Title: Rethinking Creative Writing in Higher Education
Sub-title: Programs and Practices that Work
Author: Stephanie Vanderslice
‘This is a brave, serious, passionate and entertaining book’ - Dr Steve May, Head of Department, Creative Writing, Bath Spa University and author of Doing Creative Writing.
Outline
In this passionate, iconoclastic, survey of Creative Writing as an academic discipline, Stephanie Vanderslice provides a provocative critique of existing practice. She challenges enduring myths surrounding creative writing – not least, that writers learn most from workshops. Through case studies of best practice from America and elsewhere, Vanderslice provides a vision of change, showing how undergraduate and postgraduate programs can be reformed to re-engage with contemporary culture.
“[An] excellent resource for ideas, for inspiration, and for sources on aspects of pedagogy for creative writing programs” – Kevin Brophy, Text: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses (Vol. 16, No. 1).
“This thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and altogether important book” – Erika Dreifus, Practicing Writing blog (www.erikadreifus.com).
To acquire a copy: please see our How to Buy page or use the following links amazon.com or amazon.co.uk for the paperback.
Bibliographic information
Formats and ISBNs:
- ePub edition (2011): 978-1-907076-10-7
- PDF edition (2011): 978-1-907076-18-3
- Hardback (2011): 978-1-907076-13-8
- Softback (2012): 978-1-907076-31-2
Genre: monograph
Classifications:
- BISAC subject heading: LAN005000
- BIC subject category: CBV
- Dewey no.: 808
Extent: 152 pp.
Imprint: Creative Writing Studies
Publisher: The Professional and Higher Partnership Ltd
Place of publication: Wicken, Cambridgeshire, UK
Downloadable information on this title is available here: Rethinking creative writing.
Contents
Foreword by Dr Steve May
Chapter One: Creative Writing in Higher Education: Reflection, Innovation, Accountability / Notes from the Field: Storming the Garret
Chapter Two: Undergraduate Creative Writing Programs / Notes from the Field: Grasping Ariadne’s Thread: Wendy Bishop’s Stories and My Own
Chapter Three: Graduate Creative Writing Programs: Creative Writing Comes of Age / Notes from the Field: Once More to the Workshop: A Myth Caught in Time
Chapter Four: Workshopping the Workshop / Notes from the Field: A Place to Start
Chapter Five: Creative Writing Programs in the World
Afterword: Looking Inward and Outward
Appendix
Abstract
Creative writing as a discipline is a victim of its own success. The discipline needs now to demythogize and revitalize itself. Undergraduate and graduate programs need to be further differentiated. Programs over-reliant on the traditional creative writing workshop, with its focus on craft and on building community, are ill equipped to prepare students for the new realities of the creative economy. Programs need not only to improve the workshop experience of students, but also employ a more diverse, outward-looking, outcomes-oriented pedagogy and to make a more direct contribution to the development of a literate society. Much can be learnt from good practice – including distinctive and visionary programs – developed on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australia.
Key terms: creative writing; literacy; pedagogy; programs; reflective; reform; teaching; visionary; workshop.
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