Creative Writing Now

About

This course explores contemporary examples and practices of creative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and draws upon some of the formal and political motivations of contemporary English-language literature for its content. It is particularly suited to Summer School students looking to develop their creative voice independently and alongside their existing critical writing skills. It teaches students to explore distinct narrative and/or poetic voices and techniques and issue as well as learn from peer-feedback in workshop environments.

What makes great storytelling now, and what makes new narrative or poetic voices so distinctive? What is challenging about writing creatively in the present moment, and how do we understand what constitutes a story or a poetic form in our own writing?

This course draws on a range of contemporary literature in English, and will give students the freedom and the tools to experiment with fiction, nonfiction or poetry, and to shape their own creative voices in the process. Using a combination of writing workshops and seminar-style discussion, we will address the ways contemporary literature reckons with a world in flux (BLM, #MeToo, climate change) and invents new, experimental ways to move beyond the boundaries of literary form. Writers we will look at include Claudia Rankine, Cathy Park Hong, Patricia Lockwood, Sheila Heti, Olivia Laing, Tao Lin, Rachel Cusk and Claire Louise Bennett.

The emphasis will be on developing the tools to give and receive constructive peer feedback with an effort to build craft alongside of — but separate from — the students’ existing skills in analytical reading and writing. The course is assessed by coursework submission as well as feedback participation during the workshops.

Target group

Undergraduates

Course aim

This course aims to:

to give students the opportunity to explore the relationships between contemporary literary forms and the content, subject matter or issues that may be addressed by different and overlapping approaches or genres.
to explore with students a range of international contemporary literature, in the fields of poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
to provide students with a supportive framework in which to develop their own literary practice, and make judgments about subject matter and form.
to give students a critical context for their work and encourage them to reflect on its relationship with the contemporary.

Fee info