4D-Fridays Course Builds Student Careers Through Robust Literary Network

Rachel Feder's 4D Fridays course introduces students to literary community. Photo by Jake Riffel. 

Through the University of Denver's 4D Experience, the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences  (CAHSS) dedicates Fridays to courses that help students channel their passions into careers and lives of purpose. The CAHSS 4D Fridays curriculum offers professional exploration, mentorship, for-credit classes, and internships that prepare graduates to thrive in today's evolving workplace.

When creating a 4D Fridays course, Associate Professor of English and Literary Arts Rachel Feder wanted to expose students aspiring to careers in the literary world to the value of literary community, like the one that nourishes her own writing across the genres of literary scholarship, trade nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. To do so, she cast her net near and far, drawing on her personal literary network, including colleagues in the Department of English & Literary Arts, the Denver Publishing Institute, and university alumni, as well as local and national writers, agents, and translators. 

In her 4D Fridays course “Literary Careers and Communities” (ENGL 2709), launched in Spring Quarter 2026, seven students received an insider’s take on leveraging publishing opportunities in independent magazines and presses from Alumnus Dennis James Sweeney, who writes across genres and authored the book “How to Submit.” Similarly, students met with Literary Agent Becky LeJeune for tips on submitting book manuscript queries that get noticed and with Poet and DU Alumna Alicia Wright, managing editor of the storied "The Iowa Review". 

In a Q&A session with horror novelist McCormick Templeman and a generative writing workshop with local horror writer Lindsay King-Miller, students learned more about the authors’ craft, the road to publishing, and the genre itself. A visit to Lighthouse Writers Workshop, a longtime local leader in the literary arts providing an inclusive, supportive space for writers at all levels to find and hone their creative voice, introduced students to support available right in their backyards. 

“A lot of these students are writers so this class helps them find all these ways they can build a literary life right now and find their next steps in structuring a career, community, and life in the literary world after graduation,” Feder said. 

For James Pandolph, an English and psychology major in the class of 2028, hearing from and having his questions answered by working professionals like Wright offered “insight from someone who truly understands where we are coming from at DU and the kind of difficulties we might face going into fields in the literary arts,” he said. 

“We learned how to find communities where our skills would be valued and strengthened, how to network and make our work stand out. The class provided numerous internship and entry-level job opportunities as well as programs available to strengthen my work such as Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Denver Publishing Institute.”

The class benefited Feder, too. “The most rewarding part has been drawing on my own literary network and everyone in the writing world I know to help students get excited about finding their place in the literary world. I’m incredibly grateful to the Department of English and Literary Arts, and to Director of Alumni Engagement Hannah Thompson, for helping provide students access to these speakers.”

Feder will offer this class again in Winter Quarter 2027 and intends to subsequently hand the course over to colleagues to teach in years to come, thereby building an ever-broadening network for students.