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The Literary Arts at Rochester

The Literary Arts at Rochester

by Sara Kowalski, Class of 2017, Humanities Fellow

There is so much to talk about when it comes to literature and writing programs here at Rochester. So, I’m going to dive right in!

literary arts

Department of English

  • Tracks: Creative Writing, Language, Media, and Communication, British and American Literature, and Theater (Available in majors and minors—even more variety for clusters!)
  • Internships: Internships are available for a wide variety of companies in upstate New York, and the Tanenbaum Scholarship can help finance students who have an unpaid internship at home over the summer.
  • Prizes: The department offers many competitive grants, ranging from aid for study abroad to travelling to film festivals, as well as awards for every medium, ranging from poetry to debate!
  • Honors Program: Students pursuing Honors English are able to design and complete their own creative thesis project.
  • Faculty Projects: The faculty of the English department are extremely active and well-known in their fields. Students can help them with their projects, such as the William Blake Archive or the Camelot Project.

Literary Translation Studies Program

Learn how to translate real works of literature and build up your portfolio! While you’re at it, you can learn about the whole translation and publishing industry with an internship with Open Letter Press.

Plutzik Reading Series

Since 1962, prestigious and talented writers have been coming to Rochester to read from and discuss their work as part of the Hyam Plutzik Memorial Reading Series. These guest visits are always free and open to the public.

Writer’s Lounge

Every Thursday evening, faculty, grad students, and undergrads converge on the Humanities Center for food, drink, conversation, and—most of all—to write. Whether a student is working on their own poetry, an assignment for class, or an honors thesis, all writers are welcome!

Inspiration Project

This unique volunteer program connects students at the University with mentally and physically disabled individuals from the greater Rochester community. The students interview these individuals, listen to their stories, and then help them write it out as a story, memoir, or collection of poems.

Undergraduate English Council

This student org is dedicated to helping their peers make the most of their time as part of the English department. That means networking with faculty, alumni, and grad students, embarking on excursions into the city, and hosting a variety of events from open mic nights to graduate school information sessions.

LOGOS

Since 1972, LOGOS has been the university’s art and literature journal. Published once annually, it showcases the diverse creativity of the students here at Rochester. All forms of art and literature are welcome. Submissions are reviewed by an all-student board and about half are chosen for publication. Of these, about half are written works, and half visual works. Written material can be personal memoirs, poems, vignettes, flash fiction, short stories, translations, and excerpts of longer works.

If/when you are a student, you can send your work to logos@gmail.com.

No Disclaimers

Language is power and words come to life when spoken by the passionate voices of No Disclaimers. This student organization is a subcommittee of the Black Students’ Union, and its members express themselves through spoken word poetry, music, written poetry, and more. Topics include (but are certainly not limited to) racial identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, heritage, history, family, and just life.

Students perform on and off campus, workshop their poetry with each other, and empower each other to find their own unique voices.

 Writers and Books

This writing-center-meets-book-store is the writer’s hub of the City of Rochester. It is a place where writers young and old converge to fine-tune their skills, attend seminars, check out books, and meet prestigious visiting writers.

Thanks for making it this far! As a reward, I wanted to share some upcoming events that may be of interest to students of writing, reading, and translation.

Evolution of Media Panel

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