Courses and Workshops
Last updated 25 September 2008
Courses run by Bill Greenwell 2008-2009
Bill is now full-time at the Open University (see below), but is happy to run courses of the kind mentioned below. He runs an online Poetry Clinic for the Department of Lifelong Learning at the University of Exeter. For further information on the clinic, click here.
Last year's information is shown below to give you an idea of possible courses you might ask Bill to run.
Courses run by Bill Greenwell 2007
DLL, Exeter University ~ University College, Falmouth ~ Exeter College ~ Individual online tutorials ~ Devon Curriculum Services ~ Dorset short story workshops ~ The Open University ~ Poetry ~ Exeter Council For Voluntary Services
New appointment: The Open University
From February 1st 2007, Bill will be a full-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Open University, helping to write and develop their forthcoming Level 3 Creative Writing course, and then their projected MA in Creative Writing. This was initially a 20-month appointment, but has now been extended until the end of September 2010.
University of Exeter: Department Of Lifelong Learning
Bill will be running three non-accredited, online creative writing courses. The first of these is a general introduction to writing in a variety of genres, The Craft Of The Writer . This course will run twice, starting in October 2006 and February 2007. It is a version of the course previously run as The Writer's Craft . It is a twelve-week course. (The second run will now be taught by someone else.)
In February 2007, there will be an opportunity to take another fifteen-week, non-accredited, online course, Poetry Online . This is a version of the course previously run as Poetry, Form And Experiment . He is also teaching Experimental Writing, previously a Level 2 accredited creative writing course - although you can follow it as a literature course.
For further information on these courses
Bill is also teaching on independent study modules. These courses are restricted to existing Exeter students.
University College, Falmouth
In the first semester, Bill is teaching the Narrative, Genre and Criticism module on the MA Professional Writing course. He continues to have links with the Falmouth MA course.
Exeter College, Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3SR
Starting in the first week of October, Bill is running an eight-week course on writing poetry. This is a 2.5 hour evening class on Tuesdays.
For further details of this course, please contact Exeter College on 01392 205222.
Individual online tutorials
If you have an individual writing project on which you'd like Bill to advise you, then he is happy to negotiate an individual package. Contact Bill on billgreenwellcwr@aol.com .
Bill Greenwell and Devon Curriculum Services
In 2006/2007, Bill is working with Devon Curriculum Services as a consultant.
Courses for students
You can also book Bill to run courses on all the subjects below. All initial contact must be made through Karen Larkin (e-mail karen.larkin@devon.gov.uk , phone 01392 426821. Karen is based at the Digital Media Education Centre, 52 Bartholomew Street West, Exeter EX4 3AJ. ). The cost of the courses depends on the length of time (and the distance required to travel). All of the following are possibilities:
Talks, seminars, workshops, revision sessions or presentations: English, General Studies and Creative Writing
English Literature AS/A2
English Language & Literature AS/A2
Timberlake Wertenbaker - Our Country's Good
This is a talk/workshop which explains and explores the relationship of Our Country's Good to its sources ( The Playmaker , The Recruiting Officer , and some of the material Wertenbaker used). It comes with a 3000-word hand-out which explains some of the contexts and changes Wertenbaker made (including changes from earlier versions of the play). Two hour session, with time for questions.
Sylvia Plath
A talk or seminar on Ariel , or specified poems from Ariel . This talk can be as detailed or as general as you like. Time negotiable. It includes a look at the way Plath's notebooks prepare the way for The Bee Meeting and Berck-Plage. It comes with a 1000-word hand-out on the relationship between the notebooks and The Bee Meeting .
King Lear
A talk, a seminar, or a whole day workshop, which could cover all or any of the following:
• finding patterns of imagery in the play (this is an active workshop)
• different patterns of language in the play
• the importance of Kent to an understanding of the play
• the origins of the play and the Nahum Tate version of the play
Any question-or-answer session can be added.
Macbeth
A talk or a seminar, including reference to various film versions of the play; any aspect of the play can be prepared.
Hamlet
A talk or a seminar or a whole-day workshop on any aspect of the play, including reference to various film versions of the play, including issues such as what happens when you remove Fortinbras from the play. This could be paired with a talk, seminar or workshop on Stoppard's Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead.
Troilus And Cressida
A talk or a seminar on any aspect of this ‘difficult' play.
Wuthering Heights
A talk or a seminar on the way Brontë constructs the narrative of the novel, and the difficulty film-makers have had with dealing with the structure of the novel. The talk could be based on the films.
Pinter's early plays (1957-1967)
A talk or a seminar. All or any of The Room , The Dumb Waiter , The Birthday Party , The Hothouse , The Caretaker, the revue sketches, The Homecoming . The focus would be on the idea of the individual and individual rights in Pinter, and/or the importance of memory.
Caryl Churchill - plays 1975-1985
A talk or a seminar on Top Girls , Cloud Nine , Traps , Owners , Three Sleepless Nights . This includes material on the sources Churchill used for the opening scene/act of Top Girls , and contemporary material relating to Thatcher.
Hardy - The Return Of The Native
A talk or a seminar on any aspect of The Return Of The Native, from its structure and plot to the importance of individual characters like Diggory, Eustacia, Clym, Mrs. Yeobright, Wildeve, or the country locals.
Poetry in England 1880-1925
A talk or an all day course. This is an overview of English poetry (with some reference to painting) from the Romantics to Eliot and Lawrence, taking in Symbolism, pre-Raphaelitism, Georgian poetry, Imagism, First World War poetry, and Eliot. An anthology can be provided.
Chaucer - General Prologue & Wife Of Bath
A talk on either or both of the above, or a series of seminars, or a workshop. This puts the whole scheme of The Canterbury Tales in perspective and context, and (if moving on to The Wife Of Bath's Prologue And Tale ) a presentation of the different voices in the Prologue and Tale, the structure of both Prologue and Tale, the relationship between them, and the Wife's rhetorical tactics. This comes with a series of handouts.
Eliot - The Waste Land
A talk, a seminar, or an active workshop, which can also include Prufrock and The Hollow Men . This aims to explain the structure and organisation and idea of The Waste Land , and the way in which it develops (and its original form).
Trevor Griffiths - Comedians
A talk or a seminar on any aspect of the play, with archive material from the TV show which gave Griffiths the idea, and particular stress on the importance of the double act in the play, as well as the political ideas in the play.
David Mamet – Oleanna
A talk or a seminar on this controversial play, with some background material from the year in which it was composed.
Julian Barnes – A History Of The World in 10½ Chapters
A talk or a seminar on this novel, on the relationship between the sections, and on its structure, with plenty of background material on the sources, including film of the ‘original' Spike Tiggler!
Carol Ann Duffy
A talk or a seminar on Duffy's methods, particularly in her first four collections, Standing Female Nude , Selling Manhattan , The Other Country and Mean Time (and therefore Selected Poems).
Other texts on which seminars, revisions sessions or talks are available:
Emyr Humphrey : A Toy Epic
Arthur Miller : Death Of A Salesman
Ian McEwan : Enduring Love
Charles Dickens : Great Expectations
Wendy Cope : Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis
General Studies AS/A2
General Studies (1) – Censorship
A talk on the amazing number of ways in which censorship has operated in England over the last 100 years, with examples (images and sound). This is designed to be an entertaining, inter-active introduction to the topic.
General Studies (2) – Cambodia
This is a talk which uses the history of Cambodia as an example of the way in which empires come and go, the effect of colonialism, and the ironies of international relationship. This can be inter-active, if there is sufficient time.
General Studies (3) – Europe
This is a general introduction to the idea of the EU, looking at Europe from the post-war era until now. European awareness is at the heart of most General Studies programmes.
General Studies (4) – Heredity and Family
This is a talk about the way in which we think about ancestry, royalty, privilege, blood-relationships.
General Studies (5) – Space
This is a talk about ideas of space travel, in fiction and in fact, with a history of the many manned (and unmanned) space-flights.
General Studies (6) – History of Education
This is a talk on the way in which education developed in this country over a thousand years. Why do we call it “marking”? Find out!
General Studies (7) – Politics in Britain
This is an introductory talk on the way in which our political system has evolved, which explains electoral systems, and some of the odder parliamentary representation we've had. Who was the MP for the English National Party, and how come? Which constituency had no inhabitants?
Popular Song Lyrics
This is an illustrated talk on ways of looking at song lyrics, and has been offered as an entertaining part of an English Language A-level conference.
Creative Writing (poetry)
Creative Writing (autobiography & family history)
Creative Writing (short stories)
Creative Writing (parody & form)
Any kind of creative writing course, introductory or more advanced, can be offered, as a half-day, day course or longer.
Dorset Literature Network
Bill is running a workshop for new writers in Bridport on November 15 2006.
The Open University - A215
Bill is a tutor on the new level 2 Creative Writing course (A215) offered by the Open University from February. This year he has one group, based in Bristol..
Poetry readings
Please contact Bill if you would like him to read/talk/perform, by e-mailing him at billgreenwellcwr@aol.com
Exeter Council For Voluntary Services
Bill has been working as a creative writer on a project called "Soft Currency", which researches the way that money affects the lives of the elderly. This is a project which has now been completed.