Writers’ Residency: Fiction

Harvard Summer School

CREA S-490A

Section 1

CRN 36146

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This section of the writers' residency is for writers of fiction. The writers' residency is for advanced creative writers who have been admitted to the Harvard Extension School Master of Liberal Arts (ALM), creative writing and literature. In the first week, participants attend two online classes focused on the craft and business of writing and prepare for the master class held in the second week by reading peers' manuscript submissions. During the second week, students explore fundamentals of the writer's craft in a workshop setting and prepare for and participate in a student reading. This master class is followed by an agents-and-editors weekend, consisting of two days of panels, workshops, and small group meetings designed to teach students how to bring their creative work to the marketplace. Week three of the residency features two additional online classes and submittal of a final piece of writing.

Credits: 4

Term

Summer Term 2026

Part of Term

3-week session II

Format

See Course Description

Credit Status

Graduate

Section Status

Waitlisted

Instructor Info

Paul L. Harding, MFA

Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, Writing, Literature and Publishing, Emerson College

Jane A. Rosenzweig, MFA

Director of the Writing Center and Head Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

Christina Thompson, PhD

Editor, Harvard Review, Harvard College Library

Meeting Info

MTWThF 10:00am - 5:00pm (7/20 - 7/24)
SaSu 10:00am - 5:00pm (7/25 - 7/26)
TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm (7/14 - 7/16)
TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm (7/28 - 7/30)

Participation Option: See Course Description

Deadlines

Last day to register:

Additional Time Commitments

Week one: Tuesday and Thursday, July 14-16, 3:15-6:15 pm Eastern time, either on campus or via live attendance web conference.
Week two master class: Monday-Friday, July 20-24, 10 am-5 pm, on campus.
Agents-and-editors weekend: Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26, 10 am-5 pm, on campus.
Week three: Tuesday and Thursday, July 28-30, 3:15-6:15 pm Eastern time, either on campus or via live attendance web conference.

Students attending on F-1 visas must attend all course meetings on campus.
See syllabus for further details.

Prerequisites

Students must be officially admitted degree candidates in good academic standing in the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM), creative writing and literature. Prospective candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must have successfully completed at least 28 degree-applicable credits with required grades. Pre-arrival requirements: by Monday, June 29, two weeks prior to the start of the writers' residency, candidates must post to Canvas an original manuscript of no more than 3,500 words. Manuscript requirements vary by section, so consult the syllabus for your section. All participants are required to read and critique their classmates' work in advance of the first meeting of the master class on July 20. Candidates who do not meet the degree requirements or fail to submit the manuscript by the deadline and complete their critiques in advance of the first meeting of the master class will be dropped from the course. Final course work is due Thursday, July 30.

Notes

Not open to Secondary School Program students. Students attending on F-1 visas must attend all course meetings on campus. Harvard Summer School housing is available for the full three weeks for students who wish to remain on campus while they work on their writing projects (one-week housing is not available on campus). Students in this course and other sections of CREA S-490a, CREA S-490b, CREA S-490c, CREA S-490d, and CREA S-490e may interact with one another, for example, in Canvas or class sessions. Accordingly, when students participate in live class sessions, they will do so alongside students in other sections. If students participate in a way that causes them to appear in recordings of the class, those recordings may be shown to students enrolled in other sections of this course.

Tuition

All Sections of this Course

CRN	Section #	Participation Option(s)	Instructor	Section Status	Meets	Term Dates
36146	1	See Course Description	Team Taught	Waitlisted	MTWThF 10:00am - 5:00pm SaSu 10:00am - 5:00pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm	Jul 13 to Jul 30
35633	2	See Course Description	Team Taught	Waitlisted	MTWThF 10:00am - 5:00pm SaSu 10:00am - 5:00pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm	Jul 13 to Jul 30
35634	3	See Course Description	Team Taught	Waitlisted	MTWThF 10:00am - 5:00pm SaSu 10:00am - 5:00pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm TTh 3:15pm - 6:15pm	Jul 13 to Jul 30

This Course May Contribute to:

Creative Writing and Literature Master’s Degree Program