sfsu creative writing department

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Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

The B.A. Degree in English:  Creative Writing

The undergraduate major in English: Creative Writing has been designed to recognize the difference between the educational objectives of students concentrating in Creative Writing and those concentrating in a traditional English program.

The English: Creative Writing major program emphasizes the primary importance of the study and practice of writing. In the writing courses offered by the Creative Writing Department, students learn how to communicate in the special language of fiction, drama, and poetry. In the creative process courses, topics such as Plays: Reading and Viewing, Personal Narrative, Contemporary World Poetry, and The Short-Short Story teach students to look at literature from the point of view of the writer through a study of technique, structure, and style. The craft courses introduce  the basic elements of writing fiction, poetry, or plays.

The English: Creative Writing major program also requires a number of literature courses so that students will continue to be exposed to the best writing of the present and past, as well as courses in theory, language, and literary criticism.

A Creative Writing B.A. major may be taken in the genres of Fiction, Poetry and Playwriting or a blend of those genres.

Access the list of the major requirements to better understand the structure of the major.

The roadmap puts all of your graduation requirements into an easy-to-follow semester-by-semester plan so you know what to take to stay on track.  Whether you are a freshman or a transfer student, you'll be able to find a roadmap that best fits you. 

Besides your major requirements, students must complete their GE and University requirements.  Be sure to make sure you've completed all of these requirements for graduation. 

To learn more about this major, check out the major department’s website below.  You can also find out how you can access their faculty advisors who can assist you not just with course choices, but also answer questions about the field and discuss your career plans.     

Department of Creative Writing

Humanities (HUM) Building, Room 573 Phone: (415) 338-1891 Email:  [email protected] Website:  https://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/ Chair: Nona Caspers

Freshmen Student Advising Information

After choosing “Basic Subjects” GE courses in  Steps 1-3  of your  Orientation process (if you haven’t done so, log onto your Orientation Profile page to follow the “Pre-Orientation Advising Module”), STEP 4   Choosing Major Classes will show you if there are any classes you can take to satisfy  major requirements  for your first and/or second semester.

Once you have determined your Roadmap above, review the first section below and write down any course recommendations based on your corresponding major roadmap on your  Freshmen Class Planner worksheet.

What major course(s) should I prioritize and successfully complete in my first semester?

First Semester Course Recommendations — Roadmaps A, B, C & D 

If there are any course(s) listed above, please enter this information onto “Step 4” of your Freshmen Class Planner. 

Transfer Student Advising Information

Please see the box above labeled “Major Curriculum/Roadmaps & GE/University Requirements” for information on what courses to take in your first semester at SF State. View our  Frequently Asked Questions for Transfers  for helpful tips and additional information.

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Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing

Our new B.A. in Creative Writing path is being offered to students who enroll beginning in Fall 2021 and beyond. To review the previous degree please take a look below at the B.A. in English: Creative Writing section.

• B.A. in Creative Writing
• B.A. in English: Creative Writing
• Community Projects in Literature

To review the degree requirements and roadmap options please visit our  academic bulletin .

If you are reviewing your Degree Progress Report and the courses taken do not reflect in their corresponding areas, please email Katherine Kwid at  [email protected]  to look into getting that updated.

Last offered in the Spring 2021 semester, the undergraduate major of English; Creative Writing combines the academic specifications of the traditional English major with the experiential needs of the writing student. If you joined our major before the Fall 2021 semester please read below for information about your degree. If you have joined us in Fall 2021 or after, please review the B.A. in Creative Writing page to find your degree requirements.

Students who enter this program should do so only under the strongly held assumption that they have abilities as writers that may be fostered and trained by such a discipline as described here. It is hoped that this combined program of writing and literature will lead students to a cohesive study and discipline that combines breadth with intensity. Accordingly, some greater latitude of choice in literature courses is allowed in the creative writing major. Studies will lead them to a degree in English with a creative writing emphasis. Ample guidance of the creative writing advisors helps insure that students will not be deprived of a sense of the history of literature. In this regard they will continue to be fully qualified as potential graduate students in English as well as prepared should they wish to continue as M.A. or M.F.A. candidates in a creative writing program.

The 42 unit B.A. balances 27 semester units of writing courses with 15 semester units of literature courses designed to increase the student's depth and breadth of knowledge. The required 9 semester hours of Creative Process classes can be chosen from topics such as: Personal Narrative, American Poetics, Contemporary World Poetry, Style in Fiction, The Short-Short Story and Plays: Reading and Viewing. Also required is a course chosen from one of two areas: "Theory and Language" or "Writing from the American Experience," which includes a selection of courses from the departments of English, Ethnic Studies and Women Studies.

Being sheltered doesn’t cut down on opportunities to volunteer for literary organizations: it creates new ones. Many organizations are interested in working at a distance with our students this fall. Early in my search for workable community engagement, quite a few organizations have stepped forward to express interest in CW 675 and 875 students:

These include Nomadic Press, Associated Writing Programs (AWP), Writeaways Residency, Foglifter Magazine, Poetry Flash, Berkeley Poetry Festival, Lyrics and Dirges Reading Series, the Milvia Street Journal, two different organizations that connect writers to incarcerated people, Amnesty International: these are some of the new organizations.

Students will also be free to make their own connection for a writing projects that sustain us through COVID. Class meets at the beginning and end as a group; you do your community project in the middle and contribute through I-Learn to an ongoing discussion of your project. Email Andrew Joron, [email protected]  if you want to get your own community project idea approved before the class.

CW 675/875 Community Projects in Literature is an opportunity to gain experience in the fields of publication, teaching and arts administration which will make valuable additions to your resume. Though each internship will be individually shaped you will make a commitment of at least six hours a week for the length of the semester to earn three units credit.

Below is link to a list of organizations which you may use as a guide to finding a community project or you can find one on your own. This list includes on-campus  opportunities such as the Poetry Center. You also may create your own project as well; for example, teaching writing workshops in community, institution or school settings or creating a reading series.

Typically, the organizations listed will ask you for a brief resume; try to give them some idea of the kinds of experience you already have.  For example, did you work on a campus journal, can you operate a computer, file and write clearly?

View our list of  Community Projects Leads .

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• Telephone: (415) 338-1891

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Michelle Carter

Available for Zoom, phone, or email advising. Please email to arrange a phone or zoom appointment. 

Michelle Carter is a two-time recipient of the PEN USA Award in Drama.  She has also received the Susan Glaspell Award, the Ebell Playwright Prize, the PEN West Award, Backstage West's Garland Award, and a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nomination as well as an NEA Literature Fellowship and a National Theater Project Creation and Touring grant.  She's held residencies at Berkeley Repertory Theater's Ground Floor, the Donmar Warehouse in London, the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, and the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown.  Her plays have been produced and developed at the Moscow Art Theater, the Donmar Warehouse, the Playwrights Horizons SuperLab, Arcola Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Center Theater Group, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Shotgun Players, Aurora Theatre, Magic Theatre, Symmetry Theatre, AlterTheater, Bridge Street Theater, the New York Summer Play Festival, and the Grimeborn Opera Festival in London, among others.  Music theater and dance theater projects include: DREAMSPIEL, a Ukulele Opera (libretto, lyrics) with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Arcola Theatre, London; AFTER ALL, Part I, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts;  and IRON SHOES, (libretto), with Kitka, at Shotgun Players.  She has published plays with Dramatic Publishing, many short stories and essays, and a novel with Penguin Books.

• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: (415) 338-1891

Office Hours

Quick links.

• Undergraduate Advising Center
• SF Bulletin
• Academic Calendar