Creative Writing
Calling All Writers
There are many ways to get involved with FDU’s world-class creative writing program. You can study poetry, write a play, write a novel, or launch a literary website. You can join the creative writing club, intern at The Literary Review, join the editorial staff of FDU’s student-run magazine, Iron Horse, go to WAMFest—the words and music festival, meet authors, agents, and publishers from New York City. You can major, minor, double major, or just explore. You can do a five-year BA/MFA combination program. You can come back for your low-residency MFA. Educators who are writers can earn their Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Literature with our fully Online Program.
Are you dedicated to words? As part of the School of the Arts, Creative Writing at FDU offers a conservatory-style education—rigorous and focused. Classes are small, discussion- or workshop-based at every level, and taught by acclaimed working writers who specialize in a variety of genres. In addition to a hands-on literary publishing class and opportunities for studies in related fields, like Graphic Design, Animation, Communications, and Marketing, you have access to terrific internship possibilities with New Jersey arts organizations and New York City publishers. FDU’s study abroad program at Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, England, is a perfect complement to a creative writing major. Creative writing alums go on to write novels and comic books, work in publishing, get an advanced degree, become journalists, and more.
The Life of a Writer at FDU
The Creative Writing major at Fairleigh Dickinson is among the most progressive and exciting creative writing programs in the country. As soon as you arrive on campus, you are treated like a writer and are welcomed into our vital community of writers and artists.
As part of the School of the Arts, we expand creative writing well beyond its traditional boundaries. We celebrate creative writing in all aspects of our culture—literature, music, film, comedy, graphic novels … wherever it’s found—in order to help our students succeed in bringing their writing to the world. We encourage collaboration with the other arts disciplines at FDU, and many of our creative writing majors also minor in film, theatre, or visual arts. If you want to write and act in your own play or film, write and direct, or create a graphic novel from drawing board to final product, we will help you to make it happen.
Fairleigh Dickinson is very close to New York City — geographically and spiritually. Our creative writing majors come from all over the country to work closely with our nationally recognized faculty, all of whom have published books with significant publishers and all of whom have strong connections to the national writing and publishing world. Our classes are small, intimate, and informal, which creates a safe and inspiring environment to develop and practice your writing. And from there, you can just hop on a train into the city and its beautiful madness.
If the path you have in mind includes time abroad, you can join the majority of our students who spend a semester at our beautiful campus in Wroxton, England, housed in a 12th Century abbey (think Hogwart’s) where you can be a part of a community that goes back to Shakespeare and beyond.
Because we stress the practical aspects of the life of a writer, all of our majors take a capstone course, “Professional Practices: Literary Publishing,” so you can be fully prepared for all of the possibilities open to you with a degree in Creative Writing. Sometime in your first two years, you will choose to specialize in one or, sometimes, two genres, leading you to a year-long Senior Writing Project, when you will complete a significant, professional manuscript. It’s demanding but also rewarding, as evidenced by just a couple of examples of our recent graduates: Dave Wielgosz (BA 2014) went from graduation to dream job as Assistant Editor at DC Comics in Los Angeles. Katarina Tonks, (BA 2016) had her fiction included in a Wattpad anthology, published by Simon and Schuster. Amanda Ramirez (BA 2015/MFA 2017) began at an entry-level position at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers while she was still finishing her MFA, and she is now an Associate Editor.
We encourage you to take internships to prepare you better for the world after FDU. Our students have held internships at The New York Times and Poets and Writers, at major publishing houses, literary agencies, film production companies, and at our own TLR (The Literary Review). Right on campus, you can gain valuable practical experience by working on Ironhorse, the college’s literary and arts magazine devoted to student writing, or on the student newspaper, The Pillar. You can participate in our Creative Writing Club and help to facilitate on-campus events such as student Open Mic nights, or volunteer to help out with our ongoing reading series, which brings some of the best writers in the country to read from their work and discuss the writing life.