Community of Writers

ALM Concentration in Literature
and Creative Writing Comes of Age

In just five years, the Harvard Extension School's Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) Program in Literature and Creative Writing has grown from three to 23 students. The program now has three graduates, and five more are expected to graduate this spring. While many students are from the local area, the program has also begun to draw applicants from as far away as Texas and California. Participants in the program come from a wide range of backgrounds. Students admitted this year include a local television news reporter, a former Boston police officer, and a producer for the HBO comedy Sex and the City.

"Students are drawn, in part, by the Harvard name," acknowledged Pat Bellanca, director of writing programs, "but they're also excited to be part of a community of writers and to have the opportunity to work closely with our excellent faculty."

The program is highly competitive and selective. Before applying, students must successfully complete three graduate-level Extension School courses and present samples of their critical and creative writing. "We expect the writing to be at a very high level--publishable, or nearly so," noted Grace Dane Mazur, who regularly teaches CREA E-160 Master's Class in Literature and Creative Writing, and who has served on the admissions committee since the program's inception.

And the course of study is demanding. Students are required to complete 40 units of coursework, including nine courses and a thesis. The thesis consists of a substantial piece of fiction which is introduced by a critical essay that sets the creative work into a larger, aesthetic context. Students hone their theses in the last stages of the program, working closely with a faculty advisor from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, usually one of the Briggs-Copeland lecturers who teach creative writing in the English department.

It seems clear that the students' varied backgrounds and interests contribute to the richness of their experience at the Extension School. Tom Cole, who has completed his coursework and is now at the thesis stage, has combined his Extension studies with his work as a performance artist, his duties as assistant to David Mamet, and--most recently--his responsibilities as creative director of Cambridge's newest theater, The Market. Janet Wu, who holds a BA from Yale and an MS in journalism from Columbia, balances her coursework with her job at WHDH-TV, where she is the health and medical reporter. Alex Ruskell holds a law degree; James Redfearn is a retired Massachusetts state trooper; Antonia Ellis is a producer for Sex and the City; and Julie Carrick Dalton has worked as a journalist and teacher.

Judging by the caliber of students in the program and the work they're producing, the ALM in Literature and Creative Writing is a success. Doug Frelke, ALM '98, the first graduate of the program, has published a collection of short stories with Redline Press (run by Anne Farma, also an ALM student) and has been reading from his novel-in-progress at local bookstores this spring. Jo-Ann Graziano Mahoney, ALM '99, recently published two of her short stories, one in Glimmer Train, another in the Harvard Review. Since graduating, Mahoney has remained an active member of the writing group, hosting ALM readings and sharing her work with other graduates. "We're really enjoying the amazing community of writers we've developed," she commented.

Jo-Ann Graziano Mahoney (left), Julie Carrick Dalton, and Grace Dane Mazur