It is ten years since the English Subject Centre published Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide compiled by Siobhan Holland (2003) with contributions from Maggie Butt Graeme Harper and Michelene Wandor. The Guide described a “rapidly expanding province of activity” and even that phrase has been out-done by the reality of the intervening years during which Creative Writing has become widely established in higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the UK.
The guide was “not offered as a ‘benchmarking statement’ for Creative Writing but rather as a tool for lecturers who are developing ... curricula in this area and as a prompt for debates in Creative Writing and the related disciplines of English Language and Literature.” Five years later NAWE (2008) considered it time for a formal Creative Writing Subject Benchmark Statement and published it together with a Creative Writing Research Benchmark Statement. After a further five years it is once again time to take stock of the subject's status and requirements.
