The Place and the Writer

The combined experience of authors throughout the ages offers a wealth of valuable information about the practice of writing. However, such lore can also be problematic for students and practitioners as lore can be inherently additive, indelible in abandoning processes that do not work. This adherence to lore also tends to be a US-centric endeavor. In order to take a nuanced approach to the use and limitations of lore, The Place and the Writer offers a global perspective on creative writing pedagogy that has yet to be fully explored. Featuring a diverse array of cultural viewpoints from Brazil to Hong Kong, Finland to South Africa, this book explores the ongoing international debate about the best approaches for teaching and practicing creative writing. Marshall Moore and Sam Meekings challenge areas of perceived wisdom that persist in the field of creative writing, including aesthetics and politics in institutionalized creative writing; the process of workshopping; tuition and talent; anxiety in the classroom; unifying theory and lore; and teaching creative writing in languages other than English. For educators in the discipline of creative writing, the combined experience of authors throughout the ages offers a wealth of valuable information. However, such lore can also be problematic for students and practitioners as lore can be inherently additive; it can be difficult to identify and abandon processes that do not work, to distill efficacious pedagogy from mythology and superstition. This adherence to lore also tends to be a US-centric endeavor. The Place and the Writer examines the spread of creative writing around the world in order to challenge many areas of the received wisdom that persist in the field as well as some that have emerged alongside and because of changes in the publishing industry. By redirecting this dialogue through the perspectives of voices from outside the traditional poles of English-language scholarship, we interrogate the connections between teaching practices and issues of identity, culture, and practice. The chapters in this volume therefore decenter historically dominant views and voices in creative writing.