Explore the Beats, avant-garde cinema, and embodied poetics. Take an interdisciplinary
approach to your writing by studying performance, film, and visual art. Draw on contemplative
principles of interdependence and compassion to use writing as both a means of social
change and self-revolution.
As Robert Bresson said, “Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have
been seen.”
As a Creative Writing and Literature major in Naropa’s world-famous Jack Kerouac School
of Disembodied Poetics, you will have the chance to experiment with language, develop
your analytical skills, and learn about yourself and your place in the world.
You will also have the chance to begin building a career through professional development
courses and the completion of a creative manuscript and literary thesis.
The result? Many of Naropa’s alumni from the Creative Writing and Literature program
go on to earn Master of Fine Arts degrees, win prestigious awards, publish works of
fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as become teachers, editors, and communications
professionals.
Naropa Summer Writing Program
Take part in Naropa University’s internationally recognized Summer Writing Program,
a three-week intensive colloquium of workshops, lectures, and readings featuring Naropa
faculty and visiting literary luminaries.
Get involved in Naropa’s student- and faculty-run literary journal, which has been
publishing experimental poetry, prose, art, translations and interviews for more than
forty years.
Degree Credits Required
36
Your Creative Writing and Literature bachelor’s degree program consists of 120 credit
hours. The Creative Writing and Literature degree program is a 36-credit major that
combines writing workshops, the critical study of literature and other media with
classes in professional development.
“Being a writer can be a solitary life, and while I value my privacy, my introversion,
I'm utterly grateful for the writers I have in my life via Naropa. Community is never
finite. Naropa served as the heart of so many future connections, including all the
connections I have yet to make.”
— Sarah Elizabeth Schantz BA, Writing and Literature, 2013; Author; 2016 Colorado Book Award Winner - Fig; Pushcart Prize Nominee
Students demonstrate skill in writing as a creative art.
Students critically analyze literary works.
Students engage writing as a contemplative mode of inquiry.
Students demonstrate the role of intersectionality in the literary arts.
Students generate a professional dossier.
Alumni Spotlight
Faculty Highlight
Professor and Dean of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics // Author of
Beloved Integer, She, A Blueprint, Continuous Frieze Bordering Red, and co-author of TRI/VIA
— Michelle Naka Pierce, MFA Professor // Dean, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics