iowa creative writing history

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Finding Aid

Return to finding aids a-z list.

Scope and Contents

The Records of the Iowa Writers' Workshop consist of thirteen series.

Series I , Student Coursework, consists of photocopies of students' works arranged by semester and class section within each semester. It is the largest series in the collection, dating from Fall 1965 to the present. Note that a few of the semesters are filed out of chronological sequence.

Series II , Award Competitions, consists of writing entries from individuals vying for scholarships and other awards.

Series III , Students and Alumni, consists of files containing correspondence, applications, and other material, arranged alphabetically by name of individual within each accrual. Note that accrual dates cover academic years; e.g., "1986-91" covers the 1986-87 to 1991-92 academic years. Restricted access.

Series IV , Faculty, is arranged alphabetically by name of individual. Restricted access.

Series V , Director's Files, consists of correspondence and other material created and received by the Office of the Director. Restricted access.

Series VI , Administrative Files. Restricted access.

Series VII , Accepted; Not Coming. Restricted access.

Series VIII , Rejected Applicants' Evaluation Sheets. Restricted access.

Series IX , Applicants' Letters of Recommendation. Restricted access.

Series X , Ephemera, includes posters and other printed matter, dating from 1982 to present.

Series XI , Stephen Wilbers Project, consists of correspondence and interview notes prepared by an alumnus of the Workshop who prepared a history of the program in 1980.

Series XII , Jean Wylder Project, consists of survey responses obtained from numerous alumni during the early 1970's as part of a history project. The responses are arranged by era of attendance/graduation.

Series XIII , Newsletters, consists of newsletters released once or twice yearly since 1970 chronicling the publishing activity of Workshop alumni and students, as well as Workshop programs and events.

Organizational History

The Iowa Writers' Workshop, long distinguished as America's premier program in creative writing, was founded in 1936. It was the nation's first creative writing degree program, a result of the University of Iowa's pioneering decision in 1922 to accept creative work as a means to fulfill graduate degree requirements. The following is excerpted from the Workshop's Web site ( http://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/about.htm ):

Verse-Making, the first creative writing class at Iowa, was offered in the spring semester of 1897. In 1922, Carl Seashore, dean of the Graduate College, introduced a new model for the academic study of the arts when he announced that the University of Iowa would accept creative work as theses for advanced degrees. The School of Letters began to offer regular courses in writing in which selected students were tutored by resident and visiting writers. The Workshop as an entity began in 1936, with the gathering together of poets and fiction writers under the direction of Wilbur Schramm. From the outset the program enjoyed a series of distinguished visitors, among them Robert Frost and Robert Penn Warren, who would lecture and stay for several weeks to discuss students' work. John Berryman, Robert Lowell, and others came to teach for a full year. One of the first students to receive an M.A. in creative writing was Paul Engle. He offered as his dissertation a collection of poems, Worn Earth, which won him the Yale Younger Poets prize. Paul Engle assumed the directorship of the Workshop in 1941 and held it for 25 years, a period which saw it flourish and become a significant force in American letters. During World War II enrollment was no more than a dozen students, but after the war it grew, attaining in a few years a strength of over a hundred students, and dividing into the fiction and poetry sections which exist today.

Related Materials

Papers of Paul Engle ( MsC 514 )

Papers of John Towner Frederick ( MsC 513 ) Papers of Jack Leggett ( MsC 503 )

Papers of Wilbur Schramm ( RG 99.0118 )

Conroy, Frank, editor. The Eleventh Draft: Craft and the Writing Life From the Iowa Writers' Workshop , 1999, 235 pp.

Dana, Robert, ed. A Community of Writers: Paul Engle and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. University of Iowa Press, 1999. 294 pp .

Wilbers, Stephen McCoy. "Emergence of the Iowa Writers' Workshop." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1978. 210 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International 39: 3587-A.

Wilbers, Steve. "Inside the Iowa Writers' Workshop: Interviews with Three of Its Teachers." North American Review 262, no. 2 (summer 1977): 7-15, illus. Marvin Bell, Vance Bourjaily, and Donald Justice.

Wilbers, Stephen. The Iowa Writers' Workshop: Origins, Emergence, & Growth . Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1980. 153 pp., illus., notes, bibliog.

In addition, numerous biographies of noted graduates of the Workshop have been published, many of which include references to the Workshop and the Iowa City community. See the Archives' online bibliography , Writing Programs category.

Box Contents List

Series I: Student Coursework   [ return to top ]

Box number:

1 - Fall 1965

2 - Spring 1966

3 - Spring 1969

4 - Spring 1966

5 - Fall 1966

6 - Fall 1966

7 - Spring 1967

8 - Spring 1967, Summer 1967, Fall 1967

9 - Spring 1967, Spring 1968, Fall 1968

10 - Spring 1968

11 - Spring 1968, Summer 1968, Fall 1968

12 - Spring 1967, Fall 1967, Spring 1968, Fall 1968

13 - Spring 1968, Summer 1968, Fall 1968

14 - Fall 1968, Spring 1969, Summer 1969, Fall 1969

15 - Spring 1969 (see also: series I, box 3)

16 - Spring 1969, Fall 1969

17 - Fall 1969

18 - Fall 1968, Fall 1969

19 - Spring 1969, Fall 1969, Spring 1970

20 - Spring 1970

21 - Spring 1970, Summer 1970, Fall 1970

22 - Spring 1970

23 - Spring 1970, Summer 1970

24 - Fall 1970

25 - Fall 1970

26 - Fall 1970, Spring 1971

27 - Spring 1971

28 - Spring 1971, Summer 1971

29 - Summer 1971, Fall 1971

30 - Fall 1971, Spring 1972, Summer 1972, Fall 1972

31 - Fall 1972

32 - Fall 1972, Spring 1973

33 - Spring 1973, Summer 1973, Fall 1973

34 - Fall 1973

35 - Spring 1974

36 - Spring 1974, Fall 1974

37 - Fall 1974

38 - Fall 1974

39 - Fall 1974, Spring 1975

40 - Spring 1975

41 - Spring 1975, Summer 1975, Fall 1975

42 - Fall 1975

43 - Fall 1975

44 - Fall 1975, Spring 1976

45 - Spring 1976

46 - Spring 1976

47 - Spring 1976, Summer 1976

48 - Summer 1976, Fall 1976

49 - Fall 1976

50 - Fall 1976

51 - Fall 1976, Spring 1977

52 - Spring 1977

53 - Spring 1977

54 - Spring 1977

55 - Spring 1977, Fall 1977

56 - Fall 1977

57 - Fall 1977

58 - Fall 1977

59 - Fall 1977, Spring 1978

60 - Spring 1978

61 - Spring 1978

62 - Spring 1978, Summer 1978, Fall 1978

63 - Fall 1978

64 - Fall 1978

65 - Fall 1978

66 - Fall 1978, Spring 1979

67 - Spring 1979

68 - Spring 1979

69 - Spring 1979

70 - Spring 1979, Fall 1979

71 - Fall 1979

72 - Fall 1979

73 - Fall 1979

74 - Fall 1979, Spring 1980

75 - Spring 1980

76 - Spring 1980

77 - Spring 1980, Summer 1980, Fall 1980

78 - Fall 1980

79 - Fall 1980

80 - Fall 1980

81 - Fall 1980, Spring 1981

82 - Spring 1981

83 - Spring 1981

84 - Spring 1981

85 - Spring 1981, Summer 1981

86 - Summer 1981

87 - Summer 1981, Fall 1981

88 - Fall 1981

89 - Fall 1981

90 - Fall 1981

91 - Fall 1981, Spring 1982

92 - Spring 1982

93 - Spring 1982

94 - Spring 1982

95 - Spring 1982, Summer 1982

96 - Summer 1982, Fall 1982

97 - Fall 1982

98 - Fall 1982

99 - Fall 1982

100 - Fall 1982, Spring 1983

101 - Spring 1983

102 - Spring 1983, Summer 1983

103 - Summer 1983, Fall 1983

104 - Fall 1983

105 - Fall 1983

106 - Fall 1983, Spring 1984

107 - Spring 1984

108 - Spring 1984

109 - Spring 1984, Summer 1984

110 - Summer 1984, Fall 1984

111 - Fall 1984

112 - Fall 1984

113 - Fall 1984, Spring 1985

114 - Spring 1985

115 - Spring 1985

116 - Spring 1985, Summer 1985, Fall 1985

117 - Fall 1985

118 - Fall 1985

119 - Fall 1985, Spring 1986

120 - Spring 1986

121 - Spring 1986

122 - Spring 1986, Summer 1986

123 - Summer 1986, Fall 1986

124 - Fall 1986

125 - Fall 1986

126 - Fall 1986, Spring 1987

127 - Spring 1987

128 - Spring 1987

129 - Spring 1987, Summer 1987

130 - Summer 1987, Fall 1987

131 - Fall 1987

132 - Fall 1987

133 - Fall 1987, Spring 1988

134 - Spring 1988

135 - Spring 1988

136 - Spring 1988, Summer 1988

137 - Summer 1988, Fall 1988

138 - Fall 1988

139 - Fall 1988

140 - Fall 1988

141 - Spring 1989

142 - Spring 1989

143 - Spring 1989

144 - Summer 1989

145 - Fall 1989

146 - Fall 1989

147 - Fall 1989

148 - Fall 1989

149 - Fall 1989, Spring 1990

150 - Spring 1990

151 - Spring 1990

152 - Spring 1990, Summer 1990

153 - Summer 1990

154 - 1980's, including Leggett

155 - 1991-1998

156 - Fall 1986

157 - Spring 1988, Summer 1988

158 - Spring 1988, Fall 1988

159 - Fall 1988, Spring 1989

160 - Spring 1989

161 - Spring 1989, Summer 1989, Fall 1989

162 - Fall 1989

163 - Fall 1989

164 - Spring 1990

165 - Spring 1990

166 - Summer 1990, Fall 1990

167 - Summer 1990, Fall 1990

168 - Fall 1990

169 - Fall 1990

170 - Fall 1990, Spring 1991

171 - Spring 1991

172 - Spring 1991

173 - Spring 1991, Summer 1991

174 - Spring 1991, Summer 1991, Fall 1991

175 - Fall 1991

176 - Fall 1991

177 - Fall 1991

178 - Fall 1991, Spring 1992

179 - Spring 1992

180 - Spring 1992

181 - Spring 1992

182 - Spring 1992, Summer 1992, Fall 1992

183 - Fall 1992

184 - Fall 1992

185 - Fall 1992

186 - Fall 1992, Spring 1993

187 - Spring 1993

188 - Spring 1993

189 - Spring 1993, Summer 1993

190 - Spring 1993, Summer 1993

191 - Summer 1993, Fall 1993

192 - Fall 1993

193 - Fall 1993

194 - Fall 1993

195 - Fall 1993

196 - Fall 1993

197 - Fall 1993, Spring 1994

198 - Spring 1994

199 - Spring 1994

200 - Spring 1994

201 - Spring 1994

202 - Spring 1994, Summer 1994

203 - Spring 1994, Summer 1994

204 - Summer 1994, Fall 1994

205 - Fall 1994

206 - Fall 1994

207 - Fall 1994

208 - Fall 1994

209 - Fall 1994

210 - Spring 1995

211 - Spring 1995

212 - Spring 1995

213 - Spring 1995

214 - Spring 1995, Summer 1995

215 - Spring 1995, Fall 1995

216 - Spring 1995, Fall 1995

217 - Summer 1995

218 - Fall 1995

219 - Fall 1995

220 - Fall 1995

221 - Spring 1995, Fall 1995, Spring 1996, Fall, 1996

222 - Spring 1996

223 - Spring 1996

224 - Spring 1996

225 - Spring 1996

226 - Spring 1996, Summer 1996

227 - Spring 1996, Summer 1996

228 - Fall 1996

229 - Fall 1996

230 - Fall 1996

231 - Fall 1996

232 - Fall 1996

233 - Spring 1997

234 - Spring 1997

235 - Spring 1997

236 - Spring 1997

237 - Spring 1997

238 - Spring 1997, Fall 1997

239 - Summer 1997, Fall 1997

240 - Fall 1997

241 - Fall 1997

242 - Fall 1997

243 - Fall 1997

244 - Fall 1997, Spring 1999

245 - Spring 1998

246 - Spring 1998

247 - Spring 1998

248 - Spring 1998

249 - Spring 1998

250 - Spring 1998

251 - Spring 1998

252 - Spring 1998, Summer 1998

253 - Spring 1998, Summer 1998

254 - Spring 1998, Fall 1998

255 - Fall 1998

256 - Fall 1998

257 - Fall 1998

258 - Fall 1998

259 - Spring 1999

260 - Spring 1999

261 - Spring 1999

262 - Spring 1999, Fall 1999

263 - Fall 1999

264 - Fall 1999

265 - Fall 1999

266 - Fall 1999

267 - Fall 1999

268 - Fall 1999

269 - Spring 2000

270 - Spring 2000

271 - Spring 2000

272 - Spring 2000

273 - Spring 2000

274 - Summer 2000, Fall 2000

275 - Summer 2000, Summer 2001

276 - Fall 2000

277 - Fall 2000

278 - Fall 2000

279 - Fall 2000

280 - Fall 2000

281 - Spring 2001

282 - Spring 2001

283 - Spring 2001

284 - Spring 2001

285 - Spring 2001

286 - Summer 2001, Fall 2001

287 - Fall 2001

288 - Fall 2001

289 - Fall 2001

290 - Spring 2002

291 - Spring 2002

292 - Spring 2002, Summer 2002

293 - Summer 2002, Fall 2002

294 - Summer 2002, Fall 2002

295 - Fall 2002

296 - Fall 2002

297 - Fall 2002

298 - Spring 2003

299 - Spring 2003

300 - Spring 2003

301 - Summer 2003, Fall 2003

302 - Fall 2003

303 - Fall 2003

304 - Fall 2003

305 - Fall 2003

306 - Spring 2003: Conroy's theses manuscripts

307 - Spring 2004

308 - Spring 2004

309 - Spring 2004

310 - Spring 2004

311 - Spring 2004, Summer 2004, Fall 2004

312 - Summer 2004

313 - Summer 2004

314 - Summer 2004, Fall 2004

315 - Fall 2004

316 - Fall 2004

317 - Fall 2004

318 - Fall 2004

319 - Fall 2004, Spring 2005

320 - Spring 2005

321 - Spring 2005

322 - Spring 2005

323 - Spring 2005

324 - Spring 2005, Summer 2005

325 - Fall 2005

326 - Fall 2005

327 - Fall 2005

328 - Fall 2005

329 - Spring 2006

330 - Spring 2006

331 - Spring 2006

332 - Spring 2006, Summer 2006

333 - Summer 2006

334 - Fall 2006

335 - Fall 2006

336 - Fall 2006

337 - Spring 2007 338 - Spring 2007

339 - Spring 2007

340 - Summer 2007, Fall 2007

341 - Summer 2007

342 - Fall 2007

343 - Fall 2007

344 - Fall 2007

345 - Fall 2007

346 - Fall 2007

347 - Fall 2007

348 - Fall 2007

349 - Fall 2007

350 - Spring 2008

351 - Spring 2008

352 - Spring 2008

353 - Spring 2008

354 - Spring 2008

355 - Spring 2008

356 - Spring 2008

357 - Spring 2008

358 - Summer 2008, Fall 2008

359 - Fall 2008

360 - Fall 2008

361 - Spring 2009

362 - Spring 2009

363 - Spring 2009

364 - Summer 2009, Fall 2009

365 - Fall 2009

366 - Fall 2009

367 - Fall 2009

368 - Fall 2009, Spring 2010

369 - Spring 2010

370 - Spring 2010

371 - Spring 2010

372 - Spring 2010, Fall 2010

373 - Fall 2010

374 - Fall 2010

375 - Fall 2010

376 - Spring 2011

377 - Spring 2011

378 - Spring 2011

379 - Spring 2011

380 - Summer 2011

Series II: Award Competitions    [ return to top ]

1 - 1984-88, Al-Ay

2 - 1984-88, Ba-Be

3 - 1984-88, Bi-Br

4 - 1984-88, Bu-Ci

5 - 1984-88, De-En

6 - 1984-88, Es-Fi

7 - 1984-88, Fl-Hae

8 - 1984-88, Har

9 - 1984-88, He-Ho

10 - 1984-88, Ho-Hu

11 - 1984-88, Ja-Ke

12 - 1984-88, Ki-Le

13 - 1984-88, Lou

14 - 1984-88, M-N

15 - 1984-88, O'D-O'R

16 - 1984-88, Pa-Pe

17 - 1984-88, Pi-Re

18 - 1984-88, Ri-Ru

19 - 1984-88, Sa-So

20 - 1984-88, Sp-St

21 - 1984-88, Su-Wh

22 - 1984-88, Wh-Y

23 - 1989 applicants

24 - 1989 applicants

25 - 1990 applicants

26 - 1990 applicants

27 - 1991 applicants

28 - 1991 applicants

29 - 1991-92 applicants

30 - 1992-94 applicants

31 - 1994 applicants

32 - 1994 applicants and winners

33 - 1998 other award applicants, theses

34 - 1997 applicants

35 - 1997 applicants

36 - 1997 applicants

37 - 1999 applicants

38 - 1998 applicants

39 - 1998 applicants

40 - 1998 applicants

41 - 1998 applicants

42 - 1998 applicants

43 - 1999 winners

44 - 1999 applicants

45 - 1999 applicants

46 - 1999 applicants

47 - 2000 applicants

48 - 2000 applicants

49 - 2000 applicants

50 - 2001 applicants

51 - 2001 applicants

52 - 2001 applicants

53 - 2001 applicants

54 - 2001 applicants

55 - 2003 rejected

56 - 2003 rejected

57 - 2003 rejected

58 - 2002 rejected

59 - 2002 rejected

60 - 2002 rejected

61 - Past Michener and Schaefer award winners

62 - 2004 rejected

63 - 2004 rejected

64 - 2004 rejected

65 - 2004 rejected

66 - 2000-03 award winners

67 - 2005 rejected

68 - 2005 rejected

69 - 2005 rejected

70 - 2006 rejected

71 - 2006 rejected

72 - 2006 rejected

73 - 2007 rejected

74 - 2007 rejected

75 - 2008 third year fellowship rejects

76 - 2008 third year fellowship rejects

77 - 2008 third year fellowship rejects

Series III: Students and Alumni    [ return to top ]

1 - 1968-78, Aa-Bat

2 - 1968-78, Bau-Cah

3 - 1968-78, Cai-Cos

4 - 1968-78, Cot-Dow

5 - 1968-78, Dox-Fer

6 - 1968-78, Fes-Gow

7 - 1968-78, Gra-Har

8 - 1968-78, Har-Hol

9 - 1968-78, Hom-Joh

10 - 1968-78, Joh-Kro

11 - 1968-78, Kru-Lin

12 - 1968-78, Lip-Met

13 - 1968-78, May-O'Do

14 - 1968-78, O'Gr-Pro

15 - 1968-78, Pru-San

16 - 1968-78, Sar-Sim

17 - 1968-78, Sim-Sym

18 - 1968-78, Tag-Wan

19 - 1968-78, War-Zyk

20 - 1980-82 (with some earlier), A-Gar

21 - 1980-82 (with some earlier), Gay-Lon

22 - 1980-82 (with some earlier), Mag-Ses

23 - 1980-82 (with some earlier), Sha-Wol

24 - 1982-85, Alt-Che

25 - 1982-85, Chi-Fon

26 - 1982-85, Foo-Hav

27 - 1982-85, Hav-Mad

28 - 1982-85, Mag-Reg

29 - 1982-85, Ren-Str

30 - 1982-85, Stu-Yra

31 - 1986-91, Alb-Ber

32 - 1986-91, Ber-Cas

33 - 1986-91, Cha-Dra

34 - 1986-91, Dra-Gee

35 - 1986-91, Ger-Her

36 - 1986-91, Hil-Jon

37 - 1986-91, Jud-Lov

38 - 1986-91, Lun-Moo

39 - 1986-91, Mor-Pot

40 - 1986-91, Pre-Roe

41 - 1986-91, Roh-Ste

42 - 1986-91, Ste-Whi

43 - 1986-91, Whi-Zuc

44 - Summer 1993, A-Z

45 - Summer 1992 and 1999, A-Z

Series IV: Faculty    [ return to top ]

1 - Benedict, Dianne

      Bock, Sue

      Gilchrist, Ellen

      Helprin, Mark

      Henry, Dewitt

      Hollo, Anselm

      Howard, Jane

      Ignatow, David

      McPherson, Sandra

      Miller, Susan and Bauer, Doug

      Pesetsky, Bette

      Pickering, Nancy

      Sacks, Peter

      Sadoff, Ira

      Schwartz, Lynne Sharon

      Settle, Mary Lee

      Singer, Brett

      Southwick, Marcia

      Vivante, Arturo

      Vogelsang, Arthur

      Wilner, Eleanor

      Wilson, Angus

      Wilson, Robley

Series V: Director's Files    [ return to top ]

Series VI: Administrative Files    [ return to top ]

1 - 1968-86

2 - 1968-86

3 - To 1986

4 - Bloc allocations, 1972-89

5 - Foundation correspondence, 1991-

6 - 1981-91

7 - Administrative subject files, 1980s

8 - Administrative subject files, 1980s

9 - Administrative correspondence, 1984-89

10 - Payroll listings, account statements, 1978-85

11 - Payroll listings, account statements, 1980s

12 - 1989-95

13 - 1987-95

14 - 1990-95

15 - Expense records, 1990-96

16 - Subject files, 1989-98

17 - Subject files, 1984-97

18 - Subject files, 1987-97, including student directories, 1975-86

19 - Subject files, 1982-93

20 - Correspondence

Series VII: Accepted; not coming    [ return to top ]

1 - 1980-84, A-Har

2 - 1980-84, Har-Per

3 - 1980-84, Phi-Yat

4 - 1985-93, A-Cra

5 - 1985-93, Cre-Le

6 - 1985-93, Ma-Sch

7 - 1985-93, Sh-Y

Series VIII: Rejected Applicants' Evaluation Sheets    [ return to top ]

1 - 1980-82

2 - 1983-84

4 - 1986-88

5 - 1989-90

Series IX: Applicants' Letters of Recommendation    [ return to top ]

1 - 1983-89

2 - 1988-89

3 - 1988-89

4 - 1990-91, A-J

5 - 1990-91, K-T

6 - 1990-91, T-V

7 - 1992-96, A-E

8 - 1992-96, E-Ki

9 - 1992-96, Ki-Peri

10 - 1992-96, Perr-U

11 - 1992-96, Ue-Z

12 - Summer 1999, Summer 1992

Series X: Ephemera

Box Number:

1 - Posters and other printed matter; 1982 - ; also undated

Series XI: Stephen Wilbers project    [ return to top ]

1 - Survey administrative files

2 - Correspondence, A - D.

        ----. E - H.

        ----. I - O.

        ----. P - S.

        ----. T - Z.       

Series XII: Jean Wylder project    [ return to top ]

1 - Workshop history notes: administrative files, general Workshop history

        Reminiscences. Prior to 1950: John Hospers, Barbara Spargo, Norman Foerster, Wilbur Schramm, Jean Wylder on Flannery O'Connor (from North American Review, Spring 1970 issue), William De Witt Snodgrass and Donald T. Torchiana (from Northwestern University Tri-Quarterly, Spring 1960 issue), Clarke Fisher Ansley, Margaret Walker Alexander, George Abbe

        ----. Early 1950's: James Sunwall, Ray West on Dylan Thomas's 1951 visit, William Stafford, Morgan Gibson, Richard Stern, Oakley Hall, Ogden Plumb, James B. Hall, Joseph Langland, Gene Brzenk

        ----. Late 1950's: John Gilgun, Morgan Gibson, Ogden Plumb, Jerry Bumpus

        ----. Early 1960's: Harry Barba, Lewis Turco ("Portrait of Donald Justice"), Philip O'Connor ("Max Yocum's Horse"), Jack Welch ("A Parable"), Warren Slesinger, John Clellon Holmes, Edmund Keeley, B.C. Hall

        ----. Late 1960's: Bruce Dobler ("All About Algren"), William Richard Keough, Brian Salchert ("A Traveler from the Dunes"), Max Collins, Rochelle Holt

Series XIII: Newsletters   [ return to top ]

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• Iowa City, IA 52242-1420
• (319)335-5921
• © The University of Iowa 2014

Iowa: Shaping literature’s landscape for more than a century

It began in the late 19th century with literary societies and writing clubs. Before creative writing was taught at the University of Iowa, students took it upon themselves to gather, recite poetry, discuss their craft, and lay the foundation for a program that would one day become world renowned for the strength of its teaching and the quality of writers it turns out.

Since those informal beginnings, the craft of writing has become deeply ingrained in the UI, Iowa City, and the state of Iowa. Writers working in a multitude of genres enroll at the university to learn from award-winning faculty, hone their skills, and craft some of their most important and influential works.

UI writing programs claim U.S. poets laureate and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, MacArthur Foundation fellowships—as well as other major honors—among their alumni and faculty.

The University of Iowa’s first creating writing class, “Verse-Making,” is taught by George Cram Cook, who would later found the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theater company.

The Daily Iowan student newspaper first goes to press at the University of Iowa. The Daily Iowan came from a merger of two campus publications, The Vidette-Reporter and The State University of Iowa Quill .  The Vidette-Reporter  also was the product of a merger of  The Vidette  and  The University Reporter.  The latter was founded in 1868.

A new approach to writing pedagogy emerges: the writing workshop. In these new workshops, a senior writer leads a discussion about a work written by another member of the class; the other students in the workshop share impressions, advice, and analysis. As Paul Engle, former director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and founder of the International Writing Program, observed, “The students benefited greatly from hearing a variety of attitudes toward their work. It was like publishing, then being reviewed.”

The University of Iowa establishes a BA in journalism. While newspaper publishers and editors are skeptical that the art of journalism can be taught in a classroom, the number of students interested in journalism classes increases. The School of Journalism is established in 1924 and housed in the former Close Hall at the intersection of Dubuque Street and Iowa Avenue.

Carl Seashore, dean of the Graduate College, introduces a new model for the academic study of the arts, announcing that the University of Iowa will be the first university in the U.S. to accept creative work as theses for advanced degrees.

The University of Iowa Department of English begins to offer courses such as “Essay Writing” and “Advanced Composition.”

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is formally established with the gathering of poets and fiction writers under the guidance of founding director Wilbur Schramm. “It seemed like an idea whose time had come,” Schramm said. The Writers’ Workshop has become one of the world’s most distinguished creative writing programs, with faculty, alumni, and visitors including Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Rita Dove, Robert Lowell, Kurt Vonnegut, Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Conner, John Irving, and Joy Williams.

Poet Paul Engle, one of the first students to receive an MA in creative writing from the University of Iowa, assumes the directorship of the Writers’ Workshop. Under Engle’s leadership, the Workshop flourishes. Engle actively recruits students from across the country and around the world. During World War II, enrollment is no more than a dozen students, but after the war it grows to more than 100, and the program is divided into the fiction and poetry sections that exist today. The Workshop’s prominence continues through the directorships of George Starbuck (1966–69), John Leggett (1970–1987), Frank Conroy (1987–2005), and Lan Samantha Chang (2006–present). 

Kim Merker, a former Workshop student, founds the Stonewall Press and later the Windhover Press, which will publish work of poets like James Tate, Philip Levine, and W.S. Merwin and establish the University of Iowa in the world of fine press printing.

Paul Engle, in concert with Esquire , orchestrates a symposium at the University of Iowa titled “The Writer in Mass Culture” that brings Norman Mailer, Ralph Ellison, Mark Harris, and others and is covered in Newsweek .

The Writers’ Workshop offers the country’s first translation workshop. Paul Engle and his wife, Hualing Nieh Engle, pioneer a “tandem method” in which the author and translator co-author the translated work. This later leads to the development of the UI’s MFA program in literary translation.

Carl Klaus and Richard “Jix” Lloyd-Jones, who later helps shape the Nonfiction Writing Program, teaches the first courses on expository writing

The Writers’ Workshop moves from temporary military barracks-style buildings near the Iowa River, where the Iowa Memorial Union now stands, to the English-Philosophy Building. 

Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle found the International Writing Program, a writing residency program for students from around the world. Since its founding, the IWP has hosted more than 1,400 writers from more than 150 countries. While the IWP conducts classes and tours throughout the year, its principal program is its fall residency, which is designed for established and emerging creative writers—poets, fiction writers, dramatists, and nonfiction writers. The residency provides writers with time to produce literary work, as well as the opportunity to participate in American literary, academic, and cultural life. The Engles co-direct the IWP until 1977, after which Paul retires and Hualing continues as director. She retires in 1988 and the position is then held by Fredrick Woodard (1988–1990), Clark Blaise (1990–1998), Steven Ungar (interim, 1998), Sandra Barkan (interim, 1999), and Christopher Merrill (2000–present)

The University of Iowa Press is established to publish poetry, short fiction, short creative nonfiction, and books that fill the needs of scholars and students throughout the world. The press also publishes the winners of the Iowa Short Fiction Award and Iowa Poetry Prize, poetry anthologies, letters and diaries, biographies, memoirs, and regional history.

Faculty, staff, and students from the varied literature programs at the UI found the  Iowa Review , which publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, photography, and work in emerging forms by established and emerging writers. The Iowa Review publishes three issues per year, and work in the journal has been selected to appear in anthologies such as  Best American Essays ,  Best American Short Stories ,  Best American Poetry , and  The O. Henry Prize Stories .

The Playwrights Workshop is founded by Oscar Brownstein as he reshapes the existing playwriting MFA into a workshop for new play development. Based on a strong tradition in playwriting that has existed at the UI since the 1920s, the MFA in playwriting is an intensive three-year program that educates and trains talented playwrights and collaborative theater artists who will lead the world in the creation of new works. Brownstein would go on to create the Iowa New Play Festival, a central tenant of the program today, in which plays receive staged readings and productions in front of guest artists who respond to the work.

Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their work fostering the exchange of creative and cultural insights through the International Writing Program. More than 300 writers from around the world advance the Engles for the prize, although the Nobel committee decides none of the year’s nominations meet the criteria for the award.

The Department of English approves a new master’s degree, an MA in English with emphasis in expository writing. From the proposal by Carl Klaus, chair of the Committee on Advanced Composition: “We propose an M.A. in English which will emphasize the theory, analysis, practice, and teaching of expository writing. Like other English departments, ours has always recognized the function of a particular kind of exposition—the essay in literary criticism…Student interest in expository courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, has increased so rapidly in the past few years…it seems clear that expository writing is becoming an important academic subject—that academically trained practitioners and teachers of writing are and will be increasingly in demand.”

After China’s 1978 reforms, the International Writing Program organizes the “Chinese Weekend” on Sept. 15 and 16, 1979. The event brings together writers from China, Taiwan, and the United States for a weekend of literary discussions at the International Writing Program. The gathering is unprecedented in the history of literary relations between the United States and China.

Dramatic social and cultural changes are affecting the study and practice of nonfiction literary writing. Second-wave feminism encourages women to explore, document, and express new realizations about their lives. Memoir becomes fashionable, and writers are encouraged to consider their own life’s stories. For this reason, and because of faculty interest in the form, the main emphasis of the nonfiction writing program shifts to the personal essay, remaining so to this day. Teachers focus on sensitivity to voice, creation of persona, management of style, and awareness of the audience.

The Center for the Book is founded by Kim Merker as an innovative, interdisciplinary research and arts unit that combines training in the techniques and artistry of bookmaking with research into the history and culture of books. The center offers perhaps the widest range of book arts courses in the U.S., including letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking, and historical and arts-based calligraphy.

The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is founded. Each summer, it accepts adult students from across the country for intensive weeklong and weekend workshops.

The Nonfiction Writing Program acquires a national reputation for being a highly selective and gifted community of writers. Its uniqueness stems in part from its unusual history. Unlike most other writing programs, it is founded by scholar-writers trained as literary critics, rhetoricians, and theorists of style. Their influence on the character and philosophy of the program helps shape the curriculum and ensure that later faculty members—those specifically recruited to be, in effect, “writers-in-residence”—continue the commitment to a rigorous and well-planned curriculum and a thoughtfully designed pedagogy. The new generation of faculty includes essayists Patricia Foster, Robin Hemley, and John D’Agata. Earlier faculty, including Paul Diehl, David Hamilton, Brooks Landon, and Susan Lohafer, continue to teach signature courses, rounding out a balanced and varied faculty in a program reaching its maturity.

Because “MA in English with Emphasis in Expository Writing” no longer describes what is studied in the classroom and may deter the kind of students for whom the program is designed, faculty propose changing it to an MA in nonfiction writing.

Faculty member Paul Diehl requests changing the MA in nonfiction writing to an MFA in nonfiction writing. The program has developed into the form and mission it carries today: to train and nurture talented writers of literary nonfiction. From the request written by Paul Diehl: “The department views this change as necessary for two reasons. First, the program now is clearly rooted in the fine art of literary nonfiction, an increasingly important genre to the writing community…Second, and more importantly, graduates of the program have found themselves disadvantaged when applying for college-level teaching positions in the area of nonfiction. Even though one of our graduates may have far more experience in nonfiction, she often finds herself losing out to a candidate less qualified but holding an M.F.A. in poetry or fiction; in other words, she loses out to someone presenting the ‘terminal’ degree in the writing arts.”

The Writers’ Workshop moves into its current administrative home, the Dey House, a historic, Victorian-era home adapted for reuse as an academic building. In 2006, an addition is built: the Glenn Schaeffer Library and Archives, which features a library and reading room, classrooms, and faculty offices.

After an unsuccessful director search, the university announces that the International Writing Program will be put on a one-year hiatus and reconfigured. After months of public outcry, the program is returned to its original format. Christopher Merrill is named director in 2000.

The International Writing Program broadens its programming overseas, hosting symposiums, readings, and lectures around the world.

The Carver College of Medicine Writing and Humanities Program begins, offering medical students elective courses in literature and writing along with the chance to explore the connections between the humanities and medicine through the Humanities Distinction Track. The staff also offer consultations to review any form of writing, including creative writing, scholarship personal statements, CVs, research papers, abstracts, et cetera.

The International Writing Program moves from its old home in the English-Philosophy Building into Shambaugh House, which was moved from 219 N. Clinton St. to 430 N. Clinton St. the year before.

The first annual Examined Life Conference is held, exploring intersections of the arts and medicine. The first Examined Life Journal is published in 2011, focusing on works related to health and the human condition in all its myriad definitions.

The International Writing Program and Young Writers’ Studio begin Between the Lines, which hosts international students age 16–19 for two weeks of writing seminars, workshops, and cultural events in Iowa City.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designates Iowa City, Iowa, the country’s first and world’s third City of Literature. International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill leads the UI Writing University committee that submits the city’s proposal. The UI and its writing programs continue to be involved in Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature programs and events, including the annual weeklong Iowa City Book Festival.

The UI offers an MFA in Spanish creative writing. The program—one of only three Spanish-language MFA programs in the U.S. when it begins—is conceived by decorated Chilean poet and then-UI faculty member Oscar Hahn with then-chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Tom Lewis. In 2009, Lewis persuades Ana Merino to leave her faculty position at Dartmouth College to develop the program and become its director. Merino works with Lewis as well as Chilean writer and then-faculty member Roberto Ampuero, Latino writer Santiago Vaquera, and Brian Gollnick, associate professor of Latin American Literature, to create the program. They envision a program for students who want to read, learn, and write in their native Spanish, and decide the program should include both workshop and outreach components. Merino develops the Creative Literacy Project as part of the new MFA, and in the following two years, the department adds two faculty to the program: Central American writer Horacio Castellanos and Mexican writer Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, with Crosthwaite as a two-year visiting faculty member. Pictured below, clockwise from top left: Roberto Ampuero, Santiago Gamboa, Santiago Vaquera, and Ana Merino.

The Frank N. Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing is established. The center offers UI students the unique opportunity to enhance their academic, creative, and professional communication skills by focusing on the written word. The center is home to the Undergraduate Certificate in Writing, the Iowa Youth Writing Project, and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.

The UI adds a minor in translation and global literacy. It’s one of a small handful of such undergraduate degrees offered in the country and builds on the UI’s legacy in the field.

The UI adds English and creative writing as an undergraduate major. The major grows quickly in popularity, with 526 students declaring in the fall of 2017, making it the ninth-most frequently chosen undergraduate program on campus for first-year students.

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"I do not in fact know what I would have done, or who I would have been as an adult if I hadn’t lived in and around Iowa City"

​ - Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1992)

Is Where.

We Write.

This.

Teaching Creative Writing pp 17–24 Cite as

A Short History of Creative Writing in America

• DeWitt Henry 2  

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Part of the book series: Teaching the New English ((TENEEN))

The teaching of the crafts of fiction, nonfiction and poetry in degree-bearing institutions has its distant antecedent, at least in spirit, in the unofficial atel—ier or ‘school’, such as one might regard the Transcendentalists’ Brook Farm to be. But just as the combination of shoptalk, mutual editing and critical theory is exemplified by Wordsworth and Coleridge in England, surely the nexus of Hawthorne, Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau and other New England writers of the 1840s exemplifies an American school ‘without walls’. Writers talked back to writers about vision and craft. Livelihoods came from second jobs as churchmen, teachers, editors or clerks in customs houses; seldom from publication. Interestingly, as portrayed by Perry Miller in The Raven and the Whale (1956), claims for a national literature emanated from such magazines in New York as the Knickerbocker Magazine, The Democratic Review and Poe’s The Broadway Journal. 1 Edgar Allan Poe, of course, first in Baltimore, then Philadelphia, then New York, was a central figure; and just as his famous review of Hawthorne, in laying out principles of craft, is often cited as the birth of the American Short Story, so too, it presents the American idiom of poet and critic. 2 Like a nineteenth century Aristotle, Poe offers his poetics. 3 Here are works we value. Here are their characteristics. (For a different historical perspective, see D.G. Myers’s Elephants Teach: ‘The search for origins is a historical error.’)4

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Edgar Allen Poe, ’Review of Hawthorne – Twice Told Tales,‘ Grahams Magazine (May 1842): 298-300.

Google Scholar  

Edgar Allen Poe,‘The Philosophy of Composition,’ Grahams Magazine (April 1846) 163-7.

D.G. Myers, Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880 (New York: Prentice Hall, 1995).

Andrew Levy , The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Book   Google Scholar  

Henry James The Art of the Novel: Critical Preface s (New York: Scribners, 1934).

E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1956).

George Garrett, ‘The Future of Writing Programs,’ Creative Writing in America: Theory and Pedagogy , Joseph M. Moxley, Ed. (Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1989).

Tom Grimes, Ed., The Workshop: Seven Decades of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (New York: Hyperion, 1999).

The AWP Guide to Writing Program s(Paradise, CA: Associated Writing Programs, Dustbooks, Annual, 2008).

Natalie Goldberg , Writing Down the Bones (Boston: Shambhala, 1996).

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, Eds., What If? (New York: Harper Resource, 1991).

Amy Hempel, ‘Captain Fiction,’ Vanity Fair (December, 1984), 90-3, 126-8.

John W. Aldridge, Classics and Contemporaries (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1992).

William Goodman, ‘Thinking About Readers,’ Daedalus (Winter, 1983), 65-84.

Debra Spark, Ed., Twenty under Thirty: Best Stories by America’s New Young Writers (New York: Scribners, 1986).

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DeWitt Henry ( Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing )

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Henry, D. (2012). A Short History of Creative Writing in America. In: Teaching Creative Writing. Teaching the New English. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284464_3

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The University of Iowa

Writing Center

History of the writing center.

During Miss Stanley's tenure as Writing Lab director, the Lab was viewed as remedial, a place to send troubled or problem writers, especially those who had failed the placement or exit exams. Teachers worked with these students on a particular structure called the attitude paragraph (a topic sentence that expressed an attitude and then supporting sentences that presented examples) that would enable them to pass the exam.

Miss Stanley retired in 1954 and was followed by a number of Communication Skills professors who took turns as Writing Lab director. An especially well-known professor who directed the lab from 1963-65 was Cleo Martin (see photo), who, along with Lou Kelly (see below), created the Professional Development Program, a learning and sharing forum for new rhetoric teachers which is still going strong today.  Cleo, as she was called, was a firm believer in encouraging, affirmative responses to writing–responding to what writers are saying, not to the way they are saying it. In the 1950s, the Communication Skills Program became the Rhetoric Program, which then became the Rhetoric Department in 1988.

This 1961 photo (above) shows the building that used to house the University of Iowa Writing Center until it was destroyed by fire in 1970 (below).

The director whose name is synonymous with the University of Iowa Writing Lab is Lou Kelly (see photo below) who had worked two years as a lab teacher for Miss Stanley in the 40s. Kelly started directing the Lab in 1965, when Cleo Martin decided to pursue her doctorate, until she retired in 1989. From 1963 to 1968, Communication Skills and the Labs were located in Old Armory Temporary (see photo), famous for its thin, corn-husk walls, naked light bulbs, clanking radiators and excessive heat. In fact, it was so hot in the summer that Kelly demanded that the Lab be moved to 110 English and Philosophy Building (EPB), which was used during the year as a study hall. When the Armory burned during student protests in 1968 (see photo–a reaction to "the attitude paragraph"?), the two enormous Old Armory rooms that were the Writing Lab amazingly did not burn. When Communication Skills moved to EPB, Kelly made sure she secured room 110 for Writing Lab all year where it still is today.

Lou Kelly (center) with Rhetoric professor emetitus Doug Trank (left) and English professor emeritus Fred McDowell (deceased) (right).

Kelly developed Rhetoric 10:09, a credit-bearing individualized writing and reading course designed to prepare students for 10:01. When so many students were signed up to take 10:09 individually that it strained the teaching staff, in 1986 Kelly designed an equivalent classroom course, Rhetoric 10:89, especially for inexperienced writers with lower ACT scores. The course required lab hours in addition to classroom hours. Often underprepared athletes took this course before 10:01, and if they didn’t work hard, Kelly made sure ex-football and basketball coaches Hayden Fry and Tom Davis knew about it. To counter the rigidity of the "attitude paragraph," Kelly created a pedagogy based on "invitations," writing assignments that took advantage of the strength of writers' voices and experiences and which were read as acts of communication from one human being to another rather than as demonstrations of verbal proficiency.

In 1996, the Writing Lab stopped offering 10:89 in response to extremely low enrollments due to changes in University admissions and National Collegiate Athletic Association standards, and the belief that students would do as well with less stigmatization in Rhetoric 10:01 with optional, rather than mandatory, Writing Lab hours.  In 2010, Rhetoric changed their curriculum to remove 10:01 and 10:02 in favor of an all 10:03 curriculum with 10:04 and 10:06 for transfer students who have taken speech or writing respectively.  To replace 10:09 and 10:89, Rhetoric Department Chair Dennis Moore and the Writing Center collaborated with academic advising to start a non-credit, non-graded writing center tutorial called Writing for Academic Success for any student who felt less than confident about writing.

In 1999, we changed our name from Writing Lab to Writing Center because to some teachers, especially those in the national writing center community, "lab" sounded too clinical and too much like a medical model of diagnosis and treatment of illness. Our new name, Writing Center, erases any remaining remedial connotations and expresses the idea that writing can be a problem for everyone (writing researcher Linda Flower said that writing is a problem-solving process). The Writing Center is now the locus for collaboratively solving problems inherent in writing, thinking, and revising.

The torch of the Writing Center passed from the directorship of  Lou Kelley to Allison York in 1989, and then to Carol Severino in 1991. Severino is a professor of Rhetoric.  She researches the relationships between writing, language background, culture, and pedagogy.  Severino has served on the editorial boards of College Composition and Communication, the Journal of Second Language Writing, the Writing Center Journal, and the Learning Assistance Review.

Carol Severino in her EPB office and at the drums with her band Rough Draft.

Under Severino's direction, the Writing Center has expanded noticeably. As demand for the Writing Center grew, its staff increased in number, adding tutors from across the curriculum and a receptionist position. In 2000, the Center added the appointment tutoring program, which allowed students to make as-needed appointments as an alternative to signing up to work in the Center for a whole semester. Several satellite locations opened shortly after, including those in Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop and the Blank Honors Center. In 2007, the Writing Center began offering a community writing center one night a week in the Iowa City Public Library.

In 2002, with funds from the University's Writing Initiative, the center began its e-mail tutoring program (now the online tutoring program) and soon employed a full time e-mail tutor. That position expanded in scope to become an assistant directorship, and in 2008, Matt Gilchrist became the Center's first assistant director. Deirdre Egan, appointed in 2014, is the current assistant director. In 2003, in partnership with the Rhetoric Department and the Honors Program, the Writing Center created the Writing Fellows program. The Writing Fellows is a peer tutoring across the curriculum program. The program extends writing instruction beyond the departments of Rhetoric and English and encourages instructors in departments across the College to consider writing instruction part of their professional responsibility. Writing Fellows are assigned to professors' courses and work with all of their students on drafts of two major course papers. In 2012, several writing fellows were trained to tutor in the writing center and became our first undergraduate writing center tutors. In 2013, a group of trained Linguistics majors became the second group of undergrad writing tutors.

The Writing Center does so much, functions so well, and is such a great place to work and learn because of the creative and collaborative energies of the staff and students.

For Lou Kelly's keynote address at the 2001 Midwest Writing Center Association Conference, September 14-15, Iowa City, IA, click here.

For more on UI Writing Center history, see:

Kelly, Lou. " One-on-One, Iowa City Style: Fifty Years of Individualized Writing Instruction ." Writing Center Journal Fall/Winter, 1980. 4-19.

Stanley, Carrie Ellen. " This Game of Writing: A Study in Remedial English ." College English 4 (1943): 423-28.

Graduate Admissions

Creative Writing (MFA in English)

The MFA in English with a focus in Creative Writing is awarded by the Graduate College. The Creative Writing Program, also known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, also offers  Nondegree Course Work . For the MFA in English with a focus in nonfiction writing, apply to the  Nonfiction Writing Program .

Applicants must meet the  Admission Requirements of the Graduate College  and the department offering the degree program (review the department's web site or the General Catalog for departmental requirements).

Tuition and fees vary by degree program and the type of student you are.

• Fall semester—Dec. 15
• Spring semester—not offered

The graduate application process has two steps

• You must first submit the online application to the Graduate College and pay the $60 application fee by credit card ($100 for international applicants).
• Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an email instructing you on how to upload your supporting documents and submit letters of recommendation. A few programs require materials be sent directly to them. However, almost all supplemental material can and should be uploaded from your Admissions Profile in MyUI , our online service center for applicants and students. You can only access this AFTER you have submitted your application.

Degree Program Supplemental Materials

• Mail manuscript of your best work, with a  Manuscript Cover Sheet (PDF) - address listed below Receipt of your manuscript will be noted on your Admissions Profile.
• A Statement of Purpose
• Application for Graduate Awards
• Your General GRE test scores (optional but recommended)
• Supplemental Financial Aid

Recommendations

The application requirement section of your Profile includes an electronic letter of recommendation feature. If your program of study requires letters of recommendation, you will be asked to give the contact information of your recommenders including their email on your Admissions Profile. The recommender will then get an email giving them instructions on how to upload the recommendation letter and/or form.

• Three letters of recommendation

Materials to send to Admissions

• A set of your unofficial academic records/transcripts uploaded on your Admissions Profile. If you are admitted, official transcripts will be required before your enrollment. For international records, all records should bear the original stamp or seal of the institution and the signature of a school official.  Documents not in English must be accompanied by a complete, literal, English translation, certified by the issuing institution.
• Your official GRE scores are not required for admission to this program. However, applications that include GRE scores may be more competitive for a greater range of financial assistance (the University's institutional code is 6681).
• International students may also be required to submit TOEFL, IELTS, or DuoLingo scores to comply with the university's English Language Proficiency Requirements .
• Once recommended for admission, international students must send a  Financial Statement .

Apply Online , the $60 application fee ($100 for international students) is payable by Discover, MasterCard, or Visa.

Creative Writing Program The University of Iowa 102 Dey House Iowa City, IA 52242-1000 [email protected] 1-319-335-0416

Enrollment Management The University of Iowa 2900 University Capitol Centre 201 S. Clinton St. Iowa City, IA 52242 [email protected] 1-319-335-1523

Writers' Workshop

Summer workshops.

The Writers' Workshop experience in 3-week summer sessions

Study with Writers’ Workshop faculty in three-week graduate-level writing workshops

This summer, the Workshop will offer graduate-level courses in two separate summer school sessions for college credit. Admission is based on manuscript review and is open to all applicants, whether enrolled in a degree program currently or not. Deadline to apply for summer 2024 is March 3rd.

Summer workshops are graduate-level classes offered through the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and taught by Writers' Workshop faculty and visitors. Earned credits will be recorded on an official transcript. 

Join Our Mailing List and Stay Connected   Learn More and Apply to the Summer Workshops

Summer 2024 Fiction Workshops

Claire lombardo, may 14- may 30, 2024 in person.

3-week graduate fiction workshop

Sanjena Sathian

May 14-may 30, 2024 in person.

3-week graduate fiction workshop

Kate Christensen

July 8-july 25, 2024 in person.

  July 8-July 25, 2024 IN PERSON

Summer 2024 Poetry Workshops

Mark levine.

3-week graduate poetry workshop

Hai-Dang Phan

3-week graduate poetry workshop with

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The Nonfiction Writing Program

The Nonfiction Writing Program is one of the oldest—and boldest—nonfiction programs in the nation, located in America's most cherished literary city.

Our faculty are outstanding mentors because they are published working writers, nationally recognized scholars, and pedagogical pathbreakers. Through small workshop-style classes, they will help you hone your creative talent and empower you to tell your stories through essays, memoir, literary journalism, travelogue, biography, and other genres. And you'll have unique opportunities to immerse yourself in writing, from attending readings to editing journals to selecting winners of national awards. 

For the past forty years, the Nonfiction Writing Program has encouraged students to explore new approaches to creative nonfiction while also developing an appreciation for the deep history of the genre.

In small, aesthetically diverse courses such as Forms of the Essay, Readings in Nonfiction, Radio Essays, Literary Journalism, Memoir, Travelogues, and A History of the Essay, the Nonfiction Writing Program strives to create an atmosphere that’s both supportive and challenging, generating discussions and debates in a dynamic community.

During the program’s three years of study, our students receive funding through fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching positions as instructors in writing and literature. They're also eligible for an additional $50,000 in research grants every year to help them pursue their own writing projects.

Occasionally our students travel abroad in a series of overseas writing workshops that are led by the program's faculty, and while on campus they help judge the Iowa Prize in Literary Nonfiction and the annual Krause Essay Prize for innovative essays.

Outside of the classroom, students in the NWP help run a variety of literary organizations, including two highly popular reading series for graduate students, Anthology and Speakeasy. They help read submissions for the national literary magazine The Iowa Review and also edit their own journal The Essay Review .  And finally, they give back, volunteering their time as writing instructors in the Lloyd-Jones Institute for Outreach, through which we offer free and immersive classes in creative writing to people throughout Iowa and beyond.

Krause Essay Prize

Founded in 2006, the Krause Essay Prize is awarded each year to the work that best exemplifies the art of essaying.

Recent NWP News

Krause Essay Prize Ceremony to Celebrate Chris Dennis

NWP Students Barr and Jones Awarded Marcus Bach Fellowship

NWP Alumni Abildskov and Taffa Awarded NEA Fellowships

Congratulations, bennett sims, finalist for the story prize.

NWP MFA student Fi Okupe Founds Nonfiction Award for Nigerian Women

NWP MFA Student Liv Kane Awarded Magdalena Prize

NWP MFA Student Richard Frailing Talks of Essaying in the BlueGAP Project

The Team "Writer's Strike" Wins the NWP's 116th Annual Bowling Tournament

NWP MFA student Fi Okupe uncovers history and discovers stories through unique assistantship

Recent publications by nwp alumni.

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

History Writing Center

The history writing center is open.   .

Contact Information Writing Guides Style and Citation

The Department of History Teaching and Writing Center was founded in 1997 to help undergraduate students improve their history writing skills. Staffed by several graduate student advisors every semester, the Center offers all kinds of help.

• Help you to brainstorm ideas for papers and presentations.
• Help you to polish the rough ideas you already have.
• Help you to organize outlines and papers.
• Help you refine a draft.
• Help you create a strong historical argument.
• Help to demystify the ways that historians talk about history.
• Help you turn in the best paper you possibly can.

To give you the best help we can, we ask that you provide the following:

• A copy of your assignment sheet.
• Any brainstorm diagrams, rough work, or writing you have completed for the project.

General Catalog

Writing, certificate.

This is the first version of the 2023–24 General Catalog. Please check back regularly for changes. The final edition and the historical PDF will be published during the fall semester.

Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the Certificate in Writing develop:

• skills in the craft of writing, such as the ability to write clearly and concisely, control of mechanics and style, and the ability to communicate with particular audiences for specific purposes;
• skills in planning and using strategies to begin writing, overcome obstacles, obtain feedback, revise their work, and present their writing in public venues; and
• competence in discussing writing.

The undergraduate Certificate in Writing requires a minimum of 19 s.h. Students must maintain a grade-point average of at least 2.00 in work for the certificate.

The certificate may be earned by any student admitted to the University of Iowa who is not enrolled in a UI graduate or professional degree program. Undergraduate to Graduate (U2G) students may earn the certificate when the undergraduate classification is primary.

Certificate students explore and develop their own writing skills in a wide range of genres and for varied purposes, including creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry); writing for the professions, such as the arts, business, journalism, or science; writing for organizations; and writing related to personal interests.

The Certificate in Writing also is available online for students unable to attend classes on campus, including professionals, distance education students, nondegree-seeking students, and international students. More information about the online Certificate in Writing is available at the  Magid Center for Writing  website. Some courses below are available online; more online courses are added frequently.

Coursework for the certificate includes a minimum of 9 s.h. in core courses, a minimum of 9 s.h. in focused electives, and a minimum of 1 s.h. in a capstone course. Students may count a maximum of 6 s.h. earned for a major, a minor, or another certificate toward the certificate in writing. Up to 6 s.h. of transfer credit is allowed. For questions regarding the double counting and transfer credit policies, contact the director.

Certificate students have the opportunity to participate in the Iowa City writing community through activities such as attending readings and lectures; presenting their own work in public; working with professional journals, newspapers, or other publications; and volunteering or interning with the  Iowa Youth Writing Project  literacy outreach program.

Certificate in Writing students may not earn the BAS degree with the creative writing emphasis.

See "Professional Track" below for information and requirements regarding the literary publishing track for the Certificate in Writing.

The Certificate in Writing requires the following work.

Core Courses

Focused electives.

Students earn a total of at least 9 s.h. in focused electives, which they select from courses in at least two of the following categories (maximum of 6 s.h. from any one category).

Writing for the Professions

Writing and the literary arts, writing and the media, writing in context, student-designated writing-intensive course.

Each focused elective course may be used to fulfill only one certificate requirement, even if the course is listed in more than one category below. Some of these courses have prerequisites and other requirements for registration; students must complete a course's prerequisites and meet its registration requirements before they may register for the course.

Grant/Proposal Writing

Literature, language, and translation, political science, undergraduate research, creative writing, playwriting, television and screenwriting, other media.

Students may petition to count a course not listed above toward their elective requirements. Petitions must be submitted online and receive prior approval from the Certificate in Writing advisor. Students may also complete  WRIT:4000 Independent Capstone Project or  WRIT:3900 Writing: Undergraduate Internship

Students may also request permission to count a maximum of 3 s.h. earned in a non-writing intensive course numbered 3000 or above as credit toward the focused elective requirement. For this option, students must propose a writing-related project that extends the writing focus of their chosen course. They must have the approval of the faculty member teaching the course and the writing certificate advisor.

Capstone Course

Each student must earn 1 s.h. in a capstone course that serves as a culmination of their Certificate in Writing.

Guided Capstone Portfolio ( WRIT:4001 , 1 s.h.)  is an asynchronous, online, portfolio-based class that allows students the chance to direct their own academic, professional, and creative learning experience by asking them to think critically about where they have come from and where they are headed. Students take the guided capstone portfolio course during the semester they plan to complete the writing certificate. In the course, students revise a piece of their writing, generate one new piece of writing, participate in workshops and critiques, and create a digital portfolio of their work (five pieces total). Their final project also includes an essay that reflects on the work created and the skills gained while pursuing the writing certificate.

Professional Track

Literary publishing.

Students considering a career in literary publishing can learn the ins and outs of the industry and gain a competitive edge by enrolling in the literary publishing track. This unique educational experience provides a substantial understanding of the editorial, design, and managerial work essential to this profession. Students who enroll in the track complete the certificate's core courses (see "Core Courses" above) and fulfill the focused elective requirement by taking a series of two publishing-specific courses and either  WRIT:2900 Book Design for Publishing or WRIT:3000 Publishing Practicum: The Iowa Chapbook Prize (see "Literary Publishing Track Focused Electives" below). Finally, they will take the WRIT:4001 Guided Capstone Portfolio , where they will complete a capstone portfolio drawing from their skills gained while pursuing the literary publishing track.

The literary publishing track, interdisciplinary in scope, is a collaboration between the Magid Center for Writing, the   Nonfiction Writing Program   in the Department of English, the School of  Art and Art History , and the University of Iowa  Center for the Book . For more information, contact the  Magid Center for Writing .

Students may earn either the Certificate in Writing with the literary publishing track or the Bachelor of Arts in English (publishing track) or the Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing (publishing track). Students may not earn the publishing track in both the major and in the writing certificate, and credit earned toward the English or English and creative writing publishing track cannot be counted toward the Certificate in Writing literary publishing track. Students may double count a maximum of 6 s.h. earned for another major, minor, or certificate toward the certificate in writing literary publishing track.

Literary Publishing Track Focused Electives

Recent Certificate in Writing graduates have gone on to work in various fields that are wide-ranging in scope and background. Graduates have found work as teachers, copywriters, editors and publishers, government administrators, freelance journalists, magazine writers, and more. Additionally, graduates often go on to pursue professional programs of study and advanced degrees in law and writing, among other fields. Finally, many recent graduates have found internships during and after their time in the program with publishing companies and magazines across the country.

The  Pomerantz Career Center  offers multiple resources to help students find internships and jobs.

Sample Plan of Study

Sample plans represent one way to complete a program of study. Actual course selection and sequence will vary and should be discussed with an academic advisor. For additional sample plans, see  MyUI .

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2023-24 Catalog

A PDF of the entire 2023-24 catalog.