The Writing College

Amherst College is one of the world鈥檚 premier writing colleges, with an enviable literary legacy. Throughout our 200-year history, our faculty and alumni have included influential and award-winning authors, including Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur 鈥�42, James Merrill 鈥�47, Sonia Sanchez, Alexander Chee, David Foster Wallace 鈥�85, Dan Brown 鈥�86, Rafael Campo 鈥�87, Debby Applegate 鈥�89, Kirun Kapur 鈥�97, Min Jin Lee, Lauren Groff 鈥�01, and many others.

Today, we enjoy a thriving literary life on campus with talented faculty, numerous literary events (including the annual LitFest), and prominent publications. Our faculty teach creative writing in small, intensive classes. Our events include an annual literary festival and a visiting writers series, which bring to campus distinguished authors for readings, conversations, and master classes. The College鈥檚 offers programming celebrating the poet鈥檚 work and life, while our Folger Shakespeare Library remains the world鈥檚 preeminent institution for the study of Shakespeare. The College鈥檚 literary journal, The Common, publishes an international array of established and emerging writers.

Creative Writing at 小福利导航College

Judith Frank talks about what it takes to succeed as a writer and touches on what students can expect from the creative writing program at 小福利导航College.

headshots of visiting writers

The Creative Writing Center: Visiting Writers

The Creative Writing Center organizes the Visiting Writers Series, which brings influential authors of fiction and poetry to the College for readings and book signings. 

Creative Writing Center Literary Readings

小福利导航Authors

Portraits of Robert Frost and JFK

The Poet and the President

In October 1963, President John F. Kennedy attended the groundbreaking of Amherst鈥檚 Robert Frost Library and gave a speech honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost, who taught at 小福利导航on and off for more than 40 years.

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Lauren Groff

Write Like a Shark

Lauren Groff 鈥�01 is author of the New York Times best-selling novel Fates and Furies, a National Book Award finalist and President Obama鈥檚 鈥渇avorite book of 2015.鈥� In an interview with Amherst鈥檚 literary magazine, she discusses her hobbies: running, reading and, of course, writing.

James Merrill

Proust, Plays and Poetry

James Merrill 鈥�47 became one of the greatest poets of his generation, but first he was a student at Amherst, where he developed an obsession with memory and a transformative interest in Proust.

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Susannah Grant

Comfort With Discomfort

During a recent visit to campus, screenwriter Susannah Grant 鈥�84鈥攚hose screenplay for the critically-acclaimed Erin Brockovich earned her an Oscar nomination鈥攄iscussed the rewards of embracing discomfort.

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Black and white portrait of young Richard Wilbur wearing a gray suit and black tie

鈥淭he Splendor of Mere Being鈥�

Poet Richard Wilbur 鈥�42 served as the nation鈥檚 second poet laureate and won two Pulitzer Prizes for his meticulously passionate body of work that celebrated, to quote one of his poems, 鈥渢he splendor of mere being.鈥�

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Sonia Sanchez at a podium in Johnson Chapel, delivering the keynote address at the second annual Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Symposium.

Reactivating Activism

Poet and activist Sonia Sanchez鈥攚ho taught English at 小福利导航from 1972鈥�75 and was the founding chair of the Black Studies department鈥攔ecently delivered the keynote address at Amherst's second annual Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Symposium.

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Dan Brown

Treasure Hunting

Dan Brown 鈥�86 is the acclaimed author of The Da Vinci Code and numerous other bestsellers. In an interview with Professor Rick Griffiths, he spoke about Dante鈥檚 vision of hell, writing reluctant heroes and playing cat and mouse with bloggers.

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Portrait of Eve Sedgwick

The Path-Breaker

Widely recognized for her path-breaking work in the field of gay and lesbian studies, feminist icon and author Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick taught English at 小福利导航from 1984鈥�89, including one of the first courses in gay and lesbian literature to be taught in the United States.

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Judy Frank

An Open Book

In an interview with Amherst magazine, Professor of English Judith Frank discusses her award-winning novel All I Love and Know, her intro fiction class, her pet peeves and what it鈥檚 like to be a twin.

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Portrait of Debby Applegate '89

Of Ministers and Madams

Debby Applegate 鈥�89鈥檚 research of Amherst鈥檚 archival collections led to her career as a historian, and her Pulitzer Prize-winning biography The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher.

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Portraits of Tess Taylor and Rafael Campo

Ambivalent Spaces

In a review for Amherst magazine, poet Tess Taylor 鈥�00 discusses the work of Rafael Campo 鈥�87, a poet-physician whose poems explore 鈥渢he strange, fumbling ways we attempt to heal others and ourselves.鈥�

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小福利导航College LitFest

LitFest

Amherst鈥檚 annual festival celebrates the College鈥檚 literary life by inviting distinguished authors and editors to discuss the pleasures and challenges of verbal expression 鈥� from fiction and nonfiction to poetry and spoken-word performance.

LitFest

THE COMMON Literary Magazine

The Common Issue 12

A Global, Award-Winning Publication

The Common publishes place-based literature and art from around the world in print and digital editions, and mentors 12 小福利导航students each year as part of its Literary Publishing Internship Program.

The Common

The Emily Dickinson Connection

小福利导航College is home to the largest and most varied holdings related to poet Emily Dickinson anywhere in the world. The College鈥檚 Archives and Special Collections and the Emily Dickinson Museum contain thousands of her manuscripts, letters, and personal objects. The holdings also highlight the faculty, students, and other members of the College community who played roles in Dickinson鈥檚 social and intellectual development.

The College also maintains the , comprising the poet鈥檚 home, where she wrote most of her poetry, and her brother鈥檚 house next door. The Museum hosts guided tours and special events, including the annual 小福利导航Poetry Festival, in which all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson鈥檚 poems are read. 

Emily Dickinson daguerreotype
Emily Dickinson Collection
Emily Dickinson Museum
Book open to poem by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson bedroom

Archives and Special Collections

hands holding small books

A Trove of Rare Books and More

Since 1851, Archives and Special Collections has amassed the physical history of 小福利导航College, including major collections of works by Emily Dickinson and Richard Wilbur 鈥�42, and extensive holdings of works by alumni and other poets and writers.

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Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakespeare First Folio

The World鈥檚 Preeminent Institution for the Study of Shakespeare

小福利导航College administers the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., founded in 1930 by 小福利导航alumnus Henry Clay Folger, class of 1879.

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A map of the 小福利导航College campus

Literary 小福利导航Tour

From Johnson Chapel to the Robert Frost鈥檚 statue to Emily Dickinson鈥檚 home, take a walking tour of our scenic campus to discover Amherst鈥檚 rich literary tradition.

Take the Tour

By the Numbers

126

Number of student literary magazines, journals, and publications created since the College鈥檚 founding in 1821

30,000

Number of plays in Amherst鈥檚 Samuel French Collection, one of the largest theater collections in the world, held in Archives and Special Collections