Welcome to our latest round up of events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve your career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
A live online panel of English alumni working in editing, librarianship, creative writing, media and law. This event will allow you to hear how graduates have progressed in their careers since leaving Queen Mary. You’ll also gain valuable advice and tips about entering the world of work. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about different roles/sectors, make connections, and have your questions answered in an informal and friendly setting. book your place
Tomiwa Owolade – graduated with a BA in English (2018), went on to study an MA in English at UCL and is now a Writer, Critic and Contributing Editor at Unherd
Nikita Saini – graduated with a BA in English (2012) went on to complete a GDL, LPC, LLM at The University of Law and is now a Solicitor for Axis Capital
Tasha Mathur – graduated with a BA in English (2014) and now works as a Picture Editor at Sky UK.
Phoenix Alexander – graduated with a BA in English (2012), went on to a Masters in English (2013) and a PhD in English and African American Studies at Yale (2019). Now works as a Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool.
Elliott Daley – graduated with a BA in English and Drama (2007) and is now an Author, Actor, Playwright, Director, Poet and Teacher at V&A, Olympics, Lyric Theatre, Brit School and TedX
Outside QMUL
Interested in journalism? BBC News workshop on careers in journalism as part of the #BBCYoungReporter Festival!
Calling 15-25 year olds living in and around Tower Hamlets!
As part of When We Speak’s volume series we are hosting The Rights Collective and their workshop on Building a Movement. During this volume, a London-based South Asian collective will share their experiences of organising and building an activist movement and the challenges of this. Sign up here now! The Rights Collective, is a feminist space for members of the South Asian community commited to collective liberation.
When We Speak is an activist course supporting young people to run their own social change projects. We provide training, specialised coaching, youth led spaces and funding opportunities
28 Feb–21 Mar, The Curve Bishopsgate Institute stage a take-over of The Curve with an archive installation of objects, ephemera and media highlighting 40 moments and stories in London’s LGBTQ+ history.
On the 8th of March, Stanley Arts in South London is holding a creative networking events for women and non-binary people bringing together creatives from across Croydon and further afield. Featuring speeches from industry leaders including Carolyn Forsyths from one of the UK’s most preeminent Black theatre companies, Talawa, the event will allow artists, leaders, and creative organisations to network in a safe and inclusive space. Expect ‘speed-networking’, feedback sessions, and buffet style tasty treats! The event is free, but we will be taking donations on the day for Ella’s, an amazing charity that helps survivors of trafficking and exploitation.
Want to learn about how theatre is made? Do you have a burning question about dramaturgy, like what is it? Do you want to know how artists incorporate technology or activism into their work? Join one of our free Zoom events aimed at catalysing debate in the theatre sector.
CLOSING TODAY: Last call for the Aziz Fellowship with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. It pays London Living Wage and is a full-time, six month contract for someone from a Muslim background.
A live online panel of English alumni working in editing, librarianship, creative writing, media and law. This event will allow you to hear how graduates have progressed in their careers since leaving Queen Mary. You’ll also gain valuable advice and tips about entering the world of work. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about different roles/sectors, make connections, and have your questions answered in an informal and friendly setting.
Tomiwa Owolade – graduated with a BA in English (2018), went on to study an MA in English at UCL and is now a Writer, Critic and Contributing Editor at Unherd
Nikita Saini – graduated with a BA in English (2012) went on to complete a GDL, LPC, LLM at The University of Law and is now a Solicitor for Axis Capital
Tasha Mathur – graduated with a BA in English (2014) and now works as a Picture Editor at Sky UK.
Phoenix Alexander – graduated with a BA in English (2012), went on to a Masters in English (2013) and a PhD in English and African American Studies at Yale (2019). Now works as a Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool.
Elliott Daley – graduated with a BA in English and Drama (2007) and is now an Author, Actor, Playwright, Director, Poet and Teacher at V&A, Olympics, Lyric Theatre, Brit School and TedX
Welcome to our latest round up of events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve your career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Friday, 25th February 2022, 19:30-21:30 (doors 18:45)BT
Come and celebrate LGBT History Month with a showcase of some of the UK’s finest queer comedians. Hosted by Mark Bittlestone (@poofsrus) the line up includes Andrea Hubert, Victoria Olsina and Fatiha El-Ghorri. We hope this will be the first of a regular comedy night for Queen Mary students and staff.
AHRC Boucicault 2020: Circuits of Skill Research Network
– led by Aoife Monks and Nicholas Daly invites you to a series of online workshops and events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Boucicault’s birth (delayed by Covid 19). These events will investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial values and performance skill, asking how one relates to the other in the theatre by considering the legacies of Boucicault’s theatre practice now.
FRIDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2020
10am-12.30pm (GMT) Online Stage-Irishness: A Public Inquiry This inquiry investigates the legacies of Stage Irishness, and whether it should finally be banished from the Irish stage once and for all. Taking evidence from ‘witnesses’ such as historians, critics and performers, this inquiry’s appointed jury will try to come to some conclusions, making recommendations for the casting and performing – or not – of Stage-Irish roles in the future. Jury and Witnesses include: Nicholas Daly, Tanya Dean, Rosaleen McDonagh, Brian Singleton, Kirsten Smith. Click here, to book your place and for further information. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stage-irishness-a-public-inquiry-tickets- 260192551927
2.30-4pm (GMT) Online Museum of Celebrity and Virtuosity Workshop Join Aoife Monks, Nicholas Daly, Tracy Davis, Matthew Knight, Simon O’Connor, Marlis Schweitzer, Paul Rae, Mary Ann Bolger, and Sarah Meer among others, to explore the relationship between celebrity and virtuosic performance onstage, and the material cultures that emerge from it. Click here, to book your place and for further information. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/museum-of-celebrity-and-virtuosity-workshop- tickets-262276795957
5-6.30pm (GMT) Online Dion Boucicault: Legacies of a Theatre Producer Join Jen Coppinger, Head of Producing at the Abbey Theatre Dublin, Alexandra Araujo Alvarez, Peoples Palace Projects, London and Róise Goan, Artistic Director, Artsadmin, London to explore the residues of Boucicault’s approaches to producing, asking ‘what would Boucicault do?’ in the face of the challenges facing theatre producers across the world today. Click here, to book your place and for further information. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dion-boucicault-legacies-of-a-theatre-producer- tickets-262278280397
Boucicault 2020: Circuits of Skill Research Network is a research project exploring what the nineteenth-century stage has to teach us about the sort of art we get when the entrepreneurialism of artists is emphasised, as it is today.
This project is supported by:
Arts & Humanities Research Council, Queen Mary University of London, University College Dublin, Rutgers University, New Jersey, Museum of Literature Ireland.
Tuesday, 8 March at 5.30PM (GMT) – Face to Face and Online
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, barristers from Field Court Chambers including Rupert’s sister Anna Dannreuther, will consider a hybrid case study with the audience. The aim is to highlight how the law deals with gendered issues and, crucially, where it can go further.
Producers of the Future: From Keighley to Karachi is a ground-breaking international collaboration between Bradford Literature Festival, UK, and Adab Festival in Pakistan, with the aim of developing female talent and leadership in the arts and culture sector. The development programme featured 10 women selected from Pakistan and Bradford who collaborated digitally to produce a series of online events.
You can watch these films on our YouTube channel by clicking the titles below. Don’t forget to like the videos and subscribe to our channel for more BLF content.
To find out more about our collaboration with Adab Festival, which was part of our 2021 festival programme, visit the Producers of the Future event page. Keep your eyes peeled for our 2022 programme, which we’ll be releasing in the coming months.
Phakama 25 Years
2022 kickstarted with our wonderful Environment Day in Brighton, led with students at the Institute of Contemporary Theatre. We engaged artists Mary Chater (Shakespeare in Italy), Rez Kabir (Mukul and the Ghetto Tigers), and Young Creatives Bhavini Sheth and Caterina Tucker. Rez also led on our Café Conversation at Curzon Aldgate where we again explored our place in the world and in the context of climate and environment. Check out this lovely little film to get a sense of what the day entailed!
We also have a small Phakama 25 Years and Beyond Party on February 24th in East London to mark the end of the celebrations and to strengthen our connections with each other through a small evening event. If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Anna, annag@projectphakama.org, stating whether you are an artist or organisation. This event has limited capacity so we will let you know if a space is available.
Constellations – A Creative Get Together
Following Associate Artists Melanie Hering and Ella Fleetwood’s successful project Constellations as part of our Creative Get Together, we are offering the online workshop again and this time in partnership withSheba Arts. This art and dance/movement-based workshop is aimed at women. To take part, please register on Eventbrite.
WOW London’s artist-in-residence Miss Baby Sol and international artist-in-residence Indonesian rock band Voice of Vaceprot
Multi award nominated Laura Mvula and Mercury Award nominated jazz composer and saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi will perform as part of Angela Davis autobiography launch
Palestinian singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Rasha Nahas
Spoken word artist Rakaya Fetuga performing with Maslaha Muslim girl fencers
Pop punk performances from The Tuts frontwoman Nadia Javid and diy band Breakup Haircut
The festival will also host two DJ nights featuring female talent in the booth, in collaboration with Spiritland
‘I will be reading from a new novel that gives a twentieth-century queer spin to Great Expectations, after which Dr. Mullan will be engage in discussion of the novel and its Dickensian roots. The event will be of especial interest to students interested in issues of race and sexuality in literature.’
Why does Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations continue to inspire readers and authors today? In this event, John Mullan, Professor of English at UCL, is in conversation with Joseph Boone, the author of a new novel, Furnace Creek, which is inspired by Dicken’s masterpiece. Furnace Creek teases us with the question of what Pip might have been like had he grown up in the American South of the 1960s and 1970s and faced the explosive social issues—racial injustice, a war abroad, women’s and gay rights, class struggle—that galvanized the world in those decades. Advance copies of the novel have garnered high praise from readers. This promises to be a riveting discussion between the novelist and one of our most distinguished literary critics.
Build your speaking confidence with mentors from top companies like Just Eat, Investec or Google
Apply now for the We Speak Employment programme and improve your speaking confidence and employment opportunities with Mentors from companies like Just Eat, Investec or Google.
During live weekly online sessions, you’ll build your confidence around how to contribute to discussions, speak comfortably at job interviews, and speak in front of groups. Participants who complete the 4-week programme will receive a Certificate of Achievement.
We encourage applications from anyone who feels less confident about speaking, and we create a relaxed and friendly environment for participants. You can apply to join one of our 4-week programmes with online sessions taking place once a week, starting from w/c 7 March.
Tower Hamlets based artists and arts organisations are invited to our annual sharing event. This year this free event will be held online on Thursday 3 March.
Speakers include East Bank, Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, Bow Arts Trust, Queen Mary University of London, artists Rahemur Rahman and officers from Tower Hamlets Council’s Arts & Events Team. There will also be time for Q & A.
Interested in artist development? @RTYDS in #Manchester nurture early-career theatre makers. They’re seeking a trainee programme producer to gain skills in marketing, social media & project management. Apply by 27/02 via @_CreativeAcccess
Learn how you can use our library to access Wellcome Collection materials in the open stacks and Rare Materials Room. Four researchers will tell you about how they work with items from the collections to produce artwork, podcasts and academic research papers.
Welcome to our latest round up of events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve your career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Two updates this week eh! We’re just catching up with our inbox but always love hearing from you.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL, Partners & Friends
Queen Mary Internships
Please login to Target Connect to apply for these roles:
Theatre Management/ Assistant Producer Intern – Told by in Idiot
1 day a week, 10 weeks | Pay: £11.05/hr
Arts Admin Intern – Theatre Peckham
2 days a week, start from March onwards | Voluntary
Academy Production Intern – Theatre Peckham
2 days a week, start from June onwards | Voluntary
Please contact Melanie Christou, the Placements team leader, Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) to register your interest in these: m.christou@qmul.ac.uk
In this third exclusive SED careers workshop, Career Consultant Charlotte Brown will share insight into how best to present yourself when job hunting. CV, cover letter, interview and networking tips will be discussed to improve your job search strategy and help you achieve career success.
This session aims to help you explore how to present yourself to potential employers, clients, and contacts in a variety of ways. We’ll cover:
Day 1: Music-ology – Monday 14th February at Hackney Empire, Empire 2 12- 4:30pm
A music workshop where you can get vocal tips, boost your confidence, nail your stage presence and connect with other young artists!
5- 6pm
A sit-down Q&A with music industry professionals including a manager, video producer and more.
Day 2: The art of being DRAMAtic – Tuesday 15th February at Hackney Empire, Empire 2 11am – 1pm
Creative writing workshop with gal-dem
2- 5pm
Brush up on your acting abilities with the help of a professional director in this exclusive drama workshop.
5:30 – 6:30pm
A sit-down Q&A with TV, Film and Theatre specialists including an agent, writer and more. Day 3: Careers Collide – Wednesday 16th February at Hackney Empire, Empire 2
Get exclusive access to creative gamechangers, ask the important questions you want and get the answers you deserve! Hear their journeys – start yours.
1:00 – 2:15pm
Collective Power: creating community in the industry
2:45 – 3:45pm
Don’t stay in your lane: the creatives who do it big
4:15 – 5:30pm
True to self: how authenticity creates change
Day 4: Pure Vibez gig – Thursday 17th February at EartH
A night of pure talent and pure energy. Pure Vibez is back with another gig to end the week off! Sign up below if you would like to perform.
You are welcome to attend Q&As in the evening even if you don’t want to attend the workshops.
Camden People’s Theatre have a call-out for their feminist festival: Calm Down, Dear. The festival is curated by our very own drama grads Figs in Wigs!
In 2021 we acquired over 25 years’ worth of papers, documents, cast notes and programmes from the archives of Joan Littlewood and Theatre Royal Stratford East. As part of our Theatre Season, delve into these archives to explore both of these histories.
Wednesday, 16 February 2022 14:00 Boosting Your Employability With Ease with Felicity Becker Register
Volunteering Opportunity: Make Education Fairer!
CoachBright is a social mobility charity and we are desperately looking for QMUL students to work with school pupils from low-income backgrounds and help them to improve grades, confidence, and access to university.
As we navigate life in a post-covid world, it’s more important than ever that London’s most disadvantaged pupils are getting the support they need. Join us to help make education fairer!
Our programmes are typically 1hr weekly for 12 weeks or 90min/week for 9 weeks. You’ll receive full training on safeguarding and coaching strategies before being paired with pupils to work together on a subject of your choice.
By volunteering with us, you will…
Gain transferable skills in leadership, communication and relationship building,
Gain experience in education and working with young people,
Get a formal student leadership accreditation to show for it,
Gain points towards university student awards,
Choose to work with Primary school, GCSE or A level students,
We can also give you references to help with your future steps.
Welcome to our first digest of 2022, full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL, Partners & Friends
Phakama have a new project for 16-21 year olds this February: Our Stories
Rise Up is a FREE opportunity for young people aged 16- 21 to create, learn, collaborate and express themselves. This is a unique experience for up to ten young people, who will be led by Phakama’s Young Creatives, to take part in a one-week cross-arts project. Using different art forms such as drama, music, creative writing and movement, you will have the opportunity to create your own show and share it with a live audience at Graeae Theatre in East London. No previous arts experience necessary.
Are you interested in being a writer or journalist? Or in working as a freelance practitioner in the arts? Perhaps you have thought about setting up your own production company?
If so, come along to this session to get an overview of working for yourself, including:
In this third exclusive SED careers workshop, Career Consultant Charlotte Brown will share insight into how best to present yourself when job hunting. CV, cover letter, interview and networking tips will be discussed to improve your job search strategy and help you achieve career success.
This session aims to help you explore how to present yourself to potential employers, clients, and contacts in a variety of ways. We’ll cover:
Our friends at Theatre Peckham are seeking show submissions for their new performing arts festival Peckham Fringe, which runs Monday 2 May – Sunday 5 June. Everyone is welcome to apply. Submission deadline: Monday 14 February.
The purpose of this internship is to provide a learning opportunity to the intern by spending time with several departments within the organisation. Before starting the internship, you will be invited to express what areas interest you and the organisation will endeavour to match these with current projects or areas of work that are taking place at the time. Areas include: administration, fundraising, academy, venue operations, assisting the CEO/ Associate Director/ Producer, finances, research, archive and reporting. Each role will be designed to reflect the needs of the student and will be discussed with each successful candidate. This internship is on a voluntary basis and it takes place in a registered charity.
The purpose of this internship is to provide a learning opportunity to the intern by providing support to the production team whilst the theatre is hosting shows as part of the National Theatre’s Connections Festival. Theatre Peckham (TP) is a cultural flagship venue that champions artistic excellence and supports young people (YP), particularly those from low economic backgrounds to engage with the arts. You will be expected to undertake a range of duties relating to the support of production and running of a theatre show and working closely under the guidance of the Academy Manager.
Interested applicants are encouraged to consider booking an application appointment in Careers & Enterprise before applying for these roles.
Are you thinking of starting your own podcast? Apply within!
Acast Amplifier is podcast platform Acast’s first initiative designed to help find and nurture the next generation of audio creators in the UK via grants and training. There’s no better partner for your pod’.
Rich Mix arts centre and cinema are looking for Visitor Services Assistants to join our Operations team, delivering excellent customer service for all visitors. You’ll work in a variety of roles, ensuring people feel well looked-after and leave with positive memories.
Stratford East’s brand-new initiative, the Future Leaders programme is for East London-based 16-25 year olds who are interested in learning about different types of leadership, how cultural organisations are run, and want to have their say in the future of our creative industries.
This programme of workshops is offered exclusively to people who identify as women, trans and non-binary, and are interested in developing a career in backstage roles. The sessions will be free to attend.
ZU-UK are holding a series of 3 public workshops – THIS IS HOW I DO IT, BABY – in February & March
We would love to see you there.
Each session consists of a practical deep-dive into the methodology and ethos of an invited guest artist – this year’s guests are Silvia Mercuriali (https://www.silviamercuriali.com), Kelly Green (https://www.kellyg.net) & Action Hero (http://www.actionhero.org.uk). The series is aimed at emerging artists, practitioners and researchers, and also serves as a taster for those with an interest in the MA Contemporary Performance course.
The sessions are FREE, but have a small capacity and require sign-up here:
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Expressions of interest from Queen Mary colleagues in all disciplines are welcome as part of an interdisciplinary research project on ‘Solitude and Social Difference’. The aim is to investigate how the social divisions and inequalities of our society affect people’s experiences of solitude and loneliness.
The project is still at development stage, and any expressions of interest or questions can be directed to Barbara Taylor (b.g.taylor@qmul.ac.uk)
The Journo Resources Fellowship is an intensive scheme to support people looking for their first break in journalism. It offers a paid commission for our website, bespoke training in both job hunting and reporting skills, 1-2-1 mentoring, and a supportive community to help you take your first steps within the journalism industry.
Sign up to get trained and become part of the fight for Climate Justice in East London.
Be.Green is a free 4-month programme that builds young climate activists. We are part of an exciting borough wide initiative, JustFACT, which brings together partners from across the borough to work towards a socially just food and climate transition.
Be.Green participants are engaged in a series of workshops from local changemakers to national troublemakers who are working on innovative and inspiring climate projects, receiving workshops from Organise, R-Urban, Sunny Jar and London Leap, amongst others.
After soaking up the learning you will work on real life projects and campaigns which will create or support change in Tower Hamlets. Our first cohort have been engaged in Be.Green since July 2021 and have attended a range of exciting workshops and events, and made a trip to COP26! They have also created a Zine which showcases local people’s views towards climate change and highlights some key issues which you will be able to view in print and online by December 2021.
Our second cohort is due to start in January 2022 and applications are now open. Please express your interest here!
Talkaoke Skills Lab is a hybrid cross-border creative development opportunity, exploring the question of what does a creative and socially engaged practice means in the global community, where technology plays an ever increasing role?
The programme is for UK and Uganda-based artists, performers, writers, creative producers, cultural programmers and everyone who is interested in pushing the boundaries of socially engaged creative practice.
I’d love to invite your team and your wider network of collaborators to consider getting involved. You could alsovhelp us getting the word out to the world via a social media post or sharing of our existing Twitter post / Facebook post.
Looking forward to speaking with you soon!
Hello friends of Raze! We hope you’re all doing okay in these wild wintery times! We’re writing to you with news of a fabulous new call-out which we currently have open!
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, you’ve two weeks left to apply! Got a friend who’d be perfect for it? Share it with them!
– are you a queer writer based in London? – do you have a short story of around 2,500 words (15-20mins)? – would you love to have it recorded & creatively sound designed? – would you & your work benefit from the support of a dedicated team of queer arts producers? – do you want connect with other more experience queer storytellers? – do you want your stories, to reacher wider audiences?
THE COMMISSION Application Deadline: 29.12.2021 You will will receive: – a £350 commission fee – expert directorial support in the recording of the story – creative sound design & production support – weekly check-ins & support with the Raze Team – guidance on network support & relationship building -Your work published as the first instalment of our Raze Sounds audio series
As ever, thanks for supporting all the work we do & making it possible for us support incredible queer performance!
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Craft is brought to you by Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing. Check out our website (www.wasafiri.org) for outtakes from this interview that didn’t (quite) make the final cut, and much more from writers all over the world.
REMINDER: Upcoming event in week 10 – a talk by Ed Charlton (English, QMUL). Register by email, or through this form: https://forms.office.com/r/FeUpKRUKEU
Join us for the first focused engagement symposium on Interpersonal Violence and Violence Reduction hosted by SMD Crisis Network. Speakers include our very own Paul Heritage (Drama/People’s Palace Projects). The new Queen Mary & SMD Crisis Network is pleased to host our first focused engagement symposium on Interpersonal Violence and Violence Reduction. We aim to connect researchers from across all Schools & Faculties in the University who have an active academic interest in this area, and to explore new directions and collaborations for future research, education and engagement.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Join Rachael House, legend of the comic strip and queer zine scene, for a free two-hour zine making workshop in the Art Studio on the theme of queer Wonderland.
Talks Programme
Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre 11.30 – 15.00
Join Dr Kiera Vaclavik, Curator Alice Power, Queer Bruk founder Akeil Onwukwe-Adamson, and Quiplash for insightful talks about queer communities and identity.
11.30 – 12.00 Alice is a Boy’ with Dr Kiera Vaclavik
This talk explores the instability about identity at the heart of the Alice books and shows how ‘gender blind’ casting of the central role was for many years a feature of theatrical adaptations.
13.30 – 14.00 Finding queer communities through digital rabbit holes with Alice Power
Many journalists have put the blame of the closure of LGBTQ venues on social media and dating apps. Assistant Curator of Architecture and Urbanism, Alice Power, however, contends that from its inception the internet has been a vital tool community building for marginalised groups.
14.15 – 15.00 Making LGBTQ intersectional Wonderlands with Queer Bruk and Quiplash
This panel highlights two organisations striving to cultivate intersectional queer spaces to counter the mainstream gay scene.
ECRs Work in Progress Seminars
We would love to invite you to the first session of the ECR Work in Progress Seminars at the SED! The event will take place on Wednesday December 8th, 4:00-5:30pm atArts Two, 3.20. We will be hosting two speakers from the School of English, and the panel will be followed by a Q&A.
Dr Deven Parker – Byron’s Poetic Cartographies
This paper examines cartography as a popular and hotly contested form of representing the Peninsular war and argues for its centrality to the poetics of Byron’s Childe Harold. I explore how innovations in mapping, coupled with the British public’s desire to visualize the events of the war, created a new market for published military maps. The popularity of these maps coincided with the rise of body of poetry I term “cartographic war poetry” that was directly informed by and sometimes even published with popular war maps. I demonstrate how cartographic war poetry remediates the perspectives of the maps themselves, deploying a series of formal and textual strategies to anesthetize military violence and advancing the government’s case for continuing a war facing significant opposition. Byron seeks to intervene in these literary and political contexts, replicating the perspective of both military maps and cartographic war poems in order to expose its ideological underpinnings. Toggling between the distant, birds-eye perspective of war cartography and a much closer view, Byron reveals, I argue, the problem with cartographic representation: that its guise of accuracy and objectivity actually furthers violence.
Dr Clare Stainthorp – Freethought Dialogue and Debate in the Secular Review/Agnostic Journal
The freethought movement’s periodicals grew and sustained a space in which atheist, agnostic, and secularist ideas could be developed and debated during the second half of the nineteenth century. Reading, writing for, and editing periodicals built social networks, imagined communities, and feelings of shared endeavour. Nonetheless, the freethought movement was not built on a single homogenous platform; factionalism and infighting were rife. Debates and dialogues looked both inward and outward, and proliferated in various ways. This paper focuses on the Sunday weekly periodical that began life in 1876 as The Secular Review: A Journal of Daily Life and was titled The Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review in 1907 when it ceased publication. I will explore how dialogic forms (specifically verbatim debate reports, imagined dialogues, readers’ letters, and correspondence columns) functioned and consider how the heterogeneity and multivocality of freethought was navigated by those involved in the movement.
Teaching and Learning for Neuro and Physical Diversity
Sumita Majumdar and Daniel Oliver wrote a chapter together for this book that’s just come out.
Inclusivity and Equality in Performance Training focuses on neuro and physical difference and dis/ability in the teaching of performance and associated studies. It offers 19 practitioners’ research-based teaching strategies, aimed to enhance equality of opportunity and individual abilities in performance education.
Challenging ableist models of teaching, the 16 chapters address the barriers that can undermine those with dis/ability or difference, highlighting how equality of opportunity can increase innovation and enrich the creative work. Key features include:
Descriptions of teaching interventions, research, and exploratory practice to identify and support the needs and abilities of the individual with dis/ability or difference
Experiences of practitioners working with professional actors with dis/ability or difference, with a dissemination of methods to enable the actors
A critical analysis of pedagogy in performance training environments; how neuro and physical diversity are positioned within the cultural contexts and practices
Equitable teaching and learning practices for individuals in a variety of areas, such as: dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual or hearing impairment, learning and physical dis/abilities, wheelchair users, aphantasia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum.
This lecture will explore the formative influence of art school education within post-punk music culture. It will address the work of electro-pop and industrial music pioneer Fad Gadget (a.k.a. Frank Tovey) as a response to the avant-garde shock tactics of experimental performance by staff and students in the Fine Art department at Leeds Polytechnic in the mid-1970s. The presentation is based upon Butt’s forthcoming book No Machos or Popstars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk (forthcoming Duke University Press, 2022).
Our very own Di Beddow is featured in this exhibition in Cambridge.
This exhibition looks at the rich history of poetry about Cambridge, by focusing on poems and poets concerned with the places of the city. From Geoffrey Chaucer to the lesser-known Mary Davys, Sylvia Plath to William Wordsworth, poets both inside and outside the University have been moved to write about different areas of Cambridge. As well as transporting readers as far as Grantchester and Trumpington, these poems also help us shed new light on central locations, such as the Mill Pond and Market Hill.
Yesssssss you read that right! We’re offering 100 masters’ scholarships at 18 Preferred Partner universities in the areas of:
Media and Journalism
Tech
Sustainability
Policy
Law
Creative Content
We ask university partners to commit to tackling Islamophobia on campus and in higher education. Wondering why your preferred university isn’t on our list? Reach out to them and ask them to join our programme! Want to learn more about the scholarships?
The Women & Power festival at Shakespeare’s Globe will ask some of the most important questions of our moment. Join the conversation to discover the role that theatre, music, art and poetry can play in exploring the intersections of gender, race and class that are at the centre of social change today. How does the work of Shakespeare speak to this moment of gender revolution? How can we use Shakespearean performance to tell our own stories of oppression and assault?
This festival includes performances, panel events, a scholarly symposium and workshops that will spotlight and prioritise the work and the voices of women of all backgrounds.
Ever wondered what it’s like to work as a designer at Google? Or what the team look for in a great design portfolio? On Wednesday December 1st, Creative Lives in Progress is teaming up with Google Creative Lab to host a portfolio review for emerging designers. Apply to take part via Homerun.
Good to Go Festival at Theatre Deli London highlights artists whose work was cancelled due to the pandemic.
History of Political Ideas Seminar, Institute of Historical Research:
Shatema Threadcraft (Vanderbilt), ‘The Labors of Resurrection: Black Women, Death Work and the Making of the Black Counterpublic Sphere’
Wednesday 24 November 17.15 – 18.30 GMT
The seminar takes place on Zoom. To attend please register here. You will then be sent a link to join on the day.
Channel 5 Eggheads Opportunity
Eggheads is back for a second series on Channel 5 and we are looking for teams to take part.
Teams can be made up of friends, family, colleagues or members of clubs – whether you quiz regularly, started during lockdown or maybe this will be your first time.
Each team will consist of 4 team members and 1 standby.
If you beat the Eggheads you could win a cash prize. If you don’t the prize fund rolls over.
We would love it if you could share our flyer (attached) on social media, or forward it to people/students/colleagues who you think would be interested.
The closing date for applications is midnight on 10th December 2021 so don’t miss out on applying!
Thursday 2 December / Reference Point / £3.50 entry (+fees) / Tickets We’re excited to be celebrating the winner of the 2021 White Review Short Story Prize, sponsored by RCW, at Reference Point on 2 December. This year’s prize was awarded to RZ Baschir for ‘The Chicken’. On behalf of the judging panel, Preti Taneja said that the story ‘announces her as a brilliant new talent.’ Join us for short readings, followed by drinks in Reference Point’s bookshop and bar space. Issues of The White Review will be on sale, as well as Reference Point’s unique collection of first editions.
Theatre publishers Nick Hern Books are bringing their first-ever pop-up bookshop to acclaimed London new-writing venue the Bush Theatre for two days only on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November! Choose from a massive range of playscripts and books all at amazing, one-off bargain prices, with hundreds available for just £2. Find out more
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Free event this Sunday in the People’s Palace Great Hall
The remarkable story of 1971’s Stepney Words, with Chris Searle, Stepney Words poets, historians, activists and today’s young voices.
In 1971, English teacher Chris Searle was sacked from a school in Stepney for publishing his students’ poems about their perspectives on the world around them. His students, joined by others from local schools, went on strike and marched from the East End to Trafalgar Square to demand justice. Fifty years later, Chris and his pupils, with historians and grassroots activists, reflect on Stepney then and now, student strikes then and now, and the continuing radical potential of poetry. The afternoon will end with performances from today’s young poets.
Speakers include: Chris Searle, Alan Gilbey, Tony Harcup, Judith Suissa, Ken Worpole, Julie Begum, Rob Waters, Tom Woodin, Angela Hancock, Alan Dein, Nadia Valman with poets Dillon Kalyabe and Becksy Becks.
Want to know how literary realism renders quantitative facts qualitatively perceptible? Don’t miss Prof. David Kurnick’s talk on “The Erotics of Large Numbers” next week!
Please join us for the launch of a new book Entanglements of Two: A Series of Duets, edited by Karen Christopher and Mary Paterson, and published by Intellect Books. The event will include contributions from Karen Christopher, Mary Paterson, David Berman (Physics, QMUL), Andrea Milde and Jemima Yong.
QUORUM committee is excited to invite you to a free seminar hosted by QUORUM at Queen Mary University and online on 24 November: This lecture will explore the formative influence of art school education within post-punk music culture. It will address the work of electro-pop and industrial music pioneer Fad Gadget (a.k.a. Frank Tovey) as a response to the avant-garde shock tactics of experimental performance by staff and students in the Fine Art department at Leeds Polytechnic in the mid-1970s. The presentation is based upon Butt’s forthcoming book No Machos or Popstars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk (forthcoming Duke University Press, 2022).
Thursday 25 November, 7.00pm – 8.00pm UK time – Online – Free, but booking is essential
A strong emotional attachment to the memory of empire runs deep in British culture. In recent years, that memory has become a battleground in a long-drawn ideological war, inflecting debates on race, class, gender, culture, the UK’s future and its place in the world. Peter Mitchell’s Imperial Nostalgia surveys the scene of the imperial memory wars in contemporary Britain, exploring how the myths that structure our views of empire came to be, and how they inform the present. Taking in such diverse subjects as Rory Stewart and inter-war adventure fiction, man’s facial hair and Kipling, the Alt-right and the Red Wall, Imperial Nostalgia asks how our relationship with our national past has gone wrong, and how it might be improved.
Peter Mitchell will be discussing his book and the issues it raises with Nadine El-Enany, Reader in Law at the Birkbeck School of Law, and Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology at the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging, UEL.
Kathryn Yusoff Reading group: Week 8 Monday 15 November 1-2:30pm
We’ll be reading “Inhumanities” from A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None (U of Minnesota P, 2018). A brief introduction will be given by Ananya Mishra. Chair: Charlotta Salmi.
The seminar will be IN PERSON in Laws: 3.08-D and ONLINE. Please register via the following link:
Thursday 18 November 2021 6-7pm GMT | 7-8pm CET | 1-2pm EST
The enduring power of storytelling is undeniable and the printed book has proved resilient, even in the face of digitization and the global pandemic. So what does the future have in store for reading, storytelling and the ‘text’ in a world where visual media is increasingly dominant? How do advances in digitization change the way we read and experience texts? And how does this change the way that books and other kinds of textual media are made?
Our esteemed panellists will draw on their own research projects to explore these questions and to demonstrate how important research from across the humanities is in shaping our understanding of the past, present and future of our cultural heritage and production. Register for the event here.
New Possibilities for Performance Eastside Projects
ONLINE: Saturday 4 December, 11am–1pm Pay what you can (£7 suggestion), Free to EOP
BSL interpretation and live captioning What is at stake in experiencing performance? How is this experience mediated, live and direct in close physical contact or mediated and transmitted via technology and screens? What does it mean to make performance, now in a pandemic and post-pandemic world? Where is performance made and shown, and by whose authorship?
This event will explore what is currently at stake in performance across all live contemporary art forms, reflect on the current climate for making and sharing performance and build collective conversations in response to a series of urgent questions and provocations by guest contributors. Guests include Barak adé Soleil artist, dancer and co-director of Live Art Development Agency, Joe Moran choreographer and director of Dance Art Foundation, Louise O’Kelly curator and founder of Block Universe, Lucie Mirkova, Head of Artistic Programmes at DanceXchange, and SERAFINE1369 dancer and artist.
The event will start with a series of provocations exploring ‘what is at stake in performance now’. With responses engaging with current concerns within choreography, contemporary art, live art, artistic practice and beyond. We will explore what is at stake in the live experience, and what a removed viewing through a screen or device may add or take away from the observer.
This event is “pay what you can” to allow for flexibility depending on your income, the suggested amount for those with secure income is £7 READ MORE BOOK TICKET
Are you keen to gain a year’s experience working in a theatre for young people? Half Moon Theatre is looking for an enthusiastic and dedicated Creative Learning Assistant to support all aspects of the company’s extensive programme working with young people in Tower Hamlets.
Each year, Half Moon works with around 26,000 workshop participants and has around 25,000 audience members. Half Moon is a theatre for young audiences which tours nationally and specialises in artform development and new writing. Our participatory work and professional theatre programme have equal status and are mutually enriching.
The post is a fixed term one-year contract, paid at the London Living Wage, funded by the Jack Petchey Foundation Internship Programme.
The Jack Petchey Internship development programme is designed for young people who are leaving further or higher education and starting out in the youth/charity sector – or young people who have done one or two years of employment and are looking to transfer into, or take their next career step in, the youth/charity sector.
We particularly welcome applications from residents of Tower Hamlets.
Please email a CV and covering letter (maximum 1 side A4) demonstrating your experience and abilities to : beccy@halfmoon.org.uk (Please also send your completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring form)
Closing date for applications: Friday 26 November 2021 at 10am Interviews: w/c Monday 29 November 2021 Starting date: Monday 10 January 2022
Computacenter roles are now open and they have some awesome opportunities for both placement years and graduate programs.
What do Computacenter do? In simple terms, you’d be joining a company who delivers digital tech solutions to some of the biggest organisations in the world. They have opportunities across Business Management, Project Management, Technical Consultancy, and Sales.
Placement Years – £17k, Locations across the UK, Add real value from Day 1, Hands on experience and the opportunity to learn and work on innovative solutions for our customers.
Graduates – £30k starting salary, Locations across the UK, Structured support programme designed to fast track your learning and development in a business that really cares about it’s employees.
Interested? Follow the link below to their Future Careers page to find out more.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
For many years, Tower Hamlets Council and Queen Mary University of London have been proud to support A Season of Bangla Drama, an annual festival which brings the borough’s communities together each November to celebrate the magic of theatre as well as the arts and cultural traditions of Bangladesh.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh, this has been renamed the Freedom and Independence Theatre Festival.
The themes in the title have inspired the plays and events that make up this year’s programme. We are delighted that we are continuing to profile British Bangladeshi theatre as an important way to spotlight key events of 1971, tell untold stories, and reach out to new audiences.
The variety of plays on offer cover topics including the plight of women, the tales of freedom fighters, the journeys of refugees such as the Rohingya and Vietnamese, as well as the power of protest.
There will be a fringe programme of events including a Bengali heritage walk, film screenings, an international youth writing project, talks and exhibitions.
The festival will also provide opportunities for audiences to participate through Q&As, and to be immersed in the richness of poetry, music and dance.
This is a fantastic way to learn about the history, legacy and impact of what unfolded half a century ago.
For the full programme listings, please visit our What’s On page.
To celebrate the publishing of his new book The Unbreakable Student: 6 Rules for Staying Sane at University Nic will be sharing some of his best hints and tips with our student ambassadors before giving you the chance to ask your own questions. The free live event will be happening on Wednesday 10th November at 2pm.
Are you interested in getting into the field of factual television production? #ProductionUnlocked has a day packed with all the tips and tricks you need to create great factual content
Sign up now for the award-winning We Speak Employment online programme. Improve your speaking confidence and employment opportunities with mentors from companies including Just Eat, Investec and Google.
Your place would be fully funded by our corporate partners. During live weekly online sessions, you’ll build your confidence around how to contribute to discussions, speak comfortably at job interviews and speak in front of groups.
The programme take place once a week over 4 weeks. You can choose from dates starting in mid November. Participants will receive a Certificate of Achievement. It’s a friendly and relaxed environment so perfect if you feel less confident speaking.
Sign up as soon as possible at www.wespeak.co/apply (2 minute form). The opportunity closes on Monday 8 November but places may run out earlier.
While commonly associated with hedonism and excess, the word ‘decadence’ has a much richer set of connotations, including a taste for decay, delight in uncommon sexual and cultural practices, and the upturning of moral hierarchies. For this event, we’ve selected some of the most innovative scenes from Remy de Gourmont’s Lilith (1892), in a new translation by Dan Rebellato; the first act of Jean Lorrain’s Ennoïa (1905), translated into English for the first time by Jennifer Higgins; Djuna Barnes’s brilliant one-act play The Dove (1923); and a little-known text that was well ahead of its time by Izumi Kyōka called Kerria Japonica (1923). The curators and translators will also be offering short introductions to each of the performed texts.
Expect an unusual and expansive evening filled with femme fatales, sadomasochistic pleasures, queer desires, and the fall of humankind.
Curated by Dr Adam Alston and Professor Jane Desmarais | Directed by Jonathan Meth | Performers: Lauren John Joseph, Georgia Sansom, Sadao Ueda, Yuriri Naka, Eric Stroud and Adam Alston.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
I’m excited to share my latest profile for Black History Month, featuring freelance writer and critic, Tomiwa Owolade (English BA, 2018). (Thank you to Suzanne, who bumped into Tomiwa at a book signing recently and told me about him!)
In his profile, Tomiwa explores the idea of ‘pride’ and talks about how his degree helped to develop his skills as a writer, how lucky he feels to have a job that aligns so much with his interests, and why he’s been inspired to begin writing a book about black British identity.
“[My book] is a critique of a tendency to conflate the experiences and cultures of the black British population with the black American population. Obviously, there are instances when comparisons are valid, but the assumption, which I found pervasive after the Black Lives Matter protests last year, that we can analyse black Britain through an American lens, is reductive.”
Calling all lovers of reading and literature! Join Wasafiri’s Malachi McIntosh and your favourite international writers including Daniel Mella, Chen Chen, Bernadine Evaristo, and Raymond Antrobus to take you on a journey behind the scenes and unpack the often-hidden side of how their work was created.
New Learning Resources
Digital Theatre + (digital recordings of theatre productions). This is in addition to Drama Online (digital recordings of theatre productions and play scripts), which we started subscribing to last year.
Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Literature (dynamically updated key reference work on literature)
Alexander Street Academic Video Online (documentaries and films across all subject areas)
We have the opportunity for you to engage with some specialist mentoring.
Unlock your Talent, build confidence and tackle any difficulties you are facing whilst being at university and identifying from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Background.
If you are interested please sign up here or via the QR code in the email.
18th – 28th November 2021 At Stanley Arts & Online A Bit Of A Do, our annual festival of theatre, dance and cabaret, featuring work by disabled and non-disabled artists is back! Everyone is invited! We will be returning to Stanley Arts – a community arts venue in South Norwood, from the 18th to 28th of November. This year there will be two ways to experience the festival: this can be in person or online, so you can choose which you prefer. All events include British Sign Language interpretation and some events include enhanced access for visually impaired audiences. We have a range of amazing performances and digital experiences including work from Bert & Nasi, Forced Entertainment, Moxie Brawl, GymJam, Ellen Renton, Jack Dean & Company and Aby Watson. As well as an evening of Cabaret Performance, an inclusive club night and a Scratch Night that will showcase brand new performance ideas from disabled artists. As always all events are Free to attend – you just need to book a ticket so that we know how many people will be with us! You can find all of the festival information and book tickets by following the link below. We can’t wait to have ‘A Bit Of A Do’ with You! Learn More
Friday Late takeover, this month gal-dem and friends are back for a night of live performances, workshops, installations, talks and screenings. As we enter the Roaring Twenties, this Friday Late, we’re asking you to remake with us, using your hands, minds and imagination to radically change the times we live in. 29 October, 18.30 – 22.00
Featuring live readings from two of the UK’s most exciting literary voices, Inua Ellams and Nikesh Shukla, a long-overdue Social performance from the incredible 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE and finally, Musa himself in conversation with Ian Wright (can’t believe we’ve actually just written that…
We’ll also have music from DJ Pierre Nedd, and the usual array of Rough Trade Books merchandise for sale. So get down to the best bar in town for what promises to be a classic night.
Calling all avid readers! Enrich your CV with a portfolio of book reviews on our independent review site Reedsy Discovery.
We spotlights gems of the indie publishing world — great books that are often overshadowed by big bestsellers. As a reviewer, you can contribute as much or as little as you like, and great reviews will be featured in our newsletter, sent weekly to 300k readers.
What do you need to apply? At least 1-2 book review examples.
WebCrafters is a student-led project aiming to enable students to access the hidden job market through the power of the personal website. Whether you are a student, a graduate, or looking to have a change of career, we are here to help you promote your personality and achievements in the best possible light. How? By teaching you to code your own personal portfolio website and showing you how to interface that site with LinkedIn and other key employability sites to maximise your online presence. These will enable you to gravitate towards the hidden job market and showcase yourself in the best possible light to prospective employers.
What do Computacenter do? In simple terms, you’d be joining a company who delivers digital tech solutions to some of the biggest organisations in the world. They have opportunities across Business Management, Project Management, Technical Consultancy, and Sales.
Placement Years – £17k, Locations across the UK, Add real value from Day 1, Hands on experience and the opportunity to learn and work on innovative solutions for our customers.
Graduates – £30k starting salary, Locations across the UK, Structured support programme designed to fast track your learning and development in a business that really cares about it’s employees.
Interested? Follow the link below to their Future Careers page to find out more.
The Uni Bubble regarding our free weekly careers newsletters where we’re equipping students to move into industries of the future after university. We’ll be guiding you on the opportunities available to you, the free skills and qualifications you can gain to increase your employability and other specific advice on each industry weekly.
Our 7 industry-specific newsletters you can choose from are: Digital, Technology, Creative, Business, Green Jobs, Entrepreneurship and Exploring Opportunities.
It can be overwhelming navigating the career paths available to you so we’re here to guide and prepare you to find work in an industry you’re interested in, regardless of your degree background.
Next week sees an all-new festival taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrating 150 years of immigration via a series of inspiring talks, performances, and interactive events, featuring an array of artists, musicians and speakers from immigrant backgrounds.
Part of the Hall’s 150th anniversary programme, Journeys is curated by prolific musician, producer and broadcaster Nitin Sawhney, who will headline the festival with a concert in the main auditorium on Friday 29 October.
Nitin will also be on hand to lead panel discussions covering the relationship between diversity and creativity, and evaluating the meaning of being an immigrant in society today. He will be joined by such names as Andy Serkis, Sonita Gale and YolanDa Brown. Limited £5 tickets for these talks are available for students, under 26s and unemployed.
Wednesday 27 October 2021: 5.00-6.00pm UK time (BST)
Online via zoom
Rivka Galchen’s novel, published this summer, about the witchcraft trial of Katharina Kepler was described by the Wall Street Journal as “a very beautiful work of fiction” and the LA Times as “a smart book that investigates the power of narrative… while being funny and deceptively easy to read.” Galchen re-imagines the world of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War, concentrating on the herbal remedies, troubled friendships, and worldly tribulations of the mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler. To discuss the book and the case, as well as the challenges of rendering difficult histories in artistic forms, Galchen will be joined by Professor Ulinka Rublack of Cambridge University, whose book on the trial and its implications for the history of science and magic, the Reformation, and women’s lives, was an important source. Rublack also created an opera, Kepler’s Trial, on the subject.
Rivka Galchen is the author of the novel Atmospheric Disturbances, the short-story collection American Innovations, the essay Little Labors, and the children’s book Rat Rule 79. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards and is a regular contributor of essays, reviews, and fiction to The London Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. She lives in New York and Montreal and teaches in the writing program at Columbia University.
Ulinka Rublack, FBA, is a professor in early modern European history and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She is editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Protestant Reformations; her other books include Dürer in the Age of Wonder and The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler’s Fight for His Mother, which won the Deutsche Historikerpreis. Her current project, The Triumph of Fashion, charts the rise of fashion in different parts of the globe from 1300 onwards. During the academic year 2021-2 she is a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin.
Recently launched podcast series called The Amplify Project is committed to supporting Black British writers and amplifying the Black British literary cannon. We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write.
You can find our website here which also has links to our social media handles.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies 2021– Tuesday 19 October 2021
Nicole Aljoe (Northeastern): Racing the Rise of the Novel: Black Lives and the Development of the English Novel from 1688-1832
This talk comes from a larger study that aims to analyze the complex relationships between the development of the novel and narratives of Black lives in Britain during the long 18th-century (1688-1837), as well as contribute to conversations about the impact of notions of race and empire on the development of the novel in Europe during this time. Tracking the representations of Black lives across novels and other texts throughout the century highlights the ways in which Black and White writers used these representations to engage particular questions not only about the aesthetics and form of the new genre, but also important attendant questions about notions of subjectivity and human rights. The appearance of a range of black characters and protagonists in early European writings over the course of the century provides a useful framework for revealing an/Other story of the development of the novel that complicates the often nativist and frequently exclusive narratives of the “rise” of the genre that continue to dominate in the field. In essence, this talk aims to explore what happens when Watt’s “rise of the novel” model is “recast” with a focus on Black texts. Chair: Markman Ellis
If you wish to join this seminar IN PERSON please come to the Francis Bancroft Building, Room 109, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS (no. 31 on this map https://ph.qmul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Article/Mile-End-campus-map.pdf). If you are attending in person, please e-mail w.bowers@qmul.ac.uk to confirm this, so we can keep track of numbers for social distancing and refreshments.
At this event, a panel of Black alumni will speak about their journey as a Black person looking for work and their personal experiences in the workplace. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about our speakers.
Click here to self enroll to our QMPlus module, which you will need access to to view the event. If you are a graduate, please contact careers-events@qmul.ac.uk
If you require captioning for online events, we recommend using the Google Chrome extension. Find out how to do this by clicking here.
Equipped with some know-how and a touch of irony, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver (Queen Mary Drama) use spoken word and movement to respond to a world turned upside down. How do you survive a loss? First you recalibrate…
Drama Grads Figs in Wigs are coming out of isolation and this time they’ve got their period (dresses)
Presenting a live art, feminist ‘adaptation’ of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women. Wild, irreverent and cosmically comical, this production dismantles the traditional canon to make way for the doomed future of humankind.
For many years, Tower Hamlets Council and Queen Mary University of London have been proud to support A Season of Bangla Drama, an annual festival which brings the borough’s communities together each November to celebrate the magic of theatre as well as the arts and cultural traditions of Bangladesh.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh, this has been renamed the Freedom and Independence Theatre Festival.
The themes in the title have inspired the plays and events that make up this year’s programme. We are delighted that we are continuing to profile British Bangladeshi theatre as an important way to spotlight key events of 1971, tell untold stories, and reach out to new audiences.
The variety of plays on offer cover topics including the plight of women, the tales of freedom fighters, the journeys of refugees such as the Rohingya and Vietnamese, as well as the power of protest.
There will be a fringe programme of events including a Bengali heritage walk, film screenings, an international youth writing project, talks and exhibitions.
The festival will also provide opportunities for audiences to participate through Q&As, and to be immersed in the richness of poetry, music and dance.
This is a fantastic way to learn about the history, legacy and impact of what unfolded half a century ago.
For the full programme listings, please visit our What’s On page.
1927’s Roots is a medley of these rarely-told stories, an anthology of ancient folk tales by anonymous authors. Tales of tyrannical ogres, magic bird’s hearts and very, very fat cats are brought to life with 1927’s signature fusion of handcrafted animation and storytelling.
I wanted to let you know about FlairBox’s Workshop Week, an exciting opportunity for your students to learn from industry Professionals through online masterclasses, at a discounted price. Places are going rapidly, but we want to do everything we can this year to support graduating and recently graduated students by giving them as much support as possible in entering the industry.
I’m delighted to be able to offer the students of Queen Mary University a 20% discount on all of our workshops! (including masterclasses with Casting Director Nancy Bishop, United Agents’ Olivia Jones, and viral comedy sensation Jonny Weldon). All your students need to do is apply the discount code: DramaSchoolRef when purchasing a workshop space through our website FlairBox.
(RE)CONNECT WORKSHOPS
For young people aged 16+
Thu 28 – Sat 30 Oct; 11.30am – 1pm; £4.50 each + Booking Fee
Want to start your own podcast, write your own music or create your own solo show? We’ve got a series of workshops this month from amazing artists to help get your creative juices flowing.
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
The Death of King Arthur by Seth Kriebel explodes the legend we all think we know and asks: What story do you want to believe?
The Death Of King Arthur is a new version of a very old story, an interactive twist on the enduringly popular tales of Arthur and his knights.
Choose which parts of the story you want to hear: The bit about the sword in the stone? Lancelot & Guinevere? How Arthur dies?
Or the other version of how Arthur dies? …or the other other version?
Sit back and enjoy or actively take part in the decisions that guide the story. Each show is unique, depending on the audience’s choices… bringing a lost Britain back to life and asking what the old tales can tell us in these complicated times.
The Queen Mary Postgraduate Research committee is delighted to invite you to our schedule of seminars this autumn (see poster).
We have put together a fantastic line-up of speakers from across the UK and America, who will be sharing their work with us, ranging from seventeenth-century skin colour to twenty-first century music videos.
This semester, we will be hosting seminars on Zoom on Thursdays, beginning 14th October. The seminar begins at 17:00 (UK time) and follows the format of a paper of up to 45 minutes and a question session of 15 minutes. All QMUL staff and students are warmly invited to attend, and to share with anyone else who might be interested at other universities or elsewhere.
We hope the seminars inspire you and spark new discussions, especially at a time when we are rediscovering the strength of our QM English community after a long time apart. It is our belief that the PGRS seminar exemplifies all that is best about QM English – innovative, supportive, and led by learning from each other. We are so looking forward to seeing you all there this autumn as we reconnect with our community here at SED.
Zoom registration for our very first talk, ‘Citizenship in an Erotic Mode in the work of Beyonce Knowles and Warsan Shire in Lemonade (2016)’ on 14th October, is open now! Follow this link to sign up:
Temporary Before Permanent is a contemporary art exhibition curated by Drama graduate Rebecca Sangs showcasing prints from Ann Chang which were collected and archived over the artists’ time here in the UK. These prints were primarily stencils used for the practice of . Each of the stencil prints exhibited represents a person, an interaction and the connection between the artist and the person that was .
Stencils are often used right before the start of a session for the artist to find the best position for the design to permanently live on someone. It could often take multiple tries of applying and wiping to eventually find the best location. Stencils act as temporary guidelines and will be wiped off completely from the skin by the end of the session. As a sentimental act, the artist collected all the stencil prints used in every session.
Originally from a small town based in Taiwan, Ann Chang takes inspiration from the origins of her parents’ home where rain and wet weather are a common phenomenon. Through connections from back home, as well as friendships built within East London, interactions of culture form many aspects of the artist’s work which are delicately showcased within the amalgamation of this exhibition.
Chang has an obsession with vases, where it took her a long time to figure out what it meant to her. She explains, “Vases are like people, they are in all shapes and colors and it’s up to you what you’d like to put inside of it. The vases I draw are often covered in a rain texture, which represents the melancholic rainy cities and small towns I live in now and have lived in before”.
As well as representing a collection of experiences found through human connection, Chang’s practice aims to present a discovery of peace within all aspects of art-making. Seen as a form of therapeutic experience, there is power in the artwork not only for the artist, but also the people who connect and participate with it, as well as the clients who get . Framed as a non-aggressive approach to active creation, these prints represent the idea of continuously being able to find joy in a time of challenges and hardships.
Ann Chang is a artist, printmaker, illustrator and painter. makes up a large part of her original work. As the kind of art form that Chang practices is not only unsupported but also red taped by the government, she is applying for a visa as a printmaker and illustrator to continue living her life in London. The word has to be erased and kept secret. By marking the word in the color of the stencils the artist believes that the art form is not completely disowned but highlighted with a distinctive shadow.
If you would like to know more about why certain words are removed from the texts above, please write to us at temporary.before.permanent@gmail.com and we will send you a personal letter written by the artist to tell you more about the story as the artist would still like to keep the focus of the exhibition on the artwork. You can also follow Ann on Instagram @she_shan_yu to see more of her fantastic work.
Exhibition period: 10am- 6pm, 11 – 17 of October 2021
Stepney Words 50 Years On
An event at the People’s Palace reflecting on the significance and legacy of the publication of Stepney Words & the Stepney Schools Strike with Chris Searle, historians, activists & poets.
In this authoritative, accessible study, historian Suzanne Schneider examines the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Schneider argues that today’s jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies. From authoritarian populism to mass shootings, xenophobic nationalism, and the allure of conspiratorial thinking, Schneider argues that modern jihad is not the antithesis to western neoliberalism, but rather a dark reflection of its inner logic.
About the speaker:
Dr Suzanne Schneider is Deputy Director and Core Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, working in the fields of history, religious studies, and political theory. She is the author of Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2018), and her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Mother Jones, N+1, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other outlets.
British East Asian and Southeast Asian theatre and performance are perhaps less well-known than theatre and performance created by British South Asian companies and artists. How are British East Asia and Southeast Asia represented by theatre-makers? So, how has Asia been represented on the contemporary British stage? Increasingly more plays about Asians and on Asian themes have been produced at the National Theatre, the Arcola, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and more. There are a wealth of stories, histories and voices that are yet to be explored and told. Theatre artists Kumiko Mendl and Kwong Loke join us in conversation.
Join leading practitioners for a roundtable discussion about the practical strategies, approaches and exercises that enable them to practice feminism in their work. We’ll be asking them about the politics of their work, how they experience power in the theatre, and how they have navigated it in their careers.
Exploring both process and product, this unmissable event aims to inspire and to further understanding for those interested in both creativity and social justice.
University of the Arts London (UAL) is a vibrant world centre for innovation and top 2 in the world for Art and Design (QS World University Rankings 2021). UAL draws together six Colleges with international reputations in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts.
Student Marketing and Recruitment is a forward thinking department. We deliver market intelligence, marketing campaigns, prospective student communications and guidance.
Registration for the free virtual ‘Books on Screen’ symposium is now open!
Join us for part or all of 3 November 2021 to explore how books are represented on screens. All welcome, please share widely.
Bestselling author Candice Carty-Williams will be in conversation with Jamelia at The Ritzy cinema next Monday 11 October at 4.30pm about her new book, Empress & Aniya – South London’s answer to ‘Freaky Friday’.
Tickets are only £5 + booking fee, and attendees will have the chance to ask Candice questions, buy a copy of the book and get it signed. Monday 11th October is also International Day of the Girl, so this event which will focus on female friendship should be particularly relevant and inspiring! The ticket purchase link is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/candice-carty-williams-introduces-empress-aniya-tickets-172357384577.
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…
Welcome to our digest full of interesting events, opportunities and schemes that may help you meet collaborators, improve their career prospects or simply broaden your horizons.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
From QMUL, Partners & Friends
Black History Month in Tower Hamlets
Music, film, workshops, heritage and more form the mainstay of varied, month-long programme of events and activities to mark Black History Month 2021.
In addition to the wide array of events listed, Museum of London Docklands have a great programme for Black History Month throughout October.
You can learn about key moments in London’s Black history with an interactive timeline, drop in to a weekend storytelling session with Soup Stories, inspired from the new display ‘Feeding Black: Community, Power & Place’ and explore the stories of past Black Londoners with a digital trail for the who of half term week.
Local organisation Trapped in Zone One are creating two new community murals in Tower Hamlets which showcases the rich diversity of the borough and honour a community champion who is an inspiration to young people in Tower Hamlets. For details to how you can get involved in these FREE creative workshops please visit their website.
English PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support) starts for first year students in person on Thursday 7 October 2021. Email Amanda to RSVP or if you have questions: a.perumal@hss20.qmul.ac.uk
SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR PEACH MAGAZINE: 🦋PASSAGES🦋
‘After a difficult period of time, this new academic year will hopefully be one of positive change and transition, and we want our first print run to reflect that. By making ‘passages’ the theme of our first print run, we are hoping it will provide an outlet to help aid the healing process this next year will bring.
‘Passages’ can be the fleeting or lasting effect of going through changes in life. It could mean passing next to someone and recalling a memory; the perfume of that person might remind you of a family member; a stranger you cross paths with might look familiar without personally knowing them. “Passages” could be the feeling of wading through water – there is little resistance, it is natural and almost as instinctive as time passing through life. What can Passages encompass?
Submissions can focus on: emotional or physical transitions, transformations, changes in physical space, the progression of time, or any other interpretation that reflects this theme!
We are open for submissions NOW. We take submissions for poetry, prose, short story, comics, illustration, paintings, collage, photography (including photographs of 3D art forms such as sculpture, embroidery, textile art, ect.). Deadline is the 13th of October! You can send your submissions to us at peachmagazine@qmsu.org.
We are very much looking forward to seeing your submissions! 🍑
Maya and Alexandra, Editor in Chief & Deputy Editor
We’re excited for everyone’s idea, no matter how extraterrestrial! 👾
Reach! Workshops
Studying at university is quite different from school. Reach! will equip you with the tips and skills you’ll need to succeed with your studies. You’ll learn about UK academic culture, effective study techniques, essay writing, data visualisation, how to recognise disinformation and more. Reach! workshops are organised by the Queen Mary Academic Skills team.
In the session taking place on Wednesday 6 October [at 1pm or 4pm] will focus on Effective Reading & Note-Making, The session runs both in person and online. Visit our Eventbrite page to sign-up.
To find out more about future sessions, take a look at our website.
Outside QMUL
The Apocalypse Reading Room – Ama Josephine Budge
An installation of books for all ages, exploring ways to reimagine our futures
The Apocalypse Reading Room at Toynbee Studios, curated by speculative writer and artist Ama Josephine Budge (centre) and two residency Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson (left) and Mohammed Z Rahman (right). Photo by Bettina Adela
The Apocalypse Reading Room is an installation by speculative writer and artist Ama Josephine Budge: an on-site library, a world of talking stories in the face of environmental and social transformation, a gathering of all the books we might need to change the end of the world…
Explore the The Apocalypse Reading Room in person at Toynbee Studios in the Arts Bar & Café. This post-apocalyptic library installation is filled with books for all ages and you’re invited to come and read books exploring ways to build, transform, rethink, rewrite and reimagine our futures.
The Apocalypse Reading Room is activated by two artists, Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson and Mohammed Z Rahman, who are taking part in a three-month long residency programme, a series of public events and writing blogs:
Ama is in the Reading Room and access support is offered on 18 September and 25 September and 12-6pm.
Digital Cities Virtual returns on 12 October 2021 for another fantastic lineup of ONLINE events for people working in or interested in TV and related creative industries. We’ve teamed up with top UK media organisations to deliver a varied schedule of amazing FREE events for people who work in, or want to work in, the creative industries. Here’s some sections:
Launch of 2021 Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize
‘Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.’ Silence Dogood, No.8, The New-England Courant (1722). Each year a question or quote exploring Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words. The competition is open exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500. Winning entries will be posted online at www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org.
The Franklin quote for interpretation in 2021 is: ‘Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.’ Silence Dogood, No.8, The New-England Courant (1722). Entrants should interpret this quote for its significance today. All entries must be received by 31 October 2021.
Franklin is one of history’s great figures. While he made lasting contributions in many fields, his first passion was writing. He believed in the power of the written word as the bedrock of a democratic society to inform and stimulate debate.
Submissions *Entrants must be aged 18-25 years and living in the UK.
Entries of 1000-1500 words must be sent by 31 October 2021 to education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org. Each entrant is asked to provide their name, preferred email, postal address, and phone number within the email with the entry attached as a word document. In addition, entrants should provide their age and place of study (if applicable; if they are not in education, they should provide a biographical note explaining their current acurrent activities). Entrants may submit only one entry; fiction or non-fiction.
OverCome – Autumn 2021 at Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre autumn 2021 season of live theatre, dance and digital shows celebrates our unique ability to come together, learn and grow. All tickets Pay What You Can.
Roundhouse Rising Festival 2021 announces full programme including headline sets from Shay D, Grove, Jerkcurb + Natanya, 19th – 23rd October 2021.
The London festival returns to fully celebrate 11 years of championing new music, in association with BBC Music Introducing, Route, Saffron and Daytimers
More panels, masterclasses + workshops launched this year to open up access to the music industry.
Tickets on sale for members on Tuesday 28th September with general on sale Thursday 30th September from roundhouse.org.uk
Do you want to secure a job in the music industry? Participate in this workshop to learn how to get your foot in the door, make connections and launch your career.
Find out what it takes to create events and festivals in this informative and engaging panel. Gain tips on booking live shows, signing acts, routing tours and more!
Further sources of interesting events, opportunities and jobs are…