Author: brunelwriter

Poet in the City – Upcoming Events

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Poet in the City presents a series showcasing some of the most exciting new voices in poetry. Acclaimed International poets, rising stars, and some of the UK’s best new performance poets, will come together in a unique celebration of the power of words.

Come and experience poetry as you’ve never seen it before – inside London’s biggest bowler hat!

Living London – Monday 7th July 6.30pm – Living London is a celebration of some of London’s most exciting poets, writers and performance artists, in collaboration with Tilt. http://www.ontilt.org/

* Drawing on the unique Bowler Hat venue, the artists will explore London from all angles, from the surreal to the sublime! Living London will feature a live art performance by Stacy Makishi, flash fiction and wordplay by Femi Martin and poetry by Antosh Wojcik.

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London Calling – Monday 14 July 6.30pm – Celebrating the publication of My Voice: A Decade of Poems from The Poetry Translation Centre, this event showcases the outstanding contemporary poetry written in three languages widely spoken in London: Arabic, Persian and Somali.
* Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi is widely regarded as one of the leading African poets writing in Arabic. His Collected Poems was published in 2010. A distinguished journalist, he was forced into exile in 2012 and now lives in London.
* Caasha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is one of the most exciting young poets of the Somali diaspora. She came to the UK in 1990 having fled the Somali Civil War and now lives in London.
* Reza Mohammadi was born in Kandahar in 1979. His three collections of poetry have gained him many awards, such as from the Afghan Ministry of Culture in 2004 and prizes for being Iran’s best young poet in 1996 and 1997.
* English translations will be read by Sarah Maguire (founder and director of the Poetry Translation Centre) and the poet Clare Pollard.

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How to Book:

Tickets for each event cost £8 and can be purchased via:

Living London

London Calling

For further information please contact Poet in the City on 0207 014 2812 or info@poetinthecity.co.uk

The Bowler Hat, Paternoster Square, London EC4M.
Nearest tube station is St Pauls.

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** Listen to Poet in the City’s informal Podcast with Antosh Wojcik – one of the youngest performers who will be at the Living London spoken word event – here: https://audioboo.fm/boos/2267780-living-london-interview-with-antosh-wojcik

** Follow Poet in the City’s Blog, Twitter account: @PoetintheCityUK, or Facebook page for more information about upcoming events.

** Follow @brunelwriter on Twitter for information about events, competitions and job opportunities in the world of writing!

A Guide to Surviving the Summer

On By brunelwriterIn Uncategorized4 Comments

No, this isn’t about safety abroad or using sun protection; (although we do advise those things) this is about how to get through the long summer months which fall between exam period and fresher’s week without losing your mind.

Summer

The last week of term after exams always feels free, and celebratory, but what then? What do you do from late May to September? Of course, a lot of students have jobs or internships, but in the last few years it has seemed more difficult to find these opportunities, which means you may lose motivation.

So what can you do? Well…

Write something – you have all the time in the world now to just write something you want to write, not because you’ve been told to, not because you have an impending deadline. You could write something fantastic that would get published, you could write something utterly terrible that you never show to anyone, that won’t get you a bad grade. You could explore and develop some of the things you wrote over the academic year (because don’t we all improve so much between week 1 and now?) The point is that if you do something which feels productive, it is likely to motivate you to do other productive things.

Take up a hobby – It doesn’t have to be a new craft, it can be something that slowly became less prominent as the academic year got more and more crazy. What do you love to do? Think about it, do you miss it? Do it. Again, sometimes it’s difficult to get motivated to even do things that you know you love doing when you feel like you have nothing to do, but seriously, go and make a pie, bake an upside down cake, build a computer, make your own dress, plant some vegetables. Seeing and holding the product of your own work is extremely fulfilling.

Read a book – Read two books, read ten, read a hundred. This is your opportunity to pick up any book in the world and read it just because you want to. Apart from being one of the best feelings in the world, it will still hone your reading skills and your writing skills. One of the first things I was taught at Brunel was ‘the more you read, good great or terrible, the better your writing will be’.

Do voluntary work – If you’re looking for actual paid work, then voluntary work won’t get in the way. It is flexible, it’s far easier to get into than a paid position, because in general, if you have the time, you are qualified. It will also look great on your CV and will get you out of the house for a few hours each week.

Start a blog – This kind of goes hand in hand with ‘Write something’, but then again, you blog doesn’t have to be for stories or your other creative work. You can take anything you enjoy and blog about it. Film reviews, books, games, crafts, cooking, health and fitness, nail art. The world, as the say, is your oyster when it comes to blogs, and it’s hard to explain how surreal and satisfying it is seeing views accumulate from all over the world.

Those are a few tips, hopefully they’re useful to you in some way. What are your tips for staying productive over the summer?

*** Don’t forget to follow @brunelwriter on Twitter for information about competitions, job opportunities and quotes of the day.

*** Want to contribute? Check out ‘Submit’ tab!

This house will become a shrine –

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” – and punks and skins and rastas will all gather round and hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader. And all the grown-ups will say, ‘But why are the kids crying?’ And the kids will say, ‘Haven’t you heard? Rick is dead! The People’s Poet is dead!’  And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, ‘Other kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?'” 

Rik

Comedy lost a hero this week. It is with a heavy heart that we say our goodbyes to Rik Mayall – the People’s Poet, the Young One, an imaginary friend; one of the most lovable comedy geniuses of the last thirty years.

It is rare to see someone’s popularity stand the test of time, and even more rare to see their jokes do the same. It is a testament to him as a person and how he revolutionised the way we write and digest comedy, from performing horrendous poetry which he made hilarious as Rik, The People’s Poet, to co-writing this stand up routine with Ade Edmondson:

Rik is someone who I had been aware of for over half of my life – The Young Ones being shown to me by one of my school friends, aged only eleven. I found him funny then, but after studying the comedy module in my final term as an undergraduate student, I feel a huge amount of respect for him, and am deeply saddened by his sudden loss.

In 2011, Rik Mayall came to Brunel University to film his interactive web drama ‘Soapopolis’, with the help of Creative Writing Subject Leader Max Kinnings and ex Pro Vice Chancellor Steve Dixon. He has been described as ‘a friend of Brunel’, and ‘an amazing person to work with’ by staff and students alike.

Rik Mayall will continue to be an icon in the world of comedy for decades to come. Those who write stand up comedy or sit-coms will still look to him for guidance and the confidence to really push the boundaries of what an audience expects.

Rik’s song ‘Nobel England’ is currently the number 1 downloaded song, head over to iTunes/Amazon to keep it there.

Rik 2

Creative Writing at Brunel on the Rise

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The Guardian League Table has been released this week, and has generated a great deal of school pride for Brunelians, with a 32 place jump for English and Creative Writing, we are now 6th, only one step behind Oxford, and two places ahead of UEA!

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Photo Credit – http://iamchad.com/from-zero-to-the-first-page-day-one/

I have always been keen to tell people how great Brunel is for Creative Writing, English, and in general, and I am more than proud now to be able to write this post about our huge achievement.

Go to http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/03/guardian-university-guide-2015-improving-departments to read about our jump in the league tables, with a quote from Dr Nick Hubble, head of Brunel’s English School.

Keep up the excellent work, Brunel, onwards and upwards.

Laura

*** Follow @brunelwriter for writing news, competitions and quotes of the day!

*** If you have an idea for an article, find out how to contribute by looking at our ‘submit’ tab!

Under the Weather

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Living in England, we are used to the weather being ridiculously temperamental. A few weekends ago, people were walking around in shorts, with horrific sunburn. Now, it’s big jumpers and umbrellas.

Cloudy
*PHOTO CREDIT: andersbjornsbo.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/does-cloud-computing-only-work-in-cloudy-weather/

When I opened my curtains this morning, the clouds were shifting and there was a hint of blue skies. I felt motivated to write for the first time in a long time. Not only that, but my mood lifted instantly. Within the hour, the clouds have returned, and with it, the familiar sense of being entirely unmotivated to write anything at all, save for some sarcastic tweets.

I find myself wondering if this is a common thing – Does the weather really affect us in this way? Do clouds in the sky somehow manifest as writer’s block, clouding our creative vision? Do they make for dull writing? In the same vein, does the sun make us write with more tenacity and verve? Does the rain make our writing take on a more sombre edge?

I’m interested in your viewpoints, writers. Please leave a comment below or send a tweet to @brunelwriter.

     ***Follow @brunelwriter on Twitter for writing competitions, creative news, opinions and discussion regarding all forms of creative writing.

       ***If you have an idea for an article, either send a tweet to @brunelwriter, or check our ‘submissions’ tab!

Will Self in conversation with Matt Thorne

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Date: 21 May 2014

Time: 18:00 – 19:00

Location: Brunel University Library

After the success of our Warsan Shire event in February, we are pleased to announce that our next talk in the Brunel Author Series will be with the internationally acclaimed author, journalist and broadcaster Will Self.

Professor Self will read from his work and then discuss his writing with Matt Thorne, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Brunel University.

Will Self is currently the Professor for Contemporary Thought at Brunel University, and has a worldwide reputation for his award winning writing. At the time of sending this e-mail, he is the prolific author of nine works of fiction, including the Booker short-listed Umbrella, six collections of non-fiction, three novellas and six short story collections. Will is a well-known face on several television programmes such Newsnight and Have I Got News For You, as well as a contributor to many BBC Radio 4 programmes. He is perhaps best known at Brunel for his Psychogeography course, a form of urban geography that employs walking around liminal spaces as a way of exploring the relationship between the environment and the mind.

Matt Thorne is the award nominated author of several books of fiction including Booker long-listed Cherry and most recently a biography of Prince.

The event will take place at 6pm on Wednesday 21st May in the Library, Bannerman Centre, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH. Booking is essential. Free places can be reserved by e-mailing library.events@brunel.ac.uk.

Books will be available to buy on the evening from Waterstones.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Creative Writing Research Success

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F_C_BUCIU_POSTER_Final
Please click on the image to view the winning poster

Creative Writing PhD student, Felicia Catalina Buciu, wins the Graduate School Research Poster Competition

I am absolutely delighted to win this research poster competition and represent the School of Arts and the Creative Writing programme. My PhD tutor, Celia Brayfield encouraged me to participate. Although I wasn’t keen on the idea at first, since I thought this was taking precious time away from writing my PhD novel, I trusted Celia’s recommendation that getting exposure to other people’s points of view was going to be worth the experience. Celia is a fantastic tutor with great insight into the publishing world as well as an outstanding teacher and mentor, so I knew her advice was worth its weight in gold.

Indeed, the poster conference was a great opportunity to engage with other PhD students and learn about their research projects but also a moment of reflection, listening to the judges’ questions and taking in their suggestions.

But most of all, I experienced the most exciting moment to me as a writer: talking to potential readers. The premise of my novel, ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Choosy’, is that by 2050 Italy is a de jure gerontocracy that cannibalises its young. Thus, young people in Italy will be used as spare organ parts for an ageing population, if they don’t make it in a socially acceptable way by the age of 30. Through a journey of discovery of the ‘personal is political’ 1970’s feminist movement, my 33 year old female protagonist, Alida, is in a race against time to save herself and her generation.

I was thrilled to see that my work in progress raised the visitors’ interest. I was also happy to be able to convey the potential for creative writing to use the universal language of storytelling and draw upon inter-disciplinary research to make sense of the world.

I endeavor to finish my novel by the end of this year and I look forward to working alongside my tutor, the wonderful and resourceful academic and support staff at the School of Arts and the exceptionally supportive staff at the Graduate School.

Please click on the image above to view the winning poster.

Dark Aemilia and the Creative Writing PhD by Sally O’Reilly

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Dark_Aemilia

I enrolled on the MA Creative Writing, The Novel at Brunel after being published by Penguin books – and then dropped when my second book didn’t sell. I wanted to go back to basics, re-ignite my love for writing and develop a stronger awareness of genre and the commercial possibilities of writing. I enjoyed this experience so much that I ended up studying for a PhD and writing a historical novel about Aemilia Bassano Lanyer, one of several women who may have been Shakespeare’s muse and the inspiration for his later sonnets: his Dark Lady.

Writing fiction in an academic context was a major departure for me, and I found it challenging and strange to begin with. My first two novels were written instinctively and intuitively, and I was loathe to plot or plan anything. My third was carefully crafted, researched in great detail, and forced me to write in a way I had never tried before. I found that I could only make the story ‘live’ if I wrote it in the first person, and this meant trying to produce a convincing facsimile of a sixteenth century voice.

This would have seemed like an insurmountable problem if I had not had the support and advice of my supervisor Celia Brayfield and my second supervisor Dr Elizabeth Evenden, an expert in Early Modern writing and publishing.  They provided me with structure and feedback, asking pertinent questions about the direction of my draft and the rigour of my research, and giving me their notes and comments to help me shape and develop my drafts. One of the areas that really stretched me intellectually was the critical component of the work, which was an analysis of the various invented versions of Shakespeare which writers have imagined over the last two hundred years. I was fascinated by this, and it helped me invent my own version of Shakespeare with more confidence and sophistication. I realised that so little is known about this iconic figure that writers have carte blanche to concoct their own version, and to project their own fantasy of an uber English writer onto this empty space.

The result was not only a doctorate but a marketable novel I could be proud of. I found the writing and research process hugely rewarding – my time at Brunel was one of the most productive of my writing career so far. And I certainly succeeded in my goal of reinventing myself as historical fiction writer.

Dark Aemilia is published by Myriad Editions in the UK this month, and by Picador US in June. Rights have also been sold in Italy and Turkey.

Sally’s blog, How to be a Writer, is here.

The Voices Inside Our Heads

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Brunel University’s first anthology of short stories by Creative Writing and Creative Writing & English Students at Brunel University

Anthology

BOOK LAUNCH 19th March 2014, 6pm, Antonin Artaud Building

Readings & Minglings

EVERYBODY WELCOME

Just turn up on the door

ENQUIRIES: brunelanthology2014@gmail.com

BOOKS will be ON SALE at £5 each

29 students, 29 stories

The characters in this superb book of short stories by Brunel undergrads range from a self-harming schoolboy to a Buddhist monk in Thailand; from cheating husbands to a mother hell-bent on plastic surgery. You’ll also find ghosts, broken relationships, loss of religious faith and a devastating flood in Burma, as well as fantasy fiction including a sea witch, a warrior girl who turns into a wolfhound and warring squirrels. You’ll come across quite a few crazies too, including a pathological liar, a serial killer, a boy stalker and a man whose itch gets so out of control he loses it completely.

Writers

Lauren Anderson, Neelam Appaddoo, Chloe Bines, Kirsty Capes, Charlotte Chappell, Stephanie Dickenson, Laura Dunnett, Emily Elicker, Mafaal Faal-Mason, Johno Fagan, Nathan Feldman, Vanessa Gibbs, Bryn Glover, Veronica Grubb, Sophie Hart, Emma Jeremy, Sophie Jones, Jemima Khalli, Molly McCabe, Rebecca Passmore, Rebecca Pizzey, Xenia Rimmer, Ashley Roye-Banton, Joanne Showunmi, Romany Stott, Samantha Symonds, Matthew Thomas, Hannah Varney, Rebbeca West