This month I went to Cambridge to talk to Professor Jack Zipes about my PhD in storytelling and socialization. Here is a podcast about my visit. it begins with an introduction of my work followed by a summary from Professor Zipes of his unusual career path including how he believes Read more…
‘life should be until you die’ Stated Felicity (Parfitt 2013a line. 87). [Photo by Null Value at Flickr.com] From an initial analysis of my focus groups young people seem to be aware of conformist and nonconformist elements in the stories—such as the compulsion to accept social “norms” and Read more…
Young People’s Educational Identities in Challenging Times The title of my presentation was Climbing the Beanstalk: Self-worth and Education. It was a challenge for me to think about my research in a different light. That is, how it could be related to young people’s educational identities. I largely let the Read more…
The transformations summer school hosted by Warwick University, Milburn House, and planned by Paul Whitehouse and myself took place July 2013. This was a free, two-day non-residential drama and storytelling event supported by the widening participation team in the English Department, with an additional £1000 funding from PREP (Postgraduate Researcher Read more…
On the 16th June I went to a discussion about writing emotion with Katherine Angel as part of Warwick Book Festival. Katherine gave a reading that was beautiful and frank in terms of female sexuality. The book is fragmented in structure, the resulting narrative like poetry, true, unsettling, revealing… Listening Read more…
This morning I went to a screening of new ITV drama Love and Marriage followed by a Q&A with writer Stewart Harcourt. Stewart voiced the same advice Professor Douglas Dunn gave me ten years ago at St Andrews—persistence. The ones that turn writing into career are the ones that Read more…
My PhD had changed alot since the very beginning when I had what seems like a really vague idea now about storytelling and mental health. I then became interested in how stories teach people about their culture, including emotional language and understanding. I have clarified my thesis statement to: The civilisation Read more…
This month I have been arranging to go into three schools to start collecting data from focus groups. I have three student storytellers on board for three schools. And I will be conducting the research in the summer term (April – May). Paul Whitehouse (English PhD student) and I have Read more…
This month I met with Jonathan Davidson, Chief Executive for Writing West Midlands. I had no idea the range of stuff they were doing it is really great to see people investing their time in supporting creativity in the area. I was especially interested in the creative writing and arts Read more…
An interdisciplinary discussion of the different way people go about doing collaborative theatre work. Talkers on the panel included Omar Elerian, Associate Director of the Bush Theatre,West London, Michael Bywater, and playwright James Wilson. Inua Ellams, who wrote 13 Fairy Negro Tales, started off the evening by performing one of Read more…