The Literature Department and the Writing Program at UC Santa Cruz offer students the opportunity to take courses in creative writing and in composition and rhetoric. The creative writing concentration within the literature major supports students in developing their craft alongside their peers and with the guidance of a faculty adviser. The courses offered through the Writing Program assist students in improving research and writing skills in a setting designed specifically for the development of writing proficiency.

Study and Research Opportunities

• B.A. in literature with a concentration in creative writing, with selective admission to the concentration
• Introductory writing courses with topical foci and courses with disciplinary foci involving significant amounts of reading, formal and informal weekly writing, and peer and instructor review
• A range of courses for students at all class levels offered through the Writing Program
• Student media that include award-winning student publications; KZSC, a public radio station serving three counties; campus newsmagazines; and annual literary journals

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High School Preparation
In addition to completing the courses required for UC admission, high school students planning to major in literature with the creative writing concentration at UC Santa Cruz should emphasize reading and writing skills in high school. Some background in a foreign language is helpful.

Transfer Preparation
Transfer students planning to major in literature with a concentration in creative writing will find it helpful to take courses that satisfy campus general education requirements before coming to UC Santa Cruz. They should also have some training in analytical and expository writing; an introductory course in literary interpretation and two additional literature courses are especially desirable. Also, please see the Creative Writing section on the reverse.

Transfer students are urged to declare the major in their first quarter at UC Santa Cruz. Students must successfully complete Literature 1 (Literary Interpretation) or its equivalent prior to declaring the literature major or minor. A student may petition to receive credit toward the lower-division requirements of the major for up to three courses taken at other institutions. An introduction to literature course may be used to satisfy the Literary Interpretation course requirement. Any other two literature courses may be applied toward the Literature 61 series and the Literature 80 series course requirements. Transfer of Credit petition forms are available in the Literature Department Office.

UC Santa Cruz lower-division requirements in literature are:
• Literary Interpretation: close reading and analysis of literary texts
• One Literature 61-series course: categories, methodologies, and problems of literary study
• One Literature 80-series course: topical, thematic, and comparative study of literary texts

While it is not a condition of admission, students from California community colleges may complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) in preparation for transfer to UC Santa Cruz.

Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California community colleges can be accessed on the ASSIST web site.

Hector Tobar ('85) is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and was part of the writing team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. He is author of The Tattooed Soldier.

Martha Mendoza ('88) was co-winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting and the Polk Award for the Associated Press story about the No Gun Ri massacre in the opening weeks of the Korean War. She is also co-author of the book The Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War.

Laurie Garrett ('75) won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for a series of articles in Newsday about the 1995 outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire. She is the author of the critically acclaimed non-fiction book The Coming Plague.

Annie Wells ('81), working as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, received a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for spot news photography.

Recognition
Creative writing student Kristen Holden won first place in the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Competition and second place in the Poet Laureate Contest in 2002. UC Santa Cruz students have earned six awards in the Poet Laureate and the Coolbrith Memorial competitions, including three first prizes.

Creative Writing
The Department of Literature offers a sequence of workshops from introductory through advanced levels in both poetry and fiction. Other activities available to interested students include participation in the production of literary journals on campus, attendance at readings by visiting writers, and use of a creative writing reading room.

Admission to this concentration is selective. Interested students are required to take one lower-division workshop at UC Santa Cruz before applying to the creative writing concentration.

Students accepted into the concentration must complete three advanced writing workshops and a senior project (e.g., a group of stories, a significant portion of a novel, a collection of poems). To apply for admission to the creative writing concentration, students should submit a completed application form (available at the Literature Department Office) and a thoughtful selection from their work (8–10 pages of poetry or fiction). Once accepted into the concentration, students are required to declare (or redeclare) the major in literature. At that time, students should meet with their adviser to discuss plans for a senior project.

KZSC 88.1 FM presents diverse music, news, and public affairs programming for the three-county listening area. The award-winning student newspaper City on a Hill publishes weekly. It covers campus, local, national, and international news and offers reviews and commentary. Fish Rap Live! publishes twice monthly and provides a forum for free expression of ideas, coverage of local and campus events, and personal journalism.

Campus newsmagazines such as Black/African Voice, EyeCandy, TWANAS, and Leviathan are dedicated to current cultural, political, and social concerns. Annual literary journals offer poetry, prose, photography, and art. Examples are Chinquapin, Red Wheelbarrow, La Revista, Alay, and Las Girlfriends.

For more information about student media at UC Santa Cruz, please visit studentmedia.ucsc.edu.

Writing-Intensive Courses
Discipline-specific and college core writing-intensive courses are offered by departments and colleges, respectively. These courses often require more writing than other classes, and they also stress attention to the craft of writing in the course’s field. Papers are assigned throughout the quarter and editorial comment is provided by the instructor.

The Writing Program
The campuswide Writing Program offers courses designed to help students at every level of proficiency become more competent and confident writers of prose. The courses offered through this program teach skills of grammar and organization and strategies of invention, composition, and editing. These courses approach writing as one of the most important ways we have of making discoveries about ourselves and the world around us, and of communicating those insights to others.

In addition, the Writing Program offers instruction in the theory and practice of teaching writing for peer tutors.