Final year Creative Writing students at the School of English are celebrating the launch of this year’s The Book Project. Each year, Creative Writing students at Kent write, produce, and publish a book for their final-year project.
The authors’ books reflect the great range of taste, expertise and interest among Kent’s Literature and Creative Writing students and staff: from cutting-edge visual poetry to surrealist tales; from gothic-realist summers on the Kent and Sussex coastline to poetic and photographic explorations of life in those coastal tourist towns; from mental health and mothering to mental health and being a child.
Lecturer in Creative Writing, Dr Katharine Peddie shares, “Our Stage 3 Creative Writing students have been learning book design, production and other aspects of publishing in order to produce their very own books for their final year project. One of the things students always love about Creative Writing at Kent is that during your time here you can go from making your tentative first steps into writing creatively to producing a book that you can keep, give, and sell. And you get to learn about the publishing industry as well as working on your writing!
The students this year have really risen to the challenge of lockdown and explored the possibilities of the internet: with some producing e-books, promotional videos and really innovative and bold aesthetic content. Some of these books and videos are works of art in themselves. I’m really delighted to have been able to help our students produce such a collection of powerful writing and beautiful books; they’ll have pride of place on my bookshelves for many years to come!
The Book Project officially launches this evening at 6pm via Zoom. Join the event to celebrate!