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Course bursaries for northern irish writers.

Deadline: (Extended) November 18, 2022 at 5:00pm

The Irish Writers Centre is pleased to announce a new round of course bursary applications for Northern Irish Writers, made possible with support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery funding. These bursaries will enable writers to develop their skills through funded places at Irish Writers Centre creative writing courses, and open up access to course entry by subsidising costs to individuals who may not otherwise be able to take a course.

In keeping with Goal 2 of our new  2022–2026 Strategy , this scheme will enhance opportunities for people across all communities to explore and participate in creative writing.

40 bursaries for beginner and emerging writers will be made available in this round, with each awardee receiving course credit worth €165 towards a course at the IWC.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

This scheme is open only to beginner and emerging writers over the age of 18 who are either currently based in Northern Ireland or from Northern Ireland and currently based in the Republic of Ireland. Please note that further course bursaries for writers who are not from or based in Northern Ireland will be offered in 2023.

The IWC is working towards the development of our first equality and diversity policy, and taking steps to promote equality of opportunity for all those living in Ireland, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, civil or family status, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller Community, as well as socio-economic background. We encourage writers from backgrounds typically underrepresented in Irish literature to apply for these bursaries, and will place a strong focus on ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status when evaluating applications.

Applications will be evaluated by an external selection panel, with reference to the considerations outlined in our EDI Statement and to the case made in your application form as to how you would benefit from a course bursary.

How to Apply

Please fill out the online application form to apply.

If you have any queries about the scheme, please contact the IWC team at [email protected].

About the Irish Writers Centre

For over 30 years as the leading support and development organisation for writers, the Irish Writers Centre has acknowledged and uplifted those with the courage and compulsion to write by providing opportunities for them to develop their skill, advance their ambitions and join a vibrant and diverse community of people who share their passion and purpose. We carry out our work, online and in person, on an all island basis. Our just-launched strategy outlines a commitment to diversity and sustainability across our activities and its ambition is to connect writers of all types and talents across the island.

Application Deadline

5.00pm on 18 November 2022

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English with Creative Writing BA (Hons)

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Creative Writing Training

The Knowledge Academy is Globally Recognised as the Market Leader in providing Creative Writing Training. Our highly experienced 'Professional Writing Expert Team' comprises over 18 leading professionals with over 13 years of experience in improving the understanding of conveying information and narratives through literary fiction and story-making efficiently. Our specialised instructors have developed unique teaching methods to assist aspiring candidates in becoming acquainted with extending the vocabulary while also allowing them to experiment with different methods of presenting compelling stories.

Key Elements of Creative Writing

Creative writing training overview.

Creative Writing is the process of appealingly presenting thoughts, feelings, or emotions instead of facts. The main purpose of Creative Writing is to express ideas or messages, whether it be feelings, emotions, or thoughts based on themes and evoke emotion in their readers. Creative Writing helps writers connect with the reader's emotions by writing from a specific point of view, narrative structure, and using their unique writer's voice and perspective to express their thoughts, messages, or emotions clearly.

Our Creative Writing Training will help learners understand various techniques to improve their writing process and enhance creativity. The course syllabus is specifically designed to help learners write creatively with appropriate guidance on realising their dream of becoming successful creative writing professionals. Our experienced trainer will conduct training sessions interactively and help learners improve their Creative Writing skills to find a unique writer's voice to craft stories and narratives to influence the masses and enjoy a great writing career.

Duration: 1 Day

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Techniques Used in Creative Writing

Refers to the dialogue and discussions that characters have with one another.

Metaphors and Similes

An essential tool used for emphasising, exaggerating, and adding interest in writing.

Point of View

To narrate a story by expressing personal or characters' emotions.

Character Development

To develop a character with personality, depth, and well-defined objectives or motives.

Plot Development

A sequence of events evolving and moving in time to create a story.

Connect your ideas to real life and real people to make a larger point.

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A Creative Writer expresses ideas, feelings, stories unrelated to academic, business, or technical writing. To produce tales or poetry that entertain or otherwise interest the reader, Creative Writers use standards of literary structure mixed with imagination and other tools for crafting stories. Successful Creative Writers read and constantly write, embracing constructive criticism to develop their craft. Here are the main strategies to become a good and skilful writer:

• Conduct Research to Understand Your Subject
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What Makes a Good Piece of Creative Writing?

Using your imagination and originality to communicate ideas, stories, and thoughts in a unique way to the audience is what creative writing is all about. Individuals with all their uniqueness and different characteristics develop creative writing skills in their own creative process. It is worth mentioning that there is no pre-defined definition of what constitutes an 'excellent' work of creative writing. But, there are general principles that can help you make a good piece of creative writing:

• Be Creative
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• Push your Imagination
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Different Types of Creative Writing

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James miles, oscar williams, marketing professional, jennifer williams, georgia anderson, content writer, column writer, frequently asked questions, what is creative writing.

Creative writing uses imagination and creativity for storytelling that is missing from academic or technical writing.

What is the purpose of Creative Writing?

Creative writing aims to entertain and make readers relate to human experiences and emotions conveyed through an author's writing.

What are the main elements of Creative Writing?

Plot, characters, settings, and tone are the main elements of Creative Writing.

I am unable to find the course that I am looking for.

The Knowledge Academy provides training on over 3000 different subjects. Please contact us if you are unable to find your ideal course in the above course list.

What are the types of Creative Writing?

Epics, novels, poems, screenplays, short stories, songs, and television scripts are the types of Creative Writing.

How can I get good at Creative Writing?

Be an avid reader, keep an idea book, ask what-if questions, write with abandon, read your work out loud, create a scene list, proofread and edit out the fluff, are the Creative Writing tips and techniques.

Will this training help me to get a better job with a high salary package?

Individuals who hold the skills required to perform Creative Writing get higher ranks in companies and get paid more than an average Professional Writer.

Can you customise training material according to our company requirements?

Yes, we have subject matter experts who will work according to your company's requirements.

Can The Knowledge Academy deliver corporate/in-house training?

Yes, our specialised in-house/corporate delivery staff constantly works to provide training to our clients who wish to have the convenience and comfort of learning within their familiar surroundings.

What are the most important characteristics of writing?

Attention to detail, discipline, clarity, strong vocabulary, openness to changes, and passion for reading, are the important characteristics of writing.

Can The Knowledge Academy deliver the training to more than 1000 delegates of my company?

Yes, we have already trained over 1000 delegates from multiple internationally renowned organisations. In cases where the delegates are more, we provide training in groups.

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You can choose from any of the below delivery methods according to your requirements:

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Fighting Words NI is a creative writing charity for children and young people.

Since 2015 we’ve been a force for creativity in Belfast and beyond, providing over 14,000 creative writing opportunities for schools, youth groups and young writers aged 6 to 18. We have delivered hundreds of free Storymaking Workshops, Write Club Meetings and special projects, all supported by our amazing volunteer mentors.

We want to show every young person in Northern Ireland that creative writing is all about joy, imagination and creativity.

Our patrons are the acclaimed writers Glenn Patterson, Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, Lucy Caldwell, Paul Muldoon and Dave Eggers.

Ever wondered about the origin of our duck logo? It comes from this quote from Maeve Binchy - 'I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.'

Guthanna Óga - Young Voices (Fighting Words North and South youth advisory panel)

GO Panel Manifesto: Fight for the Write!

We will empower young writers on the island of Ireland and nurture their creative self-expression, especially as they grow up with decreasing opportunities to do creative things. We will connect up young writers and provide a supportive, positive atmosphere that protects creative headspace, where everyone can be different, can be themselves; where success is not academic or economic, but on their own individual terms; where creative writing is not just a dream or a fantasy but an enriching, empowering and important path through life.

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Open Arts creative writing class meets every Wednesday from 2pm – 3:30pm at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast.

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Home » News » Competition: win one of two places for NI writers on exclusive writing course

Competition: win one of two places for NI writers on exclusive writing course

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has teamed up with book industry experts, Writers and Artists, and Bloomsbury Publishing, to offer two free places on an upcoming, exclusive Finding Your Voice writing course. The course, targeted at helping new writers build their confidence and explore their personality on the page, will be led by top creative tutors Natalie Young and Alex Hammond.

Up to 20 places are available on the six week programme, and no previous formal writing experience is required to sign up. Two free places will be made available to writers from Northern Ireland. To enter the Find Your Voice Competition, you must send either 1000 words of original fiction, creative non-fiction, or 10-15 lines of poetry. Your submission could be something in development or a piece that shows your writing at its best. Entrants will be judged by award-winning writer and the Arts Council’s Acting Head of Literature Paul McVeigh.

See more information at the link below

Find Your Voice Competition

It's hard to hear the truth when your work doesn't cut the mustard. But honesty changes your work for the better.

What I love about the course is that the core component is always writing itself, but it gives students a holistic and realistic understanding of pursuing a career in it.

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2024 duke english creative writing scholarship awards, april 23, 2024.

Quantá Holden | Duke English | Digital Communication Specialist

Duke English is delighted to share the 2024 Creative Writing Scholarships honorees. Each year, Duke English faculty members nominate undergraduate students for one of the Creative Writing Scholarships based on the exceptional work they submitted in one or more of their creative writing courses. The Creative Writing Committee selects the winners of the prestigious William M. Blackburn, Francis Pemberton, and Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarships. Students nominated must be eligible for financial aid to receive these scholarships.

2024 Creative Writing Scholarship Recipients:

Frances Pemberton Scholarship Awarded to a junior or senior pursuing the study of creative writing.  This scholarship was created by the Trustees of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation in memory and in honor of Francis Pemberton's service to the Biddle Foundation.

Ryan Copeland , ‘25

Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship Awarded to a female student who demonstrates particular promise in creative writing.  This scholarship was established in recognition of the untiring efforts of Margaret Rose Knight Sanford on behalf of Duke University.

Ali Thursland , ‘24

William Blackburn Scholarship Recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of creative writing.  Established in 1962 by students and friends of Professor William Blackburn (1899-1969) who first began teaching creative writing at Duke.

Jocelyn Chin , ‘24 Sage Cooley , ‘25 Joshua Lee , ‘26 Rani Teddy , ‘26

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By Kate Knibbs

How One Author Pushed the Limits of AI Copyright

Last October, I received an email with a hell of an opening line: “I fired a nuke at the US Copyright Office this morning.”

The message was from Elisa Shupe, a 60-year-old retired US Army veteran who had just filed a copyright registration for a novel she’d recently self-published. She’d used OpenAI's ChatGPT extensively while writing the book. Her application was an attempt to compel the US Copyright Office to overturn its policy on work made with AI, which generally requires would-be copyright holders to exclude machine-generated elements.

That initial shot didn’t detonate—a week later, the USCO rejected Shupe’s application—but she ultimately won out. The agency changed course earlier this month after Shupe appealed, granting her copyright registration for AI Machinations: Tangled Webs and Typed Words, a work of autofiction self-published on Amazon under the pen name Ellen Rae.

The novel draws from Shupe’s eventful life , including her advocacy for more inclusive gender recognition. Its registration provides a glimpse of how the USCO is grappling with artificial intelligence , especially as more people incorporate AI tools into creative work. It is among the first creative works to receive a copyright for the arrangement of AI-generated text.

“We’re seeing the Copyright Office struggling with where to draw the line,” intellectual property lawyer Erica Van Loon, a partner at Nixon Peabody, says. Shupe’s case highlights some of the nuances of that struggle—because the approval of her registration comes with a significant caveat.

The USCO’s notice granting Shupe copyright registration of her book does not recognize her as author of the whole text as is conventional for written works. Instead she is considered the author of the “selection, coordination, and arrangement of text generated by artificial intelligence.” This means no one can copy the book without permission, but the actual sentences and paragraphs themselves are not copyrighted and could theoretically be rearranged and republished as a different book.

The agency backdated the copyright registration to October 10, the day that Shupe originally attempted to register her work. It declined to comment on this story. “The Copyright Office does not comment on specific copyright registrations or pending applications for registration,” Nora Scheland, an agency spokesperson says. President Biden’s executive order on AI last fall asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to make recommendations on copyright and AI to the White House in consultation with the Copyright Office, including on the “scope of protection for works produced using AI.”

Although Shupe’s limited copyright registration is notable, she originally asked the USCO to open a more significant path to copyright recognition for AI-generated material. “I seek to copyright the AI-assisted and AI-generated material under an ADA exemption for my many disabilities,” she wrote in her original copyright application. Shupe believes fervently that she was only able to complete her book with the assistance of generative AI tools. She says she has been assessed as 100 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs and struggles to write due to cognitive impairment related to conditions including bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and a brain stem malformation.

Matt Jancer

Boone Ashworth

David Nield

Scott Gilbertson

She is proud of the finished work and sees working with a text generator as a different but no less worthwhile method of expressing thoughts. “You don't just hit ‘generate’ and get something worthy of publishing. That may come in the future, but we're still far from it,” she says, noting that she spent upwards of 14 hours a day working on her draft.

After her initial registration was refused, Shupe connected with Jonathan Askin, founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, which takes pro bono cases centered on emerging tech and policy questions. Askin and Brooklyn Law student Sofia Vescovo began working on Shupe’s case and filed an appeal with the USCO in January.

The appeal built on Shupe’s argument about her disabilities, saying she should be granted copyright because she used ChatGPT as an assistive technology to communicate, comparing her use of OpenAI’s chatbot to an amputee using a prosthetic leg. The appeal claimed that the USCO “discriminated against her because of her disability.”

The Brooklyn Law appeal also claimed that Shupe should be granted copyright for compiling the book—that is, doing the work of selecting and organizing the snippets of AI-generated text. It provided an exhaustive log of how Shupe prompted ChatGPT, showing the custom commands she created and the edits she made.

It includes a side-by-side comparison of the unedited machine output and the final version of Shupe’s book. On a sentence level, she adjusted almost every line in some way, from changes in word choice to structure. One example describing a character in the novel: “Mark eyed her, a complex mix of concern and annoyance evident in his gaze” becomes “Mark studied her, his gaze reflecting both worry and irritation.”

The appeal cites another recent AI copyright decision about the graphic novel Zarya and the Dawn , which incorporates AI-generated images created with Midjourney. In February 2023, author Kris Kashtanova was granted copyright to the selection and arrangement of AI-generated images in the text, even though they were denied copyright on the specific images themselves.

When the USCO granted Shupe’s request for copyright, it did not address the disability argument put forth but agreed with the appeal’s other argument. Shupe could be considered the author of “selection, coordination, and arrangement of text generated by artificial intelligence,” the agency wrote, backdating her copyright registration to October 10, 2023, the day that Shupe had originally attempted to register her work. That gives her authorship of the work overall, prohibiting unauthorized wholecloth reproduction of the entire book, but not copyright protection over the actual sentences of the novel.

“Overall, we are extremely satisfied,” says Vescovo. The team felt that copyrighting the book’s compilation would provide peace of mind against out-and-out reproduction of the work. “We really wanted to make sure we could get her this protection right now.” The Brooklyn Law team hope Shupe’s approval can serve as a blueprint for other people experimenting with AI text generation who want some copyright protection.

“I’m going to take this as a win for now,” Shupe says, even though she knows that “in some ways, it’s a compromise.” She maintains that the way she uses ChatGPT more closely resembles a collaboration than an automated output, and that she should be able to copyright the actual text of the book.

Matthew Sag, a professor of law and artificial intelligence at Emory University, calls what the USCO granted Shupe “thin copyright”—protection against full-fledged duplication of materials that doesn’t stop someone from rearranging the paragraphs into a different story. “This is the same kind of copyright you would get in an anthology of poetry that you didn’t write,” Sag says.

Erica Van Loon agrees. “It’s hard to imagine something more narrow,” she says.

Shupe is part of a larger movement to make copyright law friendlier to AI and the people who use it. The Copyright Office, which both administers the copyright registration system and advises Congress, the judiciary system, and other governmental agencies on copyright matters, plays a central role in determining how works that use AI are treated.

Although it continues to define authorship as an exclusively human endeavor , the USCO has demonstrated openness to registering works that incorporate AI elements. The USCO said in February that it has granted registration to over 100 works with AI incorporated; a search by WIRED found over 200 copyright registration applications explicitly disclosing AI elements, including books, songs, and visual artworks.

One such application came from Tyler Partin, who works for a chemical manufacturer. He recently registered a tongue-in-cheek song he created about a coworker, but excluded lyrics that he spun up using ChatGPT from his registration. Partin sees the text generator as a tool, but ultimately doesn’t think he should take credit for its output. Instead, he applied only for the music rather than the accompanying words. “I didn’t do that work,” he says.

But there are others who share Shupe’s perspective and agree with her mission, and believe that AI-generated materials should be registrable. Some high-profile attempts to register AI-generated artworks have resulted in USCO refusals, like artist Jason M. Allen’s effort to get his award-winning artwork Théâtre D’opéra Spatial copyrighted last year. AI researcher Stephen Thaler has been on a mission for years to prove that he should be entitled to copyright protections for a work made by the AI system he developed.

Thaler is currently appealing a ruling in the US last year that rebuffed his attempt to obtain copyright. Ryan Abbott, the lead attorney on the case, founded the Artificial Inventor Project , a group of intellectual property lawyers who file test cases seeking legal protections for AI-generated works.

Abbott is a supporter of Shupe’s mission, although he’s not a member of her legal team. He isn’t happy that the copyright registration excludes the AI-generated work itself. “We all see it as a very big problem,” he says.

Shupe and her legal helpers don’t have plans to push the ADA argument further by contesting the USCO’s decision, but it’s an issue that is far from settled. “The best path is probably to lobby Congress for an addition to the ADA statute,” says Askin. “There's a potential for us to draft some legislation or testimony to try to move Congress in that direction.”

Shupe’s qualified victory is still a significant marker in how the Copyright Office is grappling with what it means to be an author in the age of AI. She hopes going public with her efforts will reduce what she sees as a stigma against using AI as a creative tool. Her metaphorical nuke didn’t go off, but she has nonetheless advanced her cause. “I haven't been this excited since I unboxed a Commodore 64 back in the 1980s and, after a lot of noise, connected to a distant computer,” she says.

Updated 17-4-2024, 4:35 pm EDT: President Biden's executive order on AI last year asked the US Patent and Trademark office to make recommendations on copyright and AI in consultation with the Copyright Office, it did not ask the Copyright Office itself to make the recommendations.

Updated 18-4-2024, 9 am EDT: This piece has been updated to clarify Stephen Thaler's position on AI system copyright.

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