On this page: Costs | Academics | Courses and Syllabi | Housing and Meals | Excursions | Planning Travel | Faculty
Writers in Florence
2023 Program Dates
Student Arrival: Monday, May 29, 2023
Student Departure: Friday, June 23, 2023
*Please note that housing is provided for the exact dates of the program. If a student wishes to arrive earlier or depart later, the student will need to find their own accomodations.
Program Summary
In this literary retreat, students work intensively to generate new writing in the enchanting, historically rich setting where so many writers—from Dante to E. M. Forster—have found literary inspiration. Students participate in daily workshops and craft seminars and attend a lively series of readings, lectures, and special events. Writing and reading assignments are designed to encourage serious study as well as immersion in the local landscape—for example, students might visit the Galleria degli Uffizi and write ekphrastic poems, conduct literary research in Villa la Pietra's library, or take an afternoon trip to Fiesole, a memorable locale in E.M. Forster's "Room with a View," for a lesson on fictional settings. On weekends, students have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of their literary predecessors: they might walk along the Arno River, view the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo, or stroll through the Boboli gardens.
“What an opportunity to live as a writer where many other famous writers have lived and produced great works!”
Application Deadlines
Interest forms now closed for 2023
Check back in fall for Summer 2024
Program Director
Mark Bibbins
Writer in Residence
NYU Creative Writing Program
Tuition and Fees
Tuition, Fees, Housing and International Insurance are required, and these rates are set by NYU.
Program Costs |
2023 |
| Undergraduate Tuition - 8 credits | $13,040 |
| Undergraduate Registration Fees - 8 credits | $1,038 |
| Program & Activities Fee | $500 |
| GeoBlue International Health Insurance for 4 week program |
Included |
| Housing Single Room (no meal plan) Double Room (no meal plan) |
$1,950 $1,475 |
PLEASE NOTE: Students are responsible for purchase of transportation to/from program location. All students participating in the program are required to live in NYU-provided housing.
Students are encouraged to budget for summer abroad programs based on individual needs. Additional resources for planning are available on the Additional Costs and Financial Assistance pages.
Academics
Writers in Florence students focus on either poetry or fiction. Coursework consists of alternating afternoons of craft seminars and writing workshops, as well as daily literary colloquia events, including readings, lectures and tours. The schedule includes time for writing, reading, and exploring Florence, and the program culminates in a celebratory reading showcasing student work.
Students have the opportunity to work closely with two accomplished faculty members—one in the context of the writing workshop, and another in the context of the craft seminar.
.JPG)
CRWRI-UA 9828 - Writers in Florence: Fiction - 8 credits
Sample Syllabi - Writers in Florence Fiction
Sample Fiction Workshop Syllabus (PDF)
Sample Fiction Craft Syllabus (PDF)
CRWRI-UA 9829 - Writers in Florence: Poetry - 8 credits
Sample Syllabi - Writers in Florence: Poetry
Sample Poetry Workshop Syllabus (PDF)
Sample Poetry Craft Syllabus (PDF)
Workshops provide students with guidance on the art of revision, as well as with experience giving and receiving feedback. Each student submits a final portfolio of writing at the end of the program. In the craft seminars—literature courses taught by writers for writers—students study great works of literature in order to learn how to create their own. Emphasis is on close reading and the basic elements of craft. A special colloquia of literary readings, lectures and events complements students' work in the classroom.
Schedule
Mondays - Thursdays
3:00pm - 5:30pm: Alternating days of workshops and craft seminars.
Morning and/or evenings TBD: Literary colloquia events.
Housing and Meals
All students participating in the program are required to live in NYU-provided housing. Students reside in NYU leased space in an off-campus residence. The greater La Pietra facilities include multimedia-equipped classrooms, a screening room, two computer labs, a reference library, and a cafe with terrace.
Excursions
Writers in Florence participants enjoy a literary tour through the city and a day trip to the historic Castello di Fosdinovo, a Tuscan writers retreat. On weekends, students have the opportunity to explore the city and find inspiration along the Arno River, in its many museums or by hiking to view the panorama from Piazzale Michelangelo.
Planning Travel to florence
Students are encouraged to consult internal and external resources to prepare for their summer program. The following links may be used for general destination information, immigration needs and travel medicine planning:
- U.S. State Department Travel Information for Italy
- All admitted and confirmed students should consult The NYU Office of Global Services for immigration support
- CDC Health Information for Travelers to Italy
- NYU students may consult the NYU Student Health Center for Travel Medicine information and appointments
-
Photos shared by students
Writers in Florence
CAS Summer Abroad -
MARK BIBBINS (Poetry) is the author of three books of poems: Sky Lounge (Graywolf Press), which received a 2004 Lambda Literary Award, The Dance of No Hard Feelings (Copper Canyon Press), and They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full (Copper Canyon), which was named one of the best poetry books of 2014 by Publishers Weekly magazine and a standout book by The Academy of American Poets. He has taught in the graduate writing programs of The New School, where he co-founded LIT magazine, and Columbia University, and at Purchase College and the 92nd Street Y. A recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, Bibbins edits the poetry section of The Awl. His poems have appeared in such venues as The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, and four editions of The Best American Poetry. He lives in New York City.
CATHERINE BARNETT (Poetry) is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, and a Pushcart. Her first book, Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced (Alice James Books, 2004), won the 2003 Beatrice Hawley Award, and she received the 2012 James Laughlin Award for her second book, The Game of Boxes (Graywolf Press, 2012). Barnett has taught at Barnard, the New School, and NYU, where she was honored with an Outstanding Service Award.
JONAS HASSEN KHEMIRI (Fiction) is the author of six novels, seven plays, and a collection of plays, essays, and short stories. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages and his plays have been performed by more than hundred international companies. He received the Village Voice Obie Award for his first play Invasion! and in 2015 he was awarded the August Prize, Sweden's highest literary honor for the novel Everything I Don't Remember. In 2017 he became the first Swedish writer to have a short story published in The New Yorker and in 2020 his latest novel The Family Clause was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the Prix Médicis Étranger, France’s highest honor for translated books. Khemiri is currently based in New York, as a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library.
RAVEN LEILANI's (Fiction) debut novel Luster (2020) was awarded the Kirkus Prize, Dylan Thomas Prize, NBCC John Leonard Prize, VCU Cabell First Novel Prize, Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, among others. Her work has been published in Granta, The Yale Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Conjunctions, The Cut, and New England Review, among other publications. Leilani received her MFA from NYU and was an Axinn Foundation Writer-in-Residence. She was also selected as a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. In 2022 she served as the John Grisham Fellow at the University of Mississippi and teaches creative writing at NYU.