Learn from the masters

Creative writing courses are gaining popularity among students. In the UK, universities are even appointing high-profile authors to chair the course. Sara Saleh on the trend.

Universities in Britain have started to employ some of the country's most successful authors to teach creative writing in new courses that have attracted unprecedented numbers of students. The growing industry, offering increasingly lucrative books deals, and a new breed of celebrity authors has drawn a lot of attention to potential book writing careers, widening the course's popularity among university students and setting in motion the latest career cult that universities across the country are cashing in on.

Statistics from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that a third of institutions now run an undergraduate creative writing course, or offer it as an option alongside other relevant disciplines.

In the face of competition

Universities have begun to employ leading figures of the literary world as department heads as a means to entice quality applicants, especially as the competition turns fierce. Several universities such as Brunel University in Middlesex, the University of East Anglia and Royal Holloway and the University of London are the latest to capitalise on this trend by appointing veteran novelists such as Fay Weldon and Andrew Motion to chair the new and expanding creative writing departments.

Just last year Oxford University launched its creative writing masters, which is run by Clare Morgan, a prize-winning novelist, short story writer and poet. Such courses have produced high-profile success stories, including Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ali Smith, although not all graduates achieve such literary success.

-Source: The Sunday Telegraph

A Marketing Gimmick?

So in this booming industry, is it just about the big name, or is there the potential for actually gaining practical experience from such courses?

"You do have to have some talent, but it is also possible to teach the craft," says Fay Weldon, veteran novelist and chairman of the creative writing MA at Brunel University in Middlesex, UK.

After all, as long as it's high quality teaching, a big name is a harmless, added bonus.

On the other hand, authors like William Boyd, writer of An Ice-Cream War and Any Human Heart, who taught creative writing at Reading University, seem to think otherwise.

"Writing can't be taught, but you can learn about the business," he said. "I think it's more pragmatic than creative. You can learn the tricks of the trade."

Either way, literary agents are shrewdly taking advantage of this current craze, launching prizes such as the Curtis Brown award at the University of East Anglia, for novels in progress, in hopes that winners will sign up with their agencies.

With widespread book clubs, libraries, major commercial bookstores and second hand shops as well, the market has democratised, becoming a lot more accessible.

And with no shortage of career options in the industry - whether film and television production, screen writing or copywriting, it is unsurprising that this student-friendly university course has become all the rage - and this is just the beginning.

-Source: The Sunday Telegraph

- The writer is an International Student Correspondent for NOTES, studying at the University of Sydney, Australia.