Princeton has nurtured writers from Revolutionary War poet Philip Freneau to F. Scott Fitzgerald '17, from major Post-War poets like William Meredith '40, Galway Kinnell '48, and W. S. Merwin '48 to writers of the moment like Jane Hirshfield '73, Jodi Picoult '87 and Jonathan Safran Foer '99. Learn more

Writers of national and international distinction visit campus virtually every week to participate in the Althea Ward Clark W'21 Reading Series and discuss their work, while the Leonard Milberg collections of Modern American Poetry, Irish Poetry, Irish Theater and Jewish American Writers provide world-class opportunities for the study of contemporary literature.

Every semester scores of students try their hands at poetry, fiction, translation, autobiography, playwriting, screenwriting, nonfiction and journalism in small workshop courses led by distinguished professionals. Some are readers who want to see what literature looks like from the other side of the page, some are closet scribblers seeking their first audience, some are experienced writers. All find a chance to develop their talents at their own pace, and many go on to write creative senior theses -- a collection of poems, for example, or a play, or a novel. [close]