DePaul’s Continuing & Professional Education offers a series of new writing offerings for both professional and creative growth.

After running a series of successful seminars called Grant Writing for Beginners, DePaul’s CPE will be offering a Certificate in Grant Writing (March 19-May 21, 2011). This course is designed for those seeking a thorough grounding in the art and science involved in writing successful grant proposals. Primarily geared towards those seeking funds for nonprofit organizations, artists/scholars seeking personal support for projects will also benefit from this class. Topics addressed include understanding philanthropy, researching prospects, crafting persuasive case statements, outlining and writing full proposals, evaluation, budgets and donor cultivation/stewardship.

Middle school and high school creative writers will experience fun and instruction from DePaul English faculty in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in Summer Creative Writing Camp for Teens (July 5-8, 2011). This 4-day camp (3 hours per day) for middle schools students and high school students will include exercises, readings/performances, and result in a chapbook publication of student work. The camp will focus on poetry, short stories, and creative essays. Accomplished local writers will lead students in both fun and educational writing experiences.

Adult creative writers will benefit from the third annual DePaul Summer Writing Conference (July 15-17, 2011), which features lectures by esteemed writers, craft classes in multiple genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children and teens) taught by some of the country’s best writers and panel discussions on literary and practical topics make up the program of this three-day conference. Participants will also enjoy the opportunity to take the podium and read from their own work. DePaul Continuing and Professional Education program partners with the Department of English and the Chicago Public Library on this one-of-a-kind event in downtown Chicago.

For those writers wondering whether a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) will benefit them, the MFA Primer (August 1, 8, 15, 22, 2011) will model an MFA experience through writing workshops and lecture; the course will focus on poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction; it will also inform students of all aspects of a variety of resident and nonresident MFA programs, from application issues to post-MFA life.

The Certificate in Publishing (August 22, 2011-February 13, 2012) covers the ins and outs of starting a small press, the financial and technical considerations in working as a small publisher, and examines the current, important phenomenon of the developing small-press movement in the American literary scene. Students will be immersed in the editing, publishing and marketing of a book created for this class, and will create an electronic publishing component, as well as tackle the marketing and distribution of the book: the Publishing Certificate course that ends February, 2011, involved the editing, publishing and promotion of Brute Neighbors: Urban Nature Poetry, Prose & Photography, which was published by the DePaul Humanities Center and DePaul’s Institute for Nature & Culture. The 54 hour certificate course is divided into three modules (18 contact hours each): the first concerned with the publishing of the book, the second with electronic publishing, and the third with the book’s release and marketing; each module can be taken as a stand-alone course, or all three can be taken to earn the certificate.

For registration and information about these courses, go to http://www.learning.depaul.edu also you can contact Chris Green, Director of New Programs DePaul Continuing & Professional Education, cgreen1@depaul.edu, 312-362-8916.