Boston University

Creative Writing

“I had the good luck to be raised among expert joke-tellers, complainers, arguers, schmoozers, boasters, and liars,” Pinsky says in his new memoir, Jersey Breaks. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun. Pinsky stands looking out over an ocean beach on a cloudy day

University News

Robert Pinsky, America’s Ambassador for Poetry, Retiring from Teaching After 36 Years at BU, More Than 1,000 Students

April 29, 2025

Photo: A stock image of a fountain pen on a journal.

POETRY

Calling All Poets: BU Today Wants Your Haikus

February 14, 2025

Photo: A white woman with her brown hair pulled back. She wears silver jewelry and a white top.

Books

Novelist Jayne Anne Phillips Delivers Ha Jin Lecture Tuesday

September 20, 2024

Composite image of two people side by side, one an older bald man and another a younger woman with long hair

Arts & Culture

Pulitzer-Winning Poet Philip Schultz to Deliver Spring 2024 Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture March 7

March 5, 2024

Photo: Two headshots side by side, one of a black man wearing glasses and one of a white woman wearing glasses

Poetry

Major Jackson, Award-Winning Poet and Host of The Slowdown Podcast, Reads from New Collection at Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture Tonight

September 27, 2023

Photo: A black man in a beret and a collared shit with a suit jacket poses for a formal photo

Literature

Booker Prize–Winning Author Ben Okri to Deliver Ha Jin Lecture Tonight

September 20, 2023

Photo: Abdulrazak Gurnah , Professor Muhammad Zaman (left) and Professor Carrie Preston sit at the front of Morse Auditorium on April 24, 2023. (from left) a tan man wearing a light blue collared shirt and navy blue suit looks and writes on sheets of paper, a Black man with white hair and a gray trimmed beard wearing a light blue collared shirt, blue blazer, and dark grey pants is turned to his right as he talks and gesticulates to a white woman wearing a red blazer, black dress, and black tights. They all sit in black chairs in front of a white background. A small table is at the center of them holding small plastic cups of water.

Arts & Culture

Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah Speaks of Migrants and Memory—and That Call from Sweden

April 25, 2023

Photo: A black and white photo of a Black man with a long, peppered beard. He has a nose piercing in his left nostril. He was a collard shirt, a sweater overtop, and a flat-brimmed hat.

Poetry

Award-Winning Poet John Murillo to Headline Spring 2023 Lowell Poetry Reading

March 29, 2023

Books

Pulitzer Prize Winner and Former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith Headlines Robert Lowell Memorial Poetry Reading Tuesday

April 11, 2022

Photo of Bianca Saffiro (CAS’24), at the front of the class in black, presenting her final project, “Eating and Psyche: Food as Emotional Compensation,” to the class on December 1. In the foreground, students with their laptops open are seen.

Food Writing

Writing with a Sense of Taste

December 15, 2021

Cover of the book "Animal" by Lisa Taddeo. Features a red and blue stylized image of a woman's face and text that reads "Animal. Lisa Taddeo."

Books

Her MFA Thesis Became an Acclaimed Novel. Here’s How Lisa Taddeo Did It

November 17, 2021

a black and white photo of author Gail Mazur sitting at table with chin resting on her hand in front of a bright window.

Creative Writing

A BU Teacher and Her Former Student Headline Lowell Memorial Poetry Reading

October 28, 2021

Photo of Swati Rani teaching a writing class on Marsh Plaza on April 6, 2021. The class sits in a circle on blankets on the ground; they all wear face masks. Rani gestures as she speaks as the students listen and look towards her.

Writing

Swati Rani’s CAS Class Explores Being Asian and Building Community

May 4, 2021

Arts & Culture

Two Poets, Drawn by History, Headline Thursday’s Lowell Poetry Reading

February 18, 2021

Composite image: left, Black and white portrait of Sigrid Nunez with her hand on her face. Right, Book cover for Sigrid Nunez's work "what are you going through" The cover is teal and pictures a cat sitting on the arm of a couch.

Books

National Book Award Winner Sigrid Nunez Explores Life, Death, and Empathy in New Novel

November 13, 2020

Composite image: on the left, a close-up portrait of poet Natasha Trethewey, her bangs sway to the right over her eyes, photo by Matt Valentine; on the right, the book cover for "Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir" by Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize Winner. On the cover, a sepia photo of Trethewey's mother holding her as a young baby.

Poetry

Pulitzer Prize Winner Natasha Trethewey to Lead Thursday’s Lowell Memorial Poetry Reading

October 15, 2020

Composite image: on the right, Dr. Muhammad Zaman poses for a photo in his lab on Thursday, April 27, 2017, photo by Jackie Ricciardi; on the right, a black and white portrait of Sigrid Nunez, a College of Arts & Sciences lecturer in creative writing, photo by Marrion Ettlinger.

Accolades

Two BU Faculty Honored with Guggenheim Fellowships

April 22, 2020

A portrait of Viet Thanh Nguyen who will be delivering the 2019 Ha Jin Lecture

Arts & Culture

Pulitzer-Winning Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen to Give Ha Jin Lecture Tonight

November 19, 2019

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye smiles for a photo while standing on a bridge

Arts & Culture

“Wandering Poet” Naomi Shihab Nye Headlines Lowell Memorial Poetry Reading

November 5, 2019

Portrait of Mark Halliday

Arts & Culture

Poet Mark Halliday Headlines Lowell Poetry Reading Thursday

April 10, 2019

Poet Mark Halliday Headlines Lowell Poetry Reading Thursday