Tag Archives: Creative writing programme

Creative Writing Master's in Paris

Alumna and Poet Megan James Publishes her First Work, Womb Fruit

In the latest edition of our Graduate Profile we connect with alumna and poet Megan James. A graduate of our Master’s in Creative Writing, Megan’s work has been featured in The Hellebore, Molly Bloom and Ache magazine, amongst others. She has recently published her first work, Womb Fruit, a long format poem which she began in Paris as her MA dissertation. In this interview Megan tells us more about her experience at our Paris School, the creative process behind Womb Fruit and her current projects.

Where are you from and what originally brought you to Paris? 

I grew up in a small town just outside of Oxford. A combination of health and homelife made going to university feel like a distant and unattainable thing until I was an adult. I was working as a Teaching Assistant in a Primary School when I had the realisation that I had so much more to learn myself; I studied to retake my A levels and bagged myself a place to study English at the University of Exeter. I’d always enjoyed playing with language – diaries and poems had been a large part of my coping and processing chronic illness – but at Exeter, I took all the Creative Writing modules possible.

When my degree ended, my writing didn’t. In my final few months, I scoured the internet for creative post-grad options when I found the courses offered at the University of Kent’s Paris School of Arts and Culture. Studying literature had highlighted Paris as a city of art and creativity; when I saw the Creative Writing MA offered at PSAC, I knew I had to make it happen.

What attracted you most about studying at PSAC?

Above all, being able to live, write, work and study in Paris was a dream come true. I wasn’t ready to stop learning, and PSAC offered the opportunity to continue doing just that in the best place for it. The city’s rich history as a place of reaction and revolution fuelled my writing; every cobbled corner had a story to tell, and I wanted to tell it.

The pull of Paris was strengthened by my desire to learn a new language. Living in France forced me to practice in a way that my French GCSE didn’t! Using the language every day was the best way to improve, and the free French classes offered by the PSAC built on these skills and helped me hone them.

What are you currently doing and how did that come about? 

My love for learning has come full circle: I am now teaching English at a Secondary School near Oxford. The demands of my job are many, but the satisfaction is constant. My job allows me to continue my own learning journey too. Teaching is learning; learning is teaching – the older I get, the more I value this truth. There is a reciprocity to learning that benefits everyone.

Could you tell us about Womb Fruit and your writing process?

At its core, Womb Fruit is an excavation of the myths of womanhood; those we are told and those we tell ourselves. It focuses on the circles and cycles of the body and the processing of trauma.

Womb Fruit is a long-form poem addressed to an unborn daughter, sharing the complicated histories of the inherited and uninherited. Womb Fruit explores themes of pain, illness, and miscarriage, and is woven with female histories of Greek mythology. As a chronically ill person, I’m concerned with the eugenic attitudes of medicine, society and culture regarding a woman’s choice/ability to reproduce, as well as the stigmatisation and pathologising that often comes with living in a sick body.

I wrote Womb Fruit while living in Paris and it was my final project at PSAC: my MA dissertation. Being a poem about womanhood, there was an irony in the writing process feeling like a labour of sorts. The narrative is punctured, confessional, at times chaotic. It is writing as therapy.

You hand-stitched its cover, was this an important complement to the artist process of your writing? 

Yes! As well as working with words, I’m also an embroidery artist and have often used this form of expression as a therapeutic process. At first, I’d hoped to stitch the entirety of the poem, however, I settled on another, less time-consuming method. Instead, Womb Fruit is infused with the language of embroidery. I attempted to translate the physical techniques of embroidery – layering, weaving, shading, knotting – into language.

I knew I needed to incorporate this ancient practice of expression into my writing. Sewing is an art form that has stood the test of time; it predates written language. It is also something that has been historically associated with women. I wanted to flip the use of this as a practice to silence women, and instead use sewing as a symbol of permanence, of history, of recording expression by any means available.

Are you working on your next book?

I continue to write (and sew!). My recent writings are concerned with the notion of home. Starting with the age-old dilemma – is home a place or a feeling? – the poetic fragments track the politics of home and homelessness; the body as home; the mind as home; and end with the coming-home of spiritual peace. This work-in-progress is yet untitled, but I look forward to sharing it soon.

Do you think that your studies at PSAC helped with your career or creative endeavours?

Definitely. Continuing my education at MA level gave me the creative space to focus on my writing. My year in Paris was defining; it gave me the perspective and clarity to spend time on my crafts and do so in a place that was constantly inspiring.

Would you recommend PSAC to potential students and if so, what would you tell them? 

I would recommend studying at the PSAC whole-heartedly. Paris is full of grand buildings with huge, locked doors hiding secrets behind. The PSAC opens those doors, allowing you to access so much more of the city than you would otherwise. From the staff and lecturers to the links and connections to other institutions, you’ll never be short of opportunities. From the open evenings and readings to the organised events and activities, you’ll never be bored.

As perfect as my year in Paris may sound, it wasn’t easy making it happen. The practicalities involved in moving abroad, even temporarily, are challenging. I took out a personal loan to pay for the course fees and worked full-time as an au pair while in Paris; I highly recommend doing something similar if you want affordable living costs during your stay. I had my own apartment to accommodate me, and while the extra workload was intense at times, it made my stay possible.

Even if it seems impossible, and sometimes it might, if you want it bad enough, make it happen.

Merci beaucoup, Megan! 

Womb Fruit was published by Litmus Publishing in April 2022. You can learn more about and acquire a copy at this link.

Connect with Megan on Twitter: @MeganHJames or Instagram: @meganhannahjames.

Graduate Profile: Writer Steve Sohmer

In the latest in our Alumni Spotlight series we connect with Steve Sohmer. A person of many talents, from Shakespearean scholar to television producer, Steve pursued a Master’s in Creative Writing at our Paris School, an academic experience which he is currently continuing as a PhD candidate of the School of English at Kent in Canterbury. In this interview we learn more about Steve’s career path, why he chose to study in Paris at PSAC and more about his experience with Kent, both in Paris and Canterbury.

Where are you from and what originally brought you to Paris?

I was born in Savannah, Georgia (US of A), raised in New York, and had been living in Los Angeles (where I squandered my childhood in film and television) before enrolling in the Kent Paris Creative Writing Masters Programme. My son was studying for a Bachelors and Masters at American University of Paris. So, Kent in Paris offered me the twin opportunities of studying in an excellent program while sharing digs in the 7ème with David. It was a splendid year on all counts. Papa was right; Paris is still a moveable feast.

What attracted you most about studying at PSAC?

I’d read a good deal about the PSAC program. And after reading their books, I was impressed by the instructors who would be available to me – particularly Dragan Todorovic and Amy Sackville. I’d urge every prospective creative writing student to read the work of the instructors they’ll study under and work with. Really good writers don’t always prove to be exceptional teachers. But at least you can be confident they know their onions. That’s important. Because as well as tutelage, you’re going to rely on them for that all-important criticism.

 

What were some of the highlights of your experience?

The classes I sat were, by and large, outstanding. And the pleasures of the classroom were delightfully augmented by the bright and interesting students with whom I shared them. They hailed from New Orleans and Moscow and Ho Chi Minh City. They were sharp and cosmopolitan. The conversations ranged every-which-way. And they had opinions about everything. So, the down-time between and after classes was as lively and thought-provoking as the classes themselves.

What are you currently doing and how did that come about?

The Kent PhD in Creative Writing caught my ear while listening to Dragan Todorovic describe how the programme worked. Then he turned to me and said, “You should think about doing it.” I did. And right now, I’m in the thick of a Kent PhD with Dragan as my primary supervisor and Amy Sackville as overseer. There’s one great thing about this program I would hammer home to anyone who wants to learn to write a novel: Enrolling for the Kent PhD gets you an editor (or two) who will work with you, stick with you, and give you their best for up to four years and even longer. You’ll never-ever enjoy that luxury again, not with any publisher or agent, not in the book publishing environment of this day and age. Not when manuscripts are supposed to arrive camera-ready at the editor’s desk. The era when Thomas Wolfe had Maxwell Perkins as a tenacious and belligerent guiding angel for seven years are long gone. At Kent, for the long run you’ll have an experienced, multi-published author to work with you, advise you, challenge and console you. That is certainly worth the price of admission.

Do you think that your studies at PSAC helped with your career or creative endeavours?

After I published my first novel, I took 20 years off to have a career. Then I went back to the keyboard, wrote of pair of political thrillers, produced one for television, then took another 20-year sabbatical to read Shakespeare at Oxford and write books about him. When I wanted to return to fiction, I was sure those chops would be rusty from disuse. Which is why I enrolled in the PSAC Creative Writing program as a form of literary body-building for a return foray into fiction. I’d say it’s worked out well. If the novel I’m writing is published, I’d say quite well.

Would you recommend PSAC to potential students and if so what would you tell them?

Were a kid of mine coming to PSAC to study, I’d give them this advice: Steep yourself in Paris and the literature of France – from Rabelais to Stendhal to Sartre, Camus, Perec, de Beauvoir – even Romaine Gary and Jean Simmons. Think of the year(s) you’ll spend in Paris as an immersion, mind and soul. Infuse yourself with Parisian life and French lit until it oozes out of every pore. Learn to speak French if you’re capable, and speak it to everyone from your instructors to the doorman. At best, it will imbue you with a personal renaissance. If nothing else, the experience will throw the rest of your life into high relief so you’ll can recognize it for what it is and isn’t.

Merci beaucoup, Steve! You can find a list of Steve’s books here (ask for them at your local independent bookshop!). If you would also like to develop your own writer, learn more about our Creative Writing MA in Paris at this link.

Yelena Moskovich on A Door Behind a Door

Creative Writing Lecturer Yelena Moskovich Interviewed by Los Angeles Review of Books

Author and lecturer in our creative writing programme Yelena Moskovich, was recently interviewed by Nathan Scott McNamara for the Los Angeles Review of Books.

The interview explores Yelena’s latest book, A Door Behind a Door in relation to her previous two books The Natashas and Virtuoso. They are discuss the unique structure and rhythm of A Door Behind a Door as well as Yelena’s relationship to space, geography and language. Read the full article at this link.

Enhance your craft by pursuing our Creative Writing MA programme at our Paris School of Arts and Culture, which is offered both part-time and full-time. Learn more about the programme here.