Richard Ford has been described as one of America's finest authors. He won both the Pulitzer and the PEN/Faulkner awards, which aren't shabby prizes by any means.
Wouldn't you as a budding author be thrilled beyond measure if you could study creative writing under the likes of such a man? And you'd expect that he'd be lecturing at some prestigious university with a world-renowned writers program. The Iowa Writers Workshop, perhaps? None of it.
In what is surely a coup for the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing at Trinity College, Dublin, Richard Ford has been made an adjunct professor in the School of English. Want to study creative writing under him? You'll have to travel to Ireland.
Can't blame the man for accepting the part time job, which will see him in Ireland several times over the course of the year for the next three years. It's a beautiful little island, and cead mile failte hasn't been forgotten in the rush to prosperity.
Graduate students have already been treated to classes with the well-known author, who will be giving public readings as part of his duties.
Trinity College opened the Wilde Centre ten years ago in the Wilde family home, with a mission to teach and study Irish literature. Having the likes of Richard Ford in residence, instructing and reading, is a perfect fit for the college's plans to develop an international reputation as a creative writing powerhouse.
How grand would it be, to fill out your biography paragraph in a query letter with a mention of studying under Richard Ford at the Oscar Wilde Centre in Dublin? Beats the mundane dullness of Iowa City, doesn't it?
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