Literary Amherst

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tune without the words – and never stops at all.” – Emily Dickinson

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.

Creative Writing at Amherst College

Judith Frank talks about what it takes to succeed as a writer and touches on what students can expect from the creative writing program at Amherst College.

Literary history exhibit

LitFest 2019

A recap of LitFest 2019 (Feb. 27–March 2), including photos and videos.

The Literary Life

Amherst Authors

David Foster Wallace

Brief Interview with a Five Draft Man

David Foster Wallace ’85 penned his debut novel, The Broom of the System, as a student at Amherst. In 1999, Amherst magazine interviewed Wallace by mail.

Read the Interview
Portraits of Robert Frost and JFK

The Poet and the President

In October 1963, President John F. Kennedy attended the groundbreaking of Amherst’s Robert Frost Library and gave a speech honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost, who taught at Amherst on and off for more than 40 years.

Read More
Lauren Groff

Write Like a Shark

Lauren Groff ’01 is author of the New York Times best-selling novel Fates and Furies, a National Book Award finalist and President Obama’s “favorite book of 2015.” In an interview with Amherst’s literary magazine, she discusses her hobbies: running, reading and, of course, writing.

Read the Interview
James Merrill

Proust, Plays and Poetry

James Merrill ’47 became one of the greatest poets of his generation, but first he was a student at Amherst, where he developed an obsession with memory and a transformative interest in Proust.

Read More
Susannah Grant

Comfort With Discomfort

During a recent visit to campus, screenwriter Susannah Grant ’84—whose screenplay for the critically-acclaimed Erin Brockovich earned her an Oscar nomination—discussed the rewards of embracing discomfort.

Read More
Black and white portrait of young Richard Wilbur wearing a gray suit and black tie

“The Splendor of Mere Being”

Poet Richard Wilbur ’42 served as the nation’s second poet laureate and won two Pulitzer Prizes for his meticulously passionate body of work that celebrated, to quote one of his poems, “the splendor of mere being.”

Read More
Sonia Sanchez at a podium in Johnson Chapel, delivering the keynote address at the second annual Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Symposium.

Reactivating Activism

Poet and activist Sonia Sanchez—who taught English at Amherst from 1972–75 and was the founding chair of the Black Studies department—recently delivered the keynote address at Amherst's second annual Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Symposium.

Read More
Dan Brown

Treasure Hunting

Dan Brown ’86 is the acclaimed author of The Da Vinci Code and numerous other bestsellers. In an interview with Professor Rick Griffiths, he spoke about Dante’s vision of hell, writing reluctant heroes and playing cat and mouse with bloggers.

Read the Interview
Portrait of Eve Sedgwick

The Path-Breaker

Widely recognized for her path-breaking work in the field of gay and lesbian studies, feminist icon and author Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick taught English at Amherst from 1984–89, including one of the first courses in gay and lesbian literature to be taught in the United States.

Read More
Judy Frank

An Open Book

In an interview with Amherst magazine, Professor of English Judith Frank discusses her award-winning novel All I Love and Know, her intro fiction class, her pet peeves and what it’s like to be a twin.

Read the Interview
Portrait of Debby Applegate '89

Of Ministers and Madams

Debby Applegate ’89’s research of Amherst’s archival collections led to her career as a historian, and her Pulitzer Prize-winning biography The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher.

Read More
Portraits of Tess Taylor and Rafael Campo

Ambivalent Spaces

In a review for Amherst magazine, poet Tess Taylor ’00 discusses the work of Rafael Campo ’87, a poet-physician whose poems explore “the strange, fumbling ways we attempt to heal others and ourselves.”

Read More
headshots of visiting writers

The Creative Writing Center: Visiting Writers

The Creative Writing Center organizes the Visiting Writer’s Series, which brings high profile authors of fiction and poetry to the College for readings and book signings throughout the academic year.

Creative Writing Center Literary Readings

THE COMMON Literary Magazine

The Common Issue 12

A global, award-winning publication based at Amherst College.

The Common publishes place-based literature and art from around the world in handsome print and digital editions, and mentors 12 Amherst students each year as part of its Literary Publishing Internship Program.

The Common
A map of the Amherst College campus

Literary Amherst Tour

From Johnson Chapel to the Robert Frost’s statue to Emily Dickinson’s home, take a walking tour of our scenic campus to discover Amherst’s rich literary tradition.

Take the Tour

The Emily Dickinson Connection

Amherst College is home to the largest and most varied holdings related to poet Emily Dickinson anywhere in the world. The College’s Archives and Special Collections and the Emily Dickinson Museum contain thousands of her manuscripts, letters and personal objects. The holdings also highlight the faculty, students and other members of the College community who played some role in Dickinson’s social and intellectual development.

The College also maintains the Emily Dickinson Museum, which consists of the poet’s own home, where she wrote almost all of her poetry, and her brother’s house next door. The Museum hosts guided tours and special events, including the annual Amherst Poetry Festival in which all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson’s poems are read. Newly available is a virtual tour of the poet’s bedroom.

Emily Dickinson daguerreotype
Emily Dickinson Collection
Emily Dickinson Museum
Emily Dickinson Museum
Book open to poem by Emily Dickinson
Amherst Poetry Festival
Emily Dickinson bedroom
Virtual Bedroom Tour

Archives and Special Collections

hands holding small books

A trove of rare books and materials.

Since 1851, Archives and Special Collections has amassed the physical history of Amherst College, including major collections of works by Emily Dickinson and Richard Wilbur ’42, and extensive holdings of works by alumni and other poets and writers.

Learn More

Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakespeare First Folio

The world’s preeminent institution for the study of Shakespeare.

Amherst College administers the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., founded in 1930 by Amherst alumnus Henry Clay Folger, class of 1879.

Learn More

By the Numbers