CW/LT 355 - Making Words Your Own

How many times are we told to find our voice? But what does that mean? Is it something we must seek elsewhere, or is it already there, waiting within us? And if it is, how do we learn to hear it? How do we quiet the background noise and make space for it?

Focusing on the use of voice in Irish writing - from James Joyce to contemporary fiction - Making Words Your Own invites students to broaden their understanding of identity and Irish literature while developing their creative practice as readers and writers. Through close reading, in-depth discussion, and stimulating coursework, students will explore the inner self and its relationship to language and form.

By engaging with a diverse range of perspectives, genres, and literary styles, participants will come to see voice as a layered and powerful element of literary expression, and as something that can be consciously shaped and used in their own writing. Each week focuses on an identity-focused theme explored through different texts, encouraging students to value literature and creative writing as tools for understanding both their voice and their place in the contemporary world.