Undergraduate Courses & Registration

Below is a list of undergraduate courses offered in creative writing, with detailed information regarding the prerequisites and processes for enrolling. Questions about requirements? Please contact undergraduate creative writing program coordinator Ron Kuka at rfkuka@wisc.edu, or write to undergraduate advisor Erin Polnaszek Boyd at advisor@english.wisc.edu.

Creative writing courses may be repeated for University credit any number of times. However, only creative writing courses numbered ENGL 400 or above may be repeated for credit toward the English Major with an Emphasis in Creative Writing. Students should not register for more than one creative writing class in any given semester unless one of the classes is a 411 (411 Special Topics classes combine more reading and less writing than other creative writing classes).

Although we do encourage creative writing emphasis students to take both prose and poetry workshops, you may take your three required workshops in a single genre. However, we recommend that students not repeat the same course with the same instructor.

ENGL 207: Beginning Fiction & Poetry Workshop is open only to freshmen and sophomores. In this course, students are taught the fundamental elements of craft in both fiction (plot, point of view, dialogue, and setting, etc.) and poetry (the image, the line, sound and meter, etc.). Please note that sophomore standing is determined by the number of credits you have completed, not the number of years you have been at the University.

ENGL 307: Intermediate Fiction & Poetry is similar in structure to ENGL 207, but is open to any student with junior standing, or any student (including sophomores) who has completed ENGL 207. Students may register online. If all sections are closed, please contact Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka.

ENGL 407: Nonfiction Workshop is an intermediate workshop in creative nonfiction. Students must have completed (or be currently enrolled in) ENGL 207 (formerly ENGL 203) or in ENGL 307, 407, 408, 409, or 410 (formerly ENGL 300-307) as prerequisites for this course, and may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka.

ENGL 408: Fiction Workshop is an intermediate workshop in fiction only. Students must have completed (or be currently enrolled in) ENGL 207 (formerly ENGL 203) or in ENGL 307, 407, 408, 409, or 410 (formerly ENGL 300-307) as prerequisites for this course, and may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka.

ENGL 409: Poetry Workshop is an intermediate workshop in poetry only. Students must have completed (or be currently enrolled in) ENGL 207 (formerly ENGL 203) or in ENGL 307, 407, 408, 409, or 410 (formerly ENGL 300-307) as prerequisites for this course, and may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka.

ENGL 410: Playwriting Workshop (formerly an ENGL 307 “Special Topics” course) is an intermediate workshop in playwriting only. Students must have completed (or be currently enrolled in) ENGL 207 (formerly ENGL 203) or in ENGL 307, 407, 408, 409, or 410 (formerly ENGL 300-307) as prerequisites for this course, and may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka.

ENGL 508: Advanced Fiction Workshop (formerly ENGL 304) is offered intermittently, and is intended for students who have taken or are enrolled with good standing in ENGL 408 (formerly ENGL 301). Students who meet this prerequisite may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka. Please note: it is not necessary to take an advanced level workshop to graduate with an Emphasis in Creative Writing.

ENGL 509: Advanced Poetry Workshop is offered intermittently, and is intended for students who have taken or are enrolled with good standing in ENGL 409 (formerly ENGL 302). Students who meet this prerequisite may enroll online. Students who do not meet the requirements may submit a writing sample to the instructor via Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka. Please note: it is not necessary to take an advanced level workshop to graduate with an Emphasis in Creative Writing.

ENGL 411: Special Topics is offered intermittently and is intended for students who have completed an introductory or intermediate course in creative writing. Recent and upcoming Special Topics have included “African American Poetics,” “Poetic Forms,” “Climate Fiction Writing,” “Writers in the World,” “Literary Publishing,” and other subject-specific, theme-specific, or form-specific aspects of fiction or poetic craft.

ENGL 695: Directed Creative Writing is also known as the Creative Writing Thesis. To enroll in this class, you must be a senior who has completed 9 credits in creative writing at the 300 level or above, or who has received special permission from Creative Writing Program Coordinator Ron Kuka. In this course, students meet one-on-one with a creative writing instructor every other week to complete 60+ pages of creative prose, 30+ pages of poetry, or a play or screenplay of comparable length. English 695 may not be taken concurrently with another creative writing class without prior approval of the Program Director. If you are a creative writing major in your final semester, but are not able to enroll for 695 online, please contact Ron Kuka.

In addition to the courses listed here, undergraduates can earn creative writing credit as staff members for UW-Madison’s nationally distributed literary journal, The Madison Review

Contact

Undergraduate Coordinator Ron Kuka
Program in Creative Writing
Department of English
600 N. Park St, H.C. White Rm 6195
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706

phone: 608-263-3374