Think about your daily life: You write texts and emails to friends, family and colleagues. You make comments and posts on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (or whatever that becomes now that it’s X Corp...
creative writing
In March 2020, my UC Berkeley Extension class shifted suddenly from a live classroom-based course to one held via Zoom. Although I initially found the platform challenging, I soon realized that...
For Natalie Lynn Harrison, finding her path in life via non-traditional educational opportunities is not something new.
Neither is getting creative to get her writing out into the world....
There are few things as universal as a parent’s love for their child—and the heartache that can accompany it. But what makes a good parent in a rapidly changing society?
Authors Joan Lester and Katya Cengel have both crafted memoirs around a love story. Together, they will talk about what to include and what to leave out when writing about our most intimate...
“I would not have applied to nor been accepted to an M.F.A. program if it weren’t for the instruction I received through the Certificate Program in Writing,” says Lisa Riddiough, who graduated...
Every year, students in and graduates of the Certificate Program in Writing, along with students in our visual arts programs, have the opportunity to submit their creative writing or artwork for...
When I first contacted Certificate Program in Writing graduate and author Bill Truran, he had just heard back from his editor about his first manuscript since finishing the certificate. And how...
Writing essays and short stories may not be on Nancy Tompkins’ career path. But it is now part of who she is.
“As is common with many English teachers,” Barbara says, “I thought of myself as a teacher who might have been a writer if my life path had led me there instead of into the classroom. I had...
You started a piece of fiction or nonfiction in a recent writing class or workshop, and since that course has ended, so has your writing. What are the next steps to keep your work-in-progress from...
When you take published poet Clive Matson’s Exploring Creative Writing course, you get an opportunity to experiment and discover your writing potential in a safe and supportive learning...
For as long as she can remember, Aliceanna Stopher has always been writing. At a young age, she wrote to keep herself occupied. Later on, she attended creative writing classes and an intensive art...
For many, summer reading lists conjure up memories of a list you received at the end of the school year and needed to complete by the start of the next (Berkeley freshmen, this is for you: reading...
On Thursday, March 27, 2013, Ken Mandelkern had an aha moment. It was after supper, and he was on the couch reading A Farewell to Arms as his kids slept upstairs and his wife, Annie,...
What kind of story can you tell with just 100 words? Turns out, you can write stories that are complete with plot, written with care and still within that limited word count. And Lynn Mundell,...
“I remember being unable to sleep one night—and thinking about the various inadequacies of the job I was working at the time—and somehow realizing that writing was something I had been denying...
More than five years ago, Vincent Chu took an important step toward officially becoming a writer: enrolling in The Craft of Writing, a required course in the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program...
“It wasn't just one single moment that I had this cataclysmic kind of thought; it was more that I had a calling my whole life and then I finally yielded to it."
—Extension Honored...
“He is such a naturally talented teacher that I bet a knitting class with him would be fun and informative,” a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Writing student wrote in one of Daniel...
“Write what you know.” Every time I speak to one of our writing graduates, this is the first piece of advice I hear for someone to beat the odds and get their work published. Another piece of...
Few people find inspiration when they receive a rejection letter. But for instructor Alan Schroeder—a writer who began pursuing the genre of children’s picture books on a whim—rejection letter...