Writing
The Pratt BFA Writing Program is the home for undergraduate creative writers at Pratt. Our students specialize in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction while also exploring a vibrant range of other contemporary forms, including playwriting, screenwriting, graphic novel, fabric books, children’s book writing, young adult writing, podcasting, and experimental genres. The faculty is comprised of distinguished writers and inspiring teachers, including nine full-time professors and 20 part-time professors. The Writing BFA takes full advantage of its location in Brooklyn, offering a wide array of unique internships and close connections with visiting writers.
Students joining the program enter a newly-designed curriculum built around the creation of a multi-dimensional portfolio of creative writing. At the heart of our program are the Writer’s Studios, designed to advance the development of each student’s original voice and creative vision. Students progress from playful experimentation and close study of elements of style to the expert practice of advanced narrative and poetic forms and genres, culminating in the creation of a polished book-length work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or experimental form. The studios are enhanced by studies in the liberal arts and sciences and engagements with other art and design fields at Pratt, so that students can conceive innovative personal transformations of their critical and creative practices. Students also pursue the “writing lives pathway,” a suite of courses and colloquia threaded through the program’s four years that introduces students to the literary scenes and communities of New York City, connects them to internships, and prepares them for professional and creative life after graduation.
Acting Chair
Claire Donato
cdonato@pratt.edu
Acting Assistant Chair
Alysia Laferriere
aslocum@pratt.edu
Assistant to the Chair
Katherine Barbadoro
kbarbado@pratt.edu
Academic Adviser
Erich Kuersten
ekuerste@pratt.edu
Office
Tel: 718.687.5770
www.pratt.edu/writing
Faculty Bios
www.pratt.edu/writing/faculty
WR-00XH Summer Writing for HEOP - (0 Credits)
As a feature of the HEOP Summer Enrichment program, this non-credit summer course will give pre-freshman the tools geared towards attaining college level writing competence. The main focus will be on writing essays and reseach papers utilizing the tools of proofreading, editing and citing in the MLA format. An included textbook will be \"A Writer's Reference,\" by Diane Hacker.
WR-101 Writer's Studio I - (4 Credits)
In Writers Studio I, we focus on creative play as a means for generation writing, while introducing fundamental elements of critique. We engage in written explorations across various forms and genres as acts of making that help us develop basic vocabularies for these different literary practices. Additionally, we begin the process of assembling our work and influences (literary and otherwise) through the creation of an archival portfolio to be reengages and reflected upon across subsequent studios.
WR-102 Writer's Studio II - (4 Credits)
In Writers Studio II, we build upon the foundational writing practices introduced in Writing practices introduced in Writers studio I, deepening our ability to engage in insightful critiques, continuing written explorations across multiple forms and genres, and utilizing our archival portfolios to begin the process of self-reflective notation. Additionally, we introduce discussions and exercises focused on research and revision in order to explore methods for engaging these essential practices.
WR-110 Critical Thinking & Writing I - (3 Credits)
In Critical Thinking and Writing, students probe the ways that reading and writing are related at fundamental levels. They consider how writing is an intellectual activity that helps them to interpret our world critically, analytically, and creatively. The class uses writing as a process, subject to interpretation and revision. In this process, students learn how to write analytically, using other texts as well as our own words to construct arguments, interpretations and meanings. Students will interrogate basic issues of representation, language, and the complicated relationship between words, images and \"things.\" They will also explore the connections between subjectivity, law, authority and narrative.
WR-120 Writing Elements I: The Sentence - (3 Credits)
The Writing Elements sequence approaches language as material in much the same way a fine arts class might study paint or clay. Specifically operating as a bridge between Studio and Critical Thinking & Writing courses, the sequence is distinguished by its attention to crafting various kinds of expository prose. In Writing Elements I: The Sentence, students learn to use the sentence as a critical and aesthetic device across forms, with heightened attention to syntax and diction. There is also an emphasis on the sentence's relationship to both smaller and larger units of thought and composition (letters, words, phrases, paragraphs) that build toward a framework for critical discourse. Lexicology, etymology, and the changing perspectives on usage and grammar will also be considered.
WR-121 Writing Elements II: Forms - (3 Credits)
The Writing Elements sequence approaches language as material in much the same way a fine arts class might study paint or clay. Specifically, operation as a bridge between Studio and Critical Thinking & Writing courses, the sequence is distinguished by its attention to crafting various kinds of expository prose. In writing Elements II: Forms, students learn techniques to organize thinking in extended forms and structures. New and more complex rhetorical and critical strategies, such as the use of footnotes and marginalia; headings, breaks and hinges; diagrams, images, and embedded media, may be introduced. Students also develop skills to negotiate the relationship between the rhetorical, aesthetic and organizational aspects of discourse. Strategies for archiving, curation, sequencing, and presenting collections of their own writing will also be introduced.
WR-130 Community As Classroom - (3 Credits)
Home to many writers, publishing houses and reading series, New York City is a major literary center. Through field trips to various literary spaces and institutions, and by attending multiple literary events, both on campus and off, this course seeks to help students to develop an awareness of 'writing community' in New York as a lives experience. By visiting publishing houses, festivals, literary readings and book launches students come to understand literary life in the city as dynamic, embedded 'history' that they themselves can partake in and contribute to, as writers, readers, activists, and curators.
WR-201 Writer's Studio III - (4 Credits)
Writer's Studio III & IV focus on working within a specific genre, e.g. poetry, fiction, nonfiction or hybrid, allowing for more profound explorations of craft and the development of strong individual writing practices within that genre. Students must focus on a different genre in each of the two semesters, and are encouraged to make selections in consultation with an advisor. The focus of each studio is to analyze the genre's conventions, as well as its varied expressions in specific forms, while engaging in directed writing exercises intended to facilitate the creation of work that both reflects and interrogates the inherited conventions. Building upon practices acquired in Writer's studios I & II, we continue to strengthen and expand upon constructive methods of critique, research revision, portfolio archiving, and written self-reflection, while introducing notions of collaboration within and across various mediums and forms of media
WR-202 Writer's Studio IV - (4 Credits)
Writer's Studio III & IV focus on working within a specific genre, e.g. poetry, fiction, nonfiction or hybrid, allowing for more profound explorations of craft and the development of strong individual writing practices within that genre. Students must focus on a different genre in each of the two semesters, and are encouraged to make selections in consultation with an advisor. The focus of each studio is to analyze the genre's conventions, as well as its varied expressions I n specific forms, while engaging in directed writing exercises intended to facilitate the creation of work that both reflects and interrogates the inherited conventions. Building upon practices acquired in Writer's Studios I & II, we continue to strengthen and expand upon constructive methods of critique, research, revision, portfolio archiving, and written self-reflection, while introducing notions of collaboration with and across various mediums and forms of media.
WR-220 Critical Thinking and Writing II - (3 Credits)
In the second semester of this course, students will further investigate the objectives of WR 110 by engaging in extensive research. Students will evaluate various theoretical and literary movements and will explore how their own subjectivity in writing is influenced by various institutions. How do the issues of difference and representation organize our understanding of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality and gender in a larger community of writers? To a larger extent, how do they influence the choices made in critical thinking and creative writing? These avenues of research will lead to a final independent research project that will serve as an invitation for students' future exploration in their creative work.
WR-300 Writer's Forum - (1 Credit)
Provides students with the opportunity to interact with published authors, agents, editors, and other discipline-related professionals who are invited to campus for formal and informal colloquia with students. Students keep journals and participate in discussions.
WR-301 Writer's Studio V - (4 Credits)
Writer's Studio V, like the previous two semesters, emphasizes a commitment to developing craft fluency in a specific genre, e.g., poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or other, or to developing a well-articulated cross-genre practice. However, unlike Studios III and IV, students may opt to continue working in a genre they focused on previously, or they may switch. Students are encouraged to consult with an advisor or trusted faculty member as they are making their decisions about which genre to take. In studio V, critical concerns of craft regarding the specified genre will be presented. Independent research will be supported, as well as the continuation of generative archival practices and written self-reflection. Students will also publish printed and/ or electronic books of work generated in studio at the end of the term.
WR-302 Junior Intensive - (4 Credits)
Junior Intensive is a multi-genre studio, supporting continued creative production, intensive reflection on participants' archival portfolios, and guided research and critical reading practices, all in preparation for the Senior Project. The studio focuses on learning how to sequence, structure and sustain longer works and/or collections of shorter works. Returning to a multi-genre studio (after three semesters), students are encouraged to examine how different genres and practices invite, as well as limit, different writerly and expressive possibilities. Participants will also be encouraged to begin researching opportunities for publication and recognition.
WR-320 Special Topics - (3 Credits)
This course is designed to enable students to explore special topics in writing, and in relevant theory, criticism, and subject matter, in an in-depth fashion. The subject of these course changes from semester to semester in reflection of the expertise and emerging interests of the faculty. See the Writing website for course titles and descriptions in a given semester. May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
WR-325A Topics in Journalism: Journalism Workshop: Prattler I - (3 Credits)
This course is intended to familiarize students working on the Prattler with all aspects of generating, editing and designing the content of the school magazine, as well as the managerial skills required to coordinate such efforts. Most classes take the form of editorial meetings, and multiple writing assignments will be required of all students, pertaining to their respective functions in the production of the magazine.
WR-325B Topics in Journalism: Journalism Workshop: Prattler II - (3 Credits)
This course is intended to familiarize students working on the Prattler with all aspects of generating, editing and designing the content of the school magazine, as well as the managerial skills required to coordinate such efforts. Most classes take the form of editorial meetings, and multiple writing assignments will be required of all students, pertaining to their respective functions in the production of the magazine.
WR-331 Writer as Worker - (3 Credits)
This course provides juniors with concrete skills and guidance towards discerning the best possible 'Writing Lives' course sequence for their junior years: Internship, writing or Doing. By facilitating engagement with working professionals, discussing readings, and developing application-building and interview skills, the course positions students to make informed choice about the sorts of professional experiences they'd like to explore. It introduces students to a variety of writing related vocations through regular class visits from publishers, editors, agents, producers, journalists, curators, teachers and other writing-related professions.
WR-360 The Art of Teaching Writing - (4 Credits)
Pratt's Saturday Writing School is a teaching laboratory that provides writing classes for local adolescents. Depending on program enrollment, each pair of writing major undergraduates is assigned a class of between three and six middle school students. Writing undergrads are responsible for the planning and teaching of a ten-week sequence of writing lessons guided by the theory and strategies presented by the instructor. The instructor supervises and advises student teachers and will visit them in their classroom during each two-hour session. A seminar immediately following each class is a forum for reflection on common issues and problems, both classroom and societal, emerging from the Saturday Writing School experience.
WR-390 Internship/Seminar - (3 Credits)
Each student is placed in an internship for one semester. Internship venues are usually publishing houses, agents' offices, newspaper offices, Internet publishers, film studios, television stations and other work sites that have in-house publishing capabilities.
WR-420 Senior Project I - (4 Credits)
Senior Project I lays the groundwork for the completion of a full-length work or collection of works of publishable quality, including a critical introduction. Participants explore the genre, form, or hybrid in which they are working through their own creative production, the work of other studio participants, and the presentation of literary, historical, and theoretical models. Participants are expected to complete a substantial draft of the project they are working on by the end of the semester.
WR-421 Senior Project II - (4 Credits)
Senior Project II takes as its main goal the successful completion of a full-length work or collection of works of publishable quality, including a critical introduction. Sustained revision, self-reflection, and engaged peer support, via constructive critique practices, are core components of the course. Students are encouraged to view their manuscript and critical introduction as an opportunity to reflect on the growth of their practice over the span of four years and to articulate their vision, as an artist.
WR-493 Ecopoetics - (3 Credits)
Human language use is an inherently ecological practice in that it participates In forming the way we think, write, and act In regards to the world we share with other living things. As such, language can be used as a force for Imagining and establishing new ways of living together, but it must also be scrutinized for the ways In which our past and present linguistic concepts and strategies have contributed to a history of unsustainable altitudes and practices. In this course, we will read across a broad spectrum of poetry, philosophy, and history- as well as looking at a number of works in other media (film, video, Image, and earthworks)- in order to contextualize contemporary ecollngulstic practices. We will also write: In the spirit of experiment and serious play, our poems and essays will test some of the ideas, concepts and orientations we discover along the way.
WR-501S Special Topics in Experimental Writing - (2 Credits)
This course explores special topics in experimental writing and in relevant theory and criticism. May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
WR-502S Special Topics in Poetry and Poetics - (2 Credits)
This course explores special topics in poetry and poetics. May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
WR-503S Special Topics in Form and Theory - (2 Credits)
This course explores special topics in form and theory in creative writing. May be repeated for credit as topic changes.
WR-505S Special Topics in Collaborative Writing Practices - (2 Credits)
This course explores special topics in collaborative writing practices. May be repeated for credit as topic changes.