From the OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK
On curse?
Are expensive creative writing courses a worthwhile investment, ponders Piers Blofeld
Piers Blofeld
One of the more significant changes on the literary scene in the last twenty years has been the explosion in the number of businesses offering teaching and mentoring services to would-be authors.
Back in the Stone Ages there were really only publishers, agents and authors. Authors were supposed to simply spring into existence, Athena-like. After all writing is the most democratic of the arts – everybody tells stories – and all you need to write a novel is a pad of paper and a pencil.
Then along came Malcolm Bradbury with the not unreasonable idea that there were many elements of writing which could be taught and that better writers could only be a good thing – and the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia was born.