Our last News post was back in December. You can read it here. Lots has been happening since then in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Leicester, so here is an update on student and staff news. Thank you so much to everyone who helps make this such a vibrant community of writers. It really is a very special thing to be part of.
Congratulations to all of the MA and PhD Creative Writing students who graduated in January 2026! PhD graduate Joe Bedford was invited to speak at the ceremony. You can see his speech here. If you are interested in the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester, you can read more about it here. Applications are open for Autumn entry 2026.
From the 18th to 21st March, the University of Leicester held the 2026 Literary Leicester Festival, which, as usual, included lots of wonderful speakers, panels and events. As part of the festival, we hosted our annual Creative Writing Student Showcase. Undergraduate, postgraduate and graduate creative writers who performed at the event included Laura Besley, Nina Walker, Anupriya Sisodia, Lisa Williams, Olivia Peachey, Brandon Clune, Sophie Stockdale, Beth Gaylard, Mithila Dutta Roy, Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke and Laurie Cusack. Thanks to everyone who made it such a lovely occasion - a brilliant celebration of everything students do.
Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Jess Bacon, whose book I'm Just a Girl will be published by Piatkus in June. Read more here.
In March, PhD Creative Writing graduate Joe Bedford hosted a panel for the European Network for Short Fiction Research, which also included Jonathan Taylor as one of the invited speakers.
Congratulations to Laura Besley, PhD Creative Writing student, whose story "The Only Shade of Time is Gray" won third prize in the Henshaw Press Short Story Prize. Her story "These Days You're Kinda Okay" has been nominated for Best Small Fictions 2025 by Literary Namjooning Magazine. You can read it here. Her story "Seventeen Years from Now" has been published in Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine here. She has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here.
Tracey Foster, MA Creative Writing graduate, has written a review of Muse by Ruth Millington for Everybody's Reviewing here.
Congratulations to Cathy Galvin, PhD Creative Writing student, whose debut poetry collection, Ethnology: A Love Song for Connemara, has been published by Bloodaxe. She has been giving readings across the UK and Ireland, including at the Emerald Centre in Leicester. You can read more about Ethnology here.
Congratulations to Beth Gaylard, who has now completed her PhD in Creative Writing in March.
Congratulations to PhD graduate Tim Hannigan, whose new book The Pathless Land: Finding a Way Across Ireland will be published by Apollo in August this year. Read more here.
Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Kathy Hoyle who won second prize in the Hammond House Literary Awards Short Story category for her story, "Leporidae." Her story "Humbug Shark" has been nominated for Best Short Fictions 2025 by Does It Have Pockets?. You can read it here. Her story "Auld Gallowa" has been longlisted for the Bedford Short Story Competition.
Congratulations to Mathew Lopez-Bland, who completed his PhD in Creative Writing in March.
Iain Minney, MA Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing of The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn. You can read it here.
Kimaya Tushar Patil, MA Creative Writing graduate, has written a review of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black for Everybody's Reviewing here.
Karen Powell-Curtis, PhD Creative Writing graduate, has written a review of Have they marked you with arrows? by Jayne Stanton for Everybody's Reviewing here.
Congratulations to Cathi Rae, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose new poetry collection, Writing Elegies for Dead Men I Didn't Meet, has recently been published by Coalville CAN Publishing. You can read more about the collection here. You can read a review of the book on Everybody's Reviewing here. She has also written three articles on "Poetry for Everyone" for Writing Magazine. You can see more details here.
Mithila Dutta Roy has reviewed Kit de Waal's Supporting Cast for Everybody's Reviewing here.
Anupriya Sisodia, MA Creative Writing student, has been undertaking work experience as editor for Everybody's Reviewing. She has written a review for the site here.
Jonathan Taylor's second novel Melissa, published in 2015, has been named as one of Stoke-on-Trent's "100 Books," a list of one hundred books from the Potteries to celebrate a hundred years of the city. He has written reviews for The Morning Star, which you can read here, here and here. His story "Cassie and the Green Knight," commissioned by the West Midlands Readers' Network, is in the anthology 5 Stories. With Karen Stevens, he has also been co-editing a book of essays, Creative Writing and the Critical Commentary, which will be published by Bloomsbury in June 2026.
Harry Whitehead will be reading and speaking at Oundle Lit Fest on the evening of Friday 17th April, and Wirksworth Book Festival on the afternoon of Saturday 25th April. He'll be talking about his novel White Road, which you can read more about here.
Congratulations to Lisa Williams, MA Creative Writing graduate, whose novella provisionally entitled The Longest Day will be published by Road Song Books later this year. Lisa has also written a review for Everybody's Reviewing which you can read here.
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