Deadline extended! Fall 2026's Creative Writing Workshops at Barnard, featuring Paul Muldoon, Maria Hinojosa, Zaina Arafat and more!

 

L-R: Zaina Arafat, Farnoosh Fathi, Nellie Hermann, Maria Hinojosa, Brionne Janae, Patricia Spears Jones, Ellen McLaughlin, Paul Muldoon, Idra Novey, Nina Sharma, Weike Wang, and Kate Zambreno

We're accepting applications for Fall 2026's creative writing courses until August 10th, and all Barnard students and Columbia undergraduates are invited to apply! Our offerings include workshops in prose, poetry, and playwriting, taught by acclaimed writers including Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Muldoon and Maria Hinojosa, Lambda Literary Award winner Zaina Arafat, former New York State Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones, and more! All experience levels are welcome, with introductory workshops geared towards beginners and advanced workshops intended for more experienced writers. You can see all of our course offerings here (Columbia students will need to submit an access request, which will be approved within 24 hours), and apply to up to three workshops via the application form. The more workshops you apply to, the higher your chances of being placed in one of your choices. The form will close at 8:59AM ET on Monday, August 10th, and all applicants will be informed of their status on Friday, September 4th. Waitlisting is only required once workshop assignments have been made and applicants notified. If you have any questions, please contact mkumarad@barnard.edu and they will be glad to assist you.

The English Conference - Art and Artifact with Jennifer Egan (ENGL BC3098) available for Fall 2026!

The English Department is offering The English Conference this fall, featuring Jennifer Egan—an acclaimed American novelist and journalist! Please see the flyer and information down below!

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This is a 1-point course that will meet on Tuesdays from 2:10 to 4PM on October 6, October 13, October 20, and October 27.

In this course, you will explore the following: What is fiction, exactly, and why does it matter? In our screen-dominated era, these questions are worth asking and answering afresh. 

The course will examine the ways in which works of literature—likely to include short novels or novellas by Nella Larsen, Jean Rhys, Chester Himes and Philip Roth—offer portals into both the public mores and private experience of their eras. Each work will be examined through four lenses: 1. Technology; 2. Bodies and sexuality 3. Identity and exclusion, and 4. Notions of consciousness. The craft choices that enable their authors to achieve specific effects, with an eye toward physical description, point of view, and characterization will also be studied. The conference will include creative in-class handwritten exercises aimed at accessing the unconscious and generating fruitful material. No previous literary training is necessary, and students of every age and discipline are welcome.

If you're interested in taking this course, please find more information here.

Apply to Fall 2026's Creative Writing Workshops, featuring Jhumpa Lahiri, Paul Muldoon, Maria Hinojosa, Zaina Arafat and more!

  

Fall 2026's instructors, L-R: Zaina Arafat, Farnoosh Fathi, Nellie Hermann, Maria Hinojosa, Brionne Janae, Patricia Spears Jones, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ellen McLaughlin, Paul Muldoon, Idra Novey, Nina Sharma, Weike Wang, and Kate Zambreno

Applications are now open for Fall 2026's creative writing courses, and all Barnard students are invited to apply! Our offerings include workshops in prose, poetry, and playwriting, taught by acclaimed writers including Pulitzer Prize winners Jhumpa Lahiri*, Maria Hinojosa, and Paul Muldoon, Lambda Literary Award winner Zaina Arafat, former New York State Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones, and more! All experience levels are welcome, with introductory workshops geared towards beginners and advanced workshops intended for more experienced writers. You can see all of our course offerings here and apply to up to three workshops via the application form. The more workshops you apply to, the higher your chances of being placed in one of your choices. The form will close at 11:59PM on Sunday, August 2nd, and all applicants will be informed of their status on Friday, September 4th. Waitlisting is only required once workshop assignments have been made and applicants notified. If you have any questions, please contact mkumarad@barnard.edu or see our FAQs for First-Year students (login required to view) here.

*Please note that only 30 applications will be accepted to Professor Jhumpa Lahiri's Fall 2026 creative writing workshop, "Fiction and Personal Narrative-For Man is a Centaur: Reading Primo Levi". Please click here to see more information on the workshop and to submit your application. There are still a few application spots remaining!

ENGL BC1349 (Children's Literature) course available for Fall 2026!

Hello!

Please see the flyer down below for information on an upcoming English course available for the Fall 2026 term if you are interested!

Professor Monica Cohen is teaching a lecture called Children's Literature. It satisfies an Arts and Humanities Requirement, and it can satisfy a "Thinking About Social Difference," "Thinking Through Global Inquiry," or a "Thinking with Historical Perspective" Requirement!

Children's Literature

ENGL BC1349

T/R 2:40-3:55

M. Cohen

Much of who we are as adults --what makes us cry and what makes us laugh--

began in the first stories that absorbed us and gave us so much pleasure. Return

to that pleasure from an analytical perspective, exploring fairytales and

folktales, coming-of-age stories, domestic fiction designed to educate girls,

adventure romance marketed to boys, and fantasy. Readings may include

The Adventures of Pinocchio; Little Women; The Lion, the Witch, and the

Wardrobe; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Treasure Island; Harry Potter;

and selections from the Arabian Nights and European fairytales.