University of Edinburgh, English Literature

Congratulations to MSc Playwriting graduate Francisca da Silveira for being shortlisted for this major international Playwriting award.

Home | The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the oldest and largest playwriting prize honoring women+ writing for the English-speaking theatre.

Our Msc Playwriting graduate Amy Rhianne Milton's new commissioned play Matterhorn goes live on Traverse Theatre website tomorrow.

Rule-breaking artfully and with purpose – we chat to 2019 Playwriting graduate Amy Rhianne Milton about her new play Matterhorn, and about being longlisted for the inaugural Women's Prize for Playwriting.

You can listen to Matterhorn as part of Breakfast Plays at Traverse 3 between Thurs 27 Aug and Weds 9 Sept online - free / by donation (link in interview).

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/news/meet-our-graduates-amy-rhianne-milton

Dazzling plays shortlisted for drama accolade

ed.ac.uk Thought-provoking plays exploring themes of criminal justice, race and the dark side of social media have been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Drama.

Masters in Playwriting at University of Edinburgh

Congratulations to two of our graduates.

Congratulations to three of our graduates, Sara Shaarawi, Jenny Knotts and Amy Rhianne Milton, who have both been longlisted for the Paines Plough Women's Prize for Playwriting. Proud.

The Public Theater Announces 2020-2022 Emerging Writers Group

Congratulations to our recent graduate from MSc Playwriting, Francisca da Silveira, who has been chosen to be part of the Emerging Writers Group 2020-22 at The Public Theater NYC.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/The-Public-Theater-Announces-2020-2022-Emerging-Writers-Group-20200701

broadwayworld.com The Public Theater announced today the 10 new playwrights for the 2020-2022 Emerging Writers Group. Now in its eighth cycle, the Emerging Writers Group is an ongoing initiative that targets playwrights at the earliest stages of their career, creating an artistic home and offering support and resourc...

Playday | Joanna Glum

MSc Playwriting graduate Joanna Glum's short work "Playday" has been published in the recent edition of The Brooklyn Review.

bkreview.org The Woman’s up in the treehouse, The Stranger can’t go back to work until he makes sure The Girl is alright, and The Girl just wants to bury her brain. She’s great at playing, she knows, but she’d …

Integrating BSL and English - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Reader in Writing for Performance (English Literature) and professional playwright, Nicola McCartney, is co-leading this weekend master class at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June if you are interested in exploring making stage plays through physical as well as verbal communication.
https://www.rcs.ac.uk/lifelong-learning/integrating-bsl-english/

rcs.ac.uk This unique course is for both deaf and hearing speakers who are interested in making

Meet our graduates: Brandon Shalansky

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/news/meet-our-graduates-brandon-shalansky

ed.ac.uk Originally from British Columbia, Brandon completed our MSc in Playwriting and now works between the UK and Canada where he’s under commission with the Fred Skeleton Theatre Company.

Where this programme might take you

We are still taking applications for our Masters in Playwriting. Here is what some of our graduates have been up to since graduating from our unique degree and what they say about the programme.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/postgraduate/taught-masters/playwriting/where-this-programme-might-take-you

ed.ac.uk Career opportunities for Playwriting graduates.

www.traverse.co.uk

Class Act: International Symposium 2017
Thurs 23- Fri 24th November, 2017, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
The Traverse Theatre in Association with The University of Edinburgh

Booking is now open for this first international symposium on the Traverse Theatre Company’s Class Act project. Class Act has been delivered by the Traverse Theatre across twenty-five successful years, working with young people across the central-belt of Scotland, and even reaching Moscow and Ukraine. Through the programme, young people are mentored by professional playwrights to develop and write their own scripts for the stage. Following a process of creative workshops, the finished plays are performed by a professional company. The key objectives of the project are to improve attainment through expanding literacy skills, encouraging active contribution in group situations and developing confidence by providing participants with an empowering opportunity to work with professional theatre makers.
This symposium will bring together playwrights, theatre producers, teachers, former student participants and academics with an interest in Applied Theatre practices, to reflect on the project, it’s methodology, history and future. There will be guest speakers from Russia and Ukraine and further afield.

Programme for the Symposium
Thurs 23rd November
7.30pm Performance of Class Act Scotland 2017
Fri 24th November
9.00am Registration + Tea & Coffee + Pastries
9.30 – 11am Panel 1: Class Act – A History
11 – 11.30am Break
11.30 – 1pm Panel 2: Class Act in the Post-Soviet Space: Russia, Caucasus and Ukraine
1-2pm Lunch
2 – 3.30pm Panel 3: Theatre in Education: Current Practice & Methodologies
3.30-4pm Break
4 – 5.30pm Panel 4: Class Act – Now & Next
5.30pm Ends

Tickets:
Full price - £25, includes coffee and pastry at registration, a ticket to the performance of Class Act Scotland on Thurs 23rd November at 7.30pm, and lunch on Friday 24th November, as well as a free glass of wine at the close of the symposium
Student/ Concession (incl. entertainment Union) Rate: £12.50
Half day rate: £12.50 (includes lunch on Fri 24th November)
Tickets can be purchased via Traverse Theatre website and Box office 0131 228 1404
Accommodation in Edinburgh:
You can find your own independent accommodation or book through University of Edinburgh’s guest accommodation services via this link:
Tickets can be purchased via Traverse Theatre website and Box office 01312281404
Box office link:
https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event-detail/1309/class-act--international-symposium-2017.aspx

Further Information:
About the symposium: Nicola McCartney, Reader, University of Edinburgh: [email protected]
About Class Act: Sunniva Ramsay, Creative Producer (Learning) Traverse Theatre: [email protected]

traverse.co.uk Class Act has been delivered by the Traverse Theatre across 25 successful years, working with young people across the central belt of Scotland, and even reaching Moscow and Ukraine.

A Reading of The Cantos of Ezra Pound: Cantos of the 1920s

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-reading-of-the-cantos-of-ezra-pound-cantos-of-the-1920s-tickets-2802009887

eventbrite.co.uk Ezra Pound's monumental poem The Cantos is the longest and most sustained literary effort made by a poet of the modernist generation in any language. It took half a century to write: begun before World War I, it was continued to the end of the 1960s.This event, sponsored by The Cantos Project at the...

Playwriting students’ work ‘pre-views’ at Traverse Theatre

http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/news/playwriting-students-work-pre-views-at-traverse

ed.ac.uk Extracts from new plays by five students on our MSc in Playwriting programme are being read for a public audience as part of the 70th Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Blazing Hyena

Introducing... Jill Franklin, who graduated from Msc Playwriting at the University of Edinburgh in 2016. Jill came to playwriting through the Open University Creative Writing diploma, which was part of a degree in English Literature. Jill has had short plays on at the Tron and the Scottish Parliament. An extract of the full-length play written as a dissertation for the Msc was performed at the Traverse as part of their Fringe programme last year. Hindsight was short listed for the David McLennan award in 2016. Come along and see an extract of it tonight, at The Merlin 7.30pm. Tickets are £7 and can be reserved by emailing [email protected]

Home

Literary Censorship from Shelley's Queen Mab, 'Furtively Obtained', to Zola's 'Powerful Realistic Novels'
27 March 2017
18:30 – 19:30
The Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, EH1 2JL
Dr Katherine Inglis and Dr Matthew Fellion, co-authors of an upcoming history of literary censorship, will discuss the censorship of printed literature under blasphemy and obscenity law in the nineteenth century. This talk focuses on the censorship of two books that were particularly important to Henry Vizetelly, the publisher who was imprisoned in 1889 for publishing the work of Émile Zola in translation: Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Queen Mab, which he read for its radical ideas as a young man, and Zola’s La Terre, which was used in evidence against him.
This event is part of Rare Books Edinburgh 2017 , a new festival celebrating rare and collectable books and book history. The festival runs from 20-30 March and includes the Edinburgh Book Fair, Scotland's largest rare & collectable book fair, on 24 and 25 March.

rarebooksedinburgh.com

The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club

Congratulations to Ruth Salter. She has just won our Medal with a cheque for £100. Full details on our website: http://www.walterscottclub.com/blog/scottish-literary-studies-medal-2016

Connie Voisine and Alan Gillis, 7 April 2016 - 6:30pm - 7:30pm

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/events/connie-voisine-and-alan-gillis

scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk Award-winning poets and teachers form both sides of the Atlantic come together to share their vivid and dynamic poetry.

MSc in Playwriting - Meet the Programme Director

If you are interested in finding out more about MSc Playwriting and what the programme offers, Nicola McCartney, programme director, will be hosting this web event on 24th March. Sign up here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/msc-in-playwriting-meet-the-programme-director-tickets-22726822538?aff=es2

eventbrite.co.uk Are you considering Postgraduate Studies in 2016? Thinking about Playwriting? Want to know more about what the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures can offer? Join us at a free online information session to hear about our MSc in Playwriting. Hear from Programme Director Nicola McCartney who…

Susan Manning Lecture 2016 | The University of Edinburgh

http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/events/susan-manning-lecture-2016

ed.ac.uk In this lecture David Bromwich will examine the central scenes of political violence in Julius Caesar and Macbeth.

Today we have a visit from Sir Michael Boyd, graduate of English Literature at University of Edinburgh and former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare company. He will be addressing students at 1pm, followed by a directing workshop later this afternoon.

Paradise Palms

The Department's post-exams Honours Party (to which both 3rd and 4th year students are invited) will take place on Monday 18th May at Paradise Palms, 41 Lothian Street (off Bristo Square). http://www.theparadisepalms.com/
We will have exclusive use of the bar from 7:30 pm till late. All students will be given a free drink on arrival (with the possibility of a further free drink later in the evening!), and there will be a complimentary buffet served at 9pm.

theparadisepalms.com Dive Bar . Venue . Ninja Buns

This series of plays produced by A Play A Pie and a Pint in association with University of Edinburgh and National Theatre Scotland, opens next week with Take The Rubbish Out Sasha by Natalia Vorozhbit from Ukraine. The season is curated by Nicola McCartney.
http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/content/default.asp?page=home_InternationalPlaysfromUkraineandRussia

Naturalist Theatre and the Problem of Homosexuality | Edinburgh Literature Seminars |

This Friday - a special guest appearance by playwright, critic and Twitter celebrity Dan Rebellato! 4.30, the Project Room, wine and blether to follow - all welcome!

ed.ac.uk This paper considers the multiple absences of homosexuality in Naturalism, drawing on theatre and literature, urban planning, psychology and sexology, military and art history, and international relations.

Cinema and the Philosophy of Iris Murdoch: Building a Moral Vision | Edinburgh Literature Seminars |

A joint seminar with Film Studies on Friday - Dr Lucy Bolton on film and Iris Murdoch. Everyone welcome!

ed.ac.uk In this paper, Dr Lucy Bolton will map out a framework for understanding the concept of vision and attention in Murdoch’s moral philosophy and show how this thinking relates to cinema as an art form as well as how it can illuminate the operation of moral frameworks within the experience of individua…

A course of steady reading | Edinburgh Literature Seminars |

Our very own Rebecca Davies kicks off this semester's lively new seminar programme - all welcome!

ed.ac.uk The contention in this paper is that Jane Austen's narrative authority was adapted from the discipline of educative writing established by eighteenth-century writers who adopted the 'maternal' educational role and constructed their final authority in their writing more explicitly.

Masters in Playwriting at University of Edinburgh

This year 2 of our graduates have received prestigious awards. Rosanna Hall (grad 2013) and Deb Jones (grad this year) have each won a New Playwrights Award from Playwrights Studio funded by Creative Scotland which enables her to write a new full length play. (Another graduate Jenny Knotts won this last year). Only 4 awards are given each year.

On Tuesday 18th November at 6pm in room 1.06, 50 George Square, we will have a reading of Saved by Edward Bond. All are welcome. Come along and listen and join us afterwards in The Blind Poet. Star turns by Dr Spinks, Dr Malpas and Professor Loxley for no extra charge.

Edinburgh, Blackwell's - Next Generation Poets 2014

http://nextgenerationpoets.com/edinburgh-blackwells/

nextgenerationpoets.com Tuesday 4 November – 6.00 pm Blackwell’s Bookshop 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1YS Join us on 4 November 2014 at Blackwell’s Bookshop in Edinburgh for an evening of poetry celebrating the Next Generation Poets 2014. The event will feature performances from Alan Gillis and Helen Mort from the N…

Overview | The English Literature play |

Applications are now open to all undergraduates for the £1000 English Department Play Award. Closing date is 17 November 2014.

http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/beyond-curriculum/department-play

ed.ac.uk The Department of English Literature annually sponsors a production of a play of literary interest, featuring department students in its cast and production crew.

www.traverse.co.uk

Please follow the link for details about an evening of readings of new works from Russia and Ukraine. This event is organised by Nicola McCartney (English Literature) and Dr Alexandra Smith (Russian Studies) and launches a season of new works from both countries at the internationally acclaimed, award-winning A Play, A Pie and A Pint season at Oran Mor, Glasgow



http://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event-detail/413/russia-and-ukraine---new-readings-and-discussion.aspx

traverse.co.uk An evening of readings and discussion with leading Russian and Ukrainian playwrights, the University of Edinburgh and A Play, A Pie and A Pint.

Reminder: The post-exam PARTY (to which both third and fourth years are invited) will take place this coming MONDAY, 19 MAY at the Bristo Bar, 41 Lothian Street (off Bristo Square).

We will have exclusive use of the refurbished bar from 7:30 pm till late. All students will be given a free drink on arrival (with the possibility of a further free drink later in the evening!), and there will be a complimentary buffet served at 9pm.

This is a great opportunity to celebrate the end of your exams with fellow students and staff and we look forward to seeing you there!

All the best,

Anna Vaninskaya

The Centre for the History of the Book presents a mini-conference for students on the MSc in Book History and Material Culture.

Four MSc students will deliver papers on their dissertation work-in-progress. The aim of the event is to help them develop their professional presentation skills, and to allow them to get feedback on the topics of their dissertations. Those topics range very widely, from medieval manuscript circulation to modernist experimental novels, but they are all united by their interest in the physical production, circulation and reception of books.

The conference takes place this Thursday, 1 May, in the David Hume Room (room 3.11) in the Dugald Stewart Building. The schedule will be as follows:

2.30-2.45 Arrival and Welcome

2.45-3.45 Panel A: Elizabeth Dumas and Annemarie Maimone

3.45-4.00 Break

4.00-5.00 Panel B: Fiona McPake and Mary Hardy

Dear All,

Could I draw your attention to the following event?

Friday April 25, 4-30pm, Conference Room, David Hume Tower.

Lucy Kirkwood: "Burning the Hats with the Bodies: Some Thoughts on Political Theatre."

Lucy Kirkwood graduated from our own Department of English Literature in 2006, began her playwriting career at the Bedlam Theatre, and has had her work produced at the Bush Theatre, Arcola Theatre, National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre among other places. This weekend her recent play Chimerica won the Olivier Award for Best Play of 2013.

Best, Lee Spinks
English Literature

Edinburgh Spy Week - FreshAir Radio

freshair.org.uk Disguises at the ready; Its Spy Week.