All of us at the School of English are keenly aware that we are living through an uncertain time for everyone – especially applicants whose expectations of sitting exams and heading off to university in the time-old fashion have been severely affected by the coronavirus crisis. We therefore want to want to assure all of our prospective students that we are doing everything in our power to make that transition as easy as possible.
With this in mind, we invite you to explore the below lectures and online writing resources that staff at the School of English have prepared. These resources will give you a first-hand sample of some of the materials you might encounter in the classroom during your first year; introduce you to some of the research projects undertaken by lecturers at the School; and offer you the opportunity to experiment with your own writing by drawing inspiration from prompts prepared by some of our Creative Writing lecturers. We hope that these resources will give you a taste of the kinds of skills and discoveries you will have the opportunity to encounter through your degree with English at Kent.
Sample lecture: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Critical Disability Theory
This lecture will give you an exciting brief sample of just one of the topics you will have the opportunity to study during the first year of your degree. Listen to Dr Michael Falk (Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Studies) introduce concepts from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s work in critical disability theory, and discuss how Garland-Thomson’s work could be applied to literary texts.
This sample lecture was initially recorded as a part of our provision for EN337: Thinking Through Theory in the academic year 2019-2020. It is therefore the perfect chance to catch a sneak preview of academic life whilst studying English at Kent. The lecture is available in three parts.
Part 1 can be found here: https://youtu.be/fm3psn2NWL4
Part 2 can be found here: https://youtu.be/0FnUyRH2hCQ
Part 3 can be found here: https://youtu.be/yqy_1Tc5Ckc
Think Kent: School of English Research Projects
As a student at the School of English, you would be an active member of our academic community, both in and out of the classroom. Your lecturers at Kent are all actively engaged in a number of exciting research projects, and what they learn through their research feeds directly into your seminar teaching. In other words, as a student here, you would be an important member of a community of learners, all discovering new questions and ideas together.
To give you an introduction to the kinds of ideas and interventions you might encounter as a part of our community, you may be interested in watching these short lectures where staff from the School speak about some of their recent research projects:
Prof David Herd (Professor of Modern Literature) – Walking With Refugee Tales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_CEKvH3qE
Dr Bahriye Kemal (Lecturer in Contemporary and Postcolonial Literature) – Writing Cyprus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1viVoSgBxY
Prof Caroline Rooney (Professor of African and Middle Eastern Studies) – Beirut, Lebanon and White Flags: A Short Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDllnpkmcnE
Prof David Stirrup (Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies) – Native American and Canadian Aboriginal Literature
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Z11_OynP4
Creative Writing Prompts 1: Writing the Self
How to write memoir? How to write about yourself? How to write into the history we are all living through?
To help you explore these questions, Dragan Todorovic (Lecturer in Creative Writing) is hosting a series of writing challenges with the aim of guiding you towards writing a memoir. If you have applied to study English Literature and Creative Writing, or if you simply want to take the opportunity to reflect on the unusual times we are living, you can watch instalments of Dragan’s writing prompts, and begin to discover how memoir can offer us all a place where space, time, and the self all intersect:
Get involved with Dragan’s growing series of writing prompts here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG4vQdcciWPAI8vu2HlO5r4pmVh-wUVEX
Creative Writing Prompts 2: Writing Minds
Creative writing can engage us in new ways of thinking and reflecting. To assist you in these new discoveries, Dr Eleanor Perry (Lecturer in Creative Writing, Poetry) has designed an exciting online resource that aims to guide you into new forms of inspiration drawn from the everyday world around us, as well as from within ourselves. You don’t need Creative Writing experience to take part. All you need is a desire to get involved!
The website will post a new prompt every few days, so please do check the site regularly for updates. In the near future, the site will also host videos from our Creative Writing Reading Series; and other updates, including showcases of our current students’ creative-critical work. It is therefore the perfect place to start discovering creative life with English at Kent.
Get involved with Writing Minds here:
https://www.writingmindscommunity.com/