FREE AND ALL WELCOME TO ATTEND! Here is a list of the guest lectures, talks, readings and masterclasses hosted by Creative Writing at the University of Leicester this term. For further information about any of these events, please email Jonathan Taylor.
Wednesday 29 January 2020, 2-4pm in Bennett Lecture Theatre 4 Michael Caines, Author and Editor at the Times Literary Supplement, ‘Nightmare on Grub Street: Where Journalism and Creative Writing Meet.’ (Part of the MA in Creative Writing – but all welcome). Tuesday 4 February 2020, 10am-11 in Attenborough 109 Paul Taylor-McCartney, ‘Writing Dystopian Fiction.’ (Part of the second-year module, ‘Advanced Creative Writing Skills’ – but all welcome). Tuesday 11 February 2020, 12-1pm in Ken Edwards 527 Dan Powell, ‘Short Stories and Endings.’ (Part of the first-year module, ‘Introduction to Writing Creatively 2’ – but all welcome). Monday 16 March 2020, 3.30-5pm in Physics Lecture Theatre B Jonathan Ruppin, Literary Agent (Part of the MA in Creative Writing – but all welcome). Wednesday 18 March 2020, 2-4pm in Attenborough Film Theatre Melanie Abrahams, ‘The Literature Ecology: Curating and Producing Work and Life.’ (Part of the MA in Creative Writing and the second-year module, ‘Diversifying the Publishing Industry’ – but all welcome). Monday 23 March 2020, 10am-12 in Ken Edwards 527 Louis de Bernières, Masterclass (Part of the MA in Creative Writing – but all welcome. Just email jt265@le.ac.uk in advance if you want to come along, because places are limited for this masterclass).
Life Update: I'm a Master's Graduate! That’s right I've graduated ... again. It was my gradu-bacon (if you will) last week, where I received my Master's in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester! Not quite sure where those twelve months went, but I certainly have learnt and written more in a year than I have in a long time. I really enjoyed the course and loved going back to graduate with a handful of my course mates in De Montfort Hall. It was an early start, but we avoided the rain and the ceremony included some very inspiring speakers and an excellent band. Like most ceremonies, it went on for a long while. Who knew there were so many courses on offer? There were seven full pages of graduates to get through in the ceremony and that was the first of two ceremonies that day! Even though they were extremely hungry during graduation and thought about leaving to go to the box office to buy snacks (rude), it was great to have my Mum and my boyfriend Dan by my side to share my achievement with. Now it's all done I feel a huge sense of relief (for not falling over) and achievement (for finishing an MA). It feels very rewarding to start and complete a course in a year. There isn't the long impending slog of a degree of three or more years. It's very snappy, bursting at the seams with learning and it's a really challenging workload and change of pace from an undergraduate degree. I am extremely grateful to my course mates and my tutors who provided constant support, advice and feedback on my work throughout the class work and my essays. I felt well supported as a student at Leicester and I think that's quite a rare thing to find at University.
What next? Well, I wrote 12,000 words of a novel for my MA dissertation that I aim to finish this year. I'd love to send it out to publishers, just to get it out in the open and get some feedback. I also want to write regularly. The amount I wrote over the twelve month course (35,000 words) has shown me how much I can do alongside working and that if I put my mind to it, I should be able to produce a hefty body of creative work before the year is out. My Master's and my Graduations always remind me how much I appreciate education. Higher education courses offer the opportunity to learn a great deal about yourself, your work ethic and your determination as well as all the academic knowledge and qualifications that you gain. I have applied to a PhD and I intend to apply to a few others as well (must act fast, though!). I want to finish my education with a Doctorate, as I feel prepared for a large research project that could benefit both my creative writing and my understanding of literature as a whole. I also want to continue with and grow my side hustles; writing features for magazines, reviewing books and health and beauty products for my blog, as well as collaborations and charity work. I really enjoy being busy and having a varied workload as I have a very wide range of interests all of which I want to pursue - it's just not always possible at the same time. On another exciting note, I begin a new job in less than two weeks in marketing at a publishers in Cambridge. I'm excited for the new change of pace and to work in a completely different sector of publishing.
About the author Jessica Bacon has just graduated from her Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester. While undertaking her MA, Jess was the Editor of Architecture Magazine as well as writing articles for Be Kind Magazine, writing material for Sue Ryder's fundraising campaigns and reviewing books for independent publishers on her blog. Jess works as a Library Marketing Executive at the Cambridge University Press. She hopes to finish her novel this year, continue writing for magazines and curating her creative flare on her personal blog, Unexpected Adventures. See: www.jessicakatie.com.
