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.

Foreword - Anna Leahy

Part 1: Understanding the Larger Influences

1. Personal Therapeutic Writing vs. Literary Writing - Nancy Kuhl

2. Who Cares-and How: The Value and Cost of Nurturing - Anna Leahy

3. Inspiration, Creativity, and Crisis: The Romantic Myth of the Writer Meets the Contemporary Classroom - Brent Royster

4. Reinventing Writing Classrooms: The Combination of Creating and Composing - Evie Yoder Miller

5. The Double Bind and Stumbling Blocks: A Case Study as an Argument for Authority-Conscious Pedagogy - Carl Vandermeulen

Part 2: The Teacher's Place, Voice, and Style

6. Teaching and Evaluation: Why Bother? - Mary Cantrell

7. Who's the Teacher?: From Student to Mentor - Audrey Petty

8. The Pregnant Muse: Assumptions, Authority, and Accessibility - Rachel Hall

9. Dismantling Authority: Teaching What We Do Not Know - Katharine Haake

Part 3: Course Design

10. Contracts, Radical Revision, Portfolios, and the Risks of Writing - Wendy Bishop

11. An 'A' for Effort: How Grading Policies Shape Courses - Suzanne Greenberg

12. Gender and Authorship: How Assumptions Shape Perceptions and Pedagogies - Susan Hubbard

13. Writing the Community: Service Learning in Creative Writing - Argie Manolis

Part 4: In the Classroom

14. Where Do You Want Me To Sit?: Defining Authority through Metaphor - Cathy Day

15. Duck, Duck, Turkey: Using Encouragement To Structure Workshop Assignments - Mary Swander

16. How To Avoid Workshop Dilemmas: The Use of Myth to Teach Writerly Concepts - Amy Sage Webb

17. Writing in the Shadows: Topics, Models, and Audiences that Focus on Language - Sandy Feinstein

Afterword

The Reason It Is: the Rhyme It Isn't - Graeme Harper and Stephanie Vanderslice

Anna Leahy is Associate Professor of English, Associate Director of the MFA in Creative Writing, and Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity at Chapman University, USA. She has published widely on creative writing pedagogy, as well as creative non-fiction and poetry. She is the editor of TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics.