Creative Writing

Contact the English Department and request to be added via email (english@miamioh.edu), phone (513-529-5221), or in-person visit (134 Harris Hall).

The mission of the Creative Writing major is to combine a joyfully intensive writing practice — with courses available in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, and more — with critical thinking skills developed through the analysis and interpretation of literary texts and creative work across genres and media. Combining the workshop model with courses in literature and the literary marketplace, the major develops fluent written and oral communication skills; trains students to locate patterns in, analyze, and interpret complex and surprising information; enhances creative flexibility and inventiveness; and empowers students to entertain, inspire, and speak to the world.

Creative Writing majors have found great success interning for literary publishers and presses, including with such entities as HarperCollins, The Book Group, F(r)iction magazine, Brink Literacy Project, and London’s Peirene Press. There are also opportunities available within the program itself through Miami University Press, including unique internships in literary editing and small-press marketing and book promotion.

Generously supported by the McComb Family Fund, the Marianne D. McComb Conference on Creative Writing is a biennial conference which explores special topics in creative writing, the creative process, genre, and the writing life. This two-day undergraduate conference is free and open to the public and brings in visiting writers, artists, and presenters to explore such topics as graphic literature, science fiction and popular literature, writing literatures of addiction and mental leath, and, most recently, writing resilience and joy, our 2023 conference featuring Ross Gay, Lydia Conklin, and Talia Kamara among many others, including Miami undergraduates presenting their own creative and critical work.

In non-conference years, the McComb Family Fund sponsors the Marianne D. McComb Lecturer in Creative Writing, a visiting writer who conducts an intensive special topics workshop with undergraduates. Past courses have focused on writing for (and about) video games with Cara Ellison and the ethics of storytelling in film with Dave Kajganich; the 2023-24 iteration of the series is "The Craft of Television Writing" with Dean Bakopoulos, Head of Screenwriting Arts at the University of Iowa. 

Our Annual Publishing Symposium brings together professionals from around the literary world—including agents, editors, and debut authors—for a discussion on the publishing industry and process and to offer advice for students seeking to publish their work, as well as for those students seeking to work within publishing. In most years, our panel includes an alumnus of the program who can speak to their path from the Miami classroom to their work in literary production. The Publishing Symposium is usually held in April of each year; please see our events calendar [link to come] for more.

Creative Writing students can apply for a range of scholarships and awards, including the prestigious Greer Hepburn and Montaine Prizes, the Cathy Denny Scholarship in Creative Writing, and the Bookwalter Award in Creative Writing.

Yes! Visit https://sites.miamioh.edu/creativewriting/

• Joseph Bates | Associate Professor, Miami University Press Co-Editor | batesjr@MiamiOH.edu
• Lizzie Hutton | Assistant Professor, Director of the Howe Writing Center | huttoneb@MiamiOH.edu
• Margaret Luongo | Professor | luongomm@MiamiOH.edu
• TaraShea Nesbit | Associate Professor | nesbittm@MiamiOH.edu
• Brian Roley | Director of Creative Writing, Professor | brianroley@MiamiOH.edu
• Jen Sammons | Visiting Assistant Professor | sammonjh@MiamiOH.edu
• Emily Spencer | Assistant Professor | spencee@MiamiOH.edu
• Keith Tuma | Professor, Miami University Press Co-Editor | tumakw@MiamiOH.edu
• Cathy Wagner | Professor | cwagner@MiamiOH.edu