Introduction

Welcome to the Creative Writing Programs website hosted by Web Del Sol. This ambitious project provides you, the reader, with an opportunity to explore a select variety of the best university and college creative writing programs available on these shores.

We welcome your comments on the site.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What is the Creative Writing Programs Project website?

A: The Creative Writing Programs Project (CWPP) website is an initiative sponsored by Web Del Sol--an established literary arts complex on the WWW--aimed at highlighting and promoting creative writing programs at select colleges and universities. Each CWPP will have a website that focuses on their program, providing information about its faculty members, journals, and showcasing at least five creative works by its students. Our list of programs currently online can give you an idea of how each CWPP website will appear.

Individual CWPP programs will be promoted at Web Del Sol as they come online. Additionally, Web Del Sol will create a gateway page to all the programs which will remain permanently and conspicuously linked on the Web Del Sol homepage. This gateway page will include highlights and news concerning individual CWPP programs.
 

Q: I'm interested in having my program appear on the CWPP website. What should I do to get started?

A: Each program should have a staff contact person or persons responsible to assist as appropriate with the gathering and uploading of all graphics, logos, and text to be used. If possible, the contact (s) should have some degree of familiarity with Internet, ftp, webpages, and HTML. For those programs who are new to web, or are creating a webpage for the first time, Web Del Sol staff will be able to assist in the process. Note also:

• CWPP staff will not have to create their CWPP website pages from scratch. Web Del Sol will provide "plug-and-preview" templates for CWPP staff to use.
• Contact(s) will be able to work on their respective websites from their office or home.

Each program should select no less than five works by its best students to showcase on the CWPP site. CWPP staff should periodically update the site as appropriate.

To get started, have your contact person fill out our information web form, or visit the "add form" link at the top of the page.
 

Q: My students are concerned about being "published" on the web. Do they retain their rights to work that appears on the Creative Writing Programs Project site?

A: The students' works will appear on a CWPP website, not in a publication per se. The Creative Writing Programs Project site should be considered more along the lines of an archive or directory, and not an online magazine or journal. Students retain rights to all work appearing on the CWPP website.
 

Q: What sort of work should my students submit?

A: By and large, if they choose to submit, it should be their best. Students and faculty are encouraged to browse the quality of work on the hosting site at http://www.webdelsol.com. Writers and poets at Web Del Sol include Madison Smartt Bell, Robert Olen Butler, Dorianne Laux, Denise Duhamel, Carole Maso, David Ignatow; and hosted publications include North American Review, Zyzzyva, The Literary Review, Quarterly West, Prairie Schooner, The Prose Poem, and many more.
 

Q: I'm not familiar with Web Del Sol's audience. Who will be looking at the CWPP site?

A: Due to its eclectic nature, WDS has an international audience (receiving upwards of 20,000 hits per day) which includes editors of major magazines and publishing houses. Unless students have work appearing in the New Yorker (and even then), they will be getting much greater visibility than they would otherwise.
 

Site Credits

Project Director:  Rob Hartzell
Web Manager and Founder:  Mike Neff