Be a part of the history of writing and writers at The New School. From 1927 to 1931, the creative writing workshop evolved at The New School into what would become the first academic workshop in creative writing. In this signature workshop, students generate new material and read literature like writers. Special attention is paid to professional questions about publishing, collaboration, and building a life as an artist. Professor Robert Polito, founder of the MFA in Creative Writing and the Writing & Democracy Honors Program at The New School, poet biographer, essayist, critic, and recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, will work with students toward the successful completion of a nonfiction project of their own devising. This may take any form - personal or public subjects; experimental or classic approaches; a single sustained work, or a succession of shorter pieces. The aim of the workshop is to create through class discussion of manuscripts, outside reading, and individual conferences the circumstances that might allow you to create the strongest nonfiction of your writing life.