Writing (MA)

One thing we repeat often on this programme is that our writing should be in the world and not simply of it, and what an awful privilege that is. (Have you seen the world recently?)

The world often doesn’t seem altogether that keen on writing. Books are banned, and removed from library shelves; bookshops are raided, and their owners detained; books are stolen and fed into machines in order that they might also write, but not as well.

You might think that we would have nothing in common with those who do such things, but we do. Every iconoclast secretly admires that which they destroy. They recognise its value, and this is why they believe that such things can no longer be allowed to exist; we recognise its value, and that is why we believe that such things must continue to be made.

This is what our writers have here done over the past year, and what they will continue to do: to put their writing into the world, to make space for themselves and for others, and to make the world more valuable for us all.

Jeremy Millar, Head of Programme