Students say Harvard's creative writing courses are some of the best at the College.

Small, intimate and well-taught, the writing classes are often the favorites of those lucky enough to take them.

"The level of individual attention is extraordinary relative to the University as a whole," says Niko Canner '94, who has taken a number of creative writing courses in the English department.

His teacher for two of the classes, Lucie Brock-Broido, was "probably the best teacher I've had at Harvard or anywhere else," the Marshall scholarship winner says.

But there's just one problem with the idyllic creative writing program: a lack of professors drastically limits the number of students who can take the classes.

Teachers like Brock-Broido, who win rave reviews from students, cannot stay longer than five years at Harvard because of the short appointments available for most creative writing professors.

And, according to English department members, the status of the program is unlikely to change despite dramatically increasing student demand.

Good Classes

The creative writing classes have a 15-person maximum, says Briggs-Copeland Lecturer Jill McCorkle, who teaches creative writing courses. The small class size allows students to get personal attention from professor and fellow classmates.

For English Cpr: "Poetry Writing I," "We make copies of our poem for everybody," says Roland Tan '97, who is taking the class this semester. "Everybody has one week to read everybody else's poems...There's very little pressure."

Students read one another's work in nearly all of the classes.

In English Crr: "Fiction Writing

In English Crr: "Fiction Writing I," studentsread three short stories by other students.

"At the end you have to bring in two completedpieces," says Joseph G. Covalesky '97, who istaking English Crr.

But some students who wish to take the creativeclasses never get the chance.

To get into a creative writing course, studentsmust usually submit a writing sample and a coverletter to the professor who is teaching the classof their choice. classes are presently offered innon-fiction, fiction, and poetry writing.