Does the Writing Workshop Still Work?

by Dianne Donnelly (editor)

This book explores the effectiveness of the workshop in the Creative Writing classroom, and looks beyond the question of whether or not the workshop works to address the issue of what an altered pedagogical model might look like. In visualising what else is possible in the workshop space, the sixteen chapters collected in ‘Does the Writing Workshop Still Work?’ cover a range of theoretical and pedagogical topics and explore the inner workings and conflicts of the workshop model. The needs of a growing and diverse student population are central to the chapter authors’ consideration of non-normative pedagogies. The book is a must-read for all teachers of Creative Writing, as well as for researchers in Creative Writing Studies.

264 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2010

Reviews

[Felix Da Costa Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive guide that asks about the structure of a workshop and delves into important topics such as the interrogation of the ‘self,’ distinction between asking questions like “does it work?” And “Do you like or dislike it?” And which is more effective when leading a writing workshop. While I was reading this from the perspective of a student, Donnelly consistently defines the text as something for instructors rather than a student’s guide. However, I feel like students participating in workshop can also learn something from Donnelly’s viewpoints in workshop etiquette while aiming to contort traditional norms.

[Lisa Roney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I object to the title of this book--usually when that question is asked, someone is hostile to creative writing's existence in the academy. But Dianne Donnelly is not one of those people, so the title is misleading. The book is comprised of a short report on Donnelly's survey of teachers of creative writing (in which I participated, so I'm quoted in her report on that research in her introductory section). The rest of the book is comprised of essays describing the writing workshop, its many variations, its challenges, and its benefits. Some of the essays are very, very good; some lack much interesting insight. But mostly they offer a good overview of the field of teaching creative writing, which holds, as far as I know, the unusual position of being under constant attack by people who have no idea what it's about, or who do and who have benefitted from its existence but are full of self-loathing (perhaps that they couldn't do without out in making a living?). So, this book is not perfect, but it's a start at an attempt that we in the field need to make to put the naysayers to bed.

[MaryEllen]

I have an article ("Workshopping Lives")about my class in this book.