Poet and Emeritus professor Tony Curtis responds to Hanif Kureishi’s jibe about creative writing courses being a waste of time (TC being external examiner on the MA in Creative Writing here at Lincoln):
If Hanif Kureishi feels his experience as a teacher of creative writing at university level has been so negative, perhaps he or the University of Kingston should consider his position. My experience of introducing and teaching the subject at the University of Glamorgan, now the University of South Wales, beginning in 1982, was more positive, with some undergraduates and postgraduates going on to publish. Of course, that can never be the stated aim of such courses, but the success of published and award-winning writers and poets from a course reflects back on both their fellow students and the teaching staff…
Nice bit of publicity for Hanif Kureishi, though.