MSU’s creative writing program has set up a community where students aim to understand themselves and the world around them better through their own writing, emphasizing the importance of creative writing itself.

Assistant English professor Tim Conrad said that creative writing is important due to its nature of providing a medium that encourages discussions of the surrounding world.

"I think in today’s world (it's) especially valuable because it allows for a space to discuss things and be in ways that are more nuanced than our, sort of, louder world currently allows," Conrad said. "It allows more possibilities than we currently give room (for), and sort of popular discourse."

Similarly, Dr. Robin Silbergleid, English professor and Associate Chairperson for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English, said that creative writing is important in society because its nature of storytelling is the foundation of creating change in the world.

"I really believe that if you're going to make any amount of social or political change, you need to tell a different story, and creative writing is fundamentally about storytelling, regardless of what genre you're working (with)," Silbergleid said.

Conrad said that MSU’s program also gives an opportunity for students to find their voices by creating their own things and ideas that encapsulate their surroundings, feelings or emotions.

"Instead of just thinking about the world and sort of passively trying to comprehend it, in all of its dizzying glory, it’s a way of creating things yourself, as a way of speaking to that mess," Conrad said. "It gives students a chance to start finding their voices and be a part of conversation even as what they’re trying to say isn’t fully formed."

Similarly, Silbergleid said that the program allows students to express themselves in creative writing classes because they are given complete control of what subjects they want to explore and how they want to explore these topics.

"Students are often given a fair amount of latitude to choose the kinds of topics they want to explore in the way that they want to explore them," Silbergleid said. "The students that I work with write about subjects that are deeply personal. They write about traumatic experiences, they write about sexual identity, they write about racial identity, stereotype and they write to be able to speak back and reclaim their stories. I think that's just incredibly, incredibly powerful."

English and creative writing concentration senior Rose Butler-Shriner said the program has helped her understand herself better through her writing due to the assistance of the professors.

"I think that the department as a whole and also our professors individually are asking the right questions. They're definitely making sure to address topics that students would not think to write about," Butler-Shriner said. "To learn more about yourself and learn more about this time in your life and what the student experience means and what learning about writing can be."

Furthermore, Conrad said that the creative writing program offers a community that encourages trying new things, making mistakes and ultimately learning in a safe environment.

"I think there’s community there, within the classrooms," Conrad said. "There are spaces where students are capable of failing and making mistakes of trying and being supported, both from sort of (a) technical perspective and also from a community perspective. I think that for any writer, a lot of what we do is we fail, we try to say things, we try to do things, and of course the things that are in our mind when we get them to the page, they don’t look at all right. We just fail again and again, and I don’t mean that in a depressing way, it’s actually to realize that (being) surrounded by other people who are also sort of struggling in that exact way can be really useful and sort of hopefully help one's writing, help one’s sense of the world. It’s lonely out there."

For Butler-Shriner, the creative writing program has not only fulfilled her educational needs, but allowed her to personally experience a welcoming creative community.

"(The) opportunity to be with be with a community who shares a similar love for a similar thing, which is writing or reading even," Butler-Shriner said. "I would say it has like a sense of challenge. I mean, they definitely put us in situations that are sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes nerve racking, sometimes exciting. So a wide variation of experiences that like can be challenging, which I think is always good for writers."

For more information on MSU’s creative writing program, visit their website here, or contact the program's director, Dr. Divya Victor, with any questions.