Anoka-Ramsey Community College announces a new, three-credit creative writing course offered this fall on Thursday evenings at the Coon Rapids Campus: “Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults.”

The course will be taught by nationally-recognized author Swati Avasthi, a recent graduate from the master of fine arts program at the University of Minnesota and the author of "Split," a young adult novel publish by Random House/Knopf, and "Bidden" to be published in 2011. Avasthi has been awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board grant and had her story "Swallow" nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has also taught creative writing courses at the University of Minnesota and the Loft Literary Center.

"We are thrilled to have such a talented and well-published author joining our faculty at Anoka-Ramsey," says Kate Kysar creative writing faculty. "Ms. Avasthi brings both academic expertise and hand-on experience to this exciting new course. We hope the course will appeal to members of the community interested in writing for children and Anoka-Ramsey students interested in our new creative writing degree. This class is a unique undergraduate offering, and we could not have a better writer teaching the course."

This course is unique in the community college system, and may be applied as arts credits to the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum. To find out more information or to register for this course, please visit our Course Schedule.