Summer: Rutgers-WINTER IS COMING, SUMMER IS HERE: Write Fantasy on the Emerald Island
The Program
"You were born in the long summer. You've never known anything else. But now winter is truly coming." - Eddard Stark, The Game of Thrones
Follow in the legendary footsteps of giants (and the lord of Winterfell), while exploring the many folk/fairy tales of the Emerald Island (Ireland, Northern Ireland) and writing a few of your own. Join Rutgers Creative Writing instructor Alex Dawson, best selling Irish fantasy author/Dr. Who scribe Dave Rudden (Knights of the Borrowed Dark, Sister Wake), half a dozen internationally known Irish authors, and eight Irish Creative Writing students for a two week fable-fueled collaboration with Dublin City University that takes you from the Book of Kells (created by Irish monks and said to be the oldest book in the world) to the Giant's Causeway, an iconic Word Heritage Site and geological wonder. Plus Winterfell, King's Road, the Iron Islands, and so much more!
Program Locations
Ireland
Dublin
While in Dublin you'll stay on the oldest and most beautiful part of DCU, All Hallows Campus (350 years old and haunted!), eat breakfast in the dining hall, attend workshops/lectures on campus, visit sites of literary interest (the Book of Kells, Dublin Writing Museum, James Joyce Centre) and have dinner discussions with celebrated local authors in a variety of evocative restaurants (like the eclectic Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest and most haunted pub, and Johnnie Fox's in the foothills of mythic Wicklow Mountains).
Northern Ireland
Giant's Causeway
The second week, we'll travel North to the mythic Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, where we'll be staying at the Causeway Hotel, a beautiful Old World hotel (dating back to the early 1800s) situated directly on the cliff edge and offering unrivaled, dramatic sea views. According to legend, the 40,000 interlocking basalt columns of the causeway are the remains of a raised road built across the North Channel by the Irish giant Finn MacCool, who was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner, so the two giants could meet (but it's actually the wondrous result of an ancient volcanic eruption). Northern Ireland is also home to more Seven Kingdoms sites than anywhere else in the world, earning it the title: Game of Thrones Territory. We'll be visiting such shooting locations as Castle Ward (Winterfell), Dunluce Castle, (Pyke, the ancient stronghold of House Greyjoy; also the inspiration for Cair Paravel, the royal castle in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia), Ballintoy Harbour (Lordsport Harbour, the Iron Islands), The Dark Hedges (King's Road), Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and Cushendun Caves.
Academics
While in Dublin and the Giant's Causeway, you'll attend talks/discussions by well known Irish authors and create/workshop/declaim written work inspired by your experience(s) in Ireland/Northern Ireland: the places you visit, the legends you hear, the people you meet - culminating in public reading on DCU's All Hallows Campus, attended by other students/locals and live streamed for friends and family back home. While your work may ostensibly take the form of poetry, non-fiction or fiction, we encourage you to take inspiration from the landscape and local lore (as well as the assigned reading).
Housing and Meals
Students will share rooms in dorms and hotels. 4 group dinners are included. While in Dublin students will stay in the All Hallows Dorm, breakfast is included. Students are responsible for meals not included.
Financial Information
Program Costs
| NJ Resident | non-NJ Resident | |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | $4,760 | $5,140 |
| Graduate | $5,000 | $5,360 |
| *English Majors are eligible for a $1000 scholarship to lower the cost of the program. Details below. |
Program Cost includes:
- Tuition
- Housing
- Some meals
- In country transportation
- Excursions, visits, guest lectures, day trips
- Administrative Fees
- Emergency Medical Access Abroad
Out-of-Pocket Costs
| Airfare | $1,100 |
| Meals | $300 |
| ETA application | $20 |
| Books and Classroom Materials | $50 |
| Personal Expenses | $200 |
| Total | $1,670.00 |
Out-of-Pocket Cost includes:
The above costs are estimations and represent the known out-of-pocket costs students encounter during their time abroad.
Some of these expenses will be paid for prior to going abroad, such as an airline ticket, while some of these expenses, such as meals and personal expenses, will be paid in-country as part of your daily expenses. As you plan, you will need to budget these costs and spend wisely throughout your time abroad.
Scholarships
Faculty Leaders
Alex Dawson is full time faculty at Rutgers University, where he teaches creative writing courses geared towards fantasy, folklore, and weird fiction and curates/hosts "Inside the Writers House," a weekly video chat with authors from all over the world. He also helms a fantasy fiction winter workshop/retreat in Ireland and Scotland with authors Dave Rudden (12 Angels Weeping) and Lev Grossman (The Magicians).