Creative Writing news archive
Literary soundwalk
Ellen Wiles has created a literary soundwalk as part of her new creative research project to engage audiences imaginatively and immersively with place, landscape, and nature. ‘Pebbled Heights, Mossy Depths’ was commissioned by the East Devon AONB and the Double Elephant Print Workshop.
You can access it here: https://www.ellenwiles.com/literary-soundwalks/
Professor Vesna Goldsworthy elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
We are proud and delighted to announce that Professor Vesna Goldsworthy has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Sadly she’ll have to wait until next year to sign the RSL’s Roll Book, but when she does she’ll be able to do so with one of six writer’s pens: Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, T.S. Eliot, George Eliot, Jean Rhys or Andrea Levy. Vesna will probably go for Byron’s quill, because of his Balkan connections.
UKLA Book Awards success for Wendy O'Shea-Meddour
Wendy O'Shea-Meddour has been selected as an outstanding winner of the UKLA Book Awards: the only national award judged by class teachers. Her book, Tibble and Grandpa, is 'a touching intergenerational tale of loss and resilience'. She was shortlisted last year for another of her books, Lubna and Pebble.
Shortlist success for Violet Berney
First year Creative Writing student, Violet Berney, has been shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize, and for the Frosted Fire Firsts prize, for her poetry.
Goldsworthy’s new novel a London Book Fair hot title
Professor Vesna Goldsworthy’s new novel, Iron Curtain, was a hot title at the London Book Fair 2021.
'This cold-climate Medea retains the grace and resilience of literary art while wading deep into the most riveting human drama, in which people are not so much motivated as ordained by history to enact and desire certain things. Vesna Goldsworthy’s masterly novel interrogates the very notions of character and narrative and fate, while offering the most scintillating example of how a story can and should be made from them. She is at once the most impartial and the tenderest of observers, a bold dramatist and a subtle humorist, and she has written a book so full of steel and compassion that it stands glitteringly apart.’ Rachel Cusk
Three new children's books from Dr Wendy O'Shea Meddour
Dr Wendy O’Shea Meddour has published three new children’s books in 2021: Not in that Dress, Princess, Howard the Average Gecko, and Tisha and the Blossom, and was longlisted for the prestigious Greenaway Medal 2021.
'Ground-breaking' new book from Dr Ellen Wiles
Dr Ellen Wiles has published her third book: Live Literature: The Experience and Cultural Value of Literary Performance Events from Salons to Festivals (Palgrave, 2021). It has been described as ‘ground-breaking’, ‘hugely entertaining’, and ‘sure to be the standard work on the subject for years to come’. She has been invited to speak about it at various events including The Bookseller’s Marketing and Publicity Conference 2021.
Dr John Wedgewood Clarke on poetry and climate change
Dr John Wedgwood Clarke has been a guest on BBC Radio 3, discussing poetry and climate change.
Ruth Gilligan has won the prestigious Ondaatje Prize
University of Exeter alumna Ruth Gilligan (PhD English, 2014) has won the 2021 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for her book The Butchers. This annual prize of £10,000 is awarded for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.
Cherie Jones has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2021
Former Exeter PhD student Cherie Jones has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2021 for her novel How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House which she wrote for her thesis. (I mentioned to you before that she had been longlisted.)
Carla Jenkins has been longlisted for the Spread the Word Prize
Exeter Creative Writing MA student Carla Jenkins has been longlisted for the Spread the Word Prize for life writing.
Kirsten Udall wins writing competition
A third year English student at the University of Exeter has won a Young Writers Short Story award.