Our very own Professor Markman Ellis’s essay, “Letters, Organization, and the Archive in Elizabeth Montagu’s Correspondence,” appears in a special issue of theHuntington Library Quarterlyedited by Nicole Pohl: “‘The Commerce of Life’: Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800).”
In an introductory blog post File Under Fascinating, Sara K. Austin, editor of theHuntington Library Quarterly introduces Ellis’s use of the correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu at The Huntington to reflect on how people have organized and saved papers over time.
Image Filing tag made from printed visiting card of Mr Montagu Manchester Square, ephemera, MO 6922 (13), Elizabeth Robinson Montagu Papers. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Photo by Markman Ellis.
Queen Mary Theatre Company present six new shows, all written, directed and performed by our members. Comedy, thriller, politics, poetry, the end of the world…there’s something for everyone!
1-3 February from 7pm, Pinter Studio, Arts One
Tickets £6-9 per show.
Discounted bundles are available for multiple shows.
Written and directed by Alice Hope Wilson and Jaz Manville
What does happen in the teachers’ staff room? Over the course of one lunch hour, a group of teachers gather to discuss the impending closure of the staff room.
Written and directed by Rosalynn Whiteley and Eilis Price
Well, gang, we’ve fucked it. We’ve REALLY fucked it. We’re down to the last tin the cupboard, waters are running high and air running low, the bees are dead, the trees are dead… but The Show must go on.
Written and directed by Tatenda Kirya and Olamatu Jabbie
FELL. PUSHED. JUMPED. All of these speculations speculations are thrown around when it comes to the incident at Najma’s party. She’s fallen off her balcony, and is placed in a psychiatric ward as everyone believes she’s jumped… Except for her. Even though she was intoxicated, she doesn’t accept this version of events and suspects that something else happened. Later, new evidence arises which suggests that she was pushed and those closest to her are prime suspects. The play explores the various relationships in her life and how she ended up in the situation she’s in. The play delves deeper into the destructive nature of the relationships and how they manifested into what they are today.
Daisy-May is living with her grandparents. Polly and Bridget’s mum has been in bed for ages, and their dad’s fighting in a war. John and Mary have the perfect family, or so it would appear on the surface. Then there’s Greg and George, best friends who decide to have a baby together…but one of them is straight and engaged and the other…not so straight. As unconventional family setups spiral into chaos, we begin to test and question the real meaning of “family”.
She & Her follows three sisters and their two friends discussing issues around feminism, sexism and the experiences of women within society. The play manoeuvres around each characters backstories/narratives through a series of flashback scenes. It addresses not only feminism in its simple definition but how it differs from generation, race and situation/circumstance. This play is also unique due to a main key factor: everything rhymes.
It’s the one-year anniversary of comedian Sandra Curr’s debut as the host of the nations fourth most popular talk show, Late Night Live, and everything seems to be conspiring to go wrong. Faced with the effects of the choice to leave her ex, Robin (potentially “the-one”), to join a show that one year later seems to be using her only as a facade of social progress; Sandra is forced to deal with the very real possibility that she traded away a happy domestic life for a gamble that just hasn’t paid off. With chauvinistic head writer Alistair putting more and more pressure on her to resign, Robin back in her life as a guest on the show following their surprise BAFTA win, and younger sister Chrissie in labour in with their first child. Everything is going wrong tonight for Sandra and the team behind Late Night Live. How will she move on from here? How will she even get through the night? How did it all go so wrong? Everything’s up in the air, tonight on Late Night Live.
We worked to produce new course videos with social enterprise production company Signature Pictures, who work with Jobcentre Plus and the Prince’s Trust to provide training opportunities for young people in film.
We would like to say a BIG thank you to the students who took part in the filming in no particular order: Dubem, Charlie, Sharika, Jess, Christian, Aamir, Christopher, Blanka, Mahima and Saramarie.
Get your headphones on and listen to what our students have to say about our ground-breaking programmes.
Funding an MA can be a tricky business as it’s not as clear as for undergraduate study so we created this quick guide to finding funding so you can take the next steps on our English and Drama postgraduate courses.
Please note that students often get funding via loans, self-funding or government funding and/or working whilst studying a Master’s degree.
If you’re an international applicant please speak to your country representative to talk about what’s available in your country.
10% off fees for Queen Mary graduates (anyone who has undertaken an undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree at Queen Mary University of London). Conditions apply so do check if you’re eligible.
As a foreign news correspondent Sarah covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as stories across the world from Kosovo to Malawi. In more recent years she has focused on features, columns and celebrity interviews. With Sarah we will explore what it takes to get started on a newspaper career, how a career can develop, the skills & experienced required to get a foot in the door, as well as perhaps exploring some of her most memorable career moments.
Interested in a career in Communications? Journalism?
Publishing? Politics? Public Relations? Have you considered
how you could combine several of these interests by becoming a Press Officer…
come and meet 3 QM alumni currently working as Press/Media officers, learn
about the role, how it varies in different environments, how it will make full
use of your writings skills and powers of persuasion and how to get started on
this career path.
Alainna Hadjigeorgiou, Press Officer for the Orion Publishing
Group, an award winning division of Hachette UK. (BA English/Comp.Lit
2014)
Joshua Snape, Media Officer at the Department of
Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. (BA History & Politics
2013)
Tim Picton, Press Officer for the Labour Group of the
London Assembly (BA English 2014)
What does a Press Officer do?
In Publishing “key responsibilities include liaising with
the press, organising trade announcements and securing targeted and high
profile media coverage for projects… this means working closely with authors,
agents, journalists, freelancers and the wider publishing teams.” (Alainna)
However in
Government/Politics it is more about news and the story: “At the heart of it,
the job involves being able to judge what makes a good news story, how to write
for a number of different audiences” (Josh) and “To succeed you need
to be able to shape that story and ensure that it is either mitigated or used
to the organisation’s advantage”. (Tim)
Guest Biographies:
Alainna has worked in publishing for four years, starting out as an intern for independent publisher Profile Books, before securing her first job in the publicity team at Quercus Books and moving across to Orion in April 2018. In 2017 she was long listed for the London Book Fair Trailblazer award. She studied English at Queen Mary and graduated in 2014.
Joshua graduated in 2013 with a BA in History & Politics and has 5 years of experience in public sector communications. Starting off working as a Communications Officer for the pharmacy regulator, he has spent the last 3 years as a government Press Officer at the Charity Commission and subsequently, the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Tim graduated from Queen Mary in 2014 with a degree in English Literature. He then continued studying the subject, gaining an MA in English: Issues in Modern Culture from UCL two years later. Since, he has worked as a Labour Party campaign organiser, a Parliamentary Assistant to a London Labour MP and is currently a press officer for the Labour Group of the London Assembly, based at City Hall.
Show and Tell is a series of TED-talk style events where speakers from the arts, humanities and creative industries tell their stories at Queen Mary University of London.
This episode features broadcaster Shahidha Bari, theatre artist Mojisola Adebayo, lecturer and writer Karina Likorish Quinn and theatre director Billy Barrett. Introduction by Jonathan Boffey.
Rupert is
responsible for marketing within Queen Mary’s School of English and Drama. He
has worked for numerous organisations including Cineworld, Hackney Empire, The
Yard Theatre and Rose Bruford College. In his spare time he runs To Do List a
website about offbeat things to do in London: http://todolist.org.uk.
Show and Tell Panel
Shahidha
Bari
Shahidha Bari is a writer, academic
and broadcaster working in the fields of literature, philosophy and art. Born
in 1980, she was one of the first ever BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers
(2011) and a winner of the Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism
(2015). She is Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and Fellow of
the Forum for European Philosophy at the LSE, and writes for the TLS, Guardian
and Financial Times, amongst others. She features frequently on BBC Radio 4,
and currently presents BBC Radio 3’s nightly Arts and Ideas programme Free
Thinking. She lives in London.
Mojisola
Adebayo
Mojisola Adebayo BA, MA, PhD, FRSL,
is a performed and published playwright, performer, producer, director,
workshop facilitator and teacher. She has been making theatre internationally
for over 25 years, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe.
Karina
Lickorish Quinn
Karina is a Peruvian-British writer
and a PhD student and teacher of creative writing here at Queen Mary. She has
published short stories and translations in various journals and is working on
her debut novel about ghosts, guano and two-headed cats.
Billy
Barrett
Theatre-maker, Breach Theatre and MA
Theatre and Performance student.
Coming
up
Show and Tell is back for 2019 with a whole host of exciting new speakers.
Artist Development from Pleasance Theatre for Edinburgh Fringe
Application
are now open for The Charlie Hartill Special Reserve. The Pleasance will
provide an emerging theatre company with £10,000 financing, mentoring,
support, PR, marketing, accommodation, travel, accessible performances and so
much more to enable them to bring a fully produced theatre production
to Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019. An unmissable opportunity!
HOW TO GET INTO
PUBLISHING… from those that know!Thursday 31st January
6pm – 7.45pm, People’s Palace PP1.
We are delighted to have two major publishers coming on to
campus to talk about their organisations and the type of work
experience, internship & entry level roles that they have available.
We will be joined by Lisa Goll – Events Manager at Bloomsbury and Owner of
London Writers’ Café and Christiana Markou – Recruitment Advisor at
HarperCollins, as well as a Junior Editor from Bloomsbury and a recent
recipient of a HarperCollins BAME internship.
Lisa and Christiana will give presentations and will be interviewed
about general recruitment questions. The Junior Editor and HarperCollins
intern will also be interviewed about how they secured their opportunities and
their reflections on their experiences. There will also be opportunity
for your questions to all our guests.
A Career Conversation… Life
as a National Newspaper Journalist with Sarah Oliver, from the Mail on Sunday. http://www.saraholiverwriter.com/ Wednesday
30th January lunchtime 1.15 – 2.15pm, LAWS
Room 1.19
We are delighted that Sarah Oliver is coming to QM to speak about building a
career as a newspaper journalist. Sarah is an established QMentor
supporting one QM student each year interested in building a journalism
career. Now we have an opportunity for lots more students to benefit from
her knowledge and experience.
As a foreign news correspondent Sarah covered the conflicts in Afghanistan
and Iraq, as well as stories across the world from Kosovo to Malawi. In more
recent years she has focused on features, columns and celebrity
interviews. With Sarah we will explore what it takes to get started on a
newspaper career, how a career can develop, skills & experienced required
to get a foot in the door, as well as perhaps exploring some of her most
memorable career moments.
If you are interested in any aspect of newspaper journalism this is a
definitely a ‘not to be missed session’.
CharityWorks will be talking about how to begin a career in the non-profit
sector, provide you with an overview of the graduate scheme for the UK
non-profit sector
If you would like to consider a law career in Intellectual Property,
come and speak to a range of firms who will be promoting their work experience
and graduate opportunities! N.B. Definitely do some research on the role &
firms coming in advance, so that you understand their areas of interest.
Google Skills: The
Importance of Self Promotion, 28th January 6 – 7.30pm
This 90 minute workshop is aimed at women & underrepresented groups. The
workshop will help you to highlight the importance of self promotion in your
career, and provide you with the tools to start developing this skill.
Are you 14 – 25 and looking to break into the creative industries?
On Track is back – After huge success the free two day festival designed to fuel the next generation of performers and artistic entrepreneurs is back at Hackney Empire. You’ll get access to some of the industry’s biggest players and influencers working right now.
Sign up to masterclasses, seminars, panels debates, up-skill yourself with vital tools and knowledge to help you take things to the next level, plus network with peers and some of the industry’s biggest names
Show and Tell is a series of TED-talk style events where speakers from the arts, humanities and creative industries tell their stories at Queen Mary University of London.
Group sessions with top academics from Queen Mary will look at key A-level English and Drama texts and concepts to help with your revision. 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
The philosopher mediating alone in his study is a cliché of western
culture. But behind the hackneyed image lies a long history of
controversy. Was solitude the ‘school of genius’, as Edward Gibbon
claimed, or did it breed irrationalism, dogmatism and melancholy, as Dr
Johnson and others insisted? In the 1730s David Hume suffered a
breakdown which he attributed to his solitary philosophising; three
decades later, in a much-publicised quarrel with Jean-Jacques
Rousseau,Hume attacked Rousseau’s reclusiveness as ‘savage’,
‘bestial’,the mark of an ‘arrant madman’. A life of lone thought was
pathological: a judgement that still finds echoes in present-day
concerns about social isolation and loneliness.
English Reader Dr Nadia Valman’s article on her project celebrating the diverse history of the London Hospital, The Last of The London has been published today on Spitalfields Life.
To enter simply email us your photo sed-web@qmul.ac.uk or use the hashtag #SED2019 and tag us on Instagram or Twitter. The photo theme could be themed around:
winter wonderland style scene
a highlight from your festive break
books you’re looking forward to reading in 2019
performances you’re looking forward to in 2019
Competition is open until 31 January 2019 at 17:00 GMT.
Photo above ‘Bushey Park’ by Matthew Mauger (photographer and Senior Lecturer in English and e-Strategy Manager at QMUL)
The evening promises to be entertaining and relaxed. Speakers will each deliver a TED-style talk, and these will be followed by a chance for guests to ask questions, before the evening ends with socialising and networking over refreshments.
Show and Tell runs on the evenings of the 6, 13, 20 and 27 February 2019, taking place between 18:00 and 20:00 at the ArtsOne Building on the Mile End Road of Queen Mary’s Mile End campus.
Everyone is welcome from sixth-form students, new QMUL freshers, alumni, school teachers, researchers and anyone who has a general interest in the arts and humanities.
If you have any questions or would like to register a group please email: showandtell@qmul.ac.uk
Sadly you missed…
Wednesday 6 February 2019
Kayla MacQuarrie: Stand-up comedian who recently performed her award-winning show Traumatised at Soho Theatre.
Matti Ryan: Matti Ryan is a performance artist, impresario and the manager of Overlock, a new mixed-arts venue in Hackney.
Giulia Casalini from Arts Feminism Queer (also known as CUNTemporary) is a non-profit, volunteer-run arts organisation that aims to strengthen collaboration and solidarity between queer, feminist and decolonial communities across the fields of academia, culture, activism, grassroots organisations and social policy makers.
Charlotte Dinkin: Stand-up comedian, director, and creative communications consultant. She recently directed Olga Koch’s Edinburgh show Fight, for which Olga was nominated for best newcomer. She’s also just completed an MA in Psychoanalysis.
Wednesday 13 February 2019
Sufiya Ahmed: Sufiya has worked in advertising and in the House of Commons, but is now a full-time author. In 2010 Sufiya set up the BIBI Foundation, a non-profit organisation, to arrange visits to the Houses of Parliament for diverse and underprivileged school children.
Alana Buckley: Alana has worked in the events industry for over 10 years, beginning her career in heritage venues including the Imperial War Museum and St Paul’s Cathedral before transitioning onto catering. She has been heading up the events team at London-based street food company KERB since 2015.
Charlotta Salmi: Lecturer in Postcolonial and Global Literature at Queen Mary with research involving: Postcolonial Literature and Theory; Graphic Narratives; Literary Form; Conflict and protest literature; Borders and the state.
Magda Oldziejewska: Activist, independent researcher and blogger, as well as fundraising coordinator and management collective member at the Feminist Library.
Maria Oshodi / Kumiko Mendl: Maria Oshodi is a freelance writer and Artistic Director and CEO of Extant, Britains leading professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists. Kumiko Mendl is Artistic Director of the UK’s award winning British East Asian Theatre Company, Yellow Earth.
Wednesday 20 February 2019
Kit Redstone: Award winning writer (Testosterone). Artistic director of Vacuum Theatre and hot tempered, belligerent short-arse trans man who wears a lot of jewellery.
Ben Walters: Writer, producer, programmer, critic and activist living in London. Ben is a PhD student at Queen Mary interested in queer fun, cabaret and homemade mutant hope machines — or how participatory performance practices can materialise better worlds for marginalised people.
Kemah Bob (BBC3, The Guilty Feminist) a stand-up comedian, writer, improviser, and drag king from Texas now based in London.
Jorge Lopes Ramos: London-based artist, curator and producer working in the intersection between art, technology and games. Co-founder and director of East London venue G.A.S. Station (Games and Arts Stratford) and theatre/digital arts company ZU-UK (Brazil/UK), Jorge also works as Senior Lecturer at University of East London since 2009.
Dr Martin Welton: Reader (Academic Teaching at QMUL) in Drama at Queen Mary researching Movement and the senses in relation to the theory and practice of contemporary performance.
Wednesday 27 February 2019
Professor Jerry Brotton: Professor of Renaissance Studies and author of ‘This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World’
Nurull Islam (QMUL fellow): (QMUL fellow): Nurull Islam is one of the Co Founders of Mile End Community Project ( MCP ). A multi-award winning film and media organization with a commitment to helping young people recognise their potential. MCP engages young people through creative learning opportunities, such as peer-led film making, art, and media projects.
Moa Johansson: Moa Johansson (UK/SWE) is a performance artist whose work occupies the space between performance installation, live art, and dance. Her practice investigates theories concerning the body, space, subjectivity and communication in the context of an intersectional, ecofeminist and queer reading. www.mojocompany.org
Dr Nisha Ramayya: Nisha Ramayya is a poet and lecturer in Creative Writing at Queen Mary, University of London.
Katherine Igoe-Ewer: is the award-winning The Yard Theatre‘s producer for local projects.
Please note all speakers appearances are subject to change
“You may well know this already, but this is just to let you know that there will be a Year One End of Term Party, Thursday 13th December 4-6pm, ArtsOne foyer. There will be nice nibbles, and good cheer, and it’ll be a chance to celebrate the conclusion of your first semester at Queen Mary.
Wishing you a happy week 12, and hope to see you on Thursday.” Rachael Gilmour, Head of English.
PGRS PhD Panel and Literary Quiz |Thursday 13 December | 5.15pm | ArtsOne Lecture Theatre and SCR Bar
In a change to the usual format, we will be welcoming two current PhD students and members of last year’s PGRS committee to give papers on their research. We will then be heading over to the Senior Common Room Bar for a special Christmas quiz.
Our speakers are:
Di Beddow: The Cambridge of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath
Danny Rhodes: Yeats’s Missing Ghosts: Hauntings and Materialisations in the Radium Age.
Harriet Baker, Will Burgess, Hannah Donovan, Charlotte McCallum, Charlie Pullen, Julie Tanner, Frith Taylor, Vincenzo Torromacco, Alice Wickenden
Watch this space for details or follow us on Twitter @QMEnglishPGRS
‘Our monthly variety night where you can perform anything you want!
We welcome anyone and everyone to join us for a night of singing, dancing, poetry, spoken word, comedy, and any other talents! If you would like to watch, all that is required is small donation (50p upwards) which will be given to charity.
Talia Jacob (2nd year English student) is the Social Media and Marketing Executive of the QMUL Fashion Society.
We caught up with her to talk about her collection for LUMFS (London Universities’ Modest Fashion Show), which was then featured in the UJS (Union of Jewish Students’) Incubator Exhibition, and the QMUL Visual Arts Collective at the Hundred Years Gallery in Hoxton.
Pic credits: The photographer Gabe Moore and the model in the picture below is Aselya Nurlan.
Tell us about your work in fashion. What do you make and how did you start in the industry?
I did an Art Foundation Diploma in Fashion Design a few years ago. It didn’t involve much construction work though. It pretty much just reminded me that you can achieve any creative goal that you set your mind to. I mostly just knit now, although I do know how to use a sewing machine. A couple of years ago, I asked my mum to teach me the basics of knitting. Many YouTube videos later, I was making wearable gifts for all of my cousins. One of which was featured in the QMUL Visual Arts Collective and LUMFS (London Universities’ Modest Fashion Show). I also recently bought a knitting machine to help speed up the process. Once I’ve learnt how to use it, I’ll be able to make knitted garments much more quickly.
Who or what inspires you to work in fashion?
Although they’re two totally separate industries, costuming in film massively inspired me to get into Fashion. Watching films is a really accessible way to get a close look at some beautifully designed clothes in a short period of time. There are a lot of offbeat films that I’m consistently inspired by to this day (no matter how many times I watch them!). A couple of examples would be “Dangerous Beauty” (1998) and The Thing Called Love (1993).
I’m the Social Media & Marketing Manager for QMUL Fashion Society. So I’m the person in charge of all of our social media accounts, and our online marketing strategy. I’m also responsible for all of our physical (non-electronic) promotion. Those posters that you’ve been seeing around around campus, for the fashion show “Fashioned by Nature”, were designed by me.
Our committee is mostly collaborative though, and I’ve had the opportunity to do a bit of everything. I ran a knitting workshop, and brought in a speaker for next week (Hannah Rafter, Founder and Editor of The Intern 24/7). She’s going to be amazing!
Join the Department for Education (DfE) for an introduction to the teaching profession, an overview of what to expect in the role, and a chance for you to ask questions about your teacher training options. The DfE presentation will be followed by a forum of teacher training providers, giving you more opportunities to find your best route into teaching.
Social media skills are essential for so many marketing, publishing, pr & comms roles… this is a fantastic opportunity to increase your skills AND useful for the CV/applications!
Booking now open: come along to listen to & meet recent QM English graduates guests and discover what they are doing with their English degrees. Drinks & Snacks will be served.
If you are still wondering what you will do with your English degree, come for an entertaining and interesting evening and discover opportunities in a range of possible careers. If you already know you are interested in a career in one or more of the sectors covered, this is a fantastic opportunity to get some insider tips on how to successfully access these roles.
Our guests will all talk about what they do and there will be a chance to meet them in small groups and ask your questions directly to the guests.
Spend your summer helping Barclays promote its services and win new business. Working on diverse projects with this fast-paced team, you’ll learn how to communicate effectively and creatively across a range of marketing channels.
QTaster is a programme which allows you to learn about different careers by visiting a variety of graduate employers – experience different working environments, learn about sectors and roles, and network with employers.
6 sessions take place between 16th January and 20th March – this includes 4 visits and 2 training sessions.
Previous employers have included: ASOS, British Heart Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Investec, UBS, Springer Nature, FDM and Microsoft. The schedule for Semester B is currently being confirmed – follow Careers & Enterprise on social media for updates.
Reuters Journalism Training Programme – apply by 30 November for September 2019 start
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest independent news provider, reaching more than one billion people every day.
Prerequisites: Clear commitment to a career in journalism; Drive to build sources, break news and deliver deeply reported stories; Strong interest in issues that affect companies, markets and economies; Ability to generate original, relevant story ideas; Ambition to deliver journalism with real impact; Fluency in written English; Fluency in a second language beneficial but not compulsory; An international outlook
Support the Marketing team, helping to educate people about our products and services. Get stuck into various marketing projects in a dynamic, exciting environment. Impress us, and we could well offer you a full-time position once you graduate – starting summer 2020.
You will: Craft ad campaigns: Handle customer relationships; Deliver strategic insights; Promote TV shows; Plan, prioritise, research and juggle multiple projects
Queen Mary University of London and Wasafiri invite you to a reading and conversation with Nikesh Shukla and Bidisha. This is a chance to engage in lively discussion with some ground-breaking writers of the moment.
Inspired by the ‘Schadenfreude’ book, this Salon will bring together artists and performers (and you) to offer a distinctive perspective on this most morally conflicted of emotions. Come along and join the conversation.
Featuring our very own…
Tiffany Watt Smith
Curator: Cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith will curate the evening. She is author of ‘Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune’ (Wellcome Books, October 2018).
Lois Weaver
Artist: Lois Weaver is an artist, activist and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London.
Panel and Literary Quiz | Thursday 13 December | 5.15pm | ArtsOne Lecture Theatre and SCR Bar
