Writing
Explore a wide range of genres from fiction, poetry and screenwriting to creative nonfiction and science. Cultivate your ability to tell compelling stories. Translate human experience into artful literary work.
At Evergreen you'll work in small intensive groups with peers and faculty to refine your writing skills.
Because of the interdisciplinary nature of our curriculum, you’ll have many opportunities to hone your craft, regardless of the genre in which you specialize.
Evergreen faculty members have collaborated with students to produce written projects in numerous disciplines, including the book, Defending Wild Washington: A Citizen’s Action Guide, a collection of writing and art titled Silk Roads Anthology: Identity and Travel and the bilingual anthology, En sus propias palabras/In Their Own Words, which was distributed to western Washington libraries, schools and community organizations serving Latino populations.
Whether you want to become an author or poet, a journalist or a copywriter, Evergreen will help you develop the techniques to become an effective communicator and artist of the written word.
Join us in an education that doesn’t just change your life; it gives you the tools to change the world.
Sample Program
Narrative Objects
Quality writing skills are a key asset to careers in any field, where the ability to clearly and creatively express ideas and values is in high demand.
Offered Fall 2013 and Winter 2014
What makes a work of art capable of narrative expressiveness? What constitutes a narrative? How do artists invest tangible records, stories, artifacts and objects with meaning, and how do readers work to recuperate or transform those meanings for themselves?
Many artists and writers have used objects, visual forms, books and text in combination to create a hybrid language that can carry narrative possibilities. How do such works exploit the possibilities of conventional and nonconventional narrative to stimulate the intellect and the imagination? Does imposing a narrative on a work of visual or sculptural art limit it, reduce it to a single interpretation? How can we navigate the space between object and idea as artists, as readers, as makers of things and makers of meaning?
This program will explore such questions through intensive studio work in fine metals and book arts. Equally important will be our study of literature that tests the boundary between narrative and non-narrative and the practice of critical and creative writing. The general program structure will include alternating periods of focused writing, imaginative reading, seminar discussion and extended, deliberate work in the studio.
Offerings Proposed for 2013-2014
Lower Division
Programs for Freshmen and Sophomores
- Narrative Objects (Freshman-Only Program)
- Skin (Freshman-Only Program)
- Fiction Laboratory
- Reading Landscapes: Earth Science and Literature
- Still/Moving
Upper Division
Programs for Juniors and Seniors
- Creating Dangerously: Advanced Studies
- Imperialism
- Law and Outlaw: Personal Identity and Social Control in the United States
- Narrative Strategies
- On the Greyness of Blackness: In Search of a Post-Soul Aesthetic
- Writing is a Social Act
All Levels
Both upper and lower division students may take these programs
- A Sense of Wonder
- Botany: Plants and People
- Cultivating Voice: A Writing Tutor's Craft
- Dark Romantics
- The Epic and The Everyday
- Fictive Certainties
- Grant Writing and Fundraising: Ideas to Realities
- Imagination, Creativity and Innovation
- Interrogating Emotions
- PLE Document Writing
- PLE Document Writing
- PLE Document Writing
- Political Economy of Public Education: Contemporary Historical Realities
- The Practice of Writing
- Tend and Tell: Developing and Interpreting an Ethnobotanical Garden
- Undergraduate Projects in Critical and Creative Practices
- Writing from Life
- Writing from Life
- Writing from Life
After Graduation
Pat Thomas ’12 published his first book while still a student.
Quality writing skills are a key asset to careers in any field requiring the ability to clearly convey information, ideas and values. Studying writing at Evergreen prepares you for graduate studies and careers in media, publishing, business, nonprofit work and academia. Many fields in creative writing require a college degree, including at least a bachelor’s and often an MFA in creative writing or an MA in literature, journalism or a related field. Our alumni have an excellent record of success in graduate school. They also include numerous published authors, as well as professionals in law, education, publishing, marketing and journalism.
Facilities and Resources
Slightly West is an annual literary and visual arts journal produced entirely by students.
The Writing Center
As a writer, you may be able to work in our Writing Center to improve your own skills and share your knowledge and passion with others.
Cooper Point Journal
Evergreen's student newspaper is produced by students interested in journalism, political commentary and artistic critique.
Cross Cultural Poetics
This groundbreaking radio show, produced on campus at KAOS 89.3FM, introduces poets to listeners around the world.
Inkwell: The Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen
Produced by Writing Center tutors, Inkwell is used as a teaching tool. Its goal is to empower and inspire a wide range of audiences through the center's philosophies on writing, learning and growth. Inkwell demonstrates a variety of styles from the traditional academic format to poetry-inducing prompts.
Slightly West
An outlet for writers and artists at Evergreen, Slightly West is an annual literary and visual arts journal produced entirely by students. It features the work of students, alumni and faculty.
