About the Program
The undergraduate Creative Writing program at Boise State offers a dynamic experience with personalized mentorship and classes in all aspects of the literary arts. Students study with our award-winning faculty and graduate Teaching Assistants from our nationally ranked MFA program. Our students can study fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and translation with faculty actively publishing in these genres.
Choose the Right Degree for You
The Creative Writing Program offers several degree tracks. Our Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing offers a balance of workshop and academic classes. Our Bachelor of Fine Arts, one of only 35 such degrees nationwide, offers a degree focused more on creativity, craft and the work of being a writer. Finally, our Bachelor of Fine Arts in Narrative Arts degree, the only one of its kind in the nation, is designed to connect the fundamentals of narrative across all genres, along with writing for film, television and theater.
All of our degrees offer workshop classes, alongside surveys of fiction and poetry and a unique Form and Theory class with new topics every semester on a wide variety of subjects. Recent topics include Romanticism, graphic novels, ecopoetics, novel writing, poetry, Greek mythology and the American avant-garde.
Students can also benefit from classes in screenwriting and playwriting and have the freedom to take electives across campus on any topic that interests them.
Professional Opportunities and Publications
The Boise State Creative Writing Program values professional opportunities and readiness. To help our students achieve their goals, we provide individual mentoring along with career presentations and access to alumni working in a variety of fields. Our program has strong ties with the thriving Boise literary arts community, with close connections to art organizations such as The Cabin and StoryFort. We prioritize hosting readings and visiting writers to connect our students with the larger literary world and provide professional connections. Our graduates have gone on to publish novels and non-fiction, work in editing and publishing, find careers in arts organizations, and earn Master’s Degrees and PhDs.
Our program hosts two publications: a literary magazine, The Idaho Review; and a press, Free Poetry. There are undergraduate literary editing and publishing classes connected to the award-winning Idaho Review, giving our students the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in editing and publishing.
Scholarships and Prizes
Each year, the Creative Writing Program awards Glenn Balch Undergraduate Creative Writing Scholarships to students who demonstrate outstanding achievement in writing and a commitment to the study of craft. Scholarship amounts vary year to year, though the Program prioritizes award amounts that make a meaningful difference to the students and their studies.
Boise State also hosts the President’s Writing Awards, an annual contest that celebrates undergraduate writing in several genres. Our students have been consistently recognized for their work, including:
Tom Davies, First Place Winner, Poetry, 2025
Cannon Collett, First Place Winner, Creative Non-Fiction, 2025
Elanor Spring, Second Place Winner, Critical Analysis, 2025
Jenny Moon, First Place Winner, Poetry, 2024
Lily Kent, First Place Winner, Fiction, 2024
Logan Randall, First Place Winner, Creative Non-Fiction, 2024
Keslee Seegmiller, First Place Winner, Fiction, 2023
Cassie Woodard, First Place Winner, Fiction; and First Place Winner, Critical Analysis, 2022
Readings and Showcases
The Creative Writing Program puts on The Hemingway Center Reading Series each semester, brining renowned writers to campus. Recent writers include Adam Johnson, Alice Notley, Robyn Schiff, Kate Folk, Peter Gizzi, and Joy Williams.
Boise hosts a number of literary events, including readings at The Cabin and StoryFort, a unique literary and storytelling programming track at Treefort Music Fest. Each year, our students may apply to read their work at the Emerging Writers Showcase at StoryFort, a wonderful opportunity for them to share their work with the wider community and to make connections across the literary world.