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Rider University Libraries

Creative Writing

Creative Writing at Rider

Welcome

This guide for Rider creative writing students points you to resources and current conversations in the world of writing and publishing. Should you apply to grad school for creative writing? How can you find a publishing internship? How does the publishing process work (and where can you send your stories or poems)? Where can you go online for legitimate writing advice?

The tabs at the top of this page help you navigate this guide. This main page separates resources into boxes for Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Experimental Writing, and (coming soon) Playwriting and Screenwriting.

 

Upcoming Writer's Block Event  

 

On Thursday, February 26, 1 PM in Fine Arts room 203, Writer’s Block welcomes Rider alumnus Casey Jost, who will speak about comedy writing.

Jost

Jost is the head writer for TruTv’s Impractical Jokers,a former staff writer for NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and the host of Comedy Central Central.

 

 

Further Resources

Rider students interested in creative writing can join the student writing club, Writer's Block, read their work at the open mic series Brownwater, and work with three student-run literary journals: Venture, HerStory, and On Fire: A Journal for the African Diaspora. Recent Rider grads remain active in the literary scenes in NJ, Philly, and NYC via The Broad Set Writing Collective, which sets up readings in bookstores and cafes throughout the Northeast.

We hope you find these resources useful. For more info on creative writing at Rider, please contact Dr. Mickey Hess or another faculty member in the Rider University English Department. For research assistance or further resources, please contact the English Department's Library Liaison, Melissa Hofmann or see Melissa during her posted office hours. 

Access to Literary Journals through Rider's Library:

Literary Reference Center offers the full text of several current literary magazines (for a list of these magzines, click the "Literary Journals" tab at the top of this page).

Rider's Moore Library has current print subscriptions to the journals Tin House, Notre Dame Review, Fourteen Hills, Alaska Quarterly Review, Noon, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. 

Bookstores, Publishers, Lit Journals, and Reading Series Near Rider:

General Idea Reading Series, Philadelphia
UPenn Kelly Writers House, Philadelphia
The Apiary: Philly's Only All-Ages Lit Journal
IndieBound: Guide to Independent Bookstores
Philly Book Geek
Powerhouse Books, Brooklyn 
Polestar Poetry Series, New York
Philadelphia Stories 
Brickbat Books, Philadelphia
Emergency Reading Series (Poetry) at UPenn
Bluestockings Books, Manhattan  
Chapter & Verse Reading Series, Philadelphia     
First-Person Story Slams, Philadelphia  
Althea Ward Clark Reading Series, Princeton  
KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading Series, Manhattan   
Earshot Reading Series, Brooklyn
Pete's Candy Store Reading Series, Brooklyn
NJ.com presents a nice piece on Independent Bookstores in Jersey
Philly Lit Calendar

  

  

Past Writer's Block Events 

 

Panel on Working in Publishing/Getting your Work Published

Literary Agent and Novelist Chandler Klang Smith joins three Rider grads to discuss the world of publishing and the two most pressing questions for most writing majors: How to get published and how to find a job.

  • Chandler Smith talks about how to submit work to to a literary agent, what agents do, and how to look for jobs or internships working at literary agencies.
  • Rider grad Robin Barletta,  Editorial Assistant at Penguin, talks about how to find a job or internship in publishing, and what she does at her job at Penguin -- what editors and editorial assistant do.
  • Rider grad Peter Richter talks about submitting writing to journals/how to set up readings or get added to read at an established reading series.
  • Rider grad Tirusha Dave talks about founding and running her magazine, Bravura.

 

 Kim Gek Lin Short 

 Al Burian