John Corless facilitates Creative Writing Night Class at GMIT-Castlebar

John Corless

A new course of night classes in Creative Writing will commence in GMIT Castlebar in the new year. The course runs on Tuesday nights for twelve weeks commencing Tuesday January 26th, and each class lasts two hours. The classes will suit beginners and improvers.

This is a practical and fun course with the emphasis on writing. Topics covered include what to write about, point of view, setting, style, voice, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, dialogue, drama, critique and markets. The structure of the classes is very supportive to the often very personal nature of writing. At the end of the course students should have an impressive body of work completed.

Many satisfied students have taken this course over the past couple of years. Some have gone on to win prizes and had their work published.

The facilitator, John Corless, is a vastly experienced tutor. He has an MA in Creative Writing and is currently researching a PhD. He has performed his work all over the country including at the Electric Picnic, Force 12 and The Munster Literary Festival. He writes poetry, drama and fiction. He work has been published in Ireland, the UK, Norway, Japan, Canada and the USA. He has won many prizes for his writing.

John’s debut collection, Are you ready? (Salmon Poetry) was published this summer and the first print run sold out rapidly. Already one of the biggest selling poetry titles of the year, the collection looks to be one of the biggest selling poetry books for many years.

His poetry is a mix of political and satirical; one critic described it as Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors. Another said: "... he shines the tell tale torchlight of his killer wit into all the most embarrassing areas of contemporary Irish life. No-one is safe..." The Western People said: “…side-splitting humour and tongue-in-cheek commentary are synonymous with John’s poetry…"

Anyone interested in taking the Creative Writing night classes should book immediately to avoid disappointment as places are limited. Bookings are made directly with the college only, at their Lifelong Learning Dept., Westport Road, Castlebar. You can telephone GMIT on 094 9025700. The college will host an open evening at the Castlebar campus on Wednesday 13th. January from 7-9pm to finalize bookings. This is an opportunity to meet the tutor who will answer any questions you may have and to enrol for the course.

If you want any further details on the course, or if you can't wait to for the enrolment night, you can telephone John on: 087 98 43 900.