Creative Writing

Contributing Writer: Javan Howard, Director of Education and former Creative Writing Faculty

"Writing is a place where you can come as you are." This month, we are highlighting a class that promotes storytelling with empathy, curiosity, and joy: Creative Writing. Young writers are welcome to sign up for the Major and Minor class in our 4-week A or B sessions. 

Class Description

Creative Writing (Major/Minor, 4A/4B Sessions, Grades 4 – 12)

Our open-air writing studios provide a welcoming environment for young storytellers to write poetry, short fiction, and plays, individually and in small collaborative groups. Use your imagination and find your creative voice, while learning concrete elements of storytelling such as structure, point of view, and conflict and resolution. 

Creative Writing students collaborate with peers from other artistic disciplines and use the natural environment to inspire their writing. Writers also explore the forms in which creative writing shows up in everyday life (such as journaling) and in a variety of careers (such as writing commercials and plays).

Under the instruction of an experienced writing educator and practicing writer, students spend their days considering structure and form through word games, writing, revising, sharing, and collaborating. The session culminates in a student open mic and performance as well as the development of individual student portfolios. All levels are welcome. Classes are grouped according to age division and grade.  

“It encouraged me to be more creative than I thought I could be.” —Rina

“It's a writer's dream. My ideas couldn't flow until I went there. My favorite part was the way every student and the teacher supported each other.” —Soleil

A Note from the faculty

Javan Howard, Usdan's Director of Education and the former Creative Writing Lead Teacher, had the following to share with prospective students. 

What are you most looking forward to about this class? 

Joy. All writing comes down to what brings us joy; how joy can be a shared experience in the space but also through our imaginations as we activate different ways to write. We always give writers the instruction to write from your heart, but what does that really mean? We plan to hold onto an internal inquiry and exploration of the things that accentuate our joy (theme, genres and writing styles) and utilize the studio as a space where our multiple perspectives can be empowered through pure joy. 

What do you hope students will walk away with? 

A continued love for their craft and to see writing as a practice that can serve multiple purposes. It can be something we do for fun, a place where we can postulate our concerns for the world, or just somewhere we can tap deep into our imaginations. Along the way we build empathy while also developing our tone as a writer.  

Is there anything else you would like to share with prospective students?

Writing is place where you can come as you are. You can join our Creative Writing community at any level. We hope to see new and former students join us and continue to build writing as a lifestyle. 

To read more about other classes, visit our Classes website page. 

About Javan Howard

Javan joined Usdan’s full-time staff in 2017. Year round hip hop and poetry are his modes of survival and inspiration. A Bronx born creative that hails from the same high school as James Baldwin, he spreads love one word at a time. He truly believes that the lived experience is the ultimate teaching tool and uses poetry as a social forum to foster discourse about love, culture, and identity. He was named a 2022 Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow. He also suffers from severe milk chocolate withdrawals and has been diagnosed with a case of the New York Knicks.