Imagination in the classroom

Teaching and learning creative writing in Ireland

Anne Fogarty Éilís Ní Dhuibhne & Eibhear Walshe editors

‘[This is an] immaculate production by Four Courts Press, who, before you read a word, convince you that something so beautifully made must contain much of immense substance. Immense substance, to be sure, and diverse substance, each packed essay contains within itself wise pickings', Frank McGuinness.

‘A common question runs through this landmark book: how do you teach creative writing? … In her wise and balanced introduction, novelist Éilís Ní Dhuibhne summarises the emergence in Ireland of writing workshops in the 1970s … Poet Sinéad Morrissey offers practical advice on how to teach this elusive subject … Personal memoir as a basis for writing fiction is comprehensively dealt with by Eibhear Walshe, whose own outstanding memoir, Cissie’s Abbatoir, is a classic of its kind. There’s also some fine advice on writing dialogue from James Ryan … this is a collection of excellent essays that will form a valuable reference point from Irish teachers of creative writing in the future', Peter Cunningham, Irish Mail on Sunday (February 2014).