UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER

News Release
Press Office
Department of Public Affairs

Newtownabbey County Antrim BT37 )QB Northern Ireland
T: (+44) 028 9036 6178 F: (+44) 028 9036 6872 pressoffice@ulst.ac.uk
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25 April 2002: FAO newsdesks">

UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER News Release Press Office Department of Public Affairs Newtownabbey County Antrim BT37 )QB Northern Ireland T: (+44) 028 9036 6178 F: (+44) 028 9036 6872 pressoffice@ulst.ac.uk ___________________________________________________________________________ 25 April 2002: FAO newsdesks"> UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER News Release Press Office Department of Public Affairs Newtownabbey County Antrim BT37 )QB Northern Ireland T: (+44) 028 9036 6178 F: (+44) 028 9036 6872 pressoffice@ulst.ac.uk ___________________________________________________________________________ 25 April 2002: FAO newsdesks"> UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER News Release Press Office Department of Public Affairs Newtownabbey County Antrim BT37 )QB Northern Ireland T: (+44) 028 9036 6178 F: (+44) 028 9036 6872 pressoffice@ulst.ac.uk ___________________________________________________________________________ 25 April 2002: FAO newsdesks, arts editors UU Unveils Pioneering Literature Programme The University of Ulster at Coleraine has completed the development of its creatively ambitious and challenging, three-year undergraduate programme, WRITING, EDITING AND PUBLISHING, which will be launched in January, 2003, with the first semester titled Writing for Publication. This programme is perhaps unique in the UK and Ireland in its catalytic combination of active student engagement in creative writing, the editing of each other's work, and in selectively publishing their material on their own Student Website. The student writers will benefit greatly from the immediate and continuing reviews and commentary by visitors to the website, which enable them to keep learning how to create material that gets the best response from their readers. The fundamental nature of the programme is developmental and progressive. The students are writing, editing and publishing through all three years, steadily building a foundation of published work, and developing and integrating their abilities and skills in all aspects of the writing and publishing processes. Also, beginning in the second year, the students will organize and establish their own literary agency, supported by their Literary Agency Website. The faculty-directed, student-run agency will become fully operational in the third year, and the students will function as literary agents, making selective submissions to publishers of the proposals and manuscripts written by the authors that they have decided to represent. In acting as agents, the students are informed and guided by their years of experience in writing, editing and publishing. The University has been developing this exciting programme since last summer, working with Paul D. McCarthy, President and Editor-in-Chief of his New York City-based, global, multi-media company, McCarthy Creative Services, and the first Professor in Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Ulster. Professor McCarthy came to the Coleraine campus this week to work in person with the University on the final development and establishment of the programme, which they successfully and enthusiastically accomplished. Professor McCarthy said today, "I felt deeply honored when the University of Ulster asked me to work with them in creating, developing, and finalising the WRITING, EDITING AND PUBLISHING Programme. Now, this encompassing, innovative programme is established, and the creative potential that was in the original concept has been realized and maximized. I'm very excited about the programme which I think will attract the finest students to the English Department. "It joins the best aspects of instructional education with the great benefits of practical, active and progressive student involvement in the writing, editing, agenting, and publishing processes. "Another major and valuable aspect of the programme is that at the end of each year, every student will write, and publish on their Student Website, a narrative describing the significant aspects of their growth as writers, editors, publishers, and agents. Their narratives will span their current semester and, as they advance, their previous years as well. "The students' evolving narratives will contain their individual understanding and statements of the fundamental principles of the creative and editorial processes, and the agenting and publishing functions, and other useful advice, insights, tips, guidelines, and methods that everyone can learn from. "I think the University's programme offers undergraduates an extraordinary opportunity. The students who enter the programme are learning about creative writing while they're simultaneously and contextually involved in the processes of editing, agenting and publishing, which are too rarely taught at the university level. "I am very proud of the programme and the University of Ulster. I'm also deeply appreciative of the University's educational vision, and constant, inspiring, collaborative support during the swift and rich development of the programme." The graduates of the WRITING, EDITING AND PUBLISHING Programme will be substantially knowledgeable, experienced, trained, and educated, and fully prepared to become professional writers and literary agents, or to begin a career in publishing. Whatever career choices the graduates make, they will have the enormous and rare competitive advantage of three prior years of undergraduate experience and a body of published writing. Professor McCarthy is available for interview: contact him via David Young, University of Ulster Press Office, 028 90 366178 More MCS News | MCS Home