Literature Matters - Literature - British Council

The teaching of creative writing has blossomed in recent years, with over 200 postgraduate courses currently being offered by UK universities. However, it isn’t just the formal academic institutions that are offering their services: organisations like the Arvon Foundation, literature development agencies, libraries and prisons are getting in on the act. And that’s before you even begin to look in the less usual places where you can learn to write, including at work where enlightened employers such as Marks & Spencer have brought in poets to help their staff develop their literary talent. And then of course we can’t forget the internet which is a whole new growth area in this subject. This issue of Literature Matters takes an in depth look at how creative writing is taught in the UK, the good, the bad, the positive and the negative. A lively range of writers offer personal perspectives on teaching, on studying and the development of this area as a whole. And in between all of this, we have regular features to tempt you, including Writers Talk Books and a round-up of the recent crop of new fiction. We hope that you will enjoy this second edition of the new-format Literature Matters and for the non-writers out there, may even feel inspired enough to pick up a pen and start contemplating your own creativity…

		September 2004 Editor: Catriona Ferguson


		The Teacher and The Student

Patricia Duncker teaches on the godfather of UK creative writing courses – the MA at the University of East Anglia. Here she offers behind the scenes insights into a course that boasts the glitziest alumni in the UK, including Trezza Azzopardi and Ian McEwan. Meanwhile, novelist and editor Jill Dawson, a former student on the Sheffield Hallam creative writing MA who has gone on to achieve great things, writes about how she felt studying creative writing affected her work.


		Different Strokes

The teaching of creative writing comes in many different shapes and sizes. In a bold and innovative move to reach the widest and most diverse of communities, trAce director Sue Thomas writes about her organizations challenging internet based creative writing projects. Writer, critic and creative writing tutor Russell Celyn Jones explores the different approaches to the teaching of creative writing in the US and what the UK can be learning from it all.


		Is It All Good News?

David Flusfeder explores the financial relationship between teaching creative writing and the artistic practise itself. Going where most writers are too scared to go, he boldly questions the existence of these courses. Novelist David Peace is less than convinced by the proponents of creative writing courses. Read some interesting advice on alternative options and a different approach to producing that prize winning novel.


		creative writing, British Council style

In a round up of three of the British Council’s most pioneering and adventurous projects, Graham Mort looks at the challenges of cross-cultural distance learning. Kamila Shamsie discusses a multi-nation creative writing project, beginning in Pakistan and continuing on to Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East and Danila Beloglavec tells of how they’re animating their literature, their readers and their writers in Slovenia.


		Writers Talk Books

In our regular feature on who’s reading what, four of the UK’s sparkiest and shiniest literary lights share their recent literary leanings with us. Read about what Louise Doughty, Maggie Gee, Michael Holroyd and Courttia Newland have recently been inspired by.


		Northern Irish Writing

Ian Sansom is a recent immigrant to Northern Ireland, and delighted to be surrounded by a wealth of literary talent. Here he shares with us his thoughts on the great and the good of Northern Irish writing, from the early 20th century through to the early 21st century.


		It Ain’t Broke – But Maybe We Fixed It

Alongside Sean Matthews, Claudia Ferradas Moi and Alan Pulverness, John McRae chaired this year’s British Council Oxford Conference on the Teaching of Literature. Creative writing and creative reading made for an inspiring theme and here John highlights some of the top moments from the conference.


		Making Tracks

Twenty years on Wasafiri is one of the most stimulating and lively of UK literary journals and is unique in its approach to literary and cultural history, exploring a broad range of diasporic writing. Jonathan Barker and Wasafiri editor Susheila Nasta chew the fat over past successes and future triumphs.

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