Literary reading skills in a second language (L2) are essential for student success at the advanced levels of collegiate language instruction. This article introduces an instructional approach that fosters the development of L2 literary reading skills through creative writing activities. First, the article identifies those skills that language learners need in order to become literary readers in German and argues that creative writing fosters the development of these skills. The article illustrates the potential of creative writing activities with writing samples and self-reflective statements of three advanced language learners. The article concludes with a set of pedagogical recommendations and identifies limitations of the approach.