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 the CWF Team

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Meet the CWF Team 〰️

  • Associate Director of Writing Program | Creative Writing Fellow Program Founder

    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.

  • Graduate Assistant

    Eleni Mazareas graduated from Barnard College in 2025 with a degree in History and a minor in Africana Studies. She loves to read and write poetry, but loves reading others’ writing even more. Her favorite poets are Danez Smith, Noor Hindi, Sasha Pimentel, Terrance Hayes, Nikki Giovanni, and her ancestor Gwendolyn B. Bennett. She currently works as a publicity intern at Macmillan.

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    Layla Faraj graduated from Barnard in 2025, where she studied Creative Writing and Translation. Professionally, she serves as editorial assistant and NNAAC fellow at a Whiting Magazine Award-Winning publication, Mizna. Her work, which often highlights the realities of the diasporic Arab community, can be found in LitHub, The New York Times, ArabLit Quarterly, and more. She is honored to be part of the Creative Writing Fellow program.