Literature + writing
Literature and writing at Kingston
Literature and writing covers a range of activity across an open and vibrant community of writers and scholars. Staff in literature, journalism, creative writing, publishing and media include many award-winning fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, scriptwriters, journalists and internationally respected scholars who are engaged with students and the public as well as their academic and professional audiences.
We offer a rich and varied programme of activities that is open to students and the public throughout the week. Events include guest lectures and readings, masterclasses and seminars. See below to explore the diversity and quality of our activity, and join us at any of the events or perhaps enrol on one of our short courses.
Read about the special collections at Kingston University Archives, including the Sheridan Morley collection.
Launch of the Sheridan Morley Theatre Collection
Videos
Distinguished associates
Paul Bailey has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize and won a clutch of other awards. His work focuses on the often grim lives of families and outcasts. His novels include At the Jerusalem; Peter Smart's Confessions; Gabriel's Lament; Sugar Cane; and Kitty and Virgil.
Andy Beckett was shortlisted in 2003 for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year for his first book Pinochet in Piccadilly: Britain and Chile's Hidden History. In 2009 he published the widely-acclaimed When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies.
Dr Eva Hoffman is an internationally-renowned writer and academic. Her most important publications include The Secret (2002) and Time (2009). She teaches at Kingston, offering MA students the chance to study the personal essay as well as supervising dissertations.
Dr Barrie Keeffe is an English dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for his screenplay for the 1981 film The Long Good Friday. Barrie provides extra lectures, workshops and tutorials for MA and MFA students, and supervises MA dissertations.
Alexander Masters is the writer and illustrator of Stuart: A Life Backwards, the innovative biography of a young man who became a criminal and lived homeless. It won an Arts Council Writers' Award and Guardian First Book Award.
Dr Fiona Sampson has published 15 books, including works of poetry, and volumes on the philosophy of language and the writing process. Her poetry has been published and broadcast in more than 30 languages.
Dr Elif Şhafak is an internationally-acclaimed writer and the bestselling female writer in Turkey, publishing novels and non-fiction in Turkish as well as English. Her novels in English include The Saint of Incipient Insanities, The Flea Palace andThe Bastard of Istanbul.
Plus view profiles of core teaching and research staff in literature and writing.
