An Advanced Nonfiction class (WRT 440) is to be added to the list of Lakeland’s writing courses. The class will be taught by Assistant Professor of Writing Nate Lowe, who says it will be offered every even-year spring semester beginning in 2014.

It will rotate with the Advanced Fiction class, which is offered every odd-year spring semester.

Creative Nonfiction, a 300-level course (WRT 340) that is currently being offered, will be turned into a 200-level course (WRT 240). The lower-level course, Lowe says, will focus on “the basic techniques of writing good, literary nonfiction.”

The new upper-level course will have advanced students developing their own voice and style of writing while also examining the various styles and genres within creative nonfiction. Students will be required to do a small study on a contemporary nonfiction writer and present this study to their classmates.

With the addition of the Advanced Nonfiction course, Lakeland will have the only Writing Major in the state that will require a class in literary nonfiction writing, and is one of the only ones to offer an advanced course in the genre.

“There was motivation from the students to offer more advanced study in the genre,” says Lowe, who specializes in nonfiction writing. Since he arrived at Lakeland in 2007, there has been growing interest in the genre and an increasing number of students who would like to focus on nonfiction.