Iowa Writers' Workshop
Encyclopedia
The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa
in Iowa City
, Iowa
, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing
program in the United States
. Writer Lan Samantha Chang
is currently the director of the Workshop.
The program began in 1936, with the gathering of poets and fiction writers under the direction of Wilbur Schramm
. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts
in English; Iowa was the first program in the country to offer this degree.
The program's curriculum requires students to take a small number of classes each semester, including the Graduate Fiction Workshop or Graduate Poetry Workshop itself, and one or two additional literature seminars. The modest curricular requirements are intended to prepare the student, in a sense, for the realities of professional writing, where self-discipline is paramount.
The program centers on the Graduate Workshop courses, which meet once a week. Before each three-hour class, a small number of students will have submitted material for critical reading by their peers. The class itself consists of a round-table discussion during which the class and the instructor offer impressions, observations, and analysis about each piece. The specifics of how the class is conducted vary somewhat from teacher to teacher, and between Poetry and Fiction workshops. The ideal result of the process is not only that authors come away with insights into the strength and weaknesses of their own work, but that the class as a whole derives some insight, whether general or specific, about the process of writing.
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni (most recently Paul Harding
in 2010) have won seventeen Pulitzer Prize
s, as well as numerous National Book Award
s and other major literary honors. Four recent U.S. Poets Laureate
have been either graduates or faculty of the Workshop.
In 2003, the Workshop received a National Humanities Medal
from the National Endowment for the Humanities
. It was the first Medal awarded to a university, and only the second given to an institution rather than an individual.
s earned by various faculty and graduates, and over 40 attributed to graduates and faculty of The University of Iowa.
Writers' Workshop graduates have produced 16 Pulitzer Prizes since 1947.
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in Iowa City
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
program in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Writer Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang , born 1965, is an American writer of novels and short stories. She is Professor of English at the University of Iowa and Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop- Life and career :...
is currently the director of the Workshop.
The program began in 1936, with the gathering of poets and fiction writers under the direction of Wilbur Schramm
Wilbur Schramm
Wilbur Lang Schramm is sometimes called the "father of communication studies," and had a great influence on the development of communication research in the United States, and the establishing of departments of communication studies in US universities.Schramm was born in Marietta, Ohio...
. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in English; Iowa was the first program in the country to offer this degree.
The program's curriculum requires students to take a small number of classes each semester, including the Graduate Fiction Workshop or Graduate Poetry Workshop itself, and one or two additional literature seminars. The modest curricular requirements are intended to prepare the student, in a sense, for the realities of professional writing, where self-discipline is paramount.
The program centers on the Graduate Workshop courses, which meet once a week. Before each three-hour class, a small number of students will have submitted material for critical reading by their peers. The class itself consists of a round-table discussion during which the class and the instructor offer impressions, observations, and analysis about each piece. The specifics of how the class is conducted vary somewhat from teacher to teacher, and between Poetry and Fiction workshops. The ideal result of the process is not only that authors come away with insights into the strength and weaknesses of their own work, but that the class as a whole derives some insight, whether general or specific, about the process of writing.
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni (most recently Paul Harding
Paul Harding (author)
Paul Harding is an American musician and author, best known for his debut novel Tinkers which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. Harding was drummer for the band Cold Water Flat from approximately the founding in 1990 to 1997. Harding...
in 2010) have won seventeen Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
s, as well as numerous National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
s and other major literary honors. Four recent U.S. Poets Laureate
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of...
have been either graduates or faculty of the Workshop.
In 2003, the Workshop received a National Humanities Medal
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.The award, given by the...
from the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
. It was the first Medal awarded to a university, and only the second given to an institution rather than an individual.
Pulitzer Prizes won by graduates and faculty
The University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop has 28 affiliated Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
s earned by various faculty and graduates, and over 40 attributed to graduates and faculty of The University of Iowa.
Writers' Workshop graduates have produced 16 Pulitzer Prizes since 1947.
Fiction
- Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
, 1947 Pulitzer for All the King's MenAll the King's MenAll the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
, former faculty member. - Wallace StegnerWallace StegnerWallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
, 1972 Pulitzer for Angle of ReposeAngle of reposeThe angle of repose or, more precisely, the critical angle of repose, of a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip of the slope relative to the horizontal plane when material on the slope face is on the verge of sliding. This angle is in the range 0°–90°.When bulk granular...
, MA, 1932; PhD, English, 1935. - James Alan McPhersonJames Alan McPherson-External links:*...
, 1977 Pulitzer for Elbow RoomElbow Room (short story collection)Elbow Room is a 1977 short story collection by American author James Alan McPherson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1978.-External links:*...
, MFA, 1969; current faculty member. - John CheeverJohn CheeverJohn William Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Westchester suburbs, old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy,...
, 1979 Pulitzer for The Stories of John CheeverThe Stories of John CheeverThe Stories of John Cheever is a 1978 short story collection by American author John Cheever. It contains some of his most famous stories, including "The Enormous Radio," "Goodbye, My Brother," "The Country Husband," "The Five-Forty-Eight" and "The Swimmer." It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...
, former faculty member. - Jane SmileyJane SmileyJane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained an A.B. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the...
, 1992 Pulitzer for A Thousand AcresA Thousand AcresA Thousand Acres is a 1991 novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1991 and was adapted to a 1997 film of the same name....
, MA, 1975; MFA, English, 1976; PhD, English, 1978. - Philip RothPhilip RothPhilip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, 1998 Pulitzer for American PastoralAmerican PastoralAmerican Pastoral is a Philip Roth novel concerning Seymour "Swede" Levov, a Jewish-American businessman and former high school athlete from Newark, New Jersey. Levov's happy and conventional upper middle class life is ruined by the domestic social and political turmoil of the 1960s, which in the...
, former faculty member. - Michael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
, 1999 Pulitzer for The HoursThe Hours (novel)The Hours is a 1998 novel written by Michael Cunningham. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was later made into an Oscar-winning 2002 movie of the same name starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.-Plot introduction:The book...
, MFA, English, 1980. - Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinson-Biography:Robinson was born and grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho, and did her undergraduate work at Pembroke College, the former women's college at Brown University, receiving her B.A., magna cum laude in 1966, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Ph.D...
, 2005 Pulitzer for GileadGilead (novel)Gilead is a novel written by Marilynne Robinson and published in 2004. It won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. The novel is the fictional autobiography of the Reverend John Ames, an elderly congregationalist pastor in the small, secluded town...
, current faculty member. - Paul HardingPaul Harding (author)Paul Harding is an American musician and author, best known for his debut novel Tinkers which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. Harding was drummer for the band Cold Water Flat from approximately the founding in 1990 to 1997. Harding...
, 2010 Pulitzer for TinkersTinkers (novel)Tinkers is the first novel by American author Paul Harding. The novel tells the tale of George Washington Crosby, a clock repairman, who, on his deathbed, recounts his life story and his father's struggles with epilepsy to his family...
Journalistic
- Tracy KidderTracy KidderJohn Tracy Kidder is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer of the 1981 nonfiction narrative, The Soul of a New Machine, about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation...
, 1982 Pulitzer in general nonfiction for The Soul of a New MachineThe Soul of a New MachineTracy Kidder's non-fiction book, The Soul of a New Machine, chronicles the experiences of an engineering team racing to design a next generation computer under a blistering schedule and tremendous pressure. This machine was eventually launched in 1980 as the Data General Eclipse MV/8000...
, MFA, 1974.
Poetry
- Karl ShapiroKarl ShapiroKarl Jay Shapiro was an American poet. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946.-Biography:...
, 1945 Pulitzer for V-Letter and Other Poems, former faculty member. - Robert LowellRobert LowellRobert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
, 1947 Pulitzer for Lord Weary's Castle, 1974 Pulitzer for The Dolphin, former faculty member. - Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
, 1958 Pulitzer for Poems 1954-56, Now and Then, 1980 Pulitzer for Poems 1976-78, former faculty member. - W.D. Snodgrass, 1960 Pulitzer for Heart's Needle, BA, 1949; MA, 1951; MFA, 1953.
- John BerrymanJohn BerrymanJohn Allyn Berryman was an American poet and scholar, born in McAlester, Oklahoma. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and was considered a key figure in the Confessional school of poetry...
, 1965 Pulitzer for 77 Dream Songs, former faculty member. - Anthony HechtAnthony HechtAnthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.-Early years:Hecht was born in New York...
, 1968 Pulitzer for The Hard Hours, attended Workshop but did not graduate. - Donald JusticeDonald JusticeDonald Justice was an American poet and teacher of writing. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr has written, "In most ways, Justice was no different from any number of solid, quiet older writers devoted to traditional short poems. But he was different in one important sense: sometimes his...
, 1980 Pulitzer for Selected Poems, alumnus and former faculty member. - Carolyn KizerCarolyn KizerCarolyn Ashley Kizer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet of the Pacific Northwest whose works reflect her feminism.-Life and work:...
, 1985 Pulitzer for Yin, former faculty member. - Rita DoveRita DoveRita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...
, 1987 Pulitzer for Thomas and Beulah, MFA, 1977. - Mona Van DuynMona Van DuynMona Jane Van Duyn was an American poet. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1992.-Early years:Van Duyn was born in Waterloo, Iowa. She grew up in the small town of Eldora Mona Jane Van Duyn (9 May 1921 – 2 December 2004) was an American poet. She was...
, 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Near ChangesNear ChangesNear Changes is a 1990 collection of poems by Mona Van Duyn . It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1991....
, MA, English, 1943. - James TateJames Tate (writer)James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, 1992 Pulitzer for Selected Poems, MFA, 1967. - Louise GlückLouise GlückLouise Elisabeth Glück is an American poet of Hungarian Jewish heritage. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three years prior in 2000....
, 1993 Pulitzer for The Wild Iris, former faculty member. - Philip LevinePhilip Levine (poet)Philip Levine is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for over thirty years at the English Department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well...
, 1995 Pulitzer for The Simple Truth, MFA, 1957; former faculty member. - Jorie GrahamJorie GrahamJorie Graham is an American poet. The U.S. Poetry Foundation suggests "She is perhaps the most celebrated poet of the American post-war generation". She replaced poet Seamus Heaney as Boylston Professor at Harvard, becoming the first woman to be appointed to this position...
, 1996 Pulitzer for The Dream of the Unified Field, MFA, English, 1978; former faculty member. - Charles WrightCharles Wright (poet)Charles Wright is an American poet whose awards include the National Book Award Charles Wright (born August 25, 1935) is an American poet whose awards include the National Book Award Charles Wright (born August 25, 1935) is an American poet whose awards include the National Book Award (19830 for...
, 1998 Pulitzer for Black Zodiac, MFA, 1963. - Mark StrandMark StrandMark Strand is an American poet, essayist, and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. Since 2005, he has been a professor of English at Columbia University.- Biography :...
, 1999 Pulitzer for Blizzard of One, MA, 1962; former faculty member. - Robert HassRobert HassRobert L. Hass is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. He was awarded the 2007 National Book Award and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Time and Materials.-Life:...
, 2008 Pulitzer for Time and Materials, frequent visiting faculty member. - Philip SchultzPhilip SchultzPhilip Schultz is an American poet, and the founder/director of The Writers Studio, a private school for fiction and poetry writing based in New York City...
, 2008 Pulitzer for FailureFailureFailure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic...
, MFA, English, 1971.