On National Poetry Day, Thursday 3 October, I’ll be giving a reading with Paul Sutherland and David Cooke at the Revival Cafe on Sincil Street, Lincoln, at 7.00.
Free entry. All welcome.
Category Archives: Literature
Publishing success for two of our MA Creative Writers.
Two of our students, Jennifer Fytelson and Shirley Bell, have had poems accepted in magazines.
Jennifer recently had a poem in The Mitre, North America’s oldest literary magaine, published by Bishop’s University in Canada.
Shirley has a poem in a forthcoming issue of The Rialto, one of the UK’s top poetry magazines and publishers.
Congratulations to both of them!
Charlotte Mew, an imp with brains but a forgotten poet.
Illustration: Ellie Foreman- Peck
Mew was certainly doll-like in stature: she wore size-two boots, which she bought at F Pinet in Mayfair. Born in 1869 into a genteel, middle-class, Victorian family and with a domineering mother insistent on keeping up appearances at any cost, Mew was – on the face of it, at least – surprisingly unrepressed. She went where she wanted, unchaperoned, and smoked her own hand-rolled cigarettes.
Source: Julia Copus in The New Statesman.
Fay Weldon speaks up for creative writing.
I would like to see a new discipline, called simply Literacy, taught in our universities and schools, so that the current outpouring of muddy texts can be replaced by a flow of elegant, informative and crystal-clear information – to the benefit of our national pride and dignity. In the meanwhile employers should note that an employee with a qualification in creative writing can be trusted not just to write simply and well, but to be empathic (the fiction writer spends a lot of time pretending to be other people) so is less likely to write tactless emails and cause a scandal unless intentionally. Creative writing is a degree in the effective management of words and emotion and an understanding of how they relate, and yes, it can be taught. And if I might add, should be.
Source: Fay Weldon in Times Higher Education.
Read some old books and do yourself a favour. My ancient classics reading list.
Odysseus resisting the Sirens.
Having posted a couple of reading lists recently I thought I’d compile one of my own.
The list forms an easy introduction to some of the classic works of western civilisation. “Classic” here refers to ancient Greece and Rome plus the Bible, which was produced in the same period.
I’ve put it together partly for my own benefit, to prompt me to do some re-reading but partly in the hope that others will use it. I’m thinking particularly of students of English literature, since an acquaintance with these and other works will prove invaluable in understanding and appreciating many of the texts they’ll be studying.
The texts have been spaced generously over a 12-month period so they can be easily accommodated in other reading.
The video The Essential Value of a Classical Education by Jeffrey Brenzel is a great intro to the whole area.
If anyone finds the list useful or wants to discuss any of the works included, please get in touch. You can always join me on Google+.
CLASSICAL FOUNDATION READING LIST/SCHEDULE
Month 1: The Theban Plays, Sophocles*
Month 2: The Iliad, Homer
Month 3: The Oresteia, Aeschylus**
Month 4: The Odyssey, Homer
Month 5: The Last Days of Socrates, Plato***
Month 6: Metamorphoses, Ovid
Month 7: Odes, Horace
Month 8: The Aeneid, Virgil
Month 9: The Nature of the Universe, Lucretius
Month 10: The Bible (King James Version only).The Old Testament: Genesis; Exodus
Month 11: The Old Testament: Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
Month 12: The New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, plus Revelation.
* The Theban Plays: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone.
** The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Choephori (The Libation-Bearers), The Eumenides.
*** The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo.
NB I haven’t specified which translations or versions of the texts. Most of my copies are old Penguin editions, but I will be buying newer ones and perhaps comparing different versions.
The only book where I have specified the version is the Bible. The King James (Authorised) version is important because the language itself has had such a powerful and lasting influence on literature in English.
Authors should embrace Twitter.
The internet is the best thing that has ever happened for writers.
Not everyone agrees with this.
Some people wish writers would stay the hell off Twitter and stick to writing their books.
Source: Booktrust.
The Neville Prize for aspiring playwrights.
Have your short story turned into a play.
Details of The Neville Prize at Nottingham Playhouse.
A note for students who are reluctant readers – look at this reading list.
W H Auden, the poet, put together a solid reading list for the first semester of his teaching at the University of Michigan, 1941 – 42. Any student who thinks we make them read too much ought have this list stapled to their forehead.
The B S Johnson Journal.
BSJ is a new peer-reviewed journal aimed at promoting the work of B.S. Johnson through academic criticism, essays, interviews, review and creative work. Affiliated with The B.S. Johnson Society, the journal seeks to reflect the multi-disciplinary approach of the writer himself whilst celebrating and analysing his on-going influence within contemporary culture.
Source: A Piece of Monologue.
The Larkin and East Riding Poetry Competition 2013.
The prestigious Larkin and East Riding Poetry Competition is now open for entries.
Shortlisted entries will be judged by one the UK’s most influential poets, Jackie Kay. Poems are submitted anonymously so each entry is judged on its own merits. Winners and commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Bridlington Poetry Festival (14-16 June 2013) in the company of some of the UK’s finest poets, including the Prize’s Judge, Jackie Kay.
Further details here.