The Return

Hi everyone, I would like to thank this chance to say welcome back and sorry it has been such a long time since this weblog has been updated.

Although this weblog has not been updated recently, things for The New Creative have been ticking along fantastically. As the year progresses The New Creative hopefully will be involved with more and more Creative writers groups. Of course The New Creative team are looking forward to the launch of The New Creative- which includes some fabulous, original and unique writing.

We have already begun to receive poems, plays and prose for the next issue- so keep and eye out for details of our various events and upcoming publciations of The New Creative.

Paddy Lyons

Paddy Lyons is Senior Lecturer in English Literature. Before coming to Scotland he taught in Ireland, at Trinity College Dublin and at the National College of Art, and in England, at the University of East Anglia. More recently, he has taught in the US, at Dartmouth College New Hampshire, where he was Visiting Professor in 1999; and in Poland, at the University of Warsaw, where he was on secondment 1994-97, and where he holds a personal professorship.

He has specialised in the poetry and drama of the Restoration - in particular: Rochester and Congreve. He maintains a strong commitment to Literary Theory, on which he has lectured widely, and was one of the last translators of Althusser into English to be authorised by Althusser during that philosopher's lifetime; his ongoing work on inter-relations between the literary and the history of literacy is conducted in an Althusserian perspective. He has been active, too, in promoting women's writing: he is editor of the widely-used 1818 text of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and (with the actress and novelist Fidelis Morgan) of Female Playwrights of the Restoration. He contributes to the faculty courses in comparative literature; and has written on a range of twentieth and twenty-first century writing: poetry, fiction, drama, and the cinema of Pedro Almodovar.

Carol Clewlow

A journalist by trade, Carol Clewlow’s first publication at the end of the l970s was a travel book, Hongkong and Macau, the second one to be published by the then fledgling but now famous Lonely Planet company. Her first novel, Keeping the Faith, written ten years later while a mature student at university was short listed for the Whitbread Prize first novel prize. Her second, the best selling A Woman's Guide to Adultery was translated into 15 languages and turned into a TV mini series while a third Love in the Modern Sense plus a number of her short stories have been read on Radio 4. As well as fiction, she has a keen interest in drama, adapting a further novel One For The Money, set in the rock music industry, for performance at the Edinburgh Fringe. The first writer in residence in a UK medical school, she is a founder member of Operating Theatre (http://www.operatingtheatre.org.uk/), based in Northern Stage in Newcastle, and at the Newcastle Medical School and for whom she has written more than a dozen plays on health and medical issues. Her latest novel, also a best seller, is Not Married Not Bothered. An experienced teacher of creative writing, she is currently working on a sixth novel.

Alison O'Malley- Younger

Hi, I’m Dr Alison O’Malley-Younger, Programme Leader for English and Creative Writing at the University of Sunderland. My role, along with Professor John Strachan, Professor Paddy Lyons (Glasgow) and the famous novelist Carol Clewlow is to act as part of an advisory body for the New Creative. It’s also my responsibility to raise funding to ensure that the quality of the publication continues to meet its high standards.

I’m delighted to see how the magazine has evolved to become an excellent forum for our students to publish their work alongside established writers. I love the striking, funky new cover designed by Max Strachan, (it’s hard to believe he’s only 15!). I also think the Blog is tremendous. Please post your comments and contribute to what is a tremendously exciting venture. Well done to Colin, Vikki, Rob and Stephen for developing this. Excellent stuff!

Creative Writing is going into orbit at Sunderland. For this reason we are extending admissions to our new English and Creative Writing degree into semester 2, (from February). This means you haven’t missed the boat if you want to join us. As the saying goes, though demand is high so contact us while there are still places. All you need to do is drop me a line on alison.younger@sunderland.ac.uk

Look out for writers coming to speak; get along to the Under the Sun Writers’ group. This is your chance to contribute and be a part of it all.

All that remains is to say ‘welcome’
Best Wishes
Alison

Max Strachan

It is my delightful pleasure to introduce Max Strachan. Max is 15, the son of Professor John Strachan from the school of Arts, Design, Media and Culture, and Joanne Strachan, senior lecturer in the School of Education. Also Max is a student at Durham Johnston School.

Max is our new creative artist, who has kindly agreed and produced the cover of The New Creative. The new cover is fantastically colourful and presents an artistically rendered portrait of a recognisable figure with a new twist and flare.

The New Creative Team

Hi everyone, just a quick message to say here is The New Creative team Vikki Callaghan (on the right), Stephen Carlisle (on the left) Rob Finnigan (on the top). Pictures of Colin Younger will soon be posted as he opted out of this particular shot but we will capture him on film soon.