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Creative Writing Major

What is a Major in Creative Writing?

Participate in a wide range of courses reflective of your creative interests. You'll learn about major writers, literary traditions, and contemporary innovations. Under the guidance of published writers, you'll also develop a portfolio of material showcasing your range and versatility as a creative writer.

Why Study Creative Writing at Virginia Tech?

Here, you will study with distinguished authors including Matthew Vollmer, Lucinda Roy, Jeff Mann, Evan Lavender-Smith, Sophia Terazawa, and Khadijah Queen. We also host a variety of campus readings for you to attend by renowned poets, playwrights, essayists, and fiction writers. Some of our past visiting writers have included:

  • Viet Than Ngyuen
  • George Saunders
  • Carrie Fountain
  • Douglas Kearney
  • Matthew Salesses
  • Jenny Boully
  • Zadie Smith
  • Terry Tempest Williams
  • Kevin Young
  • Terrance Hayes
  • Cheryl Strayed
  • Ocean Vuong

The major offers workshops that allow you to share your poems, stories, and essays with peer's to help you grow as a writer. With this opportunity, you can improve your writing skills while building your portfolio.

 
3
Study Abroad Programs

 
24
Average Class Size

 
100+
English Courses Offered

Careers and Further Study

What can you do with a major in Creative Writing?

Jobs Held by Our Graduates

  • Author
  • Creative manager
  • Literary agent
  • Publisher
  • Grant writer
  • Blogger
  • Archivist
  • Marketer
  • Curator
  • Video game developer
  • Editor and copywriter
  • Web designer
  • Television writer
  • Teacher
  • Journalist and reporter

Beyond the Classroom

Experiential Learning

Get Experience

Engage in your profession by writing, researching, editing, and making connections with employers across the country. Apply the knowledge and skills you learn in the classroom to the workplace. Internships earn academic credit and provide valuable real-world experience. 

collaborate
Collaborate

You will work with a faculty mentor to experiment with language, find inspiration, grow as an artist, and share your work with peers and mentors. Learn how to brainstorm and experiment, gain experience performing your work for audiences, learn how to critique stories, poems, and plays in a workshop setting, and submit your work to literary magazines.

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Study Away

We host a faculty-led trip to London, an exchange program with Loughborough University, and a Wintermester Experience that visits different locations each year. These experiences enrich your understanding of the history and culture of the English language and its literature.

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Faculty Mentors

Our diverse faculty is made up of published authors and poets, accomplished playwrights and essayists, and recipients of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. We love mentoring our students and take great pride in watching them grow as writers.

collaborate

During our Creative Writing major workshops, you will have the opportunity to share your stories, poems, and essays with your classmates. You'll offer critiques, compliments, suggestions, and interpretations of your peers work; you'll receive the same in return. No two workshops will ever be the same. Our goal is to help you improve your writing skills.


Bachelor of Arts in English Degree

Creative Writing Major Requirements

  • Introduction to Critical Reading
  • Introduction to Critical Writing
  • Literary History
  • Acts of Interpretation
  • Writing and Digital Media
  • Capstone Experience 

Minor and Elective Hours

Our program gives you the opportunity to build knowledge in another area by pursuing a minor, double major, or cognate.


120 hrs
B.A. English

45 hrs
General Education

39 hrs
Major Requirements

36 hrs
Elective


 

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