News Archive 2007-2009

 

Wales Book of the Year 2010

Double success for the Department of English and Creative Writing: Dr Richard Marggraf Turley and Dr Jasmine Donahaye, who teach in the Department, have both been long-listed for the “Wales Book of the Year, 2010”. Their poetry collections, Wan-Hu’s Flying Chair and Self-Portrait as Ruth are both published by Salt. The short list will be announced at the Guardian Hay Festival on 6 June. Link to BBC coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8633308.stm  (Posted 14 May 2010)

Poetry published

PhD student, Seth Clabough's poem "Ribbon on the Eastern Shore" will appear in volume 47 of Magma Poetry (www.magmapoetry.com).  His creative piece  "Sorry to Interrupt" appears in the Fall 2010 issue of the James Dickey Review.  (Posted 14 May 2010)

'Happylife' at the Impact! Exhibition

Dr Richard Marggraf Turley, reader in English in the Department of English and Creative Writing, has taken part in a unique collaboration between science and design that explores the importance of engineering and physical sciences in all aspects of our lives. “Happylife” is part of the Impact! Exhibition, held at the Royal College of Art on 16-21 March 2010. 16 EPSRC funded research teams were paired with designers from the Royal College of Art, Design Interactions Department to work together to produce conceptual designs. The exhibition is a joint project between EPSRC, Royal College of Art and NESTA. Keats-Shelley Prize winning poet, Richard Marggraf Turley, collaborated with designer James Auger to produce short fictional narratives illustrating ways in which a hypothetical “HappyLife” mood display might be used by a family of the future. For details of HappyLife, see: http://www.auger-loizeau.com/index.php?id=23  (Posted 17 February 2010)

 

Researchers take the temperature of Love

“Steamy love poems are always popular around Valentine's Day, but can a few lines of tender verse really make people hot under the collar? Researchers at Aberystwyth University attempted to find out earlier this week, using thermal imaging cameras to take the temperature of volunteers reading the work of Romantic poets. The experiment is a collaboration between the arts and the sciences, led by Keats-Shelley Prize winning poet Dr Richard Marggraf Turley from the Department of English and Creative Writing and Professor Reyer Zwiggelaar from Computer Science. They asked six volunteers from each department to silently read 12 love poems, while a slightly less amorous text about thermal imaging served as a control. As the participants pored over poems, including ‘Bright Star’ by John Keats and ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell, thermal cameras monitored their faces for any change in temperature that could reveal their true feelings. Initial results suggest that love poetry can indeed set the heart a-flutter.” (Posted 17 February 2010)

(from Guardian Science, 13 February 2010)

The Valentine’s Day experiments fired the imagination of press in the UK and beyond. A selection of news coverage can be sampled at the following links:

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/8504616.stm

Guardian Science blog: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/feb/13/valentines-love-poetry-hot-blood

The Scotsman: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/bookreviews/-Bookworm.6069315.jp

The Western Mail: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/02/10/scientists-put-love-poems-to-the-test-91466-25800836/

Creative Writing Success for MA graduate

Joao Morais, who graduated with distinction from the department's 2008-9 creative writing MA programme, has been awarded a prize in the Academi/Rhys Davies short story competition.  See http://www.academi.org/rhysdavies/ for details.  (Posted 26 February 2010)

NSS SURVEY

The Department of English and Creative Writing here at Aber is one of the top 6 University departments of English Studies according to the 2010 National Student Survey. 96% of students were satisfied overall with their course according to the poll. For more information go to unistats.direct.gov.uk.

different WORLDS

The MA Creative Writing Magazine 2010 - different WORLDS - is now open for submissions.  Please send your poems, stories and artwork on the theme of different WORLDS.  For submission guidelines, theme overview, contact details and deadlines, PLEASE REFER to the team's website at http://differentworlds2010.wordpress.com.  PDF versions of submission guidelines are also available on request.  Please direct all queries/requests to the different WORLDS team at differentworlds2010@gmail.com.  (different WORLDS is produced by students on the department's MA course in Creative Writing.) (posted 26 November)

PhD Open Evening, Thursday 10 December

On Thursday, 10 December, 6-7.30 pm in Hugh Owen C165, there will be an Open Evening for MA students interested in PhD study in the Department of English and Creative Writing.  The evening will include short presentations on doctoral study, the application process, and funding.  You will be able to discuss and ask questions about doctoral study with members of staff and current PhD students.  Drinks and light snacks will be served.  All MA students are welcome to attend. 

If you have any queries about the Open Evening, or if you are interested in doctoral study in the Department of English and Creative Writing but can't attend the Open Evening, please email Mrs Julie Roberts or Dr Jayne Archer. (Posted 18 November)

MA Open Evening, Tuesday 8 December

On Tuesday, 8 December, 6-7.30 pm in Hugh Owen C165 there will be an Open Evening for third-year students interested in MA study in the Department of English and Creative Writing.  The Evening will include short presentations on the MA schemes, the application process, and funding.  You will be able to discuss and ask questions about MA study with members of staff and current MA students.  Drinks and light snacks will be served.  All third-year students are welcome to attend. 

If you have any queries about the Open Evening, or if you are interested in MA study in the Department of English and Creative Writing but can't attend the Open Evening, please email Mrs Julie Roberts (jxr@aber.ac.uk) or Dr Jayne Archer (jea@aber.ac.uk).  (Posted 18 November)

Poem for publication

PhD student in Creative Writing, Seth Clabough's poem "I Know Why" has been accepted for publicaTion and in the winter issue of The Chaffey Review

Ethics and Politics in Modern American Poetry

Ethics and Politics in Modern American Poetry is the title of a book by John Wrighton, published recently by Routledge. John graduated with a PhD in English from the department in 2008. His book explores the relationship between the ethical imperative and poetic practice in prominent post-war American poetry. (Posted 14 August 2009)

Communities of Inquiry, Communities of Practice:
Conference 8-9 September 2009

The department will host a  two-day conference and proposed edited collection designed to bring together teachers and learners interested in exploring the possibilities of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), particularly in the humanities disciplines. Supported by CILASS (Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences) this event will unite practitioners, academics, and learning technologists to showcase current learning and teaching practices, and explore new methods of encouraging and supporting IBL. See details here - Communities of Inquiry conference.  (Posted 11 August 2009)

 

Father & Daughter Graduate Together

Double celebrations for Michael Apichella and his daughter Maria at graduation this year: Michael was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing, while Maria gained an MA in the same subject.  Michael was the first of Aberystwyth's Creative Writing PhD students to be enrolled, and is the first to graduate.  Maria, who joined the department as an undergraduate in 2004, is currently working on her own Creative Writing PhD.  (Posted 17 July 2009)

Teaching Excellence Award 2009

Well done Will Slocombe, lecturer in twentieth-century literature, who has received one of Aberystwyth University’s prestigious Teaching Excellence Awards 2009 for his work in postgraduate student support and blended learning.  With his keen interest in exploring and applying the ways in which technology can improve teaching and enhance learning, he will be continuing to work on projects in this area.  Will follows in the footsteps of colleagues who have also been awarded this University prize  for teaching excellence, Kelly Grovier (2008) and Sarah Prescott (2005).   Their success demonstrates the important role that innovative teaching and learning plays in the Department.  (Posted 15 July 2009)

The Cambrian Muses

Congratulations to Prescott, Sarah on receiving a prestigious British Academy Research Development Award. The award,  for one year, enables Sarah to further develop her fascinating and innovative research into pre-1800 Anglophone literature of Wales.  Her forthcoming book is entitled Seventeenth and Eighteen Century Women Writers from Wales: The Cambrian Muses. (Posted 10 July 2009)

BBC Wales

Listen to Richard Marggraf Turley with Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, discussing J D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (during Good Morning Wales, 4 June 2009) -  Starts: 2hrs 22mins 18secs (Posted 5 June 2009)

Postgraduate Workshops

PhD student in Creative writing, Katherine Stansfield, has received an award under the Roberts Funding Scheme.  This will be used to fund a day of postgraduate workshops given by Aberystwyth graduate and award-winning novelist, Sarah Hall.  (Posted 26 May 2009)

Hay Festival

Award . . .
Tiffany Atkinson, one of the three judges of The Wales Book of the Year Award, announced the shortlist for the 2008 award at the Guardian Hay Festival, Monday 25 May

 . . . and Performance
Damian Walford Davies and Richard Marggraf Turley performed at this year's Guardian Hay Festival.  Promoting their new poetry collection, Suit of Lights (Seren) and Wan-Hu's Flying Chair (Salt), they presented a son-et-lumiere evening of poetry and image, entititled Jade Corridors and Green Harpoons on Monday, 25 May  (Posted 1 May 2009) 

Award Winner - Well done Mark!

Mature student, Mark Atkinson is the  Inspire! Adult Learner of the Year.  Read Mark's story . . . (Posted 1 May 2009)

Short Story

A short story by Seth Clabough, PhD student and Tutor in Creative Writing, appeared in the upcoming issue of Sixers Review (www.sixersreview.com) and another, "The Site" will appear in the May/June issue of Oak Bend Review (www.oakbendreview.com). 

Congratulations to Kelly Grovier

Dr Kelly Grovier, Lecturer in Creative Writing has received an award from Academi.

Honorary Positions

We are very pleased to announce that Professor Jane Aaron, University of Glamorgan has been made an Honorory Professor.  Prize-winning novelist, Sarah Hall, has been appointed Honorary Lecturer.

New Welsh Review Poetry Competition

Katherine Stansfield (PhD student and Tutor in Creative Writing) is pictured here with Director of Creative Writing, Professor Jem Poster, after receiving her runner-up prize in the recent competition.

Congratulations to Elin Ap Hywel

Elin Ap Hywel, tutor in Creative Writing has been awarded a writer's bursary of over £4000 by Academi to complete a volume of poems.    'Brooch', her translation of the poem 'Broits' by Menna Elfyn is featured among the currently Poems on the Underground.  And on 1 March, the choral symphony 'The Tension of Opposites', by Matthew Ferraro, for which Elin co-wrote the libretto for the first and fourth movements, was premiered at the Barbican, London, by the Crouch End Festival Chorus.

AHRC Grants News

The Department has been awareded 3 AHRC Doctoral Awards and 1 Research Preparation Masters, see Postgraduate and MA funding

Fellowship at Princeton

Professor Sarah Hutton has been offered at visiting research fellowship (Membership) in the Institute for Advance Study, Princeton, for the autumn term 2009-10.

Congratulations to Sarah Prescott

Senior Lecturer, Sarah Prescott, was shortlisted for the 2009 Roland Mathias Prize, for her book Bards and Britons.  The Roland Mathias Prize is awarded for Welsh writing in English and is open to any writer born in Wales or currently living Wales. Christine Evans and Dannie Abse have been previous winners.

RAE News

We are delighted that 95% of the submission for 'English Language and Literature' was classified within the 'international' categories, with 40% being judged either 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent'.

CEDAR - Collaborative Digital Research in the Humanities

CEDAR is an AHRC-funded Doctoral Training project open to all PhD students working in the arts and humanities.  Led by Bangor University and Aberystwyth University, and partnered by De Montfort University and Bournemouth University, it aims to assist students in using new media to facilitate research and build research networks, and provide practical training ina range of such media. If you are interested in further details, please see the attached CEDAR flyer or contact Dr Will Slocombe wws@aber.ac.uk.  The application form is available for download below.  The initial deadline for registration is 31 January 2009, although applications after this date will be considered on a "first come, first served" basis.  Registration document for CEDAR

Congratulations to Prize Winners 

Charlotte Allen (MA Creative Writing) and Sarah Hillier (MA Literary Studies) who have been awarded the Faculty prize for taught MAs in the academic year 2006-2007.

New Welsh Review Poetry Prize

New Welsh Review, in association with the Department, is delighted to announce a new prize for poetry.

The prize, to be judged by award-winning poet Philip Gross, is open to New Welsh Review subscribers and to students in this department.  The winner will receive £200, with £50 each for two runners-up, at a ceremony in March 2009.  The winning poem will also be published in the New Welsh Review.

The closing date for entries was 30 January 2009.  For more details and an entry form go to www.newwelshreview.com or contact New Welsh Review by email at admin@newwelshreview.com or by phone on 01970 628410.

Forward Prize for Literature Anthology

A poem from Dr Richard Marggraf Turley's collection The Fossil-Box has been included in the Forward Prize for Literature anthology, the Forward Book of Poetry, 2009 (Faber and Faber, 2008)

Visiting Fellow at Chawton House Library

Postgraduate student, Rebecca Davies spent some time at Chawton House Library in the village of Chawton,  Hampshire in January 2009.  The Library is an independent research library and study centre which focuses on women's writing in English from 1600 to 1830.  The aim of the fellowships is to enable individuals to undertake significant research in the long eighteenth century.  The library houses a magnificent collection of early editions from the period.  It is open to the public and also runs a programme of events and activities relating both to the the focus of the collection and to the historical house which once belonged to Jane Austen's brother

Congratulations to Stewart Mottram

Dr Stewart Mottram has been awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship for his new project 'Pastoral: Writing Reformation England and Wales'. Dr Mottram is currently research lecturer for the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) and is based in the English Department at Aberystwyth University, His project will investigate the influence of Gildas – the sixth-century British historian – on key pastoral texts by Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, and William Browne. While Gildas is an acknowledged influence on early modern English and Welsh Protestant writing, his influence on Renaissance pastoral literature has been almost entirely overlooked. The project reads Gildas into pastoral literature alongside Protestant writing, catapulting Gildas into the Renaissance cultural limelight. It will have wide-ranging, interdisciplinary implications for British studies, challenging recent colonial approaches to early modern England’s relations with the rest of Britain.

Aber Student publishes poetry collection

An Aberystwyth PhD student has become the latest in a string of poetic successes for the University. Stephen Wilson, who is studying Creative Writing, has just brought out his first book of poems, Fluttering Hands. The publishers, Greenwich Exchange, describe it as “the debut of a lyric poet who combines a romantic sensibility with a restrained ironic outlook on the human condition... Several in this collection are set in Wales where the author has a home, others reflect his Anglo-Jewish identity and ancestry in Eastern Europe.”

Dr Wilson, a psychotherapist, has published books and papers in his professional field, but his success as a poet began shortly after undertaking his postgraduate degree. The poems in the collection were written for the PhD, and will be submitted as part of his final portfolio in approximately a year’s time. His supervisor, Dr Matthew Francis, said: “This is the first time work carried out towards an Aberystwyth creative writing degree has resulted in book publication. It’s a landmark for the Department of English and Creative Writing, and for the University.”