Creative Writing
Available as a major or minor
As a creative writing major, you will have the opportunity to explore through writing, reading and analyzing poetry, fiction, screenplays and other genres. Majors will be prepared for a wide variety of careers requiring excellent writing skills, problem-solving abilities, creativity, and critical thinking. These paths include editing and publishing, journalism, media writing, law, public relations, government, social advocacy, and advertising, as well as graduate study.
Curriculum & Courses
Sample Course Offerings
CRWR 215: Poetry
CRWR 215: Creative Writing Fiction
CRWR 317: Advanced Creative Writing: Screenwriting
Learn by Doing
We offer many firsthand learning opportunities for our students.
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Roanoke College’s Creative Writing and Literary Studies majors and Editing and Publishing Concentration prepare students to be flexible writers, thinkers, and creators. Students have internship opportunities at the college and in the community, including Berryfield Marketing and Media and arts magazine Artemis.
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Roanoke College's much beloved weekly newspaper is known for its weird name and its insightful, hard-nosed approach to life on campus. Students handle everything at Brackety-Ack, including writing, photography, editing, opinion polling, layout and web design.
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On Concept's Edge, Roanoke College's literary magazine, is entirely student run. The staff works on layout, printer selection, and the choosing of student and faculty submissions for print.
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The Roanoke Review
The Review is an annual national journal that publishes poetry, short fiction and nonfiction every spring. Established in 1967 by Henry Taylor, a past Roanoke College English professor and Pulitzer Prize winner, the Review is staffed by current students and Professor Mary Hill.
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Visting Writers
Students meet Pulitzer Prize winners, best-selling authors, eminent scholars and prominent journalists. Through direct exposure to these writers, students gain a greater understanding of the discipline and more confidence in their own writing.
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The Review is an annual national journal that publishes poetry, short fiction and nonfiction every spring. Established in 1967 by Henry Taylor, a past Roanoke College English professor and Pulitzer Prize winner, the Review is staffed by current students and Professor Mary Hill.
The art of travel writing
Roanoke students had a chance to write about their experiences in Cambodia at tourist sites and through visiting communities off the beaten path.
Student Experiences
Internship brings Shakespeare to life for Roanoke student
After interning as a dramaturge, backstage manager and line caller, Madison Little '18 knows one thing: She was made for the theater.
Little, a creative writing and literary studies major at Roanoke, landed a summer internship and a spring semester gig with American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. Until her internship, she never thought about using her love of writing and storytelling on stage."I really like watching Shakespeare come to life," said Little, who was a member of the College's improv club. "I like seeing how the story threads come together."
Erin Keating on studying at Shakespeare's Globe Theater
Careers & Outcomes
Career Paths
Students in our programs build practical job skills in editing and research, developing and maintaining tone and voice, and hooking readers with an engaging narrative whether in a novel or newsletter. These qualities help them excel in diverse professions such as:
- Social media writer (in fields such as education, business, and health care)
- Grant writer (in fields such as research, health care, and for non-profits)
- Editor (for business online and print publications, newsletters, and news media)
- Content strategist (in corporate settings and fields such as health care and education)
- Public relations (for both online and print publications and news releases)
Our graduates work at great organizations.
Catron's NYT Modern Love Story
Mandy Len Catron '03 is a self-proclaimed love story fanatic whose writings on the topic have received national attention. Catron, who teaches writing at the University of British Columbia, writes on the science of falling in love for her own blog, The Love Story Project. Her words garnered national acclaim when the New York Times published one of her essays, "To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This" as part of its Modern Love Column.
Lauren Harrison '07, is one of youngest reporters at Newsday
A documentary project as part of an independent study at Roanoke helped Lauren Harrison uncover her passion for storytelling. Video camera in hand, she followed her family's ancestry trail to many places, including West Virginia, Pulaski and Appomattox. She found gravesites, scoured birth and death records and even uncovered a church founded by one of her ancestors. With encouragement from her advisor, English professor Dr. Virginia Stewart, Harrison applied for graduate school at Columbia University's School of Journalism. She won a full tuition scholarship.
After graduating from Columbia, she worked as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune through a two-year residency program. She joined the staff at Newsday, one of the 20 largest circulation newspapers in the United States, in 2010 as a features reporter covering arts, culture and entertainment in Long Island, N.Y.
Faculty
Roanoke College Creative Writing and Literary Studies faculty specialize in the following areas: Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, Historic fiction, Novel and short story writing, Poetry, Screenwriting, Film studies, Medieval literature, and Editing and publishing.
News
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Catch up on the latest news from our exceptional faculty members.
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Catch up on the latest news from our impressive faculty members.
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Catch up on the latest news from your talented faculty.
“Knowing how to tell a story and tapping into your creativity gives you a confidence that makes you more likely to succeed in the workplace since you're communicating with your real self.”
Steph Spector '16, Senior Writer and Editor, Zapier
