1.

The chapters in this collection range across all three areas of its subtitle – Practice, Research and Pedagogy – testifying to the integrated nature of Creative Writing as a university discipline. The writers were given the option of concentrating on any one or more of the areas. Some chose to highlight practice, some research, some pedagogy; most, ultimately, combined two or more of these in their chapters, emphasising the connection between them. This cross-fertilisation is notable and worthy of celebration.

In addition, because of the relative newness of doctoral study in Creative Writing – even in the USA where it is well preceded by study at Bachelors and Master level – one writer in each of this book’s three primary geographic locations was asked to concentrate on the nature of practice and research at doctoral level. In postgraduate study, issues emerge where students and supervisors develop notions, not only of writerly practice, but of how to undertake practice-led research in Creative Writing. The base question here is: what constitutes a research question in Creative Writing? More broadly, what various institutions, worldwide, understand as higher degree study is reflected in the types of degrees they award and what benchmarks they set in place. What kind of creative work might be produced for each? Internationally, too little has been exchanged about the variety of doctoral programs, methodologies and theories in this significant and still-expanding area, and encouraging some writers in this collection to consider it directly was seen to be important to the field.

This book, of course, concentrates on Creative Writing undertaken in English; though, naturally, this is in the manner of a case study, not in a manner of suggesting Creative Writing in universities is occurring only in English-speaking countries – far from it. In fact, throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, Creative Writing in and around universities is undertaken in a variety of languages, currently with various levels of local development.