CONTEMPORARY CULTURES OF WRITING – Spring 2018 seminars
DATES: 20th February –20th March – 27th March
TIME: All seminars take place on Tuesdays, from 5.30-7.30pm
Venue: Senate House, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Venue map for Senate House. See further information about the seminars
This series will focus on important matters in Creative Writing today. The first seminar will address the ways in which Creative Writing outputs are assessed nationally as research in the university sector. The second will address the sometimes controversial topic of the Creative Writing PhD commentary. The third will explore innovations in poetic practice from the perspective of contemporary practitioners.Please note the date for the PhD commentary seminar has changed - it has been rearranged for later in March (it was originally scheduled for 6th March). See below.
See here for further information about the series
The themes and speakers for the seminars are:
SEMINAR 1: Creative Writing and REF21 – the assessment of practice-based research
Tuesday 20 February, 2018 Room G35
The next national assessment of university scholars’, departments’ and faculties’ research performance will take place in 2021. This seminar considers the practicalities of how such assessment is approached with a practice-based subject such as Creative Writing. Led by, a poet and panellist from the last two assessments in 2008 and 2014, the seminar will engage with the ways in which literary outputs and articles about the creative process might be assessed. Co-organised with NAWE, the seminar will help those preparing outputs for 2021, along with all those working in, or interested in, the subject area.
Speakers: Robert Hampson (Royal Holloway). Introduced by Derek Neale (Open University).
SEMINAR 2: Innovations in Contemporary Poetry: Ekphrastic/collaborative practice
20 March, 2018 Room G35
Innovations in Contemporary Poetry: Ekphrastic/collaborative practice
Poets have long been inspired to write about their responses to works of art in other media, a tradition known as ekphrasis. Within a contemporary context, how are poets reinvigorating the ekphrastic tradition and expanding the concept of ekphrasis through their diverse practices? This session will consider the interplay between poetry and visual art, text and image, language and non-verbal art pieces ((including video andmusic), as well as the collaborative modes and interdisciplinary processes that particular writers and artists have recently used to generate innovative work. The speakers are practitioners who will discuss and read from their work.
Speakers: Deryn Rees-Jones (University of Liverpool), Denise Saul (freelance writer), and
Helen Tookey (Liverpool John Moores University). Introduced by Jane Yeh (Open University).
SEMINAR 3: Writing about writing: what is a creative writing PhD commentary?
Tuesday 27 March, 2018 Room G35
The commentary is a common accompaniment to the novel or poetry collection in a Creative Writing PhD. The student is tasked with writing about their creative process, while making connections to relevant research and cultural contexts. Such commentaries can be controversial, for examiners and those trying to write them. This seminar will be led by three Creative Writing academics who have written commentaries themselves, but also supervised and examined PhDs. They will discuss various genres, including contemporary and historical fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. They will consider various approaches, before inviting open discussion with PhD students and other writers. The seminar is co-organised with the NAWE PhD Network.
Speakers: Derek Neale (also introducing), Sally O’Reilly and Jane Yeh (all Open University).
See here for further information about the series
All seminars are convened by the Open University’s Contemporary Cultures of Writing research group in collaboration with The Institute of English Studies, UCL. The first two seminars are also in collaboration with the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and their PhD Network.