The Undergraduate Creative Writing Workshop

More and more institutions are offering undergraduate Creative Writing Programmes. Many of these offer the workshop as part of that programme. The undergraduate creative writing workshop differs from the postgraduate one and is also different from workshops offered outside of the academy. This paper defines that workshop, and discusses some of its advantages and disadvantages. It offers some further thoughts about the undergraduate creative writing workshop in general. It looks at the format used at one institution, showing how previous modules feed into a Level 3 two semester long workshop. It illustrates the practice of one particular lecturer, giving special emphasis to how work is marked and feedback given within sessions to ensure maximum confidence and progress in students. Suggestions are made of useful strategies for workshop facilitators. This paper proposes that participating in a workshop is a skill that needs to be taught and that that skill is enhanced in students as they progress through the three levels, which in turn leads to the nature of the workshop changing as they progress