Summer News 2026

Our last News post was back at the end of March. You can read it here. Since then, lots has been happening, so here's an update from Creative Writing students and staff in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Leicester.

To start with, this blog, Creative Writing at Leicester, has now had well over 1 million readers. At the same time, our sister site, Everybody's Reviewing, has now passed the 2 million mark. Thank you to all our readers, contributors, editors, reviewers, authors. We never guessed these two blogs would be read so widely when we first set them up!  

In Spring, the Centre for New Writing, in conjunction with Everybody's Reviewing, ran a Book Review Competition for current undergraduate and postgraduate students. You can see the results of the competition, including links to the winning reviews, here. 

Congratulations to Jess Bacon, MA Creative Writing graduate, whose book I'm Just a Girl has been published by Piatkus. You can read more about it on the publisher's website here. 

Congratulations to Joe Bedford, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose short story collection Mating Habits will be published by Parthian Books in 2027.

Aamani Bommareddy, BA Journalism with Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here. The review was awarded an Honorable Mention in our 2026 Book Review Competition.

Charlie Black, BA English with Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here. The review won Second Prize in our 2026 Book Review Competition.

Congratulations to Constantine, MA Creative Writing graduate, who has published his new children's novel, The Lady of Atlantis. You can read more about it here. He has also edited and published a new anthology of writing by students at Ellistown Primary School, The Sum of Our Parts. You can read more about the book here.  

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Kristy Diaz who has contributed an interview to the new book Rebel Grrrls: The Real Story of Women and Punk by Molly Tie. Read more here.  

Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke, PhD Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here. The review won First Prize in our 2026 Book Review Competition. 

Congratulations to Cathy Galvin, PhD Creative Writing student, whose debut poetry collection Ethnology has been shortlisted for the Laurel Prize 2026. Ethnology has also been longlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. You can read more on the publisher's website here. The book has been featured on this blog here, and reviewed on Everybody's Reviewing here. Over the last few months, Cathy has been giving readings across the UK and Ireland.

Congratulations to Beth Gaylard, who recently completed her PhD in Creative Writing. 

Congratulations to Tim Hannigan, PhD graduate, whose book The Pathless Land: Finding a Way Across Ireland, will be published by Bloomsbury this September. Read more here. 

Congratulations to Katherine Howey, who has a Certificate in Higher Education in Creative Writing, on the publication of her historical novel In Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. You can read more about it here. 

"Dead Man's Hollow," a short story by PhD Creative Writing student Kathy Hoyle, has just been published in a new anthology called Perfect Circle from Uncertain Stories. You can read more about it here. 

Felicity James, Associate Professor at Leicester, along with her colleague Dr Rachel Winter have started their AHRC project Empathy, Difficulty, Difference: Creative Curiosity in Practice. Run jointly between English and the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, the project explores the role of creativity in fostering empathy. So far, this has included a workshop about ways of developing creative engagement with healthcare professionals, held at Glenfield in July. You can read the first responses here. Felicity's new essay "The Wild Essay, Or, the Essayist responds to the University Policy on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment"  has been published by the journal New Writing.

Congratulations to Sabyn Javeri, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose story "Priority" has been longlisted for the 4th Write Short Story Prize, run by 4th Estate publishers and The Guardian. Read more here.  

Rim Asma Khalifa, BA English with Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here. The review was awarded an Honorable Mention in our 2026 Book Review Competition. 

Congratulations to Mathew Lopez-Bland, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose story "Purple and Green" is winner of the 2026 Honeyfeed Story Contest. You can read it here. Mathew recently completed his PhD in Creative Writing.

In May 2026, Anna O'Sullivan, BA English and MA Modern and Contemporary Literature with Creative Writing graduate, worked as guest editor of Everybody's Reviewing. She has written reviews here and here. 

Olivia Peachey, BA English with Creative Writing student, has written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here. The review was awarded an Honorable Mention in our 2026 Book Review Competition.

Dan Powell, PhD Creative Writing graduate, has an essay, "The End Is Never Where You Think," in the new book, Creative Writing and the Critical Commentary, ed. Karen Stevens and Jonathan Taylor, published by Bloomsbury. 

Writing Elegies for Dead Men I Didn't Meet, poetry collection by MA and PhD Creative Writing graduate Cathi Rae, has been reviewed on Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Sally Shaw, MA Creative Writing graduate, has written reviews for Everybody's Reviewing here, here, and here. 

Anupriya Sisodia, MA Creative Writing student, undertook work experience as guest editor of Everybody's Reviewing in June 2026. She interviewed author Annabelle Slator for the blog here. She has written reviews for the site here, here, here and here. 

Congratulations to Hannah Stevens, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose new collection of short stories, On the Bodies of Strangers, has just been published by Wind & Bones. You can read more about it here. 

Laura Sygrove, MA Creative Writing graduate, worked as guest editor of Everybody's Reviewing in July 2026. She interviewed author Suyin Du Bois for the blog here. She has written a review for the site here. 

Jonathan Taylor, Associate Professor, has co-edited with Karen Stevens Creative Writing and the Critical Commentary: Reflection, Influence Process. The book has now been published by Bloomsbury Academic, and features an anthology of sample reflective commentaries, alongside guidance about writing reflectively. You can read more about the book here. Jonathan's memoir, A Physical Education: On Bullying, Discipline & Other Lessons was shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year in the International Rubery Book Awards. You can read more here. His story "He never writes to me no more" was published in The Morning Star here. He has written reviews for The Morning Star here and Everybody's Reviewing here.

Congratulations to Paul Taylor-McCartney, PhD Creative Writing graduate, whose debut non-fiction title Cornwall Uncharted: Mapping Cornwall's Queer History of Concealment, Culture and Creativity has been published by The History Press. You can read more about it here. His story "Of What Remained" is featured in the anthology Salt & Stone, published by Hermitage Press. You can read more here. He has written reviews for Everybody's Reviewing here, here and here. Paul's novel Sisters of the Pentacle was recently reviewed on Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Aidan Trulove, MA Creative Writing graduate, has written an article on her MA Dissertation, "How to End Your Story," for Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Congratulations to Anna Walsh, MA Creative Writing graduate and soon-to-be PhD student, who successfully pitched her short film Bike Park to The Slate, a filmmaking and talent development programme based at Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema. Bike Park, a workplace comedy, is currently in development and will be shown at the Phoenix in March 2027. She has also written an article about her MA, "Internal Windows," here. 

Associate Professor Harry Whitehead's novel White Road has been shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2026. The winner will be announced on 17th September. You can find out more, along with a variety of related podcasts, interviews and so on, on the prize website here. Harry's paper on the history of Soviet Russian Creative Writing programmes was published in the journal New Writing. You can read it here.

Congratulations to Lisa Williams, MA Creative Writing graduate, on the publication of her debut novella, The Longest Day, by Road Song Books. Lisa first drafted some of the book as part of her MA Dissertation. You can read more about it here.

Congratulations to Lee Wright who has recently completed his PhD in Creative Writing. He has also written a review for Everybody's Reviewing here.

Spring News 2026

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.

Firstly, 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. 

Our blog Everybody's Reviewing has now had over one a half million readers, and Creative Writing at Leicester has had over 800,000 readers. Thanks to everyone - our students, authors, reviewers, editors, interviewers and readers - involved. Back in January, lots of our students, graduates and staff contributed to our annual Favourite Reads of the Year article on Everybody's Reviewing. You can read it here. 

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. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing graduate Paul Taylor-McCartney whose historical fantasy epic, the 5-book Broken Pentacle series, is going to be published by Blue Poppy Publishing. The second of the series, Guardians of the Pentacle, will be published in November this year. You can read about the first book here. His book, Cornwall Uncharted: Mapping Cornwall's Queer History of Concealment, Culture and Creativity, will be published by the History Press in June this year. Paul has also written reviews of The Language of Now by Anne Caldwell and The Subtle Art of Short Fiction, ed. Isabelle Kenyon, both for Everybody's Reviewing here and here. 

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. 

Books by Students on Creative Writing at Leicester

Over the last few years, BA, MA and PhD students and graduates in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester have had amazing success publishing their books and chapbooks - including novels, short story collections, flash collections, novellas-in-flash, poetry collections, memoirs and works of creative non-fiction. We've featured lots of these on this blog, so we thought it might be a good time to collect some of them together, as a way of celebrating these authors' successes - congratulations to all once again!

You can find out more about our BA in English with Creative Writing here, our BA in Journalism with Creative Writing here, our acclaimed MA in Creative Writing here, and our PhD in Creative Writing here. 

Here (below) you can find links to just some of the books we've featured on this blog by Leicester University BA, MA and PhD students and graduates in Creative Writing over the last few years.

Joe Bedford, A Bad Decade for Good People (novel)

Laura Besley, The Almost Mothers (flash fiction collection)

Laura Besley, Un(Natural) Elements (micro-fiction collection)

Constantine, Alien Boy (children's novel for reluctant readers)

Constantine, And things begin to change ... and other stories (short story collection)

Constantine, Jötunheim (children's novel)

Constantine, Tales of the Charnwood (short story collection)

Constantine, Tiya and the Minotaur (children's novel)

Constantine, The Cats of Charnwood Forest (children's novel)

Laurie Cusack, The Mad Road (short story collection)

Kassie Duke, Word Bath (poetry collection)

Cathy Galvin, Ethnology: A Love Song for Connemara (poetry collection)

Cathy Galvin, Walking the Coventry Ring Road with Lady Godiva (poetry collection)

Tim Hannigan, The Granite Kingdom: A Cornish Journey (travel writing)

Talia Hibbert, Get a Life, Chloe Brown (novel)

Kathy Hoyle, Chasing the Dragon (novella-in-flash)

Sabyn Javeri (ed.), Ways of Being: Creative Non-Fiction by Pakistani Women (edited anthology)

Kevan Manwaring, Writing Ecofiction (textbook)

Cathi Rae, Just This Side of Seaworthy and Other Poems and Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Poems (poetry collections)

Cathi Rae, Your Cleaner Hates You and Other Poems (poetry collection)

Cathi Rae, Writing Elegies for Dead Men I Didn't Meet (poetry collection)

Anita Sivakumaran, Cold Sun (novel)

Hannah Stevens, In Their Absence (short story collection) 

Paul Taylor-McCartney, Sisters of the Pentacle (YA novel)

Rory Waterman, Come Here to this Gate (poetry collection)

Rory Waterman, Sweet Nothings (poetry collection)

David Wharton, Finer Things (novel)

Nearly Easter News 2025

It's been a while since our last News post, and lots has been happening in the last few months in the Centre for New Writing, so here is an update on student and staff news at Leicester. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who helps make this such a vibrant place to be! You can read our previous News article, from November 2024, here. 

News

Firstly, congratulations to all the MA Creative Writing students and MA Modern and Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing students who graduated in January 2025!

Congratulations to everyone involved in the hugely successful Literary Leicester Festival, 19th to the 22nd March 2025. It was an amazing celebration of literature, with lots of different events and authors. Special congratulations here to all the students involved in this year's Creative Writing Student Showcase, who made it such a brilliant event. Speakers included Sonya Hundal, Anna Walsh, Joe Bedford, Aidan Trulove, Laura Besley, Olivia Peachey, Kimaya Patil, Cate Morris, Shauna Strathmann, Daneil Hibberd, Nina Walker, Aarini Mehta, Sandra Shaji, Dave Clarke. 

There have also been lots of wonderful Centre for New Writing events this term with visiting authors and writing professionals. You can read about this term's guest masterclasses and workshops here. There are still more to come after Easter, including a public masterclass by Kit de Waal on Tuesday 13 May (see details here), a talk by author Sophie Haydock on 30 April (see details here), and the Annual Creative Writing Lecture, this year given by Eimear McBride on 6 May (see details here). 

Everybody's Reviewing, our review blog, has now had over 500,000 readers, and Creative Writing at Leicester has now had 350,000 readers! Thanks to all our authors, editors, students, reviewers, bloggers and readers. If you've not done so already, do have a look at our "Favourite Reads of 2024" round-up on Everybody's Reviewing here.  

Rosalind Adam, MA Creative Writing graduate, has had her poem "Decomissioned" published in Amethyst Review here. 

Kirsten Arcadio has reviewed Android Author by Sapphira Olson on Everybody's Reviewing here. Kirsten has now completed her PhD - congratulations! 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Laura Besley, who was named as a Top Tier Finalist in the Globe Soup Open Short Story Competition 2024. You can see more details here. She also won Second Prize in the Cranked Anvil Flash Fiction Competition. You can read her prize-winning story, "Perhaps on a Summer's Day," here. Her story "Like a Memory or Maybe Only a Dream" was shortlisted for the Mini Welkin Writing Prize. You can read it here. Laura's story "That meeting point where something is as close as it is far away" was runner-up in the Flash Fiction Festival Online Competition. You can read it here. Laura's story "When We Were Raucous" has been published by The Manchester Review here. 

Congratulations to New Walk Editions, which is co-directed by Nick Everett, and which was shortlisted for this year's Michael Marks Awards for poetry pamphlet publishers!

MA Creative Writing graduate Tracey Foster has reviewed The Path of Peace: Walking the Western Front Way by Anthony Seldon for Everybody's Reviewing here, and Fewer Better Things by Glenn Adamson here. Tracey's haiku was longlisted for the Haiku Foundation's competition on the theme of dreams. You can read her haiku and other longlisted entries here. 

Kim Wiltshire has reviewed The Granite Kingdom by PhD graduate Tim Hannigan on Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Kathy Hoyle, PhD Creative Writing student, has stories published in both the Northern Gravy Children's and Young Readers' Anthology and the Northern Gravy Fiction Anthology. Her story "Cockleshell Girl" has been nominated by South Florida Poetry Journal for Best Small Fiction 2024. Kathy's story "Humbug Shark" is published by Does It Have Pockets? here. Kathy's story "Gallows Pole" has also been nominated for Best Microfiction by New Flash Fiction Review. In March, Kathy chaired a discussion at Sunderland Museum with author Louise Powell about oral history and poetry. You can read more about this discussion here. Kathy has interviewed Louise Powell for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

BA Journalism student Saskia Kabongo undertook work experience on Everybody's Reviewing for a couple of weeks in February. She interviewed authors Lisa Bent and Rasheda Ashanti Malcolm for the site, and reviewed Loveless by Alice Osman here, Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid here, and Me Before You by Jojo Moyes here. Congratulations and thanks to Saskia! 

Congratulations to Amirah Mohiddin, who passed her viva for her PhD in Creative Writing in November. You can read more about Amirah's PhD project on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Congratulations to Creative Writing graduate Hannah Mitchell, whose essay "Three" has been published on The Audacity here.

Anna O'Sullivan, MA Modern and Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing graduate, has written about her MA Dissertation in Creative Writing here. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Cathi Rae, who passed her viva in December! Congratulations too for the re-publication of her poetry collection, Your Cleaner Hates You, by Coalville C.A.N. You can read more about the collection here. One of the directors of the publisher is MA Creative Writing graduate Constantine. 

Sally Shaw has reviewed Red Runs the Witch's Thread by Victoria Williamson for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Extracts from Jonathan Taylor's memoir, A Physical Education: On Bullying, Discipline & Other Lessons, have been published on MIT's Press Reader here.  His article "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known About Bullying" is in the Morning Star here. His article for the charity Kidscape, "Bullying Is ...", is published here. 

PhD Creative Writing student Jane Simmons has four poems featured in the new anthology Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined, ed. Anne Milon and Rory Waterman (Five Leaves, 2025).

PhD student Nina Walker has written about Amateur Hour's second zine and her experience of workshopping with this group of graduates and students on Creative Writing at Leicester here.  

Anna Walsh, MA Creative Writing student, has written about the regular Leicester event "Rough Draft" on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Congratulations to Harry Whitehead, whose novel White Road will be published by Claret Press in September 2025! You can read more about it here. On the 22nd April 2025, Harry will be reading from his novel and talking to Kevan Manwaring as part of the "Writing the Earth" online event hosted by Bournemouth Arts University. You can sign up for this free event here. 

PhD Creative Writing student Lee Wright has reviewed Father's Father's Father by Dane Holt on Everybody's Reviewing here, The Viaduct by David Wheldon here, and Two Sisters by Blake Morrison here. His personal essay, "Old Oslo," is published by Cigarette Fire Literary Magazine here. 

November News 2024

We're now well into the second half of the Autumn term, and heading at full speed in the direction of Christmas, so it feels like a good time to share news from students and staff in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Leicester. Lots has been happening, as you can see below, since our last news round-up which you can read here. 

Student and Staff News

Firstly, if you haven't done so already, do have a look at the guest readings and masterclasses we're hosting this Autumn. All of them are free to attend and are open to everyone - staff, students and public alike. You can see the full list here. 

The dates for this academic year's Literary Leicester Festival have now been revealed: this year's amazing festival will take place 19-22 March 2025. All events are free and open to everyone. 

As many of you will know by now, THREE of our current PhD Creative Writing students were successful in this year's prestigious Bridport Prize. Joe Bedford won first prize for the Bridport Short Story Prize 2024. Jane Simmons was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize 2024, and Laura Besley was shortlisted for the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2024. This is an amazing achievement, and congratulations to them all! You can see the full results here. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Kirsten Arcadio who passed her viva in October. You can read more about Kirsten's PhD on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Elizabeth Chell, MA Creative Writing graduate, has reviewed two new poetry pamphlets by Cathi Rae, PhD Creative Writing student, on Everybody's Reviewing here. 

The Mad Road by Laurie Cusack, PhD Creative graduate, has been favourably reviewed in The Morning Star. You can read the review here. Laurie originally drafted the short stories in The Mad Road as part of his PhD. 

New Walk Editions, which is co-edited by Nick Everett, has published two new pamphlets: Polly Walshe’s Silver Fold and Graeme Richardson’s Last of the Coalmine Choirboys. You can see more details on New Walk Editions' website here; and you can register here for the free online launch reading by both poets at 7pm on Wednesday 27 November.

Tracey Foster, MA Creative Writing graduate, has reviewed The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers for Everybody's Reviewing here, and The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience by Jennifer Higgie here. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Kathy Hoyle whose story "Cockleshell Girl" has been nominated for Best of the Net 2025 by South Florida Poetry Journal. You can read the story here. 

One of the key remits of the Centre for New Writing is an interest in interdisciplinary approaches. Felicity James is currently working both for the Centre for New Writing and the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare to investigate how reading and writing can encourage and maintain empathy. Her role is to help embed Creative Writing and reading literature in the medical curriculum at Leicester. With Marianne Scahill-Pape from Attenborough Arts, she ran a special subject for fifth-year medical students in 2024, featuring art, Creative Writing, and Romantic, Victorian and contemporary literature. Their report on the course, "Creative Approaches to Empathic Healthcare: The Polyphony," has now been published, and you can read it here. 

Welcome to Maisie Ridgway, who has recently joined us as a Leverhulme post-doctoral research fellow. Her project is entitled "Coal Ecologies: Inscription, Inheritance and the Anthropocene."

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Karen Rust, who is now Festival Curator of the Oundle Festival of Literature. 

Sally Shaw, MA Creative Writing graduate, has reviewed Ghost Town by Jeff Young for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Jonathan Taylor's memoir, A Physical Education: On Bullying, Discipline & Other Lessons, was published by Goldsmiths Press in September. You can read more about it on Creative Writing at Leicester here. Jonathan has also recently published related articles about bullying in The Times Higher here and The Morning Star here. Sally Shaw, MA Creative Writing graduate, has reviewed Jonathan's book for Everybody's Reviewing here. Jonathan will be reading from and talking about his memoir, along with author James Scudamore, at Five Leaves Bookshop Nottingham, on the evening of Monday 25 November from 7pm. Everyone is welcome. You can see more details about this event and book a place here. Jonathan also interviewed poet Louise Peterkin for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Congratulations to Harry Whitehead, whose novel White Road has been contracted to publish in September 2025 in print by Claret Press and audiobook by WF Howe. 

 

Summer News 2024

It's been a busy Summer, with lots of good news building up since our last News post (which you can read here). So it feels like a good time to share some of the great things students and staff have been doing in the Centre for New Writing at Leicester. 

Creative Writing News, August 2024

Firstly, congratulations to all the final-year BA students who took Creative Writing either at programme or modular level, and who graduated this July! Many of the current MA Creative Writing students and MA Modern and Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing students are now approaching the end of their course, so good luck to them as they complete their dissertations.

Congratulations to second-year English with Creative Writing student Grace Klemperer, who won both this year's John Coleman Prize (for best undergraduate non-poetry submission) and G. S. Fraser Prize (for best undergraduate poetry submission). And congratulations too to Shauna Strathmann and Sara Waheed, who received Honourable Mentions in the G. S. Fraser Prize. 

In early May, we published all five of the winning of entries of the "Nature, the Environment and Sustainability Competition," which the Centre for New Writing ran earlier this year in conjunction with the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, and was judged by celebrated author Mark Cocker. You can now read the winning stories on Creative Writing at Leicester by Carol Rowntree Jones, Sam Dawson, Alice Newitt, Lee Wright, and Sophie Sparham.

Congratulations to Laura Besley and Tina Jay, both of whom have been awarded Midlands4Cities AHRC Funding to undertake PhDs in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. Congratulations to Maisie Ridgway, who has been awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Trust Fellowship for post-doctoral research in Creative Writing. 

Everybody's Reviewing, our book review sister site, has now had well over 400,000 readers. Congratulations and thanks to all concerned: our reviewers, interviewers, interviewees, editors and readers. Creative Writing at Leicester has had over 250,000 readers. Again, thanks to all our contributors, editors and readers. 

Student and Staff News, August 2024

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Jess Bacon, whose moving article about her father's illness was recently published in The Metro here. 

PhD Creative Writing student Joe Bedford has reviewed Hope Never Knew Horizon by Douglas Bruton for Everybody's Reviewing here, and The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo here. 

Congratulations to Laura Besley, MA Creative Writing graduate, whose story "The Pros and Cons of Conditioning" is published by Northern Gravy here. Laura's story "Oh, So Brightly" was shortlisted for the A4 Scratch Books Competition. You can read it here. 

Congratulations to Constantine, MA Creative Writing graduate, whose new novel Alien Boy was recently published. You can read more about the novel, and an excerpt from it, on Creative Writing at Leicester here. Constantine has also reviewed Legion of Lost Letters by Debasish Lahiri for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

MA Creative Writing graduate Lauren Foster has reviewed A Marginal Sea by Zoë Skoulding for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Tracey Foster, whose haiku was longlisted for the Haiku Foundation's "Magnificent Trees" Competition. You can read her entry here. Tracey also had three poems featured in Rhythm Zine, which was on exhibition in the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham in late May. Tracey has written a review of All Sorts of Lives by Claire Harman for Everybody's Reviewing here, a review of Wanderers by Kerri Andrews here, a review of Unravel Exhibition at the Barbican here, a review of Shadowlands by Matthew Green here, and a review of The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd here. 

Beth Gaylard, PhD Creative Writing student, has written a review of God's Country by Kerry Hadley-Pryce for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

The Granite Kingdom by PhD Creative Writing graduate Tim Hannigan has now been published as a paperback. You can read more about this brilliant book on the publisher's website here. Tim's essay, "The Machinery of a Hare," was also recently published on The Clearing by Little Toller Books here. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Millie Henson, whose second play, Where You Go, was staged in the Etcetera Theatre in Camden. You can see more details here. 

PhD Creative Writing student Kathy Hoyle has had her story "Dreki" published by Roi Fainéant Literary Press. You can read it here. Her story "Gallows Pole" is in New Flash Fiction Review here. As part of Writer's HQ "Writing as Resistance Festival," she will be running a workshop on "Discovering Dialect" on Monday 16 September at 7pm. You can see details and book here. In Autumn, Kathy will be interviewed by Jen Bowden for her Northern Voices podcast, which you can find here. 

Congratulations to Felicity James, Associate Professor at the University of Leicester, whose story "Llewellyn, Last King of Wales: his role in the divorce" won first prize in the Westword Micro Fiction Competition! You can read it here.  

Sabyn Javeri, PhD Creative Writing graduate, has been invited to be one of this year's Writers in Residence for the University of Iowa's International Writing Program (IWP). The IWP is the "oldest and largest multinational writing residency in the world." You can read about the residency and Sabyn's work here. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Tionee Joseph whose work was featured at the International Working Class Story Festival, at Upstairs at the Western and online. 

Karen Powell-Curtis, PhD Creative Writing graduate, has had her poem "Mary Wilson" published in Allegro Poetry Magazine here. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Cathi Rae, who has recently published two new poetry pamphlets, Just This Side of Seaworthy and Other Poems and Rock, Paper, Scissors and Other Poems. You can read more about them on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Sally Shaw, whose story "A Blackbird, Bobble Hat and an Answer" has been published by Roi Fainéant Literary Press here. Sally Shaw has also written a review of Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadowplay by Jeff Young for Everybody's Reviewing here, and a review of The Dark Within Them by Isabelle Kenyon here. 

In June, Jane Simmons, PhD Creative Writing student, gave a poetry reading at an online event with Imtiaz Dharker (who has previously been featured on this site here) run by the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere. Jane has also reviewed The Strongbox by Sasha Dugdale for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Megan Stafford-Adatia, BA English with Creative Writing student, has written a review of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Associate Professor Jonathan Taylor's new memoir, A Physical Education: On Bullying, Discipline and Other Lessons, will be published by Goldsmiths Press in September. You can read more about it on the publisher's website here. 

Rory Waterman, who gained his PhD at the University of Leicester and is now Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University, has published his fourth poetry collection with Carcanet, Come Here to this Gate. You can read about it on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Harry Whitehead, Associate Professor at the University of Leicester, has written a review of Merchant by Alexandra Grunberg for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Lee Wright, PhD Creative Writing student, has written a review of Our Island Stories by Corinne Fowler, Professor at the University of Leicester, for Everybody's Reviewing here. He has also reviewed The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Christmas News from Creative Writing at Leicester

A lot has been happening during the Autumn term, since our last news post (which you can read here), and we thought the run-up to Christmas might be a good time for an update of student and staff news. There have been some great public events, guest lectures and masterclasses over the last few weeks. You can see a list here. We'll be running more events next term, and this will include our annual Creative Writing Student Showcase as part of Literary Leicester Festival 2024 - details to follow. In the meantime, here's this term's news from the Centre for New Writing ...  

News

Congratulations to University of Leicester students and graduates Joe Bedford, Tracey Foster, Bridie Granger, Georgia Sanderson (winner of the inaugural Belvoir Poetry Prize) and Lisa Williams, all of whom have been published in the new issue of the Leicester Literary Review. Micro-reviews from Everybody's Reviewing are also featured in the magazine. 

PhD Creative Writing student Joe Bedford has continued his excellent series of interviews with authors, "Writers on Research," interviewing Victoria Richards here. 

Laura Besley, MA Creative Writing graduate, has interviewed Roppotucha Greenberg for Everybody's Reviewing. You can read the interview here. Laura's micro-story, "A Real Dog," is in the new issue of Streetcake Magazine here. Her story "Fragments" is published by Fictive Dream here. Her story "Against the Grain" was shortlisted for the 2023 Subbub Prize for flash fiction. Laura has also been awarded a grant by the Arts Council's DYCP scheme, to write a collection of short stories. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Constantine, who has just published his book of short stories, And Things Begin to Change ... & Other Stories. You can see more about it here. We'll be featuring the book on Creative Writing at Leicester next week. 

Congratulations to MA Creative Writing graduate Isobel Copley who has won third prize in the Anthology Short Story Prize 2023. 

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing graduate Laurie Cusack, whose collection of short stories, The Mad Road, has just been published by Roman Books. You can read about the book here, and you can read a review of it by Gus Gresham on Everybody's Reviewing here. The book was launched, alongside Jonathan Taylor's Scablands and Other Stories (Salt, 2023) and Charlie Hill's Encounters with Everyday Madness (Roman Books, 2023), as part of a Triple Book Launch at the Emerald Centre, Leicester, on Tuesday 21 November. Both Laurie's and Charlie's books are part of Roman Books's Stretto Fiction Series, which is edited by Jonathan Taylor. 

Sam Dawson, MA Creative Writing graduate, has had his story, "Shelly and Shelley," published by Litro Magazine here. Sam was also longlisted for the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2023. 

Kit de Waal has written a piece, "Quiet Violence," for the Cold War Steve Annual 2024. You can see details here. 

New Walk Editions, which is co-edited by Nick Everett, has published two new pamphlets: Derron Sandy's The Chaos and Blake Morrison's Never the Right Time. You can see more details on New Walk Editions' website here. 

Everybody's Reviewing, our book review blog, continues to be read by thousands of people every month, and has now had well over 300,000 readers. 

Beth Gaylard, PhD Creative Writing student, has been working as editorial coordinator and co-organiser for the inaugural PGR Arts Conference at Leicester University, "Reimagining World Views Across Space and Time." The conference took place in November. It attracted speakers from the UK, India, China and the USA, eighteen in all, on many aspects of the literary arts and social science. Topics in Creative Writing included reimagined worlds of family migrations, recent social history and solastalgia. Kit de Waal made the keynote speech on cultural appropriation in contemporary writing. The aim is for the conference to be repeated in future years as a regular PGR event. If you missed it, look out for the special edition of Frontier journal early next term, which will contain some of the presentations in article form. Congratulations to all concerned!

Congratulations to PhD Creative Writing student Kathy Hoyle, whose work "North East Lass" is overall winner of the Hammond House International Writing Competition 2023. You can read the piece here. Kathy's story "Fish Sands, 1984" was also highly commended in the Free Flash Fiction Competition 2023. You can read it here. Kathy's story "Humbug Shark" was highly commended in the Oxford Flash Fiction Competition 2023. 

Amirah Mohiddin, PhD Creative Writing student, presented a conference paper at the Pacific Ancient Modern Language Association (PAMLA), in Portland, Oregon. At a panel dedicated to "Young Adult Literature and Culture," she presented a paper titled "A Thousand and One Nights Meets Morocco’s Fight for Independence in a Historical Fantasy," exploring how Young Adult fantasy can be a powerful mode to decolonise history. The paper is linked with her practice-based research, where she is writing a YA fantasy novel interrogating storytelling as a mode of heroism and salvation. You can read more about Amirah's research on Creative Writing at Leicester here.  

Karen Powell-Curtis, PhD Creative Writing graduate, has had her poem "Passing" published by Thanatos Review here. 

Lee Wright, PhD Creative Writing student, has written a review of The Mirror and the Road by William Boyd and Alistair Owen for Everybody's Reviewing here. 

Congratulations and thanks to all, and wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year from Creative Writing at Leicester!