Writing in Practice: The Journal of Creative Writing Research
Submissions for Volume 12 are now open. (Volume 10 was published in January 2025.)
Deadline: midnight (GMT) Monday 26 January 2026
Innovative Approaches to Teaching Creative Writing: Practical, Engaging Strategies for Creative Writing Educators
Call for Papers: Writing in Practice, NAWE Academic Journal
The National Association for Writers in Education (NAWE) is delighted to invite creative writing educators to contribute to the next issue of Writing in Practice. We are seeking high-quality academic articles and creative presentations that explore innovative and reflective approaches to creative writing pedagogy across all educational contexts—including primary, secondary, further education, higher education, and community settings.
Submissions may include original research, theoretical explorations, comprehensive literature reviews, and reflective practice essays that delve into questions such as:
- Effective Creative Writing Pedagogy: What practices and theories underpin successful creative writing teaching?
- Workshopping Creative Writing: What are the affordances and challenges of workshopping in the creative writing classroom?
- Sharing One’s Own Writing: How does sharing personal creative work with students influence learning and creativity?
- Collaborative Writing Practices: What benefits arise from writing alongside students or engaging ‘professional’ writers in the learning process?
- Innovative Pedagogical Approaches: How do techniques such as drama, AI/IT, writing prompts, and other emerging tools transform creative writing education?
We also welcome creative presentations of pedagogical ideas—as long as they follow Writing in Practice guidelines. This includes submissions employing methodologies like autoethnography and action research, as well as those that focus on specific age groups, particularly within school settings.
If you are interested in sharing your innovative, practical, and engaging strategies for teaching creative writing, please consider submitting your paper or creative presentation. Your contribution will not only deepen understanding of creative writing pedagogy but also inform and inspire educators nationwide.
We are also happy to accept submissions beyond the remit of this special issue, which explore the nature of the art of writing, highlighting current academic thinking and practice, in the UK and internationally.
Submissions should be in the region of 4000–10,000 words, and include an abstract of up to 200 words. A biographical note of up to 200 words should be provided via Submittable, but not included in the document that is the submitted article.
All submissions will be anonymously double peer reviewed, with feedback given in Spring 2026. A document giving full submission guidelines, together with a style guide, is available here.
Please note: submissions that ignore these guidelines may not be considered.
Further information
The aim of this journal is to encourage research in the field of Creative Writing. We recognize that this research is principally undertaken through the act of creating. Creative Writing academics invest knowledge and understanding into their creative practice and utilise existing knowledge to help innovate and evolve their own work and the broader subject. The articulated results of this practice research demonstrate and develop existing subject knowledge.
We seek scholarly articles about practice and process that contextualize, reflect on and respond to existing knowledge and understanding in the form of poetics and/or exegesis. Creative Writing itself is welcome when integral to an article. While we also welcome critical examinations of the international history and pedagogy of Creative Writing, such work must evidence a wide reading and contextualization of the existing literature and make a significant and well-articulated contribution to knowledge in those fields.
Writing in Practice: Editorial Board
Jenn Ashworth, Yvonne Battle-Felton , David Bishop, Helena Blakemore, Celia Brayfield, Jessica Clapham, Sue Dymoke, Carrie Etter, Francis Gilbert, Michael Green, Oz Hardwick, Holly Howitt-Dring, Andrea Holland, Lisa Koning, Fiona Mason, Andy Melrose, Derek Neale, Kate North, Amy Spencer, Christina Thatcher, Amy Waite, Jennifer Young.
Principal Editor: Kate North