Nonfiction writing specialization to be offered by 2016-17 school year

Students with a passion for nonfiction will soon have the opportunity to graduate with a body of work.

Those interested in pursuing a specialization in nonfiction writing will be able to complete a senior honors thesis by the 2016-17 school year, according to creative writing director Daniel Wallace.

The Department of English and Comparative Literature began to develop the track — the third specialization to be offered within the creative writing program, along with fiction and poetry — last fall with Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction classes, taught by professor Stephanie Elizondo Griest.

Griest, who also taught travel writing this semester and experiential writing last semester, said the classes filled up quickly.

Additional classes will be offered in the coming semesters, including an advanced creative nonfiction course next spring. The ultimate goal, Wallace said, is to offer the senior honors course, so students can graduate with highest honors in nonfiction.

“We have to create the stepping stones for that, and they’re already coming along,” Wallace said.

Once the track is fully developed, students will be able to take introduction, intermediate and advanced classes before pursuing the honors thesis course — similar to the current fiction and poetry tracks. During this last course, students will write a full book or series of short stories.

After each level, Griest said, students will have to submit a portfolio to be reviewed before they can move up.

Griest’s introductory class covers a wide variety of topics within creative nonfiction, including memoir and personal essay, nature writing, travel writing, personal profiles and graphic essays.

Wallace said the department will most likely hire another professor to teach nonfiction, but is unsure of when that will happen.

For the time being, students interested in these classes can work towards a creative writing minor or take nonfiction classes along with poetry or fiction courses. Next year, a nonfiction writer will be in the fiction honors workshop, Wallace said.

“If that (nonfiction) is something you really want to concentrate on, and if you do well at it, then you can already graduate with highest honors in nonfiction,” he said.

Sophomore Taylor Nawrocki, who is in the fiction creative writing track, said she was interested in taking nonfiction classes, such as Creative Nonfiction in the 21st Century, but the honors fiction track doesn’t allow room for it.

“I think it’s a great track to have,” Nawrocki said. “I think classes like memoir writing make experiences more personal and relatable, so it’s a good thing that the school recognizes that and strives to make it an option for people who are interested in that.”

Wallace said these classes are a great vehicle for students to take what they learn in school and apply it to the real world, as well as make a living.

“We study and write for the love of it, but it’s always nice to be able to make a living from it if we possibly can,” he said.

Griest said she thinks nonfiction writing teaches empathy, as well as how to be awake in the world. Classes like memoir writing allow students to confront and process a past event, then take control of it and render it into art to share with others.

“It’s a deeply empowering sort of genre,” she said.

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