Creative Writing or Creative Accounting?

dublin | arts and media | other press Tuesday November 24, 2009 10:42 by Dave Lordan

Faber charges 3000 euro for poetry workshops

Seeking to diversify in an era of ever tightening margins in the book trade the esteemed publisher Faber and Faber is moving into the lucrative, and unregulated, area of creative writing classes.

Is the London publisher just trading on its reputation to exploit the ambitions of the naive and the desperate? Undoubtedly the prospect of 'networking' with high-ups in the anglo-poetry bureaucracy will encourage applications. Though of course, applicants should beware that there is no chance whatsoever of Faber and Faber publishing 16 ( the number of places on the course) first collections by irish writers. And whoever does get published will make far less than 3000 euro royalties on even the most successful poetry book. An ethical approach by Faber and all involved would have meant making these points clear in its advertising material. But poetry is business, and business is poetry, right?

http://www.faber.co.uk/article/2009/10/becoming-poet-20...ublin