Creative Writing Workshop

Recommended Prerequisites

Level C1 in English.

Teaching Methods

Sessions are mainly practical, meaning that texts produced by students as a result of various writing exercises will be discussed.As well as doing the exercises, students will write a response to every session, to be read at the beginning of the following session.All the texts produced will be collected in a portfolio and handed in at the end of the semester. Each of the texts will include an explanation and justification.Evaluation will be based on the portfolio, class participation and a final piece of work reflecting on creative writing.

Learning Outcomes

This seminar has been designed as a propaedeutic exploration of writing. In this sense, it will lead students to:

1. Experiment with a variety of strategies and instruments to give form to language, imitating and transforming a range of texts (fiction, poetry, journalism, screenplay, comics books, etc.);

2. Better understand some theoretical and methodological concepts related to different forms of writing as a result of various exercises and challenges;

3. Identify how texts (including their own) are constructed, and understand the complexity and diversity of different forms;

4. Become conscious of the ideological and political nature of texts;

5. Strengthen their skills in reading and critical analysis.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

This seminar seeks to extend the possibilities of writing to be explored in relation to the interdisciplinary nature of the syllabus. Functioning as a laboratory, it will broach various creative areas, some more conventional, others more experimental, encouraging students to take responsibility for their own choices. Some modules will be taught by guests: poets, fiction writers, essayists, journalists, photojournalists, specialists in comic books, artists and performers of various areas who will be invited to discuss their creative strategies and suggest exercises.

The syllabus may vary from year to year, depending on the member of staff.

Head Lecturer(s)

John Henry Havelda

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Oral participation: 20.0%
Laboratory work or Field work: 30.0%
Synthesis work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Anderson, Linda (2006). Creative writing: a workbook with readings. New York: Routledge.

Armand, Louis. (Ed.) (2007). Contemporary poetics. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Dowling, Sarah (2018). Translingual Poetics: Writing Personhood Under Settler Colonialism. University of Iowa Press.

Dworkin, Craig and Goldsmith, Kenneth (Eds.) (2011). Against expression. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Morley, David. (2007). The  Cambridge introduction to Creative Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mura, David. (2018) A Stranger’s Journey. Race, Identity and Narrative Craft in Writing. University of Georgia Press.

Portanova, Patricia, Rifenburg, J. M. & Roen, D. (2018) Contemporary Perspectives on Cognition and Writing. CSU Open Press.

Rasula, Jed and McCaffery Steve (Eds.) (1998). Imagining language: an anthology. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press.