What value has the Harvard community provided to you?
Living in Boston, I wanted a local master’s program experience as similar to working in the writing world as I could find. Harvard Extension School’s ALM in Literature & Creative Writing provided a space to think as critically or creatively as I wanted.
From the very first class, Advanced Novel Writing, I have worked with motivated, like-minded classmates who provided creatively expansive and generous feedback and recommendations.
The friendships and professional relationships made in that first class have lasted years and stretch to South Africa, Brazil, Bali, and the UK. I can’t recommend this program highly enough for students serious about writing and publishing both in the United States and abroad.
Exploring masters of the craft via in-depth discussions with classmates and other writers prompted purposeful changes and reconstructions of my own voice.
The latitude of classes on offer let me dive deep into topics that broadened my tastes, taught me how to research, and discern the value and quality of ideas for myself. Exploring masters of the craft via in-depth discussions with classmates and other writers prompted purposeful changes and reconstructions of my own voice.
HES let me take my time, explore the nuances of the stories I wanted to tell the world, and offered up a tour of the best of what the world might have to share with me.
My master’s program has been an invaluable experience.
What did you do for your thesis?
My thesis work with Rachel Kadish let me explore my own place in the historical narrative with a like-minded scholar.
Story is such a potent tool, used to build and castigate, to obfuscate and illuminate. My thesis allowed me a chance to push back against the narrative shapes of the past with my own words and experiences.
What’s something unexpected that you learned about Harvard?
It was surprising to see how readily classmates and professors were to engage in discourse far off the beaten path.
What are you going to miss the most about HES?
I’ll miss working with colleagues in medias res, participating in creation of a piece purely for the sake of art and learning.
Describe your HES experience in one word.
Focused.
