Creative Writing

The Program in Creative Writing at Colby offers students the opportunity to exercise their imaginations through disciplined work in the craft of writing. Staffed by dedicated, practicing, published writers committed to teaching creative writing as a craft and an art, the Program in Creative Writing welcomes the novice writer as well as more advanced students. Students experiment in class and out with forms of prose and poetry. They read the work of professional writers, develop a critical vocabulary, and practice editing and revising. Classes range over several genres and specialty areas - including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and environmental writing - to ensure students have a range of experiences as they discover their own sources of inspiration and learn how best to craft their material.

As students advance through the program, they are expected to refine their skills through continued writing and exposure to increasingly sophisticated ways of looking at literature. Students have a chance to try additional genres, to "give back" to the community by teaching what they know (in the form of a Poetry-in-the-Schools class) and to focus on a sustained and lengthy project (in Advanced Projects in Poetry or Prose).

Students can also take advantage of co-curricular activities.  These include the annual Visiting Writers Series and the annual Stahl Writer-in-Residence, both of which allow students to meet with some of the country's best writers in class, in one-on-one meetings, at readings and at informal receptions. By the time they leave Colby, students will understand the creative process and have the necessary tools to be intelligent readers and effective writers.