We believe creative writing is a powerful tool for self discovery and connection.

Our Mission

Recognizing barriers to access to formal creative writing classes, along with the vulnerability and self-consciousness that can come with sharing creative work, we commit to creating flexible, welcoming, and widely accessible opportunities where students, whether seasoned writers or newcomers, can explore their creativity freely.

We engage with all forms of creative writing, including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, and hybrid forms. Through meaningful conversations and thoughtful questioning, we work with writers in identifying and articulating the decisions they make in their creative works. This dialogue aims to empower writers to understand the impact of their choices on both their work and the readers' experience.

We seek to inspire confidence, encourage collaboration, and promote the joy of creative exploration.

Meet Our Fellows

〰️

Meet Our Fellows 〰️

  • Associate Director of Writing Program

    Alexandra Watson is a fiction writer and poet from Syracuse, New York. She’s a Senior Lecturer at Barnard, where she founded the Creative Writing Fellows program and the Cite Black Barnard Faculty initiative. She has been the recipient of three Provost Grants for Innovation in Teaching, including the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion grant. Along with the other members of the Writing Fellows program team, she was awarded the 2025 Linda Bell Collaborative Teaching Award.

    Alexandra is a co-founder of Apogee Journal, a nonprofit literary arts organization that uplifts writers from the political margins, prioritizing writers and artists of color. Apogee won the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, and for her editorial work, Alexandra received the 2023 Platinum Review Award for magazine editing from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and other awards. Her research interests include Fiction Writing, Poetry Writing, Contemporary American Literature, Literary Magazine Editing, Inclusive Pedagogy, and Creative Writing Pedagogy.

  • Post-Graduate Assistant

    Eleni Mazareas graduated from Barnard College with a degree in History, and a minor in Africana Studies. She has been involved with the Writing Fellow Program since 2022, and with the Creative Writing Fellow Program since it’s establishment in 2023. She loves to read and write poetry, but loves reading others’ writing even more. Her favorite collections are Sasha Pimentel’s For Want of Water and Danez Smith’s Homie.