Penn Creative Writing Program

28/07/2026

Featured in Omnia magazine: read how support from Kelly Writers House and a formative workshop with Professor Nova Ren Suma helped shape Rowana Miller's (C'22) writing career.

Fresh off publishing her first book, Rowana Miller, C’22, shares how Penn shaped her writing career—plus the secret society that inspired her novel.

10/07/2026

Three decades ago a “ragtag army of squatter-minded poets” took possession of a modest cottage at 38th & Locust Walk and conjured by candlelight a vision of a “house for writers.” Today Kelly Writers House is a University institution that hosts a dizzying variety of classes, readings, and other events and sits at the center of a constellation of affiliated programs whose impact stretches around the globe. Read all about KWH at 30 at the link below!

Three decades ago a “ragtag army of squatter-minded poets” took possession of a modest cottage at 38th & Locust Walk and conjured by candlelight a vision of a “house for writers.” Today Kelly Writers House is a University institution that hosts a dizzying variety of classes, readings, and ot...

03/06/2026

This spring, students in Jay Kirk's XFic Nonfiction Workshop collaborated with partners across the university to produce the first themed issue of Xfic: The American Lawn Project. Find out where their inquiry led them at the link below:

Jay Kirk’s Xfic Nonfiction Workshop this past semester focused on the American lawn—which students approached through the lenses of environmental studies, history, gender and media, veterinary medicine, and more.

29/04/2026

Congratulations to Professor Simone White, who has been awarded a 2026 Independent Creative Production Grant from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation for MOM PUTT PUTT.

"In this artwork by Simone White, a mechanized vehicle runs a timed route through a visually and poetically dramatized Los Angeles."

A visual art project featuring a miniature, mechanized vehicle that runs a timed route through a poetically dramatized Los Angeles.

28/04/2026

Happy pub day to Professor Anna Badkhen, whose new collection of essays is out today from Bellevue Literary Press!

Critics are calling TO SEE BEYOND "soul-stirring" (Publishers Weekly, starred review), "stunningly beautiful" (Boston Globe), "brave, probing" (Foreword Reviews), and "a necessary book" for our time (World Literature Today). Learn more at https://www.blpress.org/books/to-see-beyond/

22/04/2026

Please join us at Kelly Writers House on Wednesday, April 29 for the 2026 Creative Writing Honors Thesis Reading! A number of graduating seniors will read from their capstone projects with a festive reception to follow. Details below!

A number of our graduating seniors have been working hard to complete their Creative Writing thesis projects—long-form creative literary works in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and mixed genres that serve as the capstones to their time at Penn as writers. Join us for a celebr...

17/04/2026

Congratulations to senior creative writing major Chloe Chang, one of eight students recipients of the 2026 President's Engagement and Innovation Prize!

Eight fourth-years representing four teams have won the 2026 President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability Prizes, which will advance their work in robotics, energy efficiency, vision care, and childhood development.

“This year’s recipients of the President’s Prizes exemplify the creative rigor and civic commitment that define Penn at its best,” said President J. Larry Jameson. “Through projects such as HAVEN, Shared Vision, Serpent Robotics, and Fluid Silicon, our students are translating bold ideas into real-world impact.”

Read More: https://bit.ly/4sDH8ai

27/03/2026

"Under Ernesto’s guidance, we ate our way through the Galapagos: trying the translucent berries of the muyuyo plant, licking dew off of the leaves of the black mangrove, and tasting crystals of sea salt tucked in the crevices of the beach’s lava rocks."

Read creative writing minor Allison Li's (C'26) reflections on traveling to the Galápagos through the Penn Global Seminar program at the link below!

Penn Global Seminar: Darwin’s Laboratory: History, Philosophy, Evolution and Social Ecology in the Galápagos Archipelago Allison, one of the Fall 2025 Penn Global Seminar Correspondents, shares her experience abroad during winter break 2025-2026. Follow along with the group of correspondents on...

25/03/2026

Congratulations to this year's Creative Writing prize winners! View the full list of winners, along with judges' comments, at the link below:

The Creative Writing Program awards a number of prizes annually to University of Pennsylvania students. See below for our most recent prize winners; previous winners are listed at the bottom of this page. Details on our 2027 prizes and how to submit work will be available on our website in early 20...

20/03/2026

Please join us next week for a celebration of A Compass on the Navigable Sea: 100 Years of World Literature, a global anthology of stories and essays reimagining what international writing can be. The readers will include Sarah Leonard ('27), Carine Medellus ('26), and Creative Writing faculty member Anna Badkhen, who will facilitate a conversation with the anthology's editor, Daniel Simon, about the meaning of global literature at a time of crisis.

Register here: https://writing.upenn.edu/wh/calendar/0326.php

Reimagining International Writing
A reading and celebration of A Compass on the Navigable Sea, featuring Daniel Simon
Thursday, March 26, 6:00pm
Kelly Writers House | 3805 Locust Walk