Course content 
The Minor in “Creative Writing” is aimed at Master’s students for whom the written word is a key dimension of their (envisaged) professional identity and who wish to expand their horizons in this regard and/or learn more about specific fields of writing. The spectrum ranges from literary-narrative to dramatic to journalistic approaches in both classic contexts such as art, theatre, music, film and design and new hybrid fields combining arts and the media. 

Key areas of competency include work on research, genres, materials and figures, analysis and self-questioning in aspects such as style, technique and craftsmanship, and more in-depth reflection on writing as a cultural technique in the digital present. In the Minor, students write texts or plays that are designed for potential publication. Communication formats and feedback rounds with people from the target contexts help students to further develop their own profiles and increase their chances of obtaining funding and/or publication. 

Skills
Students operate in the following competency areas (though it is possible and indeed desirable to set individual priorities):

Reading/interpretation: The modules revolve around reading and interpretation skills both in the sense of thinking about and analyzing texts in students’ own field (as an author and/or proofreader) and in the sense of criticism as an interpretation of works in all art forms.

Writing/creation: These modules revolve around writing as a craft, technique and strategy in the sense of “applied poetics” in all sub-fields of writing in the arts/writing as art.

Production/design: The modules revolve around texts (in both the narrower and the broader sense) that address readers/recipients as a materialized product within a market and a sub-sphere of the cultural public.

Admissions requirements
Applicants must be registered on a ZHdK Master’s degree programme and have a strong sensitivity for language and text in at least one sub-field of writing in the arts. This means that they must have reading experience and analytical skills, but also proven potential in the creation of sophisticated texts. The decision regarding admission to the minor is made on the basis of an aptitude test.

Language skills required.
You need the following languages to take this minor:
–  German: to be able to follow a discussion
–  German: to actively participate in a verbal exchange
–  German: to understand a text
–  German: to write a text

Special features of the course
The Minor “Creative Writing” is committed to the idea of dialogue-based, active learning in which “learners” can become “teachers” (and vice versa) at any time. This depends on the approaches of the participants, direct dialogue with lecturers and fellow students, and contact with specific professional people/publication contexts. 

It is a modular study programme that enables participants to navigate individually within a broad selection of courses and thus put together their own, tailored learning paths. 

The Minor may be undertaken consecutively. In the “Creative writing – basic” minor (15 credits), students develop and define their own profile. In the “Creative writing – advanced” minor (15 credits), this is fully realized and then evidenced in a minor project.

A number of modules are shared with the Cultural Publishing major and various other ZHdK programmes – including, specifically, the CAS/DAS Writing in Art and Culture.

Time structure
The Minor “Creative Writing” takes place in the Minor Weeks and on Friday afternoons.

Lecturers
Lukas Bärfuss is a writer and playwright. His novels are published by Wallstein Verlag.
Claudio Bucher is a cultural publisher, musician, film composer and lecturer on the Master’s in Cultural Publishing.
Delphine Chapuis Schmitz is an artist with a PhD in Philosophy. She has been teaching on the Master of Arts in Transdisciplinary Studies (ZHdK) since 2012. She writes and mentors in French, German and English.
Stefan Jäger is a director, screenwriter and producer. As a lecturer, he is responsible for the field of study of screenwriting at ZHdK.
Christoph Keller is a reporter, author, co-founder of podcastlab.ch and a lecturer on the Master of Arts in Cultural Publishing (ZHdK).
Florian Keller is a cultural editor specializing in film and literature for the Wochenzeitung newspaper.
Jochen Kiefer holds the chair of Dramaturgy at ZHdK and is responsible for the Bachelor and Master of Arts in Dramaturgy (ZHdK).
Peter Kuntner is an exhibition maker, expert in book trade/publishing and chairman of the board of Limmat Verlag.
Eva Mackensen is a journalist, cultural scientist and lecturer on the Master of Arts in Cultural Publishing (ZHdK).
Franziska Nyffenegger (Co-Head of Programme) holds a PhD in Cultural Sciences, and is a copy-editor and lecturer at ZHdK. She writes/mentors in German, Spanish and English.
Daniel Puntas Bernet is the publisher and senior editor of the Reportagen magazine.
Aoife Rosenmeyer is an art critic and a translator. She writes and mentors in English and German.
Paula Scheidt is a reporter and member of the editorial board of Annabelle magazine.
Ruth Schweikert is a writer. Her novels are published by Fischer Verlag.
Barbara Sommer is a theatre scholar, dramatist and screenwriter.
Tabea Steiner is is a literary mediator and author.
Patrick Tschirky is a Germanist and lecturer at the IAM Institute of Applied Media Sciences at ZHAW as well on the Master of Arts in Cultural Publishing at ZHdK.
Ruedi Widmer (Head of Programme) is a journalist and publicist. He is responsible for the Master of Arts in Cultural Publishing at ZHdK. He writes and mentors in German, French, English and Spanish.

→ More about the Minor Creative Writing – basic (PDF-Download)
→ More about the Minor Creative Writing – advanced (PDF-Download)