Special Topic (Writing Workshop Autumn) (Q1233)

15 credits, Level 4

Autumn teaching

Love. Death. Bodies. Blue. Phantasy. Pain. Hope.

We dedicate our Special Topic module to one concept or condition, chosen by our creative writing team. It will link to a lively area of research – and all will be illuminating.

You’ll read a series of creative and critical texts around this concept. Writing exercises based on these readings build up over the module – until you have a portfolio of your own writing exploring the topic.

This might include short stories, poems, scenes from films or video games and essay prose. Wide and engaged reading across genres will help you develop your own creative and critical writing.

Example Special Topics:

What is love? A feeling? A condition? It’s all around and yet no one can get enough. Reading may include Laura Kipnis, Elizabeth Povinelli, Gillian Rose, Jacques Derrida, Banana Yoshimoto, Frank O’Hara and Nisha Ramayya.

Bodies are often lumped together. But are our experiences of embodiment radically different? Will we always need our bodies? We’ll study a range of bodily themes, for example: the racialised body, the maternal body, the ageing body, the consuming body and the body in pain. Reading may include Elizabeth Wilson, Eli Clare, Snorton, C. Riley, William Gibson and Susan Bordo.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.