CW 463

Spring 2026 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Jan 20-May 6

Adv Topics in Creative Writing

SHOW FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE

Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

Advanced topics course in Creative Writing. Students study selected topic through a workshop model, pursuing advanced development in one or more approaches to writing in a specialized field or genre.

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated, if topics vary. Prerequisite: Junior standing required.

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CW 463 class schedule data for spring 2026
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
63372	Lecture-Discussion	1G	12:30PM -1:45PM	TR	113 English Building	Mack, K	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Memoir Plus Cultural Criticism Section Info: SP26 CW 463 - Advanced Topics in Creative Writing - Kimberly Mack - Memoir Plus Cultural Criticism - This course focuses on cultural criticism, braided with autobiographical narrative or memoir. How do we offer critiques about music, film, TV, visual art, dance, and more, while including ourselves in the narrative? We will read short and longer works by varied writers including Hanif Abdurraqib, Jen Sookfong Lee, Danyel Smith, Ann Powers, Carmen Maria Machado, Lester Bangs, and Cathy Park Hong. We will discuss patterns and trends in the development of the form, see what directions it is taking, and explore the distinctions (and blurrings) between fiction and nonfiction and truth and lies. We will also discuss how the elements of fiction – character development, scene-setting, dialogue, poetic language, point of view, sensory detail, etc.– are utilized in autobiographically-inflected cultural criticism. In addition, students will create their own works of cultural criticism, and they will give and receive feedback on their writing in structured workshops. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
63371	Lecture-Discussion	1U	12:30PM -1:45PM	TR	113 English Building	Mack, K	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Memoir Plus Cultural Criticism Section Info: SP26 CW 463 - Advanced Topics in Creative Writing - Kimberly Mack - Memoir Plus Cultural Criticism - This course focuses on cultural criticism, braided with autobiographical narrative or memoir. How do we offer critiques about music, film, TV, visual art, dance, and more, while including ourselves in the narrative? We will read short and longer works by varied writers including Hanif Abdurraqib, Jen Sookfong Lee, Danyel Smith, Ann Powers, Carmen Maria Machado, Lester Bangs, and Cathy Park Hong. We will discuss patterns and trends in the development of the form, see what directions it is taking, and explore the distinctions (and blurrings) between fiction and nonfiction and truth and lies. We will also discuss how the elements of fiction – character development, scene-setting, dialogue, poetic language, point of view, sensory detail, etc.– are utilized in autobiographically-inflected cultural criticism. In addition, students will create their own works of cultural criticism, and they will give and receive feedback on their writing in structured workshops. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Sophomore, Junior, or Senior class standing. Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
67746	Lecture-Discussion	2G	12:30PM -1:45PM	MW	329 Gregory Hall	Van Landingham, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 4 hours Section Info: SP26 CW 463 - Corey VanLandingham - Speaking Pictures; Writing Poems about Art - Ekphrasis is Greek for description, and, traditionally, ekphrastic poems describe visual art—primarily paintings and drawings. This class asks us to expand the possible subjects for an ekphrastic poem, including photography, film, music, and dance. What can an ekphrastic poem do other than describe what we see? How can art transport us into another place, another moment of time, another human’s perspective? This writing workshop asks students to use the art of others as a springboard to both look inward and to write about subjects beyond the self. While examining and adopting an outward-looking creative process, we will discuss, along the way, the strategies and nuances of research, including the use of the stories and lives of others for one’s own creative works, and how to touch back on the personal through close attention to the exterior world. As a class, we will visit the Krannert Art Museum and the Spurlock Museum, with the possibility of more field research beyond campus. Students will study examples of ekphrastic poetry, write their own ekphrastic poems, and participate in workshops of their peers’ work. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
67745	Lecture-Discussion	2U	12:30PM -1:45PM	MW	329 Gregory Hall	Van Landingham, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 3 hours Section Info: SP26 CW 463 - Corey VanLandingham - Speaking Pictures; Writing Poems about Art - Ekphrasis is Greek for description, and, traditionally, ekphrastic poems describe visual art—primarily paintings and drawings. This class asks us to expand the possible subjects for an ekphrastic poem, including photography, film, music, and dance. What can an ekphrastic poem do other than describe what we see? How can art transport us into another place, another moment of time, another human’s perspective? This writing workshop asks students to use the art of others as a springboard to both look inward and to write about subjects beyond the self. While examining and adopting an outward-looking creative process, we will discuss, along the way, the strategies and nuances of research, including the use of the stories and lives of others for one’s own creative works, and how to touch back on the personal through close attention to the exterior world. As a class, we will visit the Krannert Art Museum and the Spurlock Museum, with the possibility of more field research beyond campus. Students will study examples of ekphrastic poetry, write their own ekphrastic poems, and participate in workshops of their peers’ work. Prerequisite: CW 106 Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
67754	Lecture-Discussion	AG	3:00PM -5:20PM	T	133 1207 W Oregon	Garcia, A	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Latinx Nonfiction Workshop Section Info: SP26 LLS 496 / CW 463 - Advanced Topics in Creative Writing - Ángel Garcia - Excavations: Latinx Nonfiction and Workshop - Despite the disparate number of Latinx writers being published in the United States, historically and contemporarily, the premise of this class creative nonfiction workshop hinges on the idea that you are the expert of your experience, meaning you are best positioned to tell your life story, and that those stories inherently have worth. As such, we will excavate the most meaningful moments of our lives, the relevant histories that have shaped our personal and communal experiences, and collapse time—the past and the present—to create the most meaningful narratives of our futures. In this class we will investigate the relationships between process and craft, memory and research, fact and truth to explore the personal and public experiences of our diverse lives from the complex communities we inhabit. In addition to reading and discussing published works by contemporary Latinx writers, we will write work and receive feedback from our fellow classmates in workshop.
75273	Online	AL	1:00PM -4:00PM	R	n.a.	Klimas, C Starks, K	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/26-05/06/26 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Interactive Fiction with Twine