We spoke to Creative Writing MA graduate, Gemma Jackson, to find out what she’s been up to since leaving Kent.<\/p>\n
What are you doing now? What attracted you to your course, and to Kent? Where did you study prior? Which aspects of your degree did you enjoy the most, and why? How has your time at Kent helped you in your career so far? Were you actively involved in any research centres or projects? What impressed you most about our academic staff? Are you still in touch with any of your friends from University? Could you describe a typical day in your current role? What are your future plans\/aspirations? Are you currently working, or have you recently worked on any interesting projects that you would like to tell us a bit more about? What is your favourite memory of Kent? What advice would you give to somebody thinking of coming to Kent? How would you describe your time at Kent in three words?
\n<\/b>I\u2019m currently living and working in Northern Italy as an ESL teacher, translator, and freelance writer and editor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Kent was always my first choice. I fell in love with the campus when I visited for the first time, before I started my undergraduate degree, but it was really the faculty who won me over. I\u2019d spent my entire life being warned by well-intentioned teachers to pursue journalism instead of creative writing, but then the faculty I spoke to at Kent were just as excited and passionate about creative writing (if not more), and so I knew I\u2019d found my place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>We were always challenged. Every idea that I had about literature and poetry was exploded and reshaped, and I realized that studying these subjects wasn\u2019t just about reading and listening to what other people had to say: it was about becoming part of that conversation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>I never studied with the aim of pursuing a career in writing (even though I am aware that studying with future job-opportunities in mind is the norm in the world we now live in). My studies were driven by my passion for my poetry. My time at Kent informed my writing, as well as introduced me to dear friends, and the rest of the job-stuff was a bit of a creative after-thought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>I was a real busy bee when I was at Kent. I actually co-hosted and judged Canterbury Festival\u2019s Schools Poetry Competition (2016), and also worked on various outreach projects in local schools in Kent as a Postgraduate Ambassador for the English Department.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>How insanely innovative they all are. They\u2019re wildly creative and entirely absorbed by what they do. I think that once you\u2019ve been taught by such passionate people that are that<\/i> into their work, that level of excitement just becomes contagious, and you really throw yourself into your own work head-first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Oh, absolutely. Poets are real weird-word-obsessed people. We\u2019ve got to stick together. (They also read my drafts, which is invaluable.)<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Correcting students who say \u2018kitchen\u2019 instead of \u2018chicken\u2019 and vice versa and making sure they really elongate that \u2018ee\u2019 sound in the word sheet. It\u2019s the small things that really make the difference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>To never lose my love for writing. I have no idea what job I\u2019ll be doing ten years from now, or even what country I\u2019ll be in (though probably still Italy because, you know, Brexit), but as long as I have time to write and enough money to pay my rent and bills, I\u2019m not particularly fussed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>In the last few months I\u2019ve been writing a book of dystopian fiction. This pandemic world has both demotivated and inspired me and I\u2019m pretty excited to see what becomes of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>The poetry readings we organized in town. I can\u2019t pick just one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Get involved with as much as you can. Try everything. I\u2019m glad I get to look back on my time at Kent and feel grateful for all of the experiences I had because I just threw myself into it all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Eye-opening with a splash of the eccentric and a huge dollop of feminism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"