Skip to main content
Union University

Languages, Literature, and Writing

Department of Languages, Literature, and Writing at Union

Creative Writing

The concentration in creative writing at Union University affords students the opportunity to develop their giftedness as writers. Writing track majors study models of creative excellence — from the multiform genius of Shakespeare to the lyric poetry of the United States' most recent Nobel laureate, Louise Glück — that will inspire an appreciation for the beauty and power of the English language. In advanced workshops in poetry, fiction writing, children's and young adult literature, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting, students will work to perfect the craft of writing. As C.S. Lewis remarked, "The first business of a story is to be a good story. When Our Lord made a wheel in the carpenter shop, depend upon it: It was first and foremost a good wheel…. Any honest workmanship (whether making stories, shoes, or rabbit hutches) can be done to the glory of God." The work of writing track students is often featured in The Torch, Union's literary art magazine, and The Cardinal and Cream, the campus newspaper.

Request Info Apply Now Discipline-Specific Honors Curriculum

Careers

As long as communication skills, creativity, and teamwork are valued in the workplace, Union University English majors with the concentration in creative writing will be in demand. The traditional workshop format, first developed at the University of Iowa in the 1930s and now the standard in the discipline, not only molds writers with an aesthetic sense and an understanding of the literary marketplace, it also develops "creatives" with the ability to analyze and critique others' writing, the eloquence and tact to express their ideas persuasively in small groups, and the imagination to arrive at solutions for complex problems. The intensive workshop sessions are an excellent preparation for teaching and the law, for the ministry, for business and financial services, for sales and marketing, for any of the myriad professions where communicating, developing effective content, and working in concert with other people have become essential skills.

Faculty Specialists

Notable Alumni

  • George David Clark (MFA, University of Virginia; Ph.D., Texas Tech), author of Reveille, winner of the 2015 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, professor at Washington and Jefferson University, editor of 32 Poems.
  • Benjamin Glass (MFA, The Ohio State University), screenwriter.
  • Graham Hillard (MFA, New York University), professor at Trevecca Nazarene University, founding editor of Cumberland River Review.