Friday 12 November

12.00 onwards    Registration

12.30-13.30        Lunch

13.30-14.30        Welcome, followed by Plenary Session

Creative Writing and Education: the new landscape - Antonia Byatt, Joe Hallgarten, Paul Munden

Senior representatives of the Arts Council, CCE?(Creativity, Culture & Education) and NAWE open the conference with a discussion of key issues for writers, educators and funders.

14.30-15.30        Choice of

A1: Poetry and Young People - Andrew Burton, Angel Dahouk, Jonathan Davidson, Anna Disley, Chris Holifield, Becky Swain

This major new national initiative involves a variety of individual projects run by leading national organizations including New Writing North, Writing West Midlands and Writers’ Centre Norwich, and CCE (Creativity, Culture & Education). The various strands feature professional development for poets who work with young people, creative work with teachers and, of course, a range of provision for young poets themselves. The panel will introduce these strands and lead a discussion on the topic generally.

B1: Coaching with Writers: keys to unlocking success - Anne Caldwell, Philippa Johnston

This session will focus on coaching as a model for working with writers who want to refocus their careers, tackle a writing project, work through blocks or enhance their academic study. It will be a practical session where participants get a chance to observe and try out for themselves key coaching skills such as goal setting, and overcoming writing obstacles. The new field of coaching on a one-to-one basis is ideal for experienced writers and will also be suitable for those working in further or higher educational settings. We will also introduce new services offered by the Writer’s Compass.

C1: Journeys in Negative Space - James Challiss

Creative writers rely upon the associative properties of language, as well as the accumulation of specifically deployed details, to construct sub-textual meaning within their work, yet teaching student-writers how to deploy these techniques can be a difficult task. The use of visual stimuli to aid creativity and understanding is becoming an increasingly popular method within Creative Writing pedagogy. This session will demonstrate a cutting-edge method, using a combination of images and literary theory, by which participants may instruct students how to identify and utilize subtext, both within their own writing, and for use in critical readings of other authors.
 
D1: a) Walking in Backwards: Why we need to take a new approach to teaching Creative Writing - Sara Bailey

What if we believed the journey was more important than the destination? If we encouraged students to use their innate knowledge of 'story', allowed their creative intelligence to come forward encouraging them to explore and make mistakes in technique and form? Using research into the methods used in NaNoWriMo (National Novel in a Month) alongside work into cognitive science in education by Claxton and Lucas, this paper will be part presentation and part workshop and will demonstrate a new approach for Creative Writing teachers and lecturers.

followed by

b) Teaching Myself to Write - Farah Mendlesohn

I have never been a fiction writer. I was good at maths and history at school. I loved books and reading, but I dreaded those "free writing" sessions because my mind went blank. I'm now Reader in SF and Fantasy, but by late 2008 it was twenty years since I had last written fiction. I decided to see if I could put what I taught into practice. This paper will talk about a process that took me from mere paragraphs of story, up to completing NaNoWriMo, and by the time I speak here, a “Novel-in-90”.

E1: What is the Future of Creative Writing? - Graeme Harper

Following on from research in the USA, UK and Australia, and the recent book On Creative Writing (MLM, 2010), the project "What is the Future of Creative Writing?" is examining the future direction of Creative Writing and how we all engage with Creative Writing. Taking into account people, cultures and education, the project is mapping Creative Writing action and access, publication and performance, worldwide; and it is looking at the role of creative education, from schools to universities. This session will explore Creative Writing’s future. The book What is the Future of Creative Writing? is contracted for completion in 2011.

15.30-16.00        Coffee

16.00-17.30        Choice of:

A2: Creating Words: Creating Well-being - Jacqueline Harrett, Pat Ryan

Training for teachers dwells on ways to teach writing but rarely explores the inner creativity of the teachers themselves or how this might impact on their personal well-being. In our project we took a group of teachers out of school for three days over a school year. We gave them time to explore their own creative ability to craft words for their personal pleasure and to share with others. In this lively and interactive workshop we share some of those activities related to storytelling, poetry and creative writing and the results of the project.

B2: a) The Endless Experiment - Louise Page

The night before the great scientist, Joseph Banks, left to join Captain Cook on The Endeavour, he went to the theatre. In current education a vast gap has opened up between the arts and science. This workshop looks at the way in which writers can help bridge that gap. We will explore the shared creativity which runs through science and creative writing and look at the way in which the two disciplines can reinforce each other.

followed by

b) Using Genetic Principles to Structure New Creative Writing Exercises - Rachel Rodman

This session describes several new writing exercises that incorporate concepts from the biological sciences into creative literary work. We begin with theory, generate new examples, and, finally, discuss classroom applications.

C2: a) Workshop for Teaching Myth-Making - Shyamala Nair

Myths are universal resources in all cultures. They defy period and evolve into newer myths in time. Myth can be used as an interesting pedagogic tool, serving as an entry point for learning about other cultures. It can also be used creatively. This workshop proposes to guide teachers of creative writing in using myths as writing templates. It will identify myths and categorize them. It will then make use of them in exploring alternative explanations of existing and imagined experiences and phenomena.

followed by

b) Teaching the Urdu ghazal in English - Anthony Haynes

This descriptive presentation introduces a form of poetry known as the ghazal. It outlines conventions regarding the content, form, performance and reception of the genre. The presentation explores the question of how, and how successfully, the form may be written in English. In the process it draws on an Arts Council-funded teaching project, the presenter’s own experiment with writing, and the work of published poets.

D2: Drawing Leads - Harriet Edwards and Brigit Connolly

Drawing Leads has emerged from experiments into how certain supra-rational processes (intuition, visualization) of art and design practice can impact on writing. Workshops begin with simple drawing activities (no ‘artistic’ skills required) and are followed by discussion and writing. We take leaves out of Pat Francis’ book/workshop from NAWE 2009, ‘Taking a Line for a Write’, however our emphasis is not on how drawing facilitates formal or reflective writing but on how this medium intervenes, shifts, integrates, and dialogues with writing. We believe that such experiments can be readily shared with participants at NAWE and we anticipate some surprising results.

E2: Research in Practice - Jeri Kroll, Donna Lee Brien, Jen Webb

This workshop is aimed at those undertaking or contemplating research through creative writing practice. The purpose of the workshop is to refine understandings of the principles behind practice-led research, and to explore ways of approaching creative work that allow the generation of knowledge. Participants will workshop key ideas and approaches, including how to frame research questions, establish methodology, account for epistemological and axiological issues, and address the issue of validity. Please bring an extract or short work that you have produced and, ideally, also a research question or idea that you are interested in pursuing.

17.30 onwards    Bar open

17.45-18.45        Members’ Meetings

1. Writers in Schools Project Managers Network

Jonathan Davidson will lead this meeting for those who run national and regional writers in schools schemes.

2. New Postgraduate Network

NAWE is setting up a new network for anyone involved in studying for a PhD in Creative Writing - or thinking about doing one - or supervising research. We aim to link everyone involved, and support them with online information and networking, and a series of seminars on topics such as getting funded, sharing ideas, and getting published. Three postgraduates will talk briefly about their experience, and what they would like to see the network deliver, followed by discussion. This is your chance to contribute your thoughts and shape the network. Chaired by Hilary Jenkins, NAWE HE Network Coordinator.

3. Meet the Arts Council

Stephen May, NAWE’s new lead officer at Arts Council England (Yorkshire Office) will be available to talk informally to members about the opportunities and support available for writers.

18.45-19.45        Dinner

20.00-21.00        Evening Event: A Reading by Jackie Kay


Saturday 13 November

07.30-08.30        Breakfast

08.00-09.00        Registration

09.00-09.30        Introduction: Paul Munden

09.30-11.00        Choice of:

A3: Poetry in the Making - Roz Goddard

How can we help children to see the world in a fresh and dynamic way while also building a love for the process of writing? As a writer-in-education for over a decade I often encourage children to, ‘see the everyday differently.’ In this workshop we will discuss the Ted Hughes method of interrogating everyday objects and making electrical connections. We will linger, deepen and get fresh perspectives on our writing and possibly get scared. As Don Paterson once said, ‘If you do good work you should be scared by it.’ Surprised? Scared? Let’s see what happens.

B3: Snow-capped Mountain, Grain of Sand: Writing for Wellbeing - Fiona Hamilton

Creative writing inevitably involves creative reading of our experience, ourselves, our environment and our ways into the future, a look at writing that is creative as well as concerned with wellbeing and health. This session includes: art and words from participants in NHS and community groups and reflections on these; a facilitated writing experience of some approaches and starting points; discussion of key issues. We will consider ways in which motifs from nature influence our capacities to engage creatively with challenge and change.

C3: Strange and Wondrous Words - Gill James

This workshop makes use of what happens to us when we work in a language other than our own. We explore how we can be creative with a little and how a lack of linguistic resources forces linguistic creativity. Less becomes more. Participants will enjoy a range of activities in Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and Welsh. No knowledge of these languages is necessary though non-native speakers of them are welcome in the workshop. 
Delegates will leave the session with some ideas to use with their own students and/or a few more tricks to get themselves writing.

D3: The paperless workshop: using technology to enhance (but not replace) face-to-face contact - Steve May

Spurred on by the appalling waste of paper, and the limited conceptions of editing, involved in many creative writing workshops, Steve May introduced Etherpad (a free online resource) to selected groups of creative writing students at Bath Spa University. Etherpad allows multiple access to documents, and instant editing. Noted benefits: 1) The added levels of feedback; 2) The diminishing preciousness of writers about their work;
3) The value of the "thing" writers could take away with them after the session. Steve will show a short film and then invite you to have a go yourself - so bring a laptop.

E3: a) Even in Creative Writing…  - Vanessa Harbour

This is a discussion paper on the position of research informed teaching (RIT) and its pedagogy within creative writing at degree level. As an RIT Officer for the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Winchester, I still come across a lack of understanding of the connection between research and creative writing.  It is an anathema to many. This paper is based on my experiences, which led Professor Andrew Melrose and I to develop a creative model for use in creative writing. It is a model based on ontological and epistemological positioning with a methodology embedded at the centre allowing us to highlight the link between research and creative writing.

followed by

b) Starting with space: where experimentalist practice meets ‘mainstream’ Creative Writing teaching - Anna Reckin

Whether or not a class is specifically themed around issues of place and space, approaches that encourage students to think about their writing in spatial terms are often particularly rewarding. There are many reasons why this should be so - including, for example, the power of spatially based exercises for recall and for activating the creativity that comes from reconnecting with memory - but in this paper, I’m most interested in showing how an explicit focus on space can bring together a range of practices crossing the experimentalist/mainstream divide, not least through suggesting and affirming explorations of process.

11.00-11.30        Coffee

11.30-13.00        Choice of:

A4: Story-telling/writing workshop: Wish Fulfilment and Narrative Strategies - Joan Michelson

Drawing on the traditional tale, we will create stories around shoes with magic power. After sharing our stories, we will discuss the role of the wish in our stories, categorize types within fictional narratives, and derive directives for use of the wish as a device. This image is universal and central to story making. Symbolically, shoes represent our life journey. This session offers an opportunity to draw on our own cultural context for shoe stories and to find ways to engage with issues of moment. The workshop is intended for writers and teachers. Note: this workshop has been rescheduled from last year.

B4: Yoga on the Page - Beverly Frydman, Nadia Narain

Like our bodies, creativity benefits from being in motion. With writing, we can enter a practice that stretches us and accentuates our ability to look inward. Writing can be a way to go on a voyage of self discovery, a way to find balance, a type of relaxation, a meditation, a celebration. Simple yoga movements and writing exercises are carefully chosen to allow both experienced writers and novices to enjoy the freedom to be found using our bodies, a notebook and a pen.

C4: The role of poetics in the creative writing PhD - Cliff Yates

This session will focus on the place of poetics in the creative writing PhD, with reference to the presenter’s own research into poetry and poetics, and will discuss how writing a poetics engages with practice in such a way as to be of value to the writer. It also leads to a text which can be both publishable and useful for other writers.

D4: A Workshop on Oral Storytelling: helping students to learn to tell stories - Jenny Moon

Learning to tell oral stories has many values for all discipline students and their teachers in terms of communication skills (giving presentations), performance and teaching skills - as well as providing a different perspective on story (for language and media students). This informal and interactive workshop will involve a short demonstration of storytelling, some input on how to learn to tell stories and the opportunity for every participant to learn and tell a story. A free-to-use pack on storytelling in education will support further development for participants.

E4: The Place of Research in the Arts: Notes from an International Collaboration - Randall Albers, Steve May, Gerard Woodward

University creative writing programmes in the UK and the US tend to differ significantly in their attitudes toward research. Research is necessary to achieve funding in the UK while, in the US it is generally confined to academic papers on theory or literary criticism or downright scorned as a needless distraction from the production of creative works. This panel explores crucial questions such as: What, exactly, is research in the arts? What is the relationship between artistic production and research? How “academic” must artistic research be? What are the most important areas of research for creative writing?

13.00-14.00        Lunch

14.00-15.30        Choice of

A5: Writers in Schools: Making it Happen - Anna Jefferson, Peggy Riley, Jonathan Davidson, Roz Goddard

Working in schools is increasingly part of the portfolio lives of professional writers. This work can be enormously rewarding creatively and even modestly rewarding financially but it also offers a set of challenges for the unwary writer. Anna Jefferson of New Writing South and Jonathan Davidson of Writing West Midlands (co-ordinators of the Managers of Writers in Schools Projects Network) give a brief introduction to the process their agencies go through to try to make writers in schools work as enjoyable as possible. Peggy Riley and Roz Goddard give the writers’ perspective, both of working with literature development agencies and also working with other learning organizations and independently. The remainder of the session will be given over to sharing experiences of writers in schools work. Come along if you are interested in this work as a writer, teacher or arts or education organization.

B5: a) Rock the Boat: making and teaching the prose poem - Patricia Debney

In this session we will consider the different ways in which tone and register function in the construction and effectiveness of prose poems, and in particular the ways in which technical language or idioms and sayings may help shape the subversion of form and expectation so often found in prose poetry. Along the way, we will look at the role of coastal definitions and other ‘shoreline’ facts in the writing of my prose poem collection Littoral Drift, and explore specific ways in which the use of ‘other’ registers may stimulate student work in prose poetry.

followed by

b) Does it work on the page? Is performance poetry a new and separate discipline, and can it be taught? - Rosemary Dun

Is performance poetry a separate and new discipline or merely the repackaging an existing or older art form? Is there a difference between page and stage poetry, and between readings and performances? How about the accusation often levelled against it that it doesn't work on the page? Is this true or even fair? Is the performance poet really a stand-up comedian with a script? And what of fusion poetry - a term coined by poets Todd Swift and Philip Norton? Do performance poets need a term like Jazz Poets, Beat Poets, Punk Poets for them to be taken seriously? And can it be taught?

followed by

c) A?performance by Mbizo Chirasha

From the Zvishavane District in Zimbabwe, and with a vision of using poetry to promote peace, healing, stability, and cultural freedom, Mbizo is a poet with a commitment and desire to perform whenever and wherever he can.

C5: Adaptation, storytelling and the poetry of montage - Derek Neale, Craig Batty, Andrea Holland, Steve May

This panel asks what fiction and nonfiction stories might gain from being adapted for film or radio, focusing on structure and methods of poetic montage. Its writer-contributors examine authors’ resistance to having their stories altered and how life experiences are adapted for film. They explore how juxtaposed shots move a story along, the links between cinematic editing and poetry, as well as how leitmotifs connect scenes and the poetic effects arising from trailer sequences.      

D5: a) The Writer at Work (or one answer to the question “What use is a degree in Creative Writing?”) - Alicia Stubbersfield, Kjell Eldor, James Shaw

At Liverpool John Moores University, third year Creative Writing students are given the opportunity to plan and research a project they might undertake as a freelance writer. These are not placements organized by the university but unique ideas devised by the students themselves. Many projects become a reality. Students work in extraordinarily varied situations and many projects become life-changing for all taking part. In 2009/2010, the second year of this module, forty-eight students pursued forty-six different projects. Find out how this innovative course works.

followed by

b) ‘Imagination’ and ‘Authority’: Creating Real Characters - Karen Stevens

Sometimes, in their creative piece a student’s ‘authority’ is overly evident, and the characters can seem one-dimensional and lack authenticity because they have been ‘scrounged up’ (Flannery O’Connor) to perform an action.  Of course, as Richard Ford says, the writer does need to establish an authority - the conceptual act of authority, authorial decisions on how much to reveal of a character, when to start the story and where to end it.  In my presentation I shall discuss and engage with certain teaching methods I employ that serve to explore, with students, the writerly skill of balancing ‘authority’ with 'imagination'.

followed by

c) Tottenham Hotspur, Toussaint L’Overture and Georgian Architecture: Reflections on Teaching Creative Writing - Ferdinand Dennis

Seven years ago, after nearly two decades of working in the media (magazines/newspapers, radio, books), I drifted into teaching Creative Writing, fiction and non-fiction, at Middlesex University. Much to my surprise - despite the sceptics and my own enduring reservations - I still find the teaching of creative writing a stimulating and rewarding exercise. What has kept my attention? In an effort to answer this question,  I will reflect on my teaching experience, recounting successful workshop/seminar encounters and exercises, identifying recurring areas of difficulty, and making suggestions on how I think this, for Britain, relatively young discipline can advance.

E5: Best Practice Supervision - Jeri Kroll, Donna Lee Brien, Jen Webb

This participatory workshop will focus on the challenges and rewards of postgraduate supervision of creative HDR students, consider issues that arise in individual supervisory relationships, and explore strategies to deal with the increasing numbers of postgraduate students. It will tease out local contexts, and aim to enhance participants’ knowledge of, and confidence in, their own supervisory practice. Finally, it will consider the ethical issues that might arise, including publication during candidature. By sharing experience and best practice, participants will devise a series of strategies for the better delivery of supervisory feedback and other postgraduate support in postgraduate writing courses.

15.30-16.00        Tea

16.00-17.30        Choice of:

A6: Writing in Tongues: Working with Source Texts - Keith Jebb, Lesley McKenna

From the Burroughsian cut-up to complex poststructuralist formulations of intertextuality, the source text takes many forms and has many outcomes. This will be a practical workshop, showing some of the ways source texts of various kinds can be used to produce/co-produce creative works. The aim is that participants will leave the session having produced a parasitic text of their own, using incorporated material to develop something unlike anything they have written before, and unlike the donor texts they used to help make it.

B6: The Creative Space: a time to think - Helena Blakemore, Maggie Butt

There are rarely opportunities, at conferences, for delegates to reflect - critically, creatively, personally or professionally - on the ideas presented. It is perhaps only in the bar or at meal times that we are able to contextualize and discuss such material, and these tend to be very socially constructed spaces and occasions which may not lend themselves easily to quieter and more contemplative pondering. Maggie Butt and Helena Blakemore will be hosting such a space at this year’s conference, and delegates are invited to bring  pens, notebooks, laptops, iPads, reading materials, or nothing at all into what it is hoped will be a peaceful space for reflection and rumination.

C6: a) Writing, Well-being and Multiculturalism - Ursula Troche

Currently, I co-ordinate poetry workshops for the Arts Council-funded ‘Be Creative Be Well’ programme, the creative arm of the ‘Well London programme’, designed to make the link between Arts and Health, especially in poorer and disadvantaged areas. In this session I want to talk about how issues of identity - ‘race’, gender, class etc. - come up in the project, and why this aspect of our stories are so important. Whilst we benefit from opportunities to express ourselves in general, it is particularly the opportunity of finding the freedom and safety to talk about these ‘multicultural issues’ which create well-being.
followed by

b) Collaborating across disciplines - Enza Gandolfo

As writers we have our individual practice. As academics we are increasingly under pressure to generate research projects and to work collaboratively. In this presentation, I will discuss two creative arts research projects, and the challenges and opportunities arising from working collaboratively with colleagues in other disciplines. ‘Op Shopping: More than Retail Therapy’ a collaboration with artist, Sue Dodd which explored the world of Op shops (Thrift shops); and ‘The Everyday Creativity of Women Craftmakers’, a collaboration with Assistant Professor Marty Grace which explored the meanings of craftwork for amateur craftswomen. Both projects resulted in an exhibition and published book.

D6: What’s Like Got to Do with It?  Managing Critical Response in the Creative Writing Classroom - Randall Albers, Steve May, Patricia Ann McNair, Julia Green

The traditional workshop is the cornerstone to most creative writing programmes, and yet there are many other ways to offer feedback to students. Too often the workshop focuses less on distinct, effective critical thinking and response than it does on matters of group opinion and consensus. Within this misguided spirit of collaboration, workshop students can become overly reliant on the likes and dislikes of their peers while ignoring the deeper wisdom of their individual creative processes. Our panelists will present strategies and activities beyond (and within) the group critique that can help students recognize and develop their strongest work.

E6: Project Work for Creative Writing Students - Mimi Thebo, Mike Johnston, Carrie Etter

In a multimedia presentation/inquiry, coordinators of three project-based modules at Bath Spa University speak about project work for Creative Writing students. Dr Carrie Etter annually oversees projects for 160 first year students, and will discuss concepts of assessment and attainment. Mike Johnston will talk about what Creative Writing students bring to technical curriculum and show student films from a film module that has helped over 300 Creative Writing students develop media literacy. Dr Mimi Thebo, who has coordinated the 'Creative Enterprise' module for seven years, will talk about issues of achievement and physical/psychological safety in third year student 'real world' endeavours.

17.30 onwards    Bar open

17.45-18.45        NAWE?AGM, wine reception and reading

The short business meeting will be followed by a reading/performance by Yorkshire Young writers, sponsored by the Writing Squad, Signposts and Young Inscribe.

18.45-19.45        Dinner

20.00-21.00        Evening Event: An Illustrated Talk by Martin Rowson


Sunday 14 November

07.30-08.30        Breakfast

09.00-10.30        Choice of:

A7: The “Where is the writer’s whizz-bang visit kit?” workshop, or “It’s behind you!” - Philip Burton

The workshop will demonstrate and explore how authors can maximize their impact, on both children and teachers, during a brief school visit. What brings literature most alive for children? What can writers learn from children’s entertainers and magicians? Is there a difference between reading our stuff and performing it? Participants will consider ways of energizing a text, and examine interactivity and its power to catch and engage the mind of a child. The session will include snatches of theatre, plus a short film.

B7: Spoken in the Margins - Kate Fox, Jeff Price

Radikal Words works often with disengaged, disaffected youngsters in the North of England, helping them have their voices heard using performance poetry. We lead a discussion of the ways that performance poetry can allow marginalized communities to articulate their identities and how this is ever more pressing in the context of a crisis of representation in contemporary British society. We also demonstrate some of the practical, experiential exercises for creative writing and performing identity we use from primary schools upwards, including word battles, raps and one word poems.

C7: Poems from Poems - Eve Grubin

When teaching poetry writing, I tell students that there is an exception to every rule about poetry, except for one: poets read and love poetry. For one's work to grow, develop and shine, one must absorb the work of other poets through reading and memorization. In this session, we will look at poems by American and British poets - classic and contemporary - discussing craft and how poems are in conversation with other poems. We will then write poems inspired by the work of these poets.

D7: Reading Twilight in Abu Dhabi - Janet Olearski

Senoras, pizzas, Mr Darcy, engineering, blogs, Twilight, creative writing, gift vouchers, Bridget Jones and, yes… Harry Potter. These are some of the ingredients used in the setting up of a book club and writers’ group for female engineering students at an English-medium university in the United Arab Emirates. In this illustrated talk we learn how vampires can help to expand the cultural horizons of students and teachers alike.

E7: Good Readers, Good Writers: A Workshop - Randall Albers, Shawn Shiflett, Patricia Ann McNair

Reading as a writer is a unique process, different in many ways to reading as a literary critic or scholar. However, many creative writing programmes do not teach students this skill. This workshop will introduce participants to reading activities done in Critical Reading and Writing classes taught in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago, and will lead them through in-class exercises such as reading aloud, recall and comment, and journal writing. While these classes are designed for university and Masters’ degree students, the principles used here can be valuable in all writing communities and levels of education.

10.30-11.00        Coffee

11.00-12.30        Choice of:

A8: Earth, Air, Fire and Water: a writing and performance workshop - Lisa Sansom

This workshop harnesses the creative potential of the four classical elements: earth, air, fire and water. Students produce both short monologues and collaborative choral pieces and all perform their work within the session. It draws on the importance of the elements in literature and in the religion and mythology of all major civilizations and discussion can extend in unexpected directions. Students might focus on a world deprived of one element, on the transformational qualities of the elements or on the classical connotations of the elements, etc. It is an excellent method of getting students to write and perform as a team, energizing their writing and encouraging free thinking.

B8: Writing Collectively: The Making of a Group - Cheryl Moskowitz

Whether working with seasoned writers or those who have never written before, a group must be helped to bond before it can function cooperatively and creatively. Cheryl Moskowitz, writer and experienced facilitator of writing workshops in a wide variety of school, community, and health care settings, will provide a practical workshop followed by discussion, demonstrating her approach to managing the initial stages of producing collective writing with a group. Case studies will draw on her real life experience with groups including schoolchildren, students on a university writing course, residents at a care home, prisoners, the homeless, and hospital patients.

C8: Writing from experience, writing from history: approaches in practice, learning and teaching - Derek Neale, Linda Anderson, Deirdre Coffey, Heather Richardson

This panel will reflect a range of writing, teaching and learning practices in fiction, drama and life writing from practitioners associated with the Open University. It will focus in particular on how work arises from experience and how it is related to history. The panel will explore how history is represented in fiction but also how experience is transformed through channels of research, memory, imagination and technique into something quite different, and how the writing produced often illuminates those originating forces.

D8: Higher Education Network - Graeme Harper, Hilary Jenkins

A chance for anyone involved with teaching Creative Writing in Higher Education to find out more about the network and get involved.

E8: Uses of Story in Education: a basket of ideas - Craig Batty, Jenny Moon, Sandra Cain

Join us for a story; a story about story. Join us in a performance that explores the uses of story in education. During this lively workshop we will be examining how educators can use story in education practice, from subject-specific applications like creatively fictionalizing fact and inter/intrapersonal communications, to wider applications like writing essays, presenting ideas orally and marketing oneself as a writer. We will be asking participants to share their ideas and experiences of story too, and will interweave them into our narrative to provide an answer to the overarching dramatic question posed at the start: How on earth can story be useful as a pedagogic tool?

12.30-13.00        Plenary Session

Conclusions - Paul Munden, Maggie Butt, Stephen May

NAWE’s Director and Chair will take stock of what emerges from the conference, together with NAWE’s lead officer at the Arts Council. This session will also enable delegates to raise in public any issues discussed in less formal gatherings throughout the weekend.

13.00            Close of Conference