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This guide draws together resources for creative writers in all genres. The pages of this guide highlight books and other resources from our collection and suggestions for finding books on creative writing in general. The "Resources by Genre" page lists books from our collection on writing in specific genres (fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, and creative nonfiction). Other pages point to publication venues, local writers' organizations, and more.
The Libraries offer a wide variety of resources for research in many subjects. If you're looking for background information for any kind of writing project, you can use our Research Guides menu to browse by topic or search for a particular keyword.
Here are a few other subject guides that may be of particular interest:
Many of the literary databases that the NYU Libraries subscribe to include full text of literary works in many genres. If you're looking for examples of fiction, poetry, or drama to read online, the following may be helpful. You can also search the Libraries' catalog for authors and titles of print works. (See the "Finding books" section of this guide for more guidance on locating print materials and ebooks.)
Alexander Street Literature is a cross-searchable package of full-text literature collections, focused on place, race, and gender. The collections include poetry, short fiction, novels, full-text plays, and film scripts.
Literature Online includes full text of literary works in English from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. It is the single most extensive and wide-ranging online collection of English and American literature. Resources included in this database are: Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story, Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature, Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism, Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Encyclopedia of African Literature, Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003, Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2 vols.), Encyclopedia of the Novel, Handbook of African American Literature, New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, Penguin Classics Introductions, Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (2nd Edition), Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature