Creative Writing (Minor)

Program Description

Crafting a compelling narrative or poem is not only deeply satisfying in and of itself. We tell stories, memorize our favorite lyrics, and share lines from our favorite films because the right words in the right order create deep connections between and among us that resonate not only with our times, but with our pasts and our hoped-for futures. 

Sharpening and refining your skills as a writer and as a reader also makes enormous practical sense. Whatever your career path, the better you are at communication, persuasion and at reading people and situations, the greater your success will be. Careful, sustained practice in reading, writing and discussing fiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, games, films, creative nonfiction and today's emerging digital storytelling forms transfers directly to skills essential to success in business, marketing, journalism, game development, interactive media arts, the sciences  you name it. 

And at NYU Shanghai, we focus not only only writing in English, but on ways in which multilingual writing and literary translation can further enhance and deepen both your creativity and practical communication, analytic, and persuasion skills.

You can also gain valuable experience by working with fellow students and faculty on print and digital publication projects, whether it‘s our annual print journal, The Poplar Review 杨高, our student-run online journal Bright Lines 青, or our BackLit video interviews with renowned visiting writers and translators who appear in our NYU Shanghai Literary Reading Series.

At NYU Shanghai, creative writing is not just about you and your words alone  it's also about community, events, connection, learning new skills, and growth.

Finally, if you're a Humanities or Interactive Media Arts major at NYU Shanghai, many of our courses can both fulfill elective credits and enrich and inform your studies in your major.