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.

“What Do We Do Now?” Part 2

Posted on 24th July 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Thoughts on Enright, Academic Travelling and Critical Distance Robert Fraser, Emeritus Professor of English Continuing from Part 1 … I returned to Tetouan in 2016 and 2017, and will go back there again this coming October. In the meantime, a … Continue reading →

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What I love about this job, or learning the merits of language

Posted on 18th July 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Richard Danson Brown, Professor of English Literature Four anonymous poems in Middle English: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Created: c. 1400, North-West Midlands, Creator, Anonymous. Held by: British Library One of the things that can … Continue reading →

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Somewhere in Between – Review

Posted on 11th July 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Somewhere in Between: Four Collaborations, Wellcome Collection, Euston Road, London, 8 March-27 August 2018 Sally O’Reilly, Lecturer, Creative Writing I walk into a black box, disorientated for a moment as the space resolves itself. Giant blue screens show human shapes … Continue reading →

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Tolkien Exhibition: Review

Posted on 1st July 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Francesca Benatti, Research Fellow in Digital Humanities I recently visited this exhibition, which is the first Tolkien exhibition in 26 years and showcases artefacts from the Bodleian, Marquette University Library and the Tolkien family private collections, some never exhibited before. … Continue reading →

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How Brexit is driving a rise in the language of everyday racism

Posted on 22nd June 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Philip Seargeant, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics A hostile environment In the aftermath of the Windrush scandal there’s been a great deal of discussion about the ‘hostile environment’ that was purposefully created by the government to persuade illegal immigrants to … Continue reading →

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Scholarship and Research

Posted on 20th June 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Suman Gupta Slightly out of focus The connotations of the word ‘scholarship’ have always been a bit fuzzy, especially in academia. The OED puts it between, on the one hand, ‘learning, erudition; the collective attainments of scholars; the sphere of … Continue reading →

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Three Books

Posted on 19th June 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Sally O’Reilly, Lecturer, Creative Writing I’ve no idea how many books I’ve read in my life. I know I started young and read avidly from the age of five. My earliest reading focused around magic and adventure, and I developed … Continue reading →

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On Establishing Creative Writing Programmes

Posted on 16th April 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Linda Anderson A Career of Two Halves Although every academic post carries its freight of blood, sweat and tears, I may well have had the two best jobs on offer in Creative Writing in higher education. I spent a decade … Continue reading →

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Reflections on the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics, Belfast, 12-18 March 2018

Posted on 28th March 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Patricia Ferguson I have four days in Belfast and a whirlwind of events, and those are only a dozen chosen from more than eighty on offer, and of those dozen, space available here to discuss only four or five. First … Continue reading →

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Digital Habitus and Institutional Responsibility

Posted on 21st March 2018 by Emma Claire Sweeney

Suman Gupta Pedagogic Context I continue here with the argument of the earlier posting on Direct and Mediated Contact in Literary Pedagogy. I do so at a similar level of generality, without as yet nuancing the argument along the lines … Continue reading →

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