The Future for Creative Writing

For thousands of years human beings have engaged in creative writing, as an art and as a form of communication.  The results – from pamphlets to books to poems to blogs and beyond – demonstrate the multi–faceted nature of this activity. Industries have grown up around creative writing, but it is a private endeavor as well.  Now, with the rise of new technology, creative writing is poised to change and expand in previously unimaginable ways. Here, preeminent scholar Graeme Harper offers a compelling look at the current state and future direction of creative writing.  He explores the practice of creative writing, its place in the world, and its impact on individuals and communities. He explores the practice of creative writing, why humans are drawn to engage in it, its place in the world, and its impact on individuals and communities.  Chapters address such topics as writing as a cultural production, the education of a creative writer, and the changing nature of communication.  Harper challenges the boundaries of the field by delving into the acts and actions involved in creative writing rather than just focusing on the end result. In doing so, he provides readers with an expansive vision of the nature and future of creative writing.

Graeme Harper is a Professor of Creative Writing and Dean of The Honors College at Oakland University, Michigan, USA. A writer of fiction and a scriptwriter, he is an honorary professor in the United Kingdom, and was inaugural Chair of the Higher Education Committee at the UK’s National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE). He is the editor of The Companion to Creative Writing (Wiley Blackwell, 2013) and author of Inside Creative Writing: Interviews with Contemporary Writers (2012) and On Creative Writing (2010). He serves as editor for New Writing: the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing .