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We all know that novels are more than just stories; they often tell us about our lives and ourselves. This talk by Guy Mankowski  will consider how writers have taken fiction to its limit by questioning how we live now and how we might live in the future. Guy’s novel How I Left The National Grid examined how, in postmodern culture, subculture and nostalgia offer people some room to shape the world they want to live in. From the future societies described in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go to the exotic technologies in JG Ballard’s Vermilion Sands , this session will also look at how literary fiction has imagined - and proposed - synthetic futures. Dr Guy Mankowski is the author of four novels: Letters from Yelena (Legend Press) was awarded an Arts Council Literature grant, used in GCSE training material by Osiris in 2015, and adapted for the stage. How I Left The National Grid (Zer0 Books) was written as part of a PhD in Creative Writing and published in the UK, US and Canada...

Dr. Miguel Gomes (Languages) will be giving a talk about the proliferation of film (sub)versions of the Old English poem Beowulf , particularly in the last twenty years. His talk, entitled 'And this shall be a place of merriment, joy, and fornication': Representing the monstrous other in Beowulf and its cinematic adaptations, explores  how the process of adapting early medieval heroic narratives and the alterity of monstrosities to the medium of film has led to new representations of Evil in popular medievalism. Miguel argues that a process of transformation, caused by modern sensibilities and fantasies about ‘anything medieval’, has produced a number of cinematic adaptations of the Anglo-Saxon poem in which Evil has been sexualized and the hero has been portrayed as undoubtedly guilty. In order to account for these changes, the nature of film as a medium and its multiple social and commercial implications will be considered in detail. Time: Wednesday 16th November ...

The Department of Culture's new writer-in-residence Rob Young will be giving a talk called 'How to Write a Movie' on Friday 3rd June 2016 ( 1-2pm, Priestman Building 118 ). Rob was born and bred in South Shields. He is an award-winning writer and BAFTA Screenplay Judge. His feature film - Miranda (2002) - won the main prize at London's Raindance Film Festival. Everyone is welcome to this crash-course in screenwriting from a local boy made good!

Dr Dale Townshend The next English research seminar features Dr Dale Townshend (University of Stirling) on Wednesday 16th March at 5pm in Priestman 216 . He will be giving a talk on Walpole's  The Castle of Otranto  (1765). Ever since Walpole disclosed the authorship of his ‘Gothic Story’ in the second edition, it has been assumed that the ‘real’ and ‘particular’ castle to which he, in his guise as the ‘translator’ William Marshal, referred in the Preface to the first edition of the novel was Strawberry Hill, the ‘little Gothic castle’ in Twickenham that he had set about ‘Gothicizing’ since the late 1740s. However, according to Dr Townshend this is really only half of the story, for while the castle at Otranto certainly, as Walpole would later phrase it, ‘puts one in mind’ of Strawberry Hill, it also looks to the architectural formations of ‘ancient’ or ‘Gothic’ romance for its structure, its effects, and even its eventual disappearance. More specifically, Manfred’s cast...

William Gifford Palgrave, 1868 © National Portrait Gallery, London The next talk in this semester's series of English research seminars will be given by Dr Geoff Nash . Drawing on the National Portrait Gallery’s current display , Geoff will consider the extraordinary life of the leading British explorer and scholar of the Middle East, William Gifford Palgrave (1826-1888), assessing his adoption of disguise, and his reputation as a 'brilliant failure'. After serving for a time in the Indian army, Palgrave converted to Roman Catholicism and worked as a missionary in southern India until 1853. He began his long engagement with the Arab world in 1855 as a missionary in Syria, where he witnessed the persecution of Syrian Christians. Palgrave’s most notable achievement lay in exploring Arabia, which had for years been closed to Europeans. In 1862 and 1863 he became the first Westerner to cross Arabia by a diagonal route, from north-west to south-east, travelling in disguise and a...

Fintan O’Higgins has worked as a script and storyline writer for several television soaps and is currently working as a script editor on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. He will be discussing the particular demands of storytelling for the screen.  Friday 29th January,  Priestman Building 312, City Campus 1-2pm. This event is free. For further information contact Dr Sarah Dobbs (sarah.dobbs@sunderland.ac.uk).

Debbie Taylor (editor of Mslexia magazine ) will be giving her top tips on writing for publication. She will be answering any questions you might have about the industry and providing a unique insight into her role and the submissions process. Friday 27th November, David Goldman 107, 12-1 pm. All welcome.

The English Research Seminar on Wednesday 6th May will be given by Professor Abdur Raheem Kidwai from Aligarh Muslim University, India. His paper is entitled '"The Challenging Gaze": Islam/Muslims in Today's Globalized World in Qaisra Shahraz's novel Revolt ' (2013). Based in Manchester, UK, Qaisra Shahraz, of Pakistani descent, seeks to recontextualize Islam with modernity in her fiction. While displaying a nuanced understanding of today’s challenges, her novels are embedded in the Islamic value system. This amalgam between tradition and modernity, especially in the context of gender parity in Muslim society is a new, interesting aspect of the discourse. All staff and students are welcome to the talk, which starts at 5pm in Priestman 313.

Professor Michael Meyer The paper at the English Research Seminar on Wednesday 11th March 2015 will be given by Professor Michael Meyer from the University of Koblenz. Michael's talk is entitled 'The intermedial framing of narrative fiction'. He will explore the interplay between visual illustration and verbal representation as interdependent framing devices. The examples under scrutiny (Milne, Byatt, Ackroyd) offer multiple framings and frame-breaks, provoking reflections on representation, media, and interpretation. The conclusion will address the potential of using intermedial framing in the classroom. All staff and students are welcome to the talk, which starts at 5pm in Priestman 313 .

Ian Bassam (EAP team, University of Sunderland) will be presenting the final paper in the autumn semester series of English Research Seminars. It is entitled 'Include me out' and considers whether there is a barrier preventing European students from integrating into UK universities.  When? Wednesday 10th December at 5pm.  Where? Priestman 313.

Professor Steve Walsh (School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University) will be giving an English Research Seminar talk on Wednesday 12th November 2014. His topic is 'Analysing university spoken interaction: A corpus linguistics/conversation analysis approach.' The talk begins at 5pm in Priestman 313 and students and staff from all faculties are welcome.

Philip Roth in 1973 The first English Research Seminar of the academic year will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 22nd October in Room 313, Priestman Building. The speaker is Peter Dempsey (University of Sunderland), who will be giving a paper entitled 'Philip Roth and the Writing Life'. All staff and students are welcome.