Contemporary literary culture is a conversation and you’re invited to the table. With a reading list that intersects with the Creative Writing Program’s acclaimed public events series, we train our focus in this literature course for writers on new books across genres. We pose our own questions to visiting authors and think together about how their work might deepen and expand our own writing. Along the way we consider context, content, and craft, as well as how writers are responding to and intervening in present-day discussions surrounding gender, social justice, and race. With both creative and critical writing assignments, this course fulfills a literature seminar requirement for Creative Writing majors and is open to all undergraduate students.