Creative Writing Lecture

We were delighted to welcome Barbara Henderson, published author and Senior Lecturer in English: Creative and Professional Writing in the School of Media and Creative Industries at the University of Sunderland for two creative writing sessions with over forty of our English Language students. 

Barbara is a former BBC journalist and holds a PhD in creative writing and is the author of five commercially published novels. Her historical time-slip novel The Serpent House was shortlisted for a Times/Chicken House award.

Not only did Barbara guide students through a stimulating creative writing exercise, but she was also able to give students an insight into the world of getting a novel published, and some of the exciting opportunities available to those interested in a future in the field of professional writing. The course at Sunderland appealed to some of the students who were excited by the opportunities to network with prestigious writers such as Ann Cleeves, and to be part of the creative environment that offers undergraduates the opportunity to publish their short stories in a collection.

Students were also able to learn about how Barbara researched and wrote her first novel, in the genre of time travel, and then they had the opportunity to work through some of the initial stages of developing a novel outline themselves, making use of sensory description and considering how to convey emotion without telling the reader outright how a character is feeling. The session offered students the structured space to consider some of the finer points of creative writing – which are skills they will have to draw on in their exams, as well as something that may support a future career route in the creative industries.

We hope to welcome Barbara back for further creative writing sessions; certainly our students benefit from the opportunity to forge links with an exciting creative writing network in our local area. Many thanks to Barbara and to Sunderland University for these creative writing workshops.