Important Dates 2011-12

IMPORTANT DATES 2011-12

AUTUMN TERM

Monday 3 October 2011 Beginning of Autumn Term.

Monday 3 October Introductory Meeting of all MA students at 10 am in The Writers Room, Millburn House.

Wednesday 5 October All module choices to be finalised. Hand in completed orange registration cards to Reception (H506).

Monday 7 November All Bibliography Exercises to be submitted to the English Office (H506) by 12.00 noon.

Saturday 10 December End of Autumn Term.

SPRING TERM

Monday 9 January 2012 Beginning of Spring Term.

Monday 13 February 1st Autumn Term portfolio to be submitted.* (week 6) Part-time students can choose to submit their first term option module portfolio for this deadline.

Saturday 17 March End of Spring Term.

SUMMER TERM

Monday 23 April Beginning of Summer Term.

Monday 21 May 2nd Autumn Term portfolio to be submitted. Part-time students who did not submit their first term option module portfolio for the February deadline MUST submit for this deadline.

Monday 25 June 1st Spring Term portfolio to be submitted.*

Saturday 29 June End of Summer Term.

Monday 3rd September Submit all remaining portfolios and/or Long Projects by 12.00 pm.

Wednesday 17 October 2012 Taught MA Examination Board

* - You have a choice as to which option module essay you submit for which deadline.

1 NOTE: All deadlines are final. No late work will be accepted without the written permission of the MA Convenor, which shall not normally be given without documented medical evidence or equivalently serious cause. It is expected that students in difficulty will request an extension which can only be granted by the MA Convenor, who can be contacted directly. The request for extension can be discussed as well with your Personal Tutor, but please remember that she/he cannot approve an extension. A medical note will be required in case of illness. Work which is late without permission will be penalised by 3 marks a day.

All assessed work must conform to the stated maximum word lengths. The maximum word lengths are inclusive of quotations and footnotes but not of bibliography. You will be asked to provide a word count of your essays on the cover sheet which you complete when the work is submitted. We allow a stated margin of up to 10% over or under-length for flexibility. Essays that are 10-25% over/under-length will incur a penalty of 3 marks. Essays that are more than 25% over/under-length will be refused.

2 THE WARWICK WRITING PROGRAMME

Master’s Programme in Writing

This handbook should be read in conjunction with the general MA Students’ Handbook for the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies. The general handbook contains practical information on practical matters such as registration for options, mail and messages, use of Common Room, IT services, transport, portfolio / essay binding, complaints procedures, and so on. Please consult your personal tutor if you have questions not answered by this documentation.

STAFF CONTACTS

Director of Graduate Dr Emma Room 024 76 [email protected] Studies, Department Francis H511 522403 of English & Comparative Literary Studies

Graduate Secretary Mrs Cheryl Room 02476 [email protected] Cave H505 523665

MA in Writing: Professor Room 024 76 [email protected] Convenor and Maureen H527 523348 Examinations Freely Secretary

MA in Writing: Professor Room 024 76 [email protected] Admissions Tutor Maureen H527 523348 Freely

Director of the Professor Room 02476 [email protected] Warwick Writing David Morley H521 523346 Programme

3 INTRODUCTION

The MA Programme in Writing

The degree is intended for students who are already experienced as well as ambitious practising writers, whether published or not. While we don’t believe that creativity, as such, can be taught, or that it is only fulfilled in ‘the marketplace’, we do aim to help develop technical writing skills which students will find useful professionally, whether in full-time authorship or in related professions such as publishing, the media, or teaching.

Course content and methods of teaching and assessment involve a mixture of approaches based on workshops (see page 13) and portfolios, combined with more traditional academic pedagogies. At least as important as the teaching, though, are the space and stimulus to write within a community of people who have similar aspirations and are facing similar practical, imaginative and intellectual problems. The literary community at Warwick is a scholarly as well as a creative one: the University is one of the most highly ranked research institutions, nationally, to offer such a degree. Much of the value of the course comes from students’ working on the University campus and making use of the full range of activities which it offers.

‘Litbiz’, ‘Work in Progress’, ‘Writers at Warwick’ and other series and external links

Staff of the Programme have excellent links not only with other writers but also with publishing houses, literary journals and agencies, with national and regional organizations such as the Arts Council, PEN and the Royal Literary Fund, and with other creative writing schools in Britain, continental Europe and the USA. An exchange programme enables MA students undertaking long projects to work in Milan under the supervision of Tim Parks. A regular series under the title Litbiz brings literary professionals – among them, publishers and agents - to the Writers’ Room, where they meet students informally over sandwiches before giving a talk chaired by one of the MA students. A more occasional series, Work in Progress, gives opportunities for writers – including Warwick staff - to read from and discuss their current projects.

In partnership with the Warwick Arts Centre, staff of the Writing Programme also help to organize a weekly series of public readings and talks by visiting authors throughout the academic year. More than 300 writers have appeared in the series since 1997, among them Monica Ali, Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, A.S. Byatt, Umberto Eco, Bernardine Evaristo, Michael Frayn, Christopher Hampton, Tony Harrison, Nick Hornby, Clive James, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Hanif Kureishi, Hermione Lee, Doris Lessing, Mario Vargas Llosa, David Lodge, Ian McEwan, Anne Michaels, Andrew Motion, Tim Parks, Michèle Roberts, Salman Rushdie, Will Self, Wole Soyinka, Meera Syal, Colm Tóibín, Derek Walcott, Marina Warner, Fay Weldon Edmund White and Gao Xingjian. We regard students’ active participation in these events as an essential part of their experience on the Writing Programme. Full details can be accessed at the Warwick Arts Centre website: www.warwickartscentre.co.uk. An audio archive of past events can be accessed at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/writingprog/writersatwarwickarchive/ The WWP co-ordinator with the Arts Centre is George Ttoouli.

4 The Writing Programme is closely involved with the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (formerly the Capital Centre). The Institute facilitates a number of activities which overlap with those of the Writing Programme - among them, writing for performance. It is housed in a large, newly converted block next to University House, ten minutes’ walk from the Humanities Building, which contains studios, exhibition space, IT facilities and a Writers’ Room which we use for a range of literary activities. A fellowship programme associated with the Capital Centre has brought to Warwick people like the poet and editor Fiona Sampson and the dramatist Adriano Shaplin, both of whom worked with the Writing Programme.

Other aspects of the Writing Programme’s work include international conferences and public debates on topics which have included Censorship, The Needs of Writers, Minority Cultures and the Establishment Press, Science Writing, Creativity, Women in the British Theatre, Writing for Children and Journalism and Public Policy. In 2008, students on the Programme organized Pencilfest: the First National Student Writers' Festival.

Writers’ Lunch: Please make a point of bringing your sandwiches to the Writers’ Room on Thursdays, any time between 1.00 and 3.00, and feel free to invite a friend with an interest in writing. The Writers’ Lunches are an opportunity for staff, students and visiting writers to meet informally. They generally involve an event in the LitBiz series.

5 FULL TIME STUDENTS

THE COURSE STRUCTURE IN OUTLINE

There are two pathways through the Warwick MA in Writing. A) involves five taught modules in which a wide range of written work is produced. B) - the 'Long Project' route - involves three taught modules plus, as the title suggests, a long written project in any genre which the Programme is able to supervise. Permission to follow the 'Long Project' route depends on an assessment of the student's prior experience of writing and of a proposal submitted before the course begins, as well as on the availability of a qualified supervisor or supervisors. (NB supervision of the Long Project begins in Term 2 and continues through Term 3) Students enrolled on the module will receive a letter about their choices during the summer vacation and are asked to respond by 1 September

ROUTE A: ‘TAUGHT’

Full-time students take three modules in the autumn term, two in the spring. The summer is given to ‘writing up’, supported by additional workshops and 1:1 tutorials. The course is structured so as to give students a strong basis in creative work in the first term, followed by an element of optionality afterwards. What follows describes the normal pattern, but there is some flexibility over it. For example, a student who chose to switch to more ‘academic’ study in the second term would be able to do so, subject to her / his previous academic experience.

Part-time students work out their programme in conjunction with the MA Convenor.

We try not to make last-minute changes in course plans but modifications are sometimes necessary because of staff illness or other unforeseen circumstances.

AUTUMN TERM

Full-time students will study:

 Research Methods (for module details, see page 12)

 Warwick Fiction Workshop I (for module details, see page 13)

And ONE OF THE FOLLOWING

 Writing and the Practice of Literature (for module details see page 15)

 Writing for Children and Young People (for module details see page 18) or

 Another module selected from those offered at MA level by the faculty of Arts, subject to the permissions both of the director of the MA in Writing and of the module convenor.* Modules change from year to year and may be restricted in terms of students numbers but the list is likely to include: The British Dramatists in Society 1965-2005; Writing, Language, Cultural Transfer; Resource Fictions. More details can be found on the websites of individual departments – in the case of English,

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/modules/

They should also allow time for:

● Participation in workshops and other events

6 SPRING TERM

Module choices for the second term need to be made by the end of September. As numbers may be restricted on some modules, students will be asked to name their second and third choices.

Full-time students will study two of the following:

 Warwick Fiction Workshop II (for module details, see page 22)

 Writing Poetry (for module details, see page 24)

 Writing about Human Rights and Injustice (for module details, see page 26 )

 or Another module selected from those offered at MA level by the Faculty of Arts, subject to the permissions both of the director of the MA in Writing and of the module convenor.* Modules change from year to year and may be restricted in terms of student numbers but the list is likely to include: The British Dramatist in Society, 1965-2005; Resource Fictions. More details can be found on the websites of individual departments – in the case of English, http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/modules/

SUMMER TERM

Continuation of written projects under supervision Participation in workshops and other events

7 ROUTE B: LONG PROJECT Permission to follow the 'Long Project' route depends on an assessment of the student's prior experience of writing as well as the availability of a qualified supervisor or supervisors.

AUTUMN TERM

Full-time students following Route B will study

 Research Methods (for module details, see page 12)

 Warwick Fiction Workshop I (for module details, see page 13)

They should allow time for:

 Participation in workshops and other events

SPRING TERM

Module choices for the second term need to be made by the end of September. As numbers may be restricted on some modules, students will be asked to name their second and third choices.

 Long Project: 1:1 tutorials begin

Plus one of the following:

 Warwick Fiction Workshop II (for module details, see page 22)

 Writing Poetry (for module details, see page 24 )

 Writing about Human Rights and Injustice (for module details, see page 26 )

 Another module selected from those offered at MA level by the Faculty of Arts, subject to the permissions both of the director of the MA in Writing and of the module convenor.* Modules change from year to year and may be restricted in terms of student numbers. See exemplary list above.

*Because some Warwick MA programmes involve foundation elements such as a preliminary training in literary theory, students interested in a particular module should be careful to find out whether their previous academic experience gives them sufficient grounding for it.

Plus participation in workshops and other events

SUMMER TERM

Long Project: continuation of work under supervision

8 Participation in workshops and other events

PART-TIME STUDENTS

THE COURSE STRUCTURE IN OUTLINE

There are two pathways through the Warwick MA in Writing:

A) involves five taught modules in which a wide range of written work is produced. Part-time students who choose Route A generally take two modules in the first term of their first year (of which one will be Research Methods). They go on to take one module in the second term of their first year, one module in the first term of their second year, and one module in the second term of their second year. For further information please consult the guidelines in the information pack that we send to you over the summer.

B) - the 'Long Project' route - involves three taught modules plus, as the title suggests, a long written project in any genre which the Programme is able to supervise. Permission to follow the 'Long Project' route depends on an assessment of the student's prior experience of writing and of a proposal submitted at the beginning of September, just before part-time students enter their first year of study as well as on the availability of a qualified supervisor or supervisors.

During the first term of the second year, part-time students doing the Long Project will meet informally with tutors, usually in a group, to discuss their projects in the round: formal 1:1 supervision of the Long Project begins in Term 2 of the second part-time year and continues through Term 3.

ROUTE A:

In the first term of their first year, part-time students following Route A will study:

 Research Methods (for module details, see page 12)

 Warwick Fiction Workshop I (for module details, see page 13) OR Writing and the Practice of Literature (for module details see page 15) OR Writing for Children and Young People (for module details see page 18)

In the first term of their second year, part-time students following Route A will generally choose a second module from the same list. There is, however, room for flexibility. The Convenor of the MA in Writing will be happy to advise.

Part time students should also allow time for:

 Participation in workshops and other events

In the second term of their first year, part-time students following Route A will study ONE of the following:

 Warwick Fiction Workshop II (for module details, see page 22)

 Writing Poetry (for module details, see page 24)

9  Writing about Human Rights and Injustice (for module details see page 26)

 or Another module selected from those offered at MA level by the Faculty of Arts, subject to the permissions both of the director of the MA in Writing and of the module convenor.* Modules change from year to year and may be restricted in terms of student numbers but the list is likely to include: The British Dramatist in Society, 1965-2005; Writing, Language, Cultural Transfer; Resource Fictions. More details can be found on the websites of individual departments – in the case of English, http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/modules/

SUMMER TERM

Continuation of written projects under supervision Participation in workshops and other events

In the second term of their second year, part-time students following Route A will generally choose a second module from the same list. There is, however, room for flexibility.

Part time students should also allow time for:

 Participation in workshops and other events

ROUTE B: LONG PROJECT

Part-time students following Route B take two taught modules in the autumn term of their first year and a third module in the spring of their first year, while developing their work on the Long Project throughout their time at Warwick. The second year of the part-time course is given to ‘writing up’, supported by additional workshops and 1:1 tutorials in terms 2 and 3. The course is structured so as to reinforce students' existing strengths in creative work in the first term and to give them a wide range of choice in the second, while enabling them to focus on a long piece of writing. We try not to make last-minute changes in course plans but modifications are sometimes necessary because of staff illness or other unforeseen circumstances.

Permission to follow the 'Long Project' route depends on an assessment of the student's prior experience of writing as well as the availability of a qualified supervisor or supervisors. We expect to offer supervision in Fiction (for adults or children), Nonfiction, and Poetry.

10 AUTUMN TERM

In their first year, part-time students following Route B will study:

 Research Methods (for module details, see page 12)

 Warwick Fiction Workshop I (for module details see page 13) OR Writing for Children and Young People (for module details, see page 18) OR Writing and the Practice of Literature (for module details, see page 15)

They should also allow time for:

 Participation in workshops and other events, as well as informal group discussions to discuss their Long Projects in the round.

SPRING TERM

Module choices for the second term need to be made by the end of September. As numbers may be restricted on some modules, students will be asked to name their second and third choices.

 Long Project: 1:1 tutorials begin

Plus one of the following:

 Warwick Fiction Workshop II (for module details, see page 22)

 Writing Poetry (for module details, see page 24)

 Writing Wrongs (for module details, see page 26)

Plus participation in workshops and other events

SUMMER TERM

Long Project: continuation of work under supervision

Participation in workshops and other events

11 INDIVIDUAL MODULES

RESEARCH METHODS FOR THE MA

Convenor / Tutor: Dr Rochelle Sibley and Mr Peter Larkin Autumn Term: Weeks 2-5: Wednesday, 13:00-15:00.

All students taking the MA in Creative Writing must pass the English Department’s introductory course on Research Methods. The course provides skills which everyone involved professionally in literary work is likely to need at some point in his or her career. By the end of the course, it is expected that students will demonstrate: a sound understanding of research methods, including the use of electronic sources; an ability to reference sources in a scholarly manner including any essays / commentaries written as part of a creative writing module; an ability to conduct literary research; an ability to integrate research into their creative writing projects as well as the essays / commentaries which accompany these projects; and a thorough understanding of the university’s provision of library and online resources.

The Academic Writing Programme offers guidance for MA students on structuring their research, engaging critically with secondary material and planning their essays, portfolios and/or dissertation/Long Project. The first seminar (term 1, week 2) will discuss the structure of the dissertation, including how to construct a bibliography, and how to establish good writing practice. The second session (term1, week 5) will focus on research methods and how to demonstrate critical engagement. Sessions are conducted by English Department staff members and by the subject librarian, Mr Peter Larkin.

The seminars will take place in weeks 2-5 of the autumn term. All sessions are on Wednesday afternoons from 1.00-3.00. Full details and venues will available on-line at the beginning of the year. Note that the week 2 and 3 meetings will take place in the Library Training Room (Floor 2). You will be asked to complete an online tutorial before each library session, using the link below which will be updated over the summer http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/tealea/arts/engcomplitstudies/trainin g/

Week 2: Bibliography, Style and the Book – Dr Rochelle Sibley (Room F107 – Engineering Block) Week 3: Resources in Research (i) – Mr. Peter Larkin Week 4: Resources in Research (ii) – Mr. Peter Larkin Week 5: Plagiarism and Research Methods – Dr Rochelle Sibley (Room F107)

Assessment Students will be required to complete a short two-part exercise. Part I will consist of a bibliographical exercise, and Part II of a number of advanced electronic search exercises. Both must be submitted to the English Graduate Secretary by 12 noon on

12 Monday, Week 6. (8 November). The exercise is marked as Pass/Fail. If you receive a Fail, you will receive appropriate feedback and will be required to resubmit. The award of an MA is contingent upon successful completion of the assessment for this module.

WARWICK FICTION WORKSHOP I

Tutor: Leila Rasheed, Dragan Todorovic Autumn Term Weeks 1-10 Monday 12.00-3.00, 3.00-6.00 [The Writers’ Room, Millburn House]

This module mainly focuses on short fiction but may lead on to ‘Warwick Fiction Workshop II’ for students who wish to specialise in longer work.

The main purpose is broadly to enable students to develop writing skills specific to fiction, and to produce a body of work of this kind. They will also gain critical insights into contemporary literature and the processes of literary production.

SYLLABUS and workshop procedures

While the module emphasizes short fiction, those already at work on novels will be free to submit extracts. Most of the term will be devoted to writing workshops. As a rule, the aim will be to workshop three pieces of fiction every week.

Week

1 Introduction and preparation of the workshop schedule

NB: Students who have fiction ready to be workshopped and who would like to reserve a slot in Week Two are encouraged to bring in hard copies in the first week of term to hand out to the class.

2-10

Weekly 3-hour workshop, divided into three one-hour units. (Writing by one student is the focus of each unit, on a rotating basis.)

Each student will be able to reserve 2-3 slots per term for discussion of his/her work, depending on the size of the class. They should be ready to hand out hard copies of their stories/extracts to the tutor and their fellow students one week before they are to be workshopped. It is very important for all students to have read all stories/excerpts by the time they are due to be workshopped: they will learn as much by (constructively) criticising their classmates’ writing as they will by presenting their own work for review. We always begin with the texts to hand, though we go on to more general discussions about character, point of view, style, voice, narrative framing, plot, setting, the uses and abuses of autobiographical material, and dialogue. Where it seems helpful, the tutor will offer small tailored talks on these and related issues, as well as suggesting books that speak to the students’ particular interests.

13 BACKGROUND READING

Short fiction

Borges, Jorge Luis, Labyrinths, 2000 Calvino, Italo, Invisible Cities, 2002 Carver, Raymond, Cathedral, 1999 Crace, Jim, Continent/Quarantine, 1987 Ford, Richard, The Granta Book of the American Long Story, 1999 Ford, Richard, ed The New Granta Book of the American Short Story, 2007 Kelman, James, Selected Stories, 2001 McEwan, Ian, First Love, Last Rites, 2006 Messud, Clare, Hunters, 2001 Munro, Alice, Selected Stories, 1997 Plimpton, George, ed., Beat Writers at Work: the Paris Review Interviews, 1999 Plimpton, George, ed., Women Writers at Work: the Paris Review Interviews, 2003 Rushdie, Salman, East, West, 1994 Simpson, Helen, Hey Yeah Right Get a Life, 2001 Elisabeth Taylor, The Blush, 1958 Richard Yates, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, 1962 Tim Winton, The Turning, 2005

Books about fiction

Booker, Christopher, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, 2005 James Wood, How Fiction Works, Jonathan Cape 2008 Margaret Atwood, Negotiating with the Dead, Virago 2007 Morley, David, The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing, Cambridge University Press 2007 Mullan, John, How Novels Work, Oxford University Press, 2006 Lodge, David, Consciousness and the Novel, Harvard University Press, 2002 Prose, Francine, Reading Like a Writer; Haper Perennial 2007

ASSESSMENT

The submission must consist of the following:

FICTION PORTFOLIO

Fiction amounting to no more than 8,000 words and preferably consisting of 2-3 short stories. Students already at work on a novel may submit an 8,000-word extract instead, but should consult with the tutor before they do so. plus: a commentary of 2,000 words on the aims and processes involved in the fiction.

14 Note – any student who has fiction ready to be workshopped should bring copies to the Introductory meeting at 10.00 am on Monday 3rd October – a maximum of 5000 words.

15 WRITING AND THE PRACTICE OF LITERATURE

Tutor: George Ttoouli Autumn Term: Day/time Friday 11-1, Writers’ Room, Milburn House

This module will introduce participants to a number of key practical considerations, skills and professional mindsets that will equip them for the business of, (a) teaching themselves, and (b) being a professional writer. These skills are subjectively selected from the perspective of the discussion leader’s approach to being a practising writing and in no way represent anything other than the tip of a large iceberg.

Seminars are to be considered junctions for meeting fellow learning practitioners, sharing ideas and triggering investigation and practice beyond the meetings. Each seminar will take the format of:

1. Presentations by selected participants each week, on interviews they have read with authors they admire (suggested sources: The Paris Review Interviews; The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers; Saturday Guardian Review ‘Profile’ articles; etc.) 2. Discussions of set texts (creative writing, writing about writing, biographical material, ‘self-help’ texts for writers) from the perspective of particular themes – see below for weekly plan. 3. Peer reviewing sessions, where time permits, looking at examples of participants’ work.

Beyond the seminars, participants are expected to:

1. Set a weekly/daily word count goal (suggested minimum of 2000 words per week), aim to achieve it and moderate their targets as they fail to achieve them. 2. Maintain a weekly reflective journal to monitor their writing process, progress, setbacks and inspirations. 3. Carry out practical research and investigation into their chosen subjects (trips to the library, documentation of actual locations where their creative work is set, conduct work experience, shadowing, or undercover visits to professional environments shared by their protagonists/antagonists, where personal experience is lacking). 4. Share the results of their external research with the group through blogging, or similar information circulation. 5. Promise not to undertake any practical action that may be a danger to themselves/others.

Further to the seminars, participants are expected to engage wholeheartedly in the LitBiz event series (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/writingprog/litbiz), taking place at the Writers’ Room on Thursday lunchtime. These events are free to attend and centre on talks by invited speakers from all aspects of the literary industry.

Places are strictly limited to fifteen for the coming academic year. Please be suitably prepared to be worked to the bone.

Syllabus

The reading list reflects a particular ethos of the Warwick Writing Programme, practical approaches to being a writer and:

16 1. Journals JA Baker’s The Peregrine Journals by other writers, e.g. Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, Dorothy Wordsworth, Gerald Manley Hopkins, John Fowles, etc. 2. Reading like a writer The Paris Review Interviews, vol 1-4 The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers 3. Flow Annie Dillard, The Writing Life Nikos Kazantzakis, The Life and Times of Alexei Zorba / Zorba the Greek 4. R&D: Research & Develop or Rejig and Distort? Maureen Freely, Enlightenment Alexander McMasters, Stuart: A Life Backwards 5. Defeating the internal critic / learning to unlearn Jim Crace, The Devil’s Larder Lynda Barry, What It Is Peter Blegvad, Leviathan 6. Relinquishing control J.G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition J.G. Ballard, Miracles of Life 7. The Nature of Culture Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners James Kelman, How Late it Was, How Late 8. Going cold / coming back cruel: the Jim Crace Method No set reading for this week: students are expected to bring a piece of writing from at least one year ago and a suitably ‘cruel pen’ for lacerating their past mistakes. 9. The Influence of Anxiety Damion Searls, ; or The Whale Damion Searls, What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going [Juan Gabriel Vasquez, The Secret History of Costaguana] Margaret Atwood, Negotiating the with Dead [Lorca on duende and darkness vs. Elytis on the mystery of light] 10. Survival of the Strength in Numbers Lewis Hyde, The Gift 11. Please note, this module is being redesigned for the coming academic year. The course texts and information are subject to minor changes before October 1st 2011. Please check the module page for updates. ASSESSMENT

The submission will consist of

(1) a creative writing portfolio, arising out of a response to work read on the module: either two short stories, each between 2,000 and 3,000 words; or an extract from a longer work of fiction of no fewer than 5,000 words and no more than 6,000 words; or a portfolio of poetry totalling about 250 lines [a mixed submission of fiction and poetry may be offered by prior arrangement with the tutor] plus

(2) a critical essay of 3,000 words on a subject agreed with the tutor

17 WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Autumn Term: Leila Rasheed, Tuesday 12-3, Writers’ Room, Millburn House

This module is an introduction to the varied and flourishing field of writing for non- adults. As well as producing and workshopping students’ own writing each week, we will discuss specific texts, use writing exercises and games to develop craft, and explore the wider context of writing and publishing for children and young people.

The formal aims and purposes of the module are as follows: 1) to introduce students to specific issues relative to the writing and reading of contemporary children’s fiction. 2) to give them practical experience of writing for a wide age range of children and young people 3) to enable them to locate themselves as writers in the field of contemporary children’s literature.

Around one hour of each three hour seminar is for introduction of the topic, discussion of texts and writing exercises; the rest is a workshop session where we will examine between 2 and 3 students’ work per week, depending on group size.

The best preparation for this module is to read as much contemporary (i.e. published in the last 10 years) fiction for all ages of non-adult as possible. The books mentioned below are a good starting point. However, don’t feel you have to restrict yourself to this list. All books are easily available from any library or bookstore.

Also read some of the interviews with children’s authors on these two sites: http://www.achuka.co.uk/interviews/ http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/interviews

COURSE PLAN

Week 1 One theme, three age groups; We discuss a selection of books for different age ranges, each of which tackles the theme of death. Students explore how authors tailor their writing to the needs and abilities of children of different ages and experiment with writing for different age groups.

In preparation, read at least three of the following texts: Gilbert the Great (pb1), Jane Clarke The Great Hamster Massacre; Katie Davies Before I Die; Jenny Downham Ways to Live Forever; Sally Nicholls Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (pb); Michael Rosen Vicky Angel; Jacqueline Wilson

Week 2 Retellings and revisions; We discuss a selection of children’s books which are retellings or revisions of traditional tales or classic novels. We will examine, amongst other issues, the different methods by which a traditional story can be made relevant to contemporary children and teenagers. Students produce their own writing arising from a traditional or classic story.

1 (pb) indicates that this title is a picture book, i.e. usually under 500 words long and highly illustrated.

18 In preparation, read at least three of the following texts: The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman The Garden; Elsie V. Aidinoff Zelah Green, Queen of Clean; Vanessa Curtis Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters; Rick Riordan The Map of Marvels; David Calcutt

Week 3 From realism… In weeks 3 and 4 we will discuss a selection of realistic, fantastic and magical realist novels for children, focusing on realism in Week 3 and the fantastic in Week 4. Students practice writing on the sliding scale between reality and fantasy, exploring the ways in which the two can illuminate each other.

In preparation, read the following texts: Saffy’s Angel; Hilary McKay Three ways to snog an alien; Graham Joyce Millions; Frank Cotterell Boyce

Week 4 …to the fantastic

In preparation, read the following texts:

Skellig; David Almond Shadow Forest; Matt Haig Stoneheart; Charlie Fletcher

Week 5 Image and Text. Students read a selection of illustrated books for different ages and explore ways authors use image to expand on text and vice versa. They gain practical experience of ‘writing for pictures’.

In preparation, read the following texts: Fix-it Duck (pb); Jez Alborough Captain Underpants; Dav Pilkey Rosie’s Walk (pb); Pat Hutchins The Snowman (pb); Raymond Briggs Monkey and Me (pb); Emily Gravett The Invention of Hugo Cabret; Brian Selznick

Week 6 Speculative Fiction We examine the importance of issues that affect the future (new technology, climate change, etc.) to children and teenagers. Students research a topic that interests them and find ways of turning it into fiction for children.

In preparation, read at least three of the following texts: Feed; M T Anderson Exodus; Julie Bertagna The Hunger Games; Suzanne Collins The Carbon Diaries 2015; Saci Lloyd

Week 7 Taboos and Issues Students gain experience of writing about serious issues in a way that is relevant and interesting to children and young people. We will discuss the

19 importance of balancing story with message, what is and is not appropriate subject matter in a book for young people, and the question of who really reads children’s books.

In preparation, read at least three of the following texts: Forbidden; Tabitha Suzuma Oranges in No Man’s Land; Elizabeth Laird Red Tears; Joanna Kenrick Guantanamo Boy; Anna Perera Sold, Patricia McCormick The Breadwinner; Deborah Ellis The Truth about Leo; David Yelland

Week 8 Other experiences. Students are introduced to contemporary writing that reflects non-white writers’ and readers’ histories and experiences. They experiment with writing untold stories from their own personal experience and history.

In preparation, read at least three of the following texts:

Face; Benjamin Zephaniah The Door of No Return; Sarah Mussi (un) arranged marriage; Bali Rai Boy vs. Girl, Naima B Robert. Born Confused; Tanuja Desai Hidier Devil’s Kiss; Sarwat Chadda Does my head look big in this?; Randa Abdel-Fattah

Week 9 Voice and Style Students experiment with voice and narrative style. We challenge the idea that writing for children must always be simple and transparent.

In preparation, read at least three of the following texts: You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum; Andy Stanton The Incredible Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; M.T. Anderson The knife of never letting go; Patrick Ness Crowboy; David Calcutt

Week 10 Concluding discussion We gather students’ final impressions of the module and direct them to further writing and reading.

ASSESSMENT

FICTION PORTFOLIO

1) Fiction for children/ young people amounting to no more than 8,000 words. The age range that the fiction is intended for should be specified at the start (guidance will be given on this). plus:

2) a commentary of 2,000 words on the aims and processes involved in the fiction.

20 WARWICK FICTION WORKSHOP II

Tutor: Will Eaves, Maureen Freely (H527) Spring Term Weeks 1-10 Wednesday 3.00-6.00 (Writers’ Room, Millburn House)

This module leads on from ‘Warwick Fiction Workshop I’, which is a prerequisite.

The main aim is to enable students to develop advanced writing skills in fiction and to produce a body of work of this kind. Students will continue to develop critical insights into contemporary literature and the processes of literary production.

SYLLABUS

The module will operate along the same lines as Fiction Workshop I, though the focus will be long fiction. Those who wish to continue writing shorter fiction are free to do so.

NB: Students who wish their writing to be workshopped early in the term should arrange to distribute hard copies of their stories/extracts BEFORE the Christmas break.

Weeks 1-10

Weekly 3-hour workshop, divided into three units. (Writing by one student is the focus of each unit, on a rotating basis. So the current work of three students is discussed each week, and each student is the focus of two to three workshops in the course of the term).

BACKGROUND READING

Novels

Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, 2001 Ballard, JG, Supercannes Baldwin, James, Giovanni’s Room, 1990 Barnes, Julian, Arthur and George, 2006 Coe, Jonathan, The House of Sleep, 1998 Danticat, Edwige, The Dew Breaker, 2004 Delillo, Don, White Noise, 1985 Greene, Graham, The Quiet American, 1955 Ishiguro, Kazuo, An Artist of the Flying World, 1999 McEwan, Ian, On Chesil Beach, 2007 Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas, 2005 Morrison, Toni, Beloved, 1997 Sinclair, Ian, Downriver, 1991 Vargas Llosa, Mario, The Feast of the Goat, 2003. McGahern, John, Amongst Women, 1990 Moore, Brian, Lies of Silence, 1992 Kennedy, A.L., Day, 2007 Michaels, Ann, Fugitive Pieces, 1998 Coetzee, JM, Disgrace, 1999 Roth, Philip, American Pastoral, 1998

21 Mistry, Rohinton, A Fine Balance, 1997 Pamuk, Orhan, The Black Book, 2006 Gordimer, Nadine, The Pickup, 2002 Smiley, Jane A Thousand Acres, 1992

Books about fiction

See list for Fiction Workshop I

ASSESSMENT

The submission must consist of the following:

FICTION PORTFOLIO

A piece of fiction of no more than 8,000 words, preferably part of a planned longer work. (Students who have decided to concentrate on shorter work may submit several pieces adding up to 8,000 words, but should consult with the tutor before they do so.) plus:

A commentary of about 2,000 words on the aims and processes involved in the fiction, including (where appropriate) its place in the longer work.

22 WRITING POETRY

Convenor and tutor: Professor David Morley Spring Term Mondays 2.00-4.00 p.m. The Writers’ Room

The purpose of the module is to help students develop their practical and creative skills in writing poetry and their critical skills in exploring the aims and processes involved in their work and that of others. It will also give students an understanding of poetry’s role in human culture today.

The module aims can be broken down as assisting the student in: producing a portfolio of poetry; examining some technical concepts; understanding, through practice and discussion, elements as form, metre, rhyme, lineation and address; using imitation as a means to invention; conceptualising one’s own poetics in relation to other poets’ work and practice.

SYLLABUS

1 Poetry and possibility 2 The music of language 3 Forms of poetry I 4 Forms of poetry II 5 Forms of poetry III 6 Lyric Poetry 7 Poetry and the natural world. 8 Poetry as conceptual art 9 Prose and experimental poetry 10 Poetry in the world

Seminars open with a demonstration on the topic, followed by a writing workshop. The workshop is a practical application of the week’s topic to the students’ own work. Workshops sometimes take place out of doors or involve visits to an art gallery.

BACKGROUND READING

The most fruitful approach is to read as much contemporary poetry as you can, in English and in translation from other languages; and to read beyond your current tastes or the current fashions. In addition to reading poetry, the following books will prove useful from the point of view of critical and creative practice although it should be understood that we view critical and creative practice as two sides of the same coin.

Apollinaire, Guillaume, Caligrammes, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Brown, Clare and Paterson, Don (eds.), Don’t Ask Me What I Mean: Poets in their Own Words, London: Picador, 2003. Fenton, James, An Introduction to English Poetry, London: Penguin, 2002. Heaney, Seamus, Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001, London: Faber and Faber, 2002. Herbert, W.N. and Hollis, Matthew (eds.), Strong Words, Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books, 2000. Hollander, John, Rhyme’s Reason, New Haven: Yale Nota Bene, 2001. Hughes, Ted, Poetry in the Making, London: Faber and Faber, 1967.

23 Hugo, Richard, The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing, New York: Norton, 1979. Kinzie, Mary, A Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1999. Matthews, Harry and Brotchie, Alastair, OuLiPo Compendium, London: Atlas, 1998. Morley, David, The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing, Cambridge: CUP, 2007. Pound, Ezra, The ABC of Reading, New York: New Directions, 1934, reissued from New Directions, 1960. Preminger, Alex and Brogan, T., The New Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Redmond, John, How to Write a Poem, Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Strand, Mark and Boland, Eavan, The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, New York: Norton, 2000.

You will also find it useful to keep up to date with poetry magazines such as Poetry Review and PN Review.

ASSESSMENT Submit A and B. Page specifications should be interpreted as follows: line space 1.5; font/size Times Roman, 12pt.

A. PORTFOLIO OF POETRY EITHER 1. A sequence of poems / a long poem of between 20 and 25 pages or 2. A portfolio collection of poems between 20 and 25 pages.

B. CRITICAL PROSE EITHER 1. 2000-word commentary on the aims and processes involved in writing your portfolio Or 2. 2,000 word essay on a critical issue that arises from the syllabus.

24 WRITING WRONGS Writing about Human Rights and Injustice Tutors: Andrew Williams and Maureen Freely Term 2 Tuesdays 1 30 – 3-30 [The Writers’ Room]

People from many and diverse walks of life feel compelled to write in response to past and present injustices: journalists, creative writers, lawyers, historians, philosophers and sociologists. They may write to seek redress or policy change, or they may simply want to bring wrongs to public attention. But to do so, they face common problems of representation. What forms of writing are appropriate? Which are possible? What ethical and political sensitivities and sensibilities are constraining? Are any liberating? What skills do they need to develop to write effectively and well? How is the matter of ‘truth’ addressed in different media and how does this affect the nature and content of representing wrongs?

This module consists of two strands.

The first strand, led by Andrew Williams, will examine the ethical and practical elements of writing about human rights or social injustice in varying contexts and media.

The second strand, led by Maureen Freely, will offer you a chance to investigate and write about topics of your own choosing. We shall begin to think about these projects when we meet for our first workshop, and we shall use subsequent workshops to work towards final drafts. Along the way there will short writing exercises that will aim to illustrate questions of technique or to highlight the ethical dilemmas and legal constraints that those writing about injustice commonly face.

You will be placed in one of two groups. Each group will have five sessions with Andrew and five with Maureen, your sessions alternating between the two.

Preparation for the Module: All students will meet with the tutors in Term 1 (time and place tbc) to introduce the module and set out a reading and writing schedule for the beginning of the following term.

Writing Wrongs Project: To enhance the module and develop your experience of writing about wrongs, we have set up a writing and reading club as part of the Writing Wrongs Project. The aim of this will be to provide space to develop writing skills, share work, discuss issues of publication, and explore ideas. It will include film presentations, guest speakers, expert workshops, reading groups and anything else that you might like to initiate.

Week 1 - 2: AW, MF in the Writers’ Room

Introduction: ‘Why I write’ and the limits of writing about injustice George Orwell’s essay ‘Why I write’ poses some important questions for the whole of this module which we will consider in this opening session:  Why write about wrongs?

 How should we write?

 What constrains or enables us: art? ethics? politics? ambition? knowledge? confidence?

25 Essential Reading: George Orwell, Why I write (Penguin, 2004) Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

Week 3 – 4: AW, MF in the Writers’ Room

State systems of injustice: From the Holocaust, the Gulag, to Guantanamo Bay, the ‘Camp’ has occupied a central place in thinking about the most inhuman crimes committed as part of a State apparatus. Are such instances of institutional slaughter capable of representation in creative literature whether fiction or non-fiction? Is there space for anything other than documentation? What has been and what may be possible? Essential Reading: We will work from extracts of the following: Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich George Orwell, Animal Farm Philip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that…

Week 5 – 6: AW, MF in the Writers’ Room The enemy within Writing about the terrorist, the protestor, the insurgent, the rebel has always been fraught with tension. Not only can the act of writing about such individuals and movements be an act of rebellion in itself, but it can also challenge with questions of form, perspective, and balance. What does fiction and non-fiction, film and theatre tell us in searching for answers? Essential Reading: Extracts from: Ivan Klima, My Golden Trades Kevin Toolis, Rebel Hearts Marguerite Duras, The War

Yashar Kemal, Memed, my Hawk

Week 7 – 8: AW, MF in the Writers’ Room Evil on trial There have been countless attempts at capturing moments of courtroom justice. But what do they convey? A record of suffering and legitimate retribution or a demonstration of the inability of law to address wrongs satisfactorily? Are those classic stories of courageous lawyers simply dramatic devices that poorly represent the reality of the trial? Essential Reading: Extracts from: Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Francisco Goldman, The Art of Political Murder Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Week 9 - 10 AW, MF in the Writers’ Room Systemic injustice Where it is difficult to point to one perpetrator of wrongs or where that would be a simplistic account of insidious wrongs, how can literature portray injustice that

26 appears de-personalised within a ‘system? We will look at a number of attempts to unpick these stories in fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Essential Reading: Extracts from: Benjamin Zephania, Too Black Too Strong John Hersey, Hiroshima Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance Assessment For the MA in Writing: Either an essay of 10,000 words on a topic arising from the module, agreed with the tutor; or a piece of original biographical writing, 8,500 words in length, on a topic agreed with the tutor, with a 1,500-word commentary on the aims and processes involved (45 CATS). For the MA in English: Either an 8,000 word essay (36 CATS) or a 6,000 word essay (30 CATS). For the MA in Philosophy and Literature: a 5,000 word essay (20 CATS) For the LLM in International Development Law and Human Rights and LLm in Advanced Legal Studies: a 2500 word critical essay on a topic of the student’s choice relating to the module; and a 2500 creative work on the same topic. Extended Reading List In addition to the books from which extracts have been taken above there are many works which address injustice. We’ve set out a few below that you might like to look at: Non-fiction Agee, James, and Evans, Walker, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Arendt, Hannah; Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Baldwin, James, The Fire Next Time Cercas, Javier; The Anatomy of a Moment Duras, Marguerite, The War Feitlowitz, Marguerite; A Lexicon of terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture Gelhorn, Martha; The Face of War Gourevitch, Philip and Morris, Errol; Standard Operating Procedure: A War Story Hersey, John; Hiroshima Levi, Primo, The Drowned and the Saved Moorehead, Caroline; Human Cargo Roy, Arundhati, The Algebra of Infinite Justice Sontag, Susan; Regarding the Pain of Others Toolis, Kevin, Rebel Hearts Verbitsky, Horacio; Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior Vuillamy, Ed; Amexica: War along the Borderline Zephania, Benjamin, Too Black, Too Strong Fiction Baldwin, James, Go Tell it on the Mountain Ben Jelloun, Tahar, This Blinding Absence of Light Brink, Andre, A Dry White Season Ellison, Ralph, The Invisible Man Figeras, Marcelo, Kamchatka Hamid, Mohsin, The Reluctant Fundamentalist Haviaras, Stratis, The Heroic Age Klima, Ivan, My Golden Trades Kundera, Milan, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Llosa, Mario Vargas, The Feast of the Goat Pamuk, Orhan, Snow Steinbeck, John, The Grapes of Wrath Tsirkas, Stratis, Drifting Cities Ugresic, Dubravka, The Ministry of Pain

27 Vasquez, Juan Gabriel, The Informers

28 LONG PROJECT Tutors: Jennifer Potter, Dragan Todorovic

The aim of this module is to provide a supervised space within which students with a strong prior record of achievement in writing* can pursue a long imaginative project: for example, a number or a collection of stories or poems, or a biography or other form of creative non-fiction. The module will provide training in and practical investigation of issues involved in the specific genre and will be supervised by an established practitioner/practitioners in that genre.

*Students wishing to do Long Projects must submit short proposals by 1st September. (NB: Part-time students must submit their proposals by 1st September in their year of entry, even though they will not embark on their long projects until their second year of study.)

In Term 1, there will be several informal meetings to allow Long Project students to consider their projects in the round.

One-to-one supervision will begin in Term 2 and continue until the end of Term 3.

Tutors will design reading lists to suit each individual student.

ASSESSMENT

18 000 words of creative work, which can be in any of the forms supported by the Warwick Writing Programme. (NB The creative submission can be a finished piece of work or an excerpt of a longer work.)

A 2000-word commentary on aims, processes, and responses to reading.

29 GENERAL

Attendance According to University regulations, attendance of seminars is obligatory. The learning that goes on during seminars is an integral part of the MA programme. If you cannot attend owing to illness or other personal circumstances, you should inform your module tutor, preferably in advance. If you miss more than four seminars for any 10-week module, without good cause, then you may not submit for the essay for the module, and so will not be able to earn credit for it. Students in this situation will need to make up the module(s) in another way, for example, by taking another module the following term, or changing to part-time status and taking the same or comparable module the following year.

Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies Monitoring Student Progression

The members of staff responsible for the drafting of reports are:  Director of Graduate Studies: Dr Emma Francis for 2011(12)  Administrator: Ms Julia Gretton

All PGT and PGR students in the English department will be subject to the monitoring structure detailed below, which applies to the following degrees:  PG Diploma in English Literature  MA in English Literature  MA in Pan-Romanticisms  MA in Writing  MA in Translation and Transcultural Studies  MA by Research  PhD in English and Comparative Literary Studies  PhD in Translation Studies The members of staff responsible for these courses are  MA in English Literature: Mr John Fletcher (T1)/ Dr Pablo Mukherjee (T2/3)  MA in Pan-Romanticisms: Prof. Jackie Labbe  MA in Writing: Prof. Maureen Freely  MA in Translation and Transcultural Studies: Dr. John Gilmore  MA by Research and all PhD programs: Dr Emma Francis for 2011-12

30 Our monitoring structure for PGT (all MA) students is as follows:

Department of English and Monitoring student progress: PGT Full- Comparative English Literature Time Lead Academic: Director of Graduate Studies Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 Point 5 Ter Attendance Compulsory Compulsory Compulsory End of term m 1 at attendance attendance submission meeting with departmental at at seminars, of seminar tutor to induction Research including Bibliography discuss essay event (week Methods Reading Exercise title (by end 1) seminars Week Week 10) Monitored by 1. Recorded receipt of Bibliography Exercise in Departmental Office 2. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences 3. Submission of essay titles sheet to Departmental Office Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 Point 5 Ter Compulsory Compulsory Submission Contact (in Meeting with m 2 attendance submission of title sheet person or Personal Tutor to at seminars, first Term 1 for second email) with discuss progress including option Term 1 tutors to Reading essay option discuss Week (Week 6) essays Monitored by 1. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences 2. Submission of essay titles sheet to Departmental Office 3. Recorded receipt of essay in Departmental Office Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Ter Submission Compulsory Compulsory m 3 of title submission submission sheets for second first Term 2 Term 2 Term 1 option essay options option (Week 10) essay (Week 5) Monitored by 1. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences 2. Submission of essay titles sheets to Departmental Office 3. Recorded receipt of essays in Departmental Office Point 1 Point 2 Summer Contact (in person or Compulsory email) with tutors to submission of discuss essays and/or remaining essay(s) dissertation and/or dissertation Monitored by 1. Recorded receipt of essay(s)/dissertation in Departmental Office

Other structures in place:  PGT students must attend a minimum of 60% of any one module or they will not be permitted to submit the essay for the module and hence will not earn credit for it. They must either take an additional module in the following term or switch to PT registration and take an additional module in the following year.  Supervisors’ termly reports will include the dates on which they have met/been in email contact with supervisees.

32 As mentioned earlier, MAW students are expected to make full use of their involvement in the Writing Programme.

MAW Workshops.

All writing modules use workshops to some extent, and the two fiction modules are almost entirely workshop-based. How a given module is taught will be outlined in the first session. What follow are some preparatory notes intended for anyone who hasn’t previously attended writing workshops.

A workshop is a forum in which members of the group, under the guidance of the module leader, analyse and respond to examples of each other’s work, whether circulated in advance or written during that particular session. The workshop gives feedback to each individual, while advancing everyone’s critical skills. It should also help to develop professional attitudes, whether in terms of self-critical awareness or of a capacity to handle criticism from others. Module leaders emphasise the importance of a combination of a candid, exacting response to work being discussed, with tact and constructiveness. Certain personal boundaries are also set. In particular, it’s expected that people’s writing will respect the privacy of other members of the group.

Approval / Submission of written work

Ideas for and titles of portfolios or essays must be discussed with relevant tutors or supervisors, and the titles handed in to the English Graduate Secretary for entry on to the central list. In the case of ‘academic’ modules, work whose title has not been agreed with the module tutor will not be accepted.

Deadlines for assessed work are centrally timetabled and there are penalties for late submission( 3 marks per day). Students are expected to plan their work in advance, on the basis of the deadlines. Extensions on medical grounds, or for other reasons beyond the student’s control, must be requested in advance from the Convenor of the MA in Writing, Maureen Freely. Supporting evidence (such as a doctor’s certificate) is always required.

All portfolios / essays must be typed with double spacing, and paginated. Other stipulations may be added for individual modules. Your name, the module tutor’s name and the title of the work should appear on each page. The work should be submitted with ONE hard copy to the Graduate Secretary in the English Office by 12.00 noon of the relevant deadline. A copy of the MA mark sheet should be attached to the submission (this can be downloaded from the Departmental website http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/forms/

You must sign a sheet left outside H506 to confirm that you have submitted your work. An example of the cover sheet appears on page 22

Students are also required to submit on-line using the pg e-submission link: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/modules/pg- esubmission/

The deadline for the e-submission is 12.00 on the day that the essays are due.

33 The critical essay as part of a portfolio

Most MAW modules require a critical essay together with a portfolio of original work. While the portfolio counts for the larger part of the overall mark, the essay for less, both parts of the submission are important. The following points are intended as a guide to tackling the essay.

 Always check the number of words you are expected to write. Do not exceed or fall short of this figure by more than 10%, as penalties will apply.

 Give careful thought to both the critical and the reflective aspects of your essay. These two adjectives invite you not only to reflect on the aims of your writing submission and the processes (e.g. drafting) by which it arrived at its final form, but to give critical attention to your own writing - for example by outlining affinities you may feel it has with the work of other writers, by showing how the practices and experience described by writers in essays, interviews, etc. affected your own thinking and practice, by placing your work in any intellectual, aesthetic, social or other context you feel it should be seen in, and so on. Be careful not to use the essay simply as an explanation or excuse for what you may not have managed to achieve in the rest of the portfolio. The original work should be able to stand on its own and the essay should represent ‘added value’, in intellectual terms.

 Scholarly presentation is important. If the argument you are making has involved research, be meticulous in how you present the sources you have consulted. Whenever you cite works that have influenced you, or an author’s or critic’s views, provide a note giving the source of your quotation. You should also add a bibliography of the publications you have drawn upon in writing your essay.

 Professional presentation is important, too. Submissions that are single- spaced are harder to read: please use one-and-a-half or double spacing. Use a sensible font such as Times New Roman, and don’t set poems in florid ‘handwritten’ fonts. Use white A4 paper.

 If you’re unsure of what you are writing, any tutor on the module you’re submitting for will be glad to look at an outline and advise you on the suitability of the approach you are taking. Remember to give tutors time to respond. In any case you should allow at least a fortnight between when the tutor says s/he can see you and the deadline, to allow time for any rewriting. Royal Literary Fund Fellows (room H421) are also available throughout the year for consultations on essay writing.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the theft of other people’s work. It consists first of direct transcription, without acknowledgement, of passages, sentences and even phrases from someone else’s writing, whether published or not. It also includes the presentation as the author’s own of material by someone else – including from the web - with only a few changes in wording. There is of course a grey area where making use of secondary material comes close to copying it, but the problem can usually be avoided by acknowledging that a certain writer holds similar views or has expressed or described things in a similar way, and by writing your work without the book or transcription

34 from it open before you. When you are using another person’s words you must put them in quotation marks and give a precise source. When you are using another person’s ideas you must give a footnote reference to the precise source.

All quotations from other sources must therefore be acknowledged every time they occur. It is not enough to include the work from which they are taken any bibliography, and such inclusion will not be accepted as a defence should plagiarism be alleged. Whenever you write anything that counts towards university assessments, you will be asked to sign an undertaking that the work it contains is your own.

The University regards plagiarism as a serious offence. A tutor who finds plagiarism in a piece of work will report the matter to the Chairman of Department. The Chairman may, after hearing the case, impose a penalty of a nil mark for the piece in question. The matter may go to a Senate disciplinary committee which has power to exact more severe penalties. If plagiarism is detected in one piece, other work by the student concerned will be examined very carefully for evidence of the same offence.

In practice, few students are deliberately dishonest and many cases of plagiarism arise from bad intellectual and imaginative practice. There is nothing wrong with using other people’s ideas. Indeed, citing other people’s work shows that you have researched your topic and have used their thinking to help formulate your own argument. The important thing is to know what is yours and what is not and to communicate this clearly to the reader.

Further notes for MA students in the Department of English can be found in the main MA Handbook.

35 Deadlines and Penalties All deadlines are published at the beginning of the academic year. They are final. Essays are due at 12 noon, a single copy, with a cover sheet (available on-line ) plus a electronic version submission via the pg e-submissions link on the departmental website. You may not submit essays via email or fax. Essays written for modules taken in other departments must be submitted by that department’s essay deadline but must adhere to the word length for essays in the English Department. Sometimes deadlines for such modules will coincide with English module deadlines. Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to submit by the required deadline: extensions are not normally granted in such circumstances.

Students are also required to submit on-line using the pg e-submission link - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/modules/pg- esubmission/

The deadline for the e-submission is 12.00 on the day that the essays are due.

Penalty for late work Work which is late without permission will be penalised by 3 marks per day.

Applying for an extension In some circumstances, such as illness, it is possible for students to apply for an extension to the essay deadline. To apply for an extension, you must contact the MAW Convenor directly, stating the nature of the circumstance and supplying appropriate documentation, such as a medical note. This must be an original note signed by a medical doctor or equivalent. The department treats all medical notes and other sensitive material in confidence. You must apply for an extension in advance of the deadline. Requests for extensions after the deadline has passed will only be considered where the circumstances are grave and unforeseeable. Extensions are granted at the discretion of the MAW Convenor. You may wish to discuss the matter with your personal tutor or your module tutor, but only the MAW Convenor may grant an extension.

Penalty for over or under-length work All assessed work must conform to the stated word lengths. The word lengths are inclusive of quotations and footnotes but not of bibliography. You will be asked to provide a word count of your essays on the cover sheet which you complete when the work is submitted. We allow a penalty-free margin of up to 10% over or under- length. Essays that are 10-25% over or under-length will incur a penalty of 3 marks. Essays that are more than 25% over or under-length will be refused and a mark of nil will be recorded.

Repetition of material You should not use the same material in more than one piece of work nor write at length on the same text or topic in more than one essay. Where this rule is not observed, examiners will disregard the repeated material, and mark the essay only on the basis of the new material. This may result in a fail mark for the essay.

36 Marking Practices and Conventions In marking, examiners will reward cogency of argument, the use of appropriate material, stylistic excellence and good presentation. Candidates must also satisfy examiners that they have carried out the work required by the each module. All essays are marked by two members of staff. You will receive feedback from the first marker, and the agreed final mark. All marks awarded by examiners are provisional, until confirmed by the Exam Board in October. The pass mark for the MA in English is 50, with a distinction being marked at 70 or more. Marking descriptors are as follows:

80+: (Distinction): Work which, over and above possessing all the qualities of the 70-79 mark range, indicates a fruitful new approach to the material studied, represents an advance in scholarship or is judged by the examiners to be of a standard publishable in a peer-reviewed publication. 70-79: (Distinction): Methodologically sophisticated, intelligently argued, with some evidence of genuine originality in analysis or approach. Impressive command of the critical / historiographical / theoretical field, and an ability to situate the topic within it, and to modify or challenge received interpretations where appropriate. Excellent deployment of a substantial body of primary material/texts to advance the argument. Well structured, very well written, with proper referencing and extensive bibliography. 60-69: Well organised and effectively argued, analytical in approach, showing a sound grasp of the critical / historiographical / theoretical field. Demonstrates an ability to draw upon a fairly substantial body of primary material, and to relate this in an illuminating way to the issues under discussion. Generally well written, with a clear sequence of arguments, and satisfactory referencing and bibliography. 50-59: A lower level of attainment than work marked in the range 60-69, but demonstrating some awareness of the general critical / historiographical / theoretical field. Mainly analytical, rather than descriptive or narrative, in approach. An overall grasp of the subject matter, with, perhaps, a few areas of confusion or gaps in factual or conceptual understanding of the material. Demonstrates an ability to draw upon a reasonable range of primary material, and relate it accurately to the issues under discussion. Clearly written, with adequate referencing and bibliography. 40-49(Fail/Diploma): This work is inadequate for an MA award, but may be acceptable for a Postgraduate Diploma. Significant elements of confusion in the framing and execution of the response to the question. Simple, coherent and solid answers, but mainly descriptive or narrative in approach. Relevant, but not extensive deployment of primary material in relation to the issues under discussion. Occasional tendency to derivativeness either by paraphrase or direct quotation of secondary sources. Some attempt to meet requirements for referencing and bibliography. 39-(Fail): Work inadequate for an MA or Diploma award. Poorly argued, written and presented. Conceptual confusion throughout, and demonstrates no knowledge of the critical / historiographical / theoretical field. Failure to address the issues raised by the question, derivative, very insubstantial or very poor or limited deployment of primary material.

37 Supplementary Creative Criteria

DISTINCTION 70-100 Work in this category demonstrates compelling originality and confidence in handling of language and form. It should show a complete understanding of its chosen genre or medium and manifest a sustained willingness to experiment within that genre or medium so that the formal possibilities of expression are extended and transformed beyond mere engagement with content. Voice, register, pace, the position of the “speaking” poet or narrator, the sense of the work’s contract with the reader – all should be perfectly understood and absorbed within the fabric of the submission. It will evince not just a mature and striking command of language, but a highly imaginative and sustained sensitivity to what, given the subject-matter, is most apt, in prose description, dialogue, verse form, lineation and/or sectional arrangement. Presentation, spelling and punctuation will also be near faultless.

MERIT 65-69 Work awarded a Merit will show evidence of originality and an emerging, rather than fully achieved, confidence in testing the limits of language and form. Its ambitions and voice may be compromised or dulled by some inconsistencies in tone, pace, narrative positioning and development. The chosen genre or medium will be mostly well handled, though not “made new”. There will be passages of good writing, with apt and often striking use of metaphor and observation which may not, however, be fully integrated with their surroundings. The higher end of this category will apply to submissions with a mature sense of imaginative direction and expressive possibility. The lower end will contain portfolios with a less convincing ability to identify and resolve formal and technical problems.

PASS 50-64 Work which is adequate but not markedly original in its expressiveness, its handling of the chosen genre or medium, or its imaginative vision. Typically there will be inspired moments in the portfolio and some evidence of technical ability, but there will be frequent structural lapses and a generally unconvincing grasp of how to shape material. In the mid- to high-50s the command of language will be mostly secure, though rarely remarkable. In the lower range, there will be a more than incidental appearance of grammatical error, cliche and developmental contrivance. This category may also include some portfolios which are potentially interesting but hastily assembled and confusingly presented.

FAIL 49 and below Work of a consistently poor quality, with a reduced understanding of form, little ambition and a pedestrian approach to language and structure. The tone will be insecure and the writing will feel contrived and routinely underimagined.

Failure and resubmission To obtain the MA degree, candidates must earn pass marks in all their portfolios and in their Long Project. You cannot pass with a fail mark. A very high fail (47-49) may be considered by the board as redeemable if the student has earned high marks on other modules. Such cases are normally decided by one of the external examiners.

38 Where a student essay is awarded a fail mark, resubmission is possible under certain circumstances. The resubmission policy is as follows: 1) A student who fails one essay for any other module must await the decision of the Exam Board in October. The Exam Board will consider all aspects of the circumstances, and rule on the case. Normally, the Board will make one of the following requirements of the student: - to rewrite the existing essay - to write an entirely new essay on the same topic - to write an entirely new essay on a different topic Where a student is required to resubmit an essay, he or she will normally be required to do so by the 1 September the following year. Students in this situation will need an extension from the Graduate School for which there will be an administrative charge. In very exceptional circumstances, the Exam Board may, rather than requiring resubmission, permit the candidate to sit a written examination. If circumstances warrant it, the Board may condone a fail. 2) A student may resubmit an essay only once. 3) A student may resubmit essays for up to two modules (including the Long Project, which counts as two modules). Failure in three modules or more in the first attempt is normally irredeemable. 4) Where a Long Project is awarded a high fail (47-49), the student may be asked to resubmit. 5) The highest mark a resubmitted essay can achieve is 50, which is a pass. If the resubmitted essay is awarded a fail mark, the candidate will be normally be disqualified from proceeding to the MA.

Board of Examiners The Board of Examiners is made up of academic staff and external examiners and normally meets once per year, in October. It is chaired by the Head of Department. The task of the Board is to review all student marks and confirm or revise them as required. The Board awards the MA degree and the MA with distinction, subject to the approval of Senate. The decisions of the Board are public and normally made available at the end of the day on which it meets.

Appeal The University regards appeal as a very serious matter and has an effective method of dealing with appeals. If you feel there has been some injustice regarding the awarding of your degree, you should immediately speak to your personal tutor, the MA Convenor, or the Head of Department. You may also wish to speak to a Student Union representative. If you wish to launch a formal appeal against the decision of the Board, you should consult the detailed regulations governing appeal. These are found http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/examinations/appeals . Please note the following:  The University has no mechanism for students wishing to appeal against the award of specific marks. In other words, disagreeing with a mark is not deemed by the University as valid grounds for appeal.  It is only possible to make an appeal on the grounds that proper procedures have not been followed by the Board in reaching its decision, or if there is new information pertinent to the case that was not available to the Board at the time it reached its decision.

39  Appeals are considered not by the department involved but by academic staff drawn from different departments.  If you are not satisfied with the way the University has dealt with your appeal, you may appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator – http://www.oiahe.org.uk/  The ombudsman will only investigate where there is a prima facia case to be answered. The decision of the ombudsman is final.  If you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of your course, you should do so via the University’s complaint’s procedure (outlined in the section below ‘Student Support’), which is distinct from the Appeals procedure.

Student Support

Personal Tutors Every student is nominated to a personal tutor. The personal tutor is a member of academic staff in the department who can offer advice on academic matters and also help direct students in difficulty to appropriate support within the University. It is highly recommended that you make time to meet your Personal Tutor soon after you arrive, and regularly thereafter. A notice about Personal Tutor arrangements for MA students will be posted on the graduate notice board during the second week of term.

SSLC The task of the Staff-Student Liaison Committee is to review regularly all aspects of postgraduate study in the Department. It is made of representatives of postgraduate students (from all MAs and PhD) as well as academic staff with a role in running postgraduate programmes. Via the SSLC, students can voice concerns and together with staff can work on solutions. The SSLC is also a forum where staff can communicate changes to the courses and proposed improvements. The SSLC is an extremely effective body and its work is very valued by both teaching staff and students. Student members are elected by their peers at the beginning of the year.

Harassment The University considers sexual and racial harassment to be unacceptable and offers support to students subjected to it. The University is also able to take disciplinary action against offenders. Help is available from the Senior Tutor, the staff at Counselling Services and Student Union Welfare Staff. The University’s harassment policy can be found - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/topic/healthsafety/welfare/harassment/

Disability Students who wish to find out more about University support for people with a disability should contact the Disability Office. Disability Officers can offer a wide range of support for all types of disability. If you are a wheelchair user, it is very important that you make yourself known to the Disability Office soon after arrival, so that an personalised evacuation plan can be drawn up for you.

Health There is an NHS doctor’s surgery on campus. You must register with the surgery when you arrive. For any emergencies, ring University Security (999).

40 Health and Safety The University monitors health and safely through its Health and Safety policy. If you have any questions regarding this matter, or have any specific causes of concern, you should speak to the Department’s nominated Health and Safety officer.

Complaints A student may raise a complaint about any aspect of the teaching and learning process and the provision made by the University to support that process, unless the matter can be dealt with under the Disciplinary regulations, the Harassment Guidelines or the appeals mechanism. Students may not use the complaints procedure to challenge the academic judgement of examiners. Full details of the Student Academic Complaints Procedure can be found at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/complaintsandfeedback/

41 WARWICK WRITING PROGRAMME 2011-12: STAFF

Peter Blegvad is a rock musician and cartoonist whose discography includes solo albums as well as collaborations with The Golden Palominos, Faust and Slapp Happy. He is the cartoonist of ‘Leviathan’ and ‘The Pedestrian’ for The Independent on Sunday, the author of Headcheese and The Impossible Book, and appears regularly on BBC radio’s The Verb.

Maureen Freely is the author of six novels, among them Enlightenment (2008), Mother's Helper (1979) and The Other Rebecca (1996). Her non-fiction books include Pandora's Clock (1993), What About Us? (1995) and The Parent Trap (2000). She is the English-language translator of five books by the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author, Orhan Pamuk, and a regular contributor to the Guardian, the Observer, the Sunday Times, and the Independent. Maureen Freely is Convenor of the Warwick MA in Writing.

Michael Gardiner is an academic and creative writer who has edited poetry magazines and published a book of short stories, Escalator, and is currently working on a Scottish Arts Council- funded novel-length fiction project.

Michael Hulse has won numerous awards for his poetry, among them first prizes in the National Poetry Competition and the Bridport Poetry Competition (twice) as well as the Society of Authors’ Eric Gregory Award and Cholmondeley Award. His selected poems, Empires and Holy Lands: Poems 1976-2000, were published in 2002 and in September 2009 he published a new book of poems, The Secret History. The translator of some sixty books from German (among them titles by Goethe, W.G.Sebald, Nobel prizewinner Elfriede Jelinek, and in 2009 Rilke’s novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge), he is also a critic, has taught an universities in Germany and Switzerland, and has read, lectured, and conducted workshops and seminars worldwide. He was general editor for several years of a literature classics series, scripted news and documentary programmes for Deutsche Welle television, and has edited literary quarterlies, currently, The Warwick Review.

A.L.Kennedy

Alison Kennedy’s novel Day won the Costa Book Award, 2008 and she is the winner of several other leading literary UK and US prizes, among them a Lannan Award. The author of eight other works of fiction, collections of short stories as well as novels, of a book on bullfighting of a study of the film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Kennedy also performs as a comedian, particularly in Edinburgh’s Stand Comedy Club. She did her first degree at Warwick.

42 Anna Lea

Anna Lea worked as a Producer at BBC Audiobooks for 3 years. She then studied the Writing MA at Warwick in 2007-8, and wrote a short film that received funding from the UK Film Council. It went on to be screened at 15 international festivals. She has since written to commission for BBC, and independent production companies. In 2010, she curated the first Short Film Section at the Hay Festival.

China Miéville

One of Britain’s leading fantasy writers, China Miéville describes his work as ‘weird fiction’, a genre in which he offers critical seminars at Warwick alongside his 1:1 sessions and workshops with student writers. His novels include King Rat, Perdido Street Station (which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award) and Un Lun Dun. After reading anthropology at Cambridge he did a PhD in International Relations at the LSE. China Miéville is an active member of the Socialist Workers’ party.

David Morley A former environmental scientist, Professor Morley has published 18 books including 9 volumes of poetry, won 13 literary awards and gained two awards for his teaching including a National Teaching Fellowship. Warwick University awarded him a personal Chair in Creative Writing in 2007 and a D.Litt. in 2008. David has written essays, reviews and criticism for The Guardian, Poetry Review, PN Review and The Times Higher Education Supplement. Recent books include The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing from CUP, The Invisible Kings from Carcanet, an anthology of new Romanian Poetry, an edition of Geoffrey Holloway's Collected Poems and a new anthology of poems by children. The director of the Warwick Writing Programme since it began, he also runs the new Warwick Prize for Writing. He is currently co-editing The Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing, writing a new book of poems and carrying out several public art poetry commissions with ecological themes.

Leila Rasheed

Leila Rasheed was brought up in Libya before moving back to the UK. Her first degree was taken at Warwick, and she has two MAs, one in Children’s Literature and one in Writing, which she also took at Warwick. She has published three books for 8 – 12 year olds, the first of which has been nominated for various prizes, and a specially commissioned YA novel for the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival. Her poetry, for adults, has also been appeared in various publications. She works as a writer in education, and is represented by the Greenhouse Literary Agency. She is married to Danish composer René Mogensen and spends part of the year in Italy, where he lives.

George Ttoouli is an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme, and an alumni of the Programme, graduating from the MA in Writing during its first year of running. He is editor of the British Pensioner, Polarity Magazine UK (launching 2010), and co- edits online blogzine, Gists & Piths, with poet Simon Turner. He is also Reviews Editor for Horizon Review. A co-founder of The Heaventree Press, he has edited and published various books and magazines and picked up a modest selection of commendations and awards for writing and publishing. His poetry, reviews, articles and stories have been published variously online and in print. His debut collection of

43 poetry will be published winter 2009 (Penned in the Margins), with a pamphlet expected to follow in 2010.

Jeremy Treglown is a biographer, cultural historian and literary editor. His most recent book, V.S.Pritchett: A Working Life (Chatto, 2004) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award for Biography and the Duff Cooper Prize for Literature. Previous books include: Romancing: The Life and Work of Henry Green (Faber, 2000: ‘Dictionary of Literary Biography’ Award), Roald Dahl: A Biography (Faber, 1994), and the Everyman edition of Dahl’s adult stories (2006). He was Editor of the TLS from 1981 to 1990, has chaired the judging panels of both the Booker and the Whitbread (now Costa) Prizes and has written for Granta and The New Yorker, among other magazines. He founded the Warwick Writing Programme in 1996.

Jennifer Potter

Jennifer Potter is the author of three novels (The Taking of Agnès, The Long Lost Journey, and After Breathless) and four works of non-fiction (Secret Gardens, Lost Gardens, Strange Blooms – The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants, and most recently, The Rose, A True History). A regular reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement, she has held two Royal Literary Fund Fellowships, at Queen Mary University of London and the Graduate School at King’s College London. Her biography of John Tradescants was long listed for the Duff Cooper memorial Prize in 2007, and she is a guest contributor to the forthcoming Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction. She is currently working on both fiction and non-fiction, and is especially interested in the overlaps between the two.

Will Eaves Will Eaves is a novelist, poet and journalist, born in Bath in 1967 and educated at King’s College, Cambridge. For many years he was the Arts Editor of the Times Literary Supplement; he remains a contributor to the paper, as to a variety of literary publications. He has written three novels: The Oversight (2001), a coming-of-age story with a surrealist twist, shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award; Nothing To Be Afraid Of (2005), a fantasia on The Tempest and other less elevated theatrical themes, shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ Encore Prize; and This Is Paradise (2012), a tragicomic elegy for all mothers with difficult children, forthcoming. His first full collection of poems, Sound Houses, will be published in September this year. He is particularly interested in trees, geology, music and lyric poetry; the oblique nature of the creative process and the importance to the writer of helpful distraction; the intersection of the comic, the domestic and the macabre in twentieth-century and contemporary fiction.

Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams qualified and practiced as a solicitor in London and Malawi before joining the University of Warwick in 1996. Since then, he has combined teaching with legal practice in the field of human rights. He was co-founder of Peacerights, an NGO which brought together activists, academics and practitioners to provide legal support to the peace movement, was a trustee/director of Coventry Law Centre for 10 years, and now directs the Centre for Human Rights in Practice based in Warwick Law School. Andrew continues to work with human rights lawyers and organisations nationally and internationally with a recent emphasis on cases of

44 torture and ill-treatment in Iraq. He wrote a non-fiction book entitled 'A Very British Killing' on one of these cases in 2011.

Dragan Todorovic

Dragan Todorovic is a writer and multimedia artist. In Yugoslavia, where he was born, he published four books (in Serbo-Croatian) and worked in print and electronic media. Among other projects, he wrote and directed 24 radio-plays, two TV documentaries and hosted over 150 live TV shows.

After moving to Canada in 1995 he wrote for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and other leading publications. His articles were nominated for National Magazine Award and in 1998 he was part of the prestigious Creative Non-Fiction program at Banff Centre for the Arts.

His project Five Walks on Isabella Street—a fully interactive poetry website he had written, designed and coded—won the first prize on Astound International Competition. His sound-art project In My Language I am Smart (originally commissioned by CBC Radio One) was published last year on a CD.

His first book in English, The Book of Revenge, won The Nereus Writers’ Trust Non- Fiction Prize and was nominated for British Columbia Award for Canadian Non- Fiction. His novel Diary of Interrupted Days was short listed for three awards, including Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Amazon First Novel Award.

Selected Publications Hurricane Called Bruce (Non-fiction. IIC, 1989) Jockey Full of Bourbon (Non-fiction. Gradina, 1990) A View Through the Window of a Subway Car (Non-fiction. Tas Print, 1991) A Shadow & a Dream (Poetry. Conceptual book. Belgrade 1993) To Arrive Where You Are (Non-fiction. Banff Centre Press, 2000) The Book of Revenge (Non-fiction. Random House of Canada, 2006) Diary of Interrupted Days (Novel. Random House of Canada, 2009) The Songs I Don’t Dance to (Stories & Essays. Uliks, Croatia, 2009)

Research interests Modern fiction, creative non-fiction and liminal areas (writing in/for visual, aural and multimedia arts; faction writing).

45 (FORMAT FOR COVER SHEET FOR ALL ASSESSED WORK for the MA in Writing)

THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK Department of English & Comparative Studies: Warwick Writing Programme

MA in Writing

Module Title______

Module Tutor ______

TITLE OF PORTFOLIO OR ESSAY______

______

STUDENT’S NAME: ______

DATE: ______