phd creative writing yale

Yale Creative Writing

• English Department

Students from all disciplines in Yale College enroll in the department’s creative writing courses. For students who wish to try their hand at learning basic elements of craft, the department recommends  English 123, Introduction to Creative Writing . This course, combining the small workshop format with lectures and readings by distinguished writers, offers hands-on experience in fiction, poetry, and drama. It is open to all undergraduates, without prerequisite or application.  Read more …

A comprehensive list of readings at Yale can be found  here .

News and Events

TYR Fiction Writers Announced as Finalists for ASME’s 2023 National Magazine Awards

Anne Fadiman in Harper's on Bunky the Frog

Yale Henry Fellow Emil Sands' article in The Atlantic

Louise Gluck delivers 2022 Foundational Courses Lecture

Yale Younger Poets Prize winner Mary-Alice Daniel '08

Lillie Lainoff ('18) Publishes Debut Novel: One For All

Pictures from some of our recent events can be found here .

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• Writing and Public Speaking Consultations
• Writing Workshops and Panels
• Writing Peer-Review Groups

Writing Retreats and All Writes

• Online Writing Resources for Graduate Students
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• Academic Strategies Program
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About the graduate writing lab.

The Graduate Writing Lab supports GSAS and professional school students as researchers, writers, and communicators. Our programs augment coursework and traditional academic training, creating community around writing and helping graduate students develop the skills, habits, and mindsets of successful scholars and professionals.

Graduate Writing Lab Programs

Writing consultations.

Receive feedback on work in progress during a free, 1-on-1 meeting with a Graduate Writing Lab Fellow. We’ll meet with you to discuss any writing project at any point in the writing process. Your consultant will listen to your goals for your project and work with you to achieve them. Our Fellows hold over 2500 consultations every year with graduate students from across the disciplines.  Schedule a consultation or visit our Writing Consultations page for more information.

Workshops and Panels

The Graduate Writing Lab offers over 100 workshops and panels every year. Our interactive workshops cover such topics as “Research adn Writing,” “Presenting Engagingly,” “Applying for Fellowships,” and “Styling your Academic Writing.” Panel sessions feature experts on a range of topics related to research, writing, and communication. Visit our Workshops and Panels page for a list of upcoming events.

Peer-Review Groups

Peer-review groups improve the quality, motivation, and pleasure of academic writing by creating a supportive community of scholars working on similar projects. Each year more than 30 groups of 5–7 graduate students participate in semesterlong peer-review groups covering such projects prospectuses, dissertations, and fellowship applications. Visit our Peer-Review Groups page for more information.

Gain focus and motivation by writing in the company of other graduate students. The Graduate Writing Lab offers three half-day “All Writes” per month during the academic year, a long-weekend writing retreat at the start of each term, and a weeklong “write into summer” retreat every May. You supply your research and writing materials and we’ll supply food, coffee, and structure to keep you writing. Learn more and check for upcoming events on our Writing Retreats and Study Halls page .

Public Speaking Resources

Practice a lecture, speech, or presentation in the Graduate Writing Lab’s Public Speaking Studio .  Our PitchVantage software will give you feedback on nine elements of your delivery, with links to tips on how to improve. PhD students can receive intensive help on their presentation skills by completing the Poorvu Center Certificate for Public Communication .

Before submitting your paper, use Turnitin to check that you’ve cited your sources fairly and accurately. Join the Canvas course where you can upload your paper or visit our Turnitin page for more information.

Online Writing Resources

The Graduate Writing Lab’s collection of online resources includes downloadable English Grammar Tutorials for non-native speakers; guides on dissertation writing , fellowship writing , publishing , and using sources ; and collections of resources for Law School and Divinity School students.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

For graduate students looking for expert advice on planning, drafting, and revising their research paper, dissertation, presentation, or any other writing project.

Reserve a Room

The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning partners with departments and groups on-campus throughout the year to share its space. Please review the reservation form and submit a request.

Learn about Peer-Review groups and how they can amplify your writing progress! We offer groups for dissertation writing, research paper writing, and fellowship writing.

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About the department.

For more than a century, English at Yale has been an important force in the academic study of literature and a key part of Yale’s educational mission. The Department teaches the majority of first-years in Yale College, graduates more than 100 majors in every Yale class, and trains PhDs in English, who become scholars and teachers of literature. Over the decades our PhDs have gone on to leadership positions throughout the academic profession.

Intellectual range and conceptual innovation characterize the history of influential books that have emerged from Yale English. The Department today represents a wide variety of scholarly and critical approaches to the study of Anglophone literature and literary history. As scholars and teachers, we have great strength in poetry as well as the novel, nonfiction prose and the drama and performance studies, and our faculty covers the entire historical range of literature in English from Beowulf to recent fiction, poetry, and drama from all parts of the English-speaking world.  Our work has developed connections with many other disciplines, including history, art history, political philosophy and theory, and literature in other languages, as well as the contemporary interdisciplines such as gender studies and cultural studies.  Strong in the history of the book, we study the changing media environments of the written word and the arts of writing, from the periods before printing to the digital age.  We study also the globalization of English in the contemporary period, and the shifting cultural maps of Anglophone writing.

For undergraduates, the Department offers an array of introductory courses designed to develop fundamental writing skills, powers of argument and analysis, and a historical perspective on literature. The English Major introduces students to the many traditions of imaginative writing in English through courses focused on both familiar topics such as Milton or Modern American Literature and the newest areas of faculty investigation. The Department aims to help deepen students’ insights into their own experience and to develop their ability to express their ideas orally and in writing.  Yale English majors have an astonishing recent history of writing awards and successful publication.

In addition to courses in literature and expository writing, the Department is the home of creative writing at Yale. Our illustrious writers work in all of the major genres—fiction, poetry, play and film writing, nonfiction prose, journalism—and together they make this one of the strongest undergraduate programs in creative writing in the United States.