Bachelor of Arts [B.A] [English - Creative Writing] From Illinois State University

Creative Writing allows students to explore such topics as fiction, poetry and poetics, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, the novel, memoir, literary journalism, women's literature, narrative theory, memory and trauma studies, digital technologies and the African diaspora, African American literature, and oppositional/experimental poetics.It also allows students to study popular culture in fiction, defining the black aesthetic, the relationship of music and fiction, moral philosophy as it relates to literary production, animals, animality, veganism, hybrid texts, hybrid writing, the sociology of literary production and cultural formation of literary taste, and transgeneric writing.

The Creative Writing program respects and encourages innovation. Students have the opportunity to develop their talents by focusing on Creative Writing courses in their genre of choice: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or a combination. They will study literature from a diverse standpoint while learning how literary artists utilize literary theory and aesthetics.

The sequence helps students advance in their writing apprenticeships and broaden their understanding of their genre through both artistic and scholarly lenses. It encourages reading in literature generally and provides an opportunity to study language and linguistics, which enhances a student's understanding of their fundamental tools.