About Us
Creative Writing Dunedin was established in February 2012 in response to demand from beginning and more experienced writers who want an alternative to institutional courses. All our courses are designed and taught by professional published writers who take a personal approach. Course co-ordinator and tutor Diane Brown draws on her long experience as a writer and Creative Writing Course Co-ordinator and tutor at a tertiary level. Classes offered are face-to-face and online using Email and Zoom calls.
Creative writing classes are beneficial to anyone whether or not they yet know what they want to say or write. Through the process of writing, you learn much about yourself. There is also a great deal of satisfaction in producing something expressive. The focus on most courses is primarily on the process rather than the finished product because it is important for students to discover their own natural style of writing. However, it is also vital that students are exposed to the necessary tools of storytelling craft and to the benefits of reading and revision.
Extensive workbooks and writing exercises that will stimulate and challenge students are provided for all online classes and for most face-to-face courses. One-off Saturday classes focus on facilitated writing exercises around specific areas of writing and are designed for writers of all levels. The Manuscript courses are designed for advanced students and are primarily workshop based.
Diane Brown: Tutor
Diane Brown‘s publications include two collections of poetry (Before The Divorce We Go To Disneyland, Tandem 1997; winner of the NZSA Best First Book of Poetry at the Montana Book Awards 1997; Learning to Lie Together, Godwit 2004), two novels (If The Tongue Fits, Tandem 1999; and Eight Stages of Grace, Random 2002; a verse novel which was a finalist in the Montana Book Awards 2003), and a travel memoir (Liars and Lovers, Random 2004). She was a Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow in 1997. A prose/poetic work, Here Comes Another Vital Moment was published by Godwit (Random) in 2006. Taking My Mother to the Opera, Otago University Press, 2015 is a poetic memoir about Diane’s family. Her latest book, Every Now and Then I Have Another Child, was published by Otago University Press in 2020.
She won the Janet Frame Memorial Award in 2012 and the Beatson Fellowship in 2014. In the 2013 New Year’s Honours List, Diane was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services as a writer and educator. In 2019 she received a Summer Writing Residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport.
She spent nine years as Co-ordinator and tutor of Creative Writing at Aoraki Polytechnic, Dunedin campus, before setting up Creative Writing Otago. She is a mentor and assessor for the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN Inc) and served many years on their National Council and as chair of the Auckland and Otago-Southland branches.
She lives in Dunedin with her husband Philip Temple who is a consultant and occasional tutor for these courses. When she is not writing or teaching she likes reading, walking the dog, cooking, aqua-jogging, films, and spending time with friends and family.
Here is an interview with Vanda Symon and Diane Brown on teaching creative writing: http://oar.org.nz/event/write-on-with-vanda-symon/
Here is an interview in Down in Edin ezine http://issuu.com/downinedinmagazine/docs/downinedinissue15/10?e=13324609/66416003