Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom: The Authority Project

by Anna Leahy (Editor)

Power and Identity In the Creative Writing Classroom remaps theories and practices for teaching creative writing at university and college level. This collection critiques well-established approaches for teaching creative writing in all genres and builds a comprehensive and adaptable pedagogy based on issues of authority, power, and identity. A long-needed reflection, this book shapes creative writing pedagogy for the 21st century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2005

About the author

Anna Leahy is the author of the poetry books What Happened Was:, Aperture, and Constituents of Matter and the nonfiction book Tumor.

In addition to Tumor, which she wrote to make sense of cancer, Leahy co-wrote Conversing with Cancer to help patients, caregivers, providers, and communication specialists develop strategies to negotiate cancer care. She and Douglas R. Dechow wrote Generation Space: A Love Story. Anna Leahy is the editor and co-author of What We Talk About When We Talk about Creative Writing and Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom.

She edits TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics and teaches at Chapman University. Read Tab Journal at https://TabJournal.org.

See more about the author at https://amleahy.com.

Reviews

[Mary]

Good discussions about power dynamics in teaching creative writing and how to change them for a modern world.

[Julia Smillie]

For someone just starting out on the path of creative writing pedagogy, this collection was largely a gem. Many of the essays present powerful and accessible arguments about aspects of CW pedagogy, although some are thinner than others. Some are also begging to be updated, since the book is now 10 or 15 years old. When we address gender issues and authority in the creative writing classroom today, it seems we need an even more expansive definition of gender than simple "male" or "female." Still, most of the essays contain some timeless, concrete perspectives on teaching and some even feature useful in-class exercises.

[Stefanie]

An excellent resource for creative writing instructors, offering a variety of perspectives and approaches.