Forty-two years after Malcolm Bradbury launched the creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, and 77 years after Wilbur Schramm founded the Iowa Writer's Workshop, the creative writing course is an established part of the cultural landscape. But what effect has the teaching of creative writing, by universities, publishers and even newspapers, had on the world of literature?
In this week's podcast we visit a creative writing seminar at Birkbeck and talk to students, teachers, critics and booksellers. The agent Clare Alexander and Patrick Keogh, the founder of the Faber Academy and Guardian Masterclasses, join us in the studio to discuss the pros and cons of teaching creative writing, and whether it's better left to the academy.
We also hear from Hugh Howey, a writer who took a very different route to success, publishing his science fiction novel, Wool, in chapters online. He tells us how the reviews and emails he received inspired him to turn it into a novel, which then won him a major publishing deal and has been snapped up for movie adaptation by Ridley Scott.
Reading list
Wool by Hugh Howey
