Center for the Literary Arts

Cultivating the International Written Arts

The Center for the Literary Arts is creating a global hub for writers, translators, and public intellectuals at Washington University in St. Louis.

As a new initiative of the Arts & Sciences strategic plan, the Center is just getting started in our work. We are excited for all in the WashU community and beyond who are interested in literary creative practice to engage with us to:

• bring together literary communities nationally and locally, both inside and outside of academia
• support and re-imagine vital literary art-making for the 21st century
• build new programs across the university that explore how literary art can interact with and impact the world
• enhance the connections between creative practice and scholarly research across academic fields

Our new program in international written arts will build on Arts & Sciences' top-rated MFA program in Creative Writing, a robust PhD program in Comparative Literature for International Writers, and a host of diverse faculty engaged in the study and practice of translation. As it grows, the Center will generate new forms of exchange and experimentation not just in the traditional fields of creative writing and translation, but in multilingual creative writing, creative practices, new media, and inter-arts praxis. We will also partner with literary, artistic, and cultural institutions throughout the St. Louis area on programming that focuses on literature as a bridge between academic and popular culture, and as a vehicle for social change.

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