Creative Writing at UNI

UNI-Another Great Place to Write!

At the University of Northern Iowa, undergraduate and graduate students can pursue a BA with a Creative Writing Minor and an MA in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis.

In nurturing workshop environments, students explore their craft. Poets learn a panoply of forms and how to work effectively and vividly with lineation, imagery, music, and a strong sense of poetic traditions. Fiction writers learn how to develop rounded characters, defamiliarized plots, and other counterpoints into their stories. Our student writers develop their own unique visions and voices.

Beyond the Classroom!

Creative writers are encouraged to participate in many cultural and learning activities beyond the classroom. Every year, students meet with a variety of poets, novelists, and essayists visiting the campus as part of the University of Northern Iowa's "Writers Talk" Reading Series. Both undergrad and grad students are also afforded opportunities to work as interns and readers at the North American Review. There, under the guidance of the editors, students learn manuscript selection, editing, layout, and business.

Early in the spring semester, we sponsor the Roberta S. Tamres Sci-Fi Award, a writing competition open to all UNI students writing stories, poems, plays, screenplays, or essays in the field of science fiction. The winner receives $50.00 and publication in the university's literary magazine, Inner Weather. Deadline: February 1. Maximum of 20 pages. No names on manuscripts; instead, include a cover sheet with name, local address, phone, e-mail address, and title(s). Submissions may be sent to the English department or to Tamres-SciFi-Award@uni.edu (as word or rtf attachments).

Beyond classrooms and contests, Cedar Falls-Waterloo has a rich artistic community. Artists read often at local coffeehouses and restaurants, and world-class performers, including such noted acts as Bill Cosby, Rent, and Stomp! showcase at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Alongside these national acts, Cedar Falls–Waterloo has an active regional arts scene, featuring the Hearst Center for the Arts, the Waterloo Center for the Arts, the Cedar Falls–Waterloo Symphony, the Waterloo and Cedar Falls community theaters, and a variety of live music from blues to rock to rap to punk played every weekend. This confluence of arts is a fertile environment for any and all writers.

In the Classroom: Student as Teacher!

Scholarships and assistantships are available and our creative-writing MA students have the opportunity to teach introductory college classes.

Faculty

The faculty consists of nationally recognized poets and writers who have published with university presses at, for example, University of Georgia and Johns Hopkins, as well as in independent venues such as Pecan Grove Press and Pocol Press.

For more information, please contact Dr. Vince Gotera.