2. HELLO!
Bernardo Bueno
Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing
Undergraduate CW Course Director
PUCRS - Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul
bernardo.bueno@pucrs.br
pucrs.academia.edu/bernardobueno
MA – PUCRS (Brazil)
PhD – University of East Anglia (UK)
4. ““Since we are a creative organization, people
tend to assume a great deal of what we do
can’t be measured or analyzed. That is
wrong.”
- Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc.
6. BRAZIL
- 5th biggest country in the world
- Developing country
- Population: over 2 billion
- Porto Alegre: RS state capital, 2 million
- Reading habits: could be better (4,5 / year)
- 2014 World Cup
- 2016 Olympics
- Now: major political and economical crisis
- Great beaches, though (but not in the South)
8. BRAZIL
- Some Brazilian writers:
- Clarice Lispector
- Machado de Assis
- Paulo Coelho
- Cecilia Meirelles
- Rachel de Queiroz
- João Guimarães Rosa
- Luis Fernando Verissimo
- Erico Verissimo
- Adelia Prado
9. PUCRS UNIVERSITY
Private university
over 20,000 students
Wide range of majors
internationalization, inovation, creativity
also offers classes in English
TECNOPUC: tech startups
Most advanced library in Latin America
12. FACULTY OF LETTERS
(soon SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND LETTERS)
75 years in 2015
Paying and non-paying students
(most students – so far – will be teachers)
Collaboration with other schools
Undergraduate and graduate courses
Outreach and continued studies
Lexis
Classes at night (19.30 - 22.45)
Students per class: from 15 to 60
Working students
13. COURSES OFFERED
UNDERGRADUATE
Portuguese
Language and
Literature
English Language
and Literature
Creative Writing
GRADUATE
(MA and PhD)
Literary Theory
Linguistics
Creative Writing
CONTINUED
STUDIES
Languages: English,
Portuguese,
Japanese, Italian,
Hebrew, Latin…
Creative Writing:
distance learning
Other short courses
14. CREATIVE WRITING IN BRAZIL
Before:
Writers talked to each other
private writing workshops
2006: first formal Creative Writing courses
(PUCRS MA and short-lived undergraduate courses
for writers and agents)
15. CREATIVE WRITING AT PUCRS
1985: writing workshop
2006-2011: Literary Theory MA (emphasis on CW)
2007: undergraduate modules
2012: graduate studies research field
2015: distance learning
2016: undergraduate course
The only university in Brazil offering Creative
Writing degrees (but we’ve heard some rumours…)
16. BRAZIL
- Writing workhop: 750 students so far
- Undergraduate modules: 650 students so far
(roughly 150 students every semester)
- Up to 12 MA students and 10 PhD students
per year
- First PhD student graduating in 2016
- 80 new undergraduate students in 2016
(40 summer, 40 winter)
17. BRAZIL
- CW students are paying students (tuition: roughly
R$ 12,000 or £2,000 per year)
- it may sound low, but remember:
- the Brazilian real has lost strength: three years
ago it would amount to £4,000
- Minimum wage: £1,920 per year
- Having 80 new paying students is a lot,
considering the situation
18. MODULES
Undergraduate
Creative Writing
Writing Workshop
Poetry Writing
Fiction
Non-fiction
Children and YA
Screenwriting
Genre Writing
Literary Market
Graduate
Writing Workhop
Novel Writing
Seminar
Literature and
Digital Technologies
Out-of-the-box
Creativity Lab
Repertoire
Events
FESTIVA
(CW Party)
Annual event
(always a part of
school events)
19. FUTURE
Challenges:
- Keep attracting students
- Readership
- Undergraduate course consolidation
- Internationalisation: joint degrees, university
partnerships, research, mobility
- Facing the crisis: sustainability
