Along with a handful of other writing programs nationwide, Brown provides a home for writers who are envisioning new paths in fiction, poetry, digital language arts, and mixed media.
Literary Arts
Literary Arts
For fifty years, Literary Arts at Brown University has been a creative and intellectual center for a diverse and innovative literary community.
Literary Arts
For fifty years, Literary Arts at Brown University has been a creative and intellectual center for a diverse and innovative literary community.
Course Information
During pre-registration, students may register for courses depending on certain factors—some are open based on class year, others are based on declared concentration.
After pre-registration, instructor permission is needed to gain entry and/or access to the waitlist. No one will receive such permission until lotteries are run on the first day of the semester — for spring 2026, lotteries take place on Wed., 21 January.
After pre-registration, instructor permission is needed to gain entry and/or access to the waitlist. No one will receive such permission until lotteries are run on the first day of the semester — for spring 2026, lotteries take place on Wed., 21 January.
Literary Arts offers a mixture of workshops, seminars and hybrid workshop/seminar courses each semester, many of which are special topics (and are subject to change from one semester to the next).
Academics
Undergraduate
The Department in Literary Arts offers courses in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, digital & cross-disciplinary writing, and translation, as well as seminar courses in reading and writing about literature.
Graduate
Graduate students in Brown's Literary Arts MFA program may choose to focus in one of three tracks – Fiction, Poetry, or Digital/Cross Disciplinary Writing.
Recent News
Howard Swearer Center
Eleni Sikelianos noted as 2026 Howard Swearer Engaged Faculty Award Recipient
Based on her course through which she engages Brown students with writers in the local community schools, Eleni Sikelianos, professor of Literary Arts in Poetry, has been recognized as a recipient of Brown University's Howard Swearer Engaged Faculty Award.
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