Creative Cork: writing course taps into a rich heritage

It has renowned writers living and working in the city and county as well as popular literary festivals attracting leading novelists, short-story writers and poets from all over the world. Now, Cork is adding to this with an MA in creative writing.

The UCC course, starting on September 16th, will explore creativity through fiction, poetry and life writing. Creative non-fiction modules include courses on food writing, and there will be a course on the practicalities of getting published. Dr Jools Gilson, from UCC’s school of English, one of the tutors on the programme, says she and her colleagues “are very keen on the connection between the academic and the professional world”.

“To make that connection very practical, we have a course called the Business of Writing. It’s about bringing in agents and people from the publishing and literary world, to talk about how students can get their writing out into the professional world.”

As well as traditional publishing, there will be advice on the digital world, online publishing and blogging. “There will also be a focus on writing in relation to arts festivals, galleries and writing in the community. This will lead to a placement. All the students are required to spend a period of time in a professional context where they can use their writing skills.”

Fifteen students have been accepted on to the course, including Cork-based writer Madeleine D’Arcy, who has won a scholarship for the master’s, awarded by UCC.

“Considering that the number of postgraduate students in the arts has been down in recent years, we’ve had a healthy amount of applications, about 40,” says Gilson.

Long in the brewing
The introduction of an MA in creative writing at the university has been "brewing for some time", with Dr Eibhear Walshe from UCC's school of English pushing the idea. It was given impetus following the recent appointment of Prof Claire Connolly as the new head of the school.

Gilson says: “The distinctiveness of this MA programme is that it’s really grounded in the locale of Cork. There’s a very rich heritage of writers in all genres both in Cork city and county as well as in Munster. We have a commitment to engaging with that incredible richness.”

Some of the country’s most famous writers have studied or taught at UCC, including Frank O’Connor, Seán Ó Faoláin and John Montague. Notable poets associated with the university include Tom McCarthy, Paul Durcan, Theo Dorgan, Leanne O’Sullivan and the late Seán Dunne.

The school of English hosts an annual writer-in-residency. Previous holders of this post include Mary Morrissy and Claire Keegan. Matthew Sweeney has been the writer-in-residence for the past academic year. The new holder of the post is Leanne O'Sullivan.

Morrissy will be tutoring in fiction, O’Sullivan and Sweeney will teach poetry, Gilson will give a course on writing for radio, and Walshe’s life-writing module will include the memoir genre.

Alannah Hopkin will hold a workshop in short-story writing as part of the Cork International Short Story Festival in September. There will be a range of courses over a week or a long weekend in, for example, food writing, under the expertise of food historian and writer Regina Sexton. Food experts Darina Allen – of Ballymaloe Cookery School – and Denis Cotter of Cork's Cafe Paradiso will contribute to this module.

Experimental approach
Another distinctive element of the MA is a course, led by Gilson, called Writing and Experiment. "I'll be looking at a range of genres with a special focus on the visual, looking at writers who collaborate with visual artists. I'll also be looking at writing and sound, and writing and music," she says.

With a background as a choreographer and a doctorate from the University of Surrey in theatre and performance studies, Gilson is an expert in performance. She will be helping aspiring writers to read aloud from their work.

The perennial bugbear with creative-writing MAs is the question of whether literary writing can be taught. Gilson says techniques can be honed and different ways of structuring work developed. “We can’t teach inspiration but we can teach ways to feel more inspired. Creative writing is no different than professional dance or theatre or visual art. You can be trained in those genres but unless you have a spark, you can’t be made into a brilliant artist.”

Pat Cotter, director of the Munster Literature Centre, says the MA “is long overdue”. He points to the level of literary activity in Cork, citing the publication of first collections of poetry by three Cork-based poets in the previous 12 months, namely Afric McGlinchey, Mary Noonan and Paul Casey. Casey runs Ó Bhéal, a weekly poetry performance event. The Cork International Short Story Festival takes place from September 18th to 22nd.

All of this, together with its new MA in creative writing, means Cork is fast becoming a city of scribes.