Undergraduate Overview

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing (BFAW) program emphasizes a process-based approach to creative writing—one in which students experience writing across genres and in interdisciplinary and hybrid modes. Fully integrated into SAIC’s studio departments, you will explore the relationship between language and visual art by connecting writing to comics, graphic novels, artist’s books, painting, performance, film, sound, and gallery installations.

As a BFAW student, there are numerous immersive experiences for you to take advantage of and you will participate in either or both the BFA thesis exhibition and the BFA in Writing reading. Students can gain understanding of editorial and production work through involvement in Mouth, the annual BFAW student-run literary journal, or Fnewsmagazine, our award-winning student newspaper.

Students are also encouraged to attend the readings and workshops by the Writing Department sponsored Visiting Writer and Artist Lectures, special events such as Publishing Panel presentations, and MFAW Graduate Lectures. In addition, students in the Writing Department have access to a wide variety of campus resources. The BFA in Writing degree curriculum includes:

The BFA in Writing degree curriculum includes:

• Introduction to Writing as Art
• Two-semester literature survey
• Writing workshops for prose, poetry, comics, plays, and hybrid projects
• Generative seminars with multi-genre topics such as: artist books, literary monsters, and electronic writing
• Undergraduate thesis workshop—a small, intensive class in which students conceive, generate, and revise a creative project of their choice