Spring
has finally arrived and so has our distinguished Visiting Fellow, Sindiwe Magona, our Spring School for those interested in furthering their writing skills and a deadline
extension for the International
Student Short Story Competition.
NCLA is delighted to welcome Sindiwe Magona from South
Africa as a University Visiting Fellow. She is a novelist and autobiographer
who brings a black woman's perspective to bear on the recent history of South
Africa, to powerful effect. Her memoirs, To My Children’s Children (1990) and Forced to Grow (1992), draw on her experience of poverty
and her struggles as a woman against apartheid. Her novel, Mother to
Mother (1998), explores compassion and hope as well as violence. You can
read a recent interview with Sindiwe Magona on the Mslexia blog. Of the month she will spend
with NCLA, she says:
'Writing
is solitary, something writers do in the dark. This visit to Newcastle
University is thus a welcome reprieve - a time to take stock.
South
Africa, with its peculiar history, can be an all-consuming preoccupation. I
appreciate this opportunity to see my country and my people through others'
eyes for I am certain that the questions you will ask, as well as what you
will tell me, will be instructive. I come, in all humility, to learn and, if
by chance any should learn from me, that will be a miracle I shall cherish'.
Sindiwe
Magona will be giving a reading on Thursday 25th March at 7pm in the Percy
Building. For further information, or to buy tickets, please call Melanie
Birch on 0191 222 7619 or email melanie.birch@ncl.ac.uk
Both March Changing Age creative writing sessions for the over 50s, to be held at the Newcastle Central Library with Newcastle University tutors are now full. For a place on the reserve list, please call Melanie Birch on 0191 222 7619 or email melanie.birch@ncl.ac.uk
Are you
are interested in poetic form, visual art, landscape and architecture? UrbanWords
has commissioned Newcastle University tutor Linda France to share her
experience of, and ideas about, writing and public art. Writing in Three
Dimensions is an engaging and informative article discussing the
difference between writing for the page and writing for a place. The
article can be downloaded for free from A Place
For Words.
The
article outlines the perspective that Linda will explore further in her
upcoming short course 3-D Poetry, which starts on Thursday 22nd April. After considering the range of possibilities for creating poetic
texts for the public domain, students will be invited to create their own
design proposal to a specific brief. This task will mirror the process
of working on a formal public art commission.
For
further information, or to book a place, please call Melanie Birch on 0191
222 7619 or email melanie.birch@ncl.ac.uk
The
deadline for entries for the inaugural International
Student Short Story Competition has been extended from 19th April 2010 to 21st June 2010.
1st Prize:
£1000
2nd Prize:
£500
3rd Prize:
£200
Winners
will be selected by award-winning writer, Jackie Kay.
Students
from anywhere in the world can enter, providing they are studying at a UK
university or have graduated within the past two years. Entrants can write
about any aspect of their experience of studying abroad, such as the
challenges of adapting to life in a different climate and culture, the ups
and downs of ‘international living’, culture clashes, coping with food /
cuisine in a new country, homesickness, love (or the lack of it), social
lives, job hunts and struggles to make ends meet.
The
winning story and a shortlisted selection will be published in a collection
exploring international students’ experience of studying in the UK in 2010.
Visit the website for competition rules and further information about submission.
Are you an alumnus or current student of Newcastle
University? Do you have news of publications, writing awards and prizes you
would like to share with us? Please fill out the online form in the alumni section of the website so that
your achievements can be included.
For those
of you looking for something to do this evening, NCLA has a literary
reading from Yale University Professor of English and author of nine
novels, Caryl Phillips, at 7pm in Culture Lab. NCLA Visiting Fellow,
the South African novelist, memoirist, playwright and storyteller Sindiwe
Magona, will be giving a joint reading with Newcastle University PhD student, and
winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Kachi A. Ozumba on Thursday 25th March at 7pm in the Percy Building. Twice-shortlisted for the Booker Prize
and one of South Africa’s most distinguished authors, André Brink, will be reading on Thursday 22nd April at 7pm in Culture Lab.
The Spring School is running from 22nd – 26th of March, but there are still spaces available on the writing for television Day School with Michael Chaplin,
Debbie Horsfield & John Yorke on Saturday 27th March.
The next round of short courses begins on Thursday 22nd April.
For
further information or to book tickets for any of the above, please call
Melanie Birch on 0191 222 7619 or email melanie.birch@ncl.ac.uk
Reviews of books
by the visiting authors and reviews and images of past events
are available on the website, as are videos of some events
including Joan
Bakewell in conversation with Jackie Kay.
Congratulations
to Newcastle University alumnus Anna Woodford who has won The 2009 Crashaw Prize for Poetry with her debut
full-length poetry collection, Birdhouse. The collection was
written as part of Anna’s PhD in Creative Writing, which she successfully
completed last year.
Current
Creative Writing PhD student Stevie Ronnie has been selected for the 2010 Jerwood / Arvon
mentoring scheme. Stevie has begun his year of mentoring with a
Master Class residency at The Hurst this month and he will be working on his
first collection with the help of Jo Shapcott.
Interviews
with both Anna and Stevie will soon be available on the alumni section of the
website.
Poet,
short story writer and Newcastle University alumnus Chrissie Gittins will be writer-in-residence
for Shetland Arts during September this year. Read more about Chrissie’s
writing on her website.
Professor
of Creative Writing, Jackie Kay, has been longlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short
Story Award for her short story Reality, Reality. She has also
been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes award for New Work in Poetry. Professor Jackie Kay is the
inaugural Newcastle University International
Student Short Story Competition judge and will be launching her memoir, Red
Dust Road, with NCLA in June.