The Writing College
“Amherst is often called a singing college, but I was drawn here, in part, because it’s also known as a writing college. Literary arts remain at the core of the liberal arts at Amherst, and I’m confident they always will.”
—Biddy Martin, 19th President of Amherst College
Amherst College is one of the world’s premier writing colleges, with an enviable literary legacy. Our outstanding faculty and alumni include influential and award-winning novelists, poets, journalists and critics, and our renowned literary publications are read around the world.
Throughout its 200-year history, Amherst has been closely associated with writers such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur ’42, James Merrill ’47, David Foster Wallace ’85, Dan Brown ’86 and Lauren Groff ’01, among many others. Each year we welcome to campus distinguished authors of fiction, nonfiction and poetry for readings, conversations and master classes as part of the Visiting Writer’s Series and LitFest, the College’s annual literary festival.