Creative Writing

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

Minor

The Creative Writing Program is an interdisciplinary minor program offered by the Office of Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Division of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Letters & Science. The approved courses students take to satisfy the minor course requirements are offered by over forty departments and programs on campus. Interested undergraduate students in any major may earn an interdepartmental minor in creative writing by completing the requirements listed in the Minor Requirements tab. For further information, please also see the Creative Writing Minor website and the program's Frequently Asked Questions pages.

There is no major program in Creative Writing.

Declaring and Completing the Minor

Information regarding declaring the minor and completing the minor, including deadlines, is available on the Creative Writing Minor website. See Declaring and Completing

Students who are interested in the Creative Writing minor are encouraged to subscribe to the Creative Writing minor email list serve to receive important news about the minor, including special approval courses for the minor that are not published on the website. To subscribe, email demir@berkeley.edu.

Visit Program Website

Minor Requirements

Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript, but are not noted on diplomas.

General Guidelines

  1. All minors must be declared before the first day of classes in your Expected Graduation Term (EGT). For summer graduates, minors must be declared prior to the first day of Summer Session A. 

  2. All upper-division courses must be taken for a letter grade. 

  3. A minimum of three of the upper-division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.

  4. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required in the upper-division courses to fulfill the minor requirements.

  5. Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.

  6. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.

  7. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. If students cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, they should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.

  8. All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)

Course Requirements

Upper Division
Select three courses in creative writing (see below) 1
Select two courses in literature (see below)
1

 At least two of the three writing courses must be taken at UC Berkeley.

Students may be allowed to include courses that are not on the following lists with the approval of the creative writing minor faculty advisor. It is the responsibility of the student to provide the faculty advisor with documentary evidence to support the claim of course eligibility. Contact the creative writing minor student academic advisor at demir@berkeley.edu for more information.

Creative Writing

AFRICAM 156ACPoetry for the People: Introduction to the Art of Poetry4
AFRICAM 158APoetry for the People: The Writing and Teaching of Poetry4
AFRICAM 158BPoetry for the People: Practicum4
AFRICAM 164Spoken Word: Oral Tradition & Transformation from Poetry to Hip Hop, Standup & Beyond3
ART 182Creative Writing for Artists4
ASAMST 173Creative Writing4
COLWRIT 130Introduction to the Craft of Creative Writing4
COLWRIT 131Introduction to the Craft of Creative Nonfiction3
COLWRIT 132Introduction to the Craft of Short Fiction3
COLWRIT 133Introduction to the Craft of Dramatic Writing3
COLWRIT 140BSeminar-Workshop in Creative Writing3
COLWRIT 141Seminar-Workshop on Creative Writing: The Novel3
COLWRIT 175Players, Spectators & Fanatics: Writing on the Cultures of Sports3
CRWRIT 120Reading and Writing Poetry3
CRWRIT 130Creative Prose3
EA LANG 115Knowing Others, and Being Known: The Art of Writing People4
EA LANG 125The Art of Writing: Writing the Limits of Empathy4
ENGLISH 141Modes of Writing (Exposition, Fiction, Verse, Etc.)4
ENGLISH 143AShort Fiction4
ENGLISH 143BVerse4
ENGLISH 143CLong Narrative4
ENGLISH 143EPlaywriting4
ENGLISH 143NProse Nonfiction4
ENGLISH 143TPoetry Translation Workshop4
ENV DES 101AWriting about Environmental Design: Short Compositions3-4
ENV DES 101BWriting about Environmental Design: One Longer Composition3-4
FILM 180Introduction to Screenwriting4
FILM 181Screenwriting4
FILM 182TV Writing4
FRENCH 139Creative Writing in French4
NATAMST 150Native American Narratives4
THEATER 139AFundamentals of Playwriting3
THEATER 139BPlaywriting3

Literature

AFRICAM C143BResearch-to-Performance Laboratory3
AFRICAM C143CBlack Theatre Workshop3
AFRICAM 150BAfrican American Literature 1920 to Present3
AFRICAM N150BSurvey of African American Literary Forms and Styles 1920 to 19803
AFRICAM 152FNeo-Slave Narratives3
AFRICAM 153CNovels of Toni Morrison3
AFRICAM 155Literature of the Caribbean: Significant Themes4
AFRICAM 159Special Topics in African American Literature3 - 4
AFRICAM 165African American Poetry: Eyes on the Prize4
AGRS 124Classical Poetics4
AGRS 130MSlavery and Literature in the Greco-Roman World4
AMERSTD C152Native American Literature4
ANTHRO 160ACForms of Folklore4
ANTHRO 162Topics in Folklore4
ARABIC 104AModern Arabic Prose3
ARABIC 104BClassical Arabic Prose3
ARABIC 105AModern Arabic Poetry3
ARABIC 105BClassical Arabic Poetry3
ARABIC 111ASurvey of Arabic Literature (in Arabic)3
ARABIC 111BSurvey of Arabic Literature (in Arabic)3
ARMENI 124Armenian Literature in Social Context4
ASAMST 172Asian American Literature4
ASAMST 175Contemporary Narratives on the Philippines and the United States3
ASAMST 176Genre in Asian American Literature4
ASAMST 178Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature and Culture4
ASAMST 181Chinese American Literature4
ASAMST 183Korean American Literature4
BUDDSTD C140Readings in Chinese Buddhist Texts4
BUDDSTD C141Introductory Readings in Kanbun4
CELTIC 119AWelsh and Arthurian Literature of the Middle Ages4
CELTIC 119BWelsh and Arthurian Literature of the Middle Ages4
CELTIC 125Irish Literature in Translation4
CELTIC 138Irish Literature4
CELTIC 139Irish Literature4
CELTIC 146AMedieval Welsh Language and Literature4
CELTIC 146BMedieval Welsh Language and Literature4
CELTIC 168Celtic Mythology and Oral Tradition4
CHICANO 141Chicana Feminist Writers and Discourse4
CHICANO 142Major Chicano Writers4
CHICANO 143Chicano and Latin American Literature3
CHINESE 120Ancient Chinese Prose4
CHINESE 122Ancient Chinese Poetry4
CHINESE 134Readings in Classical Chinese Poetry4
CHINESE 136Readings in Medieval Prose4
CHINESE C140Readings in Chinese Buddhist Texts4
CHINESE 155Readings in Vernacular Chinese Literature4
CHINESE 156Modern Chinese Literature4
CHINESE 157Contemporary Chinese Literature4
CHINESE 179Exploring Premodern Chinese Novels4
CHINESE 180The Story of the Stone4
COLWRIT 140AReadings on Creative Writing3
COM LIT 100Introduction to Comparative Literature4
COM LIT 100AIntroduction to Comparative Literature: Literature and Philosophy4
COM LIT 100BIntroduction to Comparative Literature: Society and Culture4
COM LIT 100CIntroduction to Comparative Literature: Literary and Cultural History4
COM LIT 100DIntroduction to Comparative Literature4
COM LIT 120The Biblical Tradition in Western Literature4
COM LIT 151The Ancient Mediterranean World4
COM LIT 152The Middle Ages4
COM LIT 153The Renaissance4
COM LIT 154Eighteenth- and 19th-Century Literature4
COM LIT 155The Modern Period4
COM LIT 156Fiction and Culture of the Americas4
COM LIT 156ACOn line: Fiction and Culture of the Americas4
COM LIT 165Myth and Literature4
COM LIT 171Topics in Modern Greek Literature4
COM LIT 190Senior Seminar in Comparative Literature4
DUTCH 140Topics in Dutch Literature3
DUTCH C164DUTCH C164 The Indonesian Connection: Dutch (Post)colonial History and Culture in Southeast Asia4
EA LANG 105Dynamics of Romantic Core Values in East Asian Premodern Literature and Contemporary Film4
EA LANG 106Expressing the Ineffable in China and Beyond: The Making of Meaning in Poetic Writing4
EA LANG 108Revising the Classics: Chinese and Greek Poetry in Translation4
EA LANG 111Reading Global Politics in Contemporary East Asian Literature4
EA LANG 116Modern East Asian Fiction4
EA LANG 117Lu Xun and his Worlds4
EA LANG 160Neurodiversity in Literature4
EA LANG 162Science Fiction in East Asia4
ENGLISH 100The Seminar on Criticism4
ENGLISH 107The English Bible As Literature4
ENGLISH 110Medieval Literature4
ENGLISH 111Chaucer4
ENGLISH 112Middle English Literature4
ENGLISH 114AEnglish Drama4
ENGLISH 114BEnglish Drama4
ENGLISH 115AThe English Renaissance4
ENGLISH 115BThe English Renaissance4
ENGLISH 117AShakespeare4
ENGLISH 117BShakespeare4
ENGLISH 117FShakespeare and Film4
ENGLISH 117JShakespeare4
ENGLISH 117SShakespeare4
ENGLISH 117TShakespeare in the Theatre4
ENGLISH 118Milton4
ENGLISH 119Literature of the Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century4
ENGLISH 120Literature of the Later 18th Century4
ENGLISH 121Romantic Period4
ENGLISH 122Victorian Period4
ENGLISH 125AThe English Novel4
ENGLISH 125BThe English Novel4
ENGLISH 125CThe European Novel4
ENGLISH 125DThe 20th-Century Novel4
ENGLISH 125EThe Contemporary Novel4
ENGLISH 126British Literature: 1900-19454
ENGLISH 127Modern Poetry4
ENGLISH 128Modern Drama4
ENGLISH 130AAmerican Literature: Before 18004
ENGLISH 130BAmerican Literature: 1800-18654
ENGLISH 130CAmerican Literature: 1865-19004
ENGLISH 130DAmerican Literature: 1900-19454
ENGLISH 131American Poetry4
ENGLISH 132American Novel4
ENGLISH 133AAfrican American Literature and Culture Before 19174
ENGLISH 133BAfrican American Literature and Culture Since 19174
ENGLISH 133TTopics in African American Literature and Culture4
ENGLISH 134Contemporary Literature4
ENGLISH 135ACLiterature of American Cultures4
ENGLISH C136Topics in American Studies4
ENGLISH 137AChicana/o Literature and Culture to 19104
ENGLISH 137BChicana/o Literature and Culture Since 19104
ENGLISH 137TTopics in Chicana/o Literature and Culture4
ENGLISH 138Studies in World Literature in English4
ENGLISH 139The Cultures of English4
ENGLISH 152Women Writers4
ENGLISH 153TTopics in Asian American Literatures and Cultures4
ENGLISH 165Special Topics4
ENGLISH 165ACSpecial Topics in American Cultures4
ENGLISH 166Special Topics4
ENGLISH 166ACSpecial Topics in American Cultures4
ENGLISH N166Special Topics6
ENGLISH 170Literature and the Arts4
ENGLISH 171Literature and Sexual Identity4
ENGLISH 172Literature and Psychology4
ENGLISH 174Literature and History4
ENGLISH 175Literature and Disability4
ENGLISH 176Literature and Popular Culture4
ENGLISH 177Literature and Philosophy4
ENGLISH 178British and American Folklore4
ENGLISH 179Literature and Linguistics4
ENGLISH 180AAutobiography4
ENGLISH 180CComedy4
ENGLISH 180EThe Epic4
ENGLISH 180HShort Story4
ENGLISH 180JThe Essay4
ENGLISH 180LLyric Verse4
ENGLISH 180NThe Novel4
ENGLISH 180RThe Romance4
ENGLISH 180SSatire4
ENGLISH 180TTragedy4
ENGLISH 180ZScience Fiction4
ENGLISH 190Research Seminar4
ETH STD 100Comparative Ethnic Literature in America4
ETH STD N100Comparative Ethnic Literature in America3
ETH STD 174Existential Panic in American Ethnic Literature4
ETH STD 175Literature from Ethnic Movements4
FRENCH 112AMedieval Literature4
FRENCH 112BMedieval Literature4
FRENCH 114ALate Medieval Literature4
FRENCH 116ASixteenth-Century Literature: Marot to Montaigne4
FRENCH 117ASeventeenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 117BSeventeenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 118AEighteenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 118BEighteenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 119ANineteenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 119BNineteenth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 120ATwentieth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 120BTwentieth-Century Literature4
FRENCH 121ALiterary Themes, Genres, and Structures4
FRENCH 121BLiterary Themes, Genres, and Structures4
FRENCH 122ALiterary Criticism4
FRENCH 122BLiterary Criticism4
FRENCH 123Prose Fiction4
FRENCH 124AModern Theatre4
FRENCH 126Senior Seminar4
FRENCH 140AFrench Literature in English Translation4
FRENCH 140BFrench Literature in English Translation4
FRENCH 140CFrench Literature in English Translation4
FRENCH 140DFrench Literature in English Translation4
FRENCH 150AWomen in French Literature4
FRENCH 150BWomen in French Literature4
FRENCH 151AFrancophone Literature4
FRENCH 151BFrancophone Literature4
FRENCH 172APsychoanalytic Theory and Literature4
FRENCH 174Music and Literature4
FRENCH 175ALiterature and the Visual Arts4
FRENCH 176Philosophy and Literature4
FRENCH 185Literature and Colonialism4
GWS C146ACultural Representations of Sexualities: Queer Literary Culture4
GERMAN 108Literary Translation4
GERMAN 110The Literature of the Middle Ages3
GERMAN 112Early Modern Literature4
GERMAN 123From 1800 to the Present3
GERMAN 131Goethe4
GERMAN 140Romanticism4
GERMAN 147German Drama and Opera4
GERMAN 148Topics in Narrative4
GERMAN 151Eighteenth- to 21st-Century German Poetry3
GERMAN 152Modern Literature4
GERMAN 155Kafka4
GERMAN 156Literature in the Digital Age4
GERMAN 160EHolocaust: Media, Memory, Representation4
GREEK 100Plato and Attic Prose4
GREEK 101Homer4
GREEK 102Drama and Society4
GREEK 105The Greek New Testament4
GREEK 115Archaic Poetry4
GREEK 116Greek Drama4
GREEK 117Hellenistic Poets4
GREEK 120Herodotus4
GREEK 121Thucydides4
GREEK 122Attic Oratory4
GREEK 123Plato and Aristotle4
GREEK 125Greek Literature of the Hellenistic and Imperial Periods4
HEBREW 104AModern Hebrew Literature and Culture3
HEBREW 104BModern Hebrew Literature and Culture3
ITALIAN 104Reading Italian Literature4
ITALIAN 109Dante's Commedia (in Italian)4
ITALIAN 110Literature and Culture of the 13th and 14th Centuries4
ITALIAN 112Sixteenth-Century Literature and Culture4
ITALIAN 115Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture4
ITALIAN 117Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature4
ITALIAN 120Topics in Italian Studies4
ITALIAN 130ADante's Inferno (in English)4
ITALIAN 130BDante's Purgatorio and Paradiso (in English)4
ITALIAN 163Special Topics in Italian Literature4
JAPAN 130Classical Japanese Poetry4
JAPAN 132Premodern Japanese Diary (Nikki) Literature4
JAPAN 140Heian Prose4
JAPAN 144Edo Literature4
JAPAN 155Modern Japanese Literature4
JAPAN 159Contemporary Japanese Literature4
JAPAN 170Classical Japanese Literature in Translation4
JAPAN 173Modern Japanese Literature in Translation4
JAPAN 177Urami: Rancor and Revenge in Japanese Literature4
JAPAN 180Ghosts and the Modern Literary Imagination4
JAPAN 181Reframing Disasters: Fukushima, Before and After4
KOREAN 101Fourth-Year Readings: Korean Literature4
KOREAN 130Genre and Occasion in Traditional Poetry4
KOREAN 140Narrating Persons and Objects in Traditional Korean Prose4
KOREAN 150Modern Korean Poetry4
KOREAN 153Readings in Modern Korean Literature4
KOREAN 155Modern Korean Fiction4
KOREAN 157Contemporary Korean Literature4
KOREAN 170Intercultural Encounters in Korean Literature4
KOREAN 172Gender and Korean Literature4
KOREAN 174Modern Korean Fiction in Translation4
KOREAN 180Critical Approaches to Modern Korean Literature4
KOREAN 188Cold War Culture in Korea: Literature and Film4
LATIN 100Republican Prose4
LATIN 101Vergil4
LATIN 102Lyric and Society4
LATIN 115Roman Drama4
LATIN 116Lucretius, Vergil's Georgics4
LATIN 119Latin Epic4
LATIN 120Latin Prose to AD 144
LATIN 121Tacitus4
LATIN 122Post-Augustan Prose4
LATIN 140Medieval Latin4
LATIN 155AReadings in Medieval Latin4
LGBT 146Cultural Representations of Sexuality4
LGBT C146ACultural Representations of Sexualities: Queer Literary Culture4
MELC 105Ancient Mesopotamian Literature3
MELC 113Gilgamesh: King, Hero, and God4
MELC 132Biblical Poetry4
MELC 139Modern Jewish Literatures4
MELC 150AArabic Literature in Translation3
MELC 150BArabic Literature in Translation3
MELC 152Cultural Encounters in Modern Arabic Literature3
MELC 154Narratives of Identity in Israeli and Palestinian Fiction4
MELC 155The Thousand and One Nights in World Literary Imagination3
MELC 165Film and Fiction of Iran4
NATAMST C152Native American Literature4
PERSIAN 101AReadings in Persian Literature3
PERSIAN 101BReadings in Persian Literature3
PERSIAN 102AReadings in Classical Persian Prose3
PERSIAN 102BReadings in Classical Persian Prose3
PERSIAN 103AClassical Persian Poetry3
PERSIAN 103BClassical Persian Poetry3
PERSIAN 104AContemporary Persian Literature3
PERSIAN 104BContemporary Persian Literature3
PERSIAN 105Modern Analytical Prose in Persian3
PORTUG 107Introduction to Portuguese Literature and Culture4
PORTUG 128Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Literature4
PORTUG 135Studies in Luso-Brazilian Literature4
RHETOR 112Rhetoric of Narrative Genres in Nonliterate Societies4
RHETOR 121Rhetoric of Fiction4
RHETOR 122Rhetoric of Drama4
RHETOR 124Rhetoric of Poetry4
RHETOR 125Poetics and Poetry4
RHETOR 127Novel, Society, and Politics4
RHETOR 129Rhetoric of Autobiography4
RHETOR 129ACAutobiography and American Individualism4
RHETOR 130Novel into Film4
RHETOR 131TGenre in Film and Literature4
RHETOR 156Rhetoric of the Political Novel4
SANSKR 101CIntermediate Sanskrit: Sahitya (Literary Sanskrit)5
SCANDIN 106The Works of Hans Christian Andersen4
SCANDIN C107Plays of Ibsen4
SCANDIN C108Strindberg4
SCANDIN 116Studies in Prose4
SCANDIN 120The Novel in Scandinavian4
SCANDIN 125Old Norse Literature4
SCANDIN 150Studies in Scandinavian Literature4
SCANDIN 160Scandinavian Myth and Religion4
SCANDIN C160Scandinavian Myth and Religion4
SCANDIN 165Scandinavian Folklore4
SCANDIN 170Arctic Folklore and Mythology in Nordic Lands4
SLAVIC 131Literature, Art, and Society in 20th-Century Russia4
SLAVIC 132Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and the English Novel4
SLAVIC 133The Novel in Russia and the West4
SLAVIC 134AGogol4
SLAVIC 134CDostoevsky4
SLAVIC 134DTolstoy4
SLAVIC 134EChekhov4
SLAVIC 134FNabokov4
SLAVIC 134GTolstoy and Dostoevsky4
SLAVIC 134NStudies in Russian Literature4
SLAVIC C134NRussia and Asia4
SLAVIC 139Post-Soviet Cultures4
SLAVIC 147AEast Slavic Folklore3
SLAVIC 147BBalkan Folklore3
SLAVIC 150Polish Literature and Intellectual Trends3
SLAVIC 151Readings in Polish Literature4
SLAVIC 170Survey of Yugoslav Literatures3
SLAVIC 171Advanced Readings in Yugoslav/Post-Yugoslav Studies4
SLAVIC 181Readings in Russian Literature4
SLAVIC 182Pushkin4
SLAVIC 188Russian Prose4
SEASIAN 128Introduction to Modern Indonesian and Malaysian Literature in Translation4
SEASIAN 129Mainland Southeast Asian Literature4
SEASIAN 130Articulations of the Female in Indonesia4
SEASIAN 148Philippines: History, Literature, Performance4
SEASIAN 152Filipino Mythology4
SEASIAN 170Narratives of Vietnam and Vietnamese Diaspora4
SPANISH 104ASurvey of Spanish American Literature4
SPANISH 104BSurvey of Spanish American Literature4
SPANISH 107ASurvey of Spanish Literature4
SPANISH 107BSurvey of Spanish Literature4
SPANISH 111ACervantes4
SPANISH 111BCervantes4
SPANISH 115Spanish Poetry4
SPANISH 131The Spanish American Short Story4
SPANISH 135Studies in Hispanic Literature4
SPANISH 135WStudies in Hispanic Literature - Writing Intensive4
SPANISH 142Spanish-American Fiction in English Translation4
TAMIL 101AReadings in Tamil4
TAMIL 101BReadings in Tamil4
THEATER C107Plays of Ibsen4
THEATER C108Strindberg4
THEATER 126Performance Literatures4
THEATER C183CBlack Theatre Workshop3
TURKISH 101AReadings in Modern Turkish3
TURKISH 101BReadings in Modern Turkish3

Contact Information

Creative Writing Minor

Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies

235 Evans Hall

Visit Program Website

Program Director and Faculty Advisor

Fiona McFarlane, PhD (Department of English)

413 Wheeler Hall

fmcfarlane@berkeley.edu

Student Academic Advisor

Laura Demir

235 Evans Hall

demir@berkeley.edu

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