Author Archives: Emma Claire Sweeney

About Emma Claire Sweeney

Lecturer in Creative Writing at the open University, Director of the Ruppin Agency Writer's Studio (a nationwide literary mentoring programme), and award-winning author of novel OWL SONG AT DAWN and co-author with Emily Midorikawa of non-fiction book A SECRET SISTERHOOD: THE HIDDEN FRIENDSHIPS OF AUSTEN, BRONTË, ELIOT AND WOLF.

Thoughts on retreat, writing and solitude as the nights draw in

Posted on 21st October 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Joanne Reardon, Lecturer, Creative Writing The popularity of writing retreats has grown and grown over the past few years: retreats masquerading as holidays where not much writing is done, teaching retreats where you get a writing tutor thrown in, retreats … Continue reading →

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A Life in Letters: Ford Madox Ford

Posted on 17th September 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Pablo Scheffer, BA English Literature student, King’s College, London This summer I had the pleasure of spending a month as a research assistant at the Cornell University library, working on the digitalisation of the letters of Ford Madox Ford. When … Continue reading →

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‘Let Me Tell You A Story’: Reflections on the EastSide Arts Festival, Belfast

Posted on 5th September 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Patricia Ferguson, PhD student, English Literature ‘Let me tell you a story’ was the principal theme of this year’s EastSide Arts festival. These are my reflections on four events which seem to me to resonate profoundly with the present state … Continue reading →

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Ten days with Edith Wharton: impressions of an archival visit

Posted on 31st July 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

By Isabelle Parsons, PhD student, English Literature (1) It’s a Monday morning in June and I’m standing in front of the imposing granite and marble cube that is the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. I’ve spent … Continue reading →

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Manga, The British Museum

Posted on 10th July 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Francesca Benatti, Research Fellow in Digital Humanities I recently visited the Manga exhibition at the British Museum (23 May-26 August 2019), the largest of its kind ever to take place outside of Japan. Manga is the name commonly applied to Japanese … Continue reading →

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Early days with the Professor of Literature

Posted on 24th May 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature  When I used to travel to Walton Hall for meetings I was fortunate to have Arnold Kettle, the Head of Department and sole Professor, sometimes invite me stay in the rambling old Kettle house … Continue reading →

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Voices from the Past: Peterloo and New Historical Fiction

Posted on 23rd May 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

It’s exciting to hear that Hilary Mantel’s novel The Mirror and the Light will be published in March 2020. Like many thousands of historical fiction fans, I am impatient to see how she concludes her epic trilogy about the life … Continue reading →

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‘An Agreement Born of Impossible Conversations’: Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics, Belfast, 25-31 March 2019

Posted on 15th April 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

  Patricia Ferguson, PhD student, English Literature I have taken as my title this arresting phrase with which the poet Matt Kirkham, writing in ‘The Belfast Agreement: Twentieth Anniversary Issue’ of Irish Pages, sums up the Good Friday Agreement, an … Continue reading →

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Reflections on Critical Thinking in Italy, France and Scotland

Posted on 28th March 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Judith Gorham former MAED (Applied Linguistics) student Critical thinking is a term much bandied about. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree course programmes tend to include it in their aims, though how this plays out differs. We know it when we see … Continue reading →

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Inspiration in the Third Space

Posted on 14th February 2019 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Marielle Meulenberg, Former Masters Student, Applied Linguistics, WELS   “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” While inspiration nodded its acknowledgement, anxiety reared its ugly head to taunt me on a regular basis. I had … Continue reading →

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