The Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University is now in its second year. The course, created by writers Sue Thomas and Kate Pullinger, already teaches Fiction and Creative Nonfiction and students commencing their studies in September 2008 will now have the choice of two more modules – E-Poetry and Writing for the Creative Industries. Carolyn Handler Miller, author of Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive Entertainment, will teach Writing for the Creative Industries, and Peter Howard, highly-respected poet in both print and the digital, will teach E-Poetry.

The MA made an impact in 2007 when students collaborated with Penguin Books on the Million Penguins wiki-novel http://www.amillionpenguins.com, a ground-breaking experiment which attracted worldwide attention. Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin Digital Publisher, said the MA students ‘demonstrated a real understanding of the different challenges in writing for the internet and their contribution to the wikinovel project was invaluable.’

In 2008 one of the first graduates, Alison Norrington, attracted enthusiastic interest when she presented her new media chicklit novel ‘Staying Single’ at the Tools of Change in Publishing Conference in New York. ‘Staying Single’ is written across a number of platforms including a blog, Second Life, Facebook, and Twitter. Alison said, “I joined the MA as a novelist with a good understanding of traditional print-based publishing. I used the internet on a daily basis and yet, as I was introduced to new applications, I was overwhelmed at the labyrinth of platforms and networks that existed online. It was challenging but fun to publish my fourth novel across a variety of platforms – each one reaching slightly different demographics in terms of audience. The MA has helped widen my audience from a UK/Irish fan-base to an international one and has been pivotal in adapting my writing style from print-based to digital.”

See also graduate Toni Le Busque’s amusing short YouTube video about the course http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aHso_a28JPc

More about the Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media

Applications: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/pg/ma/cwnm.jsp
Course Website: http://www.creativewritingandnewmedia.com

The course is designed for writers interested in experimenting with new formats and exploring the potential of new technologies in their writing. Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, blogs or hypertext, we will help you develop your individual voice in a supportive and creative atmosphere which is challenging, interdisciplinary and international.

This 95% distance learning course has a unique commitment to the connections between writing and new media and offers an excellent online experience combined with one week ’s intensive study at the De Montfort University campus in Leicester, UK. You will enjoy 1-1 tutorial support, lively workshops with fellow students and the opportunity to create collaborative and interactive projects. The course is designed by Professor Sue Thomas , writer and former Artistic Director of the trAce Online Writing Centre, and Kate Pullinger, acclaimed novelist and new media writer. It has extensive links with important initiatives including DMU ’s Institute of Creative Technologies, research into digital narratives and new media writing, and the creative, digital and publishing industries including Penguin, Pan Macmillan, Moviestorm, iStories, Sleepydog and others.

Guest lecturers vary each year and have included Randy Adams, Ronni Bennett, Alan Bigelow, Andy Campbell, Suw Charman, Christy Dena, Jeanie Finlay, Caitlin Fisher, Mark Hancock, Chris Joseph (babel), Jess Laccetti, Joe Lambert, Marjorie Luesebrink, Bruce Mason, Carolyn Handler Miller, Simon Mills, Nick Montfort, Meg Pickard, Rita Raley, Howard Rheingold, Alan Sondheim, Maurice Suckling, Jonathan Taylor, Tim Wright, and others.

Look out for related events like the IOCT Salon http://www.ioctsalon.com especially the CWNM Student Salon, 18 June 2008, and the NLab Social Networks Conference, 19-20 June 2008 http://www.nlabnetworks.com.

For more information please contact:

Promotion & Recruitment Centre
Faculty of Humanities
Clephan Building
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK
Telephone: + 44 (0) 116 2506470
Fax: + 44 (0) 116 2577199
Email:
Web:
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/pg/ma/cwnm.jsp
http://www.creativewritingandnewmedia.com