Cultivating a lush crop of poets, fiction-writers, playwrights

If one measure of an academic program’s success is the accomplishments of its graduates, then the creative writing program at Trinity receives very high marks indeed. Among its alumni it can count a MacArthur “genius” Fellow, award-winning poets, playwrights, screenwriters, and short-story writers. And as proof of its wide applicability, the program can also claim a number of lawyers, journalists, editors, teachers, and others who have made a genuine difference in society. But of course there are other measures of educational effectiveness, and many creative writing majors at Trinity choose this field of study for reasons other than career aspirations.

Creative writing major Shana Grannan ‘01, for example, is pursuing her love of writing, especially poetry, mainly for the sake of developing a skill and a mode of expression she cares deeply about. And as Professor of English John (Fred) Pfeil, (pictured below) coordinator of the creative writing program, asserts, the ensemble of thinking and writing skills developed in writing creatively lies at the very heart of a liberal arts education. “Mastering those intrinsically valuable skills,” according to Pfeil, “provides students with a mastery of other disciplines as well.”  Tom King ‘01, also in the program, puts it this way: “You learn how to think. You learn how to write. You learn how to make a presentation. And that’s what Trinity is all about.”  Grannan echoes these thoughts and extends the idea: “Anybody who is a good writer will succeed in life.”

One of two major concentrations
Creative writing is one of two concentrations in the English major, the other being literary studies. Pfeil describes the heart of the program as “a sensible, graduated set of workshops in which people get a lot of individual attention.”  The journey to that vital center takes students through two introductory-level courses in two genres, such as poetry and fiction, so they receive training in the whole realm of creative writing. Students later choose a genre on which they want to concentrate, but a poetry-writing workshop is required of all. “We believe close attention to words to their sequence, their meaning, the space around them [all essential elements of poetry] is important,” Pfeil says. Creative writing majors are also required to immerse themselves in literary studies and literary history. Unlike the separation of literary studies and creative writing tracks at some colleges, the two tracks at Trinity are joined by the common bond of strict literary training, according to Professor of English Barbara Benedict, chair of the department. Both tracks are seen as equally rigorous. “Creative writing is something for serious artists at this college,” she says.

“Workshopland”
At the center of the creative writing program is the workshop, marked by one-on-one work with professors, intensive revision, and student critiques. Advanced-level courses move into workshop mode from the start. In “Fiction Workshop,” the 400-level course in fiction writing, students bring their works in progress with them and immediately begin the arduous but essential process of dismantling and reconstructing their work, Pfeil explains. In the introductory fiction-writing course, students begin with the basics, focusing on writing exercises that will develop a range of writing skills: experimenting with sentence length, incorporating all the senses into a description, and other micro-level skill-building activities. Then they move to larger projects, such as writing a two-page dialogue in which there is a strong underlying subject that is felt but never explicitly mentioned. Moving forward, students might be asked to write an opening for a story and then, after discussion of the opening, produce the rest of the story. “And then we’re in workshopland,” Pfeil says.

Workshops bring students together for frank critiques of each other’s work, and they appreciate honest reactions. “There’s a kind of esprit de corps among our creative writing folks,” Pfeil observes. “There’s a larger sense of ‘we’re all in this together.’”  King treasures the “two- or three-page assessments of work that come every week during the course. The professors care about your work and provide you with well-thought-out feedback.”

Students are fortunate to work closely with a distinguished group of teachers who are also acclaimed writers and bring a wealth of experiences to the classroom.  Professor of English Hugh Ogden  has written some 500 poems, filling five books of poetry and earning him national recognition. Pfeil has won a Pushcart Prize for his short fiction and is the author of a novel and works of cultural criticism. Sapphire, the Allan K. Smith Professor of English Language and Literature, is a performance poet who has published a novel and two books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed American Dreams. Writer-in-Residence Lucy Ferriss is the author of four novels, and she has garnered a slew of awards as well as a National Book Award nomination. And Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Arthur B. Feinsod, who teaches playwriting, has had his plays produced in Hartford and New York City. Adjunct and visiting professors add even more depth and diversity to the faculty. This year Trinity is host to, among others, Rachel Basch, the author of the novel Degrees of Love.

Creative writing students learn first-hand what it is like to work as a poet or novelist or playwright. In addition to the teaching faculty, the English department invites at least five poets and four fiction writers to campus each year. “They give readings. They give workshops. They inspire students,” Benedict notes. Students get to know, not just meet, writers at Trinity.

Students get to become writers published, produced, and performed writers too, at Trinity. The College offers numerous opportunities for them to discover the thrill of publication. The Trinity Review, a literary journal written and produced entirely by Trinity students; SCRAWL, a lively new forum for poetry and short fiction; The Trinity Tripod, the student newspaper; and The TrinColl Journal, the College’s Web-zine, provide handsome venues for creative work. Student writers can also connect with live audiences through poetry readings (both in more traditional settings and in “poetry slams”); the annual Shakespearean drama workshop; student plays (written, directed, and performed by students); and a special study-away option, the Trinity LaMaMa Performing Arts Program, which explores theater in New York City and engages students in creating experimental theater.

As if publications and live audiences were not enough to tempt aspiring writers, the English department also sponsors several literary contests, all offering significant cash awards. And Trinity creative writing students are frequently among the winners of the Connecticut Poetry Circuit, a statewide competition for student poets.

“The writing life” after Trinity
A number of graduates of Trinity’s creative writing program have gone on to successful professions as playwrights, poets, and fiction-writers. William H. “Hank” Lewis III ‘89 is an award-winning short story writer and a professor of English. Elizabeth Egloff ‘75 is a playwright whose work has been honored with the Lila Wallace Writer’s Award; she has had plays produced across the country. Chase Twichell ‘73 has published five books of her poetry, including The Snow Watcher, which won the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America in 1997. Joanna Scott ‘83 has published several novels and collections of short stories; she is the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, commonly known as the “genius” award, and a coveted Lannan Literary Award.

In their lives after Trinity, Pfeil hopes creative writing students can push their writing “to a deeper moral, emotional, and imaginative level.”  He expects they will have become as skillful in their reading as they are in their writing. “I hope that they’re open-hearted, but gimlet-eyed, readers,” he says with a wry smile, knowing he has turned a phrase.    

                                                                                                                   -Mark McLaughlin and Becky Purdy