St Mary’s Partners with Richmond Literature Festival

The School of Arts and Humanities at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has launched a partnership with this year’s Richmond Literature Festival, which will give members of the community the chance to meet and work with award-winning authors throughout November. St Mary’s, which offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Creative Writing, will host several of the festival’s events at its Strawberry Hill campus, including a visit from Jerwood Prize winning author of Mrs Hemmingway Naomi Wood, whilst leading academics will also deliver several workshops and chair the events. On Monday 24th November, St Mary’s Creative Writing team will hold an exclusive public workshop for just 12 people to explore the key principles of writing a short story. Led by St Mary’s MA Creative Writing: First Novel lecturer and published author Dr Scott Bradfield, the workshop will address key questions like What is the state of art today? And What traditions inform the craft? Those with an interest in genre fiction are invited to participate in a specialist workshop on Thursday 27th November. St Mary’s BA Creative Writing Programme Director Dr Russell Schechter, who has published eight genre novels, will deliver the session which will look at some of the issues facing writers who work in popular publishing genres. Finally, St Mary’s MA Gothic: Culture, Subculture and Counterculture Programme Director Dr Peter Howell will host an audience with Gothic novelists Essie Fox, author of The Somnambulist and Elijah’s Mermaid, and Lynn Shepherd, author of Murder at Mansfield Park, on Friday 21st November. Set in the historic surroundings of Strawberry Hill House, the home of Gothic, the session will see Essie and Lynn talk about the English obsession with vampires, drawing on their own fictional work. On Monday November 10th, 'When Real Lives Become Fiction' will see authors Naomi Wood, and author Richard Skinner, discuss their novels, Mrs Hemmmingway, and The Mirror, exploring how historical figures became fiction at St Mary's Strawberry Hill campus. ‘Writing for Radio and Other Performance’ will take place on Thursday 13th November and will see audiences interact with Tinniswood Award winning radio dramatist Stephen Wyatt and best-selling historical novelist, director and lyricist Christie Dickason. The session will explore writing in other forms, particularly when combined with music, choreography and poetry. Tickets for the sessions start from £6 and can be booked online.