The Creative Writing Workshop in the 21st Century: Practical Strategies for a Modern Era

A critical interrogation of the creative writing workshop model, this collection of essays provides practical suggestions for contemporary approaches to this contentious method and how it might be reimagined. Since the inception of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1936, the workshop model pioneered there has become the bedrock of creative writing instruction around the world, with much existing scholarship on the subject rightly focusing on matters of inclusivity and social justice or dismissing the workshop altogether. With contributions from senior scholars in the field of creative writing pedagogy and authors ranging from the US, Australia and the UK to China, Workshopping in the 21st Century offers specific, actionable recommendations for ways the model can be reinvigorated. Covering topics such as module design, diversity and inclusion, facilitation and teaching style, assessments, internationality, and the integration of modern technology, each chapter surveys perspectives on the workshop and provides concrete strategies to help instructors and workshop facilitators update and bolster their pedagogical practice.