English & Creative Writing Department
The English and Creative writing program at Cornell offers multiple approaches for students who are interested in the world of writing and communication to learn how to interpret literature, film, and new media, and how to participate in global conversations in an informed and eloquent manner.
Program majors
We offer three major programs of study that allow you to concentrate in creative writing, the study of literature and its role in society, or digital communications in the world of expanding multi-media.
Creative Writing Literature and Society Multimedia and Digital Writing
Program minors
Pairing your study of English with another field is an excellent way to refine your communications skills and level-up what you bring to the marketplace. Or maybe you have a love for literature and creative expression and want to nourish it.
Literature and Social Justice English
Educator pathway
If you are interested in applying your knowledge of English in the K-12 school system, you can pair your major with coursework in Cornell’s Teacher Education Program and leave Cornell with a teaching certificate in English or Language Arts.
Your liberal arts curriculum will give you plenty of opportunity to road-test your writing skills in other courses. You’ll become an expert at communicating effectively, approaching assignments with commitment and creativity, and writing in a lot of different styles. Every subject you study can inform your creative writing and be informed by your skills in textual and media analysis. Many students double major and use their knowledge–in STEM, business, foreign languages, art, sociology, GSS, environmental studies, and anything else–to enhance their analytical and creative projects.
Cornell’s Center for the Literary Arts
You can take part in Cornell’s vibrant literary life through opportunities sponsored by the Center for the Literary Arts. Through the Center's programs, you can take courses led by distinguished visiting writers; attend readings, workshops, and events; contribute to the literary magazines Open Field, BOOM, and the Poetry For chapbook series; and participate in the many activities of the Student Literary Arts Board.
Every year a Distinguished Visiting Writer teaches a course on a unique topic, such as Writing for Podcasts, Documentary Filmmaking, Memoir, Writing with Technology, Speculative Fiction, Hybrid Forms, and Screenwriting.
The “Global Voices” series brings writers from the University of Iowa International Writers Program to visit classes and give readings. Visitors have included poets, fiction writers, book artists and filmmakers from countries such as Cameroon, India, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Russia, Haiti, South Africa, Mexico, and Argentina.
Other writers come as part of the Visiting Writers Series throughout the year to give public readings and engage with students in classes and stand-alone workshops. You will have the opportunity to learn about their work, ask questions, speak informally with these writers–and even share your own work with them.
While faculty offices are in South Hall, the Cornell College Center for the Literary Arts is housed in a charming historic home two doors away with a long tradition of creative activity. Known as the Van Etten-Lacey House, it serves as the hub for workshops, open mics, and readings, and as a gathering place for students to meet visiting writers and publishing professionals.
On “Freewrite Fridays,” the house fills with students and faculty writing, reading, socializing, making book art and enjoying freshly-baked goods from the house kitchen. It is also the publishing home of the college, containing the Open Field Digital Design Studio and the Foxden Press; students and faculty work on an 1876 Washington iron hand press, in the Bindery, in the digital design studio to gain hands-on understanding about publication design and the history of the book.