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Writers in New York

VISITING WRITERS & EDITORS

Visiting writers include recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Believer Book Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations. Also visiting will be editors from n+1, Open City, Slate, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Tin House, and Wave Books.

David Baker, Joshua Beckman, Thomas Beller, Dan Chiasson, Chris Cox, Lydia Davis, Nick Flynn, Bonnie Friedman, Keith Gessen, Edward Hirsch, Radhika Jones, Yusef Komunyakaa, J. Robert Lennon, Sam Lipsyte, Meghan O’Rourke, Nathaniel Rich, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Rachel Sherman, Darin Strauss, Matt Weiland, Monica Youn, Matthew Zapruder and more

FACULTY

Matthew Rohrer (Poetry Craft Seminar) is the author of A Green Light, for which he was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin International Poetry Prize. He is also the author of A Hummock in the Malookas, a winner of the National Poetry Series, Rise Up, Satellite, and Nice Hat. Thanks. (with Joshua Beckman).  He is a recipient of the Hopwood Award for Poetry.

Elissa Schappell (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of Use Me, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and co-editor with Jenny Offill of the anthologies The Friend Who Got Away and Money Changes Everything. She is a co-founder and editor at large of Tin House, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Her essays, articles, and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies such as The Bitch in the House, The KGB Bar Reader, and The Mrs. Dalloway Reader. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Queens in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at Brooklyn College.

Helen Schulman (Fiction Writing Workshop) is the author of the short story collection, Not a Free Show, and four novels, most recently A Day at the Beach. She has been a Sundance Fellow, a New York Foundation for the Arts recipient and a Pushcart-Prize-winner.  She has taught in the MFA program at Columbia University and at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. She is also a professor and fiction coordinator for the MFA program at The New School.

Brenda Shaughnessy (Poetry Writing Workshop) is the author of Interior with Sudden Joy and the forthcoming Human Dark with Sugar, winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She teaches at Princeton University and Eugene Lang College.

Irini Spanidou (Fiction Craft Seminar) is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: Fear, God’s Snake, and, most recently, Before. She has taught creative writing at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College. Her work has been translated into several languages, including her native Greek.

Joanna Yas (Associate Director) has been the editor of Open City, a literary journal and book publisher, since 1999. Previously, she held positions at Ploughshares, Grand Street, and Zoetrope, and is a co-founder of Editrixie, an editorial services company. She has conducted panels and seminars on publishing at a variety of universities, including The New School, Sarah Lawrence, Columbia, and NYU.

Deborah Landau
(Director) is the author of Orchidelirium, which won the Anhinga Prize for Poetry. She has taught creative writing and literature at Brown, Antioch, The New School, and NYU, and is Director of the Creative Writing Program at NYU.

PROGRAM

Classes and readings are held in the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, home of the NYU Creative Writing Program. Located on one of the most beautiful blocks in Greenwich Village, this historic townhouse has been a gathering spot for artists and intellectuals since the 1870s. It was in this building that members of the Tile Club, a group of notable painters, sculptors and architects, met and conducted their famous symposia. Today, the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House allows students to learn and write in the same neighborhood where so many writers—including Mark Twain, E.E. Cummings, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Marianne Moore, Richard Wright, and Frank O’Hara—have lived and worked.  Writers House is also an ideal setting for the intimate readings, literary salons, panel discussions, seminars and lectures that are held throughout the year.

Students who participate in Writers in New York choose to focus on either poetry or fiction and attend daily writing workshops and craft sessions. Classes are supplemented by readings and lectures by New York-based writers and publishing professionals. Field trips, cultural activities, readings, and guest lectures constitute an integral component of the program; students are expected to attend and actively participate in all of them. 

Classes meet in the afternoons (2:30pm-5:00pm), Monday-Thursday. Evenings (6:00pm-8:00pm) feature readings, lectures, panel discussions, and special events. The schedule includes time for writing, reading, and exploring New York. The program culminates in a celebratory reading showcasing student work. This is a four-week undergraduate program carrying eight points of credit. Enrollment in the entire program is required.

Courses in Fiction or Poetry
Writers in New York: Fiction
V39.0818 - Spanidou (craft seminar), Foy (workshop) - 8 Points
V39.0818 - Spanidou (craft seminar), Schulman (workshop) - 8 Points

Writers in New York: Poetry
V39.0819 - Rohrer (craft seminar), Shaughnessy (workshop) - 8 Points

Craft Seminars
The craft seminars are literature courses taught by writers for writers about the craft of writing. Craft courses are designed to complement the writing workshops. Students study great works of literature (poems, short stories, and novels) in order to learn how to create their own. Emphasis is on close reading and the basic elements of craft. Poetry students read exemplary poems and study voice, style, line, image, music, metaphor, syntax, and diction. Fiction writers consider stories and novels with a focus on the basic techniques of fiction, including plot, narrative, dialogue, tone, structure, rhythm, setting, and style. Course format includes both lecture and discussion.

Writing Workshops
The writing workshops in fiction or poetry are central to the Writers in New York program. Workshops are led by professional writers who are also gifted teachers. Students learn the art and craft of writing by studying exemplary literary works and generating new original work of their own. Students gain experience responding to the poetry or prose of others and receive detailed faculty feedback on work in progress. Complementary reading and writing exercises are given to inspire and instruct. Students learn how to read closely and are given guidance on the art of revision, the business of publishing, and all aspects of the writer's life. Workshops are limited to 12 students. Individual private conferences supplement coursework. Each student submits a final portfolio of writing at the end of the program.

Evening Colloquium
All students attend a nightly series of readings, lectures, panel discussions, publishing forums, literary walking tours, and special events, including The Paris Review Summer Salon.

HOUSING

Please note: housing is not guaranteed at the time of application to the Writers in New York program.  If you are accepted into Writers in New York and would like NYU housing, you must submit a separate housing application.  A minimum three-week payment per application must be included when you submit a completed housing application to the Office of Summer Housing.  Once your application is complete, it typically takes four to six weeks to receive a confirmation of your status. 

COSTS

University Services Fee
For students not enrolled for the Spring 2008 term: $213
For students enrolled for the Spring 2008 term: $186

Program & Activities Fee
$250

NYU Summer Housing (Optional)
Enrolled student housing rates differ based on accommodation type and whether or not a meal plan is required.  Please visit the Office of Summer Housing website for rate information.

APPLICATION

Eligibility
Writers in New York is open to NYU and Non-NYU Students. You must have a high school diploma or equivalent to apply.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION