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The Creative Writing Program at Dillard University
Dillard is one of very few Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs ) where students can study the writing field in a program designed according to the national standards set by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). Since 1995, Dillard University students have success in and outside of classes.
Because of the expectations of readers and the industry, we encourage our students who pursue writing to Major in English; for others more interested in magazine publishing, music, or feature writing, we encourage them to major in Mass Communications or any subject content of their choice such as Theater, Art, Music, even Education. We offer a full range of courses in each genre: creative non-fiction, drama, fiction, poetry, screenplays, and preparation for industry. We now offer advanced classes in all areas. The full catalogue of courses and majors is available online through the website. On campus, students publish their creative work in The Dillard Review, a journal of arts and letters, which provides hands-on-practice in all aspects of publishing from editing and writing, to layout, design, and production.
Off campus, our students won national, regional, and local prizes in literature and have published in anthologies and other journals. After graduating, some students work in the industry at publishing companies, newspapers, teach workshops, or work at other journals. Others work in the industry performing at venues such as Slams, at the Apollo Theater, and on Def Poetry Jam. Many continue their studies toward advanced degrees. One Dillard graduate, Jericho Brown, completed the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Ph.D. in Creative Writing and is a university professor; he has also won fellowships to the prestigious Cave Canem, Bread Loaf, and most recently the Whiting Award (NYC), the American Book Award, the Bunting Fellowship of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Cambridge. Others completed the MFA in Drama writing and in Poetry; they are also professors who continue to write, perform, and publish. Also, at least another two former students are in the process of completing graduate school.
In addition, Dillard University students are taught by award-winning writers. As Director of the Program, my book, Red Beans and Ricely Yours: Poems, won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award in Poetry in 2006 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in Poetry (2005 from Truman State University Press), the audio book of which premiers January 2010. My essays, fiction, and verse appear in anthologies (such as Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry) and journals, such as Callaloo. My screenplay, “Rockin’ for a Risen Savior,” a full-length documentary on the ring-shout worship Easter Vigil of Black women in rural Louisiana, is in negotiation for production. My colleague, Andrea Boll’s debut novel, The Parade Goes On Without You (NOLA Fugees Press 2009) is being hailed as a delightful entrée into New Orleans raw street culture of music and parades. We consult with local, state, regional, and national arts agencies and are members of AWP.
In addition, The Creative Writing Program curriculum is enhanced with visits by a cadre of some of the best writers in our nation and the world. Guest Writers to Dillard University include Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Alice Wilson Fried, Valentine Pierce, Ishmael Reed, Charles Johnson, Pearle Cleage, Gwendolyn Brooks, Haki Madhubuti, Ngugi Wa’Thiango, Al Young, Kalamu ya Salaam, E. Ethelbert Miller, Tom Dent, Brenda Marie Osbey, a Dillard graduate and former Poet Laureate of Louisiana. We are uniquely poised to provide a well-rounded educational experience for budding writers, as well as the skills necessary to aid them in pursuing advanced study or industry employment. Every industry in the world employs writers. Good writers do well.
Red Beans and Ricely Yours,
Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy,
Associate Professor of English
Director, The Creative Writing Program
The Division of Humanities, where creativity blossoms
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The Division of Humanities, where creativity blossoms
Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70122
www.dillard.edu
msaloy@dillard.edu / saloy1@aol.com
504-816-4689 / 504-283-8822 (Operator)
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