Skip to Main Content
A student stands at a podium in Seymour Library, speaking during Milk Route.

Creative Writing

Stories are how we understand the world. Telling them well is one of the most valuable skills you can learn.

Meet Your Professors Visit Knox

Major, Minor

A quick reminder: You are not an algorithm.

AI technologies like ChatGPT are skilled mimics and text prediction tools. The words they produce, however, should not be called “writing.” At Knox, you’ll learn not only how to express your ideas across different genres. You’ll also tap into that part of yourself that can never be reproduced by a machine. Your voice. Your point of view. Your words, and yours alone.

Maybe that sounds untrendy, but hey, we’re one of the oldest undergraduate creative writing programs in the country for a reason. We've been setting trends from the beginning. 

Major or Minor in Creative Writing

Explore different ways of expressing your ideas, from genre fiction to playwriting. You’ll also study both contemporary and classic literature, as well as other forms of artistic expression.

Requirements Courses

Course Spotlight

Creative writing majors take workshops in at least two different genres—fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or playwriting and screenwriting. Check out a few course examples.

  • ENG 205 Beginning Poetry Translation
  • ENG 207 Beginning Fiction Writing
  • ENG 306 Creative Nonfiction Workshop
  • ENG 311A Advanced Writing: Fiction into Film
  • ENG 371 In-Depth Reporting

Editors, Explorers, Performers & Luddites Unite

Creative writing students have myriad opportunities to put their education to work through student publications, internships, study abroad opportunities, readings, open mics, and even a letterpress.

A student stands in front of a letterpress at Knox College.
Hands rolling ink over letterpress wood block type A proof of a white card with large black type that was printed on a leterpress.

The Keiner Letterpress Studio is its own kind of writing workshop.

We think of printmaking as a visual art. At Knox, it’s also an important part of the creative writing program. Students design and print broadsides, chapbooks, and posters one character at a time. It’s a new way to think about the way words fit together, and what space—and silence—can convey.

Learn more

Student-Run Publications

Many of our alumni have gone on to careers in publishing. They got their start working on one of the many magazines, journals, and newspapers produced on the Knox campus. These are just a small sample—maybe you’ll even start your own.

Catch

Help produce—or get published in—Knox College’s award-winning literary journal, Catch.

Learn about Catch

What is Milk Route?

The short answer is a reading series/capstone project for senior creative writing majors. It’s more than that, though.

Watch now
A student stands in front of a wooden podium reading from a manuscript.

Writing Your Way to Success

As one of the most well-established undergraduate creative writing programs in the country, a Knox College creative writing degree prepares you to work and find success in practically any industry.

A smiling woman stands at a podium and holds a copy of her book open at the Knox is Lit alumni program.

What Our Alumni Are Doing

They’re writing, of course. They are also pursuing careers you might not imagine a creative writing degree will prepare you for, like Brendan Reeves ’18, an anti-money laundering investigator at Banner Bank. (Imagine the stories he can tell!)

  • Chris Pandey ’23 | Graduate Student, Iowa Writers Workshop

  • Sage Lundquist ’23 | Education Outcome Specialist, Illinois Student Assistance Commission

  • Samuel Lisec ’21 | Community Reporter, The Record Community News Group

  • Shruti Mungi ’19 | Associate Content Specialist, The Red Pen

  • Samantha Duffy ’18 | Web Builder, McMaster-Carr

  • Lauren Assaf-Holmes ’10 | Of Counsel at Gibson Dunn

  • B.J. Hollars ’07 | Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | Award-Winning Author of 13 Books

  • Norman Golar ’02 | Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness & Research, Stillman College

  • Sage in the WVKC station.
  • Katherin Zhang ’23

Meet Our Creative Writing Majors

Whether you're a major, minor, our double major in creative writing, a world of possibilities is open to you at Knox.

Sage Lundquist

Sage is one of the general managers for the Voice of Knox College, or WVKC, Knox College’s radio station.

Meet Sage

Julia Hunter ’18

Knox helped Hunter discover her love for the entire filmmaking process.

Meet Julia

Katherine Zhang

Katherine is an aspiring medical professional who has a wide range of interests and involvements on the Knox College campus.

Meet Katherine

Tell us your story.

We offer scholarships for exceptional creative writers even if you choose to major in a different field. Ask us about how to apply, study abroad opportunities, and more.

Loading...