I was recently sent a link to a gorgeous article in The Guardian written by Kate Clanchy: the story of The Very Quiet Foreign Girls poetry group. Having spent the weekend revisiting the deep pleasure of being a student (despite nearly dislocating myself trying not to butt in and teach over the top of poor …
Some Reasons why Creative Writing Classes Might Actually Be Good Things
There’s been an outbreak of anti-Creative Writing Course rhetoric causing a few ripples in the UK. This most recent bit has been kicked off by comments allegedly made by Hanif Kureishi at the Bath Literature Festival a couple of weeks ago. Go read his comments (in the Independent, or the Guardian, whichever you prefer), and …
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Things Teaching Has Taught Me
1. Build it, and they will come. Timetable it, and they might. Or not. Depends, really. 2. No matter how organised you think you are, you aren't. 3. Bulldog clips. 4. The class that you're sure will be really popular will take the full amount of time available to clear the minimum numbers threshold. 5. …
Micro-review: Does the Writing Workshop Still Work?
Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? Edited by Dianne Donnelly (Multilingual Matters, 2010) ISBN 9781847692689 Part of a series of books on the analysis of creative writing, Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? is a variably interesting collection of essays surrounding the question posed by the title. It’s unfortunate that the foreword is technical and abstruse …
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When Teaching Goes ______ (it goes, it goes, it just goes?)
That's two sessions of 2nd-term Reading for Writing. An good group, and interesting – four of the eight present this time were persons of the male persuasion, which is something of a record. I'm not going to draw any conclusions about the effect of the course subtitle (‘American Women’), but … The frustrating thing is …
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A Dark Feathered Art 