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Featured Stories
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Charif Shanahan is one of four poets nationally to receive the 2024 Whiting Award. “Designed to recognize excellence,” the prestigious award is given annually to ten early career writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, "based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work to come.”
Shanahan's poetry collection, Trace Evidence, was also a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, longlisted for 2023 National Book Award for Poetry, and winner of the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award.
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Our Programs
Undergraduate
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Creative Writing
The Creative Writing Major is one of the first and finest undergraduate programs of its kind in the country. Its reputation is based on accomplishments of its graduates, the generosity of its professors, and a pedagogy that creates a fruitful symbiosis between close reading and inventive writing.
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English Literature
Being an English literature major at Northwestern means reading literature that’s been circulating across more than 1000 years of history and nearly every the continent of the globe, and the skills you learn will help prepare you for virtually any career you can think of.
- Why Study English?
- The Major and Minor in English literature
- English Literature Advisors
- Pursuing Honors in English
Graduate
Litowitz MFA+MA in English and Creative Writing
This program offers intimate classes, the opportunity to pursue both creative and critical writing, and close mentorship by renowned faculty in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Our three-year curriculum gives students time to deepen both their creative writing and their study of literature. Students complete two degrees concurrently --an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English.
MA in English Literature
Designed to be completed in one year and flexible in its requirements, our Master's in Literature allows students considerable freedom in choosing courses in English and in related disciplines. Most are planning to move on to Doctoral study elsewhere, improve their credentials as teachers in secondary schools and community colleges, or to take their experience into the business and publishing sectors.
PhD in English Literature
Our PhD program offers advanced study and research in literary history, criticism, and theory, with excellent opportunities for study between both disciplines and departments. Courses within the department cover major genres, periods, authors, and a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches. Significant support in professional development and on the job market are cornerstones of the program.
News and Upcoming Events
Featured Department Events
Events
"Who Reads Poetry?": A Lecture by Professor Virginia Jackson
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Evanston
Please join the Poetry & Poetics Colloquium for a lecture, titled “Who Reads Poetry?,” by Virginia Jackson. Professor Jackson’s talk is...