Creative Writing Program


As Jodi Picoult says, "You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page." Take a creative writing class this semester!

 

Grossmont College offers Southern California’s largest and best community college Creative Writing Program, with top-notch classes, nurturing workshops, and talented instructors to challenge you to sculpt your voice into the next wave of cutting edge literature. We offer courses tailored to different writing skill levels, writing and editing experience, and writing genres. You can also earn a Certificate in Creative Writing with your English degree. Our courses fall into several categories: general creative writing classes, workshop sequences, and production and editing classes. Being enrolled in a Grossmont College Creative Writing class provides you with exclusive opportunities to meet nationally and internationally renowned authors, participate in readings and literary events, publish your work, and even edit a literary journal.

 

Visit "About Our Program" to see our full catalog of workshops and courses.

 


FRS 2024

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Below is our new season of poets and authors presenting live readings, talks, and more. For event details and additional information about these events, visit our official 2024 Fall Readings Series page.

Event Date Time Location

Ruben Navarrette journalist / memoirist

memoir author of A Darker Shade of Crimson, and nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group

Sep. 25 12:30pm 70-162: Library Living Room

Daniela Sow poet

author of the newly launched poetry collection, Half Moon Rising; event also features student poets Kassandra Reyes and Artrice Bennett

Oct. 10 2pm Griffin Gate

Mark Wallace author

prize-winning novelist, poet, and essayist; author of Crab, Telling It Slant, The Quarry and the Lot, and others

Nov. 13 6:30pm PVAC

New Voices student reading

exceptional student writers from the Fall 2024 semester's creative writing courses performing new and original works

Dec. 9 6:30pm PVAC

 


The Creative Writing Workshops for Fall 2024

ENGL 126: INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING

section 3045  (Online), 3 cr., with Prof. Julie Cardenas

section 3064, T/Th 11AM-12:20PM, 3 cr., with Prof. Daniela Sow

 

ENGL 130-133: SHORT FICTION WRITING I-IV

sections 3066-3069, W 6:30-9:35PM, 3 cr., with Prof. Enrique Cervantes

 

ENGL 140-143: POETRY WRITING I-IV 

sections 3074-3077, T/Th 2PM-3:20PM, 3 cr., with Prof. Adam Deutsch

 

ENGL 145-148: ACORN REVIEW: EDITING AND PRODUCTION I-IV

sections 9138-9141 (Online), 3 cr., with Prof. Julie Cardenas

 

ENGL 175-178: NOVEL WRITING I-IV 

sections 2374-2377 (Online), 3 cr., with Prof. Rich Farrell

About Registering...

The single most important show of support you can give the Grossmont College Creative Writing Program is to fill our classes and keep our workshops thriving. Whether it’s weeks before the semester starts or weeks before it ends, less than robust enrollment can cause what is potentially the most important and inspiring class you might ever take to be put in the cross-hairs for cancellation. Safeguard these courses and your chances to work with some of the best creative writing instructors in San Diego. Invite a friend and hold your seats by registering early.

 


Our Mission

The mission of the Grossmont College Creative Writing Program is to serve and engage students, faculty, and the community actively through a rich variety of readings and other literary events, and to cultivate a diverse literary community that celebrates and promotes writing for the vital role it holds in our culture.

 

We also host the The Literary Arts Festival, conducted annually at the end of April's "National Poetry Month," a week-long calendar of events celebrating authors and the transformative power of creative writing in all its diverse forms. Each year, the Creative Writing Program hosts award-winning writers as one-of-a-kind,  free-of-charge opportunities to experience literature beyond the page. All the details for 2022 will be available on this site!

 

Please consider donating to the Creative Writing Fund of The Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges to help the Creative Writing Program promote literary arts through continued sponsorship of opportunities and events like the Literary Arts Festival. Visit "Foundation Giving" right now to securely make a tax deductible charitable contribution. Your support helps us open up worlds of creativity to our students and community. Thank you!

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