How to Enroll

Most Creative Writing courses are available for direct enrollment in Axess: Navigate Enrollment. However, some of our courses may require department/instructor consent, submitting an application, or completing the Course Preference Form prior to enrolling in the course. When browsing in Navigator, pay special attention to the Notes sections, which will indicate if submission of an application or the Course Preference Form is required. Instructions for all enrollment processes can be found below.

A variety of Creative Writing courses are available for direct enrollment in Axess: Navigate Enrollment. Register for these courses in Navigate Enrollment, no additional forms nor separate applications necessary. To view available classes, browse Navigator or our list of courses.

Enrollment can be tricky to navigate. To set yourself up for success each quarter, consider the following:

• Pay your tuition and fees
• Clear any holds blocking your registration
• Review your academic plan of study with an advisor

Other helpful enrollment tools can be found on the Registrar's website.

Remember: If you enroll into a course, then you must attend the first class meeting to secure your spot in the course.

Some Creative Writing courses may require department or instructor consent to enroll. To request department/instructor consent for a given course, follow its instructions listed below. When browsing in Navigator, the instructions can also be found in the Notes section of the course.

English 40L Life Stories with Molly Antopol

Instructions: To be considered for enrollment, email dhuligan [at] stanford.edu (Danielle Huliganga) with your full name and year. If selected for enrollment, you must attend the first class meeting to retain your roster spot.

In this class, we will explore what the concept of family means for each of us - and how to transform our families' stories into powerful, lasting fiction. Through writing exercises, weekly readings and in-class visits with some of the most exciting contemporary writers working today, we will delve into our own unique ancestral histories and legacies. We will discuss how to work with and shape memories, factual and emotional truths, oral histories, family gossip and lore. We will also examine how to write convincingly about times, places and experiences not our own. Weekly readings will include work by Louise Erdrich, James McBride, Ocean Vuong and Nicole Krauss. Through visits with experts in the field, we will also examine techniques for carrying out enlightening interviews and conducting successful archival research - and, equally important, what to do when there's no one around to answer our questions. Students will come away with a stronger, more focused skillset for writing about their life stories and the people who animate them - the beautiful, challenging, hilarious, maddening people we call our families.

English 91AI/Oceans 157H Creative Writing & Science: The Artful Interpreter with Sara Michas-Martin

Instructions: Students must submit the Google Form by December 15 to request enrollment. If selected for enrollment, students must attend the first class meeting to retain their roster spot. All students will be notified of placement by Dec 18.

What role does creativity play in the life of a scientist? How has science inspired great literature? How do you write accessibly and expressively about things like whales, DNA or cancer? This course provides a unique opportunity for students to directly engage with marine animals, coastal habitats and environmental concerns of Monterey Bay. As historian Jill Lepore writes of Rachel Carson: "She could not have written Silent Spring if she hadn't, for decades, scrambled down rocks, rolled up her pant legs, and waded into tide pools, thinking about how one thing can change another..." Students will complete and workshop three original nonfiction essays that explore the intersection between personal narrative and scientific curiosity. You will develop a more patient and observant eye and improve your ability to articulate scientific concepts to a general readership.

**Course taught in-person only at Hopkins Marine Station.** Please note: Depending on enrollment across the courses offered on Fridays at Hopkins, a university shuttle will be made available or carpool mileage reimbursements will be provided. Carpool reimbursement is subject to specific terms and conditions; class lists will be distributed for this purpose. However, if a university shuttle is provided, carpool reimbursements will not be honored.

Priority goes to seniors who are declared Creative Writing minors or English majors (then juniors, sophomores, and freshmen). They will be followed by seniors with any other major (then juniors, sophomores, and freshmen).

A few Creative Writing courses require a separate application to be considered for enrollment. The instructor(s) of the course will review the applications and select their pool of students accordingly. Each course application is linked below.

English 292B/Africaam 292 Contemporary Black Feminist Paths with Aracelis Girmay

In this reading- and writing-intensive course, we will consider the powers, resuscitations, and strategies found in the texts of a constellation of contemporary Black poets whose work emerges out of Black feminist thought and practices. My hope is that we will together listen toward the possibilities of this work, and through experiments in reading and writing, realize some of what these texts make it possible for us to think and feel and write and be. As a way of learning with the materials, class participants will be expected to write after-texts; share brief, prepared notes on the poem's paths; contribute workshop material for our workshops; and be ready to think with others about revision strategies, poetics, and ethics.

Application is closed.

English190SW Screenwriting Intensive with Kate Folk and Edward Porter

The main requirement for this course is a full length film script. The course explores elements of screenwriting including beat structure, character creation, scene vs. montage, as well as description and dialogue. Students will read four to five screenplays during the first half of the course and then write a 90-page film script in the second half of the course. Students will additionally write synopses, treatments, character sketches, and beat sheets. Designed for any student who has always wanted to write a screenplay.

Spring 2026 application

Questions?

We're here to support you! Email dhuligan [at] stanford.edu (Danielle) your inquiries or book an appointment with her.

For enrollment questions specific to Creative Writing, visit our Enrollment FAQ page.

For general enrollment troubleshooting, refer to the Student Services guide.