Why is Hanif Kureishi teaching writing if it is a 'waste of time'? Courses can help writers find out if they've got what it takes
Novelist Hanif Kureishi, who teaches on a creative writing course at Kingston University, said students couldn't tell stories. Photograph: Antonio Zazueta Olmos
I doubt Hanif Kureishi, when he spoke at the Bath literature festival on Sunday, anticipated his comments about creative writing courses being a "waste of time" would end up all over the press. But why is he teaching writing if that's how he feels? If I was one of his students, I'd be furious to hear myself described as "talentless" and to think that he scorns the course I'd invested my time and money in.
Twenty years ago, just out of my BA, I joined the novel-writing MA at Manchester University. I've never believed creative writing courses can teach you to write if you have no talent, but I knew this course would give me dedicated time to write, feedback from tutors and fellow students, and that most useful of all things – a deadline. I went on to publish my novel with Sceptre, and then wrote a further four. Four more students from my cohort gained publishing deals, including the best-selling author Sophie Hannah and Bafta-winning screenwriter Sam Bain.
Returning to Manchester to lecture on that same course, I discovered a love for helping new writers find their focus and learn to play to their strengths. But I soon became troubled by the relationship between academia and the craft of writing. With thousands of hopeful writers now passing through university turnstiles, I'm dubious about the real worth of the MA, the PhD or, more ambiguous still, the "certificate of creative writing" they end up with. In my experience, what most writers on university postgrad courses really want is to find out if they can write a publishable novel.
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Twenty years ago, just out of my BA, I joined the novel-writing MA at Manchester University. I've never believed creative writing courses can teach you to write if you have no talent, but I knew this course would give me dedicated time to write, feedback from tutors and fellow students, and that most useful of all things – a deadline. I went on to publish my novel with Sceptre, and then wrote a further four. Four more students from my cohort gained publishing deals, including the best-selling author Sophie Hannah and Bafta-winning screenwriter Sam Bain.
Returning to Manchester to lecture on that same course, I discovered a love for helping new writers find their focus and learn to play to their strengths. But I soon became troubled by the relationship between academia and the craft of writing. With thousands of hopeful writers now passing through university turnstiles, I'm dubious about the real worth of the MA, the PhD or, more ambiguous still, the "certificate of creative writing" they end up with. In my experience, what most writers on university postgrad courses really want is to find out if they can write a publishable novel.
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