Period

ENGL 150: The Victorian Age

ENGL 151: Twentieth Century Poetry

ENGL 153B: Nineteenth Century British Novel

ENGL 154: British and Irish Fiction Since 1900

ENGL 161: American Literature to 1830 (3)

ENGL 162: American Literature: 1830-1865 (3)

ENGL 163: American Literature: 1865-1910 (3)

ENGL 164: American Literature: 1910- 1945 (3)

ENGL 165: Topics in Ethnic American Literature (3)

ENGL 166: American Literature Since 1945 (3)

ENGL 167: Steinbeck (3)

ENGL 168: The American Novel (3)

ENGL 169: Ethnicity in American Literature (3)

ENGL 176: The Short Story (3)

ENGL 177: Twentieth Century Fiction

Foreign Language Requirement

One year of foreign langauge study at the college level or equivalency through examination.

CORE REQUIREMENTS: 24 UNITS

A. Core Shared with the General English Major:

ENGL 56A: Survey of English Lit

ENGL 68A: Survey of American Lit

ENGL 68B: Survey of American Lit

ENGL 100W: Writing Workshop (Expository Writing for English Majors)

ENGL 122: Comp Lit, or 123 A, B, C, or D Global Lit

OR 125A: Homer to Dante

ENGL 144: Shakespeare

OR 145: Shakespeare and Performance

B. Core Course For CW Concentration

ENGL 139: Living Writers Seminar

C. Capstone Core Course for CW Concentration

ENGL 193C: Capstone Seminar in Creative Writing and Self-Reflection

Total Concentration Plus Core Units:

Bachelor of Arts in English/Literature +

Minor / concentration in creative writing +.

SJSU offers English Majors a concentration in Creative Writing. All Creative Writing and upper division classes are 4 units.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing +

Graduate program director.

The MFA at SJSU is a dual-genre program that balances literary study with creative writing workshops. The program is designed to give students the opportunity to develop their talents in more than one genre while increasing their knowledge of modern and contemporary literature in a variety of forms and across a diverse range of cultural and critical perspectives. The program also features courses that provide hands-on preparation for beginning one's writing career in a globalized, technologically enhanced world.

Situated in downtown San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley's cultural center, the MFA program will offer students a portal into the writing life. Students will be taught by instructors who are themselves publishing poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, translators, and editors - many of whom work in both traditional and cutting-edge forms, and who are involved in the arts and technology networks of Silicon Valley.

Samuel Maio

Samuel Maio is the author of THE BURNING OF LOS ANGELES (1996), and CREATING ANOTHER SELF: VOICE IN MODERN AMERICAN PERSONAL POETRY (2005), both from Truman State University Press. His poems, essays, and reviews have been published widely in periodicals.

http://www.sjsu.edu/cwmfa/faculty.html

Alan Soldofsky

Alan Soldofsky is a veteran of the San Francisco Bay Area poetry scene. His 2013 collection of poems, IN THE BUDDHA FACTORY, from Truman State University Press, was a finalist for the T. S. Eliot Award. He has been a contributing editor of Poetry Flash, and co-host of the popular poetry show “Planet on the Table” on Berkeley’s KPFA radio. He has published three poetry chapbooks: Kenora Station, Staying Home, and Holding Adam / My Father’s Books, a chapbook that includes a selection of poems by his son, Adam Soldofsky. Over the last three decades, his poems have been published widely in magazines and journals,

http://www.sjsu.edu/people/alan.soldofsky/

Nick Taylor

Nick Taylor is the author of the historical novels The Disagreement (Simon & Schuster, 2008) and FATHER JUNIPERO'S CONFESSOR (Heyday, 2013). Nick's work has earned a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship and the Michael Shaara Prize for Civil War Fiction. He has also received support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the William R. Kenan, Jr., Fund for Historic Preservation. Currently Nick serves as Associate Professor of English and Director of the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San José State University. In 2014, Doubleday published his first thriller, The Setup Man, under the pseudonym T.T. Monday.

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty_detail.jsp?id=2136

Cathleen Miller

Cathleen Miller's biography of Dr, Nafis Sadik, CHAMPION OF CHOICE, is the result of ten years of work and many, many strange circumstances. Other publication credits include travel stories for a variety of newspapers and anthologies. Miller is also the coauthor of DESERT FLOWER, the life story of activist Waris Dirie which describes the Somali nomad's experience with female genital mutilation. This book's print version has sold 11 million copies in 55 languages, and was later adapted as a feature film released in 34 nations. Cathleen Miller is a professor of creative writing at San José State University.

http://www.sjsu.edu/people/cathleen.miller/

Scott Sublett

Scott Winfield Sublett, a veteran screenwriter screenwriting teacher, is known for writing BYE-BYE BIN LADEN (2009), GENERIC THRILLER (2009) and PIZZA WARS: THE MOVIE (2002). He also has published a screenwriting guide, SCREENWRITING FOR NEUROTICS (2014).

Sally Ashton

Sally Ashton is a poet, writer, teacher, and Editor-in-Chief of DMQ Review, an online journal featuring poetry and art. She earned her BA in English with a creative writing minor from SJSU, and her MFA in Poetry and Literature from the Bennington Writing Seminars.

She is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship, Poetry, from Arts Council Silicon Valley and a fellowship from Montalvo Arts Center. She is the author of three books of poetry, two of which were nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Poems also appear in the textbook, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, and Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes, as well as in literary journals such as Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics, Brevity, Zyzzyva, 5am, Mississippi Review, and Poet Lore. She was awarded the Fish Flash Fiction First Prize, an international award, in 2014.

Ashton was appointed the second Santa Clara County Poet Laureate on April 1, 2011. During her term, she compiled a collection of the favorite poems of County residents posted on a project blog. Besides teaching at San Jose State University, she teaches private workshops and at writer’s workshops including Disquiet: An International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal.

http://www.sjsu.edu/people/sally.ashton/

Selena Anderson

Selena Anderson is a writer from Texas. She completed her MFA at Columbia University where she won the Transatlantic/Henfield Prize, and her Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, Kenyon Review, AGNI, and Cosmonauts Avenue, and The Best of Gigantic Anthology. She is working on a collection and a novel.

Publications & Presses +

Reed Magazine

Visiting Writers Program +

Kim Addonizio, Daniel Alarcon, Tim Cahill, Cristina Garcia., Sandra M. Gilbert, Molly Giles, Andrew Sean Greer, James D. Houston, James Kelman, Caroyln Kizer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Andrew Lam, Ishmael Reed, Julia Scheeres, Simon Winchester, Vendala Vida, Al Young. The 2018 Lurie Distinguished Author-in-Residence is novelist Don George.

Reading Series +

Center for Literary Arts ( http://www.litart.org/ )

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Creator School

Small, personalized classes;

highly qualified instructors

Courses 2024

Surrealist Writing Workshop

For Middle School Students

Location: Zoom

Are you ready to explore the wild and wonderful world of surrealist writing? Let your imagination take flight! This workshop helps students tap into their limitless creativity with activities to develop their ability to play with words and ideas, fine-tune their craft through revision, analyze short mentor texts, present their work to an audience and learn how to give helpful feedback. The class is capped at 16, so students will receive personal attention and build a strong sense of community.

Instructor Sam Prestianni has over thirty years of experience teaching creative writing, expository writing, music, and media literacy to students of all ages. He is a Bay Area writer, editor, teacher, musician, filmmaker, and founder of 21st Century Learning .

June 24-28, 2024

12:30pm-2:30pm

Truth and Connection: A Course in Memoir

This popular, five-week memoir class investigates some of the vast array of memoir techniques, offers prompts with 5-15 minutes of writing time, a discussion of the challenges of memoir, publication leads, and feedback from the instructor on 25 double-spaced pages (if you wish). The atmosphere is warm and accepting and offers starting points for new writers and new possibilities for experienced writers. This 1-hour course is offered on Zoom one night a week.

Instructor Lita Kurth  is a semi-retired college professor and the co-founder of San Jose's long-running Flash Fiction Forum, as well as the author of One Creative Writing Prompt A Day (Callisto Press, 2024). She has been published in numerous literary journals and her work has received multiple nominations and awards.

Coming in July!

Subscribe for updates.

For High School Students

In this poetry and short fiction writing workshop, students will engage in multilayered literary analysis and creative problem-solving activities. Individual and collaborative writing practices will teach students to embrace multiple perspectives. Class times are flexible and classes virtual, custom-designed to meet each young writer's needs. Classes are capped at 6 students.  

Pick dates that work for you! Click to learn more...

College Essay Camp

For Rising High School Seniors

June 24-28 at the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto or August 5-9 on Zoom

In a positive, collaborative environment, rising seniors will learn the principles of an effective college essay, study successful models, generate original ideas, draft essays, and receive meaningful feedback from their teacher and peers. They will end the week with less fear, more inspiration, and a solid draft of their Common Application. They will also have the opportunity to work on UC applications, supplements, and scholarship applications. Classes are capped at 16. This one-week course will be offered twice; once in June (in person) and once in August (on Zoom).

Instructor Justin Brown  earned a BA in Modern Literature and an MA in Creative Writing. He has been an English teacher for nineteen years, with much experience coaching the college essay. 

June 24-28, 2024 (in-person) August 5-9, 2024 (Zoom)

Writer's Playground

Location: TBD, Palo Alto

In this popular middle school course, writers will play with a range of genres. Based on student interest, we may explore fiction, memoir, scriptwriting, poetry, and humor. We will also experiment with a variety of writing strategies, such as idea generation, dialogue, imagery, character development, foreshadowing and/or suspense. The class is capped at 16, so students will receive personal attention and build a strong sense of community.

Instructor Kari Nygaard is an experienced local middle school English and Creative Writing teache r. She has taught a range of summer courses in creative writing, civic leadership, and design thinking.

July 8-12, 2024

9:00am-12:00pm

Color Outside the Lines

For Adults (Teachers, Counselors, Parents... Anyone!)

Most people avoid uncomfortable emotions, but this valuable workshop will help you embrace, explore, and understand your emotions by learning... to doodle them! As we all prepare to jump back into the whirlwind of the school year, treat yourself to this fun and engaging 2-hour workshop in which you learn to let go of perfectionism and tap into the creativity of your inner child. No drawing skills or experience with watercolors required.  

Instructor Renée Johnson is an experienced middle school English teacher, creative writing camp leader, private writing tutor, and certified Heartwork Journaling coach.

Coming in August! Subscribe for updates.

High School : Creative Writing Camp

Kari nygaard.

Director and Instructor

Kari Nygaard has taught middle school English for twenty years. For six of those years she was the Instructional Lead of her department, and for another six years she mentored teachers who were new to the profession. She currently teaches English and Creative Writing at JLS Middle School in Palo Alto. She has also taught in a variety of summer programs for youth all over the Bay Area, developing courses in civic leadership, design thinking, creative writing, college essay writing, Italian, music, and even HIV/AIDS education (in Malawi, Africa, back in 2003). Kari received a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College and an MA in Educational Administration from Santa Clara University. She has worked with the San Jose Area Writing Project both as a participant and an instructor; she is a regular volunteer with Poetic Justice ; and in 2015, she co-wrote a staff-student musical for her middle school.

Justin Brown

Justin Brown has taught high school English for more than nineteen years. He currently works at Henry M. Gunn High School, where he teaches Film Literature, Advanced English (grades 9 and 10), and Honors English (grades 11 and 12). Justin received a BA in Modern Literature from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Creating Writing from San Francisco State University. He has tutored many students in creative writing and the art of the college essay. In his spare time, Justin enjoys acting and has performed on stage in two Palo Alto Players productions: Death of a Salesman  and The Man Who Came to Dinner . 

Sam Prestianni

Sam Prestianni is a veteran Bay Area writer, editor, teacher, musician, filmmaker, and founder of 21st Century Learning , an online platform that provides students with uplifting education and personal growth experiences that transcend the traditional classroom. For nearly three decades, he taught Language Arts, Humanities, and SEL Development in California independent schools while leading his own summer workshops in Creative Writing, Expository Writing, Media Literacy, and Music. A widely published journalist and critic, his work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including SF Weekly, New York Press , and JAZZIZ magazine. His professional committee efforts include serving as a Juror for the MacArthur Fellowship Genius Grant. He has edited both fiction and nonfiction books. Often under a pen name, he has published fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction and toured the country as a literary performer and multimedia artist. He attended University of Maryland on a Writing Scholarship and earned a BA in English with a Writing minor.

Renée Johnson

Renée Johnson has a passion for helping others express themselves through writing. She moved to California from Massachusetts and graduated from California State University, Hayward with a BA in English and a focus in creative writing. She has been a full-time seventh and eighth grade English teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District since 1998. She has experience teaching a variety of summer writing courses, including Future Author Camp, a writing camp for gifted creative writers. She also enjoys coaching adults and teens in a variety of writing projects, from personal statements to essays and speeches. Renée has worked with the San Jose Area Writing Project both as a participant and an instructor, and she is also a certified Heartwork Journaling coach.

Maya Mahony

Maya Mahony graduated from Stanford with a degree in English and creative writing and is currently a graduate student in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her stories and poems have been published in The Antigonish Review, Scrivener Creative Review, Anser Journal, BALLOONS Lit. Journal, Collision Literary Journal, Ambrosia Feminist Zine, the Stanford Daily, the Leland Quarterly , and  Terrain.org . 

Lita Kurth has taught at Santa Clara University and De Anza College as well as in private workshops for many years. A co-founder of San Jose’s Flash Fiction Forum, she holds three Master’s degrees, including an MFA. She is a recipient of the Diana Woods Memorial Award and a two-time Pushcart nominee (creative nonfiction and fiction). Sample publications include Lunchticket, Redux, Raven Chronicles, Main Street Rag, Tikkun, Chicago Literati, NewVerseNews, ellipsis…literature and art, Compose , and more.

Tarn Wilson

Tarn Wilson has been teaching creative writing to high school students and adults for over twenty years. She currently works at Gunn High School. She earned an MA in education from Stanford and an MFA in creative writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop, specializing in memoir and the personal essay. She is the author of the memoir The Slow Farm (2014), the award winning memoir-in-essays In Praise of Inadequate Gifts (2021), and 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts: 501 Prompts to Unleash Your Creativity and Inspire You to Write (2022). Her essays have been published in numerous literary journals, including Brevity, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, River Teeth, and The Sun , and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Christopher Bell

Co-Founder and I.T. Support

Chris Bell has been teaching math and computer science since 2006.  He has taught courses intended for beginning students and advanced students alike, including Programming for Mobile Devices, which he created. Having received degrees from UC Davis and Notre Dame de Namur University, he has also dedicated a large part of his career to teaching teachers how to effectively integrate technology into their courses, speaking at conferences, providing professional development, and teaching at local colleges.