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Discover our Postgraduate Taught courses in Literature, Performance or Creative Writing. Read our new blog post
Save the dates: Mad Hearts – The Arts and Mental Health – 9-10 June / Peopling the Palace(s) Festival – 5-11 June 2023. Contact Ru to get involved in this year’s events.
“My writing has changed astronomically […] The support of many fabulous lecturers is a testament to the writer and person I am now.”
Subtexts presents…CLASS, CHORUS and ACCESS Tue 7 Feb, 6-8pm Rachael Allen reading from her forthcoming poetry collection God Complex which thinks through class and what class divides perpetuate and the ways we devote ourselves to things (landscape / peoples).
Ella Berny presenting from her PhD project, The Limits and Possibilities of Abortion Storytelling in Contesting an Abortion Regime, a creative engagement with the social sciences.
Join us for readings, chat, snacks and drinks ARTS TWO, Senior Common Floor (top floor)
Breaking Bread: Non-Linear Time: Writing Work Sun 5 Feb, 1pm – Candid Arts The programme for Breaking Bread 2023 hosted by Bread Theatre and Film Company, London is here, and it involves four creative workshops with four distinct artists. It grows out of creative collaborations with Bread London based on Ananya Mishra (English) current research on Indigenous ideas on non-linear time, intersecting with Cavendish physicist Prof Suchitra Sebastian’s explorations of novel emergent quantum matter.
The first workshop of Breaking Bread 2023 is on 5th February (Sunday). It will be hosted by the brilliant Tatenda Matsvai (aka 2tender) at the Basement Gallery, Candid Arts Trust.
This workshop is for anyone who writes or is interested in writing spoken word poetry; for anyone interested in exploring potentially decolonial forms of creating art; for anyone who wants to connect and share ideas with our growing community of London-based artists.
Join Bread London and Tatenda at 1pm for a meet, greet and eat inside the Candid Arts Cafe, then head down with us to the Basement Gallery at 2pm for a 2-hour workshop.
Tickets are free, but we ask that you reserve in advance via the Eventbrite link so that we know what numbers to expect.
Working for yourself – Wed 8 Feb 2-3pmIf you are interested in freelancing, in being in journalism or theatre practitioner, or have a great idea for a business, this session is for you!
Presenting yourself– Wed 15 Feb 2-3pmIf you would like to learn more about how to show yourself in the best light to potential employers and clients, come along to this workshop.
Mathelinda Nabugodi (Cambridge): ‘A Chamæleonic Race’: Shelley and the Discourses of Slavery – Wed 8 Feb, 5.15pm
In this talk, Nabugodi approaches Shelley’s poetic chameleonism from a somewhat different angle. Nabugodi will examine how Shelley’s poetry is coloured by contemporary practices of racial enslavement and adjacent discourses—anti-Black prejudices propagated by the pro-slavery West India Interest as well as by abolitionists and liberal thinkers.
Isabel Waidner in Conversation with Maxe Crandall (pictured above) – Wed 8 Feb 2023City Lights in conjunction with Graywolf Press celebrate the publication of “Sterling Karat Gold” By Isabel Waidner.
Conference: Contesting Authenticity in Literature, 1200-1700
30-31 March 2023 | Senate House Library, Bloomsbury Registration is now open for this 2-day conference on medieval and early modern literature dealing with various aspects of (in)authenticity. Our keynotes will be Professor Emeritus Alastair Minnis (Yale) and Professor Leah Whittington (Harvard).
The event will take place on 30-31 March 2023. The physical element of the conference is based at Senate House, University of London, with online participation possible. All forms of attendance are free, and bursaries are available to assist those wishing to attend in person.
Please see authenticity2023.wordpress.com for more conference details, including booking information, the conference programme, and bursary details.
Caitlin O’Donnell (English Studies: Writing and Society 1700-1820 MA, 2012), who is currently working at Northeastern University as a Manager for Strategic Initiatives and Executive Projects in External Affairs.“The courses I took at Queen Mary all focused on the relationship between society and literature. I found my studies to be much more interdisciplinary than what I had experienced in the US which gave me a more comprehensive view. Plus, I was specifically researching and writing about the city in which I was living. There are some absolute rock stars on the staff—one of my favourite memories was when Markman Ellis hosted tea as we were studying coffeehouse culture.”Read Caitlin’s story
Brazil’s small utopias
People’s Palace Projects BBC World Service with our Indigenous partner, Piratá Waurá. It’s about our VR project that is taking off again. We have developed the first prototype and just secured some extra funding to start the new prototype for non-Indigenous audiences/museums. Listen to the podcast
News Digest
WORMS: Isabel Waidner is featured in Worms Issue 6 with a fiction piece from their latest novel.
HISTORY OF ART SEMINAR AT EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART: Martin O’Brien gave a lecture entitled ‘Deathly Durations: Performance and the Temporalities of Decay’.
We can’t wait to receive your application for our innovative, inclusive and supportive degree programmes. If you have a relevant degree in a relevant subject at a 2:1 level we would love to receive an application from you.
Want to work in education, journalism, law, film and TV, teaching or marketing? English gives you the critical confidence to write well and get ahead in so many careers.
Want to become a writer? Our creative writing courses expose you to new work and challenge your own writing to become a confident creative writer across prose, poetry, non-fiction and many more experimental styles.
Want to work in performance, culture, social justice or build your own business? These Drama courses are a great way to start your bespoke career path.
Charity: £2 will go to Young Women’s Trust on behalf of each School of English and Drama student completing the survey and £1 from QMUL as a whole going to YWT too.
£5 Food Voucher: You’ll get a voucher for SU outlets. To claim the voucher, students need to forward the confirmation email received on completion of the survey, along with their name and student ID number, to nss-survey@qmul.ac.uk. The voucher will be emailed to them within two weeks. Your answers and comments to the survey will remain anonymous at all times.
Your feedback matters: Good or bad, your feedback is essential to the university for future improvement and to know any areas of concern.
Ipsos MORI will email you with a link to complete the survey. Later during the survey period, you may be contacted by SMS or phone unless you have opted out of this communication.
A charity donation of £2 will be made to the Young Women’s Trust on behalf of each School of English and Drama student completing the survey
You will be entered into a prize draw if you complete the survey by 10 February
The NSS provides you with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback on your whole learning experience and make your voice heard on a national platform
Feedback from the NSS will be used to improve the experience for future students, just as you have benefitted from previous students’ feedback
Anonymised results are made publicly available through Discover Uni to help prospective students make informed decisions of where and what to study
For every NSS survey completed, Queen Mary will make a £1 charity donation.
Students’ Union Faculty Vice Presidents and Course Reps were asked to help pick a charity on behalf of their Faculty – for HSS the chosen charity was Young Women’s Trust in addition, the School of English and Drama will match Queen Mary’s donation for every SED student who completes the survey.
SED have the chance to win £500 – complete your survey by 10 February 2023
Between 23 January–10 February the School or Institute with the highest percentage of responses during this time will win £500 and, if we win, you can help us decide what to do with it! Make sure you complete the survey before Friday 10 February to help SED win £500.
You can be entered into the SED prize draw – complete your survey by 10 February
If you complete the survey by Friday 10 February you can enter the SED prize draw, with the following prizes up for grabs:
1 x £300 Hotel Gift Voucher
2 x £100 High Street Vouchers
10 x £25 High Street Vouchers
All you’ll need to do is upload evidence of your completed NSS survey to this form by 5pm on Friday 10 February. You can either upload the confirmation email, or a screenshot of the final page saying you have completed the survey. This prize draw is open to SED students only.
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.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
Don’t forget your careers service is open all semester and can help with finding jobs, applications and interviews. Book an appointment or email your careers consultant Fliss Bush.
If you aren’t sure what you would like to do, this is great place to start! You’ll be encouraged to consider the shape you want your future to take, and given the tools you need to build an action plan with manageable next steps.
If you would like to learn more about how to show yourself in the best light to potential employers and clients, come along to this workshop.
Micro Internships now open
We hope you are well. Are you interested in completing a short internship with a business, charity or social enterprise? Micro Internships are a great way to gain experience in a real-life, professional setting with support and training from Queen Mary careers and internships staff.
Why should you apply? Gain real-life work experience and build your CV Increase your employer network Use micro-internship employer as a reference in future applications List the Micro Internship programme on your digital transcript, the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR)
Apply now! Applications for our Micro Internships are now open, with the deadline for applications being Sunday 29th January 2023. You can apply for more than one Micro Internship at a time.
In a society or have an idea to work with the community? Submit your idea to QMUL’s Festival of Communities
Get involved in the Festival of Communities The Festival of Communities is returning this summer, between 10 and 11 June, and there are lots of opportunities for staff and students to take part. Exploring living and learning together in Tower Hamlets, the Festival is a collaboration between Queen Mary and community organisations, with over 8,000 local residents joining us in 2022. Visit the Festival of Communities website for details on how you can be involved.
Online workshops: Autofiction with Wasafiri writer-in-residence Durre Shahwar
Join Wasafiri 2022/23 writer-in-residence Durre Shahwar for this online workshop series focusing on autofiction, self-representation, and prose-writing across and beyond genres. The next workshop will take place on 21 February, from 7-9pm, on Zoom. Read more and book tickets on the Wasafiri website.
Job at Wasafiri Magazine (based at Queen Mary): Digital Coordinator
Wasafiri is seeking to recruit a dynamic new Digital Co-Ordinator to manage our online profile. A lover of literature, committed to diversifying the voices heard in UK and global publishing, the ideal candidate is a creative, highly-organised individual equipped with the skills and track record to confidently lead the expansion of our online presence and reach new audiences, as well as the marketing and social media expertise to grow sales and event attendance.
“LOUDER!” FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT & PITCH NIGHT ———————————— Introducing “LOUDER!: A festival for the underrepresented”! “LOUDER!” (previously named “BAME Fest”) is a festival to celebrate and shine a light on the beautiful talent that exists from artists within the global majority! A festival to give a platform to those whose work and voices may be overshadowed; “LOUDER!” is intended to give these voices the spotlight and the space to be LOUDER!
Our pitch night for this festival is coming up on Monday 30th January! If you have a show you would like to pitch, feel free to submit through the form on our Linktree! Check out the post for more info!!
In Loving Memory at Bermondsey Project Space- 10 Feb
Live performance and film screening exploring, the courageous, hilarious, and deliciously naive transition from childhood to adulthood. A collaboration between artists and pals Bridget Russon (QMUL alumna) and Kate Ireland.
Cheer up January with free light festivals in Canary Wharf and City of London
WINTER LIGHTS: Brighten up these dark evenings with a trip to Canary Wharf to see Winter Lights, a free trail featuring more than 20 glowing artworks. Some will be familiar if you’ve been in previous years, while others are new for 2023. You’ll find them dotted around the area, both inside and outside. FREE, until 28 January
ILLUMINOCITY: We’re into the final week of IlluminoCity, a free light festival featuring two installations in the City of London. It’s your last chance to see glowing, geometric sculptures outside the CityPoint building near Moorgate, and Principal Place near Liverpool Street. FREE, until 27 January
BATTERSEA LIGHT FESTIVAL: Yep, another light festival. This one’s also free (hurrah!) and takes place in and around Battersea Power Station, with eight glowing installations illuminated every evening, and a selection of food trucks popping up to keep you fed and watered while you explore. FREE, until 5 March
#BFIFutureFilmFestival returns 16-19 Feb 2023, both in-person at BFI Southbank and online!
Jump in to playwriting with this 28-day challenge! Every day in February you’ll receive a writing brief, then you’ll have 36 hours to write a play in response. Plays can be of any length, genre and language. Register now to develop your skills and build your confidence!
Thursday 26 January 6.30pm – 9.30pm FREE, booking required
Hear some of the best emerging poets on the scene! This will be an evening focused on mindfulness and wellbeing, expect some chill vibes and a chance to take part in some mindful activities. Open mic slots available on the door.
Skilled Summers are looking for passionate and talented drama and acting students to travel to America this summer and get paid to teach their skills to children at a top summer camp.
The Horror Show! X Upgrade Yourself Takeover – Free entry to Somerset House exhibition
For one night only, get free entry to The Horror Show!, examining how ideas rooted in horror have informed the last 50 years of creative rebellion. We’ll also connect you with like-minded emerging creatives and give access to industry experts, exhibition contributors and Somerset House residents.
Our takeover gives 18-30 year olds:
Afterhours access to the exhibition
An Upgrade Yourself Live session with Jenkin Van Zyl who offers up advice on how to carve a creative space of your own
Plus a DJ set from LO-LOW, networking and bar in the Great Arch Hall.
Future Producer School, created by Sheffield DocFest and Bungalow Town Productions, has returned!
The scheme aims to develop industry partnerships and provide industry knowledge and experience to up-and-coming producers that have the ambition to become international feature documentary producers. The programme consists of: A residential lab 1-1 mentoring, Matchmade meetings and networking Full Industry Pass for Sheffield DocFest 2023 (standard pass price is £330 + VAT) Deadline to apply: 8 February, 17:00 GMT.
A weekend of complementary performance and film which completes The Sarah Siddon’s Fan Club Theatre collaboration with The United Voices of Africa Association.
Saturday 25th March & Sunday 26th March at 2pm & 4pm
A Theatrical Perambulation, beginning in St Michael’s Square, Bugle Street, Southampton
Bought: A street theatre production about the black history of Georgian Southampton. As well as being a fashionable spa and watering place, the home of the author Jane Austen, painted by John Constable and endorsed by Royalty, the wealth of the residents was based on spoils from West Indian Plantations and East India Company merchandise. This Hidden History tell the story of slaves and deserters, but also of writers, actors and survivors.
On the Wire: Putting Yourself in the Picture on Thursday 23rd February 7-8pm on Zoom with Andy Kempe, Emeritus Professor of Drama Education at the University of Reading and long standing member of National Drama and Patron of London Drama.
About this session: You will learn how to use the 5Ws of drama to create characters who may have been involved in a real event and be guided towards generating dynamic pieces of dramatic writing by using tightly constrained formats. Why this session is good to come to: The techniques introduced in this session are easily adapted to different age groups and both real and fictional events. This is a fun session that exemplifies the credo of playwright Noel Greig that ‘Limitation is stimulation’. Session Fee This session is £10 but discounted to London Drama and National Drama Members to £5. The promo code is available by emailing London Drama at londondrama1@gmail.com
Future Leaders in the Arts – Free course with Dance Consortium
Deadline 10 Feb
Future Leaders is ideal for people keen to know more about producing, venue and festival programming, artistic management, learning and engagement, tour management, technical management, festival scheduling, public events, tour co-ordination, marketing, digital communications, press and PR, fundraising and more.
Melanie Bigold (Cardiff University) ‘Books of her own: Women’s Libraries and Book Ownership in the Long Eighteenth Century’
What role did women play in the expansion and consumption of print culture between 1660-1820? Drawing on evidence of over 300 women’s libraries, including detailed records from fifty women’s book and library lists comprising some 30,000 titles, this paper will offer some preliminary details about what we have been missing in relation to women and their books in the long eighteenth century.
Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, Tuesday 7 February, in person, 5.30-7pm. Registration required.
By popular demand, East End History Club is back! As the closing event for our Feeding the Hamlets exhibition, spend a Saturday with us immersing yourself in the history of food production in the East End.
This is the last chance to see the exhibition before it closes. The day will feature….
tours of the exhibition at 11am & 2pm
a wide range of additional collections about food history available for informal browsing – including newspapers, photos and pamphlets
possibly a film screening
free tea, coffee and biscuits
Please book in advance so we have an idea of numbers, but feel free to drop in at any point during the event.
Where is Anne Frank
Film screening | Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives
To mark this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives in partnership with UK Jewish Film is screening WHERE IS ANNE FRANK.
Branding 101 – Free mini class
Branding and design expert Hadrien Chatelet is going to give you a 30-minute whistle stop tour on branding basics for beginners.
ZU-UK will hold a series of 3 ‘This Is How I Do It, Baby’ workshops: each is led by a different guest artist/practitioner established as an innovator in their field, introducing participants to their practice, and including a practical exploration of how they make their work. Join one, two, or all three sessions:
These workshops are FREE and open to the public but require you to register, as capacity is limited. All workshops take place at BATHWAY THEATRE, Woolwich, London. It is possible to attend just one, some, or all of the workshops.
Call for Contributions: Art for the Sake of care
The Special Issue Art for the Sake of Care for Humanities explores the space between Art Practice Research and Care Ethics/Studies, highlighting how artistic and creative practice researchers contribute to a caring society. By cutting between care ethics, care theory, and art practice research, this special issue emphasizes care through aesthetic, performative and participatory spaces. Our special issue proposes the encounter of care and the arts as inquiry, as critical, dialogic, performative, and healing. Ultimately, we explore how the arts aim to foster solidarity, trust, and equity as pillars of a caring society.
Contributions are invitation-based for contributors to the Art and Care Platform Series (www.art-and-care.com). The editors are open to considering relevant abstracts (250 words, 4–6 keywords and a short bio by February 1, 2023 to: Merel Visse, mvisse@drew.edu and Dr. Elena Cologni, elena.cologni@aru.ac.uk.)
£5 Freelancer Skills Workshops at the Bush Theatre
In this series of 90-minute workshops designed for theatre freelancers, Bush Theatre staff team will share their knowledge in various areas of the business side of creative life. Each of the workshops will be informative and interactive and aimed at freelancers.
The Bush’s Library Bar and Café will also be open, and freelancers are encouraged to network.
There are limited free bursary places available for freelancers who need them. Contact bushgreen@bushtheatre.co.uk for more information on how to apply for a bursary place.
Tuesday 7th February:
11 am Producing Workshop – Led by Oscar Owen
1.30 pm Writers Pitching Skills Workshop –Led by Deirdre O’Halloran
3.30 pm Directors Toolkit Workshop– Led by Daniel Bailey and Lynette Linton
Wednesday 8th February:
11 am Finance WorkshopLed by Neil Harris
1.30 pm Fundraising Workshop – Led by Ruth Davey and Eleanor Tindall
3.30 pm Marketing Workshop – Led by Shannon Clarke and Ed Theakston
Tickets: £5 (£3 concessions) can be booked at bushtheatre.co.uk or at the Box Office on 020 8743 5050.
The Journo Resources Yearbook 2023
Inside the magazine you’ll find:
• 12 in-depth features from our inaugural 2021/22 fellows, looking at everything from life after Twitter and travel journalism, to Islamophobic reporting and creating accessible stories.
• Brand new and updated personal development exercises to help you set achievable goals for your next 12 months in journalism, as well as plan out the stories you really want to cover. • Useful directories of rates, salaries, and other journalism resources you can use to find the support you need over the next 12 months.
• A paper aeroplane to throw social media owners who are throwing their outlet down a pan and other fun surprises…
Next week, join us to explore the role that community engagement can play in addressing housing inequalities, and ask how communities can be better included in shaping and creating their own housing culture and heritage. In the first session of 2023, our expert panel of guests will explore the role that architecture, planning and public engagement can play in addressing racial inequalities and differences in housing and living arrangements across ethnic communities.
DATE Wednesday 25 January 2023 TIME 1:00-2:00pm GMT LOCATION Zoom
Auntie Sewing Squad: Mask Sewing, Racial Justice and Radical Care
January 24th 19:00 Rose Bruford College, Burnt Oak Lane, Sidcup, DA15 9DF
Studio (C015)
Kristina Wong is a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. She’s a performance artist, comedian, writer and elected representative who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. She’s been a guest on late night shows on NBC, Comedy Central and FX. She’s been awarded artist residencies from MacDowell, San Diego Airport and Ojai Playwrights Festival.
Poetry LGBT Open Mic Night started in January 2015
Come and enjoy poetry and spoken word from new and established poets/writers/creatives for this 8th year anniversary special. Date: Wednesday 25th January 2023
Time: 7-10pm Venue: The Two Brewers 114 Clapham High Street London SW4 7UJ
Up to 20 poets/writers/creatives will each share their poems/spoken word/song.
The open mic sign up is now done inside the venue at 6:45pm on a first come first served basis.
Each person who arrives before 7:30pm will be given 2 free raffle tickets for a chance to win fantastic prizes at 9:30pm
As a SED student, there are many different career options open to you. You may know exactly what you want to do; you may feel overwhelmed and unsure where to start.
Wherever you are on your career journey, the Careers & Enterprise service is here to help and we are holding a series of online workshops in February exclusively for SED students:
If you aren’t sure what you would like to do, this is great place to start! You’ll be encouraged to consider the shape you want your future to take, and given the tools you need to build an action plan with manageable next steps.
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.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the next edition via sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
Don’t forget your careers service is open all semester and can help with finding jobs, applications and interviews. Book an appointment or email your careers consultant Fliss Bush.
How to Design a Magazine Colours, 2-4 Hoxton Square – Wednesday 18th January, 6pm. Tickets are free for students – please email info@stackmagazines.com using your university or college email address to request the 100% discount code.
Please join us for the launch of our short open access book, ‘Collaborative Historical Research in the Age of Big Data: Lessons from an interdisciplinary project’ (soon to be available open access by Cambridge University Press as part of the Elements Series). The event will be an online roundtable discussion, led by hosts Professor Jane Winters and Professor James Smithies, with the authors, Ruth Ahnert, Emma Griffin, Mia Ridge and Giorgia Tolfo.
Living with Machines is one of the largest digital humanities projects ever funded in the United Kingdom. The project brought together a large interdisciplinary team (39 members over its lifetime to) to leverage more than twenty-years’ worth of digitisation projects in order to deepen our understanding of the impact of mechanisation on nineteenth-century Britain. In contrast to many previous digital humanities projects which have sought to create resources, the project was concerned to work with what was already there, which whilst straightforward in theory is complex in practice. This Element describes the efforts to do so. It outlines the challenges of establishing and managing a truly multidisciplinary digital humanities project in the complex landscape of cultural data in the United Kingdom and shares what other projects seeking to undertake digital history projects can learn from the experience.
WasafiriWhat is autofiction and what is its definition? Is it a hybrid genre, a thinly veiled autobiography, or something else entirely? This workshop will consider various definitions and approaches to provide a general understanding of what autofiction is, its nuances, and why you might write in it.
LINES: making friends; crossing borders presents the findings of this research in visual form. A unique collaboration between Dr Ryan and Minute Works Studios, the exhibition features eight monochrome posters as well as a visual fieldwork diary from the project. Tue, 31 Jan, 5.00pm – The Bloc Arts One Building, Mile End Campus.
Religion, Nakedness and the Human Form Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences
This lecture explores how Christianity in particular has understood, monitored and sought to control nakedness, demonstrating the remarkable tenacity of these fears over a long period and in a variety of locations. Tue, 31 Jan, 5.00pm – Graduate Centre Mile End Road GC601 Montagu Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London London, Mile End Campus.
Learning The Ropes is a 3-day bootcamp followed by industry-led mentoring for anyone interested in a career in TV and production.
Important facts
Applications close at 17:00 pm on Sunday 15 January 2023
We will be in touch with next steps by Friday 20th January 2023
The bootcamp commences on Wednesday 25 and concludes on Friday 27th January 2023
Mentoring sessions take place on the evenings of the 1 February, 15 March, 26 April, 7 June & 5 July.
For your application to be considered you must be able to commit to all of the dates listed.
Eligibility: To be eligible for the programme you must meet the programme’s eligibility requirements, including your age (18-24) and that you are not in training, education or employment
Workshop with #LondonWritersAwards alum @magpiecassidy is an imaginative collaging and free writing session to support you to explore new ideas & create fresh approaches for your writing.
Release yourself from the shackles of writer’s block with this mindful art and writing workshop. Based on spontaneous creativity, Project Collage looks to explore your ideas without rules or restrictions. Maybe you’re a writer who wants to do something different?
28TH JANUARY 12PM – 2PM | VIRTUAL Are you a musician who could do with some guidance on how best to utilise your social media?
Katherine Cantwell is an online coordinator at Heavenly Recordings, managing the labels social media channels and promoting artists.
On 28th January, she is hosting a free, virtual workshop covering; different social media platforms and how to use them, various social media practices, and what works effectively. This is also your chance to receive expert advice on anything you’re struggling with in the world of social media. Limited spaces available
The Ivan Juritz Prize invites postgraduate students throughout Europe to submit texts, films, musical compositions, virtual documentation of artwork, excerpts of moving image work and proposals for installation and performance. Winners in three categories (Text, Sound, Visual Arts) will be awarded £1,000 each. Moreover, they will be invited to a joint two-week artist residency at Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, which offers a unique environment for developing new ideas and artistic collaborations.
All shortlisted works will be showcased at the prize-giving ceremony at King’s College London and written up in the journal Textual Practice.
Entrants are encouraged to play with form to make us think, feel and question. The winners will be both of their time and aware of debts to the past. Ezra Pound, calling on the modern artist to ‘make it new’, was, after all, creatively translating the ancient Chinese King Cheng Tang.
All entries must be accompanied by a 150-word artist’s statement, in which you should analyse the role of experiment in your work and, if appropriate, relate your work, whether sympathetically or antagonistically, to the creative experimentation of the modernist era.
Workshop: AI and born-digital archives: Challenges and opportunities
organised by the AHRC-funded project Unlocking our Digital Past with Artificial Intelligence (LUSTRE) led by Dr Lise Jaillant (Loughborough University).
LUSTRE seeks to better understand how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help improve the preservation, access to and usability of government archives produced in digital form. The Cabinet Office is a collaborative partner in LUSTRE, along with The National Archives and other organisations.
Through a series of talks and a roundtable, this day long workshop will delve into the challenges and opportunities that AI offers to the management and use of digital born archives.
The workshop will be a hybrid event (in London and online) on Thursday 26 January.
To attend in person from 10 am to 4 pm GMT, please register using this link:
Poems Beyond Metaphor with Will Harris (Sat. 21 January 2023, 1–4pm UK)
A generative workshop looking at how we read poems and what we expect from them. We’ll explore metaphor and metonym, the limits of sense and non-sense, and experiment with making poems without realising!
Max: 30 ppl Price £20 Duration 3 hours
Will Harris is a London-based writer. His debut poetry book RENDANG (2020) was a Poetry Book Society Choice, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. He co-edited the Spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Reviewwith Mary Jean Chan. He has collaborated with the artist Aisha Farr, and helps facilitate the Southbank New Poets Collective with Vanessa Kisuule. He co-translated Habib Tengour’s Consolatio with Delaina Haslam in 2022. His second book of poems, Brother Poem, will be published by Granta in the UK and by Wesleyan in the US in March 2023.
Weds 18th Jan Poetry Launch: Wind, Trees by John Freeman with Gboyega Odubanjo, Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Jason Allen-Paisant
Free winter evening of poetry from writer-editors John Freeman, Gboyega Odubanjo, Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Jason Allen-Paisant to break up the long January. Come warm yourselves up with poems, books and conversation.
Today, award-nominated dance magazine dance art journal announces an open call for writers to take part in its Guest Writers programme which will run every Thursday from February 2023 – April 2023. This 8-week programme is designed to provide emerging writers aged 18-30 with the opportunities to develop their writing skills and gain experience in arts journalism.
Through a series of 8 workshops with leading industry journalists and dance practitioners, participants will learn about different approaches to writing about art, focusing mainly on the field of dance. Participants will expand their definition of the reviewer or the art critic and delve into different ways of textually capturing movement. The programme culminates in a paid writing commission of £100 for each participant and a networking event at the Roundhouse in London.
If you experience trouble accessing this application please contact us.
Hi Community,
As we cast positive visions for our futurity in 2023 and beyond, join our proactive input to support the African & Caribbean heritage narrative within the British context and to explore, with the aid of embodied memory, archive and performance, how a community may nurture resilience.
Decolonising the Archive, welcomes you to participate and witness our Theatre production of POCOMANIA by Una Marson, showing for the first time in Britain after being revived through publication in 201, from a forgotten archive. Hailed as a cultural masterpiece on its Caribbean debut in Jamaica at the Ward Theatre in 1938, due to its insightful discourse around the relationship between African-origin religious ritual forms and cosmopolitan, creolised middle-class identities forging themselves outside and within colonial frameworks.
Pocomania shows for a limited time at Theatre Peckham, 31 January – 5th February in addition to creative workshops held separately (January 14th and February 6th 2023) that will explore in detail the themes, archives and content in the play.
Kindly see posters attached, spread the word to your students, colleagues, families and friends. Get tickets early to avoid disappointment.
YA & children’s fiction scholarship for writers of colour
If you have the desire to write, a great idea and a compelling voice – and if you’re a writer of colour without the financial means to attend a Curtis Brown Creative course, this scholarship opportunity is for you.
Twitter is changing – what could that mean for arts and culture?
Twitter is changing and – in recent months – many are expressing concern about the way the platform is being managed. What impact might this have for arts organisations and artists?
Applications open for 6th Stuart Hall Library Artist Residency
Deadline: Sunday 12 February 2023, 11.59pm
We are pleased to announce the sixth Stuart Hall Library Artist Residency commencing in May 2023, in collaboration with iniva.
Reflecting on Stuart Hall’s paper ‘Constituting an Archive’, we are inviting an artist to respond to the concept of “the living archive” and consider the multiple ways in which an archive as a site may hold multiple narratives that are contested.
The residency is a funded opportunity for a UK-based artist to pursue research at iniva’s Stuart Hall Library for three months this summer, with the selected artist receiving support amounting to £4,750.
Applications are open now. Head to our website to learn more.
Want to write a play? Get your work shown here! 37 Plays, led by the Royal Shakespeare Company, is looking for the stories of our times: the comedies, the tragedies and the untold histories. Tell your story and submit your work! The chosen 37 plays will be performed script-in-hand across the UK and online in autumn 2023.
Here’s the topline…Eligibility: AnyLocation: RemoteDeadline: 31 January
Join us THIS THURSDAY 6 – 8 PM for the opening of our new show, A to Zine
From cities as far as Mumbai, Berlin, Ontario, Rotterdam and Limassol, A to Zine brings together over one hundred Zines submitted via our open call. These DIY publications on display offer you an opportunity to delve into the latest expressions of queer culture on topics as varied as: how to look after your mental health online; recover from your first break-up; understand the sociology of bad sex or bake bread with very unusual ingredients. Throughout the month of January, we’ve transformed our gallery to a warm space for you to visit at any time and flick through joyful celebrations of body hair, explore the colours of mushrooms, or chart the dysfunctions of the gender clinic. We’ve also equipped the space with magazines and materials for you to craft your own zines to add to our collection or take home.
Get a different perspective on our current exhibition, In Plain Sight, with these free tours led by experts from different fields.
Perspective Tour with Neil Harbisson Tue 17 January, 15:00–16:00Hear contemporary artist and cyborg activist Neil Harbisson’s unique perspective on the objects and themes explored in the gallery.Book now
Perspective Tour with Laurie Britton Newell Thu 2 February, 18:00 – 19:00Co curator Laurie Britton Newell outlines how the exhibition came together and discusses objects and themes from the gallery.Book now
Perspective Tour with MaMoMi Thu 9 February, 16:00 – 17:00Join Social Enterprise MaMoMi for this tactile tour of the exhibition where they will share their views and insights on the objects and themes from a visually diverse perspective. Book now
Here’s 7 reasons why Queen Mary University of London should be your first choice.
#1 Diversity: Not just a marketing buzzword but a genuine multicultural hub of students from diverse backgrounds:
92 per cent from state schools;
75 per cent BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic);
49 per cent first into higher education;
35 per cent from households where the annual taxable income is less than £20k, qualifying them automatically for the most generous Queen Mary University of London Bursary.
#2 Inclusion: We are committed to supporting students to achieve their potential. We support students from various backgrounds including LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities and learning differences, neurodiverse people, Muslim students and those from the incredibly diverse community we are a part of in central London.
#3Russell Group Standard Teaching: We are a top quality institution but with a down to earth feel. We pride ourselves on quality of teaching and how our incredible research feeds into inspiring classes and support for your own development.
#4Make Lifelong Friends: Our friendly community has societies, opportunities to meet your fellow students out of class, peer-support for study, activities for residents, wellness programmes and much more.
#5 Campus vibe in the middle of the world’s most exciting city: We have an off street campus by the Regent’s Canal. We are close to the city centre with all its attractions but with enough breathing space to relax and study in peace. We have coffee shops, corner stores and so much space to study all over our main Mile End Site. The campus is welcoming and is accessible via public transport from all over London. We have 4 tube lines, the DLR and buses galore including the new Elizabeth Line being a short walk away.
#6 Your Career: We are focussed on helping you succeed in any career you want to do. From industry workshops, bespoke placements and 1-2-1 advice we are here to support your dreams. English has a 92% employment rate.
#7Money Support & Uni Jobs: We support students from low-income background with a bursary, offer part-time jobs in our Student Union and all over campus as well as guaranteeing affordable first year accommodation.
#8 FOOD: We have over 4,000 Deliveroo options who deliver here. We are nearby to foodie heaven Brick Lane and one stop from Westfield: Stratford City for food and shopping.
#9 COUNSELLING & MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID: We have hundreds of mental health first aiders to help students and staff as well as free courses of counselling and liaison with mental health professionals.
#10 FACILITIES: We have a 24 hour library at Mile End, access to the beautiful Senate House Library, BLOC cinema, 2 performance studios and hundreds of student study spaces on campus which you can book online.
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.
Free OCN course available for students – Peer Mentoring and Facilitation
The three day course – running 30th, 31st January and 1st February 10am-5pm – will be facilitated by ‘Tender’ – it offers a unique training programme for young people who wish to learn about domestic abuse and sexual violence and develop the skills to support other young people.
There’s an application process which closes on 11th Jan 2023 – hence needing to advertise now – completed applications should be emailed to: jessica@tender.org.uk
Freelance Sound Artist, QMUL & LBTH Local History Library & Archives
Nadia Valman’s AHRC project is seeking a sound artist to work with oral history material the project has collected. Information is here. The deadline for applications is 9 January 2023.
£3 Thursdays at Genesis Cinema our local incredible indie movie theater
Deadline 5 January: Introductory Writers’ Group – ‘Ignites your journey to become a writer.’
Talawa returns with the local Introductory Writers’ Group for Black writers who are predominantly from Croydon, or who live, work or study there now. Best of all – it’s free to take part.
If you like to write and want to learn how to develop your ideas we want to meet you!
10 fortnightly sessions starting February 2023 led by Michelle Matherson.
Application deadline Tuesday 17 January 2023at 10.00.
Our Creative Industry Placements offer five, one-year placements (six months at two organisations) that give you the opportunity to really get inside how a creative business is run, from operations through to programming. All participants are paid the London Living Wage, with on the job learning that nurtures, mentors and develops participants, whilst being supported through in depth wrap around training and development. All placements work across Somerset House and are hosted by on-site organisations within our resident creative community.
Roles include:
Artillite – Sales Assistant
Bread & Butter – Junior Press Assistant
Hofesh Shechter – Project Administrator
ONTHEBEAT – Studio Talent Assistant
Royal Society of Literature – Marketing & Administration Assistant
Writenow Programme for new writers, Penguin Random House
Aspiring writer? Need a little guidance? Join this award-winning programme with Penguin Random House! You’ll get the tools, information, and access needed to navigate the publishing industry and launch your career as a successful author. You will be supported on your path, and get insights into the TV Industry too!
Here’s what you’ll get…
An invite to a free workshop in early 2023 on demystifying the publishing and TV industries.
Shortlisted writers will receive one-to-one feedback on their writing from a Penguin editor, and the chance to get their work in front of BBC Studios.
Successful applicants will join a year-long editorial programme, where you’ll partner with a Penguin editor to work on your manuscript and build your understanding of the publishing industry.
The Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2023 open for entries
Are you a young journalist, full-time resident in the UK, studying for a journalism qualification or starting out on your journalism career and who would like to win a valuable and prestigious award?
If so, enter The Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2023, which offers a prize of £1,500 each for each winner of the two categories stipulated below. In addition, the student winners will each receive an NUJ membership. The runners-up in each category will receive a prize of £500 and winners and runners-up will also receive a three-year free membership of The Orwell Society.
Out-Spoken Press Emerging Poets Development Scheme – Deadline 22 February
Out-Spoken Press, together with our partners Spread the Word and New Writing North, are delighted to introduce the second year of our Emerging Poets Development Scheme, offering targeted, integrated support and resources to four emerging poets over the course of a year — including regular one-to-one feedback, together with craft and practical resources — aiming to ready you for publication.
Content Marketing team at Headout. We are looking to onboard talented writers and West End Theatre enthusiasts for our West End Reviews & News team. Your institution is reputed for imparting world-class education to its students and preparing them for the demands of professional work in the theatre industry. We would love to have your students work with us on our London Theatre Reviews team as writing interns.
How will this work?
We will pass on a short assignment to you for the students based upon which we will select a few students to intern with us.
We will sponsor tickets for the selected students to watch West End shows (access to opening nights for some shows as well!) and in return, they would be required to pen reviews for Headout’s London Theatre property – London Theatre Tickets.
If you love theatre, we have the perfect opportunity for you! Complete a short assignment for us and if you get selected, you get to watch some of the best West End theatre shows for free! All you have to do is pen a review of the show for us in return.
About Headout Headout is home to the world’s best real-life experiences – from expert-led tours to incredible landmarks, activities, events, and everything in between. Its mission is to inspire people to get close to the world we live in by building the most seamless and affordable booking platform. So far, Headout has served more than 12 million guests from 195 countries across 81 destinations and is available in 6 languages. It has raised $60M+ from top-tier investors and is headquartered in New York with 9 global offices.
Open Call! Bush Theatre Script Submissions
Have a story to tell? Bush Theatre are looking for scripts! If you are a writer currently unrepresented by an agent, this could be your opportunity to have your voice heard.
Experience: No Experience Required. You should be unrepresented by an agent and your work should be unproduced.
What You Could Get: A meeting with Bush Theatre to discuss your work. Written feedback. Become a new member of the Emerging Writer’s Group.
Following its launch at Guru Live, BAFTA have joined forces with the BFI and British Council to produce a Short Film Toolkit for aspiring filmmakers. Whether you’re just starting out or already making waves in the industry, the Short Film Toolkit is there to demystify the extensive world of shorts and provide a comprehensive digital guide to the short filmmaking process. The first of its kind, the Short Film Toolkit includes insights from over 40 filmmakers, distributors, funders and festival programmers with advice ranging from film festival strategies to funding and marketing recommendations, as well as feature case studies in documentary, animation, fiction, experimental & artist moving image, XR and immersive. VIEW TOOLKIT
APPLICATIONS FOR BFI FLARE ARE OPEN
Since 2015, BFI Flare X BAFTA have partnered with BFI Network to produce a professional development programme, which showcases and supports six LGBTQIA+ filmmakers each year working in film and television. Offering a variety of mentoring, wellbeing and career coaching, festival access and membership to BAFTA’s year-round programme of events, this is a unique and phenomenal opportunity for LGBTQIA+ filmmakers to build on their work and elevate their career. Applications are now open for BFI Flare x BAFTA and you can find more information below. APPLY FOR FLARE
In this event, the editors of ‘Queer Spaces’ will explore the past and present life of LGBTQIA+ spaces from around the word – and their worthy place in history.
DATE Wednesday 22 February 2023 / TIME 1:00-2:00pm GMT / LOCATION Zoom
This event will explore trans people’s experiences of in/visibility in urban spaces and city life, and the contradictions that can make them simultaneously hyper-visible and hyper-vulnerable. DATE Wednesday 15 March 2023 / TIME 1:00-2:00pm GTM / LOCATION Zoom
Book a session today, in-person or online, to speak to a member of the team and get some valuable information, advice and guidance to support you in building a career in the creative, cultural and digital technology industries. Including CV, application or interview prep! To use Creative Connect you need to be aged 18 to 24 and living in London.
Callout: Critics on Criticism – Decentering criticism
Critics on Criticism is a section of the Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques Journal that explores the intersections between cultures of critique and those of performance. The Critics on Criticism section of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques is peer-reviewed and published online. We welcome engagements with the digital format and invite contributors to think about access in their submissions, in light of the varied, international readership of the journal. We also welcome formal engagements with the digital platform.
For June 2023 issue ideas, inquiries, abstracts and submissions are to be sent to Diana Damian Martin on diana.damian@cssd.ac.uk
We perceive only ourselves. What we then perceive expands and contracts depending on what we take ourselves to be. Perception is what lies between what we see and what there is. All thirteen of us are a kitsch of experience, lived lives, and therefore, entirely distinct perceptions. The 2022/23 MA Creative Writing class have come together to explore their perceptions and how they view the world through various forms. Collectively, they have collaborated to produce their very own anthology, a pile of work that holds individuality while retaining a sense of togetherness through unintentional crossing themes. Here are thirteen mirrors. Make of the reflections herein what you will.
We would first like to start off by thanking everyone who took part in this anthology, and everyone that was involved in the making and producing of this group project. We hope we’ve made you proud, and hope you love it!
A special thanks to Aris, for the beautiful cover page of the printed anthology and for taking everyone’s ideas on board, it was an important factor that made everyone happy. Rupert, who has always been a reliable and kind person, thank you for helping with the digital side of things, but also for your efficiency. Brian, for being there to listen and give advice when we got stuck, and remaining interested in our anthology, while also walking us through his classes, simply because he cared. And, of course, Nisha, because without her none of this would be possible – thank you for listening to our concerns and being so easy to talk to; your guidance and feedback meant each lesson gave us something we would not have otherwise had, and our workshops meant that we were able to discover what suited us as individuals and us as a group. These moments that you’ve given us will (forever) be unforgettable.
The work below is by Lily Mordaunt as part of our MA Creative Writers takeover.
Pulse pounding, I pull an earpiece from my ear. There’s no stopping the body’s reaction to being grabbed, but this moment is nothing new. My mind is calm.
“Come, you can cross the street now.” This voice is slightly accented and low-pitched, but it could be any voice. Any accent. It’s the usual song and dance.
“I know, I’m fine, thank you.”
“I’m just trying to help you.”
I never said you weren’t. But I’m:
Waiting for a friend.
Checking my map.
I knew I could cross but wasn’t sure if there was enough time left.
Or I did need the help, but I am resistant, because you started with grabbing and tugging.
“Oh, my God, watch-”
The ding of my cane hitting a pole accompanies the light jolt through my arm. I walk around it.
They catch up to me. “You almost walked into that pole!”
But I didn’t. My cane alerted me to its presence. Unfortunately, the range on my cane is only five or so feet, not twenty. Alternatively, I might have bumped into it. It would have been
unpleasant, probably. But neither situation warranted you telling me how terrifying it must be to be blind. That you could never handle it. Aren’t I frightened like, all the time?
“How does she do that?”
“She’s actually very pretty for a blind girl.”
“How’d she know to walk around that garbage can? She ain’t blind.”
Instances like these always fascinate me.
There’s this prevailing myth that a blind person’s hearing is heightened to superhuman levels. But even as those assumptions are being made, there’s a warring idea that I, and those strange creatures like me, can’t hear a thing. Or just, you know, not whatever it is that you wouldn’t want the subject of the discussion to respond to.
The perception of the blind is twofold: part infantilization, part terror. The former comes from, I think, not knowing how to approach a Blind in the wild. Being unable to see, many feel, is an insurmountable barrier. How would one get a Blind’s attention? A touch on the arm seems too simple a solution. And then what would one even say? They can’t play sports, cook, watch TV. Clubbing is definitely out of the question. And you expect me to believe they’re having sex too? How would they even know where the parts go? Besides, don’t they speak braille or sign language or something?
The latter—a feeling of terror—I believe, stems from a fear of what one’s life would be like as a blind person. That’s why everything a Blind does is inspirational. Not because we all have similar social pressures, and, while the activities may need to be modified, something like the need for a degree (depending on what you want to do) is required. Actually, the need for a degree might be more important in the blind community when you learn about how high the unemployment rates are. There’s a greater chance that employers (might) take a chance on you.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t inspirational blind people; the person who managed to make it out of a war-torn country, for example. But the very nature of our existence—despite how it may feel when nothing around us is accessible—is not an automatic cause for reassessing your own life’s meaning.
“She moved to London by herself? Regular people are afraid to do something like that.”
Blind or not, moving to a new country is definitely a feat. Admittedly, there may be more challenges for me: learning a new transportation system, getting comfortable with new street crossings, navigating new accessibility policies. But I also think that those challenges are just… different. Since I move to London for school, I have a home base on campus from which I can branch out as I get more comfortable. For someone else, disabled or not, they have to learn the ins-and-outs of a new job culture while looking for housing, and also getting accustomed to a new transportation system.
I unfortunately have a tendency toward downplaying accomplishments—well, for a number of reasons, I think—but one of the main ones is because it’s often looked at only through the lens of my disability. But blind people—disabled people in general—are people. We are not your inspiration porn. We have jobs, children, are artistic, analytical. We can be assholes, saints and everything in between.
Surrealist artwork with a cream background and thick brush strokes in shades of yellow, olive and purple.
The work below is by Khadijah Hassani as part of our MA Creative Writers takeover.
There is a cardigan that I have launched in the back of my wardrobe, and my mother told me to keep it safe.
It was sky blue and had mismatched buttons, and I listened to her until I didn’t. That cardigan was so precious and smelt of cinnamon and home, but it didn’t mean as much as it used to by the time I hit fifteen. It carried a weight that felt like drowning and sad stories and so many “almost(s)” that could have happened. I sat with a friend one day, and I let him touch my cardigan. He said it was soft, that it felt like lilies and comfort and that feeling you get when you’re dancing in the rain with someone you love. Who knew someone could be so poetic?
I said I was starting to hate it. That it reminded me of missing people and my mother’s glare and the hatred that seeped through whenever I thought of my father’s rage and his desperate need to be loved. I have that need, it climbs through in my words when I tell someone they look pretty or when I hug someone a little too tightly; thinking they need the same amount of affection I so once needed. My father had a way of showing his love in the way most of the men around me did, by shaming and staring and pressing me against cold stairs.
So, I gave my cardigan away. And it felt like those cold stairs, as if I’d lost something important, similar to the way I lost the love my mother once had for me. She now looks at me with tactile disappointment and disgust – “you can’t find your cardigan?” it was so special to her. It meant so much to her, my cardigan. How could I discard it so quickly? Just like she had once done; my father stole her only joy, the only thing that allowed her to love things, she warned me about it from the age of four. Told me not to make the same mistakes she did, because now look at her without her cardigan. She’s cold and lonely and the colours don’t seem so bright anymore and none of the puzzle pieces fit into place.
“Did you ever want to be a mother?” I sometimes asked. Sometimes she replied in stares, and other times she would say: “Some people aren’t meant for mothering. I always wanted a daughter though.” “Weren’t you scared I’d ruin my cardigan like you ruined yours?” “Of course. And I was right.”
That cardigan meant nothing. It was damaged, so it had to go anyways, even if no one else could see the seams falling apart. And if I happen to get a new cardigan, I don’t think I’d be able to keep that one intact either. It all seems to lose itself after a while, maybe I get bored of my cardigan, or maybe my cardigan gets bored of me. Either way, I’ll lose it again. My cardigan might belong somewhere else, it never did know what it wanted, but even if I did get a new one, it would never be able to replace the old one. The only comfort I have is knowing that vultures are always seeking food, and they’ll lick and rip at everything that breathes. They’ll wait until you’ve tired yourself out so that the feast will be easier to scoff down. Even if it is just a damaged cardigan.
Don’t worry, mother, hungry creatures never ask questions.
The work below is by Ines Platten as part of our MA Creative Writers takeover.
i. In a dream I find myself in the lobby of some student accommodation building. The social occasion is actually happening here, in front of the lifts. The walls are cardinal red, the carpeted floor some shades darker. In the corner, there’s an armchair with almost the same colour. People materialise in the time that it takes me to notice my surroundings, but I know I wasn’t alone before. I know these people, they’re familiar, in the brute sense, but I couldn’t tell you who they were exactly. The talking feels like it never actually began, it’s like I just tuned into it happening. I look down… am I naked right now? The air starts thinning and the walls swell and sweat hot, sick acidity. Drowning, demented screeching from another room. A saxophone, maybe? I don’t remember what’s being said. Whenever I look at someone speaking, they’re completely detached, their speech becomes shapes that hypnotise them. I try to scamper away but every time someone different catches me. I realise that they are all moving around me like clockwork, vaguely intrigued, laughing.
ii. I’m in the shower for the second time today. I feel around for swollen lymph nodes, but then the chemically treated water starts to envelop me in its journey downwards, the rushing sound extinguishing everything in the world.
The street lights turn on and he opens the door, and stops.
“You know, I wouldn’t even mind if you put on a bit of weight. If you trained your glutes as well, you’d look amazing.”
I don’t know how I would exist if my brain didn’t know to chronically anaesthetize me. I don’t know how people exist with emotion. Being numb is tiring but it’s kind of okay in the end. Life at a distance isn’t living but it works. Living here would kill me.
“So, do you think you’ll do it?” “Babe, I can’t talk about this right now.”
“No, of course. It’s just that you have the perfect frame, just if you ever wanted to do fitness modelling or something.”
Being a doll is just the little price I pay for not really being here.
iii. My brother Stan and I spend the afternoon in a cafe. He’s got a fresh trim for this party later tonight and he’s wearing his favourite faux fur Palace jacket. He laughs when he tells me how he queued up for 5 hours for these limited edition Nikes. He knows it’s absurd but it’s the also most important thing there is.
For context, I’m wearing the same hoodie I’ve been wearing for the past 3 days.
I struggle “getting it up” for life, I tell him. That numbness functions like a kind of erectile dysfunction, that while I’m not depressed anymore, the usual stimulus doesn’t do anything for me. Nothing gets me there.
“Just focus on getting those little semis, man. That’s all you’ve got to do.”
iv. In the park, I’m slightly desperate to make something of today, if only with a short walk. It’s a small park, essentially a row of benches and a pond. An old man chucks crumbs at the ducks. I sit down on one of the four benches and look at the water, glazed. I see myself from above with my arms crossed and I feel a sudden, fundamental repulsion towards this thankless bullshit attitude. I actually can’t live like this.
I get up and rip bits off the croissant I brought with me, offering it to the mallards. The old guy looks up and gives me a nod and I nod back.
v. Another dream. I’m in a church, a romanesque church, with a white interior. Walls unadorned, soft perforations of meridian light. Long haired, learned men fill the pews. I can smell frankincense but nothing is burning here and there is no priest. Someone is going down the aisle. It looks like me but it could also be someone else – her hair is darker than mine, and it goes all the way down to her waist. She’s naked, calm. I become her, and very slowly I walk past the men who have their heads bowed. On the altar is a silver chest with fine, fragile engravings; it has been around for a long time but only now is it fit for purpose. When I open it, I see that it is full of water. I turn around, only to see the old guy I saw yesterday look up and smile. Disinterested love. I get in, closing the lid. The darkness is whole and I hear only my breath.
A photograph of the railing of a bridge with a Buddha head on top of it.
The work below is by Casey Dexter as part of our MA Creative Writers takeover.
Who says a story needs to be read top to bottom? Read from the top to bottom, and then bottom to top (paragraph by paragraph) for two different stories
Today was my lucky day.
The time was approximately 9:55 am. There was a bit of brown on my white shirt. I rolled my sleeve back and sucked in my breath.
I bought a coffee from some fake French-sounding place around the corner after finding a two-pound coin on the ground. I took one sip and promptly spilled it.
Calm down, man.
Staring at my phone screen, I did some deep breathing that those wacko therapists always tell you to do. This was the biggest interview of my life. If I nailed this, I would finally have a job, a career, something to complain about at the pub! I could not mess this up.
Not happening, not today!
The interviewer said do not arrive late! If anything, arrive extra early. Being on time isn’t exactly my thing, but I really wanted to put the effort in for the new boss-man. I also had a date later that I was feeling pretty excited about. I texted her to confirm the time.
Confirmed! A double whammy! God was clearly on my side. When it rains it pours, I guess…
A huge bus drove past the end of my driveway, its tires ploughing through a puddle, sending a tsunami-like wave of muck towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for the spray.
I ran my hands over my shirt, my pockets– there was nothing on me!
Before I left, I went to fetch the newspaper and locked myself out of my house.
It wasn’t a problem. I did panic for a minute though, but I was able to figure it out. And hey, I still looked good!
I was told to wear a black suit and a white shirt and a red tie. An interesting combination in my opinion. I wasn’t entirely sure I had those exact clothes in my wardrobe.
Resume in hand, I thought about what this job would be like—if my manager and I would talk football between calls, if I’d be able to go home early on Fridays. I guess that was all on the table now. Man, I just knew the role was meant to be mine.
I stood there, just outside the front door. Wishing, waiting, praying.
I was feeling really good.
A Very Unlucky Day
I was feeling really good.
I stood there, just outside the front door. Wishing, waiting, praying.
Resume in hand, I thought about what this job would be like—if my manager and I would talk football between calls, if I’d be able to go home early on Fridays. I guess that was all on the table now. Man, I just knew the role was meant to be mine.
I was told to wear a black suit and a white shirt and a red tie. An interesting combination in my opinion. I wasn’t entirely sure I had those exact clothes in my wardrobe.
It wasn’t a problem. I did panic for a minute though, but I was able to figure it out. And hey, I still looked good!
Before I left, I went to fetch the newspaper and locked myself out of my house.
I ran my hands over my shirt, my pockets– there was nothing on me!
A huge bus drove past the end of my driveway, its tires ploughing through a puddle, sending a tsunami-like wave of muck towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for the spray.
Confirmed! A double whammy! God was clearly on my side. When it rains it pours, I guess…
The interviewer said do not arrive late! If anything, arrive extra early. Being on time isn’t exactly my thing, but I really wanted to put the effort in for the new boss-man. I also had a date later that I was feeling pretty excited about. I texted her to confirm the time.
Not happening, not today!
Staring at my phone screen, I did some deep breathing that those wacko therapists always tell you to do. This was the biggest interview of my life. If I nailed this, I would finally have a job, a career, something to complain about at the pub! I could not mess this up.
Calm down, man.
I bought a coffee from some fake French-sounding place around the corner after finding a two- pound coin on the ground. I took one sip and promptly spilled it.
The time was approximately 9:55am. There was a bit of brown on my white shirt. I rolled my sleeve back and sucked in my breath.
Today was my lucky day.
Shattered glass with a black background in white and yellow lighting
The work below is by Nishat Rahman as part of our MA Creative Writers takeover.
Your Perception
“My Room” by Nishat Rahman – A room with a grey wall (right) and a light blue wall (centre) with a grey wood floor and fur rug. In the centre, there is a grey desk with various coloured objects surrounding and on it: crates of wool, knitted clothes, notebooks, folders, a Nintendo Switch, a laptop, reading books, recipe books, cups of pens, paint brushes and knitting equipment, a sketchbook and a purple chair. On the blue wall, there is a calendar and a Korean letters poster. On the left, there is a window, also grey, with the outside in colour. There are blue curtains and a vase with a single (coloured) rose in it.
Blink. Blank. Begin.
A fresh page, a clean canvas, a blank space. A place to fill with all your hopes and dreams tailored by your experience and emotions. A place to declutter the life that has been written for you. A place to be you. Only… are you really you?
Blink. Blank. Borrow.
Borrow time, a time that should be mine, but I sit and wonder, is it really mine? Fill in the gap, the hole, the mould, stay in the line but also be bold. Retell a story that’s never been told. An imposter is among us as we go about our day to day, wishing we knew how to stay, to live life longer, to be young forever. A master of disguise, a thief in broad daylight. Building a mask, make it thick, make it quick. Anything that prevents a reality check. Are you really you?
Blink. Blank. Blend.
A pen, your starting tool. Only now it no longer contains ink, but a magnet and wires. Only now the handle is made of wood and the tip is fine fibres. Only now you hold two, one in each hand with no intention to write. But to create in a way that is seen as old, yet gold. Only now the pen is no longer called a pen but called needles. No, a hook. A spatula. A knife. A keyboard. A controller. A pen, your pen, no, MY pen is no longer a pen, yet it still remains a pen as I create a mountain of things that hold no real meaning or value. A gimmick. A replica. A façade of perfected skills. A completed piece sits in front of me, asking one question: is this really you?
Blink. Blank. Fold.
Count your cards, check the deck, for life has many things planned ahead. They say you are in charge of your own destiny. You learn your skills. It is your free will. You make your change, but what if my change isn’t because of my skills. What if I’m a vessel, made to contain others’ efforts and abilities. Copy and paste, to imitate. Nothing I do is ever really from me, because it is not me who created. I’m merely a reflection. Staring at all the imperfections. Is this really me?
Blink. Blank. Count.
Count your seconds, your minutes, your hours. For it is your time being wasted on entertaining a person who is a jack of all trades, who’s skills are none. But the imposter is among us, undecided on what they’ll do, what they’ll say that may give away their identity as the one who knows nothing yet knows it all. The fear to speak, to be heard, holds on tight to my vocal cords; the anxiety of exposing myself as unfit to sit among the greats, undeserving of any attention from those who paved their own, while I borrowed mine. The question painted in my own wasted blood, sweat and tears. Is this who I am?
Blink. Blank. Bleed.
Go with the grain while making your own. Colour your blank with a palette of your desire yet it is your desire that leaves your palette blank. Yearning for better, for more, left with a shade of indigo and crimson. Anger and frustration, sadness and loneliness go hand in hand with love and heart, pure and magical, synonymous in touch. But never perceived the right way because it is I who made the effort that translated the wrong way. Why are the curtains blue? Because I ran out of yellow paint, dipshit. But that is not what came out, rather a sequence of poetic analysis of emotions and phrases I would never have conjured up myself. My success is not because of me, but because someone else translated better and was able to see. Please, can you see me?
Blink. Blank. Complete.
Pressing the correct controls, twisting, wrapping, folding, beating, mixing the right way, the way I know to be right in order to succeed. To complete your piece with precision, no correction, just perfection. That is the plan, yet why do I follow and feel like it is not by my hands? Not my time spent. Not my “talent” taking lead. It simply is not me because I know all yet know none. My mistakes shining bright, out in plain sight. I fit no mould, can’t be bold, see no hole, just the same phrase being told, “Do better.”
Blink. Blank. Repeat.
My Perception
“What I See” by Nishat Rahman – A glass paint palette with various shades of grey all over the glass with a big section with various shades of blue. In small areas, there is yellow, purple and brown paint.
