• Writing-Hero-Classroom-Redhaired-Woman-Glasses

    Writing

  • Take the Next Step

  • Contact Us

    Office of Admission

    Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
    79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor 
    New York, NY 10003 
    Phone: 212.229.5150 or 
    800.292.3040
    Fax: 212.229.5355
    [email protected]

    Program Contacts

    For general questions about Literary Studies, please email [email protected]
    Find Literary Studies faculty and advisors.

    Literary Studies Co-Chairs

    Literature and Critical Analysis Chair
    Juan De Castro
    Professor, Literary Studies
    [email protected]

    Writing Chair

    Jennifer Firestone
    Director, Academic Fellows
    Associate Professor, Literary Studies
    [email protected]

    Departmental Faculty Advisors

    Literature and Critical Analysis Departmental Faculty Advisor
    Juan De Castro
    Professor, Literary Studies
    [email protected]

    Writing Departmental Faculty Advisor
    Albert Mobilio
    Associate Professor, Literary Studies
    [email protected]

    Literature and Critical Analysis Capstone Coordinator 
    Inessa Medzhibovskaya
    Professor of Liberal Studies and Literary Studies
    [email protected]

    Writing Capstone Coordinator 
    Wendy Xu
    Assistant Professor, Writing
    [email protected]

    Student Success Advisor for Literary Studies

    Chris McElderry
    Assistant Director of Student Success Advising at Lang
    [email protected]
    646.909.2260

  • Virtual Tour

  • The Writing concentration within the Literary Studies major at Lang considers the written word from both critical and creative perspectives. You choose both a primary and a secondary writing genre (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry) and progress through a carefully designed set of sequenced writing workshops, culminating in a capstone semester devoted to creating a longer work in your chosen genre.

    • Study Options Concentration, Minor

    As a Writing student, you interrogate works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama from a wide range of cultures and historical periods. In both reading and writing courses, you'll use a craft lens (the art of clear thinking and clear articulation) to analyze assigned texts, your own writing, and other students' writing. In your work, you will use reasoning and imagination to identify and solve creative problems.

    In our creative writing courses, you develop a nuanced use of language by:

    • Examining innovative and high-level works of literary art
    • Engaging with the written word from diverse creative and critical perspectives
    • Developing your own authorial voice and modes of written self expression

    Concentration requirements

    Minor requirements

    Connecting to New York City

    While it offers the atmosphere and intimacy of a small college, Eugene Lang College is part of The New School, a major progressive university in New York City. The city is intensely present in every writing course, since all of our writing faculty are practicing writers based in New York. Our location in the world capital of publishing and media offers a variety of benefits, including:

    • Classroom visits with well-known writers, publishers, literary agents, journalists, and other New York City professionals
    • Class visits to New York City archives of rare books and manuscripts
    • Speaker series featuring renowned authors from the United States and abroad
    • An internship program that places students with publishing houses, magazines, and other venues in NYC
    • Opportunities to participate in community learning projects in conjunction with local organizations like Radio Works

    Career Paths

    Writing students have gone into academic literature degree programs and MFA programs, including the Creative Writing program at The New School. They work for publishing companies, magazines, Internet sites, and libraries. Some earn their living as freelance writers. Others have gone on to law and other professional degree programs.

    Consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans. If you are planning to go on to graduate study, consider applying to the Bachelor's-Master's program, which enables you to earn graduate credits that will apply to both your Lang degree and a master's degree in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism or in Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research. 

    Outcomes at Lang

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Close