MSt tutor James Hawes’s book, Brilliant Isles, now available

A companion book to the landmark BBC2 television documentary series to be broadcast from April to June 2022, Brilliant Isles tells the turbulent story of British creativity through 80 stunning works or art, music, literature and architecture.

 

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Watch MSt tutor Rebecca Abrams discuss her play The Meeting Room

MSt tutor Rebecca Abrams took part in an event in early March concerning the Arts and Restorative Justice, talking about how she researched and wrote her play The Meeting Room.

The session can be watched here, and here is a link to the blog Rebecca wrote which explains a bit more, both about the playwrighting process and her passion for and belief in the restorative justice process.

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MSt tutor, poet and novelist Helen Mort, to speak about her forthcoming book in Oxford on 15 February

In the Oxford Centre for Life Writing Weinrebe Lecture, Helen Mort will discuss her forthcoming book, A Line Above the Sky, which melds memoir and nature writing to ask why humans are drawn to danger, and how we can find freedom in pushing our limits. It is a visceral love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether climbing a mountain or bringing a child into the world, and an unforgettable celebration of womanhood in all its forms.

You can book for the lecture here, and find more information about the book here

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MSt tutor Dr Belinda Jack on R4’s In Our Time

On 27 January MSt tutor Dr Belinda Jack was a guest on Radio 4’s In Our Time, discussing the novels and life of Colette, whose Claudine series was first published under her husband’s name. 

You can listen again to the episode here
 

 

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MSt alumnus Constantine Blintzios’s novel published with Kernpunkt Press

MSt alumnus C.A. Blintkios’ novel The Smoke is Me, Burning is now available for pre-sale with Kernpunkt Press.

Jonathan McAloon, journalist for the BBCThe Guardian, and TLS, says of the book that it is “a sort of scrapbook of place magic. Almost told by ecology itself, The Smoke is Me, Burning has a reliable cyclical power that is often the mark of good art.”

More information here.

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MSt students win prizes in Nobel Laureate-founded Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award

First prize in the inaugural Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award was awarded to MSt student Megan Chester, for her work ‘Girl, Woman, River.’

Megan said, this ‘came as a wonderful surprise and a timely encouragement! I believe that there is a place for women in sports literature, and it is affirming to now know that others agree with me.’

High Commendations were also awarded to MSt students Emma Latham for ‘The Anatomical Venus,’ and Joanne Szilagyi for ‘An Invented Account of the Near-Death, Life and Death of Leslie Kong.’

Speaking collectively for the judges, chair Boyd Tonkin praised the competition shortlist for fiction which ‘roamed so freely around different genres, voices and registers.’ The authors, he said ‘were bold. They were inventive. They took risks. They bent rules. They showed that fiction, even short fiction, really is a garden where a hundred flowers can bloom.’

More information here.

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MSt alumna Laura Theis wins first prize in the EAL Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2021

MSt alumna Laura Theis has won first prize in the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2021, in the category for poets who speak English as an Additional Language. 

The prize, awarded by The Poetry Centre at Oxford Brookes, was judged this year by award-winning poet Will Harris. Laura’s was one of two top prizes of £1,000 in a competition that seeks to celebrate the great diversity of poetry being written in English all over the world.

An online awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 7 December from 6.30-7.30pm GMT. To read Laura’s winning entry and to register for the ceremony, click here

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MSt tutor Harry Man wins The Stephen Spender Prize 2021

MSt tutor Harry Man has won The Stephen Spender Prize 2021. The Prize is an annual competition for poetry in translation, with categories for young people (14-and-under, 16-and-under, and 18-and-under) as well as an open category for adults. 

For more information about the prize and The Stephen Spender Trust, and to read Harry’s entry and those of the runners up, click here

 

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Alumna Jesse Sutanto wins the 2021 Comedy Women in Print Prize for her novel Dial A for Aunties

Comedian, author and actor Helen Lederer launched the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP) in 2019, to recognise, celebrate and encourage witty women authors. 

With not only a sequel but a Netflix adaptation in the works, MSt alumna Jesse Satanto’s Dial A for Aunties has been recognised as the 2021 winner. 

Of her win, the Independent says of Sutanto that, “her novel is about looking up into the branches of a family tree and finding strength as well as infuriating relatives. And if it pushes bright young women … to discover that they’re capable of more than they imagined, all the better.”

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MSt tutor Jenny Lewis commissioned to write and film a poem for the COP26 Climate Conference

Jenny Lewis and frequent collaborator Adnan al Sayegh have been commissioned to write and film a poem for the COP26 Climate Conference.

They will be performing it live in London on Saturday 10 October, and the film will be shown in Glasgow at the conference itself.

More details here.

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