Linda Anderson joined the English Department as Reader in Creative Writing in 2002. She had previously led the Department of Creative Writing for eight years at Lancaster University, which ran one of the most prestigious MA programmes in Britain. She has taught many students who achieved publication during or shortly after their courses, including Alison MacLeod (The Changeling, Macmillan); Justin Hill (The Drink and Dream Teahouse, Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Monique Roffey (Sun Dog, Scribner); Jacob Polley (The Brink, Picador). She also designed and taught an MA by distance learning, the first computer-mediated postgraduate writing course in Britain.
At the OU she is Chair of A215 Creative Writing which attracted over 2400 students in its first presentation and had the highest retention rate at level 2 in the University. The course materials have won high praise, especially the co-published book Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings (OU/Routledge), which is being used in many other HE institutions and is selling worldwide.
In 2007 she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in recognition of her ‘outstanding impact on the student learning experience.’
Linda is the author of two award-winning novels, To Stay Alive and Cuckoo, both published by the Bodley Head. Her novels, stories, and poems have been published in Britain, Ireland, Australia, and the USA. She has also worked for BBC Radio Drama as a director of fiction and drama and won a Write Out Loud award for her own radio writing.
‘In Linda Anderson’s novels and short stories the personal, social and political are inextricably linked. Her perspective is served by a playfully self-conscious use of language delivered with passionate force.’ - The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, vol V, ed. Angela Bourke (Cork University Press, 2002).
‘Film technique in fiction’ in D. Neale, ed. (2009) A Creative Writing Handbook: developing dramatic technique, individual style and voice, A & C Black
L. Anderson & D.Neale (2008) Writing Fiction, Routledge
L. Anderson, ed. (2006) Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings, Routledge
‘A creative writing book as good as this is a rare event.’ – David Morley, Director of the Warwick University writing programme.
‘Narrative point of view: Who tells the story?’ and ‘Bodily States’ in J.Steel, ed. (2006), Wordsmithery: The Writer’s Craft and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan
See also Open Research Online for further details of Linda Anderson’s research publications.
