The School has been overwhelmed with good news stories of late. Here are a few highlights:
Film rights sold to recent graduate’s first novel
School of English alumna Emmi Itäranta has sold the film rights to her 
first novel Memory of Water to the production company Bufo. Emmi began writing the novel whilst studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Kent before going on to secure a publishing deal with Harper Collins.
Kent Union Teaching Awards
This year’s award for Best Postgraduate Teacher went to School of English Assistant Lecturer and PhD student Michael Falk. This is a fantastic achievement, not least because Michael is still only in his first year of teaching.
Publishing successes
Gonzalo Ceron Garcia, a recent PhD student in the School, has just secured a contract for his novel We Are the End with noted publishers Galley Beggar Press. The novel will be out in 2017.
New publishing deal
Mike Stoner was awarded an MA in Creative Writing at Kent in 2011. Before finding a publisher, his self-published version of JALAN JALAN was awarded The Guardian’s Self-published Book of the Month in 2014. JALAN JALAN, his first novel, has just been published by Tuttle Publishing.
Student commended at the National Poetry Competition 2016
Congratulations to Howard Laughton who was commended at this year’s National Poetry Competition for his poem ‘Six Easy Calculations’. Howard is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing and wrote the poem as part of a poetry module. The National Poetry Competition Awards Ceremony was held at the Savile Club, London, 31 March 2016. You can read Howard’s poem on The Poetry Society website.
Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Dr Jennie Batchelor has received a new Leverhulme Research Fellowship to enable her to undertake further work on “The Lady’s Magazine in Romantic Print Culture”. You can find out more about this project, including information about ‘The Lady’s Magazine Stitch-Off and the upcoming exhibition at Chawton House Library, on the project blog.